From the very beginning of school we make books and reading a constant source of possible failure and public humiliation. When children are little we make them read aloud, before the teacher and other children, so that we can be sure they “know” all the words they are reading. This means that when they don't know a word, they are going to make a mistake, right in front of everyone. After having taught fifth-grade classes for four years, I decided to try at all costs to rid them of their fear and dislike of books, and to get them to read oftener and more adventurously.

         One day soon after school had started, I said to them, “Now I'm going to say something about reading that you have probably never heard a teacher say before. I would like you to read a lot of  books this year, but I want you to read them only for pleasure. I am not going to ask you questions to find out whether you understand the books or not. If you understand enough of a book to enjoy it and want to go on reading it, that's enough for me. Also I'm not going to ask you what words mean. “

        The children sat stunned and silent. Was this a teacher talking? One girl, who had just come to us from a school where she had had a very hard time, looked at me steadily for a long time after I had finished. Then, still looking at me, she said slowly and seriously, Mr Holt, do you really mean that?” I said just as seriously, “I mean every word of it.

During the spring she really astonished me. One day, she was reading at her desk, From a glimpse of the illustrations I thought I knew what the book was. I said to myself, “It can't be,” and went to take a closer look. Sure enough, she was reading Moby Dick , in edition with woodcuts. I said, “Don't you find parts of it rather heavy going?” She answered, Oh, sure, but I just skip over those parts and go on to the next good part. “

        This is exactly what reading should be and in school so seldom is, an exciting, joyous adventure. Find something, dive into it, take the good parts, skip the bad parts, get what you can out of it, go on to something else. How different is our mean-spirited, picky insistence that every child get every last little scrap of “understanding” that can be dug out of a book.

    When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard, but was always very kind.

    When Doctor Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. He had some interesting theories about planting trees. He believed in the principle “No pain, no gain”. He hardly watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional(传统的) wisdom. Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow weaker. He said you had to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water. So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he'd beat them with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.

    Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some twenty five years ago. They were all tall and strong.

    I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of attending these trees meant they grew up weak. Whenever a cold wind blew, their branches trembled. Adversity(逆境) seemed to benefit Doctor Gibb's trees in ways comfort and ease never could.

    Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to meet with hardship. There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be torn apart.

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    People generally tend to pick out the best-looking fruits and vegetables when shopping for produce, but Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws is attracting customers with badly-shaped and faulty produce at the price of 30% lower than normal-looking ones.

    A trial run of the ugly food line, named “Naturally Imperfect”, began with only apples and tomatoes to choose from. Consumer demand has been so huge that Loblaws is going to introduce more unsightly vegetables and fruit options like onions and mushrooms. The line is available at other stores, including Real Canadian Superstore and Your Independent Grocer.

    All the produce that will be sold through Naturally Imperfect would otherwise have been used in juices, sauces, or soups, or have not been harvested at all. The director Dan Branson explained that this program benefited both food producers who would otherwise have to let abnormal harvest go to waste, and consumers who could buy fresh produce at low prices. And he was right, given how popular the line has become.

    “It really went well beyond our expectation,” Branson said. “I think it really spoke to the fact that Canadians are out there really looking for some options.”

    Of course, Canadians know that beauty is more than skin deep, but they also recognize that they can get the same flavor and nutritional benefits in spite of appearances. The positive response to the initial offering of apples and potatoes showed the opportunity to expand the line and offer more options at a greater price to Canadian families.

    “If you grow produce in your backyard, there will be a lot of produce that won't look as pretty as what you will see in a grocery store, said Branson. “And nature doesn't grow everything perfectly. I'd like to think if somebody were to take a No Name Naturally Imperfect apple, put right beside a No.l apple, close their eyes and eat them, there would be no difference.”

    Anew international study shows that some peopled biological clock plays a powerful role for their life expectancy, regardless of lifestyle choices.

Published in the latest issue of Aging on Wednesday, the study has found the most definitive evidence to explain why some people keep healthy lifestyle but die younger than others.

