When my sister Gina was born, she had a problem with her heart. Her heart was pretty bad in the beginning and she stayed in the hospital for a month. The first few years were very difficult because she was very sick. She had five operations before she was three years old. She had trouble walking, playing with other children, and going to school.

    Although Gina couldn't laugh and talk, we all knew that she just needed love and care. Our parents wanted to take Gina to a special place in Florida where she could swim with dolphins. Gina was afraid of swimming with them because she had never been around dolphins before. We had also never traveled that far as a family.

    When we got to Florida, we saw where the dolphins lived. It was a place where kids with special needs like Gina could come and spend time. I thought it was going to be a vacation, but it wasn't. Gina had to work hard every day for a week.

    The trip was amazing .Gina laughed and clapped(拍手) when she saw the dolphin, and the dolphin splashed (溅起水花) when it saw Gina. They swam together all day. Gina was able to move her body more than she normally did at home. Mom and dad were proud of Gina. I was, too.

    Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

    Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

    Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

    People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossers to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

    BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

    If you are interested to find a part time job or learn something different during your spare time, you can have a look at the following jobs offered by the DC Public Library.

Teens of Distinction Program

    The DC Public Library offers part time jobs for teens through the Teens of Distinction Program. Teens work 10-12 hours per week all year long, helping the library with important tasks and projects. The Teens of Distinction Program is now hiring! To apply, you have to：

● be a DC resident

● have and maintain at least a 2.5 grade point average

● be 16 to 18 years old

● be able to work 10-12 hours per week

● be able to work for DCPL for at least 9 months

Oh, and of course you have to impress us with your wonderful personality!

Teen Volunteer Opportunities

    If you want to earn community service hours for school, Youth202 is a good choice.

    Youth202 is a radio program created by youth and for youth. You can learn radio production skills, interview people around you, and help keep other teens to learn news, events, and anything else you think is important.

Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP)

    Every summer, teens can work here to help library customers organize books and learn lots of new skills, such as program planning, writing and media production.

    On Friday, January 25 at 12:15 pm, the application for the 2014 SYEP will be open to teens between the ages of 14 and 21.

    Applications will be processed on a first come, first served basis. Space is limited this year, so teens are encouraged to apply early, and remember not to miss the deadline, Saturday, February 16.

    What will man be like in the future—in 5000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make guesses, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today, for man is slowly changing all the time.

    Let us take an obvious example, Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on averse, men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is a relatively short period of time, so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modem world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain's capacity. As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more, and eventually we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring about a physical change too: the head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger. Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over a very long period of time it is likely that man's eyes will grow stronger.

    On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they an; a great deal in modem life.

    But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald (光秃的).

    Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true. But in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.

    Benito Juarez, a poor Indian boy, was twelve years old when he left his village home in December 1818.Benito walked forty-one miles to the city of Oaxaca, high in the mountains of Mexico. When he heard the Spanish spoken by the city people, Benito didn't know what they were saying.

    First, Benito became a servant for a wealthy gentleman, Serer Maza. Soon, he went to work for Antonio Salanueva ,a church(教会)librarian. Antonio repaired and copied the library books, keeping them in good shape.  Benito became his helper and his housekeeper. Antonio loved to teach. Benito soon became his student as well as his servant. With the help of Antonio, Benito learned to speak, read, and write Spanish.

    At that time in Mexico, many people believed that Indians were not smart enough to read or learn. Antonio knew that was not true. Indians had been prevented from learning by a lack of schools. The first Spanish missionaries(传教士)who came to Mexico had educated the native people. In fact, churches from Spain had built the first college on the North American continent(大陆)for the Indians. As more Spanish came to Mexico, however, the Indian children were crowded out of the schools.

    Benito was a good and bright student, so Antonio developed a plan for him. In 1821, when Benito was fifteen, Antonio decided to enroll him in a school for boys. Antonio taught Benito what he needed to pass the entrance test for the school.

Benito became a student at the college. His studies were difficult, and he was teased because he was the only Indian student there. He succeeded in spite of these challenges. Later, as the laws changed, Benito was able to attend a public college with other Indians.

    Benito Juarez continued his education and became a lawyer and, much later, the President of Mexico from 1861 to 1872. He led the Mexican people to victory over the French, who tried to rule Mexico, and fought for the rights of Indians. He is one of the great heroes in Mexican history.

    Once again DC Comics and Warner Bros. have divided fans and critics over their latest superhero film.

    There had been worrying news about Justice League in the months before its release, with a lot of reshoots of scenes, a new director being brought in to finish the film after original director Zack Snyder's tragic loss of his daughter and, of course, a lot of talk about Ben Affleck's future in the role of Batman.

    Some people are saying that Justice League is another big disappointment, that it could have been incredible and instead fails to really entertain. Others say that Warner Bros. have finally got it right and that the future for the League looks bright.

    My opinion lies somewhere in the middle. The film was by no means a disappointment: it was exciting, funny and a lot of fun to watch. There's something special about watching the heroes from your childhood brought to life on the big screen and maybe that is affecting my opinion.

    However, I will say that a lot of work needs to be done if the producer wants to make a great success. Although the film was good, it was obvious which scenes had been reshot and how the characters had been changed. I also have to mention the several scenes in which the special effects were very badly done; these are the kinds of problems that you don't expect to see in a film with such a big budget.

    Another point to add is that it is good to see the producer making Superman slightly a brighter character and adding some jokes to the plot to keep things fun. But the producer must be careful not to make the mistake that another film producer—here, not mentioning the name—is coming very close to doing: turning all of the films into bright and colorful shows and losing a lot of seriously good stories.

    In the end, Justice League is not a perfect film but it is definitely not a terrible one. A lot of work is still to be done but I hope that DC does not completely lose its darker side.