A city child's summer is spent in the street in front of his home, and all through the long summer vacations I sat on the edge of the street and watched enviously the other boys on the block play baseball. I was never asked to take part even when one team had a member missing—not out of special cruelty, but because they took it for granted I would be no good at it. They were right, of course.

    I would never forget the wonderful evening when something changed. The baseball ended about eight or eight thirty when it grew dark. Then it was the custom of the boys to retire to a little stoop(门廊) that stuck out from the candy store on the corner and that somehow had become theirs. No grownup ever sat there or attempted to. There the boys would sit, mostly talking about the games played during the day and of the game to be played tomorrow. Then long silences would fall and the boys would wander off one by one. It was just after one of those long silences that my life as an outsider changed. I can no longer remember which boy it was that summer evening who broke the silence with a question: but whoever he was, I nod to him gratefully now. “What's in those books you're always reading?” he asked casually. “Stories,” I answered. “What kind?” asked somebody else without much interest.

    Nor do I know what drove me to behave as I did,for usually I just sat there in silence, glad enough to be allowed to reain among them; but instead of answering his question, I told them for two hours the story I was reading at the moment. The book was Sister Carrie. They listened bug-eyed and breathless. I must have told it well, but I think there was another and deeper reason that made them to keep an audience. Listening to a tale being told in the dark is one of the most ancient of man's entertainments, but I was offering them as well, without being aware of doing it, a new and exciting experience.

    The books they themselves read were the Rover Boys or Tom Swift or G.A.Henty. I had read them too, but at thirteen I had long since left them behind. Since I was much alone I had become an enthusiastic reader and I had gone through the books-for-boys series. In those days there was no reading material between children's and grownups'books or I could find none. I had gone right fromTome Swift and His Flying Machine to Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie. Dreiser had hit my young mind, and they listened to me tell the story with some of the wonder that I had had in reading it.

    The next night and many nights thereafter, a kind of unspoken ritual (仪式) took place. As it grew dark, I would take my place in the center of the stoop and begin the evening's tale. Some nights, in order to taste my victory more completely, I cheated. I would stop at the most exciting part of a story by Jack London or Bret Harte, and without warning tell them that that was as far as I had gone in the book and it would have to be continued the following evening. It was not true, of course; but I had to make certain of my new-found power and position. I enjoyed the long summer evenings until school began in the fall. Other words of mine have been listened to by larger and more fashionable audiences, but for that tough and athletic one that sat close on the stoop outside the candy store, I have an unreasoning love that will last forever.

    While waiting for my daughter I treated myself with a coffee which I used to be so dependent on that when I stopped it I had headache for days. So while I was enjoying my rate moment, I was attracted by an old men who seemed not well

I could not see his face to be sure, as it was laid between his folded arms on the table. He had a long warm coat, and a big backpack which made me think he could be a homeless. I quit wondering, went to his table, patted him on the arm and asked him, "Are you OK?" He raised his head and said something in a whisper, nodding yes. I realized by the strong smell that he was indeed a homeless man.

I asked him if he was hungry. He responded but I could not understand his answer. However, I didn't give up and asked him if he would like some rice balls at which he raised his head saying clearly this time that he would be thankful for a rice bait Immediately I went to the nearest shop and bought a drink and a warm lunch box, and brought them to him. He said "thank you" but didn't eat right away and made no move, maybe because he was a little shy in the presence of a lady.

    So I left them on his table and changed my waiting place. When I passed again nearby, he was eating. You should have sensed my great pleasure. I was so grateful that I had the ways to help an old man even if only for a moment of his life.

    Life-Changing Science Discoveries

    Here's a look at some discoveries that have changed the world. It's impossible to rank their importance, so they're listed in the order they were discovered

Micro-organism

    Before French chemist Louis Pasteur began experimenting with bacteria in the 1860s, people did not know what caused disease. He not only discovered that disease came from micro-organisms, but also realized that bacteria could be killed by heat and disinfectant(消毒剂). This idea caused doctors to wash their hands and disinfect their instruments, which has saved millions of lives.

Penicillin

    Antibiotics are powerful drugs that kill dangerous bacteria in our bodies that make us sick. In 1928, British Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin, which he grew in his lab. Without antibiotics, infections like strep throat could be deadly

DNA

    On February 28, 1853, James Watson of the United States and Francis Crick of England made one of the greatest scientific discoveries in history. The two scientists found the structure of DNA. Our genes are made of DNA and determine how things like what color hair and eye we'll have. In 1962, they were awarded the Nobel Prize for this work . The discovery has helped doctors understand diseases and may someday prevent some illnesses like heart disease and cancer.

