The International School for Earth Studies

    It's a private，interdisciplinary institution specializing in earth-based studies．The Programs encourage students to explore the seeds of greatness，with a view to developing tomorrow's environmentally sensitive spokespersons and leaders. The principle goal is to help students develop responsibility inspired through appreciation and love for natural places and the greater environment．

    Program Location（s）：Newfoundland，Canada

    Phone：819—647—3226

    Email：info＠earthstudies.ca

    Expedition Education Institute

    Do you want to be an ecological leader，to become deeply rooted in the natural world and in your own power to make change and create a better，more resilient world？

Organized as the equivalent （等价物）to a semester abroad，Expedition Education Institute offers a unique opportunity for gap year participants to be personally transformed and academically challenged and supported to become better and more self-directed life-long learners．

    Program Location（s）：USA

    Phone：207—322—2973

    Email：Info＠expedition educatlon.org

    The Experiment in International Living

    It provides summer abroad programs for high school students who want to connect deeply and engage meaningfully with the richness and complexities of another country. Programs are designed to equip participants not only with essential cultural skills and，in many cases，language skills，but also with a deeper awareness of and sensitivity to critical global issues shaping the diverse communities and regions we visit.

Program Location（s）：Europe，the Americas，Africa，south of the Sahara

Phone：800—345—2929

Email：experiment＠worldlearning.org

Visitoz

    It's the Only organization in Australia that guarantees jobs for young people coming to our country on a Work and Holiday Visa. For young Americans this is a huge chance to get away from home and stand on their own two feet to make their own decisions．

Program Location（s）：Australia

Phone：4168—6106

Email：info＠visitoz.org

About 30 years ago, I left Cuba for the United States with my son. After getting settled finally in Brunswick, New Jersey, I enrolled(注册) my son in kindergarten. Several weeks later, my son's teacher asked me to meet him at his office.

In the teacher's office, and exchange of greetings was followed by his questions: “Is your son mentally retarded(弱智的)？Does he suffer from any kind of mental disability?”

Was he talking about my wonderful Scola? NO, no, it can't be. What a helpless, lonely moment! I told him that Scola was a quiet, sweet little boy, instead. I asked him why he was asking me all these questions.

My son could not follow the teacher's directions, he told me, and thus, Scola was disrupting the class, Didn't he know my son did not speak English yet?

He was angry; “Why hasn't your son been taught to speak English? Don't you speak English at home?”

No, I didn't speak English at home, I replied. I was sure my son would learn English in a couple of months, and I didn't want him to forget his native language. Well, wrong answer! What kind of person would not speak in English to her son at home and at all time? “Are you one of those people who come to this country to save dollars and send them back to their country, never wanting to be a part of this society?”

    Needless to say, I tried to tell him I was not one of “those people.” Then he told me the meeting was over, and I left.

    As I had expected, my son learned to speak English fluently before the school year was over. He went on to graduate from college and got a job, earning close to six figures. He travels widely and leads a well-adjusted, contented life. And he has benefited from being bilingual(双语的)。

    Speaking more than one language allows people to communicate with others; it teaches people about other cultures and other places—something very basic and obviously lacking in the “educator” I met in New Jersey.

    Most Europeans want small cars. Many Americans prefer large cars. As a result, European automakers produce a large number of economical, light weight cars, while American automakers build bigger, heavier cars.

    The price of gas has much to do with this. The petrol is expensive in Europe, so Europeans naturally prefer cars that will go a long way on a small amount of fuel. There are other reasons. Many European cities have very narrow streets. In these cities a small car is more practical and easier to handle than a large one.

    Some Americans like powerful engines in their cars. They enjoy having wider cars that are comfortable for large families and long trips. They are prepared to pay higher costs to get these advantages. Other Americans, however, have learned to like the small and smart cars. Many visitors to Europe during and after World War I discovered that small cars were fun to drive and easy to park in small spaces. They were delighted to learn how far small cars could go on a few gallons of gasoline.

    In the 1950s many Americans began buying European cars. In 1957, for the first time, the United States imported more cars than it exported. The best seller among these imported cars was a cool-looking but small car from Germany. Americans immediately gave it another name “ the bug”.

    Today, American car buyers have a wider choice. There are big cars for people who want large room, comfort, and power. And there are small cars, mostly imported but some American-made, for people who want easy parking and economical operation.

    Everyone's at it, even my neighbors. I thought I might be the only person left in the world who hadn't done an eBay deal. So, I decided to try my hand at online Auction（网上拍卖）.

    Buying for Beginners

    Sign up on www.eBay.co.uk. Most items （e.g. tables, computers and books）ready for auction will come with a picture and a short description; others may be marked with Buy It Now and have a fixed price. You can buy these right away.

    If the item is being auctioned, you offer the highest price you are prepared to pay and eBay bids（出价）for you. The bid will be increased little by little until it goes beyond your highest bid, then you are emailed and asked if you would like to bid again. Auctions last up to 10 days and when they finish, you get an email telling you whether you have won the item.

    How to Pay

    Sellers decide how they would like to be paid and you need to check this before placing a bid as you might not want to post a check or postal order （邮政汇票）. The easiest way is through PayPal, an online payment system that takes the money away from your credit card.

    Selling Made Sample

    If you plan to sell on eBay, it helps to include a picture of the item. I followed my friend's advice and put up the items I wanted to sell for a 10-day auction, starting on a Thursday. This way buyers had two weekends to bid.

    The Big Things in Life

    It's easy to post a small item, but furniture is a big part of eBay and this has to be collectively sent by deliverymen. Check the ways of delivery before you bid.

    As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remember less？If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain？Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.

    In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood that the computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.

    In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information on the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder(文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called "transactive memory (交互记忆)".

    According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn't mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.

    It is reported that a record-breaking high-speed rail will connect Inner Mongolia in the north to Hainan in the south. According to the Shaanxi Development and Reform Commission, the proposed line will operate at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour(217 mph).

    Beginning in Inner Mongolia's Baotou city and running through southern Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong, its final stop would be in Haikou city on Hainan Island, China's southernmost province.

    Though the exact length of the proposed route has not been released, it will likely become the world's longest high-speed rail line as the journey by road between Baotou and Haikou is approximately 3, 000 kilometers(1, 864 miles) long. Currently, the world's longest high-speed rail line is almost 2, 300 kilometers long (1, 429 miles), running from Beijing to Guangzhou.

    The proposed rail is part of China's aim to create another "Silk Road of the 21st Century" and improve the country's transportation network while driving land development and urbanization(城市化) in some provincial areas.

    Many of the provinces through which the high-speed trains will travel are near major bodies of water, such as the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi province, the Yangtzi River in Hubei and the South China Sea, where the line would end. It will also take passengers to popular tourist attractions including Zhangjiajie, Xi'an, Guilin and minority areas in western Hunan and Hubei.

    "The country is now shifting its focus and investing in the western regions and economically underdeveloped areas, making up for China's long debt to these areas, " Tan yuzhi, professor of the School of Economics and Management at Hubei University for Nationalities, told local media. " The project will significantly narrow regional disparities(差异) and solve minority issues."

    However, Deng Hongbing, director of China University of Geosciences' Center for Regional Economic and Investment Center, said that if the north-to-south railway is to go ahead, there needs to be a sound ecological program in place to ensure the protection of these underdeveloped and ecologically sensitive areas.