Chinese colleges have come up with an unusual way to help freshmen settle in. They turn their gyms into campsites for moms and dads, some of whom have traveled thousands of miles across the country, to say goodbye.

For the past five years, Tianjin University in northern China has provided free accommodation for parents in what it calls "tents of love". Other schools let parents sleep on mats in school gymnasiums.

    "Going to college is a life moment and my parents didn't want to miss that," said Zhang Jinqi, a freshman at Tianjin University majoring in applied chemistry. His parents traveled with him on the 19-hour train journey from Jiangxi Province in southern China.

    Images of school gyms packed with parents have been widely shared on Chinese social media prompting a debate on whether China's only children are too coddled.

    Some have voiced criticism of Tianjin University, saying that they think both the parents and the children should be more independent.

    Xiong Bingqi, the deputy director of think-tank 21st Century Education Research Institute，thinks the problem is overstated. "It has always been a problem in China that at the start of every school year, colleges are packed with parents who come along to drop off their children and stay with them," he said. "For some families, it's their way to celebrate the first-ever family member who's able to go to college," Xiong added. "There's nothing wrong with sharing the happiness."

    Zhang's father said the decision to escort their son was a no-brainer. He and his wife are among the many "campers" who sleep in the 550 temporary tents set up in the Tianjin University gym.

    "My child has lots of luggage and we also want to go traveling," said his father Zhang Yonghui. "The hotels nearby are fully booked so I have to sleep in the tents."

    Their son also shrugged off the criticism although he said he was looking forward to living on his own for the first time. "Being accompanied by my parents doesn't mean I'm spoiled."

    At 27, after serving in World War II, I dreamed of owning a piece of land. So I moved from central Illinois to Shelbina, Missouri, and bought 236 acres for $6,000. The land was situated on a dirt road and was half farmland and half trees, with an old house that had no running water or electricity. Obviously, it was not what you'd call a perfect farm. But it was mine.

    I was alone for the first time in my life, and I found it liberating. My days were filled from dawn until dusk with plowing and planting corn. Dinnertime came and went, and I barely remembered to eat.

    I wouldn't say I was a great success at farming in Missouri. However, when I went to the store to buy some tools, I met a nice woman named Claudette working behind the counter. I also ran into her at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Shelbina each week. I found out later that her manager kept asking her about “that tall boy from Illinois living out in the country in an old house with no water, no electricity and no housekeeper.”

    Claudette and her sister soon visited my farm and put up some curtains. To show my appreciation, I took Claudette out for a ride in my truck. We married in 1954 and have now been together for more than 62 years!

    I later sold the Missouri farm for a $3,500 profit and bought 40 acres in Illinois. For many reasons, buying the Missouri farm was a good idea. I will always cherish memories of owning the farm and meeting my beloved.

    Many people believe that you lose the ability to learn new languages as you get older. Language experts, however, will tell you that you're never too old to learn a new language. As you get older, it can be more difficult to learn a new language, though.

    Children and adults learn new languages in different ways．For children, language is their life. They study for thousands of hours every year, because they need to learn languages to become part of their communities. Adults, on the other hand，are already part of a language community. Learning a new language means becoming part of another language community, and adults seldom get the chance to practice as much as young children do.

    Moreover, children learning a new language are expected to make mistakes. This gives them freedom when learning to be daring and confident. Adults, however, often feel pressured to be perfect when learning a new language. This can discourage many people and make it even harder to learn a new language.

    Research has shown that children who learn a new language when they are very young will not be likely to have a “foreign” accent when speaking a different language. Some scientists also believe that it can take up to 10,000 hours of study to master a new language. This can be difficult for adults to achieve, but young children can accumulate(积累) those hours over several years as they grow up.

    When young children learn a new language, they come to see multiple languages as a “normal” part of society. This mindset (思维模式) helps them learn a new language without feeling like they're doing something unusual or “too hard”.

    So if you want to learn a new language, go for it! It's never too late to learn a new language. If you're older, it may take more work, but it can be done. If you're a young child, though, now is the time to step out and learn a new language!

    World-famous scientist Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76. He was often called the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Albert Einstein. But his amazing career actually started as a young man who struggled to get around to doing his homework at Oxford University where he studied physics. He then went on to Cambridge to research cosmology, the study of the origin of universe.

    When he was 21, Hawking's life hit a big hurdle. He was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. The disease causes the brain to stop sending messages to a person's muscles. At the time, doctors said he would only live for around 2 years, but he proved them very, very wrong.

    And with the help of a special wheelchair and speech computer, Hawking spent much of his time researching the beginning of the universe and black holes. His most famous discovery was probably when he demonstrated that black holes emit some radiation, which has since become known as Hawking Radiation. He also spent a lot of time thinking about what existed before the big bang.

    Hawking wrote books that explained his big ideas in ways that could be understood by the average person. In 1988 he published A Brief History of Time. It became really popular and sold more than 10 million copies. However, he wasn't just known for his books. He also had a lot of fun becoming a regular on TV screens around the world. He even had a big Hollywood film made about his life.

    Throughout his life Stephen Hawking inspired people to look beyond our planet and expand our knowledge of the universe. His family says that he'll be greatly missed and the legacy of his amazing ideas will live on.

    One of the most famous buildings in the United States is Carnegie Hall, the home of classical and popular music concerts in New York. Carnegie Hall is known not just for its beauty and history, but also for its amazing sound. It has been said that the hall itself is an instrument. It takes the music and makes it larger than life.

    Carnegie Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction. Construction on Carnegie Hall began in 1890 and the official opening night was on May 5, 1891.

    The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1924 when it was sold to Robert E. Simon. The building became very old and in 1960, the new owner made plans to destroy it and build an office block. Isaac Stem led a group of people who fought to save Carnegie Hall and finally, the city of New York bought it for $5 million. It was then fixed up between 1983 and 1995.

    Advertisements and stories in newspapers about how Carnegie Hall needed help to recover its history led people to send in old concert programmes and information from all over the world. Over 12,000 concert programmes were received and with these it was possible to make a proper record of Carnegie Hall's concert history.

Carnegie Hall is actually made up of several different halls, but the Main Hall, now called the Isaac Stern Hall, is the most famous. The hall itself can hold an audience of 2,804 in five levels of seating.

    Because the best and most famous musicians of all time have played at Carnegie Hall, it is the dream of most musicians who want to be great to play there. This has led to a very old joke which is now part of Carnegie Hall's history. Question: "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" Answer: "Practise, practise, practise."

    We are the CEOs. We are the head designers. We are the top engineers. We are the senior creators. We are the inventors. We are the only maker of our own happiness.

    However, we still have learned that people's views on happiness often change with many outside things. Some people smile happily beside their new cars and homes. Students feel excited when they get better grades. Babies laugh loudly when they get new toys. Maybe true happiness has been lost in these things.

    How could we have allowed ourselves to be cheated for so long? Something outside may give us happiness, but what directs us to real happiness is inner (内在的) spirit.

    Our spirit is so easily broken, yet it is the single strongest thing we own. Why do people with terrible diseases still smile? Why do those with a broken heart still find joy? The inner spirit is powerful, and it is the only thing on earth that can be broken into pieces but can perfectly mend itself with time. Think about those who suffer a lot but still feel happy. Their inner spirit is very strong.

    Our inner spirit will be the greatest gift that we give ourselves. It is our compass (指南针) to happiness, but we are the tour guides.