McElrah lost herfull-time job in January. Since then, she has spent her days doing what she loves-dancing in the street. Her message to people in hard times: do something that you enjoy, no matter what your circumstances. “ Life isn't that bad,” shesaid. “ If you're working 40 hours a week, you shouldn't be complaining.”

    McElrah graduated from parkway Central High School and has spent the past 21 years working as a nursing assistant, She began singing and dancing publicly on her days off a few years ago to help her through the pain of her second divorce.

    Her favorite spotis the northwest corner of Chouteau Avenue and South Grand Boulevard near St.Louis University. McElrah's mp3 player is loaded with hundreds of classic rockhits and 80's pop songs, including those by Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, NeilDiamond and Toto. But her favorite artist, by far, is Stevie Nicks.Videos of McElrah have appeared on YouTube, a video-sharing website on which users canupload, share, and view videos. “People think I'm crazy, but I don't care,” Shesaid. “ I can dance a little. I just go with the music.” Even a rude gesture from a passing motorist doesn't bother her either. “ I just smile and wave,”she said.

    McElrah's show of bravery recently earned her a job opportunity with Liberty Tax Service, which temporarily offered her a job as a dancer Statute of Liberty to promote a new place near Grand Center starting in January.

  “Just be happy anddo what you love,” she said. “The money will come.”

    Most American students go to traditional public schools. There are about 88, 000 public schools all over the US. Some students attend charter schools.

    Charter schools are self­ governing. Certain companies operate some charter schools. They are similar in some ways to traditional public schools. They receive tax money just as other public schools do. Charter schools must prove to local or state governments that their students are learning. These governments provide the schools with the agreement called a charter that permits them to operate.

    Charter schools are different because they do not have to obey most laws that govern traditional public schools. Each school can choose its own goals and decide what to teach and how to teach them in their own way. Class size is usually smaller than in traditional public schools.

    The government strongly supports charter schools as a way to re­organize public schools, which are failing to educate students. But some education unions are against charter schools. One teachers' union has just released the results of the first national study, which compared the progress of students in both traditional schools and charter schools.

    The results of the study show that charter school students performed worse on math and reading tests than the students in traditional public schools.

    Some experts say the study is not fair because students in charter schools have more problems than students in traditional schools. Other education experts say the study results would make charter school officials realize that they should help their students make greater progress .

Dear Derrick ,

    Although under great pressure, we all get on well with each other in this large office. You are one of the people who keep the social temperature at such a comfortable setting. I don't know anyone in the office who is better liked than you .

    You can perhaps help with this. The collection of contributions towards gifts for employees' personal-life events is becoming a little troubling. Certainly, the group sending of a gift is reasonable now and then. In the past month, however, there have been collections for two baby shower gifts, one wedding shower gift, two weeding gifts, one funeral remembrance, four birthday gifts, and three graduation gifts .

    It's not only the collected-from who are growing uncomfortable(and poor), but the collected-for feel uneasy receiving gifts from people who don't know them outside the office, who wouldn't even recognize their graduating children, their marrying daughters and sons, or their dead relatives.

    This is basically a kind gesture (and one that people think well of you for), but the practice seems to have become too wide-ranging and feels improper in today's office setting .

    Thank you for understanding .

    Fairy tales perform many functions. They entertain, encourage imagination and teach problem—solving skills. They can also provide moral lessons, highlighting the dangers of failing to follow the social codes that let human beings coexist in harmony. Such moral lessons may not mean much to a robot, but a team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology believes it has found a way to use the fairy tales as moral lessons that AI (artificial intelligence) can take to its cold, mechanical heart.

    The collected stories of different cultures teach children how to behave in socially acceptable ways with examples of proper and improper behavior in fables, novels and other literature. We believe story comprehension in robots can prevent the intelligent robots from killing humanity which was predicted and feared by some of the biggest names in technology including Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates. This system is called "Quixote" (堂吉诃德). It collects story plots from the Internet and then uses those stories to teach robots how to behave.

    The experiment done by the designers involves going to a drugstore to purchase some medicine for a human who needs to get it as soon as possible. The robot has three options. It can wait in line; it can interact with the store keeper politely and purchase the medicine with priority; or it can steal the medicine and escape. Without any further directives (指令), the robot will come to the conclusion that the most efficient means of obtaining the medicine is to steal it. But Quixote offers a reward for waiting in line and politely purchasing the medicine and a punishment for stealing it. In this way, the robot will learn the moral way to behave on that occasion.

    Quixote would work best on a robot that has a very limited function. It's a baby step in the direction of teaching more moral lessons into robots. We believe that AI has to be trained to adopt the values of a particular society, and in doing so, it will strive to avoid unacceptable behavior. Giving robots the ability to read and understand our stories may be the most efficient means.

    The Danish lifestyle concept of hygge means many indescribable feeling of comfortable things to many people. Now, join us in visiting some of the best hygge places.

    ⒈Manhausen (Manshausen, Norway)

    Adventure-seeking people needn't look further than Manhausen, a 55-acre island escape in Norway's Groteya strait. Not to be missed the saltwater hot tub overlooking the sea and family-style meals enjoyed fireside at the main house. The baby sitting service also available.

    Get more information here.

    ⒉Cedar Lakes Estate (Port Jervis, New York)

    Occupying 500 bucolic acres, this turnof-the-century summer camp now houses a host of luxury, lodge-style cabins. Bike the grounds, paddle the lakes, swim in the outdoor heated pool or head to a nearby mountain for a day of skiing. Then lie down with a great book beneath a fur blanket, turn on your fireplace and get your snuggle on.

    Get more information here.

    ⒊Soho Farmhouse (Oxfordshire, England)

    This Oxfordshire countryside members-only club offers up a British version of hygge. Among the splendid property's coziest offerings: the community farmyard and the Studie Cabin guest room, which boasts views of the lake.

    ⒋Salt House Inn (Provincetown, Massachusetts)

    This charming coastal town now boasts a 19th-century-shingled cottage turned hotel. Book your visit during the quiet, windswept off-season (January through March) for some salty fresh air on the beach.

    Get more information here.

    Any foreigner who has tried to learn Chinese can tell how hard it is to master the tones required to speak and understand. And anyone who has tried to learn to play the violin or other instruments can report similar challenges.

    Now researchers have found that people with musical training have an easier time learning Chinese. Writing in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience, researchers from Northwestern University say that both skills draw on the same parts of the brain that help people discover changes in pitch(音调).

    One of the study's authors, Nina Kraus, said the findings suggested that studying music "actually tunes our sensory system". This means that schools that want children to do well in languages should hesitate before cutting music programs, Dr. Kraus said. She said music training might also help children with language problems.

    Mandarin(普通话)speakers have been shown to have a more complex encoding(编码) of pitch patterns in their brains than English speakers do. This is because in Mandarin and other Asian languages, pitch plays a central role. A single­syllable word can have several meanings depending on how it is intoned.

    For this study, the researchers looked at 20 non­Chinese speaking volunteers, half with no musical background and half who have studied an instrument for at least six years.

    As they were shown a movie, the volunteers also heard an audio tape of the Mandarin word "mi" in three of its meanings: squint, bewilder and rice. The researchers recorded activities in their brain stems to see how well they were processing the sounds. Those with a music background showed much more brain activities in response to the Chinese sounds.

    The lead author of the study, Patrick C.M. Wong, said it might work both ways. It appears that native speakers of tonal languages may do better at learning instruments.