When Luke went to university he thought he would be on a new journey in life and getting his own place. In the UK, it's common to fly the nest at a fairly young age. Many choose a flat-share; others make plans to get on the property ladder.

    But the current economic situation forced Luke back to his mum's house at the age of 27. And he's not alone: a quarter of young adults in the UK now live with their parents. The Office for National Statistics said more than 3.3 million adults between the ages of 20 and 34 were living with their parents in 2013.

    Lack of jobs and the high cost of renting accommodation made Luke change his plans. He's upset. "There's something very difficult about being an adult living in an environment where you're still a child," he says. "It limits me socially; sometimes I feel it limits me professionally."

    Indeed, many young people have no choice but to stay at "the hotel of Mum and Dad".

    Krissy had to return home after a year away and now lives in rather terrible conditions, sharing the family's three-bedroom house with her sisters. She says they end up getting on each other's nerves when it's time to use the bathroom in the morning.

    Of course, living with your parents is not unusual in some countries. Economic conditions, culture, or family traditions mean many young people stay at home until they get married. Even then, it can be too expensive to rent or buy a house and the married couples continue to live at one of their parents' homes.

    But some parents seem to enjoy having their kids back at home. Janice's daughters are part of what's being called "the boomerang generation". She says, "I get to share their lives with them, and I've got to know them all as adults. We have the sort of conversations that good friends do."

    So for some it's a win-win situation — spending time with your families, and saving money.

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    When Allison Winn was eight and her family adopted a dog named Coco, they had no idea how much the little creature would change her life. “Coco helped me feel better,” says Allison, who was recovering from l4 months of treatment for a brain cancer at the time. “She would cuddle（偎依) with me when I didn't want to play.” Allison loved Coco so much that she told her parents she wanted to help other sick kids find the same kind of comfort.

    She started small, raising money by selling lemonade and home-made dog biscuits in front of her house. Her first customer was the mailman. By the end of that summer, she had raised nearly $l,000, enough to adopt and train two dogs and give them to children with cancer. Now, a little more than two years later, some groups gather to make dog treats for Allison's cause.

    Her organization, the Stink Bug Project, named after a picture she drew in memory of the end of her treatment, is run and managed in partnership with the Morgan Adams Foundation. Stink Bug helps families adopt pets from the Trained K9 Companion Program, where the rescued dogs are taught commands. Allison's mother, Dianna Litvak, who helps run Stink Bug, hopes to extend the pet-adoption program statewide and continue donating some of the money to help fund children's cancer research.

    “Allison has figured out how to help - in a way that no one else has,” Litvak says. “We involve her younger sister, Emily, her friends, the adopting families, and some others. It took the love of a little girl to wrap all that together into one amazing package.”

    Go to stink bug project. org to donate or to buy Allison's dog biscuits.

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    The nervous-looking young man had waited for a few moments—outside the jeweler's before he got enough courage to enter. He was warmly greeted by a young assistant. James felt a rush of blood to his face as he explained he would be bringing in his future wife to choose a birthday present. The assistant listened carefully and told him he'd better buy a necklace. He wasn't used to buying jewellery and was a little worried about over-spending. After some discussion as to a reasonable price and the type, the assistant showed him dozens of necklaces and helped him to choose. At last James chose one and left the shop promising to return at five o'clock. When, half an hour later than planned, James did return to the shop with his future wife, Laura, the assistant acted as if she had never seen him before. When she was asked to show them some necklaces, she first brought out some inexpensive ones for them to choose, and then gave them the one she had prepared. A choice was soon made and they went away satisfied. James would certainly come back to buy what he wanted.

    Academic learning is usually in the spotlight at school, but teaching elementary-age students “soft” skills like self-control and how to get along with others might help to keep at-risk kids out of criminal trouble in the future.

    Once a program called Fast Track was started in the early 1990s for more than 7,600 children of 55 schools in America. They were identified by their teachers and parents to be at high risk for developing aggressive behavioral problems. The students were randomly divided into two groups; half took part in the intervention, which included a teacher-led curriculum, parent training groups, academic tutoring and lessons in self-control and social skills. The program, which lasted from first grade through 10th grade, reduced delinquency(少年犯罪), arrests and use of health and mental health services as the students aged through adolescence and young adulthood.

    In another latest study, by looking at the data from nearly 900 students in previous findings, researchers found that about a third of the influence on future crime outcomes was due to the social and self-regulation skills the students learned from ages 6 to 11.

    The academic skills, or hard skills like learning of physics, which were taught as part of Fast Track, turned out to have less of an influence on crime and delinquency rates than did the soft skills, which are associated with emotional(情绪的) intelligence. Soft skills might include teaching kids to work cooperatively in a group or teaching them how to think about the long-term consequences when they make a decision.

    Researchers drew the conclusion that these soft skills should be emphasized even more in our education system and in our system of socializing children. Parents should do all they can to promote these skills with their children as should education policymakers. To the extent we can improve those skills, we can improve outcomes in delinquency.

    Most animals on land are known to us, but many living things underwater are not. Now let's get to know some of them.

    Sea cucumber

    Sea cucumber are strange animals living at the bottom of the sea. They wear brown or white green coats. When summer comes, they stay deep to sleep because they are afraid of heat. And when it is autumn, they move to shallow (浅的) water and get their food.

    Pike

    The pike is a kind of freshwater fish. They are good swimmers and like swimming near boats, waiting to be fed. They have sharp teeth to catch fishes. When they are young, they live in groups. However, when they grow up, they prefer to live alone.

    Cuttlefish

    A cuttlefish can swim quite fast, so it is also called rocket (火箭) fish. It has eight arms and two feelers on its head, just around its mouth. It ejects ink (喷墨) when it is in danger. Its meat is delicious, and it is often the first choice for many people.

    Octopus

    An octopus has long arms, with which to catch food and protect itself. When it is sleeping, one or two of its arms are still on duty, keeping moving. Once it feels something dangerous, it can wake up at once to take action.

    Robots come in many shapes and sizes. But most have one thing in common. They are built to help people. Lately engineers have been developing new kinds of humanoid robots. These high-tech machines are designed to lend a hand everywhere from hotels to disaster areas.

    "Robots help people by making their lives easier, safer, and more fun," says engineer Omar Abdelwahed.

    Since November, a robot named pepper has been on the job at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. When guests have questions or need directions, they can ask Pepper. They can also use the robot's touch screen to find the information they need. Pepper is able to talk with guests and entertain them with stories too. It can even tell what kind of mood they are in.

    "Pepper provides our guests with information in an exciting and new way," says hotel manager Donald Bowman.

    For a kid, being in the hospital can be boring and even scary. But a small robot called NAO is helping to make hospital stays easier. It was designed to keep people company.

    A Tennessee doctor named Phil Parker bought a NAO robot three years ago. He programmed it to talk to and play with young patients. He brings it to hospitals to help sick kids. When kids get medical tests, NAO explains what is going on. The robots also reads to kids and plays games with them like rock, paper, scissors.

    "The robot gets many kids to smile for the first time since they've been in the hospital," Parker says.

    Other robots are being developed to help in places where it's hard or risky for people to go. For example, disaster areas can be full of rubble and other dangers. Engineers in Japan are building a robot called E2-DR to go into those areas and search for people who are hurt.