El Nifio, a Spanish term for “the Christ child", was named by South American fishermen who noticed that the global weather pattern, which happens every two to seven years, reduced the amount of fishes caught around Christmas. El Nifio sees warm water, collected over several years in the western Pacific, flow back eastwards when winds that normally blow westwards weaken, or sometimes the other way round.

        The weather effects, both good and bad, are felt in many places. Rich countries gain more from powerful Nifio, on balance, than they lose. A study found that a strong Nifio in 1997 helped American's economy grow by $15 billion, partly because of better agricultural harvest, farmers in the Midwest gained from extra rain. The total rise in agricultural incomes in rich countries is greater than the fall in poor ones.

          But in Indonesia extremely dry forests are in flames. A multi-year drought (干旱）in south-east Brazil is becoming worse. Though heavy rains brought about by El Nino may relieve the drought in California, they are likely to cause surface flooding and other disasters.

The most recent powerful Nino, in 1997-98, killed around 21,000 people and caused damage worth $36 billion around the globe. But such Ninos come with months of warning, and so much is known about how they happen that governments can prepare. According to the Overseas Development Institute(ODI), however, just 12% of disaster-relief funding in the past two decades has gone on reducing risks in advance, rather than recovery and rebuilding afterwards.This is despite evidence that a dollar spent on risk-reduction saves at least two on reconstruction.

Simple improvements to infrastructure (基础设施）can reduce the spread of disease. Better sewers (下水道）make it less likely that heavy rain is followed by an outbreak of the disease of bad stomach. Stronger bridges mean villages are less likely to be left without food and medicine after floods. According to a paper in 2011 by Mr. Hsiang and co-authors, civil conflict is related to El Nino's harmful effects—and the poorer the country, the stronger the link. Though the relationship may not be causal, helping divided communities to prepare for disasters would at least reduce the risk that those disasters are followed by killing and wounding people. Since the poorest are least likely to make up for their losses from disasters linked to El Nino, reducing their losses needs to be the priority.

    A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin (顽童) was walking around the shining car. “Is this your car, Paul?” he asked.

    Paul answered, “Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it cost you nothing? Boy, I wish…"He hesitated.

    Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He wished he had a brother like that. But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly.

    “I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a brother like that.” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, and then he said again, “Would you like to take a ride in my car?” “Oh yes, I'd love that.”

    After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes shining, said. “Paul, would you mind driving in front of my house?”

    Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked.

    He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast.

    He was carrying his little. crippled (残疾) brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car.

    “There he is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it… Then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas window that I've been trying to tell you about.”

    Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his cat. The shining-eyed elder brother climbed in and three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride.

    “This way, everyone.” said the young Bahamian as he led the way to the boat. As the boat moved over the waves, I thought back eleven years to my first island visit via a cruise ship. As we landed, I noticed a sign advertising swimming with dolphins. I looked at my mother; she knew exactly what I wanted, but I was too young. “Maybe some other time,” she said. I think everyone knows that those four words usually translate to never. It made me, a little boy, depressed for many days. From that day on, it was my dream to swim with those gentle creatures.

    Now, after 15 minutes of travelling, we reached the Sanctuary Bay. As we arrived, I saw the gray creatures showing off their unique talent before my eyes. We were led off the boat, past a back building. Our guide told us we would have the pleasure of spending the next 90 minutes with Kaholo, a young male, and Robola, the largest female, who is quite famous for having played the lead in the film Zeus and Roxanne.

    My father and I were joined by four others and followed the man once more. He told us to jump into the water while he let the dolphins into that part of the bay. For the first 20 minutes, we could go anywhere and touch the dolphins as they swam by.

    Kaholo and Robola must have known I was their biggest fan because they swam towards me as if I had had fish. After the introductory period, they jumped over our heads. I got a hug and kiss from Robola, and also learned how to have Kaholo talk to me.

