There are many different kinds of disasters around the world. As an adult you know what to do during a disaster, but what about the children? Some adults think it would probably never happen to them, so they don't teach their children what to do. Before it's too late, here are ways to help you prepare your child for a disaster:

    Educate: It is always good to let your child know about possible disasters. This doesn't mean children have to live in fear. When teaching them about disasters, keep the conversation positive（积极的）by telling them there is a solution（解决办法）to the disaster. Keep the conversations short, allow for questions and answer honestly.

    Prepare: Always be prepared, that is the best advice for children. For example, when preparing for bad weather, get the tools you need, like candles, radios, food, water and medicine. Teach your child what is needed in certain disasters so that they know what is available for them, if ever needed.

    Plan: You should always have a plan for you and your child for any dangerous situation. Write out a simple list that they can read. The plan could start with “listen to an adult's advice and/or call 119”.

    Practice: Once you have got the correct safety tools and worked out the right plan, practice every few months. Practicing what to do during a disaster with your child will help them if the time comes.

    Disasters can't be avoidedbut they can be lessened（减轻）once you areprepared and ready for one.

    What was discovered by accident? The answer is penicillin (青霉素). It kills germs. By killing germs, it saves lives. Suppose you are sick. You go to a doctor. She examines you. She says you have a "staph" infection (葡萄球菌感染). She gives you some medicine. You take it. The medicine knocks out the staph. Soon you are well. Before penicillin, this would not happen. Staph was almost sure death.

    Everyone wanted a medicine. Laboratories worked day and night. They grew the staph in small dishes. Then they tried to kill it. Nothing worked.

    The laboratory dishes had covers on them. They kept things from falling into dishes. Molds (霉菌) were a big worry. They are always in the air. You can't see them. They're too small. There are thousands of different molds. Molds can make an experiment fail. That's why dishes are covered.

    Dr. Alexander Fleming was working to kill the staph germ. He worked for years. One day he took a cover off a dish. He looked inside. There was a thick growth of staph germ. There was also some mold. Then he saw something strange. Where the mold was, there was no growth of staph. This is what Fleming probably thought. "By accident, I found a mold to kill the dreaded staph."

    This is how penicillin was found. But here's the real miracle. There are thousands of kinds of molds. But only one kind can kill staph. The mold must have fallen into the dish a few days before. The cover was probably off only a few seconds. In those few seconds the right mold fell into the right dish. Another man might have thrown the dish away. But Fleming was very careful and smart. He understood what the mold did. How lucky the humans were!

    Amy is a biologist working at a marine （海洋的） park. These kinds of parks provide fun and education for tens of thousands of people each year.

    Amy takes care of many animals in the park, but she also does important research. As she observes the animals that she looks after, she learns more about their needs and behavior. This information helps the animals in the park, but it can also be used to protect other members of the species（物种） in the wild.

    It's hard work to look after these animals. Their needs often change according to different hours of the day. So Amy must depend on her science knowledge and good number sense to help her make the right decisions all day long.

    Even though dolphins spend much of their time underwater, they are mammals. This means that they must come to the surface to take in air. Dolphins give birth to their young. They're not hatched from eggs. Just like all other mammals, mother dolphins must nurse, or feed milk to their babies.

    Amy and her team know this first﹣hand. One of their dolphins recently gave birth. A baby dolphin is not small, either. It was almost 1 meter long the day it was born. A big dolphin usually eats about 4% of its body weight in food every day. Amy knows that a mother dolphin that is nursing needs twice the food. So when the baby dolphin was born, Amy immediately doubled the mother's food every day.

    Is there intelligent（有智力的）life on other planets? For years, scientists said "no." or "we don't know." But today this is changing. Seth Shostak and Alexandra Barnett are astronomers（天文学家）. They believe intelligent life exists（存在）somewhere in the universe. They also think we will soon contact them.

    Why do Shostak and Barnett think intelligent life exists on other planets? The first reason is time. Scientists believe the universe is about 12 billion years old. "This is long enough for other planets to have intelligent life, "say Shostak and Barnett. The second reason is size the universe is huge. "Tools like the Hubble Telescope（哈勃望远镜）have shown that there are at least 100 billion galaxies, "says Shostak. "And our galaxy, the Milky Way, has at least 100 billion stars. Some planets going around these stars might be similar to the earth. "

    In the past, it was hard to look for signs of intelligent life in the universe. But now, powerful telescopes（高倍望远镜）allow scientists to discover smaller planets-the size of Mars or the earth-in other solar systems, these planets might have intelligent life.

    Have beings from space already visited the earth? "Probably not, "says Shostak. "It's a long way away. However, intelligent beings may contact us in other way, such as radio signals（信号）. In fact, they may be trying to communicate with us now, but we don't have the right tools to receive their messages. However, this is changing. By 2025, we could make contact with other life forms in our universe and we might help each other. "

    Some researchers explain how most people form their social groups with people of their age. Especially, as children and teenagers, even adults, people make their friends based on proximity (邻近) more than anything else. Even in a college classroom, the students may not make friends with those who have similar personalities and interests. It's the people they really sit next to. Clearly, who stands to you has the greatest influence on you. As Jim Rohn has widely said. "You are average (平均) of five people you spend the most little with."

    Over the past ten months, I've paid Ryan, it Famous writer of several bestselling books, to help with the book I'm writing. Working with him has shown me just how low my standards for my work are. For example, every time I send him a drab (草稿), he shows me how it could     be 10 times better, and he holds me to that standard.

      ▲   It's because that I don't know what I don't know. Working with Ryan has made me realize what is possible and what it takes to create something powerful.

    Like Ryan, my business partner Richard has wonderful ideas and far different experience than I have. He has written 36 New York Times Bestsellers. He's been speaking and doing events for 20 years. Richard always performs at high levels, and he is also very strict with me because my performance is a reflection (反映) on him. It's not a bad thing because it creates high pressure (压力) to help me make great progress in organizing author training.

    In a word, you need to stay with those people who can help you realize your level and potential. Staying with people who have higher standards is the fastest way for you to change. If you don't change your environment, your progress will be very slow. Who you stay with has huge importance. You can't ignore this.

The Giraffe

    The giraffe is the tallest modern land animal. It can be over 5. 5 meters tall. Its neck bone may be 1. 9 meters long. Yet the giraffe has only seven bones in its neck, the same number as in the human. Even a small bird has many more bones in its neck than in a tall giraffe. Each bone in a giraffe's neck is very long, while the bones in a human's neck are small. That makes the difference. A female giraffe gives birth to one baby at a time. The baby, called a calf, is about 1. 9 meters tall at birth. By the age of eight it is full-grown. The giraffe can live for 30 years; the giraffe is good at running; it can run 30 kilometers per hour. The giraffe likes to live together, usually 7~10 a group. The giraffe eats mostly leaves. Because it has a long neck, it can reach the leaves high up on the trees.