There was once a guy who suffered from cancer, a cancer that can't be cured. One day he was sick of staying home and wanted to go out. He passed a CD store and looked through the front door for a second. He saw a beautiful girl about his age and he knew it was love at first sight. He opened the door and walked in, not looking at anything else but her. He walked closer and closer until he was finally at the front desk where she sat.

    She looked up and asked, “Can I help you?” She smiled and he thought it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen before. He said, “UH…Yeah…Umm… I would like to buy a CD.” He picked one out and gave her money for it. “Would you like me to pack it for you?” she asked, smiling her cute smile again. He nodded and she went to the back. She came back with the packed CD and gave it to him.

     From then on, he went to that store every day and bought a CD. He took the CD home and put it in his closet. He was still too shy to ask her out. His mother found out about this and encouraged him. So the next day, he took all his courage and left his phone number on the desk before he ran out.

    Several weeks later the phone rang, and the mother picked it up. It was the girl!!! The mother started to cry and said, “You don't know? He passed away yesterday…” Later that day, the mother went into the boy's room and opened the closet. Inside were piles and piles of unopened CDs. She picked one up and opened it. Out fell a piece of paper, saying: “Do you want to go out with me? Love, Jocelyn.” The mother was deeply moved and opened another CD… Again, there was a piece of paper with the same words.

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Reasons to visit St.Louis

Whether you're traveling alone, with a friend or with the whole family, there's a nearly endless selection of activities you'll want to experience—so many that it's hard to decide where to go first.

Missouri Botanical Garden

    You could easily spend an entire day making your way through the 79 acres(英亩)on display here. The gardens also boast(以拥有……而自豪) seasonal exhibits, such as the summer Lantern Festival—taking place through July—that showcases beautiful works of light each year.

4344 Shaw Blvd, 314-577-5100, missouribotanicalgarden. org.

St. Louis Art Museum Free

    There are more than 33,000 works on display here, including the recent addition of 225 donated pieces of feature work by American artists and more than 200 pieces from Asia. The museum is free, and special exhibits are free on Fridays.

    I Fine Arts Drive, 314-721-0072, slam. Org
St. Louis Science Center Free

    With a wealth of displays to keep kids and adults alike entertained and learning all day, the center boasts an impressive 700 hands-on exhibits, including a fossil dig site, water tables in the discovery room, electrical energy demonstrations, and cyber activities.

    5050 Oakland Ave, 314-289-4400, slsc.org

St. Louis Zoo Free (Free for some attractions)

    The zoo includes beautiful naturalistic displays and boasts plenty of activities to keep kids excited, from feeding exhibitions and safaris(游猎), to sea lion shows and conservation talks.

    One Government Drive, 314-781-0900, stlzoo.org.

    It's a safe bet that a robot made your car and made your computer. Pretty soon, they could be making your bed and breakfast too.

     Increasingly, engineers are saying that robots are going to move out of research departments and into your home. Companies including General Electric are working on designs for small robots. Products like the Roomba, a robot that can clean floors, are flying off the shelves.

     What's behind this new robot revolution? It's partly a matter of technology. Devices that can recognize and respond to a human voice have been developed. There are now a few different ways for robots to move around. They can walk, crawl or ride on wheels. Robots are being made smaller and smaller. They are also becoming more and more able.

     A bigger part of the story is on the demand side. From the day the television remote control was invented, people around the world have searched for new ways to be lazy. Take into consideration that more and more people can afford robots, and the time seems ripe to introduce robots to the ordinary family.

     To be sure, robots that walk on two legs and talk like people are still a long way off. However, robots that do basic housework such as cleaning or gardening are sure to come out soon. One thing is certain—when these robots do come into our homes, it will change things forever.

    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.

    I have a special place in my heart for libraries. I have for as long as I can remember. I was always an enthusiastic reader, sometimes reading up to three books a day as a child. Stories were like air to me and while other kids played ball or went to parties, I lived out adventures through the books I checked out from the library.

    My first job was working at the Ukiah Library when I was 16 years old .It was a dream job and I did everything from shelving books to reading to the children for story time.

    As I grew older and became a mother, the library took on a new place and an added meaning in my life. I had several children and books were our main source(来源) of entertainment. It was a big deal for us to load up and go to the local library, where my kids could pick out books to read or books they wanted me to read to them.

    I always read ,using different voices ,as though I were acting out the stories with my voice and they loved it !It was a special time to bond with my children and it filled them with the wonderment of books .

    Now, I see my children taking their children to the library and I love that the excitement of going to the library lives on form generation to generation.

    As a novelist, I've found a new relationship with libraries. I encourage readers to go to their local library when they can't afford to purchase a book. I see libraries as a safe haven(避风港) for readers and writers, a bridge that helps put together a reader with a book. Libraries, in their own way, help fight book piracy(盗版行为) and 1 think all writers should support libraries in a significant way when they can. Encourage readers to use the library. Share library announcements on your social media. Frequent them and talk about them when you can.

The ancient Herculaneum scrolls (卷轴)are thought to contain works of important thinkers in ancient Greece. But the scrolls can't be unrolled (打开). Even a light wind threatens to reduce them to dust. The reason is that they were turned into carbon by a natural disaster in A.D. 79.

But now researchers from the University of Kentucky have found a way to look inside the scrolls without having to touch them. They first create a light that is 10 billion times brighter than the sun by taking advantage of a machine. Then they will use the light to go through the Herculaneum scrolls to study and finally read the words recorded on the scrolls. Researchers think it might take them six months to read the scrolls.

This isn't the first time researchers have tried to read the Herculaneum scrolls. Several years ago, scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) worked on uncovering the mystery using an X-ray beam 100 billion times brighter than anything used in a hospital, This didn't allow scientists to actually read the scrolls, but it allowed them to make one surprising discovery. The scrolls were written in metallic (金属的) ink, a writing technology that scientists didn't know existed at the time the scrolls were penned.

"For a long time, we thought our studies have let us know everything about the ancient ink used to write on scrolls. Now we find it's not the case. This shows that we should tell ourselves it may not be true when thinking we fully know something once some research is done," said Daniel Delattre, one of the study's authors.

The finding wasn't just a historical curiosity. To learn just how special these scrolls are, consider that the thinker Chrysippus in ancient Greece is said to have written over 700 works; but all are lost, with the exception of a few works found in the Herculaneum scrolls. In other words, it's possible that these scrolls represent the only existing complete works left by this great thinker. And who knows what other great works could exist in the scrolls?