Far out in the lake was a large wooden platform(平台) on which stood an improbably high diving board- a kind of wooden Eiffel Tower. It was, I'm sure, the county's tallest wooden structure (结构) and no one had ever been known to jump from it. So it was quite a shock when our teacher, Mr. Milton, announced that he would dive off the high board that very afternoon.

    Word of his questionable plan was already spreading through town as Mr. Milton swam out to the platform. He was just a tiny, stick figure when he got there but even from such a distance the high board seemed almost to touch the clouds. Once at the top, he paced the enormously long board , then look some deep breaths and finally stood at the edge. He was going to do it.

    Several hundred people had gathered at the shore to watch. Mr. Milton stood for quite along time ;then he raised his arms, took one bounce(弹跳) and launched himself into ;perfect dive. He fell with perfect style for what seemed minutes. The crowd fell silent. But about three quarters of the way down he seemed to have second thoughts and began suddenly to panic(惊慌)，waving his arms and legs like someone having a bad dream. When he was perhaps thirty feet above the water, he gave up on waving and spread his arms and legs wide, obviously hoping that it would somehow slow his fall. It didn't. He hit the water at over six hundred miles an hour, making birds fly out of their trees three miles away. I don't think he entered the water at all. He just bounced off it, about fifteen feet back into the air. After that, he lay still on the surface , like an autumn leaf.

    He was brought to shore by two passing fishermen in a rowboat and placed on an old blanket where he spent the rest of the afternoon. Occasionally he accepted a little water, but otherwise was too shocked to speak.

    It was the best day of my life.

    It may not come as a surprise but the world as a whole is getting richer. Some people have more disposable income to spend on luxuries such as holidays, cars, TVs and smartphones. Recent data has shown that the number of people living in extreme poverty has halved in recent decades. So should we celebrate the fact that more of us now have a better standard of living?

    Maybe not. While the gap between rich and poor in some countries is narrowing, there is still a lot of inequality in other places-some people have a lot of money and opportunities and others don't. A recent report by Oxfam and Credit Suisse revealed how divided many of us are when it comes to wealth. A lot of the money in the world is in the hands of very few people. In fact, 48% of global wealth is owned by the richest 1% of the population.

    But some countries are attempting to reduce this inequality and make the poor less poor. According to David Bryer from Oxfam, Brazil has been taking “some really sensible measures-measures around having more progressive tax, around investing in a higher minimum wage and investing in central public services.” Having a higher minimum wage(提高最低工资标准), can help people eat better and seek a better education. And more people with more money buy more things-and factories can produce more. In turn, a factory which produces more will need more workers. So, more jobs are created.

    Other wealthy individuals are doing their bit to help reduce inequality. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, earned a lot of money from his company but when he retired, he and his wife Melinda, created a foundation to help the poor. He thinks that rich people should, of course, pay their taxes but he also advises that they should all “look at taking their wealth and being philanthropic, both in their own country and to help the global poorest.”

    Bill Gates feels that giving money to help poor people is “fulfilling”. But if other super-rich people don't want to experience this fulfilment then, according to Oxfam, very soon the wealthiest 1% will soon own more money than the rest of the world's population. Do you think that is fair?

    Spending money on a vacation may seem like a luxury（奢侈品）—but occasionally, you have to relax yourself. Here's where to go for a good time at an unbelievable value.

    Captiva Island, Florida

    Keep it simple by looking for seashells, or bicycling, jet skiing; you can even hit the tennis courts. The Summer Getaway package offers a fourth night free and rates from $209 a night, making the average for a four-night stay $157.Kids 12 and under eat breakfast free. You'll get a coupon（优惠券）book with more than $250 in savings on resort outlets（经销店）, from watersports, island cruises and more.

    Reyjavik, Iceland

    STA Travel Beats specializes in taking travelers to music festivals around the globe. It has an eight-day tour, Icelandic Beats, that takes you to the Icelandic Geothermal spas（水疗）, UNESCO world heritage sites, and black sand beaches. End your vacation at the Secret Solstice Festival on June 18. The tour is $1,218,not including airfare.

    Malpais, Costa Rica

    You get daily surfing instruction, sunset surf session, and yoga in the outdoor, oceanfront yoga studio in a week-long tour. As you get mind, body, and spirit together, keep it going with healthy meals at the beachfront restaurant. Prices are $2,895 for shared accommodations, $3,095 for private accommodations with shared bath, and $3,595 for private accommodations.

    Waterville Valley, New Hampshire

    Waterville Valley Resort is surrounded by 100 miles of trails in the White Mountain National Forest. If you get a Freedom Pass, you can save about $100 a day during a six-day tour; the pass enables you daily to have a two-hour mountain bike rental, unlimited tennis, a round of golf, and a kayak, canoe, or paddleboard rental. Rates start at $139 a night.

