My family lived in a motel for two years. Like most families living there, we stayed in a two- bedroom suite. We were living from paycheck to paycheck, so when Christmas approached, we didn't know if we could be able to purchase gifts for our children.

    A few days before Christmas someone dropped off presents for all the kids that lived in the motel. It brought so much joy to all the children, most of whom knew that they wouldn't be receiving anything.

Five years ago, we moved out of the motel. After that, my husband and I were working hard at the Joe's Crab Shack to support our family. A few days before Christmas, I was working a “big top” and a single table. The man at my table could see that the large table was taking most of my time, but I was very patient and friendly. Between drinks and food I was able to chat with him about his family and mine. He left me $10, then walked out. About 10 minutes later, I turned around and there he was again. He gave me a hug, and put something in the side of my coat, telling me “Have a Merry Christmas”. I reached into my coat and pulled out $800.

    I was so moved by his generosity that I burst into tears. He had given me more than enough money to help my family catch up on our bills. After discussing what we should do with the money we had left over, we decided to buy presents for the families living at the motel, so we could pass on the blessing that we had received. Since then, it has been a tradition for us to give Christmas gift to the families in need.

    Last year we were able to give presents each of the 80 children at a school in our community, and throw a Christmas party for them. This year our goal is to add at least 20 children.

    Sometimes you'll hear people say that you can't love others until you love yourself. Sometimes you'll hear people say that you can't expect someone else to love you until you love yourself. Either way, you've got to love yourself first and this can be tricky. Sure we all know that we're the apple of our parents' eyes, and that our Grandmas think we're geniuses and our Uncle Roberts think that we will go to the Olympics, but sometimes it's a lot harder to think such nice thoughts about ourselves. If you find that believing in yourself is a challenge, it is time you built a positive self-image and learnt to love yourself.

    Self-image is your own mind's picture of yourself. This image includes the way you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think. Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about us. Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be. Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world.

    The best way to defeat a passive self-image is to step back and decide to stress your successes. That is, make a list if you need to, but write down all of the great things you do every day. Don't allow doubts to occur in it.

    It very well might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can't move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself. Well, roll up your sleeves and make a change of it as your primary task. If you think you're silly because you aren't good at math, find a tutor. If you think you're weak because you can't run a mile, get to the track and practice. If you think you're dull because you don't wear the latest trends, buy a few new clothes. But remember, just because you think it doesn't mean it's true.

    The best way to get rid of a negative self-image is to realize that your image is far from objective, and to actively convince yourself of your positive qualities. Changing the way you think and working on those you need to improve will go a long way towards promoting a positive self-image. When you can pat yourself on the back, you'll know you're well on your way. Good luck！

    Bertie knew there was something in the wind. His mother had been sad in recent days, not sick, just strangely sad. The lion had just lain down beside him, his head warm on Bertie's feet, when Father cleared his throat and began, "You'll soon be eight, Bertie. A boy needs a proper education. We've found the right place for you, a school near Salisbury in England."

    His heart filled with a terrible fear, all Bertie could think of was his white lion. "But the lion," he cried, "What about the lion?"

"I'm afraid there's something else I have to tell you," his father said. Looking across at Bertie's mother, he took a deep breath. Then he told Bertie he had met a circus owner from France, who was over in Africa looking for lions to buy. He would come to their farm in a few days.

    "No! You can't send him to a circus!" said Bertie. "People will come to see him. He'll be shut up behind bars. I promised him he never would be. And they will laugh at him. He'd rather die. Any animal would! "But as he looked across the table at them, he knew their minds were quite made up.

    Bertie felt completely betrayed (出卖). He waited until he heard his father's deep breathing next door. With his white lion at his heels, he crept (蹑手蹑脚地移动) downstairs, took down his father's rifle (步枪) and stepped out into the night. He ran and ran till his legs could run no more. As the sun came up over the grassland, he climbed to the top of a hill and sat down, his arms round the lion's neck. The time had come.

    "Be wild now", he whispered. "You've got to be wild. Don't ever come home. All my life I'll think of you. I promise I will. "He buried his head in the lion's neck. Then, Bertie climbed down the hill and walked away.

    When he looked back, the lion was still sitting there watching him; but then he stood up, yawned, stretched, and sprang down after him. Bertie shouted at him, but he kept coming. He threw sticks. He threw stones. Nothing worked.

    There was only one thing left to do. With tears filling his eyes and his mouth, he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired over the lion's head.

Dear Rose,

    My brother is often in a bad mood, which makes me in a bad mood. What should I do?

Jenny,

    It can be hard to be around someone who is in a bad mood. Since you can't change another person's mood, try to focus on what you can control: your own mood and reaction.

    You might find it easier to stay in a good mood if you leave your brother alone when he feels grumpy (脾气暴躁的). The next time he is in a bad mood, go to a quiet place in your house. Read, exercise, draw, listen to music — do something that makes you feel happy.

