“Indeed,” George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785, “some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to eat the leaves before I left home.” But the father of America was not the father of bug. When Washington wrote that, Englishmen had been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century, and Americans had already created lightning-bug(萤火虫). But the English were soon to stop using the bugs in their language, leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

    The American bug could also be a person, referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity. Although fan became the usual term, sports fans used to be called racing bugs, baseball bugs, and the like.

    Or the bug could be a small machine or object, for example, a bug-shaped car. The bug could also be a burglar alarm, from which comes the expression to bug, that is, “to install (安装) an alarm”. Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others' conversation. Since the 1840s, to bug has long meant “to cheat”, and since the 1940s it has been annoying.

    We also know the bug as aflawin a computer program or other design. That meaning dates back to the time of Thomas Edison. In 1878 he explained bugs as “little problems and difficulties” that required months of study and labor to overcome in developing a successful product. In 1889 it was recorded that Edison “had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug' in his invented record player.”

    Friends are important to children．Research shows that children who have no friends can suffer from difficulties later in life．Friendship provides children with more than just fun．In making friends，children learn how to get in touch with others and solve problems．Having friends even does good to children for they can help each other during class.

    If the parents are concerned about whether their children make many friends，what matters is that the child is comfortable and happy with his friends．Parents need to understand the steps children take in building friendships．First of all，be a friend to your child．Good friendships start at home．Children begin to develop the necessary ability to go out and meet others through getting along with their parents. Greet the child warmly and let him know you are glad to see him．Children learn a lot from how their parents stay with them and other people.

    Teach children how to solve conflicts(争端)．Being able to work out conflicts is an important skill in getting along with others．If parents know the children have a conflict，let them work it out on their own．Only step in if it is really necessary，for example，an argument is getting physical.

    Give children chances to practice staying together．Have children play games that require cooperation. For example，races are fun and provide plenty of practice in teamwork．“In what ways didn't you work well together? What might you do differently next time?” For these ideas，see books such as Games Book by Telly Orlick and Team—Building by Alanna Jones.

    Encourage children to show thanks to others．The parents can encourage children to do this by setting the example for them．

    Music icon Bob Dylan will not attend the Nobel ceremony in December because he has other commitments(承诺), the Swedish Academy said on Wednesday.

    “The Swedish Academy received a personal letter from Bob Dylan yesterday where he explained that he could not make himself available in December …,” it said in a statement.

    “He wishes that he could accept the award personally, but other commitments make it unfortunately impossible. He said that he felt very honored by the Nobel Prize,” it added. The Swedish Academy said it respected Dylan's decision, but that it was “unusual” for a Nobel laureate(获得者) not to come to Stockholm to accept the award in person. Nobel laureates are honored every year on December 10 ─ the death anniversary of the prize's founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist，inventor and philanthropist.

Several other literature prize winners have skipped the Nobel ceremony in the past for various reasons —- British writer Doris Lessing because of ill health, British playwright Harold Pinter because he was under treatment in the hospital and Austrian p laywright and novelist Elfriede Jelinek due to social phobia(社交恐惧症).

“We look forward to Bob Dylan's Nobel lecture, which he must carry out — it is the only requirement — within six months starting from December 10,2016,” the academy said.

    The traditional British pub is part of the scenery of British life. At the last count, there are around 50,000 of them in the UK. The oldest – Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St. Albans – was set up in about 793.

    Because of their abundance, the names pubs take are designed to be memorable, but more than that, they are designed to be visual. Outside any traditional pub worthy of its title, you'll find a hanging signboard with an unusual and uncommon illustration(插图) that represents the name of the business. The practice is so well established that even new pubs copy it. But why do they exist at all?

    The first British pub signs were created in the 12^th century and were simple representations of beer containers and other brewing-related equipment used to tell passersby that establishments sold beer. This was Britain in the dark ages, when education was in short supply. Since most of the population was unable to read, pub signs were used to inform would-be customers that they could find a drink inside.

    The earliest uses of pub names would reference the sign directly. People would appoint to meet at "the sign of the Eagle and Child" rather than at "the Eagle and Child".

    Today the tradition remains unchanged largely out of respect for the past, but many pub signs do have some functionality. Remote country pubs often use signboards to point the way to their doors. It's a part of British culture that's rapidly disappearing – more than 20,000 pubs have closed since 1980 – but for now there are still more than enough. You can take a moment to appreciate the history and symbolism behind a pub's sign the next time you see one.

    Close your eyes for a minute and imagine what life would be like if you had a hundred dollars less. Also imagine what it would be like spending the rest of your life with your eyes closed. Imagine having to read this page, not with your eyes but with your finger-tips.

    With existing medical knowledge and skills, two-thirds of the world's 42 million, blind should not have to suffer. Unfortunately, rich countries possess most of this knowledge, while developing countries do not.

    ORBIS is an international non-profit organization which operates the world's only flying teaching eye hospital. ORBIS intends to help fight blindness worldwide. Inside a DC-8 aircraft, there is a fully-equipped teaching hospital with television studio and classroom. Doctors are taught the latest techniques of bringing sight back to people there. Project ORBIS also aims at promoting peaceful cooperation among countries.

    ORBIS tries to help developing countries by providing training during three-week medical programs. ORBIS has taught sight-saving techniques to over 3,000 doctors and nurses, who continue to cure tens of thousands of blind people every year. ORBIS has conducted 17 plan programs in China so far. For the seven to ten million blind in China ORBIS is planning to do more for them. At the moment an ORBIS is working on a long-term plan to develop a training center and to provide eye care service to Shanxi Province. ORBIS needs your help to continue their work and free people from blindness.

    For just US$38, you can help one person see; for $380 you can bring sight to 10 people; $1,300 helps teach a doctor new skills; and for $13,000 you can provide a training program for a group of doctors who can make thousands of blind people see again. Your money can open their eyes to the world. Please help ORBIS improve the quality of life for so many people less fortunate than ourselves.

Once a blind man fell flat on his face, which was awful but finally harmless. His service dog, however, was trained lo tum to an adult if the owner had an epileptic seizure (癫瘤发作). While the dog did what it was taught, the first person it found was merely annoyed but not alarmed. Thankfully, the dog's owner was not in the situation of medical emergency. But the experience inspired him to share this information on social media, "If a service dog without a person approaches you, it means the person is down and in need of help," the owner explained. "Don't get scared, don't get annoyed, and follow the dog! If the first person doesn't cooperate, it moves on.

Referring to the accident, a TV presenter asked a dog trainer, Olivia, some basic questions about service dogs, including how humans should react if an unaccompanied service dog approaches them.

"What they're going to do is sniff and gently push your leg," the trainer explained, specifically noting that service dogs are not usually trained to jump or bark. "If you see a dog in a vest without a person around it, follow it." When asked if one should say something to indicate they're prepared to follow the dog, Olivia said," there's no clear command. Just start walking wherever the dog leads."

Olivia concluded the TV show by adding that those who rely on service dogs could train their companions to move along to someone else, if the first person the dog came upon reacted negatively to its request. Doing so could finally save the owner's life.