X-rays

    Wilhelm Roentgen, a German physicist, discovered X-rays in 1895. X-rays go right through some substances, like flesh and wood, but are stopped by others, such as bones and lead. This allows them to be used to see broken bones or explosives inside suitcases, which makes them useful for doctors and security officers. For this discovery, Roentgen was awarded the first-ever Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

    Seventy-three-year-old George McNeilon selected his food in Value Mart very carefully. After leaving the cashier, he estimated (估计) that he had saved 80 cents and thought that he had got good value for his money again.

    At the exit, the chilly wind reminded him of his gloves. "Now where are they?" He searched here and there, but nowhere could he find them. He was sure he was wearing them when he entered the store. The worried man made a second search in all his pockets, again including the grocery bag. He was sure they must have been dropped somewhere inside the store.

    George bought the gloves at a 25% discount, for just $30, ten years ago. They were genuine lambskin (小羊皮), soft, warm and durable. Until then, he had worn cheaper man-made material that lasted no more than three years. His impulsive decision to buy the expensive gloves turned out to be a good one, which even promoted his social status on the bus, as passengers stared at him enviously for six months out of the year. He enjoyed being envied.

    Bad luck, George thought, to lose his expensive gloves on New Year's Eve. He reentered the store and followed the same route he had walked before. But several minutes of anxious search turned out to be in vain. "Society has changed. People have changed …" he murmured to himself. "Years ago, if people picked up something lost, they would give it back."

    Back home, George was at a loss. In deep winter, he could not do anything without a pair of gloves. If he bought cheap ones, he would have to replace them very soon. If he bought new leather ones, they would cost forty dollars.

    After the holiday, poor George decided to buy another pair of leather gloves. Before boarding the subway, he stepped into Value Mart again to see if by any chance his gloves had been returned to the lost and found office.

    "What color are they?" the woman in the office asked.

    "Black," he answered.

    She looked into her drawer and drew out a pair of men's leather gloves.

    "Are they?"

    "Yes! Those are mine!"

    Once there were two mice. They were friends. One mouse lived in the country; the other mouse lived in the city. After many years the Country mouse saw the City mouse; he said, "Do come and see me at my house in the country." So the City mouse went. The City mouse said, "This food is not good, and your house is not good. Why do you live in a hole in the field? You should come and live in the city. You would live in a nice house made of stone. You would have nice food to eat. You must come and see me at my house in the city." The Country mouse went to the house of the City mouse. It was a very good house. Nice food was set ready for them to eat. But just as they began to eat they heard a great noise. The City mouse cried," Run! Run! The cat is coming!" They ran away quickly and hid. After some time they came out. When they came out, the Country mouse said. "I do not like living in the city. I like living in my hole in the field. For it is nicer to be poor and happy, than to be rich and afraid."

    The siesta competition took place in a supermarket, with plenty of shoppers, screaming babies, talking voices, and footsteps to take the competitors' attention away from their after lunch sleeps.

    Five bright blue sofas were laid out, and five competitors at a time were allowed to take a 20-minute sleep. A doctor measured their pulse to time how long they actually spent on asleep. Competitors earned extra points for snoring (打鼾), sleeping in strange positions, or wearing silly pajamas (睡衣). The winners of each round advance to the next stage in the competition.

    It's amazing that any of those people would fall asleep in the middle of such a busy place, while on couches that they are not used to. Yet, many of them did. They hugged pillows or soft toy bears. They covered their eyes with sleep masks, too. Whatever it took to help them fall asleep fast and stay asleep.

    The siesta is a tradition in Spain that many feel is becoming forgotten. It used to be that people would take a brief nap after lunch every day. This would energize them, and keep them going for the rest of the day. Not to mention the health benefits of a good nap. But, that's all changing. People are too busy making money or watching gossip shows on TV after lunch to care about taking a nap.

    The National Association of Friends of the Siesta wants to bring Spain back to their traditional roots. They are doing this by having the siesta competition. They set up the competition to reward the best sleepers with money. Actually, they were paid to sleep.

    There are really health benefits to a midday nap. We could all learn from this tradition. It's a much better way to get more energy than drinking a cup of coffee. It is also believed that a nap, and in fact a good night's sleep, can help reduce heart disease. The more rested we are, the less stress we feel with day-to-day life.