Every man wants his son to be somewhat of a clone, not in features but in footsteps. As he grows you also age, and your ambitions become more unachievable. You begin to realize that your boy, in your footsteps, could probably accomplish what you hoped for. But footsteps can be muddied and they can go off in different directions.

My son Jody has hated school since day one in kindergarten. Science projects waited until the last moment. Book reports weren't written until the final threat.

I've been a newspaperman all my adult life. My daughter is a university graduate working toward her master's degree in English. But Jody? When he entered the tenth grade he became a “vo-tech” student(技校学生). They're called “motorheads” by the rest of the student body.

When a secretary in my office first called him “motorhead”, I was shocked. “Hey, he's a good kid,” I wanted to say. “And smart, really.”

I learned later that motorheads are, indeed, different. They usually have dirty hands and wear dirty work clothes. And they don't often make school honor rolls(光荣榜).

But being the parent of a motorhead is itself an experience in education. We who labor in clean shirts in offices don't have the abilities that motorheads have. I began to learn this when I had my car crashed. The cost to repair it was estimated at $800. “Hey, I can fix it,” said Jody. I doubted it, but let him go ahead, for I had nothing to lose.

      My son, with other motorheads, fixed the car. They got parts(零件）from a junkyard, non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbours and co-workers trust their car repair to him.a

        Since that first repair job, a broken air-conditioner, a non-functioning washer and a non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbors and co-workers trust their car repairs to him.

        These kids are happiest when doing repairs. They joke and laugh and are living in their own relaxed world. And their minds are bright despite their dirty hands and clothes.

I have learned a lot from my motorhead: publishers need printers, engineers need mechanics, and architects need builders. Most important, I have learned that fathers don't need clones in footsteps or anywhere else.

        My son may never make the school honor roll. But he made mine.

    Vitamin B could help reduce the effects of the dangerous type of air pollution, according to a new study published on Monday. In the first study of its kind, a team of international researchers looked into the damage caused by one of the pollutants that have the severest impact on health—PM2.5.

    They found that Vitamin B supplement could effectively reduce the impact of the tiny particles     （颗粒）on the human body, although they stressed that the research was in its early stages. According to the WHO, 92% of the world's people are living in places where the PM2.5 level goes beyond the recommended level. So it's urgent to find a solution to the problem.

    According to this study, published in the PNAS, 10 volunteers were initially exposed to clean air and given a placebo (安慰剂）to check their baseline responses. The group then kept on taking placebos tor tour weeks before being exposed to heavily polluted air from downtown Toronto, where an estimated 1,000 cars passed every hour. The bad air was delivered to the volunteers through an "oxygen type" face mask. The experiment was then repeated, with each volunteer taking a Vitamin B supplement daily, made up of 2.5mg of folic acid, 50mg of Vitamin B6, and l mg of Vitamin B12.

    Vitamin B6 can be found in liver, chicken, nuts and other things, and Vitamin B12 in fish, meat, eggs, milk and some cereals. The researchers found that four weeks of Vitamin B supplements — the damage of PM2.5 effects by 28-76%. The results emphasized how prevention at an individual level could be used to fight against the damage of PM2.5, the researchers said.

    Deserts are found where there is little rainfall or where rain for a whole year falls in only a few weeks' time. Ten inches of rain may be enough for many plants to survive if the rain is spread throughout the year. If it falls within one or two months and the rest of the year is dry, those plants may die and a desert may form.

    Sand begins as tiny pieces of rock that get smaller and smaller as wind and weather wear them down. Sand dunes (沙丘) are formed as winds move the sand across the desert. Bit by bit, the dunes grow over the years, always moving with the winds and changing the shape. Most of them are only a few feet tall, but they can grow to be several hundred feet high.

There is, however, much more to a desert than sand. In the deserts of the southwestern United States, cliffs (悬崖) and deep valleys were formed from thick mud that once lay under a sea more than millions of years ago. Over the centuries, the water dried up. Wind, sand, rain, heat and cold all wore away at the remaining rocks. The faces of the desert mountains are always changing –-very, very slowly —as these forces of nature continue to work on the rock.

    Most deserts have a surprising variety of life. There are plants, animals and insects that have adapted to life in the desert. During the heat of the day a visitor may see very few signs of living things, but as the air begins to cool in the evening, the desert comes to life. As the sun begins to rise again in the sky, the desert once again becomes quiet and lonely.

The Truth About the Environment

    For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. They have developed a hit-list of our main fears: that natural resources are running out, that the population is ever growing, leaving less and less to eat, that species are becoming disappeared in huge numbers, and that the planet's air and water are becoming ever more polluted.

