Holidays are really important. Many of us will have childhood memories of summer holidays where we were taken away from home to experience new environments and learn in different ways.

    But holidays are expensive and, for those on low wages or living on benefits, they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapest holidays require travel and other additional costs that are difficult for many families to meet.

    For working parents, the long summer break can be a very difficult problem for childcare. When an annual leave allowance amounts to only five weeks, there is a need to spread this across the year. Couples can find themselves taking leave in turn in order to care for children who are on holiday. For some ' this makes even an affordable family holiday difficult.

    The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full of experienced staff committed to giving our children a caring and inspiring learning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals is quite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make sure that children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools undertake programs of group or individual educational support. Schools also have an important role in sofeguaiding children's welfare through the ongoing touch and support with their pupils. During the long summer holidays, much of this is missed.

    While teachers are holidaying in the UK, many of their pupils spend the whole six weeks on the street where they live. The lack of free school meals for six weeks can result in pressure on a family budget and an inability to afford the inspiring experiences that help children to continue their learning.

    In setting out its plans for a five-term year, Nottingham City Council (委员会)is seeking to reduce the summer holiday down lo four and a half weeks, with a more balanced five terms of roughly eight weeks, each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real “down time" for school staff and pupils alike but will be short enough not to cause a real break in learning.

    We acknowledge that this change may be difficult for some school staff, particularly whose own children are educated in other authorities. However, this must be weighed against the benefits for city children for whom we all have the greatest duty of care.

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    Children as young as ten are becoming dependent on social media for their sense of self-worth, a major study warned.

    It found many youngsters(少年）now measure their status by how much public approval they get online, often through "like". Some change their behavior in real life to improve their image on the web.

    The report into youngsters aged from 8 to 12 was carried out by Children's Commissioner (专员）Anne Longfield. She said social media firms were exposing children to major emotional risks, with some youngsters starting secondary school ill-equipped to cope with the tremendous pressure they faced online.

    Some social apps were popular among the children even though they supposedly require users to be at least 13.The youngsters admitted planning trips around potential photo-opportunities and then messaging friends—and friends of friends — to demand "likes" for their online posts.

    The report found that youngsters felt their friendships could be at risk if they did not respond to social media posts quickly, and around the clock.

    Children aged 8 to 10 were "starting to feel happy" when others liked their posts. However, those in the 10 to 12 age group were "concerned with how many people like their posts", suggesting a "need" for social recognition that gets stronger the older they become.

    Miss Longfield warned that a generation of children risked growing up "worried about their appearance and image as a result of the unrealistic lifestyles they follow on platforms, and increasingly anxious about switching off due to the constant demands of social media.

    She said: "Children are using social media with family and friends and to play games when they are in primary school. But what starts as fun usage of apps turns into tremendous pressure in real social media interaction at secondary school."

    As their world expanded, she said, children compared themselves to others online in a way that was "hugely damaging in terms of their self-identity, in terms of their confidence, but also in terms of their ability to develop themselves".

    Miss Longfield added: "Then there is this push to connect—if you go offline, will you miss something, will you miss out, will you show that you don't care about those people you are following, all of those come together in a huge way at once."

    "For children it is very, very difficult to cope with emotionally." The Children's Commissioner for England's study—life in Likes—found that children as young as 8 were using social media platforms largely for play.

    However, the research—involving eight groups of 32 children aged 8 to 12—suggested that as they headed toward their teens, they became increasingly anxious online.

    By the time they started secondary school—at age 11—children were already far more aware of their image online and felt under huge pressure to ensure their posts were popular, the report found.

    However, they still did not know how to cope with mean-spirited jokes, or the sense of incompetence they might feel if they compared themselves to celebrities(名人）or more brilliant friends online. The report said they also faced pressure to respond to messages at all hours of the day—especially at secondary school when more youngsters have mobile phones.

    The Children's Commissioner said schools and parents must now do more to prepare children for the emotional minefield(雷区）they faced online. And she said social media companies must also "take more responsibility". They should either monitor their websites better so that children do not sign up too early, or they should adjust their websites to the needs of younger users.

    Javed Khan, of children's charity Bamardo's, said: "It's vital that new compulsory age-appropriate relationship and sex education lessons in England should help equip children to deal with the growing demands of social media.

    "It's also hugely important for parents to know which apps their children are using."

    If you wear glasses, chances are you are smarter. Research published in the famous British journal Nawre Conurunications has found — people who displayed higher levels of intelligence were almost 30 percent more likely to wear glasses.

    The scientist, studied the genes of thousands of people between the ages of 16 and 102. The study showed intelligence can be connected to physical characteristics. One characteristic was eyesight. In out of 10 people who were intelligent, there was a higher chance they need glasses. Scientists also said being smarter has other benefits. It is connected to better health.

    It is important to remember these are connections which are not proven causes. Scientists call this correlation. Just because something is connoted to something else does not mean one of those caused the other. And it's worth noting that what constitutes (构成)intelligence is subjective and can be difficult, if not impossible, to measure.

    Forget genes thought. Plenty of proof shows wearing glasses makes people think you are more intelligent, even if you do no, need glasses. A number of studies have found people who wear glasses are seen as smarter, hard-working and honest. Many lawyers this idea to help win their cases. Lawyer Harvey Slovis explained this. "Classes soften their appearance," he said. Sometimes there has been a huge amount of proof showing that people he was defending broke the law. He had them wear glasses and they weren't found guilty.

