When I was in my fourth year of teaching, I was also (and am still) a high school track and field coach(田径教练). One year, I had a student, John, who entered my class when he was a junior. John changed to our school from Greece, and seemed to be interested in sports, so I encouraged him to join our track team. I explained to him that even though he had never taken part in it before, I did believe that he could do well in any event, and I would be willing to coach him at whichever ones interested him. He accepted the offer, and began to work hard at every practice.

    About a month later, I had found out from other sources that John was a first-class tennis player, winning various junior awards in his home country. I went to him asking, "John, I really appreciate that you came out for the track team, but why didn't you play tennis instead? It seems that would interest you a lot more, since you're so good at it." John answered, "Well, I like tennis, but you told me that you believed in me, and that you thought I could do well in track, so I wanted to try it for that reason."

    From then on, I often remember my student's reply. I told it to a friend and she suggested I write it down to share somewhere with more teachers. No matter how critical (不满的) students can be of them-selves, I've found that a simple "I trust that you can do it!" can go a long way!

    As the world around them is changing, teenagers continue to need guidance and support from both parents. Studies show that teens who have an active relationship with their fathers are less likely(可能的)to involve themselves in dangerous behaviors and more likely to succeed in school and develop higher self-worth, because their fathers go beyond social expectations to devote attention to them.

    Peer(同龄人)pressure has always been a big part of the teens' experience. Even the best father can't completely protect their kids from the growing influence of their peer group. However, studies show that teenagers whose fathers focus on their lives are more likely to resist (抵抗)the more bad effects of peer pressure, taking drugs, for example.

    Teens may not like to admit it, but they are watching their parents closely and often follow their example. An interesting finding explains just how important parents are, especially Dad. Swiss researchers discovered that if Dad attends church, even though Mom doesn't, 44 percent of the kids are still more likely to keep going to church as adults. But if Mom goes regularly and Dad never shows up, only 2 percent of the kids continue to attend.

    Teenagers face a lot of difficult choices, especially in their later teens. Fathers don't get to make those choices for them, but they can be influenced. For example, teenagers can learn a lot from their parents' concern on what to do when they finish high school. Should they go directly to college and, if so, where? Should they consider going to trade schools, joining the army or looking for a job? A father's guidance brings a long-term perspective that teens often lack to these important decisions.

    If you will be cycling, you will need to know what these traffic signs and signals mean.

    A sign like this one means that there is a bike lane（道）. If there is a bike lane, you are required to use it. If there is not a bike lane, you should ride with traffic as far to the right side of the road as possible.

    When the signal light turns green, cars go. When you cross the street at a signal light, you should wait for the walk signal. Be sure to look carefully to the left, right and left again, before crossing the street.

    When the signal light turns yellow, car drivers should slow down and prepare to stop. You should not cross if the light is yellow. The light is about to turn red, and cars will enter the intersection(十字路口).

    This signal is the WALK sign. It has a picture of a person walking instead of using the word WALK.

    This signal is the DON'T WALK sign. It is part of the signal with the picture of a person walking. This is a picture of a red hand, meaning you should stop. You should wait to cross the street until the green picture of the person walking is showing.

    Car drivers and bikers must come to a complete stop at STOP signs.

    A yield sign means to slow down and be ready to stop. If there are pedestrians（行人）or vehicles in or nearing the intersection, you must stop. If there is no traffic in or nearing the intersection and it is safe, you may go through.

    This sign means you are coming to a crosswalk. Car drivers and bikers must stop to allow people in the crosswalk to cross the street.

    The British live on a small island. They are surrounded by the sea, so it is not surprising that the sea has always played an important role in their lives. After the development of large, ocean­going sailing ships in the fifteenth century, the sea became even more important to the country's development. Ships setting sail from England determined to extend Britain's territories, its wealth and its knowledge of the world. Ships returned to England bringing goods, people and new ideas from foreign places. By the nineteenth century, Britain had the largest, most powerful navy in the world.

    The great sailing ships were so much a part of British life that they even affected the language. Many English expressions we use today were originally nautical (航海的) terms, although most people no longer realize this. For example, people commonly describe an honest and fair business deal as being "above board". This expression was originally used in sailing ship times when secretive, dishonest ship's business would be carried out below decks (below the boards) out of public view. On the other hand, honest business was always conducted on deck (above the boards), in the open where everyone could see what was going on.

    "Pipe down!", meaning "Be quiet!", is another common expression that has nautical origins. The ship's boatswain (水手长) would blow a whistle, or pipe, at the end of the day to indicate (表明) to the sailors it was time to quieten down and go to sleep.

    Most native English speakers have heard the expression "not enough room to swing a cat", but few know that the "cat" does not refer to a small furry animal with four legs and a tail. The "cat" is actually a short form of "cat of nine tails" — a whip with nine, knotted (打结的) tails. A boatswain needed a lot of space in order to swing the whip properly when lashing (鞭打) a poor sailor under his control!

    Since English biologist Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, scientists have vastly improved their knowledge of natural history. However, a lot of information is still of the speculation, and scientists can still only make educated guesses at certain things.

    One subject that they guess about is why some 400 million years ago, animals in the sea developed limbs (肢) that allowed them to move onto and live on land.

    Recently, an idea that occurred to the US paleontologist (古生物学家) Alfred Romer a century ago became a hot topic once again.

    Romer thought that tidal (潮汐的) pools might have led to fish gaining limbs. Sea animals would have been forced into these pools by strong tides. Then, they would have been made either to adapt to their new environment close to land or die. The fittest among them grew to accomplish the transition (过渡) from sea to land.

    Romer called these earliest four-footed animals “tetrapods”. Science has always thought that this was a credible theory, but only recently has there been strong enough evidence to support it.

    Hannah Byrne is an oceanographer (海洋学家) at Uppsala University in Sweden. She announced at the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Oregon, US, that by using computer software, her team had managed to link Homer's theory to places where fossil deposits (沉积物) of the earliest tetrapods were found.

    According to the magazine Science, in 2014, Steven Balbus, a scientist at the University of Oxford in the UK, calculated that 400 million years ago, when the move from land to sea was achieved, tides were stronger than they are today. This is because the planet was 10 percent closer to the moon than it is now.

    The creatures stranded in the pools would have been under the pressure of “survival of the fittest”, explained Mattias Green, an ocean scientist at the UK's University of Bangor. As he told Science, “After a few days in these pools, you become food or you run out of food... the fish that had large limbs had an advantage because they could flip (翻转) themselves back in the water.”

    As is often the case, however, there are others who find the theory less convincing. Cambridge University's paleontologist Jennifer Clark, speaking to Nature magazine, seemed unconvinced. “It's only one of many ideas for the origin of land-based tetrapods, any or all of which may have been a part of the answer,” she said.

    There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.

    I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly(特别) relish the long train journey and had brought along many magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.

    It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johor Bahru was just a city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive, I decided to wave back.

    From then on, my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.

    The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all round me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug. I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.

    I looked forward to the return journey.