    Geneticist Steve Horvath from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), led a team of 65 scientists around the world to record age-related changes to human DNA, analyse blood samples collected from 13,000 people and estimate their lifespan.

    A higher biological age, regardless of actual age, consistently predicts an earlier death, the study says.

    “You get people who are vegan, sleep 10 hours a day, have a low-stress job, and still end up dying young,” Horvath said in a statement. “We have shown some people have a faster innate aging rate.”

    The findings discovered that 5 percent of the population ages at a faster biological rate, which translated to a roughly 50 percent higher than average risk of death at any age.

    “The great hope is that we find anti-aging interventions that would slow your innate aging rate,” Horvath said, adding that “this is an important milestone to realizing this dream.

    A Japanese telecom company has designed a robot that it says has emotions (情绪). But rather than run in fear from it, we've welcomed it into our homes: Pepper, the “emotional robots” sold out within a minute of going on sale.

    Created by Aldebaran Robotics and Japanese mobile giant SoftBaok, Pepper went on sale to the general public in Japan on June 20. It is “the first humanoid (类人的) robot designed to live with humans,” Aldebaran says on its website. Pepper costs about $ 1,600. And like all good mobile products, there's a $ 120 per month data fee, as well as an $80 per month damage insurance fee. According to a news report, Pepper can pick up on human emotions and create his own using a “multi-layer neural (神经的) network.” Pepper's touch sensors and cameras are said to influence its mood, which is displayed on the tablet-sized screen on its chest.

    Pepper will sigh when unhappy, and can go around your house recording your family's daily activity. Aldebaran says Pepper can feel “joy, surprise, anger, doubt and sadness,” but it doesn't say how strongly it can feel these emotions. What happens when Pepper is having a bad day? Will it, like many humans, become uncooperative? Will it ask for some time alone? What happens if it knows that its purpose in life is just to take part in small talk? Thankfully, Pepper is only about four feet tall, with roller balls instead of legs, so if it is angry with and even turns on its owners, you'll be safe if you can make it upstairs.

    Aldebaran says in reality, they're probably quite a few years away from artificial intelligence that could create real emotions. Aldebaran wasn't immediately able to tell when Pepper will be available out of Japan, but additional sales are scheduled for July after the first 1,000 units sell out. SoftBank currently uses the robots in its stores as greeters, and it plans to offer Pepper to other stores in the future. Hopefully “boredom” is not an emotion Pepper can feel.

    Kung fu is one of a number of Chinese martial arts designed to improve the body and the mind. It is perhaps one of the most widely known martial arts, because many films include its techniques. There are hundreds of styles taught all over the world, although they can be loosely divided into two camps: Shaolin style kung fu, and other techniques, some of which have a history that outdates the Shaolin order.

    Shaolin kung fix has its origins in the fifth century. Like some other martial arts, it began in religious temples, where the monks sought a mind and body discipline (训练方法). In addition to the fighting style, it also includes mental exercises and religious practices designed to balance the whole body.

    Shaolin temples resembled universities, integrating a wide range of subjects of study. Therefore, traditional Shaolin styles such as Wing Chun, Crane, Praying Mantis, and Hung Gar took knowledge from fields outside martial arts, such as the healing arts and meditation. Supporters for Shaolin styles believe that they are more rounded martial arts styles, and that learners will benefit from them on a whole body level.

    Other fighting styles, some of which predate the Shaolin style, are also lumped under the kung fu umbrella. They include Pa-Kua, Eagle Claw, and Eight Drunken Immortals styles. These disciplines are not considered to be Shaolin style because they did not originate in temples and are focused primarily on fighting techniques.

    Whether Shaolin or otherwise, kung fu is characterized by self defense strategies that turn the energy of an attacker against him or her. Although the techniques may vary, most styles teach throws, kicks, punches, and the use of weapons. In addition to the physical discipline, most place a great importance on respect, honor, and living a balanced life.