R. U. Darby and his uncle were digging for gold in the West. After weeks of labor, he was rewarded when he discovered shining ore(矿石). He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. So he borrowed money from his relatives and neighbors and went back to work on the mine.

    The first car of ore was mined and sent to a smelter. The gold that they got in return proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big profits.

    Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then something happened! The vein of gold ore disappeared! The pot of gold was no longer there! They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again, but they found nothing.

    Finally, they decided to quit. They sold the machinery to a man for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home. That man asked a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer said that the project had failed because the owners were not familiar with “fault lines(裂纹线)”. His calculations showed that the vein would be found just three feet from where it was found.

    The man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew enough to ask for expert advice before giving up.

    R.U. Darby was struggling for years to pay back the money from his relatives and neighbors. He went into the business of selling life insurance.

    Remembering that he lost a huge fortune because he stopped three feet from gold, Darby profited from the experience in his chosen work, by the simple method of saying to himself , “I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say 'no' when I ask them to buy insurance.”

    Darby is part of a small group of fewer than 50 men who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance every year. His “stick-ability” comes from the lesson he learned from his “quit-ability” in the gold mining business.

Walk For Charity

Dear Friend,

    Please join us for our annual Walk For Charity.Starting in Weldown,you and your friends can choose a delightful 10,20 or 30 kilometers' route.

    The money raised will provide support to help people all over the world.Start collecting your sponsors now and then simply come along on the day.Please read the instructions below carefully,especially if you require transport to and from Weldown.

    See you on Sunday 15 April.

    V Jessop: Walk coordinator

    PS.Well done to last year's walkers for helping to raise a grand total of ￡21,000.The money has already been used to build a children's playground.

    START TIME:

    30 km: 8-10 am      20 km: 8-10:30 am      10 km: 8-11:30 am

    The organizers reserve the right to refuse late-comers.

    CLOTHING should be suitable for the weather.If rain is forecast,bring some protection and be prepared for all possibilities.It is better to wear shoes that have been worn in,rather than ones that are new.

    ROUTE MAPS will be available from the registration point.The route will be sign-posted and arranged.Where the route runs along the road,walkers should keep to one side in single file,facing oncoming traffic at all times.If you need help along the route,please inform one of the staff.

    Free car parking is available in car parks and on streets in Weldown.

    BUSES:

    For the 10 and 20 kilometers' routes,a bus will be waiting at Fenton to take walkers back to Weldown.The bus will leave every half hour starting at midday.The service is free and there is no need to book.

    Japanese researchers say they have developed a new type of glass that can heal itself from cracks and breaks. Glass made from a low weight polymer (聚合物) called “polyether-thioureas” can heal breaks when pressed together by hand without the need for high heat to melt the material.

    The research, published in Science, by researchers led by Professor Takuzo Aida from the University of Tokyo, promises healable glass that could potentially be used in phone screens and other fragile (易碎的) devices, which they say are an important challenge for sustainable (可持续的) societies.

    While self-healing rubber and plastics have already been developed, the researchers said that the new material was the first hard substance of its kind that can be healed at room temperature. The new polymer glass is “highly robust mechanically yet can readily be repaired by compression (压紧) at broken surfaces”.

The characteristics of the polyether-thioureas glass were discovered by accident by a graduate school student named Yu Yanagisawa, who was preparing the material as a glue. Yanagisawa found that when the surface of the polymer was cut, the edges would adhere to each other, healing to form a strong sheet after being manually compressed for 30 seconds at 21℃. Further experiments found that the healed material regained its original strength after a couple of hours.

    Yanagisawa told NHK that he didn't believe the results at first and repeated his experiments several times to confirm the finding. He said, “I hope the repairable glass becomes a new environment-friendly material that avoids the need to be thrown away if broken.”

    This is not the first time a polymer has been suggested as a healable screen for devices such as smartphones. Researchers at the University of California suggested the use of polymer that could stretch to 50 times its original size and heal breaks within 24 hours.

    Smartphone manufacturers have already used self-healing materials in devices. LG's G Flex 2 shipped in 2016 with a coating on its back was capable of healing minor scratches over time, although failed to completely repair heavier damage.

    According to the research conducted by repair firm iMend, over 21% of UK smartphone users were living with a broken screen, with smashed displays being one of the biggest issues alongside poor battery life.

