On August 25, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Southern Texas. The storm lasted for days, pouring almost 52 inches of rain. The downpour has caused widespread flooding, forcing more than 32,000 people into shelters and damaging the city's water supply system.

    The only silver lining is that disasters like these seemed to unite people. While the number of organizations and individuals that have gone all out to assist the victims is too many to list, here are some highlights of the outpouring of support that has made headlines this past week.

    A week ago, NFI player JJ Watt set up a website with a goal to raise $200,000. Soon he has collected over $18 million, and the donations keep pouring in. The thrilled football star wants to ensure the money is used where needed, saying, “We're trying to make sure it goes directly to the people. So our first wave of operation is we'll have nine semi-trucks going out there and I will go straight into the communities and hand stuff out there.”

    Ordinary individuals are not shying away from helping either. Jim McIngvale, the owner of a furniture store, turned his two 100,000-square-foot warehouse into shelters. When asked if he was concerned about the furniture that was being used by those living there, he responded, “These people are nice. They're taking care of the furniture. Furniture's made to be sat on, slept on or laid on. It's just a product.”

    There are also many unsung heroes that are putting their lives at risk to help others. After discovering an elderly man trapped inside his truck, local people made a human chain through the dangerous water to drag him to safety.

    While there is not much anyone could have done to prevent the loss, people across the US are doing everything they can to help its people recover.

    Around three forty-five on a rainy Saturday morning, I was woken up by the sound of my pager(呼机) beeping. As a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician, I can never count on a full night of sleep. I pulled myself out of bed and went toward the desk to grab my radio. Our crew was being sent to a nearby home where a man was in cardiac arrest (心脏骤停). We found the man lying on the kitchen floor with his wife beside him. We rushed the patient to the hospital, but despite our efforts, we were unable to save his life.

    In my line of life, I rarely get any recognition from the patients we treat, or from their loved ones. But that night, a man's wife approached us, and through her tears, whispered, “Thank you.” Then she hugged each of us. She knew we answered her late-night call for help, even though the ending was not positive.

    There is something deeply rewarding about helping people in these circumstances. Sometimes, I'm able to make their worst day a bit better: like seeing the tears of an injured child turn into a smile when I gave him an interesting toy; or watching a terrified mother's screams turn into tears of joy when she realized her baby was going to be fine.

    Experiences like these allow me to see the impact my work has on others. At the same time, I also know the effect it has had on my own life. As a teenager, I felt awkward when my dad hugged me and said, “ I love you, my dear son.” I was equally uncomfortable and responded, “I love you.” But then I imagined him lying on the kitchen floor that rainy night and realized that my opportunity to say those three words could—at any moment—be taken away forever. Now, I extremely treasure the moment when my father says those three words to me. I've learned to appreciate every relationship I have, to tell people I care about them, and to never take anything in life for granted.

    The full moon climbs over the eastern horizon (地平线) and hangs like a huge orange globe in the sky. A few hours later, the moon is overhead but seems to have changed. The huge orange globe has become a small silver disk. What has happened? Why has the orange color disappeared? Why does the moon seem so much smaller and farther away now that it is overhead?

    The moon appears orange on the horizon because we view it through the dust of the atmosphere. The overhead moon does not really shrink (缩小) as it moves away from the horizon. Our eyes inform us that the overhead moon is farther away. But in this position the moon is actually closer to our eyes than when it is near the horizon.

    The change in size is a trick our eyes and minds play on us. When the moon is low in the sky, we can compare its size with familiar objects. It is easy to see that the moon is much larger than trees or buildings, for example. When the moon is high in the sky, however, it is hard to compare it with objects on earth. Compared to the vastness of the sky, the moon seems small.

    There is another reason why the moon seems to shrink. We are used to staring at objects straight ahead of us. When an object is difficult to see, our eyes have to try to focus on it. When we move our heads back to look up, we will try hard again. Looking at something from an unaccustomed position can fool you into believing an object is smaller or farther away than it is. However, scientists do not yet understand completely why the moon seems to shrink as it rises in the sky.

    Many years ago, Norman Cousins was seriously ill. He was given six months to live. His chance for recovery was 1 in 500.

