Last night, on my way home I stopped because of being attracted by some hamburgers at a fast food restaurant. On my way in, a homeless man approached me and asked, “Do you have any bottles lying around?” I knew he would recycle them for a few cents, but I didn't have any, so I said no. And again he asked, “Can you spare some change ?” I smiled, and said no again. He was very respectful; he smiled back and said, “OK, thank you.” Even though he didn't have anything, he was still in good spirits. From the way he spoke I could tell he was smart.

    Then I bought one hamburger and enjoyed my meal, but in the back of my mind I wondered whether the homeless man was hungry. After I finished my meal I decided to order another one for him. At this point I didn't know if he was still around, but I tried anyway.

    At the counter I ordered a hamburger and also a hot chocolate, because it was cold outside, and I thought it would help warm him up. They delivered me the hot chocolate first and as I waited for my hamburger, I noticed the homeless man was standing right beside me. I looked at him and smiled, “This hot chocolate is for you.” He replied like a gentleman, “Thank you so much. That's very kind of you.”

    I always believe no matter how hard up I am, there are always those who are worse off than I. When you help someone, it's not always about money, it's about love. The love you give today, someone might forget tomorrow. It doesn't matter. Love anyway, because the greatest thing you can give is love.

    Each time I see a balloon, my mind flies back to a memory of when I was a six-year-old girl. It was a rainy Sunday and my father had recently died. I asked my mom if Dad had gone to heaven. "Yes, honey. Of course." she said.

    "Can we write him a letter?"

    She paused, the longest pause of my short life, and answered, "Yes."

    My heart jumped. "How? Does the mailman go there?" I asked.

    "No, but I have an idea." Mom drove to a party store and returned with a red balloon. I asked her what it was for.

    "Just wait, honey. You'll see." Mom told me to write my letter. Eagerly, I got my favorite pen, and poured out my six-year-old heart in the form of blue ink. I wrote about my day, what I learned at school, how Mom was doing, and even about what happened in a story I had read. For a few minutes it was as if Dad were still alive. I gave the letter to Mom. She read it over, and a smile crossed her face.

    She made a hole in the corner of the letter where she looped the balloon string. We went outside and she gave me the balloon. It was still raining.

    "Okay, on the count of three, let go. One, two, three."

    The balloon, carrying my letter, darted upward against the rain. We watched until it was swallowed by the mass of clouds.

    Later I realized, like the balloon, that Dad had never let his sickness get him down. He was strong. No matter what he suffered, he'd persevere, hang on, and finally transcend this cold world and his sick body. He rose into sky and became something beautiful. I watched until the balloon disappeared into the gray and white and I prayed that his strength was hereditary. I prayed to be a balloon.

    The purpose of keeping fit is to avoid illness ,resist the mental and physical fatigue（疲劳）that make us more likely to contract infections ,and above all to feel more pleasure in being alive. Research has shown the value of a balanced diet ,fresh air, sunshine ,enough rest and some forms of regular exercise for everyone .If everyone followed this plan ,the number of people visiting the doctor and going to hospital would be considerably reduced.

    Unfortunately, although most people acknowledge the importance of physical fitness, not enough of us put this into practice .We spend too much time watching others from the comfort of an armchair or a seat in the stand at a sports stadium.

    One reason why people who are physically fit to live longer is that they do not put the heart under excessive strain（过度劳累）and so they reduce the risk of heart and blood vessel（血管）diseases .They also avoid suffering the consequences of weakened muscles ,which are the cause of a great deal of back and abdominal（腹部的）trouble.

    About 640 muscles for about 45% of our body's weight, they must have the ability to store energy and be continually supplied with fuel by the blood .Sensible exercise, suited to each individual and preferably undertaken on the advice of a doctor, is the best insurance of meeting these requirements.

    Many people believe high heels(E)make women look good. It seems that the organisers of the Cannes Film Festival reportedly stopped women in low-heeled shoes from walking the red carpet. But all this charm comes at a cost, wearing heels over 10em high can damage your feel.

