Seven years ago,back in 2010,some reports covered a story that the world's longest railway tunnel was under construction in Switzerland.At that point it had already been under construction for over a decade.It had been voted to be built nearly a quarter of a century ago!The idea to build it could date back to nearly 70 years ago—about as old as some of your grandparents!

Yesterday,it was finally ready!

    It's 35 miles long and runs 7,500 feet beneath the Swiss Alps,a famous mountain range in Switzerland.It even runs under an old tunnel that was there before.It took a total of 17 years to build at a cost of $12 billion.128 million tons of rock were dug.Two million truckloads of earth were removed!

    The tunnel connects northern and southern Europe.The opening of this runnel was such a big deal that the Germany's leader,Chancellor Angela Merkel,France's president,Francois Hollande,and Italy's prime minister,Matteo Renzi,were an there to celebrate,as was Austria's chancellor Christian Kern.

    It's called the Gotthard Base Tunnel.Eventually,325 freight and passenger trains will go through the tunnel,relieving a lot of traffic on the roadways there and making it a more environmentally friendly option.The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a wonder of engineering!Make us want to visit it!

    Eat your vegetables.Wash your hands.Always say“please”and“thank you”.We are full of advice for our children, but when it comes to money,we often have little to say.As a result,our children may grow up with clean hands and good manners,but without any idea how to manage their money.

    Here are some basics that will help guide them their entire lives:

    Show them the future.If your 13-year-old girl were to save $1.000,invest（投资）it at 8% and add $100 every month,by the time she's 65,she would have $980,983!

    Be careful of credit（信用）.Credit cards can help you buy necessary things and build a credit history,but they must be used responsibly,which means paying off your debt in time.Explain to your children that when you buy something using a credit card,you can easily end up paying two or three times what you would have paid if you used cash.

    Teach patience.Suppose your child wants a new bicycle that costs $150.Rather than paying the cash,give him some regular pocket money and explain that by putting aside,say,$15 each week,he will be able to buy it for himself in only ten weeks.

    Provide incentive（激励机制）.Tell your children the importance of saving."For every dollar he or she agrees to save and invest rather than spend,you agree to add another dollar to the pot,"says Cathy Pareto,expert in money planning.

    Explain your values.Values and money are deeply intertwined（纠缠在一起）,says Eilleen Gallo,co-author of The Financially Intelligent Parent.When your child demands that you buy something,explain why you really don't want to buy it.“You might say,‘I'd rather save that money for your education,'”advises Gallo.Every time you spend or don't spend money,you have a chance to share your values.

    Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mum, you must come and see the daffodils (水仙花) before they are over."

    I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Lake Arrowhead. "I will go next Tuesday," I promised, a little unwillingly, on her third call.

    The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible (看不见的) in the cloud and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see!"

    My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in such weather all the time, Mum. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

    After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small road and on the far side of a small church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read "Daffodil Garden". We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up amazed. Before me lay the most beautiful sight. Flows of flowers of different colors seemed poured down the peak and slopes. There were five acres of flowers! A sea of daffodil! It was like a fairyland all beyond description.

    "But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn. "It's just one woman," Carolyn answered. That's her home. "Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio (露台), we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs (鳞茎)" it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

    I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than fifty years before, had begun--one bulb at a time--to bring beauty and joy to this remote mountain top. Just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world where she lived and created something of magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

    When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small amounts of daily effort, we too can accomplish great things. Everyone can do something to change the world.

Worlds of Fun

    Location: Worlds of Fun is located off Highway 435 in Kansas City, Missouri.

History: Worlds of Fun was opened on May 26, 1973, at a cost of 25 million dollars, which was founded by Hunt Midwest Company. In 1982, Hunt Midwest bought a nearby water park，Oceans of Fun, In 2013, Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun were combined to a one ticket admission, providing all guests with 235 acres of amusement and water rides.

Hours: Worlds of Fun is open from April through Halloween.

Tickets: Buy and print online. Always try to buy your tickets in advance, to save time when you get to the park.

Reservations: Worlds of Fun sells “Fast Lane” cards that save riders' time by allowing them to bypass the majority of wait for most of rides and attractions. Ride as many times as you want all day long.

Strategy (策略): Most visitors tend to begin the day with Prowler, the hottest attraction in the park. However, you'd better use that trend and head to the Patriot first. After that, try the Dragons. Then work your way back to the Prowler. After riding the Prowler, there is only one coaster left, Mamba. Hit it next. If the park is not very crowded, you can ride Boomerang on the way to Mamba. After riding Mamba, head back for a ride on the Wolf. By then you will have tried most of the popular rides and attractions in the shortest possible time.

News: In 2017, Worlds of Fun is adding Steel Hawk, a ride that will take guests up 301 feet in the air and spin (旋转) them at a 45-degree angle for a 60-second flight. Wait to have a try!

    The burst of barking suddenly woke me up. It was 2:30 a.m. in the early morning. Wondering why Rock was making so loud noises, I decided to go to him. By the time I made it to the bottom of the stairs, he was running up. I felt strange, for he had never come up the stairs, no matter what. I think that was his way of telling me, “We've got to go back up.”

    When I got to the top of the stairs, I turned around and saw a light on, but I didn't remember leaving one on. I walked downstairs again, and that's when I saw fire. I immediately shouted to my wife to wake up and get our three kids. I grabbed a knife and cut out the plastic that covered the window to the porch roof. I then forced open the window and kicked out the screen. I got everybody out on the roof and threw a blanket out there so we wouldn't slip off. It was cold, January cold. Then I started screaming for help. But help never came.

    I was scared of heights, but I couldn't let my family burn up. So I just jumped off the roof and got the wind knocked out of me when I landed.

    I found our ladder, placed it against the house, and climbed back up to the roof. I wrapped my arms around my daughter and carried my nine-month-old with my teeth, by his little sleeper. Then I climbed down the ladder. Once on the ground, I had my little girl hold her brother, and I went back up to the roof to get my other daughter. Then I went back up again and got my wife. I tried to get my dog, but he just disappeared in the black smoke. I never saw Rock alive again.

Humans' voice sounds more pleasant than that of primates（灵长类动物）because we don't have vocal membranes （声带膜）, a new study suggests.

Humans have vocal cords（声带）, muscles in the top of the throat, which vibrate（振动）to produce sound. That unique part helps people control their voices well enough to produce sounds that form spoken language. However, unlike all the other studied primates, humans don't have vocal membranes.

To find out how vocal membranes affected spoken sounds, a team from Kyoto University took throats from monkeys that had died of natural causes and put the parts into devices, pushing air through the throats to see how the vocal cords and membranes would react. In the experiment, the researchers found that their vocal membranes and vocal cords vibrated together.

Researchers said these vocal membranes make it harder for other primates to control the voices they make. Without these membranes, humans vocal source is more balanced, allowing better voice control and production of long and balanced voices. A key thing that distinguishes human speech from animal sounds is our control over the sounds we make.

In humans, that sort of unpleasant voices can happen when we put extreme amounts of pressure on our voice, like baby crying and adult screaming. But those are rare cases. Researchers also said that our mouths and tongues could help control the voices. They are the basis of human languages.