When I was 8 years old, I decided to run away from home after a quarrel with my mother. With my suitcase packed and some sandwiches in a bag, I started for the front door.

     My mom asked where I was going. “I'm leaving home,” I said.

     “What's that you're carrying?” she asked.

     “Some clothes and food,” I replied.

     “If you want to run away, that's all right,” she said. “But you came into this home without anything and you can leave the same way.”

     I threw my suitcase and sandwiches on the floor and started for the door again.

     “Wait a minute,” Mom said. “You didn't have any clothes on when you arrived, and I want them back.”

 This infuriated me. I tore my clothes off — shoes, socks, underwear and all — and shouted, “Can I go now?”

     “Yes,” my mom answered, “but once you close that door, don't expect to come back.”

     I was so angry that I shut the door forcefully and stepped out of my home. Then I noticed down the street two neighbor girls walking toward our house. I was so shy that I saw the big spruce (云杉) tree in our yard and jumped under the low-hanging branches. A pile of dried-up brown needles were beneath the tree, and you can't imagine the pain those sharp needles caused to my body.

     After I was sure the girls had passed by, I ran to the front door and knocked at it loudly.

     “It's Billy! Let me in!”

     The voice behind the door answered, “Billy doesn't live here anymore. He ran away from home.”

     Looking behind me to see if anyone else was coming down the street, I said, “Mom! I'm sorry. I'm still your son. Let me in!”

     The door opened and Mom's smiling face appeared. “Did you change your mind about running away?” she asked.

     “What's for supper?” I smiled back.

    Football, to me, is more than just a game. I have probably learned more than valuable lessons from it than from school.

    When I joined the team freshman year, I didn't realize what I was getting into. Even though I had been playing since fourth grade and knew it was hard work, nothing would prepare me for the effort I would put into football that year. We worked all summer in the weight room and ran on the track to get in physical and mental shape before the season.

    See, football is more of a mental sport than anything else, so running on the track wasn't only about getting in shape. We would push our minds by running as hard as we could even if we felt like we were going to pass out. At the beginning, I was immature（幼稚的）and only thought of myself, sometimes even giving up when I was tired or hurting. Then after the third game I had a season-ending injury. Imagine working all summer and then only being able to play three games! I needed an operation on my arm and at least five months to recover.

    After freshman year I decided that I would always give my best effort. Playing football in the college has taught me so much more than just what my tasks are on a particular play or how to block. I have learned to think about others first, and realized how important working hard is. Being with all my friends, even sweating and bleeding with them, really made us unite as a group of hard-working young men, who will succeed in life.

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    Ecotourism(生态旅游): A Different Way to Travel

    Are you attracted to obscure(偏远的)places? Do you prefer to vacation away from other tourists? Are you careful to take only memories and to leave only footprints? If you answered yes to more than one of these questions, you just might be an ecotourist.

    Ecotourists are people who want to experience the unspoiled natural world and leave it that way when they return home. This trend started in the 1990s and ecotourism is now growing three times faster than the tourism industry at large. The Ecuador's remote Amazon Basin(盆地) is contributing to that expansion, and it gives a snapshot of what ecotourism looks like.

    At the Ecolodge, a small group of cabins(小屋) sits Kapawi Ecolodge in the middle of the Achuar people's reserve(保护区) and is only reached by air. From here, visitors can explore parts of the Amazon rainforest seen by few outsiders. As they do local Achuar guides explain how the forest is like their supermarket, where they find food, clothing, medicine and tools. As a result, tourists learn to appreciate the local culture as well as the natural environment.

    The owners of Kapawi pay monthly rent to the Achuar people, but they also train the community to run and manage the lodge. They have agreed on a plan to turn the operation over to the Achuar completely by 2011.The owners are working to make ecotourism benefit and empower the local people.

    You probably won't start your own ecolodge, but you can be an ecotourist if you follow these guidelines: Protect the environment; Support local businesses; Respect the local customs and traditions.

    The world is full of fascinating places to visit. As an ecotourist, you can enjoy them yourself and make sure that they remain beautiful for future generations as well.

    Next time you're planning to go out for a relaxing walk with your MP3 player, be sure to check the weather forecast first. Summer is the prime time for lightning strikes, a fact that Jason Bunch, a teen from Castle Rock, Colo, learned in a hard way. A couple of summers ago, he was mowing (割草) grass while listening to some Metallica on his iPod. Although there wasn't any rain falling on Bunch, he did hear distant thunder. Bunch was then struck by lightning, which seemed to travel through his music player, blowing out his eardrums and leaving him with burns where the device and its power lines were close to his body.

    Devices such as MP3 players don't attract lightning, says Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, an emergency room physician at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago. However, they may change the pathway that lightning's energy follows in the human body. Lightning that might have passed rather harmlessly over the skin may react differently to the metal of these devices and cause damage.

    Rather than leaving your tunes at home, your best bet is watching out for lightning before it hits. Though people have been injured while using MP3 players in storms, Cooper says, “The devices' main task is keeping you from paying attention to thunder and the sky.” If you're caught in a storm, seek shelter.

    MySpace, the social networking website, is different from other websites which only provide stories about other people. MySpace is a place that allows you to broadcast your own stories and personal information to as many people as you like. Started two years ago, it is a big source of information for and about American kids.

    Teenagers and their parents feel very different about it. Teens are rushing to join the site, not sharing their parents' worries. It signals yet another generation gap in the digital era.

    For teenagers, it is reliable network to keep in touch with their friends. They will often list their surnames, birthdays, after­school jobs, school clubs, hobbies and other personal information.

    "MySpace is an easy way to reach just about everyone. I don't have all the phone numbers of my acquaintances. But if I want to get in touch with one of them, I could just leave them a message on MySpace, "said Abby Van Wassen. She is a 16­year­old student at Woodland Hills High of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

    Parents on the other hand are seriously concerned about the security problems of MySpace. "Every time we hold a parents meeting, the first question is always about MySpace, "said Kent Gates, who travels the country doing Internet safety seminars(研讨会). The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children has received at least 288 MySpace ­ related complaints, according to Mary Beth Buchanan, a lawyer in Pittsburgh.

    "Your profile on MySpace shows all your personal information to anyone on the Web. And MySpace even lists this information by birthplace and age. It's like a free checklist for troublemakers and it endangers children, " Buchanan said.

    July is a month of fun-filled activities for kids and teens as long as you know where to find them. When you want some fun activities for July, consider these ideas happening in this month.