    This was by far the most magical experience of my life. Next time your parents say “Maybe some other day”, have faith in them. Your dreams are important to them too, and they will do whatever they can to make it possible, because dreams can come true.

    It is estimated that more than half the world's population is bilingual (双语的), and in an increasingly globalised world, there are obvious benefits of speaking more than one language. However, for many years, parents were advised not to teach their children to speak more than one language from birth. Learning two or more languages simultaneously (同时) was believed to cause confusion and slow down academic development. While it is certainly true that children who are learning to speak more than one language as their mother tongue will often mix the languages up or speak a little later, these are temporary problems, and there is no reason to avoid teaching a child more than one language.

    In fact, there are plenty of reasons to encourage your child to become bilingual from birth. As well as the obvious benefits of being able to communicate with more people, and the possibility of earning more money, children who speak more than one language have been shown to score more highly in achievement tests at school. This is true for mathematics as well as tests of verbal (言语的) skills.

    And in later life it has been found that bilinguals, on average, will tend to develop Alzheimer's disease five years later than monolingual speakers. Speaking three or more languages offers even more protection. It seems that the increased number of connections within the brain allows bilinguals to cope better with brain damage.

    But is it too late if you haven't already learned a second language in childhood? It used to be thought that the adult brain was very fixed, but recent research has shown that we continue to develop new connections in the brain throughout our lives, meaning that it's perfectly possible to learn another language to a high standard. Older learners are less likely to have native-like pronunciation, but they are better at learning vocabulary as they are able to use far more skills and strategies than children. And learning a language is like using a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets, meaning that you will find your third language easier than your second, and so on.

    Bright Side did some research on many places throughout the world where you can buy a house for 1 dollar or for free!

    Roubaix, France

    If you like France, Roubaix located in the north of France is just for you. The local authorities want it to be populated and attractive. You can buy a small house in the industrial district for just $1. The buyer is supposed to live in this house for 3 years.

    Buffalo. USA

    Buffalo offers whoever qualifies to buy a house for $1. All you need is to be a lawful citizen of the city and invest amount of money into its decoration. Doing this, the authorities are hoping to make the city beautiful again without spending money.

    Liverpool, Great Britain

    In Liverpool, most of houses were abandoned (遗弃)by the working class during the years of unemployment. The government is trying to sell the houses for just $1. If you want to buy such a house, it has to be your first deal on buying property(房产).

    Candela, Italy

    If you still have any doubts about spending $1 on a house, you should know: the government will pay you some money, if you move to Candela. In order to be paid, you need to become a permanent(永久的)citizen and have an income of $7500 per year. If moving alone, you will get $800, and if you are going with your family, the pay can be four times as much as only one person.

    For more information of other cities, please Click Here.

    Parents do not owe (欠) their children a college education. If they can afford it, they can certainly send them to a good university. But they needn't feel guilty if they can't. When children grow up and want to get married, their parents do not owe them an apartment. They do not have the duty to look after their grandchildren, either. If they want to do it, it must be considered a favor, not an obligation.

    Do parents owe their children anything? Yes, they owe them a great deal.

One of their obligations is to give their children a personal worth. Children who are always made to feel stupid and unworthy, constantly compared with brighter brothers, sisters, or cousins will become so unsure, so afraid of failing that they won't try at all. Of course they should be properly corrected when they do wrong, but it's often better to let children learn their mistakes by themselves in time. All their parents should do is to trust them, respect them, understand them and give them chances to try and fail. They must learn to stand failure. When criticisms (批评) are really needed, they should be balanced with a smile and a kiss. That is the way children learn.

    Parents owe their children a set of solid values around which to build their lives. This means teaching them to respect the rights and opinions of others; it means being respectful to elders, to teachers, and to the law. The best way to teach such values is by deed. A child who is lied to will lie. A child who sees no laughter and no love in the home will have difficulty laughing and loving.

No child asks to be born. If you bring a life into the world, you owe the child something.