    Freedom of the press is rightly protected in most societies, yet it is just this protection that sometimes allows this freedom to be made bad use of. The press has a strong influence which can bring about significant changes to the lives of ordinary people. The story of the first quintuplets(五胞胎) in America clearly showed the power of the press.

    There was a poor family living in Aberdeen, a small town in the U. S. A. Raising five children was already a struggle for the poor parents of this family. When the mother learned that it was another four girls and one more boy that were on the way, she and her husband were shocked beyond belief. Without a doubt, they were going to face even more urgent money problems.

    However, this event changed their lives in ways they had never expected. The day after the birth of the five babies, there were sixty reporters and photographers waiting outside their door. The couple soon made national headlines, for they had become the parents of the first quintuplets in America.

    The family gained fame and money overnight. Newspapers and magazines offered them huge sums of money for the rights to publish their stories as well as their photos. Gifts poured in not only from unknown people, but also from baby food and soap manufacturers who wanted to advertise their products. Though their lives were indeed improved, reporters kept pressing for interviews, which forced the family to hire lawyers to act as spokespeople for them at news conferences.

    Moreover, the birth also brought great changes to Aberdeen. A new highway had been developed, since this town was likely to attract thousands of visitors. Even the name of the town on the road signs was changed to "Quint-City, U.S.A." Locals also discussed the possibility of setting up a "quint museum" to satisfy the curiosity of the public and to protect the family from gossipy visitors at the same time.

    While the babies were still quietly sleeping in the hospital, their parents began paying the price for fame. It would never again be possible for them to lead normal lives. The town itself received so much attention that almost each of the locals there was affected more or less. This was the power of the press, but such power could easily be misapplied.

    JERUSALEM—Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry asked citizens Wednesday to avoid unnecessary physical activity and stay indoors, as a serious sandstorm struck the Middle East in a thick yellow haze (霾) for a second day with no hope to see things clearly.

    The ministry said heavy levels of dust and sand in the air were a threat to cities throughout the country. The ministry's website advised pregnant women, the elderly and those with heart and respiratory (呼吸的) conditions to stay indoors, and asked schools to keep children indoors.

    The emergency service Magen David Adom reported that it has treated more than 300 Israelis suffering from breathing problems, and that hospitals have more respiratory-related patients, including a large number of the elderly and those with asthma and related conditions.

    The domestic Israeli airlines Arkia and Israir continued to ground their flights to Eilat because of reduced visibility.

    The sandstorm has affected Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, where at least five deaths have been reported.

    "There has been nothing that came close to the magnitude of this sandstorm," said Daniel Rosenfeld, a professor with the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

    "While Israel has experienced a number of sandstorms in the past, they started from the Sinai Desert and the Sahara Desert to the south and were joined by winter windstorms that cleared the air," he said. In this case, the storm comes from Syria and Iraq to the north and east.

    Because the storm is hitting during the summer, at a time of both little wind and severe heat and humidity, forecasters expect the particles to remain in the air throughout the weekend and possibly into next week.

    "This is really puzzling," said Rosenfeld, adding that he and his colleague will conduct research into the origins of the unprecedented (前所未有的) storm. (326 words)

There are many great GPS watches for you on the market. Now I'd like to recommend four such watches to you.

Polar Grit X Pro

Sapphire glass, which is tough and scratch- resistant, is typically an add-on or upgrade feature, so you'll be glad to know that the Polar Grit X Pro comes with this durable screen material. On top of that, Polar claims that the watch will withstand temperatures of -68 degrees up to 122 degrees F so you can stay connected on hikes in even the most extreme places in the world.

Price: $500

Amazfit GTR 3 Pro

If you want a watch to double as your fitness tracker and everyday watch, the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro is a good bet. It has 150+ sports modes. It pairs with your Alexa device, can make Bluetooth phone calls, has navigation, and tracks health measures like blood oxygen and stress levels, heart rate, and menstrual cycles.

Price: $230

Fitbit Charge 5

The Fitbit Charge 5 is perfect for those who only need a GPS watch to track basic fitness activities and personal health features like stress, heart health, sleep, and oxygen saturation. The price reflects that there are only 20 exercise modes and a water-resistance depth of 50 meters.

Price: $150

SkyCaddie LX5

This Bluetoothand Wi-Fi-enabled watch comes with 35,000 pre-loaded SkyGolf maps of golf courses worldwide, allowing you to reference the most detailed map of a golf course while you play.

Price: $300