    It puzzled Emily when she was aware of something wrong. She tripped upon men's clothing "hidden" around her house.

    The 38-year-old woman says, at the beginning, she was confused to see quite a few photographs in her phone that she did not remember taking. She was the subject but something was different. Her friends started falling away and she did not know why. Her long-term relationship with her boyfriend also ended suddenly.

    Now she knows those men's clothing belonged to one of her "alternatives" and the same person was responsible for her closest friends' leaving her.

    In an interview, Emily said she was not allowed to name "the man" who takes over her body. She was not allowed to name any of her six alternative persons. She said, "I am aware that they are not real people, not physical people. They exist in an imaginative world. However, all those alternatives should be treated with dignity and respect."

    Emily has what's called Dissociative Identity Disorder（DID分离性身份识别障碍）, a condition characterized by the presence of two or more split personalities that have power over a person's behaviour.

    Her condition resulted from a car accident five years ago. It was August, 2012, when her vehicle broke down on the side of the road. A speeding driver crashed into her car. She wasn't physically injured but she suffered a mental condition caused by severe brain injury. Shortly after that, she discovered she wasn't alone inside her head. Switching between personalities happens frequently but there is no real pattern. It can be weeks between incidents then, for whatever reason, it happens more regularly.

    One of her alternatives is a smoker, even though she is not. Upon waking, she says there are messages in her head that she is a smoker. She describes her lifestyle as "isolated".

    "People consider DID as tragedy" she says, "I just want to make an effort to tell others that we deserve respect, that we are legally accepted members of society, and we hope to live a normal life. I'm not stupid, I'm not spiting or running around people with knives. I have a mental problem but try to live a normal life. I completed a course at Harvard, I wrote a book, I'm able to communicate well. I mother my two kids well. I'm not on welfare."

    Actually, she volunteers for an organization helping children. She also spends time speaking out about her condition and has written a book on the subject, hoping to help others who are experiencing the same trouble.

    "Acting is the least mysterious of all crafts," Marion Brando once said. But for scientists, working out what is going on in an actor's head has always been something of a puzzle.

    Now, researchers have said actors show different patterns of brain activity depending on whether they are in character or not.

    Dr Steven Brown, from McMaster University in Canada, said, "It looks like when you are acting, you are suppressing (压制) yourself; almost like the character is possessing you."

    Brown and colleagues report how 15 actors, mainly theatre students, were trained to take on a Shakespeare role — either Romeo or Juliet — in a theatre workshop. They were then invited into the laboratory, where their brains were scanned in a series of experiments.

    Once inside the MRI scanner, the actors were asked to answer a number of questions, such as: would they go to the party? And would they tell their parents that they had fallen in love?

    Each actor was asked to respond to different questions, based on two different premises (前提). In one, they were asked for their own perspective, while in the other, they were asked to respond as though they were either Romeo or Juliet.

    The results revealed that the brain activity differed depending on the situation being tested. The team found that when the actors were in character, they use some third-person knowledge or inferences about their character.

    The team said they also found additional reduction in activity in two regions of the prefrontal cortex (前额皮质) linked to the sense of self, compared with when the actors were responding as themselves.

    However, Philip Davis, a professor at the University of Liverpool, was unimpressed by the research, saying acting is about far more than "pretending" to be someone — it involves embodying (体现) the text and language.

    When Kim Chil-doo was young, he says, he wanted to be a model. But he gave up that idea to make money. Now, at age 65, he appears in television advertisements and fashion magazines. With his gray beard and long hair, he is South Korea's first senior model.

    Kim is one of many older people in South Korea the country has the world's fastest growing ageing population. Almost half of the country's older people live in poverty. Some take low-paying jobs to support themselves after retiring. But Kim and some other seniors have shown how older South Koreans can find unusual job opportunities later in life.

    You Sung-lae is 59. When she was a child, she wanted to be an actress. But instead, she says, she got married and had children. Now she is training to appear on a catwalk to show clothes. She was wearing a bright blue jacket, orange high heeled shoes and designer sunglasses.

    You is also helping the fashion business by attracting older buyers. Older buyers have become big players. While many older people do not have much money, others have bought their homes and built savings. Now, those seniors are ready to spend some of their money on themselves.

    Some businesses are also trying to use older people's skills and experiences. For example, Cho Young-min started a company using Skype to connect older instructors in Korea with students around the world. The students are interested in learning Korean, and the instructors are interested in sharing their knowledge.

    Another man, Ji Byung-soo found success by performing a dance song on a televised singing contest. He is 77. Now he earns enough money to donate to a local support center. Last month, he danced nonstop at a youth festival in Seoul while young people called his name. "Life begins in your 70s," Ji said. "Let's be happy and have fun."