In 1943, when I was 4, my parents moved from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to Fairbanks, Alaska, where adventure was never very far away.

We arrived in the summer, just in time to enjoy the midnight sun. All that sunlight was fantastic for Mom's vegetable garden. Working in the garden at midnight tended to throw her timing off, so she didn't care much about my bedtime.

    Dad was a Railway Express agent and Mom was his clerk. That left me in a mess. I usually managed to find some trouble to get into. Once I had a little Are going in the dirt basement of a hotel. I had tried to light a barrel（桶） of paint but couldn't really get a good fire going. The smoke got pretty bad, though, and when 1 made my exit, a crowd and the police were there to greet me. The policemen took my matches and drove me

    Mom and Dad were occupied in the garden and Dad told the police to keep me, and they did! I had a tour of the prison before Mom rescued me. 1 hadn't turned 5 yet.

    As I entered kindergarten, the serious cold began to set in. Would it surprise you to know that I soon left part of my tongue on a metal handrail at school?

    As for Leonhard Seppala, famous as a dog sledder (驾雪橇者), I think I knew him well because I was taken for a ride with his white dog team one Sunday. At the time I didn't realize what a superstar he was, but I do remember the ride well. I was wrapped (包裹) heavily and well sheltered from the freezing and blowing weather.

    In 1950, we moved back to Coeur d'Alene, but we got one more Alaskan adventure when Leonhard invited us eight years later by paying a visit to Idaho to attend a gathering of former neighbors of Alaska.

    I used to think education was the most important thing in my life. Recently my attitude has begun to change, although I still hold that it is essential for everyone in the world today. As a top junior student in my college, I was asked to make a speech on how to learn English well. Standing in front of the audience and facing so many freshmen, I was trembling. I didn't remember any word that I had prepared. I ran out of the conference room without finishing my speech, leaving everyone puzzled. I cried that night in my room, feeling that I was a loser. Studying takes up so much of my time that I feel unable to really develop myself. I am just storing knowledge, yet I fail to communicate with others. I have received many awards in school, but they don't necessarily reflect anything about me. I don't know how to socialize. When I leave school I fear I will be of no use to society.

    I realize that everyone has his own way of living. I want to change my lifestyle. Of course I will keep studying. Yet I plan to look for a part-time job, which might turn out to be a good chance to get to know society. I still believe that working my hardest makes me happy. I will still stay on in college. But I will not allow it to shelter me from the real world.

    When you're having a hard time with your homework or when you're preparing for your term paper, these student-focused websites can help you with just about anything you need. The key to getting the most out of these online resources is to know how they can best be used to your advantage.

Facebook

    Although Facebook can be one of your biggest time-wasters and distractions when you are supposed to be getting work done, it can also be one of your most valuable resources. Most of your classmates will probably have a Facebook account, so anyone you need to connect with about a class you missed or about a problem is usually just a few clicks away.

SparkNotes

    With a free library of history timeline, philosophy study guides and library summaries, SparkNotes has covered just about any reading-related jam you find yourself in. Just run a search for the book, play, or short summary of the material you are supposed to read.

Amazon.com

    Do you finish every term with many expensive textbooks you will never open again? Instead of letting the money spent go to waste, get back some of your cash by selling your books on Amazon.

RateMyProfessors.com

    Choosing new classes can sometimes be like trying to pick out your clothes in the dark, a total guessing game. Which teacher gives out the hardest problem sets? How much homework will that history professor give you every week? At RateMyProfessors.com, students all over the country rate their professors on quality, helpfulness, and how hard their classes are.

 Wikipedia

    While Wikipedia isn't aimed specifically at students, it is difficult to think of another website that does more to reduce the pain of paper writing and researching. Wikipedia gives you a quick way to find sources and get the details of almost any topic you need to research — all without walking to the library.

C

    Are you looking for a different place to visit this summer? Why not take a magical trip to an Earth-size planet beyond our solar system with NASA's Planet Travel Center?

