My husband, my four-month-old daughter and I set out on a five-day driving journey from California to Washington. We had to stop frequently because our little child needed to stretch from the car seat.

    One of our stops, once we crossed the Oregon border, was at a Black Bear Diner. Walking towards the front door we noticed a gentleman standing at one side. He was clearly untidy, without shoes and wearing worn clothing. We passed right by him and opened the restaurant door. Then something told me to go back.

    Holding my daughter, I turned around and said to the gentleman, “Sir. Are you hungry?” He said, “Yes.” I then asked, “May we buy you something to eat?” He responded with, “Sure, I can order something myself.”

    My husband opened the door and the gentleman went straight to the counter. I told him to order whatever he wanted. The manager of the restaurant came over quite quickly and looked frightened. I spoke before he had an opportunity to say anything. “This gentleman will have lunch with us today,” I said. “Please add his order to our bill.” The manager said with a frown(皱眉), “Okay.” We turned to our table and the gentleman said, loudly and quickly, “Thank You!” We were seated and upon completing our meal we were handed our bill. I asked my husband what the gentleman had ordered. One fresh orange juice, one coffee, one breakfast combination with a side of hash browns.

    When we left the restaurant I looked for the gentleman but didn't see him, but that very small act just made my day. I hope in some small way we were able to add some joy to his life, even if only for a few minutes.

    Located on the University of Melbourne's Hawthorn campus, Hawthorn-Melbourne is one of Australia's largest and longest established English language schools.

    You can study English with Hawthorn-Melbourne if you want to: enter Australian universities or colleges, get ready for an IELTS test, expand your career options or prepare for employment, open up new travel opportunities and experience Australia.

    Hawthorn is a safe and peaceful residential suburb surrounded by nature, with plenty of shops, cafes, banks, sporting facilities and parks. All of our students can use the student rest areas and kitchen areas, as well as all of our group learning spaces, entertaining and social facilities.

    NOTE: No international student shall stay for the night outside our school.

    Some distinctive learning places for you:

    Library

    In the library, there are abundant learning resources and quiet study areas for our students.

    Resources such as DVDs, newspapers, magazines and audio for listening practice.

    Monday to Thursday                            8:00am to 5:30pm

    Friday                                        8:00am to 5:00pm

    Computer Labs

    Computer labs support foreign language characters—but only English during class time.

    We provide campus WiFi free of charge for all of our students.

    Monday to Friday                                8:00am to 6:00pm

    Saturday                                        9:00am to 6:00pm

    Independent Learning Center

    Students have 1 hour of independent learning each day.

    ILC time is an opportunity to practice and improve the language skills that you learn in class.

    Monday to Thursday                            8:00am to 5:30pm

    Friday                                        8:00am to 5:00pm

    Lecture Theater

    In the lecture theater, public lectures of various topics will be given to students.

    Qualified professors or excellent students are invited to be lecturers.

    Monday to Thursday                            8:00am to 10:30am

    Friday                                        8:00am to 10:00am

    Welcome to OUR SCHOOL!

    Call at: 041-3436-215

    E-mail: Hawthom-Melboume@yahoo.com

    When I was 3 years old, I was found to be deaf in my left ear and have a small problem in my right. Being hard of hearing has been difficult, but I've never lived in a state of self-hating sorrow.

    Imagine being able to shut out all sounds as you lay your head down to sleep by simply rolling over onto one side. That's my reality when I sleep on my “good ear”, and it even makes me feel like a superhero sometimes.

    People call my deaf side my “bad ear”, but when I wear my hearing aid, I have access to a range of features(特征)that some other deaf people don't.

    In cinemas, for example, with one click of a button I can enjoy a whole film as though it were whispered to me from the mouths of the actors.

    Having a hearing aid hasn't always felt good, however.

    On the first day I got my aid, when I was 8, I took it to school for show-and-tell. As I explained how it worked to my classmates, a boy yelled out, “Aren't those for old men?”

    At that moment, I felt different. It took a long time for me to get over that sense of being so unlike my peers(同龄人).

    But it's not just choolkids who can make us deaf and hard-of-hearing people feel like burdens(负担).

    Every video on social media that lacks subtitles, for example, means an entire community of deaf people is unable to enjoy it.

    Completely deaf people are excluded from enjoying many movies too, as subtitles in cinemas are almost impossible to find.

    And with hearing aids costing around $2,500 each, it can be hard for many people to afford to be able to listen to the things that others take for granted.