    But a quick look at the facts shows a different picture. First, energy and other natural resources have become more abundant, not less so. Second, more food is now produced per head of the world's population than at any time in history. Fewer people are starving. Third, although species are indeed becoming disappeared, only about 0.7% of them are dying out in the next 50 years, not 25-50%, as has so often been predicted. And finally, most forms of environmental pollution either appear to have been best cured not by limiting economic growth, but by accelerating it.

    Yet public opinion surveys suggest that many people hold the belief that environmental standards are declining and four factors seem to cause this gap between what they know and what the reality is.

    One is the unbalanced budget for scientific research. Scientific funding goes mainly to areas with many problems. That may be wise policy, but it will also create an impression that many more potential problems exist than is the case.

    Secondly, environmental groups need to be noticed by the mass media. They also need to keep the money rolling in. Understandably, perhaps, they sometimes overstate their arguments. In 1997, for example, the World Wide Fund for Nature issued a press release entitled: „Two thirds of the world's forests lost forever'. The truth turns out to be nearer 20%.

    A third source of confusion is the attitude of the media. People are extremely more curious about bad news than good. Newspapers and broadcasters are there to provide what the public wants: That, however, can lead to significant misunderstanding. An example was that America came across EI Nino(厄尔尼诺) in 1997 and 1998. This climatic phenomenon was accused of breaking tourism, causing allergies, melting the ski-slopes, and causing 22 deaths. However, according to an article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, the damage was estimated at $4 billion but the benefits amounted to some $19 billion.

    The fourth factor is poor individual knowledge. People worry that the endless rise in the amount of things everyone throws away will cause the world to run out of places to dispose of waste. Yet, even if America's trash output continues to rise as it has done in the past, and even if the American population doubles by 2100, all the rubbish America produces through the entire 21st century will still take up only one 12,000th of the area of the entire United States.

    It is extremely important that we look at the facts if we want to make the best possible decisions for the future. It may be costly to be overly optimistic, but more costly still to be too pessimistic.

    ⒈TrueCar.com

    Top dealers compete for your business by offering lower prices. TrueCar spends a lot of money and resources on making sure the entire car renting experience is simple and straightforward. If you're in the market for a new car, give this site a try first.

TrueCar's network checks many of the prices in your area and gets you the best price for the car you're looking for.

    ⒉Carvoy.com

    It offers more control by allowing you to “build your car” and select your rental plan. The “build your car” option is one of the better options for those looking to add on features to their car. If you're looking for cars with options like a sunroof or navigation (导航), it's Carvoy that makes it very easy to get started with the process.

    ⒊CarsDirect.com

    They have a large collection of new and used cars, and also provide resources for car comparisons. In the business for many years, they are one of the first online car outlets. They have a staff that can usually help you if you give them a call. Their phone support is very good and they are mostly located in the United States.

    ⒋CarRent.com

    It delivers your rental car to the door, which is actually a huge selling point. Many people don't like to go to a dealership or even drive somewhere to pick up a car. Imagine renting a car and having it delivered right to your doorstep, no driving necessary!

    ⒌CostcoAuto.com

    It offers member-only savings, many car selections and an easy sign-up process. The deals through Costco are great and unique. Many times they have deals with General Motors cars like Chevrolet. There are a lot of deals to be done, but the one thing that Costco does not do is negotiate the price.

    When the telephone rings late at night, most women guess it must be one of only four or five people calling. A sister? Maybe. An emergency? Possibly. A mother? Probably not at that time of night. Much more probably it is a close female friend calling to tell you that she is heartbroken because she has split up with her boyfriend again or perhaps simply that a good movie has just started on TV.

    At a time when families are spread far and wide and marriages often end in divorce, friendships are becoming more and more important. Erika, a 32-year-old lawyer, is strengthened by her ten year friendship with her married friend Jane. "I was very sick one night, so I called Jane at about 3：00 a. m. to talk about it," she says. "She was very supportive and even came over to take me to the doctor's."

    As American TV shows like Friends have become more popular, many of us are beginning to see the value of such friendships.TV shows like this tell us that our romantic relationships may not last, but we need to keep in touch with our close friends if we want to survive.

    With Erika's family 200 miles away, it is Jane who keeps a spare set of keys to Erika's apartment and waters her plants whenever she is away. "Having Jane around gives me a certain amount of freedom. It is not the kind of thing that you could ask anyone to do, but she knows I would do the same for her. "Jane, who may move to a different city soon, is worried about leaving such a support system of friends. "My friends have more to do with my life than my parents and, therefore, I don't have to spend a lot of time explaining things to them. Friends are more up to date with what is happening."