People from all over the world visit Disneyland to have fun, not to get sick. But last week， an outbreak of measles（麻疹）spread from the Southern California theme park. As of Monday, January 19, at least 52 people have got the easily spread illness.

    The majority of the reported cases of measles are from people who visited the park before. According to the California Department of Public Health, these people were exposed to the illness at Disneyland from December 17-20.

    Officials believe the cause is likely someone who caught measles abroad and visited Disneyland, but this has yet to be proved. However, in 2014, California had its highest measles infection rate in nearly twenty years. There were 66 cases of measles reported in the state―23 of them in Orange County, where Disneyland is located.

    Measles spreads very easily. It can be caught from coughing and sneezing. Crowded areas like theme parks are especially suitable for its spread.

    The illness starts with a fever and develops into symptoms including a cough， runny nose, red eyes and so on. About three out of ten people infected with measles will develop another health problem, including an ear infection or pneumonia(肺炎).

    The best way to guard against measles is to get vaccinated(打疫苗). An unvaccinated person is 35 times more likely to catch measles than someone who received a vaccination.

    Well, parents, surprise! Lots of us are using Twitter and Facebook to thumb rides, and not just to school. It's awkward to be refused when you call a friend and ask for a ride. But with Twitter, you just look for other people heading the same way.

    It may sound risky, so many teens stay within their own social circles to find rides, and don't branch out beyond friends when asking on Twitter just like me, but to some young people, especially those taking longer trips, stranger danger is less of a concern.

    “I think the digital connection of young people is really important, because younger generations grew up sharing things on line, sharing files, photos, music, etc, so they've been very used to sharing,” said Juliet Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College.

    The sharing economy got big during the recession (经济衰退), allowing people to access more goods, services using technology and even to share costs. And that technology, for me, is what the car was for my mom, a gateway to more freedom, like what my friend Earl says, “The symbol of freedom isn't the car any more because there's technology out there connecting you to a car.”

    According to the researchers at the University of Michigan, 30 years ago, eight in ten American 18-year-olds had a driver's license compared to six in ten today. So it's not that surprising that on my 16th birthday I wasn't rushing to get a license but an iPhone.

“Driving, for young people, does mean they have to disconnect from their technology, and that's a negative. So if they could sit in the passage side and still be connected, that's going to be a plus.” Schor continued.

    To me, another plus is that ridesharing represents something, something much bigger than trying to save money. I see it as evidence that people still depend on each other. My generation shares their cars and apartments the way neighbors used to share cups of sugar. For the system to work, some of us still need our own cars. But until I get my own version of the silver Super Beetle, you can find me on Twitter.

    Were you into skateboarding, surfing or snowboarding when you were a kid? We can remember our first (less than successful) go at skateboarding, as well as the first time we managed to stand up on surfboards.

    It was so much fun that we were hooked on extreme sports. However, not everyone thinks that introducing children to extreme sports is a good idea.

    Writer Jon Lackman considers whether sports like snowboarding, climbing and skateboarding could be dangerous to the growing bodies of young children. Lackman also looks for advice from medical professions.”

    “Kids aren't mentally ready for these activities,” says a doctor, Vani Sabesan. “They cannot realize the risks, and their parents can't always be trusted to stop them.”

    Sabesan is particularly worried about the influence of extreme sports on TV and the Internet on children. “What we're seeing is that a lot of kids think they can do what the professional athletes can do.”

    If someone, who was encouraged to go surfing at the age of five, was presented with a surfboard when he/she was seven, I think these worries are a little overstated(夸大的), if not misplaced.

    Extreme sports can be dangerous, but there's as much chance of falling off your bike or your roller skates(四轮滑冰鞋鞋) as off a skateboard or surfboard.

My own experience of extreme sports leads me to think that I'll allow my own kids to try them in the same way my parents allowed me.

    In sports such as surfing and snowboarding, there's a sense of adventure and courage. It is important to tell young children about it.

