One day when I was 12, my mother gave me an order: I was to walk to the public library, and borrow at least one book for the summer. This was one more weapon for her to defeat my strange problem—inability to read.

    In the library, I found my way into the “Children's Room.” I sat down on the floor and pulled a few books off the shelf at random. The cover of a book caught my eye. It presented a picture of a beagle. I had recently had a beagle, the first and only animal companion I ever had as a child. He was my secret sharer, but one morning, he was gone, given away to someone who had the space and the money to care for him. I never forgot my beagle.

    There on the book's cover was a beagle which looked identical (相同的) to my dog. I ran my fingers over the picture of the dog on the cover. My eyes ran across the title, Amos, the Beagle with a Plan. Unknowingly, I had read the title. Without opening the book, I borrowed it from the library for the summer.

    Under the shade of a bush, I started to read about Amos. I read very, very slowly with difficulty. Though pages were turned slowly, I got the main idea of the story about a dog who, like mine, had been separated from his family and who finally found his way back home. The dog was my dog, and I was the little boy in the book. At the end of the story, my mind continued the final scene of reunion, on and on, until my own lost dog and I were, in my mind, running together.

    My mother's call returned me to the real world. I suddenly realized something: I had read a book, and I had loved reading that book. Everyone knew I could not read. But I had read it. Books could be incredibly wonderful and I was going to read them.

    I never told my mother about my “miraculous” (奇迹般的) experience that summer, but she saw a slow but remarkable improvement in my classroom performance during the next year. And years later, she was proud that her son had read thousands of books, was awarded a PhD in literature, and authored his own books, articles, poetry and fiction. The power of the words was held.

    Good news! Job offered.

    Receptionist Administration

    Full time

    A receptionist is required from 1st February 2019 at Dartford Science & Technology College. The position is only from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday to Thursday and 8:30 am to 4:00 pm Friday, with an hour's break for lunch every day. The successful applicant must have a good telephone manner, good interpersonal skills and IT skills.

    Science Technician

    Term time plus 10 days, 37 hours per week

    We are looking for a technician to provide a technical support service for science teaching staff. Applications are to be received no later than midnight on 10th February 2019.

    Health & Social Care Teacher

    Our client, an 11—18 mixed comprehensive school in Ealing, West London, is currently seeking a teacher for Health & Social Care. The position will be a full-time post until July 2020. We require an energetic teacher to develop the learning potential of students. We are seeking someone with excellent subject knowledge who can combine academic strictness and achievement with enjoyment of teaching Health & Social Care,

    If you are keen to work, click the button below.

    A day in the life of 18-year-old David Lanster is full of teenage activities: school, baseball practice, homework. And then he starts cooking. "Some nights I'm up until 1 a.m. making pies, or even later if we're cooking beef," said the student at Ransom Everglades High School in Florida, US.

    For the past year, Lanster and Kelly Moran, his classmate, have been hosting fancy dinner parties at Lanster's parents' home. Their meals have 17 courses and are all made by them. Their guests used to give them gifts to thank them, until the pair decided to do something nice for charity. "We got some really great Miami Heat tickets, a nice watch, and many kitchen machines," Lanster said. "But we wanted to make this something positive for people rather than us."

    Lanster and Moran focused on Common Threads, a charity(慈善机构) that helps to teach kids in poor neighborhood to cook and make healthy eating choices. The young cooks ask their guests to give however much they want as payment for their meals. It all goes to Common Threads because Lanster's parents cover their food costs. After their last 12-person event, Lanster and Moran gave $1,600 to the charity. Now, they're taking their show out of the kitchen and on the road. Lanster and Moran have started to organize private dinner parties in a similar way: the host pays for the ingredients(食材), and the guests make a donation (捐赠) to a charity.

    Outside the kitchen, the two are busy preparing their college applications. Neither is sure what they will do in the future, but they've promised their parents that they'll leave cooking alone until they finish high school.

    About one in ten video game players shows signs of addictive behavior that could have negative effects on their family, friends and school work, according to a new study conducted in New York.

    Researchers at Iowa State University(ISU) and the National Institute on Media and the Family found that some gamers show at least six symptoms of gambling addiction such as lying to family and friends about how much they play games, using the games to escape their problems and becoming restless when they stop playing.

    They may also skip homework to play video games or spend too much time playing games and do poorly in school. "While the medical community currently does not recognize video game addiction as mental disorder, hopefully this study will be one of many that allow us to have an educated conversation on the positive and negative effects of video games," said Dr. Douglas Gentile, an assistant professor of psychology at ISU.

    Dr. David Walsh, the president of the National Institute on Media and the Family which tries to reduce the harm of media on the health and development of children and families, said the findings are a wake-up call." This study gives everyone a better idea of the problem," he explained.

    The researchers, who studied 1,178 American children and teenagers, aged 8 to 18, found some displayed at least 6 of 11 symptoms of pathological (病态的) gambling as stated by the American Psychiatric Association. Addicted gamers played video games 24 hours a week, twice as much as casual gamers. Some addicted gamers even steal to support their habit, according to the findings that will be published in the journal Psychological Science.

    While video games can be fun and entertaining, some kids are getting trouble. "I continue to hear from families who are concerned about their kids' gaming habits. Not only do we need to focus on identifying the problem, but we need to find ways to help families prevent and treat gaming addiction.

    Tiredness, coughing, a runny nose and a sore throat—among all sicknesses there is probably none more common than the flu (流感), which we all get now and then. However, bird flu is a completely different story.

    In 2003, the H5N1 bird flu swept across 15 countries, including China, with sufferers reporting chest pain, difficulty breathing, fever and severe coughing. More than 600 people were infected, and about 60 percent died. Now, another type of bird flu hit Shanghai and three neighboring provinces, and this time the virus is called H7N9. By the afternoon of April 11, the new virus had taken nine lives out of 35 infected, according to Xinhua News Agency.

    The "H" and "N" in the virus' name refer to two kinds of proteins (蛋白质) on the surface of the virus. Any change of the numbers of the two proteins indicates a new mutation(变异). Most of the mutations only affect birds, such as chickens and pigeons, and don't normally spread to humans. But once they do, the results can be disastrous.

    "Any time an animal influenza virus crosses to humans, it is a cause for concern, " Malik Peiris, virologist (病毒学家) at the University of Hong Kong, told Nature magazine. Take the SARS epidemic (传染病) in 2003 as an example. The virus behind the disease is thought to have jumped to humans from animals. The virus was a complete "stranger" to human bodies, which hadn't developed an immunity (免疫力) against it.

    But there is something more about the new H7N9 bird flu. Unlike the H5N1 bird flu, which causes severe sickness in birds, the H7N9 has been evolving under the radar(悄悄地) since it travels between birds without causing noticeable illness. That makes it difficult to keep track of the disease.

    The good news is that there's so far no sign that the virus is spreading from person to person. But since there is no vaccine (疫苗) for the disease yet, the World Health Organization recommends that you wash your hands after meeting with sick people and before and after you eat or prepare food, and they also suggest avoiding contact with birds or their eggs.