    Glasses are also used to show someone is intelligent in movies and people who wear glares have begun to shift. People who do not need glasses sometimes wear them for fashion only. They want to look worldly or cool. But not everyone is impressed by this idea, thought. GQ magazine said people who wear glasses for fashion are trying too hard to look smart and hip(时髦的). However, that hasn't stopped many celebrities (名人) from happily wearing glasses even if they do not need them. Justen Bieber is just one high - profile fen of fashion glasses.

    The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that one in every 12 kids is living in homes where no one has worked for at least a year. That may be due to unemployment or issues such as sickness or disability that mean they can't work, and aren't required to. This is known as being in a "long term workless" family.

    The issues faced by children in workless families have very bad influence on their development and education, limiting their future employment prospects, and reducing their opportunities to succeed throughout their lives.

    Not only does worklessness reduce family income, it can also damage families' health and stability, and thus destroy children's development. This is because many workless families are held back by disadvantages such as debt, drug and alcohol dependency, and by homelessness. Suffering from the family problems, many children face a greater and greater possibility of repeating the poor outcomes of their parents. Government research has shown that children in workless families are almost twice as likely not to reach the expected level at all stages of their education. For example, three-quarters of children from families where no one works failed to reach the expected level at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), compared to around half of children in lower-income working families.

    So attention should be paid to children in out-of-work homes. Having working parents means a child is more likely to do better at school, to have better health, education and development, and also means they are less likely to fall into crime.

    But for some families, worklessness, or not employment, is the norm. They just choose not to work. These families often face huge barriers to getting on with their lives but they take the opportunities offered by the society. Parents' ability to work is frustrated by issues like low skills or poor mental or physical health, or drug and alcohol dependency, leaving children without the stability they need.

    We all want to help workless families with complex problems so that their children can take advantage of the opportunities in Britain. We all want parents to have the chance to go out to earn a living and to enjoy the pleasure of work, so that their children can benefit from the good examples of working parents. In doing so, we should know the need to understand the complex issues that some families face and to develop a new approach to deal with poverty. Because the root causes are not financial. It is about helping families overcome the problems they face so that they can go as far as their talents and hard work will take them. We shouldn't retreat from acting to deal with disadvantages, because we know the costs of inaction to individuals, communities and society.

    The well-known adventurer (冒险家)and explorer Steve Fossett, born in 1944 in America, was famous for extraordinary efforts setting world records in flying, ballooning and sailing. He set or broke over 100 records in five different sports, many of which are still held. Many of his most extraordinary adventures were as a pilot. He once said that he did not like risks. This might sound strange considering his activities. But he said what he tried to do was to reduce risk with careful planning, technological development and the help of the best scientists and other experts. In 2007, during a short-distance flight, his plane disappeared and he died at the age of 63.

    In 1903 Benjamin Spock was born in America. After he attended Yale University he joined a sports team that competed in rolling boats, which in 1924 won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. He used to work at a camp for disabled children for three summers during his years at Yale. And the experience probably led to his decision to enter Yale Medical School, and finally completed his medical degree at Columbia in New York. From 1933 he worked as a baby doctor, trying to fit the theories (理论)about how children develop with what mothers told him about their children. During the 1950s, Dr Spock became famous. He wrote articles for magazines, appeared on TV programs, taught at universities and gave speeches to talk to parents about their concerns (担心).Benjamin died in 1998 at 94. Yet his advice continues to affect the lives of millions of children and their parents.

    An 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber who has had four heart surgeries (手术) reached the top of Mount on Thursday, becoming the oldest to climb up the world's highest mountain on May 23, 2013. It was Yuichiro Miura. As a famous adventurer, he skied down Everest from the South Col in 1970, a deed that became the subject of a documentary. He has since skied down the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, following the tradition of his late father, who skied down Europe's Mont Blanc at 99. "If you wish strongly, have courage and endurance, then you can get to the summit (顶峰)of your dream, Miura said.

It was not until photographer Rita Nannini left New York that she grew fascinated by the city's subways. While living in Manhattan for some 15 years in the 1980s and early 1990s, Nannini only commuted (通勤) on the one train-given the subway system's bad reputation. But after relocating to New Jersey for several years where subway is not an option, Nannini found that absence did make the heart grow fonder — maybe even for pizza rats. During her visit back to New York, Nannini nodded, noticing improvements in the subway's facilities.

While Nannini was waiting for a train, a bench on the platform opposite caught her attention due to the ever changing faces and characters. They were people of different accents, colors and beliefs. They were from all walks of life, a diverse mix of New Yorkers all there for their own different reasons. Having learned the teenagers' popular "End of the Line" challenge — boarding trains at random and riding them until their final destination; Nannini decided to visit every first and last stop across the NY subway's lines with her beloved camera.

Nannini's "End of the Line" experience saw her traveling some 665 miles across 26 routes in New York city. She took over 8,000 photos of the final stations, as well as the communities they served. In many cases, she rode the routes two or three times over to ensure she got "the shot". "The project really shows me how important the subway is, and how sustainable it makes our lives," she said 

"It's often said that my photos show the end of the lines — the last stops," she said. "But theend of the line is indeed the start for so many people. That made me think about who the people and the communities that live at the two ends are and what it is that the subway means to them."

Nannini was proud of her set of images directly challenging the traditions of story telling, which echoed both the boredom and excitement of travel on tracks.

Nannini enjoyed taking her time, starting her challenge in 2013 and only shooting the final photos last year. Her first monograph on the terminal stops of the NY subway was released in April 2023.

"When you drive in the suburbs, you don't have those encounters," she continued. "People enter your life on the subway. That's what strikes me most on my jouney on tracks."