Kathy Fletcher and David Simpson have a son named Santi. He had a friend who sometimes went to school hungry. So Santi invited him to occasionally eat and sleep at his house.

    That friend had a friend and that friend had a friend, and now when you go to dinner at Kathy and David's house on Thursday night there might be 15 to 20 teenagers gathering around the table, and later there will be groups of them crashing in the basement or in the few small bedrooms upstairs. The kids who show up at Kathy and David's have suffered the pains of modern poverty: homelessness, hunger, abuse.

    And yet by some miracle, hostile soil has produced beautiful flowers. Kids come from around the city. Spicy chicken and black rice are served. Cellphones are banned. The kids who call Kathy and David “Momma” and “Dad,” are polite and clear the dishes. Birthdays and graduations are celebrated. Songs are performed. Each meal we go around the table and everybody has to say something nobody else knows about them. Each meal the kids show their promise to care for one another.

    The adults in this community give the kids the chance to present their gifts. “At my first dinner, Edd read a poem that I first thought was from Langston Hughes, but it turned out to be his own. Kesari has a voice that somehow appeared from New Orleans jazz from the 1920s. Madeline and Thalya practice friendship as if it were the highest art form.”

    “They give us a gift — complete intolerance of social distance. When I first met Edd, I held out my hand to shake his. He looked at it and said, “We hug here,” and we've been hugging since.”

    Bill Milliken, a veteran youth activist, is often asked which programs turn around kids' lives. “I still haven't seen one program change one kid's life,” he says. “What changes people is relationships. Somebody is willing to walk through the shadow of the valley of adolescence with them.” Souls are not saved in bundles. Love is the necessary force.

    Anger itself is neither good nor bad. It's what we do when we're angry that matters. Anger is a tool that helps us to read and respond to the social situations that bother us. But how can we keep it under control?

    It's normal to think that getting angry is bad and many times we punish ourselves for doing so. But contrary to popular belief, research indicates that anger increases optimism, creativity and efficiency (效率). In addition, studies suggest that anger can lead to more successful negotiations at work, as well as in our personal lives.

    In fact, suppressing (抑制) anger can be very bad for your health. In this sense, Dr. Ernest Harburg performed a study by monitoring a group of adults and their capacity (最大容量) for anger. What he found is that the men and women who suppressed their anger as a response to an unfair attack had a higher risk of developing bronchitis (支气管炎) or suffering from heart attacks, and were more likely to die before their colleagues who let their anger surface (显现) when they felt bothered.

    When anger arises, we feel the need to either prevent or put an end to this powerful feeling for the benefit of our welfare or the welfare of those we care about. But this act of kindness, mercy, love or justice isn't beneficial in this way. However, it's certainly a good thing to be cautious when anger begins to surface. Expressing your anger can be appropriate with certain people at certain times. The question lies in how to do it without losing control. The key to expressing your anger is finding the appropriate tone for expressing what it is that upsets you. But to avoid unnecessary shouting, hitting, or other violent reactions, it's worth taking a moment to step back and think, even though we may be in the middle of an argument with someone.

    The World Happiness Report, a United Nations agency report, measures (估量) how happy people are, and why. Norway is the happiest place on earth—beating neighbour Denmark from the number one position.

    Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Finland are among the top five, while the Central African Republic came last. Western Europe and North America took up most of the places at the top of table, with the US and UK at 14th and 19th respectively.

    The World Happiness Report mainly depends on asking a simple question of more than 1,000 people every year in more than 150 countries. “Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top,” the question asks. “The top of the ladder is the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder is the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?”

    The average (平均的) result is the country's score—from Norway's 7.54 to the central African Republic's 2.69. But the report also tries to explain why one country is happier than another. It looks at reasons including economic strength, social support, freedom of choice, and generosity.

    This year's report also has a text titled “restoring (恢复) American happiness”, which examines why happiness levels in the United States are falling, despite continually-increasing economic improvement. “The United States can and should raise happiness by solving American's social problems—rising inequality and distrust—rather than focusing mainly on economic growth,” the authors said.

    Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which published the report, said President Donald Trump's policies were likely to make things worse.

    The Earth is facing a climate crisis, but it's also getting greener and leafier. According to new research, the rise is largely due to China and India.