    Your parents might have some good suggestions for you, too.

Dear Rose,

   I play soccer, but sometimes I play badly. How can I do better? Jarom,

    To be good at anything, determination and practice are important. Listen closely to your coach, watch other players, then practice, practice, practice! Professional athletes continue to practice their sports each day, knowing that if they start to get lazy, they won't keep or develop their skills.

    In addition to practicing with teammates, you can work on drills on your own.

    Learning more about the sport may help too. Your coach can likely direct you to some good resources on skills development.

Dear Rose,

    I was moved up a grade a few years ago. Now, almost everyone in my previous grade asks me why. It wouldn't be a problem, except some boys ask over and over just to be annoying. What do I do?

Allison (by email)

    If you're sure that they are trying to be annoying, you might respond with something humorous. For example, you could say something like "They told me that the lunch lines would be shorter." Use the situation to turn annoying questions into something to laugh about.

    Researchers have found bees can do basic mathematics, in a discovery that deepens our understanding of the relationship between brain size and brain power. Recently, A study conducted by researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia showed that bees could perform arithmetic operations like addition and subtraction (减法).

    Solving math problems requires a complex level of involving the mental management of numbers, long-term rules and short-term working memory. The finding that even the tiny brain of a honeybee can grasp basic mathematical operations has a possible effect on the future development of Artificial Intelligence, particularly in improving rapid learning.

    RMIT's Professor Adrian Dyer said numerical (数字的) operations like addition and subtraction are complex because they require two levels of processing. “You need to be able to hold the rules around adding and subtracting in your long-term memory, while mentally using skillfully a set of given numbers in your short-term memory,” Dyer said. “On top of this, our bees also used their short-term memories to solve arithmetic problems, as they learned to recognize plus or minus as abstract concepts.”

    The findings suggest that advanced numerical cognition (认知) may be found much more widely in nature among non-human animals than previously suspected.

    “If math doesn't require a massive brain, there might also be new ways for us to include interactions of both long-term rules and working memory in designs to improve rapid AI learning of new problems,” said Dyer.

    Many species can understand the difference between quantities and use this to search for food, make decisions and solve problems. But numerical cognition, such as exact number and arithmetic operations, requires a more complex level of processing.

    Previous studies have shown some primates (灵长目动物), birds, babies and even spiders can add and/or subtract. The new research, published in Science Advances, adds bees to that list.

    Half a year ago I came across a book called "Salt, Sugar and Fat. How the Food Giants Hooked US", but finished it only recently. I am far from being a fan of junk food, over-salty, or over-sweet stuff, and honestly this food doesn't appeal to me at all. Maybe it is related to the fact that I grew up in Russia and at that time we were not so exposed to the foreign, especially made in America foods. We knew Coca Cola, Pepsi, juice powder and Cheetos, but this stuff was not so cheap or available to buy it every day and we couldn't buy them in large quantities. We didn't know the word "fat" was not a bad thing but a normal of life for some people. We always had sweets and especially on holidays they were served as a dessert along with a cake. Russians like eating sweets when they drink tea. Even with my passion to desserts I still can't relate myself to the people Michale Moss was writing about, those consumers who could not say “no” when it came to junk food.

    What I found interesting in the book was that the author didn't focus on diets, necessity to exercise, sleep well at night and all other things we all are pretty aware of. The aim was not to teach people how to live but instead, after having made a huge research, interviewed more than 100 people in the food industry, Moss reveals the ugly of the food business. It puts all the facts in front of us and offers a choice: to buy or not to buy. However, the answer was known at the very beginning. Moss mentions the well-known food like Coca, Cola, Pepsi, Nestle and some others and tells how skillfully the consumers can be cheated when it comes to choosing what to put in the food basket in the supermarket. We like this taste of a chocolate, the crispy chips, and sweet porridges because it was all put on test by groups of scientists who made experiments to reveal what kind of taste will be most appealing to us. It involves brain, of course. Apart from scientific researches, it was also due to successful marketing strategies and plans that people prefer to buy food.

    In this companies' money race, the most vulnerable(易受伤害的)victims are kids. They can't tell good from bad and love everything that makes them feel good. Commercial ads of fast food particularly targeted kids and played on the fact that mothers can't fully control what their children eat because they spent all day at work. Mothers themselves buy chocolates bars and com flakes for their kids, guided by a powerful brainwashing that actually, these products were not unhealthy, on the contrary, it was encouraged to give them to kids, because fat and sugar provide energy, so they are good, right?

    Giving a credit to some food companies, they made attempts to fight the trend, but consumers, who already worked a habit of eating too salty, too fatting and too sweet products, didn't react to the changes. So the companies returned to the old policy. Surprisingly, such behavior was strongly backed up by the government.

    I would definitely recommend reading this book not only to those who struggle in the battle with his addiction to fast food but also people living healthily. It casts light on many things, including how vulnerable we can be in front of corporations and their powerful and accurate marketing strategies.