    As for me, I can listen to music, enjoy films, and catch conversations – I'm lucky.

I'm deaf, but I can still hear everything. I've been blessed with wonderful life experiences.

    Solar energy systems/power plants do not produce air pollution, water pollution, or greenhouse gases. Using solar energy can have a positive, indirect effect on the environment, when solar energy replaces or reduces the use of other energy sources that have larger effects on the environment.

    However, some poisonous materials and chemicals are used to make the photovoltaic (光电池的) cells that convert sunlight into electricity. Some solar thermal (保热的) systems use potentially hazardous liquids to transfer heat. Leaks of these materials could be harmful to the environment. U. S. environmental laws regulate the use and settlement of these types of materials.

    As with any type of power plant, large solar power plants can affect the environment near their locations. The placement of the power plant may have long-term effects on the habitats of native plants and animals. Some solar power plant-s may require water for cleaning solar collectors and concentrators or for cooling turbine generators. Using large volumes of ground water or surface water in some dry locations may affect the ecosystems that depend on these water resources. In addition, the beam of concentrated sunlight a solar power tower creates can kill birds and insects that fly into the beam.

    The amount of solar energy that the earth receives each day is many times greater than the total amount of all energy that people consume each day. However, on the surface of the earth, solar energy is a variable and irregular energy source. The amount of sunlight and the intensity of sunlight varies by time of day and location. Weather and climate conditions affect the availability of sunlight daily and on a seasonal basis. The type and size of a solar energy collection and conversion system determines how much of the available solar energy we can convert into useful energy.

    A few days ago I was sitting in a Thai restaurant enjoying a meal when I got a phone call from a friend I hadn't spoken to for a long time. Full of enthusiasm and excitement I talked slightly louder than usual and in Spanish, my mother tongue.

    A few minutes into the call the lady sitting beside me got up, seemingly upset, and asked the restaurant staff to relocate her to a table as far away as possible from "this man who won't get off his phone"

    I sank in my seat out of embarrassment. I ended the call soon afterwards and felt the urge to go over and apologize. Before getting up I looked around to see where she was and I found she was, indeed, at the table furthest away from me. I noticed that the lady was alone and staring out of the window, looking a bit sad.

    Right then I quit my plan for a conventional apologetic gesture and decided to conduct an experiment. Seeing those funny smile cards in my wallet, I took one out. When signing my check I asked the waiter to secretly charge the lady's meal to my credit card instead of her bill.

    I left the restaurant, letting the waiter know I would be back in a few hours to pick up my credit card. I returned later as promised, excited to learn the result.

    To my pleasant surprise, things turned out the best possible way. A group of restaurant staff approached me with joy, telling me that the lady had dined there many times, but they had never seen her smile and laugh like she did upon receiving the smile card and the $0 check.

    Charity Cycling UK has recently launched a campaign to raise awareness of dooring after discovering that many people don't know what it is and those that do seem to think it's a joke. Dooring happens when a driver or passenger opens the door into another road user - typically a cyclist - without looking for other road users.

    Cycling UK's chief executive Paul Tuohy told Gloucestershire Live, "Some people seem to see car dooring as a bit of a joke, but it's not and can have serious consequences. Cycling UK wants to see great awareness made about the dangers of opening your car door, and people to be encouraged to look before they open."

    The charity says 2,009 of the 3,000 injuries were sustained(遭受) by cyclists, resulting in five deaths but says this might not be the full extent of the dangers.

    Cycling UK says not all car dooring incidents will be attended by police, so the charity has written to transport minister Jesse Norman calling for a public awareness campaign urging all drivers to look before opening vehicle doors. One of the ways that the charity suggests could prevent injuries through dooring is the "Dutch Reach", where people leaving a vehicle reach over and use the non-door side hand to open the door.

    Cycling UK also suggests serious laws and advice on safer road positioning for people who cycle.

    Mr Tuohy said, "In the Netherlands they are known for practising a method, known sometimes as the 'Dutch Reach', which we think could be successfully encouraged in the UK."

    "Cycling UK has written to the Department for Transport asking them to look into this, and stress the dangers of 'car dooring' through a public awareness THINK style campaign."

    If you're really concerned about opening a door into the path of a cyclist coming behind you, consider using what's known as the "Dutch Reach" to open the door. That will naturally turn you in your seat and give you a much better view of what's coming up alongside the car.