    We live in a universe full of planets outside our solar system. Unluckily, even the nearest of those planets are light-years away, so sending spaceships and humans to these attracting worlds remains a distant dream. But on NASA's Planet Exploration website, you can start a journey on an imagined globe of a new world through 360-degree visualization（可视化）. As you land onto each globe's ground, you'll discover amazing views, like the blood-red sky of TRAPPIST-1d, or stand on a moon of the huge planet Kepler-16b, which appears larger than either of the planet's two suns. The view from each planet's ground is an artist's impression based on the limited information that is reachable; no real photos of these planets exist.

    The newest planet with such 360-degree visualization is Kepler-186f, an Earth-size planet rounding a star much cooler and redder than the Sun. “Kepler-186f is also so distant, and it is till now impossible to recognize their atmospheres—if they exist at all—or characterize their atmospheric qualities,” said Martin Still, scientist for NASA's newest space-based planet-hunting program, wondering people's reaction to their creation. “Though with such challenges unsettled, using the NASA visualization tool, you can see how the existence and disappearing of an atmosphere would change the view of the sky from the planet's ground.” Still added.

    Aaron, head of Planet Travel Center, points out that their present and future schedules of the globe visualization will find the nearest planets to our solar system and characterize their atmospheres, bridging the gap between our imagination and what's really out there. In the near future, all the 360-degree visualizations are viewable on desktop and mobile devices, like smartphones, allowing all readers a wonderful enjoyment from the possibilities of a new world.

    If you have a chance to take a walk in a park, look carefully at the people walking their dogs. You'll probably find friendly-looking people with friendly dogs; quiet people with quiet dogs; large men with oversized dogs and long-haired women with long-eared dogs. As you've probably noticed, dogs and their owners look alike. Have you ever wondered why?

    These similarities are so common that researchers have tried to explain them. There are two theories (理论): the convergence (趋同) theory and the selection theory. The convergence theory says that as the owner and the dog spend more time together, they influence each other to the point where they grow similar. In other words, they “converge.” The selection theory, on the other hand, says that owners are interested in dogs that look like them, so they choose those dogs as pets.

    Recently, researchers at the University of California decided to test the two theories by taking pictures of 45 dogs separately from their owners. Then they asked some students to match the dogs' photos with their owners. The students were quite successful with purebred (纯种的) dogs: they correctly matched 16 out of 25 with their owners. However, they had almost no success connecting mixed-breed (杂交的) dogs with their owners. When owners select a purebred dog, they can easily predict (预测) what it will look like later. But that is not true with mixed-breed dogs because it's hard to predict what a mixed-breed dog will look like when it grows up. And since it was the purebreds not the mixed-breeds that looked like their owners, the research seems to prove the “selection theory”.

    But one bit of warning. Although many people look like their dogs, not all dog owners enjoy having the similarity pointed out to them. So, even if the similarity is amazing, don't go up to a stranger and say, “Wow, you look just like your dog!”

Public libraries are an excellent resource for research, literacy(读写能力)education, and reading-centered events. Most towns have one or share library services with other towns through a mobile library, and the use of a public library is free to people who are willing to apply for a library card.

There are several primary sources of library funding(资金)， starting with national funds which are distributed to states or provinces. These regions send the funds on to public libraries. Local governments also play an important role in providing funding for libraries, and most librarians apply for grants(拨款). Finally, private donations help to maintain libraries—most libraries have an association of Friends of the Library which organizes fund-raising sales and pays annual dues to help maintain the library.

Grants and private donations can also be used to provide a large amount of funding for public libraries, and some large libraries maintain a separate staff to increase the amount of funding that they can obtain through these sources. Grants include technology grants which allow libraries to install and upgrade computer systems, grants which focus on a particular topic such as science, fiction, children's books, or local history, and education grants which support locally-based community efforts such as after-school reading programs. Many private donors are pleased to support their local public libraries by donating funds or including some library in their wills, and libraries reward their donors with treats like after-hours visits or privileged access to special collections.

By combining multiple resources, creative librarians can keep their libraries useful, informative, and fun for browsers. When it comes to supporting public libraries, every little bit counts: if you cannot afford to donate to a local library, think about volunteering time to help shelve, lead after-school programs, or organize fund raisers. Being active with your public library is a very important way to contribute to your local community.