Did I fall off my surfboard? All the time. Did I get back on? Every time.

    Minecraft, a video game with which you can build virtual（虚拟的） worlds, will be used in the classroom. Microsoft bought the game from its Swedish creator for 2.5 billion dollars. Now, the software（软件） company wants to offer schools a special educational version（版本）.

    MinecraftEdu is an add-on to the game, which has specially created by teachers for classroom use. While thousands of classes around the world are already using Minecraft in their lessons, Microsoft wants to make it easier for schools to use the software.

    Minecraft is a game that can be used in many subjects, including maths, science and geography. Microsoft wants to add new features to the educational version, for example letting students take photos and putting them into an online diary. The new version will allow children to download the game and at home without having to pay more money for it. Microsoft is expected to ask students and teachers for about 5 dollars a year to use the game in school and at home.

    According to Microsoft, Minecraft has 100 million players around the world. It has become one of the best-selling games of all times. Pupils can create their own virtual worlds with the help of special building blocks. Joy Morsi, a New York high school teacher, says that Minecraft helps develop the imagination of children in the classroom. Besides, teachers around the world create new things and share them with others, so that the Minecraft community keeps growing.

    Microsoft plans to make the game of available to pupils and students of all ages, from primary school through to college. the company plans to add Minecraft to an Office 365 account(账户), so that it can also sell more of its Office software.

    Leonardo da Vinci is often thought of mainly as an artist, with world-famous works like The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But his notebooks, filled with his strange writing, show that his main interests were in engineering and technology.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} If his pioneering work on anatomy (解剖学) is also taken into consideration, it is not hard to see why Leonardo is considered to be one of the greatest geniuses (天才) of all time.

    Born in 1452 to a Florentine lawyer and a local village girl, Leonardo was given only a very basic education. After ten years in the workshop of the artist Verrocchio, he began to work for himself. The work he did shows an unbelievable combination of technical skill and very careful observation.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    At the age of thirty, he left his hometown and moved to Milan, where he spent seventeen years working for the Duke of Milan. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} In fact, his painting was increasingly influenced by his interest in mathematics. During this period, he painted The Last Supper and developed his ideas for chemical weapons (化学武器).

    In 1506 he returned to Milan and became increasingly interested in science. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} He also studied many other animals, comparing their bodies to the human body. From then on, Leonardo spent the rest of his life mainly on his scientific studies.

A. Before long, he returned to his painting.

B. Of course, his place in art history is certain.

C. It also shows his great interest in technology.

D. The notebooks are full of drawings for all kinds of inventions.

E. He began to study human bodies and the movement of the blood.

F. Here he continued to combine his scientific work with his painting.

G. It was a good chance to make some money with his new inventions.

    Grown-ups are often surprised by how well they remember something they learned as children but have never practiced ever since. A man who has not had a chance to go swimming for years can still swim as well as ever when he gets back in the water. He can get on a bicycle after many years and still ride away. He can play catch and hit a ball as well as his son. A mother who has not thought about the words for years can teach her daughter the poem that begins “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” or remember the story of Cinderella or Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

    One explanation is the law of overlearning, which can be stated as follows: Once we have learned something, additional learning experiences increase the length of time we will remember it.

    In childhood we usually continue to practice such skills as swimming, bicycle riding, and playing baseball long after we have learned them. We continue to listen to and remind ourselves of words such as “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” and childhood tales such as Cinderella and Goldilocks. We not only learn but overlearn.

    The multiplication tables (乘法口诀表) are an exception to the general rule that we forget rather quickly the things that we learn in school, because they are another of the things we overlearn in childhood.

    The law of overlearning explains why cramming (突击学习) for an examination, though it may result in a passing grade, is not a satisfactory way to learn a college course. By cramming, a student may learn the subject well enough to get by on the examination, but he is likely soon to forget almost everything he learned. A little overlearning, on the other hand, is really necessary for one's future development.