    A study by Hanseo University in South Korea suggests that continuous wearing makes women run the risk of getting hurt, and makes them easy to lose their balance, A total of 40 women who wear high heels at least three times a week took part in the study, The strength of their feet was measured regularly, researchers found that two of the four main muscles became stronger after a period of between one and three years, This created an imbalance in their feet, Dr Yong Seok Jee from Hanseo University says that the habit of wearing heels can result in feet out of shape, back pain and unhealthy walking patterns He suggests that women limit the use of these kinds of shoes and exercise their foot muscles properly.

    High heels are considered by some people to be female, but in fact the fashion started with men's feet. These shoes were a form of riding footwear, and were seen on the feet of 17th century Persian soldiers, Elizabeth Semmelhack of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto says: “When the soldier stood up in his stirrups (马镫), the heel helped him keep balance so that he could shoot more effectively.

    Before becoming a main part of modern women's clothing, high heels were used by Louis XIV of France. These shoes were status (身份) symbols Lets face it-nothing shows off status like uncomfortable, expensive and impractical clothing. They say the wearer doesn't have to work in fields or walk very far.

    Vinegar is great. It makes salad, fries and dumplings taste better, and you can even clean your windows with it. And now, according to scientists, it may even help the planet's population to ease hunger.

    Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan found that growing plants in vinegar makes them more resistant to droughts.

    This could mean that in the future, worries about climate change affecting the world's supply of food will be much lower.

    The discovery was made after the researchers studied the Arabidopsis, a plant known for its ability to survive in dry weather. It was found that when the plant was placed in drought-like conditions, it produced a chemical called acetate(醋酸盐) – the main component of vinegar.

    After discovering this, the scientists experimented further by adding acetate to the soil of other plants, before they stopped giving them water completely. After leaving the plants for 14 days, they found that the ones treated with acetate had survived, while the untreated plants had dried up and died. It's hoped that this simple method of survival could soon be used to help farmers in dry countries keep their crops alive.

    Jong Myong Kim, co-author of the study, told Popular Science magazine that he's already been in touch with people all over the world who are interested in trying this simple and cost-effective method out for themselves from flower growing companies to amateur gardeners.

    Although at this point keeping thirsty plants alive isn't as easy as just pouring vinegar over them, Kim said he and his team are working on making the process as simple as possible. "Now we are trying to cooperate with some farmers, and also some companies, to make a method to apply this system." he said.

    And for those of us who always forget to ask our neighbors to water our plants when we go away, hopefully this means the end of returning home from a trip to find our favorite flowers have died.

    Apple and Microsoft each launched new products. One company astonished everyone. The other made people sleepy. Can you guess which was which? You probably guessed wrong. Because Apple, famous for its creative products, was the tech giant whose new product caused a collective shrug. While Microsoft, which stole a move out of the Apple Playbook, won cheers from high-end, creative-class consumers like business analysts, media designers and music producers.

    As Hayley Tsukayama remarked at The Washington Post, the Surface Studio, one of Microsoft's new products, is really just a super-sized version of the Surface Books product that Microsoft has been selling for years. But if you've ever watched science fiction movies like Minority Report-- where Tom Cruise seems to operate pictures and data hanging on mid-air by touching them, spreading his fingers to increase on details, and sending files and information sliding from one folder to another with a click of the finger, you can see how Microsoft is trying to show the same experience.

    Meanwhile, apple's new products were almost like some fine promotions for its Apple TV. They boast that the new Macbook Pro has a smaller size and more functions, and a new touch screen bar on laptop keyboards where function keys used to be.

    So what's going on? In many ways, Apple is focusing on attracting the average consumers who have been attracted by Microsoft. And Microsoft is focusing on targeting the high-end professionals Apple has historically been associated with. You can even see this is the companies' ad campaigns: Microsoft's ads stress imagination and creativity, while Apple's commercial chief performance and convenience of its Macbooks.

    So Apple is trying to control the world of devices and laptops from the top down, starting with the high-end market and moving on to appeal to a broader base of consumers. Microsoft, having already strengthened itself within the bigger low-end market, is now attempting the opposite with a bottom-up strategy. Will they succeed? Time will tell...