Two things changed my life: my mother and a white plastic bike basket. I have thought long and hard about it and it's true. I would be a different person if my mom hadn't turned a silly bicycle accessory into a life lesson I carry with me today.

My mother and father were united in their way of raising children, but it mostly fell to my mother to actually carry it out. Looking back, I honestly don'tknow how she did it. Managing the family budget must have been a very hard task,but she made it look effortless. If we complained about not having what another kid did, we'd hear something like, “I don't care what so –and –so got for his birthday, you are not getting a TV in your room a car for your birthday a lavish sweet-16 party.” We had to earn our allowance by doing chores around the house. I can still remember how long it took to polish the legs of our coffee table. My brothers canno doubt remember hours spent cleaning the house .Like the two little girls growing up at the White House, we made our own beds (no one left the house until that was done) and picked up after ourselves. We had to keep track of our belongings, and if something was lost, it was not replaced.

It was summer and ,one day ,my mother drove me to the bike shop to get a tire fixed—and there it was in the window, White, shiny, plastic and decorated with flowers ,the basket winked at me and I knew —I knew—I had to have it.

       “It's beautiful,” my mother said when I pointed it out to her,” What a neat basket.”

       I tried to hold off at first, I played it cool for a short while. But then I guess I couldn't at and it any longer: “Mom, please can I please, pleaseget it? I‘ll do extra chores for as long as you say, I'll do anything, but I need that basket, I love that basket. Please, Mom .Please?”

         I was desperate.

      “You know,” she said, gently rubbing my back while we both staredat what I believes was the coolest thing ever,” If you save up you could buy thisyourself.”

“By the time I makeenough it'll but gone!”

      “Maybe Roger here could hold it for you,” she smiled at Roger, thebike guy.

“He can't hold it for that long, Mom. Someone else will buy it .Please,Mom, Please?”

      “There might be another way,” she said.

And so our paying plan unfolded. My mother bought the beautiful basket and put it safely in some hiding place I couldn't find. Each week I eagerly counted my growing saving increased by extra work here and there (washing the car ,helpingmy mother make dinner, delivering or collecting things on my bike that already looked naked without the basket in front).And then ,weeks later ,I counted ,re-counted and jumped for joy. Oh, happy day! I made it! I finally had the exact amount we'dagreed upon….

       Days later the unthinkable happened. A neighborhood girl I'd played with millions of times appeared with the exact same basket fixed to her shiny, new bike that already had all the bells and whistles. I rode hard and fast home to tell my mother about this disaster. This horrible turn of events.

And then came the lesson. I've taken with me through my life: ”Honey,Your basket is extra-special,” Mom said, gently wiping away my hot tears.” Yourbasket is special because you paid for it yourself.”

    It isn't often that zookeepers call on craftsman for help. But cold weather at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Center in northern India was putting elephants at risk. So the center's staff joined forces with locals to find a creative way to keep the animals warm. Now the elephants are stepping out in style, thanks to volunteers who made use of their crafting talents to knit (编织) enormous sweaters to protect the animals.

    Wildlife SOS is a conservation group that has been taking action against animal cruelty and saving wildlife in danger since 1995. Their Elephant Conservation and Care Center is devoted to rescuing the large animals from abuse in circuses, illegal dealing, and other circumstances where they have been ignored or treated with extreme cruelty. There are currently 20 elephants living at the center, and the staff hope to take in 50 more of the creatures this year.

    Because most of the elephants housed at the center are recovering from injuries or are elderly and weak, they are particularly vulnerable to cold temperatures. When the staff reported near-freezing nighttime temperatures in the winter, volunteers from surrounding villages began knitting enormous sweaters to keep the elephants warm. The monumental sweaters are large enough to cover the elephants' backs, bellies, and legs.

    Making the sweaters is a big undertaking—each one takes approximately four weeks to create, with volunteers working together on the enormous clothes. Local villagers have already made sweaters for three of the 23 elephants on their own, each with a unique pattern and color.

    If you're also looking for something happy and heartwarming, this is it. The elephants usually wear blankets to keep warm during colder months and you can purchase a blanket for an elephant on the Wildlife SOS website.

Surviving Hurricane Sandy(飓风桑迪)

    Natalie Doan, 14, has always felt lucky to live in Rockaway, New York. Living just a few blocks from the beach, Natalie can see the ocean and hear the wave from her house. “It's the ocean that makes Rockaway so special, ” she says.

    On October 29, 2012, that ocean turned fierce. That night, Hurricane Sandy attacked the East Coast, and Rockaway was hit especially hard. Fortunately, Natalie's family escaped to Brooklyn shortly before the city's bridge closed.

    When they returned to Rockaway the next day, they found their neighborhood in ruins. Many of Natalie's friends had lost their homes and were living far away. All around her, people were suffering, especially the elderly. Natalie's school was so damaged that she had to temporarily(临时地，暂时地) attend a school in Brooklyn.

    In the following few days, the men and women helping Rockaway recover inspired Natalie. Volunteers came with carloads of donated clothing and toys. Neighbors devoted their spare time to helping others rebuild. Teenagers climbed dozens of flights of stairs to deliver water and food to elderly people trapped in powerless high-rise buildings.

    “My mom tells me that I can't control what happens to me,” Natalie says. “but I can always choose how I deal with it. ”

    Natalie's choice was to help.

