Some years ago, writing in my diary used to be a usual activity.I would return from school and spend the expected half hour recording the day'sevents, feelings, and impressions in my little blue diary. I did not reallyneed to express my emotions by way of words, but I gained a certainsatisfaction from seeing my experiences forever recorded on paper. After all,isn't accumulating memories a way of preserving the past?

When I was thirteen years old, I went on a long journey on footin a great valley, well equipped with pens, a diary, and a camera. During thetrip, I was busy recording every incident, name and place I came across. I feltproud to be spending my time productively, dutifully preserving for futuregenerations a detailed description of my travels. On my last night there, Iwandered out of my tent, diary in hand. The sky was clear and lit by the glareof the moon, and the walls of the valley looked threatening behind their screenof shadows. I automatically took out my pen...

At that point, I understood that nothing I wrote could evermatch or replace the few seconds I allowed myself to experience the dramaticbeauty of the valley. All I remembered of the previous few days were the dullcharacterizations I had set down in my diary.

Now, I only write in my diary when I need to write down aspecial thought or feeling. I still love to record ideas and quotations thatstrike me in books, or observations that are particularly meaningful. I takepictures, but not very often only of objects I find really beautiful. I'm nolonger blindly satisfied with having something to remember when I grow old. Irealize that life will simply pass me by if I stay behind the camera, busypreserving the present so as to live it in the future.

I don't want to wake up one day and have nothing but a pile ofpictures and notes. Maybe I won't have as many exact representations of peopleand places; maybe I'll forget certain facts, but at least the experiences willalways remain inside me. I don't live to make memories--I just live, and thememories form themselves.

    In one of the old buildings near our school,one could see an old man sitting by a large window on the first floor,His name was James.During the three years at school,I had hardly ever found him missing from his usual position.

He was a high-ranking government official and lived happily with his wife .Once there was a bus accident,in which a number of passengers were seriously injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.James was responsible for the rescue operation.It was a big hospital,but James was shocked to notice how ill-equipped it was.There was no enough life-saving drugs and life-supporting equipment.The injured and their companions had to struggle there .James attempted to help .However,though he emptied his pockets,many of them died that day.

That was a turning point in his life.He made a decision to devote his life to helping others,particularly the poor and needy patients and their companions.He began to spend much of his income on these people.Since this required much time and energy,he found it difficult to fulfill his official duties and therefore chose to retire,which,in turn,reduced his income considerably.

His wife was deeply worried.Most of the time,James was out and paid least attention to home affairs.Meanwhile,as he was spending a lot helping others,she had struggle even to meet the household expenses.Though she was not against his helping the poor,she urged him not to ignore his own home and life,but it had no effect on him.She decided to leave him ,never to return.Though he continued his work, this was a great blow and did serious harm to his health and enthusiasm and he was soon forced to stay indoors.That was when he took his position by the window,spending his time looking outside.

    A few weeks after my graduation,I returned to school,only to find the building gone.I heard that they were torn down.Everyone left except James.He refused to go and the next morning,he was found at his usual place by the window,dead.

    Recently, we've been talking about how we need better teachers. There's no doubt that great teacher can help in a student's learning but here's what some new studies are also showing: We need better parents.

    Every three years, the organization called O.E.C.D. organizes exams as part of the Program for International Student Assessment(评估), or PISA, which tests 15-year-olds on their abilities to deal with real problems. America's 15-year-olds have not done as well as students in Singapore, Finland and Shanghai in the PISA exams.

    To better understand the reasons, the PISA team, starting with four countries in 2006, and then adding 14 more in 2009, went to the parents of 5,000 students. They interviewed them about how they raised their kids and then compared it with the test results for each of those years. Two weeks ago, the PISA team published the main finding of its study.

    Fifteen-year-olds whose parents often read books with them during their first year of primary school get much higher scores in PISA 2009 than students whose parents don't often read with them or not at all. Parents' concern for their children is strongly connected with better results in PISA.

    According to Schleicher, the leader of the team, just asking your children how their school    day was and showing great interest in their learning can help a lot. It is something every parent can do, no matter what their education level is.

    The study found that getting parents concerned about their children's learning at home is more powerful than parents attending parent-teacher meetings, volunteering in classrooms,   taking part in money-raising, and showing up at back-to-back nights.

    To be sure, nothing can replace a good teacher. But let's stop putting the whole duty on teachers. We also need better parents. Better parents can make teaching more beneficial.

    In my bag I always carry the same essential items: my keys, my purse, some loose change, my mobile phone and my little blue vocabulary notebook. This year I am living abroad in Germany and I am trying to learn as much German as possible. I always knew that living abroad would be a great way to learn a foreign language but one thing I didn't realize was how many new words and phrases I would come across every day! I see and hear new words everywhere; the announcements in the train station; menus in cafes; on social media; on the local newspaper and of course from my German-speaking friends.

    At first I was slightly upset by the large amounts of German I didn't understand. Speaking German in Germany is definitely very different from that in the classroom; I kept on looking up new words and by the end of the day I had forgotten most of them already. It was very frustrating. After a month of worrying that I would never be able to improve my language skills, I went to the stationery shop and bought a small notebook which easily fit into my handbag or even into my back pocket! I set myself the goal of writing five new words or phrases a day into my little blue book and soon enough it became one of my most valuable language-learning tools.

    I don't have any rules about which words I write down. Most days I write down words that I learn from my colleagues at work, words that I don't understand in reading or words that I have learned from seeing them in context. For example, I have learned the names of many fruits and vegetables from looking at their labels in the supermarket (a very unexpected source of vocabulary!) and I have learned many words that I have heard on TV or on the radio. It doesn't even matter if I know how to spell a new word straight away. If I hear a word but I don't know how to spell it, I write down how I think it sounds and look it up later.

    My little blue vocabulary book is now like my close friend. We go everywhere together. Setting this small daily goal has made me feel much more in control of my language teaming and I am already seeing an improvement. I will continue to use it for the rest of my stay in Germany and also when I return to university at home in September.

    The "Boomerang Kids" — young adults who leave to go to college, get married or just show off their independence — are moving back in with mom and dad. Boomerang Kids can be a mixed blessing for parents, both emotionally and financially.

    Especially during hard economic times, adult children head for home. According to a survey, about 40 percent of 2017 graduates still live with their parents. Moreover, 42 percent of the 2015 graduates surveyed said they are still living at home.

    The reasons are many, the first being economics. While the recession(衰退) has touched Americans of all ages, it has been very hard for young adults. This has sent many kids back home. Plus, there is the matter of debt, especially college loans. For many recent graduates, it makes smart economic sense to move back in with their parents where life is comfortable and rent is either low or nonexistent. Then, of course, some return for personal reasons, such as recovering from a divorce or an illness.

    Parents are often glad to help out, both emotionally and financially. As a result, the arrangement often works to everyone's satisfaction. However, there are risks, especially for the parents. These include not only family tension and misunderstandings, but also money. The return to the family can become a financial burden that can affect the parents' plans and their financial future, especially their retirement, as they try to do too much for their children.

    The weather symbol shown for each day in the five day forecast represents the main weather expected on the day in question. The maximum temperature is the highest temperature forecast between dawn and dusk, whereas the minimum temperature is the lowest temperature expected from dusk on the day to dawn the following day. The wind speed and direction are the expected conditions at midday.