In the mid­1950s，I was a somewhat bored early­ado lescent male student who believed that doing_any_more_than_necessary_was_wasted_effort.One day，this approach threw me into embarrassment.

    In Mrs.Totten's eighth­grade math class at Central Avenue School in Anderson，Indiana，we were learning to add and subtract decimals (小数)．

    Our teacher typically assigned daily homework，which would be recited in class the following day.On most days，our grades were based on our oral answers to homework questions.

    Mrs.Totten usually walked up and down the rows of desks requesting answers from student after student in the order the questions had appeared on our homework sheets.She would start either at the front or the back of the classroom and work toward the other end.

    Since I was seated near the middle of about 35 students，it was easy to figure out which questions I might have to answer.This particular time，I had completed my usual two or three problems according to my calculations.

What I failed to expect was that several students were absent，which threw off my estimate.As Mrs.Totten made her way from the beginning of the class，I desperately tried to determine which math problem I would get.I tried to work it out before she got to me，but I had brain freeze and couldn't function.

    When Mrs.Totten reached my desk，she asked what answer I'd got for problem No.14.“I...I didn't get anything，”I answered，and my face felt warm.

     “Correct，”she said.

    It turned out that the correct answer was zero.

    What did I learn that day？First，always do all your homework.Second，in real life it isn't always what you say but how you say it that matters.Third，I would never make it as a mathematician.

    If I could choose one school day that taught me the most，it would be that one.

    Maddie Messe, 13, has always loved Temple Run, a mobile game that sends her racing through swamps (沼泽) and forests to outrun a pack of crazed monkeys. What she didn't love was being forced to play as a boy — unless she was willing to buy a female version. “I felt like l was being cheated or misrepresented,” Maddie explains．“Girls are just as capable (有能力的) of running away from monkeys as boys are.”

    So last winter, Maddie researched 50 of the most popular iPhone games. What she found was infuriating：90 percent offered free male characters, but only 15 percent let you play as a female for free.

    Armed with those statistics, Maddie drafted a spirited article and fired it off to several major newspapers. The Washington Post agreed to run the piece, which attracted millions of readers around the globe — including the makers of Temple Run! “We realized she had a point,” says Natalia Luckyanova, the game's co-creator. “It was the kick in the pants we needed to say, ' We should fix it．' So we did.”

    Now you can play Temple Run with a female character for free, but Maddie hopes her campaign inspires something deeper.“If you don't see characters that look like you on TV or in movies or games, speak up! Just do your research first,”says Maddie. “One well-supported argument is much more effective than a million angry complaints.”

    According to a team of researchers, an animal's ability to perceive(感知) time is linked to their pace of life.

    “Our results lend support to the importance of time perception in animals where the ability to perceive time in a very short time may be the difference between life and death for fast moving creatures.” commented lead author Kevin Healy from Trinity College Dublin.

    The study was done with a variety of animals using phenomenon based on the maximum speed of flashes of light an individual can see before the light source is seen as constant. Dogs, for example, have eyes with a refresh rate higher than humans.

    One example of this phenomenon at work, the authors say, is the housefly and its ability to avoid being hit. The research showed flies “observe motion in a shorter time than our own eyes can achieve,” which allows them to avoid being hit.

    Professor Graeme Ruxton of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, who worked jointly on the research project, said in a statement, “Having eyes that send updates to the brain at much higher frequencies than our eyes do is of no Value if the brain cannot process that information equally quickly. Thus, this work highlights the impressive abilities of even the smallest animal brains. Flies might now be deep thinkers, but they can make good decisions very quickly.”

    In comparison, the tiger beetle (虎甲虫) runs faster than its eyes can keep up, basically becoming blind, which requires it to stop periodically to re-evaluate its prey's(猎物) position.

    Our results suggest that time perception offers an as yet unstudied dimension along which animals can specialize and there is considerable range to study this system in more detail.

