A gaming company in New Zealand is luring employees from around the world by offering unlimited paid annual leave, a share in the company's profits and no set work hours.

    Dean Hall became famous in international gaming circles for being the lead designer on popular video game DayZ. After searching the world for a location for his new gaming studio, Rocketwerkz, New Zealander Hall settled on the small university town of Dunedin on the south island's east coast, where land is cheap and creative start-ups have become an important pan of the city's identity.

    Rocketwerkz's flexible work culture is now drawing talent from around the globe, with Hall receiving 300 messages of inquiry since a local newspaper wrote about his studio last week.

    Last year, when the company was still in its infancy(婴儿期), baby cats would also make a regular appearance in the office as a form of fighting stress, and Friday afternoons are generally reserved for sports and games to end the week on a playful note.

"The first time I heard about the idea of unlimited paid leave in places like Silicon Valley it was about the problems it caused. A culture had appeared where employees took no leave," said Hall.

"So to address that, our staff are issued the standard New Zealand annual leave of four weeks, but they can also take unlimited leave in addition to that."

    Emily Lampitt, from Britain, is a 3D junior artist who has been with the company for a year and a half. She says the flexible work culture was a huge factor in her decision to move to New Zealand.

"The flexibility here has made me feel much more relaxed" she says. I "That internal stress I used to feel in a traditional work environment has gone, so when I am at work now it is because I want to be, because I am passionate(有激情的), not because I am afraid of my boss or watching the clock."

    We all need to eat. So, meals could be a chance to stop what we're doing and spend time with the people in our lives. A recent study from a team of South Korea suggests that eating together has many good effects on children and teenagers while frequently eating alone may lead to poor eating habits and poor food choices. People who eat alone more than twice a week have a greater risk of developing high blood pressure.

    There are benefits of family dinners on children and teenagers.

    In 2014, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) looked at data from nearly three-quarters of the world's countries. Among its findings is the fact that students who share a main meal with their families are less likely to hate school. Children who eat a main meal with their families are also less likely to take drugs (毒品).

    In the report, titled “The Importance of Family Dinners (VIII),'' researchers say that teens who have frequent family dinners are more likely to say their parents know a lot about what's going on in their lives.

    Another study from the University of Montreal finds that children who eat with their families experience long-term physical and mental health benefits. These children are physically in better shape and drink fewer sugary soft drinks. These children also seem to have better social skills and are less violent.

    One of the researchers, Pagani, involved in this study is a professor at the university. She says that mealtimes with parents possibly provide young children with firsthand social events, which helps them have better communication skills.

    September is an exciting month in every college freshman's life. For many, it's the first time that they've left home to live in a new environment. But after the hustle and bustle（喧嚣）of a few weeks, excitement gives way to a less enjoyable emotion— homesickness.

    Homesickness manifests（显露）itself in many ways. You may miss mum's cooking, your pets, or even your old bed. All this becomes a fond memory of the past. Homesickness can be a bitter feeling for many students, especially when faced with the challenges of settling into an unfamiliar environment.

    But remember, you're not alone. According to a recent BBC article, 70 percent of British college students experience homesickness. In this increasingly globalized world in which people migrate to faraway places for a relationship, education or work, homesickness is a feeling shared by many adults.

    Homesickness can have similar symptoms to depression and in extreme cases it can develop into a panic attack. As for the term, homesickness or nostalgia wasn't invented until the 17th century. It was considered a disorder by a Swiss physician, who attributed soldiers' mental and physical discomfort to their longing to return home, “nostos” from Greek, and the accompanying pain, “algos”.

    Studies in recent years, however, have shown that nostalgia may have some benefits to our mental health. After a decade of surveys and researches, Constantine Sedikides, a US social psychologist, found that nostalgia is what makes us human. He explains that nostalgia can resist loneliness, boredom and anxiety. Therefore, it's necessary for college students to learn some ways to overcome the uncomfortable feeling.

    On Sunday 23 April, most than 30,000 people participated in the 2017 London Marathon, running 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometres)around the city center.