    She created a website page matching survivors in need with donors who wanted to help. Natalie posted introduction about a boy named Patrick, who lost his baseball card collecting when his house burned down. Within days, Patrick's collection was replaced.

    In the coming months, her website page helped lots of kids: Christopher, who received a new basketball; Charlie, who got a new keyboard. Natalie also worked with other organizations to bring much-need supplies to Rockaway. Her efforts made her a famous person. Last April, she was invited to the White House and honored as a Hurricane Sandy Champion of Change.

    Today, the scars(创痕)of destruction are still seen in Rockaway, but hope is in the air. The streets are clear, and many homes have been rebuilt. “I can't imagine living anywhere but Rockaway, ” Natalie declares. “My neighborhood will be back, even stronger than before. ”

    Two Chinese-themed films -- "Go Back to China" and "Baby" -- will be screened at the 20th annual Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) this week.

    The film "Go Back to China," written and directed by Chinese American filmmaker Emily Ting, tells the story of fashionista, Sasha Li, a spoiled rich girl living in the United States, who burns through her trust fund (信托基金) and is forced to return to China to work for the family toy business. The second Chinese film, "Baby" was directed by Liu Jie and produced by Shan Gao, and will be on its first show at China Onscreen Biennial. In the film, a Chinese girl, Jiang Meng, who is a lowly cleaner working in a children's hospital, swears to save a baby born with the same congenital defects(先天性缺陷) she was born with, whose father has abandoned it as too expensive to treat.

    Running from April 25 to May 2, the Newport Beach Film Festival boasts over 60 narrative films and over 200 shorts in its line-up this year. These films and shorts are carefully selected by many countries which includes China, Chile, Ireland, South Korea, Europe, Japan, South America and Australia. Film fans are invited to attend the Pacific Rim Showcase Party this Wednesday, honoring the best in Chinese, Asian and Australian filmmaking.

    NBFF Executive Director, Gregg Schwenk, said of the festival," This year, the theme is the Power of Ideas. We've always focused on diverse, strong filmmaking, and we're most proud of how we've been embraced, not just by our audience, but by the filmmaking community."

    A campaign is being launched to encourage children to surrender 30 minutes of screen time a day to head for the great outdoors.

    The newly formed Wild Network—a collaboration of nearly 400 organizations—is attempting to attract youngsters away from television and computer screens to fields, woods and parks. Members of the network include the National Trust, RSPB, Play England and the NHS. Organizers say it is the UK's biggest ever campaign to reconnect children with nature and outdoor play, and claim it could help improve fitness, mental alertness and general well-being.

    A documentary film, Project Wild Thing, will forecast the launch at more than 50 cinemas across the UK from Friday. It looks at the increasing link between children and nature.

    Andy Simpson, chairman of the Wild Network, said, "The tragic truth is that kids have lost touch with nature and the outdoors in just one generation. Time spent outdoors is decreasing, roaming (漫步) ranges have fallen largely, activity levels are declining and the ability to identify common species has been lost."

    Suggestions on how to get more time in nature include collecting conkers (七叶树果), camping, snail racing, and observing autumn colour on trees.

    From January, the network will aim to make suggestions on how the government can do more to get children muddy and bright-eyed.

    This is not the first time the message of less screen time, more play has been brought up. Children in the 1980s were requested to do the same by the BBC TV series Why Don't You, which somewhat confusingly called on its viewers to "switch off the TV set and go to do something less boring instead".

    A university in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, has installed facial recognition systems in classrooms to monitor students' behavior, sparking a heated debate online. China Pharmaceutical University recently installed the systems in two pilot classrooms as well as school gates, dormitory entrances, the library and laboratory buildings.

    Xu Jianzhen, director of the university's library and information center, told TbePaper.cn that the systems will help teachers check student attendance and monitor behavior during the lectures. "In the past, some students just checked their attendance and ditched the class or asked other students to check the attendance for them. Now with facial recognition, that would no longer be a problem," he said. "The moment you enter the classroom, the camera will monitor you all the way through and can tell how long you lower your head, whether you're playing with a smart phone, whether you're dozing off or reading other books," he added.

    The news has raised wide debate on Chinese social media, with many questioning if the cameras will violate students' privacy. A Sina Weibo user said: "I oppose such methods, and it is not clear whether the systems are developed by the school itself or by third parties. If it is the latter, is there any regulation of security? Where will the information be sent and stored?"

    Gan Xiangsi, a senior student from the university, said she welcomed the systems being applied in dormitories and libraries as this can help prevent personal belongings being stolen，but it is not necessary to use such technology in the classroom. "If the teacher teaches well，the students will be interested," she said. "On the contrary, this kind of monitoring will make everyone feel resistant."

    China Pharmaceutical University is not the first university to use facial recognition technology on campus. Many universities across the country have installed cameras at campus entrances to ensure safety. But many are also hesitant when it comes to applying such technology in classrooms.

    "This issue has been debated for quite a long time," Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, told China National Radio. According to Chu, teachers and students who are under observation might not behave as they normally would since they know they are being watched. "Cameras should not be installed in classrooms merely for effective teaching purposes," Chu said, as teachers are also being observed. He agreed that "students' privacy needs to be protected". He also said that not putting classrooms under control is an important principle. "If you don't follow this principle, students will falsify and disguise their state of listening，and teachers may also not perform as well. Then real teaching will not occur," he added.