    A study by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), based on extensive satellite photographs and published in the journal Nature Sustainability, has revealed that the two countries with the world's biggest populations are also responsible for the largest increase in greenness.

    Since 2000, the planet's green leaf area has increased by 5 percent, or over 2 million square miles. That's an area equivalent to the sum total of the Amazon rainforests, NASA says. But researchers stressed that the new greenery does not neutralize deforestation and its negative impacts on ecosystems elsewhere.

    A third of the leaf increase is thanks to China and India, due to the implementation of major tree-planting projects alongside a vast increase in agriculture.

    Using the data from a NASA sensor, researchers discovered that China is the source of a quarter of the increase in green leaf area, despite possessing only 6.6 percent of the world's vegetated area (植被区). Forests account for 42 percent of that increase, while croplands make up a further 32 percent. China's increase in forest area is the result of forest preservation and expansion programs, NASA said, established to fight against the impacts of climate change, air pollution and soil erosion (水土流失). India has contributed a further 6.8 percent rise in green leaf area, with 82 percent from croplands and 4.4 percent from forests.

    Rama Nemani, a co-author of the study and a researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center, said in a statement, "When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, leading to more leaf growth in northern forests, for instance." "Now, with the data that lets us understand the phenomenon at really small scales, we see that humans are also contributing," Nemani said. "This will help scientists make better predictions about the behavior of different Earth systems, which will help countries make better decisions about how and when to take action."

    Thomas Pugh, a professor at the University of Birmingham's School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, said the NASA report expands scientists' understanding of the causes behind global greening. But he also cautioned that a direct line cannot be drawn between an increase in global greening and a decrease in negative impacts of climate change.

    I'm a single person and live with my dog. Jed isn't just my dog. He is my family. He goes everywhere with me. So I was overjoyed last year to hear that Bunnings was allowing dogs on a leash(皮带)- into their stores.

    But no sooner had the rule come in than it was quickly repealed(撤销). A little girl in Victoria had walked up to a Jack Russell in a store and been bitten(咬伤). That was it. No more dogs.

    I don't know the whole story. But here's what I have to say: dogs bite sometimes and kids are sometimes difficult to control.

    There is nothing I love more than a kid who wants to touch Jed. But what's even better is when they ask permission first.

    I was at my local dog park last week. It's huge, with an off-leash dog area to one side and a fenced-off kids' playground a good distance away. There was a family there that morning —parents and two young girls playing near the dog area. The elder girl started crying at the sight of Jed—" puppy! There a puppy! "Jed went right up and started licking(舔)her, which only made her cry louder.

    My dog was frightened and tried to get away. The little girl ran after him, shouting loudly. The parents did nothing; they just let their kid frighten my dog and then said I should have stopped him from licking her.

    While they had a choice to play elsewhere, I did not. So I had to walk Jed away.

    "I just don't want to have to meet a dog when I go shopping," said one caller on a radio show yesterday. Look, I get that. But the thing is, I don't always want to have your kid kick the back of my seat for two hours on a plane.

    When I lived in the UK and the US, I couldn't walk through the stores without stopping to pat dogs. Why can't we follow their practice?

    Many of us don't pay much attention to the importance of eye care. It is said that if you take care of your body, then you can surely be healthy. That is why our eyes should be given a lot of care. Natural eye care should be put in a number one place.

    There are several causes leading to poor eyesight like having not enough food，genes(基因)and aging(老化). Televisions, computers and reading are also the causes of having poor eyesight. If you happen to work in front of the computer, it is best to take a break every once in a while. Something dirty can cause redness and they will make you feel uncomfortable. It is bad for your eyes, too. If this happens, the best way is to clean your eyes by using cold water. You must also try your best to protect your eyes from harmful things. For example, sunglasses are not just for fashion but they can also serve as a great way to protect your eyesight from UV rays.

    Eating healthy food will do good to your eyesight. Remember that vitamins A, C and E are good for eyes. Try to eat food groups that have these vitamins. And you should do eye exercises which can protect your eyesight, too. If a person exercises regularly(定期地)and eats the right kind of food, his eyes will stay in good condition for a long time.

    All above are natural ways of eye care that help us to keep healthy eyes. Being happy all the time can be helpful to a person's eyesight, too. In a word, eye care is very important，no matter how old a person is.