    The London Marathon has taken place every year since 1981. At the first one, just 6, 225 people completed the course, and since then it has grown into one of the biggest sporting events in the world. It is one of the 'World Marathon Majors', which is a competition made up of six global marathon events. The overall male and female winners receive $1 million in prize money between them. There are eleven people who have run every London Marathon since it began—they call themselves the 'Ever Presents.

    This year, the winners of the London Marathon were surprisingly both from Kenya—Daniel Wanjiru, who finished in 2 hours and 5 minutes, and Mary Keitany, whose time was 2 hours and 17 minutes.

    However, most marathon runners are not professional athletes. They are amateurs who have trained for months to raise money for charity or just as a personal challenge. For example, Tom Harrison took three days just to reach the run's halfway point, as he is crawling the course on his hands and knees dressed as a gorilla(大猩猩), trying to raise money and attention for the charity 'The Gorilla Organisation'.

    Matthew Rees was another runner to encourage people, as he stopped just before the finish line to help David Wyeth run the last 200m.They did not know each other before, but Matthew saw that David was exhausted and possibly close to collapsing, and wanted to help him finish.

    Every year there are lots of touching stories like this from the London Marathon, and it is a huge achievement even to run the 26.2 miles!

    Some people say summer is the time when teachers should get more pay. But not everyone is grateful to teachers for keeping kids occupied (无空闲的) between August and June: Washington state representative Liz Pike has written a Facebook post, titled "A life in the day of a WA state representative," and responded to teachers' complaints of rising costs of living. The post has received criticism for being anti-teacher. After reading her post, I feel that Liz Pike should rethink her criticism of public school teaching and avoid comparing it to the private school.

    Many of us teachers would certainly like teaching to be more like the private school. We see nothing wrong with fair pay for fair performance. In fact, performance is the name of the game. With standardized testing popular throughout K-12 education, teachers are some of the most analyzed and performance-measured employees in the United States. Liz Pike is very angry that teachers want raises even while test scores are dropping. Well, how are we supposed to have discipline (纪律) in the classroom when our hands are tied and we can hardly do anything with naughty students or fail students who are not prepared to move on to the next grade?

    Teachers would love to be able to turn education around and improve student performance. But we can't, and we should not suffer for it. Unlike private school businesses, public schools cannot turn away "customers". A private school business serves customers who walk through the door of their own free will, while public schools have to educate students who only attend because courts say they must.

    She says those who are "uninspired" by a lack of a cost of living increase should give up teaching. Is this the message that she thinks should be sent to the students whose academic performance she claims (声称) to care so much about? That "if you love it you'll shut up and not stand up for yourself"? I think teachers should stand up for themselves and I also think supporting teachers can make teachers teach children how to stand up for themselves.

The term "SMART goals" was coined by in 1954. Since then, SMART goals have become popular with business managers, educators and others because they work. The late management guru Peter F. Drucker developed the concept. Drucker shaped many top managers' career. Management by objectives was one of his primary business theories.

In 2002, Drucker received the highest civilian honor in the U.S.—the Medal of Freedom. He died in 2005 at age 95. Drucker's family decided to look forward instead of backward, and they gathered distinguished business people to form The Drucker Institute.

The institute's website states ""Their work is to transform the archival (档案) treasure into a social enterprise whose purpose is to strengthen society by encouraging effective, responsible and joyful management."

If you have been to a business management class, you may likely have learned how to write goals and objectives in Drucker's way: SMART. If you haven't heard about Drucker, you are in for a treat that will help you achieve what you want and be more successful, whether you are a teacher trying to teach well, an adult learner or a person who seeks to achieve your dreams.

SMART goals are: "s" stands for specific. Make your goal or objective as specific as possible Say exactly what you want to achieve in clear, concise words. "M" stands for measurable. Include a unit of measure in your goal. Be objective rather than subjective. When will your goal be achieved?

How will you know it has been achieved? "A" stands for achievable. Ensure that your goal is feasible in terms of the resources available to you. "R" stands for realistic. Focus on the end results you desire rather than the activities necessary to get there. You want to grow personally, so reach for your goal—but be reasonable or you'll set yourself up for disappointment. "T" stands for time-bound. Give yourself a deadline within a year. Include a timeframe such as a week, month or year, and include a specific date if possible.