Chopsticks

    Right now, millions of people are digging into their food with two sticks that have school the test of time as a utensil(烹调用具)for humans. But what's so special about them? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Personally, I think they teach us the importance of:

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} 

    If you're ever tried using them, you know that you can't get what you want by just randomly stabbing at the plate. To be able to get what you want, you have to aim for it. There's no way you can pick up everything in one go. Know what you want, and just do it. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

    Practice

    Using chopsticks doesn't come naturally. You can't learn to use them by just reading about them. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It is the same with the real life. You can read as much as you like about all the things you want to do, but it will just amount to dreams and theory if you don't try actually doing it.

    Slowing Down

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Why? Because it allows your stomach to tell your brain you're full before you overeat. Eating with chopsticks is a slower process, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes we need to slow down and take things one step at a time, so that we have time to think and realize that we don't have to keep charging full speed through life.

A. Aim

B. Motivation

C. What can we learn from them?

D. You have to practice using them

E. Those who eat too fast were less successful at losing weight

F. Sometimes, a little bit of focus makes the difference between failure and success

G. A common health tip is to try to eat with chopsticks when you can

    There is a story about a man who lost his legs and left arm in an accident. After the accident, only a finger and thumb on his right hand remained.

    He was a brilliant, creative, and educated man. He had gained a lot of experience while traveling around the world, so he became very depressed after his accident. He was afraid that he would spend the rest of his life suffering and would no longer be able to spend his life in a meaningful way. Then, he realized that he still had partial function of his right hand and could still write even though it was very difficult. An idea occurred to him, “Why not write to other people who need encouragement?”

    He wrote to the prison ministry about sending letters to the prisoners. The prison minister replied, “Writing to the prisoners is acceptable, but your letters will not be answered.”

    Filled with excitement, the man knew he could write his letters. He began sending one-way messages of God's love, hope, strength, and encouragement. He wrote twice a week, testing his strength and ability to the limit. He poured his heart and soul into his words and shared his experience, sense of humor, optimism, and faith.

    It was difficult to write those letters, especially without hope of a reply. One day he received a letter from the prison ministry. It was a short note from the officer who monitored and checked the prison mail.

    The letter said, “Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from room to room until they fall to pieces!”

    No matter what circumstances life may present, we all have unique experiences, abilities, and God-given talents. We can discover ways to reach others who desperately need messages of encouragement and strength.

The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smartphone, writing by hand has become something of nostalgic (怀旧的)skill. However, while today's educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful—both in school and in life.

    Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it's important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand.

Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks—both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate.

    In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student's writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to know well they can write. “Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active which helps us access our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas.” Berninger said.

    Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe(转换) “those words in the mind written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen,” the study said. Seeing the words in the “mind's eye” helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot(发现) spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct then over time.

     “In our computer age, some people believe that we don't have to teach spelling because we have spell checks,” she said. “But until a child has a functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won't have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the options given by the computer.”

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Learn to cure cancer

    A vaccine for cancer is in the works.

    Lauren Landry and Chloe Tomblin are the scientists. They look in freezers(冰柜) for bacteria to use in the research. This research has its limitations—mostly because their lab is in a high school.

    But Lauren, 16, and Chloe,17 both students are Western Reserve Academy in the US, aren't put off by the difficulties they face in their cancer immunology(免疫学) class.

    “I hope we get to the point where we can get to a vaccine and write a paper,” Lauren said.

    Both conduct research into how to engage the immune system in stopping cancer from forming.

    Though the lab is in a high school, they don't use textbooks. The aim is to conduct real cancer research, either by testing the effects of substances on cancer cells or developing vaccines to target the growth of those harmful cells.

    The idea for the class came from Robert Aguilar, who has taught at the private school for many years. Students spend the first year learning research techniques. In the second year, students swap(调换) their blue lab coats for white ones. By this stage they are well into their research projects.

    “If first-years need any help, they can feel free to ask second-year students,” Aguilar said.

    Students form groups to conduct their research. One pair of students has researched the effect of capsaicin(辣椒素) on killing cancer cells. Another has tested the effect of caffeine(咖啡因) on the growth rate of breast cancer(乳腺癌) cells.

But few students get to the point in their research of experimentation with mice, Aguilar said. Lauren and Chloe hope that they can make decent progress in their work.

    “We know they're going to be used for good,” Lauren said. “If it does or doesn't work, it still has a huge impact.”

    Aguilar teaches the students that even research that doesn't work still contributes to science in some way. He tells students that “the best part of research is failing a lot”.

    I was 16 when my father finally decided he would send me to wilderness camp for several months. He had threatened to do it many times before, but my mother had always managed to prevent him from doing so. This ti me he insisted on doing it.

    The latest incident was the last straw. Impulsively (冲动地), I had pushed Mr. Ford, my math teacher, down a flight of steps at school. He broke his arm in two places. Anyway, he had agreed not to accuse me as a favor to my dad, who was in the middle of a tight race for sheriff (执法官) in our town. But my reckless behavior had my dad's closest advisor talking.

    "John, he's your son and he's a kid, but he is dragging you down," I heard Jake Hutch tell my dad through his closed office door the night after I pushed Mr. Ford. "If you can't make your son obey the rules, how can you make the law obeyed in this town?"

    So, off to Pisgah National Forest I went. I imagined hours of untold abuse at the hands of some strong sergeants (军士). I was determined not to be broken. I was who I was,

    Nearly every day for six months, a small group of other troubled teens and I carried our 30-pound backpacks on a difficult journey covering about 10 miles. We hiked in a rough wilderness that seemed untouched by civilization.

    Our sergeants were firm but kind, not frightening as I had imagined. We learned how to make a fire without matches and create a shelter with branches and grass. We learned which plants were safe to eat out in the wild. I felt myself change. I was calm and often reflective. My old, impulsive self was gone.

    One morning, six months later, my dad came to pick me up. I ran to hug him and saw happiness and love in his eyes.

    "So what's it like being sheriff?" I asked on the ride home.

    "I lost the race, Danny," he said.

    "I'm sorry, Dad." I knew my behavior probably had a lot to do with the defeat.

    Dad squeezed my shoulder and brought me close. "As long as I don't ever lose you, I'm okay."