I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kidsate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others hadcokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supperwas different from the other kids' also. But at least, I wasn't alone in mysufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.

My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times.You'd think we were on a chain gang. She had to know who our friends were andwhere we were going. She insisted if we said we'd be gone an hour, that we begone one hour or less — not one hour and one minute.

We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath everyday. The otherkids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of insultsbecause she made our clothes herself, just to save money.

The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each nightand up at eight the next morning. We couldn't sleep till noon like our friends.So while they slept — my mother actually had the nerve to break the ChildLabor Law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, make beds, learn to cookand all sorts of cruel things. I believe she laid awake at night thinking upmean things to do to us.

Through the years, things didn't improve a bit. We could not liein bed, "sick" like our friends did, and miss school. Our marks inschool had to be up to par. Our friends' report cards had beautiful colors onthem, black for passing, red for failing. My mother, being as different as shewas, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks.

As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us wasput to shame. We were graduated from high school. With our mother behind us,talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure ofbeing a drop-out.

My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of fourchildren, a couple of us attained some higher education. None of us have everbeen arrested or divorced. Each of my brothers served his time in the serviceof this country. She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honestadults. Using this as a background, I am now trying to raise my three children.I am filled with pride when my children call me mean. Why? Because now I thankGod every day for giving me the meanest mother in the whole world.

Discovering Tasmania

    The island of Tasmania is separated from mainland Australia by the Bass Strait. The island is a place of natural beauty and has more than 2,000 km of walking tracks and 18 national parks. If you go on a tour, you'll discover a wild and beautiful place where the people are friendly and the food is delicious. If you don't like walking, there are other tours you can choose from including a river cruise and cycling. You can also combine your tour with fishing, sailing or sunbathing on the beach. 

    One of the most incredible places to walk is along the Tarkine coast which is located in the north-west of Tasmania. It's such a wild and remote area that you can easily complete your walk without seeing anyone apart from the members of your group and your two guides. The area contains the largest temperate rainforest in Australia which is home to more than 50 endangered species. It is also home to many Aboriginal Heritage Sites. Your guides will provide you with plenty of information about the area as you complete that part of your tour. During your tour, you'll come across rivers, mountain ranges, spectacular waterfalls, wildlife and long wild beaches. It will be an experience you won't easily forget. 

Tour Itinerary:

Day 1:

    You're picked up from your hotel in the town of Launceston and driven to the Tarkine. You then complete a three-hour walk through the forest before arriving at your camp at Mystery Creek. There you will enjoy a delicious meal cooked by your guides.

Day 2:

    After breakfast, you continue deeper into the rainforest, passing some of the tallest trees in the world as you go, and stopping for lunch and then camp in the evening.

Day 3:

    The highlight of today's hike is the Tarkine Falls, a beautiful 15-metre waterfall.

Day 4:

    Today you can stay at the camp and bathe in the Tarkine Falls, or you can go for a day hike for more fantastic views of the forest.

Day 5:

    After a last hike through the forest, you are picked up at about 4:00 p.m. and you arrive in Launceston at around 7:00 p.m.

    The tour includes two professional guides, transport to and from the rainforest, all food while on the tours and all safety equipment. You should buy or hire recommended camping equipment including: backpacks, sleeping bags, sleep mats, head torches, rain coats and trousers.

    On Sept. 15, TripAdvisor, one of the world's largest travel review websites, named the world's top 25 museums in its Travelers' Choice Award according to the reviews and opinions of travelers worldwide. Now let's take a look at the top four museums which are ranked as follows by the popularity around the world.

    Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

    It is the largest museum in the Western Hemisphere, with a collection of 2 million items from more than 5,000 years of world culture. The iconic museum includes important collections from ancient Egypt and medieval Europe as well as ancient Greece and Rome. Here, visitors can get lost in different centuries: They can see the Temple of Dendur from early Egypt, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh's Wheatfield With Cypresses an US pop Andy Warhol's Souper Dress, all in one place.

    Muse d'Orsay, Paris

    Located in the center of Paris on the bank of the River Seine, the Musee d'Orsay houses the world's most amazing collections of impressionist and post-impressionist art. It offers the chance to view major works from greats like Van Gogh and Claude Monet. The museum is famous for being home to Starry Night over the Rhone, an oil painting by Van Gogh that is often praised along with his masterpiece Starry Night.

    Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois

    It was named the world's best museum in 2014. The world-famous Windy City museum houses nearly 300,000 works, including one of the largest collections of modern art, including pieces such as Spanish painter Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist, US artist Georgia O'Keeffe's Black Cross and French artist Henri Matisse's Bathers by a River. A TripAdvisor reviewer commented, “No matter how many times I visit, it never gets old. Paintings from every era, works from every great artist.”

    Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

    Nowhere is able to present the entire history of Spanish art like the Museo Nacional del Prado.

    Here, visitors can enjoy a detailed view of the Spanish school of the Modem Age. Outstanding masterpieces by artists such as Diego Velazquez, Francisco Goya and Joaquiin Sorolla make up an internationally-famous collection. The Italian school is another highlight of the museum's collection, as it includes the 15^th century masterpieces such as The Annunciation by Fra Angelico, The Death of the Virgin by Andrea Mantegna and The Dead Christ Supported by Angels by Antonello da Messina.

    Last April, on a Sunday, we took one of our “nowhere” drives. My husband was quietly driving along a back road. I was occupied in the front passenger seat watching the scenery.

    I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my husband was struggling to look out of my window. This frightened me, since his eyes should be on the road in front of him. I asked him what he was looking at out of the windows, and he quietly replied, “Nothing.”

    After a few minutes, I looked over at my husband and noticed a tear running down his cheek. I asked him what was wrong. This time he told me, “I was just thinking about Pop and a story he had once told.” It had something to do with Pop, his friend from childhood, and I wanted to know the story, so I asked him to share it with me.

    He said, “When I was about 8 years old, Pop and I were out fishing and he told me that the pine trees know when it is Easter.”

    I had no idea what he meant by that, so I pressed him for more information.

    He continued on… “The pine trees start their new growth in the weeks before Easter because spring is drawing near. If you look at the tops of the pine trees, you will see the yellow shoots(嫩芽). As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot will branch off and form a cross. By the time Easter Sunday comes around, you will see that most of the pine trees will have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest shoots.”

    I turned to look out of the window and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a week before Easter, and you could see all of the trees with the tall yellow shoots stretching to the sky.

    The tallest ones shone in the sunlight like rows of tiny golden crosses. May you find your Easter season filled with beautiful golden crosses!

    A humpback, a kind of big whale, can weigh as much as 40 tons and reach 50 feet from nose to tail. That means they can easily overturn small boats and it can be a great trouble to anyone who jumps on the back of the animal.

    But that was just what Sam Synstelien did when he saw a humpback in trouble in Central California's Morro Bay. The animal was hopelessly tangled (缠绕) in a rope that was attached to a buoy (浮标).

    Synstelien, along with his partner Nicholas Taron, had already tried reporting the poor animal to the U. S. Coast Guard—but they were told it would be hours before rescuers could come. Hours, the fishermen thought, this whale didn't have. "If we wanted the humpback to survive we had to go to get it," Taron later said. "We thought there was no other choice for the whale; we decided to go for it. We were so excited then. I don't think we were that scared. "

    It's easy for Taron to say, of course. His role in the rescue was mostly in the cheering department. In the video, you can hear him shouting "Swim! Swim! Move! Just get it! Get it!" from the side of the boat while filming the entire rescue. "The humpback was just swimming in circles," Taron said. "You could tell it was stressed and being held to the bottom."

    The very agitated whale didn't take well to human intervention (介入) and even hit the boat with its huge tail with a lot of force. But Synstelien hung in there, and at last cut through the rope. And then with a sudden move, the humpback swam deep down beneath the waves. It wasn't much of a thank you, but Synstelien and Taron were happy.

    It's not just adults who have a thing or two to discuss with other people, babies too have their own social lives and enjoy group interaction, according to a world-first study.

    The breakthrough study conducted by psychologist Professor Ben Bradley, at Charles Sturt University, could completely transform the way child-care centres are set up. In their study, the researchers examined groups of nine-month-old babies in New South Wales and Britain.

    And they came across astounding (令人吃惊的) results. It was found that infants had "social brains" and focused not just on their mothers but on social life in groups as well.

    "They communicate with more than one baby at once, and show jealousy and generousness," said Professor Bradley.

    He added, "They develop their own meanings through group interaction, they notice if a group member is behaving differently and they take on roles, such as leaders and followers."

    "A baby who has a depressed mother tends to be withdrawn (内向的), but put that same baby in a group of its peers (同龄人) and they behave and interact like any other baby."

    It was the first all-baby group study ever to be conducted. "Most studies of babies concentrate on the infant-mother relationship, assuming that is the single foundation for mental health, but babies are constantly involved with groups of people other than their mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents and those taking care. Therefore, the mother-baby approach needs to be combined with a group approach," said Bradley.

    Phoebe Christison, a child-care worker at Camperdown Sunshine Bubs in Sydney's inner west, said she often noticed what appeared to be emotional attachments developed between toddlers.

    She said, "Joel (1) months and Isabella (2) months always like to hold hands when they sit in their high chairs and eat. And babies definitely show jealousy. They push and touch each other, and copy what the other is doing."