Australia is the smallest continent in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is on the Southern Hemisphere of the earth. Australia is big, but its population is small. The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai.

    Enough laws have been made to fight against pollution. The cities in Australia have little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish in the rivers. Plants grow very well.

    Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flower exhibition. There we saw large numbers of wild flowers on show, most of which we had never seen before. We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. Every year in spring Perth has a wild flower exhibition. After visiting Perth, we spent a day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves very much. When we heard bells ringing at the top of the hills, we looked up, but what we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to our car as quickly as we could. There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us along the path.

    Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos. After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself among the white sheep. Sheep, sheep, everywhere you can see sheep.

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."—Albert Einstein

If you have a kid with special needs in the school system, chances are you have come across that saying hanging on a classroom wall. My five-year-old daughter Syona has cerebral palsy (a medical condition affecting someone's control over their movement ) and it means, combined with her communication challenges and sight problems, that standard assessments (and by "standard", I mean the ones used to assess kids with special needs ) aren't always an accurate measure of her abilities.

By now you have probably heard about Chris Ulmer, the 26-year-old teacher in Jacksonville, Florida, who starts his special education class by calling up each student individually to give them much admiration and a high-five (a gesture of greeting or congratulation). I couldn't help but be reminded of Syona's teacher and how she supports each kid in a very similar way. Ulmer recently shared a video of his teaching experience. "I have seen their confidence and self-worth increase rapidly, " he said. All I could think was: How lucky these students are to have such inspirational teachers.

    Syona's teacher has an attitude that can best be summarized in one word: awesome. Her teacher doesn't focus on what can't be done—she focuses on what can be done. Over the past several months, my husband Dilip and I have seen Syona's confidence increase tenfold. She uses words she wouldn't have thought of using before. She recently told me about her classmate's trip to Ecuador and was very proud when I understood her on the first try.

    I actually wonder what the influence would be if we did something similar to what Ulmer does with his students in our home. We've recently started our day by reminding each other of the good qualities we all possess. If we are reminded of our strengths on a regular basis, we will become increasingly confident about progress and success.

    Ulmer's reach as a teacher goes far beyond the walls of his classroom. In fact, he teaches all of us to take a moment and truly appreciate the strengths of an important person in our lives.

    When life takes you away from home, take technology to help guide and entertain you. APPs can help make your trip easier and more fun.

    Trip It

    Trip It is a helpful APP to organize travel plans. Sign up for a free account at the Trip It website and download the APP to have all of your travel plans handy in one place.

    Google Translate

    When traveling outside your home country, you may need some language assistance. Google Translate is an APP that can help you understand a language other than your native tongue. The Google Translate APP translates between 103 different languages. Copy and paste text into the APP to see a translation. You can also handwrite text onto the screen.

    Fotor

    The Fotor APP lets you edit your photos and add filers for special effects. The APP has been updated recently with new editing features so users can edit their photos more easily. Fotor has added a slider to give users greater control of the edits. Editing effets can be saved as favorites to use them easily later.

   Offline APPs

    Traveling often means you are offline and away from the Internet. When camping in the wild, flying on a plane, sailing on a boat or riding in the car, you may not have an Internet connection. If you are traveling outside your home country and away from Wi-Fi, you should use Offline APPs to avoid large bills for using international data.

    Keeping a busy social life among lots of friends may keep people thinner than spending hours doing some exercises, according to scientists. They say that socializing and meeting with friends help increase levels of brown fat in the body which burns calories to produce heat.

    Living in an exciting social environment was found to reduce fat in mice's belly by half over four weeks, even if they ate more.US researchers say that social excitement aids weight loss by turning white fat into brown fat. White fat stores calories and makes us fatter, while brown fat burns energy to produce heat. Turning white fat into brown fat is extremely difficult, normally requiring long-term stay in cold conditions or exciting part of the body's nervous system.

    However, scientists from Ohio State University now think that having a busy social life is an even more effective way of changing white fat into brown fat. The team came up with their theory by studying the effects of various living environments on mice. Those, who lived alongside a greater number of mice, had more space and toys to excite themselves and they lost far more weight over the course of the study than their “couch potato” fellows.

    Study's author, Dr Mattew During whose team's findings appear in the journal Cell Metabolism, said,“I'm still amazed at the degree of fat loss that occurs.” Explaining how new technology had threatened face-to-face socializing, he added,“It's not just a sedentary (久坐的)lifestyle and high calorie foods, but an increasing lack of social activities.” Co-author Dr Lei Cao said,“Loneliness is a potential factor for cancer and death; it's equal to cigarette smoking to a certain extent. Social activities are very vital.”

    Three years ago I worked for a few weeks as a doctor in a new dental clinic(牙科诊所）at Victor Harbor to the south of Adelaide and an hour further away than my usual workplace. My first day there was a driving to a new clinic and getting used to the clinical environment.

    As it was all new to me, I took off my rings: my wedding ring, and one that was an anniversary(周年纪念日)gift from my husband. I put them in a tissue(纸巾)and placed them beside my computer. During my lunch break, I noticed the tissue and thought that it did not look very clean and threw it into the rubbish bin. I went about my work and my day went well; I met new patients and felt that I had been productive

    Driving home at the end of the day, just moments before I reach that were missing. I felt the heat in my body rise, my cheeks(脸颊)burning red. I felt sick to my stomach.

    I spat an hour or so making calls, trying to find my rings. The first people I called were and clinical leader and they gave me a few phone numbers for cleaners I got in touch with already who managed the leaning services for the clinic, and she told me that the bins had already been collected.

    I knew nothing could be done now. I had lost my rings. Bu after two or so hours, I received the most amazing phone cal. The cleaner had gone through the bins and found my rings! I was so thankful to her, someone who had taken the trouble to go through the bins-which is not a pleasant task-to find my priceless rings.

    I worked at that clinic the following day, so I bought chocolates to thank this wonderful person. Unfortunately I did not get to meet her as she was not at work that day.

    "I feel unlikable, lonely and hopeless," said Lisa, a bright teenager from a loving home. "It seems that nobody wants to become my friend. What's wrong with me?"

    Like Lisa, many of us experience loneliness. The truth is that all people, no matter what their age or character — even the most outgoing, wealthy and popular — experience loneliness at least sometimes. It's healthy and natural to want to be around people who care. After all, we've all heard "No man is an island." That's true. We all need others in our lives.

    Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, explains that if we want friends, we must be friendly and reach out to others. But it has risk. Because we are often afraid of rejection (拒绝), many of us are unwilling to reach out to others. We take a safer way and wait for others to make friends with us. But if we want friends, we've got to get beyond this.

If making friends is your goal as well, you need to consider taking some measures (措施).

    Be willing to take the initiative (主动权). If you see someone whom you would like to know, don't wait for her to make the first move. Get close to her and begin a conversation. Let her know in a non­aggressive (无攻击性的) way that you are interested in being friends with her.

    Reach out to those who are lonely. When you see someone at school sitting alone, go over and talk to her. And don't let popularity decide whom you reach out to. You'll often be surprised at the beautiful qualities behind a shy appearance.

    Ask questions. Start your first conversation by asking this possible friend what she likes to do or asking about her family. Be sure to ask questions that cannot be replied with "yes" or "no". For example, don't ask "Do you have a dog?" Instead, say "So, tell me about your pets." Avoiding asking "yes" or "no" questions makes your possible friend not end your communication with a one­word answer.