It started as a special day for Wesley Autrey, a 50-year-old construction worker in New York City. It was about 12:45 P.M., and he was waiting on a subway platform (月台) to take his daughters home before he went to work. He suddenly noticed a man nearby have convulsions (抽搐) and fall down suddenly. Mr. Autrey and two women went to help the stranger. The man, Cameron Hollopeter, managed to get to his feet, but then stumbled (绊倒) at the edge of the platform and fell onto the subway tracks. Mr. Autrey looked up and saw the lights of the subway train coming near through the tunnel.

    Mr. Autrey jumped onto the track immediately. He realized that he didn't have time to get Mr. Hollopeter and himself back up on the platform before the train arrived, so he lay on top of the man and pressed down as hard as he could. Although the driver tried to stop the train before it reached them, he couldn't. Five cars passed over them before the train finally stopped. The cars had passed only inches from his head.

    New York loves a hero. Mr. Autrey became an overnight hero and was named the “Subway Superman”. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave him the Bronze Medallion, the city's highest honor. He was asked to appear on several TV talk shows. He was also rewarded with money and gifts, such as $10,000 from Donald Trump, a $5,000 gift card from the Gap clothing store, a new Jeep, and Beyonce concert tickets.

    How did Autrey react (反应) to all this? He said, “I don't feel like I did anything great; I just saw someone who needed help. I did what I felt was right”.

    Hundreds of years ago, a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots, a brave people, love their country. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland. But there were too many of the Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.

    One night, the leader of the Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight, my men,” he said, “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle. We must win, or we will die.”

    They were all very tired. So they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they were very tired, too, and one by one, they fell asleep.

    The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they went up the hill. Closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle (蓟). He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a minute they were on their feet and ready for a battle. The fighting was hard, but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved Scotland.

    The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people liked it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.

    Selena Gomez and I are scheduled to meet at a low-key coffee shop in Encino. Not wanting to keep the superstar waiting，I arrived at nine,20 minutes early. As I was catching up on e-mails，Selena quietly scooted into the seat next to me. No bodyguard. Not even a drop of make-up. She was ten minutes early and so inconspicuous that no one else in the restaurant looked up so much. Elena was wearing Bebe shorts. She had a baby face and ordered a hot chocolate.

    After making a small talk about what she wore for the shoot，she dived into the subject of her career. Elena declared 2012 the year of movies. She filmed three：SpringBreakers ， a drama；The  Getaway ， an action flick；and HotelTransylvania ， a comedy. Each is a marked move away from the teen style that made her a household name.

    Now that her Disney days are behind her，Selena is at that unstable point in a child star's career where she is trying to grow up—both as a person(she turned 20 in July) and as an artist. "Being part of the Disney Channel was such a blessing，and I'm super happy with what my show accomplished，but acting is something I would like to take on more seriously." She continued，"I don't necessarily feel accomplished. I want to create a whole different persona when it comes to acting."

    Selena has been working full-time since she was seven years old and scored a role on Barney & Friends. In 2007 when she was offered the lead in WizardsofWaverlyPlace ， Selena，her mother，and her stepfather uprooted from Grand Prairie，Texas，to L．A.，where they are settling now.

    The next time your brain refuses to recall a simple fact or name, be thankful. That could be a sign that your brain is getting rid of unnecessary information so that it can operate more efficiently, and help you make better decisions.

The researchers say there are numerous neurobiological(神经生物学的)studies conducted on how the brain stores information, a process called persistence (暂留). However, scientists also assumed that our occasional inability to recall facts was due to a are an the brain. In 2013, scientists discovered that as new neurons combine with the hippocampus(海马区)—a region of the brain that plays a significant role in learning and remembering—they overwrite old memories, making them harder to access. There is also evidence that the brain weakens or removes connections between neurons, in which memories are encoded.

    The scientists have a theory on why the brain spends so much energy erasing memories. They say what the brain decides to forget is determined by our daily life. An example is that our brains remember phone numbers according to the need. Instead of storing this irrelevant information that our phones can store for us, our brains are freed up to store the memories that actually do matter for us. They also believe that memorizing too much detail could prevent us from making good decisions.

    So the next time you are unable to recall a seemingly important fact, don't be hard on yourself. Just throw it to your brain's “rubbish can” to make room for information that can contribute to making you smarter! Remember, even Albert Einstein was absent-minded!

    When he was young, Louis Armstrong was taking what was called “Creole jazz”, which was also called dance music, and combining it with trumpeter (小号手) Buddy Bolden, to create what would eventually become today's jazz.

    Armstrong accomplished that with almost no formal training. He received little training before he was placed in the New Orleans Colored Waif's Home at the age of 12, after a run-in (小争执) with the police. The punishment turned out to be a mixed blessing, for he also had the opportunity to play in a real band.

    While at the Waif's, Armstrong also got the chance to hear some of the city's finest musicians. Cornetist Freddie Keppard performed in a nearby club. So did trumpeter and bandleader, King Joe Oliver, who took the boy under his wing and taught him how to read music and work on his playing technique.

    When Oliver left for Chicago, Armstrong chose to stay in New Orleans and work with some of the other top musicians of the day. In Chicago, King Oliver offered him a place in his band in 1922. It became Armstrong's biggest challenge yet — the band had no parts written for trumpet, so he was forced to listen to King Oliver and improvise (即兴创作).

    Soon, Armstrong's undeniable talent was getting notice. Even classically trained musicians would come to hear the incredible sounds this young man created.

    Lil Hardin, the bands piano player and the future Mrs. Armstrong, explains that Oliver kept Armstrong in the second trumpet-chair so that Oliver would still be “King”. Hardin convinced him to leave the band.

    Armstrong moved to New York City in 1924 to join Fletcher Henderson's band and then flew solo. In 1925, Armstrong put together the Hot Five, expanding his popularity even more. Armstrong recorded his first composition, Cornet Chop Suey, one of the most copied jazz solos of all time. This monumental 1928 recording blends (混合) artistry, endurance and showmanship that has rarely, if ever, been matched in Jazz.

    "Mummy, I don't know what to play with." Steve interrupts his mother, who is talking to a friend, for the fourth time. "You've got a room full of toys!" his mother says, impatiently. In fact it is the jumble of toys which is to blame for four-year-old Steve's lack of interest in his dolls, cars and stuffed (packed) animals. Each morning he tips out three washing baskets of toys all over his floor, listlessly pulls out something and shortly after is standing at his mother's desk or following her into the kitchen saying: "Mummy, I am bored."

    A family therapist (心理医生) explains why children lose interest when they have a whole "toy shop" at home: "According to their brain development, little children are not in a position to judge the quality of a variety of things at once. There is always just one favorite toy for the moment. All the rest is left lying about." What can parents do to stop their children from being oversupplied with toys? Under no conditions simply make something disappear without the child's knowledge. If he/she takes no more notice of a toy, a parent can ask if it can be stored or given away. Be warned though the child will always say he/she wants it then! A talk with relatives and friends may also help. Lyn is the mother of four-year-old Jessie, and we like her way. A small set of shelves in her child's room holds the toys and books that are the current (at present) favorites. When it seems to her that her daughter is tired of these toys, they put them away in a box together and select some other toys from a cupboard in another room. The box of "old" toys goes into the cupboard. When her child says she is "bored", they also get something from her cupboard - it may be something she has had for some time but because she hasn't seen it for a while it is almost like a new toy.

    Some favorite toys stay out all the time, and there is collection of dolls which sits in the corner, but in this way Lyn has found that she has fewer toys to put away at the end of the day and her daughter always has something "fresh" to play with.