Cell Phone Madness

    When I opened the box at my 12th birthday party, I couldn't believe my eyes. I had really got a cell phone!

    As soon as I got to my school the next morning, I showed off my phone and asked everyone for their number. It felt like I didn't even exist in that class anymore. I wouldn't pay much attention to the teachers because I was too busy on my phone. Luckily I didn't get caught using it. I was pretty sure that the teacher did notice that I stopped paying attention to her because a week later we took a test and I got Grade D for the first time. To make matters worse, my mom had to sign the test. It was hard to show my mom the paper. She never expected “D” on my tests. Well, finally, I showed her and she couldn't believe it. She was angry but most of all, she was disappointed(失望的).

    Weeks passed and my parents started to dislike the fact that I had a phone. They would say, “We have noticed that you never pay attention to us. It's like you have your own little world now and we don't communicate as much with your phone.” I acted like they were wrong, but then I started to wonder if it was true that I was spending too much time on the phone.

    A week later I tried going a whole day without a cell phone and it didn't go that badly. I had so much fun because I was actually spending time with my family and paying attention to them. From that day, I had a different point of view towards cell phones.

    Phones really take you away from the rest of the world．I'm not saying that phones are bad and not to use them, but you do have to spare some time to spend with your family and not get stuck with your phone all day. My phone took away time from my homework and from my family. It also affected my grades.

    I will keep using my phone, but I will have it under better control.

    Everyone faces difficulties in their life. Daniel Kish was born with a special eye illness and lost his eyesight before he was only 14 months old.

Soon after, however, he started to do an amazing thing. He learned to make clicks (咔哒声) with his tongue to help him move around. Kish now moves about using sonar (声呐). He is so good at it that he can ride a bicycle by himself on public roads. And he started the organization World Access for the Blind (WAFTB) in 2000, teaching others how to use sonar. In the interview with National Geographic, he explains how the sonar works.

    "When I make a click sound, it produces sound waves. These waves reflect (反射) off surfaces all around and return to my ears. My brain then deals with the sound and turns it into pictures in my mind. Each click is like a camera flash, which helps me make a 3-D picture of my surroundings for hundreds of feet. It's like having a conversation with the environment."

    Kish feels it is exciting to ride a bike using sonar, although he needs to click twice a second, much more than he usually does. "It may sound a bit dangerous to move around the world in this way," he says. "But most people in the world live in fear of things that they imagine. I love hiking and mountain-biking. I go almost everywhere. And I've never had an accident and hurt myself."

    He is happy to be able to help more blind children to improve their life. "We've served over 10, 000 students in nearly 40 countries," he tells the reporter. "Many students are surprised how quickly results come. Seeing isn't in the eyes. It's in the mind."

    A young woman turns around and around quickly, and jumps high. In the background, a young girl reads a rejection(拒绝)letter from a ballet school." You have the wrong body for ballet," it says, " and at thirteen, you are too old." This was one of the most popular advertisements(广告)of 2014 and it describes American Ballet Theatre's principal(主要的)dancer Misty Copeland.

    This was not a real letter. But Copeland says it is very similar to letters from her childhood. While many dancers start at the age of three, Copeland only began to study ballet in 1995 as a thirteen­year­-old girl. People often told her that she was too old，or that she didn't have the perfect body type(She is only 157 cm tall). Her family moved a lot, and it was sometimes difficult for her to attend ballet classes. But Copeland loved dancing and did not want to give up. She stayed with her ballet teacher during the week and spent time with her family only at the weekend. This was a difficult life, but she worked hard and won her first national competition when she was fourteen years old. Copeland joined the American Ballet Theatre in 2000 and performed in many ballets over the next few years. In 2007, she became a solo(单独的) performer, and in 2015 she became its principal dancer.

    Copeland is now a dancer, author and Broadway performer. She also starred in the 2015 film A Ballerina's Tale. So what's next? According to Copeland, anything is possible：My career(职业)really is just now beginning.

    Facebook says it is working on technology to allow us to control computers directly with our brains. It is developing "silent speech" software to allow people to type at a rate of 100 words per minute, it says. The project, in its early stages, will require new technology to detect brainwaves without needing invasive operation. "We are not talking about monitoring your random thoughts," assured Facebook's Regina Dugan. "You have many thoughts, and you choose to share some of them. We're talking about monitoring those words. A silent speech interface(界面) — one with all the speed and flexibility(灵活) of voice. "

Ms Dugan is the company's head of Building 8, the firm's hardware research lab. The company said it intends to build both the hardware and software to achieve its goal, and has employed a team of more than 60 scientists and academics to work on the project.

On his Facebook page, Mark Zuckerberg added, "Our brains produce enough data to stream four HD(高清) movies every second. The problem is that the best way we have to get information out into the world-speech can only send about the same amount of data as a 1980s modem. We're working on a system that will let you type straight from your brain about five times faster than you can type on your phone today. Finally, we want to turn it into a wearable technology that can be produced in quantity. "

Technology is going to have to get a lot more advanced before we can share a pure thought or feeling, but this is a first step. Other ideas detailed at the company's developers conference in San Jose included work to allow people to "hear" through skin. The system, comparable to Braille, uses pressure points on the skin to pass information. "One day, not so far away, it may be possible for me to think in Chinese, and you to feel it instantly in Spanish," Ms Dugan said.

A few years ago, my husband and I were in a village for the weekend with our daughters. One day when we walked around the 1 and didn't know what to do next, our daughters told us 2 what they wanted to do. "We want to 3 the rose garden", said Lisa and Emma.

As soon as we walked into the garden, we saw thousands of nice 4 . They all came out in the sunlight. My girls were jumping up and down 5 surprise, and I knew we made the right 6 to come to the garden. They had so much 7 !

I turned to the gardener working there 8 I was curious (好奇的), and asked, "How 9 do roses blossom?" She said, "About ten 10 . And in their short life, they make the world a more beautiful place." "Wow, only a few days!" I was so amazed, "I 11 thought about roses like this. Thank you."

After we said goodbye, I still remembered what the gardener 12 us. She was 13 . We all have something to 14 the world with the time we have. When we do what we can to take care of each other every day, we can make a 15 to our world. We have our own way of making the world a little better for everyone.