Finding time to red is an important part of developing literacy skills for all kids. And there are many easy and convenient ways to make reading a part of each day-even when it's tough to find time to sit down with a book.

Reading opportunities are everywhere you go. While riding in the car, for example, encourage kids to spot words and letters (on billboards, store signs, etc.), turning it into a game (“Who'll be the first to find a letter B?”). While shopping, ask your preschooler to “read” pictures on boxes and tell you about them. Point out the difference between the words and the pictures on the boxes. Encourage older kids to tell you what's on the shopping list.

    Even daily tasks like cooking can provide reading moments. You can read recipes aloud to younger kids, and older kids can assist you as your cook by telling you how much flour to measure. Give your child a catalog to read while you sort through the mail. Ask relatives to send your child letters, e-mails, or text messages, and read them together. Help your child create letters or messages to send back to the relatives. These types of activities help kids see the purpose of reading and of print.

Even when you're trying to get things done, you can encourage reading. While cleaning, for instance, you might ask your child to read a favorite book to you while you work. Younger kids can talk to you about the pictures in the favorite books.

    Make sure kids get some time to spend quietly with books, even if it means cutting back on other activities, like watching TV or playing video games.

    Most importantly, be a reader yourself. Kids who see their parents reading are likely to resemble them and become readers, too!

    Everyone needs friends. We all like to feel close to someone. It is nice to have a friend to talk, laugh and do things with. Surely, there are times when we need to be alone. We don't always want people around. But we would feel lonely if we never had a friend.

    No two people are the same. Sometimes friends don't get along well, which doesn't mean that they no longer like each other. Most of the time they will go on being friends. Sometimes friends move away, then we feel very sad. We miss them much, but we can call them and write to them. Maybe we would never see them again, and we can make new friends. It is surprising to find out how much we like new people when we get to know them. Families sometimes name their children after a close friend. Many places are named after men and women, if they are friendly to people in a town. Some libraries are named this way. So are some schools. We think of these people when we go to these places.

    There's more good news for people, if they have friends. These people live longer than those people if those don't have friends. Why? It could be that they are happier. Being happy helps you stay well. Or it could be just knowing that someone cares, if someone cares about you, you take better care of yourself.

    Once there was an old man, who was completely broke (破产的), living in a tiny house. He had to live on a $105-a-month social security (保障) check.

    At 65 years of age, he decided things had to change. So he thought about what he had to offer. His friends thought highly of his chicken recipe (烹饪法). He decided that this was his best shot at making a change.

    He left Kentucky and traveled to different states to try to sell his recipe. He told restaurant owners that he had a mouth-watering chicken recipe. He offered the recipe to them for free, just asking for a small percentage (比例) on the items sold. Sounds like a good deal, right?

    Unfortunately, not to most of the restaurants. He heard "NO" over 1, 000 times, but he didn't give up. He believed his chicken recipe was something special. He got rejected (拒绝) 1,009 times before he heard his first yes.

    With that one success, the old man changed the way Americans eat chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC, was born. The old man was Colonel Harland Sanders, who was an American businessman, best known for founding fast food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken. His name and image (肖像) are still symbols of KFC now.

    Every year, 1.5 million kids around the world die as a result of not getting vaccines (疫苗). This is partly because transporting and storing medicines can be a huge challenge in some countries.

    Anurudh Ganesan, 17, knows this firsthand. When he was a baby in India, his grandparents carried him 10 miles to a health clinic in a remote village to receive a vaccine. But by the time they arrived, the vaccines were no longer usable because they had been overheated.

    Vaccines, Anurudh later learned, must be kept cool to stay effective. But refrigerating them requires electricity or ice – precious resources that many developing countries lack.

    Although Anurudh eventually received the vaccine he needed, his experience as a baby and the sad reality that so many other children aren't as lucky motivated him to take action. The high school student invented Vaxxwagon, a portable vaccine-carrying device that generates its own power to keep lifesaving medicines cool as they're delivered to remote areas around the world.

    Anurudh first got his idea for Vaxxwagon in 2014. He read several textbooks to learn everything he could about refrigeration, and then he did research online to learn more about vaccines. Rather than relying on electricity or ice, Anurudh figured out a way to use wheels to power a refrigeration system for about eight hours. The entire rechargeable cooling system can be pulled to areas in need of vaccines by a bicycle, a car, or an animal. Eventually, Anurudh took his design to professors at Johns Hopkins University for advice. Not only did they confirm Vaxxwagon could work, but they offered him funding to help build it.

    Anurudh was rewarded with the 2015 Google Science Fair LEGO Education Builder Award for his invention. Anurudh says his final goal is to start selling Vaxxwagon to relief organizations, so it can be used to help people around the world.

Anurudh, who plans to pursue engineering degree in college, says, “Don't give up on your ideas. But always try to help others with your projects. That's the point of engineering – to help people.”

    Once, a lioness and her cub were hunting in the jungle. The baby asked its mother, "Mother, why are we hunting when a deer is already at home?”

    The mother said, "My love! We can' t eat that deer because it has surrendered (投降) himself seeking our help. He is wounded and helpless. We must help him.”

    The baby cub was surprised and questioned again, "Why so? That's our food, we can eat it.”

    “Honey, you are right! It's our food and we can kill him in any second but do you think he deserves to be killed when he has come to-us for protection?”

    The baby cub couldn't understand her mother's vulnerability(软弱). It kept quiet and paced with its mother. At last, they didn't get anything and came back to their cave.

    The deer, on the other hand, was terrified of his own decision of taking shelter in the cave. Unfortunately he had no choice! He was attacked by a hunter and somehow managed to escape. While running for his life, he saw the cave and without a second thought entered it. He had already got a shot from the hunter. When he realized he was in the lions cave, he gave up the idea of running back again. The deer gazed at the lioness with a pitiful look, tears rolling down He sat there as if he urged for the mercy of the lioness.

    The lioness came closer to the deer, smelled it and slowly moved out of the cave with her cub.

    When the lions came back, the cub asked its mother to kill the deer again. But the lioness was firm on her decision. She said, "Sweetheart! We can-manage one night without any food. Tomorrow, I would definitely fetch out some food for you.”

    The cub said nothing, grunted(嘟哝）a little.

    When the cub slept, the lioness whispered to the deer, "Run, away from this area because I doubt if I could save you any longer if the next time situation demands!"

    The deer looked at the lioness with gratitude and slowly walked away from the cave.

    Here's the story of my growth over the past year. If anyone is inspired (激励) by this, that's wonderful.

    I'd been stuck as this under-confident, fat and just frightened girl for years and years and years. Since I was a little girl, I'd been stuck like this, and I had lived a life where I'd be afraid of everything. But then it all started changing. Something clicked, and in over a period of 6 months I finally managed to stick to one of my diets, bringing me from overweight straight down to underweight. This proved (证明) that I could change myself.

    One single time, I heard about a public speaking thing going on at my university, and for the first time, I managed to keep up the courage to go there. For the first time I was able to share my story, and able to do it in front of so many people possibly judging (评判) me, and suddenly all the fears about speaking publicly started vanishing. I never felt more confident.

    This taught me I could get rid (去除) of my fears  It was from that point on that my road to change went from a rocky mess to a full-on empty highway.

    Using the fact that I could change, and that I could get rid of my fears, I started working on them one by one. My fear of talking to strangers ,my fear of asking simple questions, my fear of hanging out with people, my fear of being myself... All of them were gone. And I still continue to progress to this day. I've never stopped.