A dog, it is said, is a man's best friend. Put a dog, a kid and a book together, and you have a struggling reader's best friend.

    The therapy dogs of R.E.A.D. – Reading Education Assistance Dogs – have been helping children improve their reading skills since 1999, when Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA) began the program in Salt Lake City, Utah.

    Today, tens of thousands of R.E.A.D. teams – dogs and their owners – volunteer to spend time with youngsters in schools and libraries across the United States and around the world. The idea is that sharing a book with a nonjudgmental (不带评论的) partner encourages students' confidence and helps develop a love of reading.

    Izzy, a Havanese therapy dog, is a regular visitor to Public School 57 in East Harlem, New York. Students meet him in the library, pick out a book and sit down on the carpet. Izzy snuggles (依偎) up to them and gets ready to hear a story.

    “I love reading to Izzy because he listens to me, and he doesn't make fun of me when I make a mistake,” says third-grader Aelane Vasquez. The 9-year-old, whose parents are from Mexico, is one of 15 Latin-American students at the school who were selected for the program.

    “All the students that we work with in the R.E.A.D. program were behind reading levels at the beginning of the year,” Bridget McElroy, who teaches English as a Second Language, explained. “Now most of them have reached the average level, if not above it.” That's important, because achieving proficiency (熟练) in reading is vital for kids to succeed. Studies have shown that students who can't read at grade level by the end of third grade are four times less likely to graduate high school by the age of 19.

    The R.E.A.D. teams from New York Therapy Animals work with 175 kids at Public School 57 and nine other schools.

    McElroy said she sees a marked difference in Aelane and her classmates, and not just in study. “Not only do the kids have time to practice reading, what we are really seeing is that they are excited to read and practice even when Izzy is not here,” she said.

    Once upon a time, there was a beautiful bird, which was very curious about hell. When she was little, her mother always told her that if she didn't master the flying skills, she would go to hell. She was so curious about hell that she always asked others what hell looked like, but no one was sure, because none of them had ever been there. Some said hell was a place full of water, and others told her that hell was full of burning fire. However, the bird knew they were lying. She wanted to find out what hell was.

    When other birds were learning flying skills, she always hid herself and watched them. She thought in this way she could go to hell and see what hell looked like. However, she spent so little time learning flying skills that one day she was caught by a little boy. The little boy gave her to his grandpa in the countryside as a gift. The old man liked her very much. He made a delicate cage and put her in it. The bird was very worried because she thought she couldn't find out what hell was like staying in this small cage. However, she couldn't escape. Day after day, she just stayed in the cage, watching other birds flying. She lost her freedom and she became sadder and sadder. At last, she became ill. The old man finally opened the cage, but she was too weak to fly. Lying on the ground, she thought of the question that she ever asked all the time.

    “What does hell look like?”

    “Hell is a small well-decorated cage.” Before she closed her eyes forever, she finally answered that question herself.

    You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a rise in the world's temperature. But rising sea levels caused by it have resulted in the first evacuation (撤离) of an island nation, the citizens of Tuvalu will have to leave their homeland.

    During the 20th century, sea level rose 8~12 inches. As a result, Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water that has polluted the country's drinking water.

    Paani Laupepa, a Tuvaluan government official, reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years. Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damaging storms.

    Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (排放), which are a main cause of global warming. “By refusing to sign the agreement, the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluans to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years.” Laupepa told the BBC.

    Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries.

    Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable (易受影响的) to rising sea levels. Maumoon Gayoon, president of the Maldives, told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”.

    Say you're sitting around with some friends playing video games and someone mentions a game that happens to be one of your favorites. “Oh, that game's easy. So not worth the time,” one of your friends says. The others agree. Although you enjoy the game quite a lot, not wanting to argue with them, you go along with the crowd.

    You have just experienced what is commonly referred to as peer pressure（同伴压力）, also called peer influence. You will adopt a certain type of behavior, dress, or attitude in order to be accepted as part of a group of your “peers”. As a teen, you are likely to have experienced the effect of peer pressure in a number of different areas.

    We are all influenced by our peers at any age. For teens, as school and other activities take you away from home, you may spend more time with your friends than with your family. As you become more independent, your peers naturally play a greater role in your life.

    According to Dr. Casey from Cornell University, teens are very quick and accurate in making decisions on their own and in situations where they have time to think. However, when they make decisions in the heat of the moment or in social situations, their decisions are often influenced by factors like peers. In a recent study, teen volunteers played a video driving game, either alone or with friends watching. The researchers discovered that the number of risks teens took more than doubled when their friends were watching, compared with when they played alone. This shows that teens may find it more difficult to controlrisky behavior when their friends are around, or in situations where they are extremely angry.

    Just as people can influence us to make unwise choices, they can also influence us to make good ones. A teen might join in a volunteer project because his or her friends are doing it, or get good grades because his or her friends think getting good grades is important. In fact, friends often encourage each other to study, or try out for sports.

    While we are always influenced by those around us, the decision to act or not is up to us. So when it comes to decision making, the choice is up to you.

    The minute you start talking about what you're going to do if you lose, you have lost.

    Some people have a great fear of losing. In fact, fear is not the best description of what they have. It is more like a crazy phobia(恐惧症) that they cannot keep away from. Day after day, these people allow their fear of losing to control everything in their lives. They are so afraid of losing that they try to keep away from losing without considering the cost of doing so.

    When things start to get out of control, fear begins to come in. As the fear of losing or getting hurt overwhelms(充溢) them, they quickly look for excuses, rather than fight back or find a way to deal with their fear. They never realize that losing is just as common as eating and breathing.

    If one is given a choice, who wouldn't prefer winning over losing? After all, winning is exciting and winning is what living is all about. Although we might try hard all the time, we're not going to win every time. In fact, most of us are going to lose a lot more often than we win and, believe it or not, it's not all bad.

    In order to make the most of our abilities ，we have to take risks every now and then. When we take risks, we might get knocked down, or even knocked flat, but with each failure and each loss, we have an opportunity to get better and get closer to the life we expect.

    Hearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan for William Randolph Hearst from 1919 until 1947. In 1957, the Hearst Corporation donated the fortune to the state of California. Since that time it has been maintained as a state historic park where the estate and its considerable collection of art are open for public tours. Despite its location far from any urban center, the site attracts roughly one million visitors per year.

    Guided Tours

    There are several tours which highlight various parts of the castle and gardens.

    Tour One is recommended for first time visitor．It now includes the movie, Hearst Castle Building the Dream.

    Tour Two gives visitors a closer look at the main house's upper floors, Mr. Hearst's private suite, the libraries, and the kitchen.

    Tour Three looks at the Castle's North Wing, guest rooms and guest house Casa Del Monte.

    Tour Four features the impressive gardens and grounds, the largest guesthouse, the wine basement, and the Hidden Terrace.

    The evening tour is a special tour that allows visitors to experience the Castle at night as one of the Hearst's own visitors might have.

    Reservation Information

    While tickets may be purchased at the Visitor Center upon arrival, tour reservations are strongly recommended and may be reserved online now or by calling 1 - 800 - 444 - 4445, see below for times.

Visit www．hearst castle ． org for more information.