    He could see the worry, depression and anger in his life contributed to his disease. He wondered, "If illness can be caused by negativity (消极性), can health be created by positivity (积极性)?" He decided to make an experiment of himself.

    Laughing was one of the most positive activities he knew. He watched all the funny movies he could find. He read funny stories. He asked his friends to call him whenever they said, heard or did something interesting.

    His pain was so great that he could not sleep. Laughing for 10 solid minutes, he found, relieved the pain for several hours so he could sleep. He fully recovered from his illness and lived another 20 happy and healthy years.

    Laughing is necessary to our health. If we're not well, laughing helps us get well; if we are well, laughing helps us stay that way. So, if you like laughing, do it as often as you can.

    Use whatever makes you laugh­movies, books, jokes or friends. The people around you may think you're strange, but sooner or later they'll join in even if they don't know what you're laughing about.

    If you're living in or visiting New York, take a few hours to visit one of these places to ice skate during your time in New York City.

    Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park

    The free rink in Manhattan's Bryant Park first opened in 2005 At 17,000 square feet, it is about half the size of the Wollman Rink in Central Park and twice as big as the rink at Rockefeller Center.

    As Manhattan's only free skating rink, and centrally located at that, it tends to be mobbed(闱聚) with waits up to 2 hours on weekend days.

    Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers

    Manhattan's only year-round skating rink is a delight that's been around since 1965 It's large, indoors, and has few lines, and courteous staff It's also, amazingly, open 24 hours a day In the winter it sometimes gets so cold that the ice cracks, but at least they fix it!

    Prices for skating admission is $11 and skate rental $6.

    Riverbank Stile Park Ice Skating Rink

    This sizeable outdoor rink is open to the public Friday through Sunday, and has a root to prevent December snows and April rain .And since Riverbank Stale Park overlooks the Hudson, you'll have nice views of the river and the George Washington Bridge as a backdrop.

    Admission is S5 for adults, children S3 Skate rental is $6 The Ice Kink at Rockefeller Center Ice skating at Rockefeller Center is a truly unique New York holiday staple(重要内容). It is the most sumptuous(豪华的)getting for skating Since opening on Christmas Day back in 1936 this skating rink has been an institution at the Rockefeller.

    Admission is $25—$32 for adults, children up to 12 years S15, skate retual $12.

    On a recent spring morning. Susan Alexander, a retired government intelligence analyst, left her Maryland home, climbed into her Volkswagen Passat and drove about three miles to pick up two strangers. She battled rush-hour traffic on the Capital Beltway and George Washington Memorial Parkway before dropping them off at Reagan National Airport. She didn't earn a cent for her trouble, and that was the point.

    Alexander is a member of the Silver Spring Time Bank— one of more than 100 such exchanges around the world trying to build community by exchanging time credits for services instead of dollars and cents. "I have time," she said. "I like giving the gift of time to other people."

    In Alexander's case, passengers Mary and Al Liepold were grateful for the ride, but it wasn't charity. Mary, a retired writer and editor for nonprofit organizations, used time credits she banked for editing work and baking. Senior citizens who don't drive, the Liepolds cashed in their credits to catch a flight to Montreal for a five-day vacation.

    Without money changing hands or shifting between virtual accounts, the airport drop-off was more like a coffee party than a taxi ride. Driver and passengers chatted about projects they've completed for the time bank, and no one raised an eyebrow when Mary said she likes "to avoid the conventional economy."

    "The beauty of this is that you make friends," Mary Liepold said. "You don't just get services."

    The Silver Spring Time Bank formed in 2015 and has about 300 members, said co-founder Mary Murphy. Last year, she said, l,000 hours were exchanged for basic home repairs, dog walking, cooking and tailoring, among other services, without the exchange of money." You get to save that money that you would have spent," she said. "You get to meet somebody else in your community and get to know that person. That's a bonus that's part of an exchange."

    A deal performed partly to make friends would seem to go against classical economics and one of Benjamin Franklin's most memorable sayings: "Time is money." To those at the forefront of modern time-banking, that is the appeal.