    To see the world is one thing; to have someone to share it with is another. Indeed, travel becomes more interesting when you have a travel partner. A travel partner can be a close friend, a family member, a pal you've met online, or a business friend.

    You can have someone to talk to.

    Traveling alone is fun, but wouldn't you feel lonely？Having a travel partner can remove the feeling of loneliness. This is especially true if you can get a travel companion who is very familiar with the place you're traveling to. You don't have to ask any information from the locals, and you can increase the time you spend in the country.

    __________________________

    One of the major headaches in traveling is the costs involved. You can't simply ignore the rising price of hotels or plane tickets. You should also think about your daily needs, such as your food. Of course, you can't simply go back without bringing any souvenirs (纪念品) to your friends and family. All these can ruin your budget. However, when you have a travel friend, you can have someone to share the expenses with.

    You can meet a good friend.

    Having a travel mate is a good way of meeting a new friend or even a lifelong partner. You can never count the number of couples who actually found their way into each other's heart while traveling together in another country.

    You can have someone to watch out for you.

    When you're in a foreign land, you'll never be really safe. You don't know the rules as well as the culture of the people. A travel mate will be perfect to remind you of your duties in the country and to watch your back just in case you get lost.So why don't you find a travel companion now?

    Let's find out how...

    Several Jobs That Will Be Automated By Artificial Intelligence(AI) And Robots

Translator

    Image recognition software and voice recognition software are bringing some major advances to language translation. Applications like Google's Word Lens can translate words from signs and documents in real time and there are a lot of translation apps that allow you to type in a word or phrase and will translate it for you.

    Some will even speak the phrase for you and raw word-to-word translation will be fully automated soon.

    Fast food workers

    Automated ordering booths have already made their way into a few McDonald's restaurants around the world, and cooking positions could be removed next. The booths probably can't handle customer service problems well, so televideo systems could bring in an office employee to deal with complaints.

    Field technician

    New advances in the Internet of Things could make this work obsolete.

    Low-cost sensors combined with high availability cellular／satellite communications and cloud technology are being started to automate and alarm these sites, and can be checked and maintained from a desktop or mobile device.

    Sales representative

    But, e-commerce is changing how we make purchasing decisions, especially those where there isn't much differentiation among the major competitors.

    If you're selling a high-differentiation product and／or a high-price, low-volume product you have some job security, but if you're selling a high-volume, low-differentiation product, you better start polishing your resume, said Doug Camplejohn, CEO of Fliptop. “These kind of product sales are all moving online.”

Young Adult Groups

    ●Around the World in 80 Books — 9,186 members

    If you love exploring the world through books, you have come to the right place! It all started as a challenge on TNBBC in 2009, and now we have our own group! Challenge participation is not a requirement of joining. Anyone who loves reading books is welcome.

    Website: http: //www.worldinbooks.com

    Rules: Respect each other's opinions and have fun!

    ●Readers That Love Giveaways — 734 members

    This group is for readers that enjoy entering give-aways and finding freebies(免费物)! Follow us for the newestbargain, discounted, and free e-books, as well as new releases and book recommendations. Website: http://www.fireandicebooktours.com

    Rules: Please share your items in the appropriate folders!

    ●Book Loving Kiwis — 706 members

    A group for New Zealand book lovers（and authors）and lovers of New Zealand books（and books in general）. Aplace to share what we're reading, introduce books we have written, and discuss and recommend books. Please recommend us to your friends.

    Website: http://www.kiwisbook.com

    Rules: Enjoy reading! Respect all group members and their opinions.

    ●A Book and a Cappucino — 77 members

    This group is for anyone who likes to read and likes to read at their own pace. It does not matter how much or how little you read. It's just a friendly place to discuss what you're reading and to get ideas for your next read. You can participate as much or as little as you like.

    Website: http://www.bookandcappucino.com

    Rules: Be respectful to all. Everyone has a right to share opinions.