Reflecting(回忆) on the past about those decisions or actions that can't be reversed(推翻) and being occupied with thoughts of “What if?” is no way to live. But there are a few things in life I'd probably do differently if I had the chance.

    I once majored in architecture — something I had been crazy about for as long as I could remember — and then I suddenly had a change of heart. I made an appointment with my adviser, and told him I was no longer certain I wanted to pursue a career in architecture.

    “Don't give up on your childhood dream!” “He's right,” I thought. “I should just stick it out and I shouldn't disappoint the little girl who once loved architecture.”

    It was awful. I was agonized, holding on to a childhood dream that had long since faded. When I talked with a friend about it a year later, he asked: “Right now, what do you want to do with your life?” That's when I came to the realization that dreams change over time and that you should give up the childhood dream if it's not what you want as an adult. Luckily, it wasn't too late. After some serious thought, I changed my major to journalism. It wasn't something I had always imagined myself pursuing — but at that moment,  it was what I wanted.

    We grow up, and sometimes our dreams change — and that's perfectly OK. You just need to ask yourself every once in a while, “Is this still what I want?” If the answer is no, move on and start chasing a new one.

    A shopping center is a place where many different shops and stores are collected under one roof. You can buy everything there and there are also banks, restaurants and, sometimes, a post office.

    There are other places in the United States which are called five-and–ten-cent stores because they used to sell things for 5 to 10 cents. Today they sell almost anything and some of the things cost several dollars. Supermarkets are found in all the cities. They sell food and many other goods. You walk around the supermarket, choose the things you want, put them into a special basket prepared by the store and pay for them all together at the door. Supermarkets often stay open later than other stores.

    Stores are usually open every day of the week except on Sunday. Some close on Saturdays in July and August.

    Long ago，poems were recited out loud instead of being written down. Back when the Greeks first started the Olympics, they held poetry contests as well as athletic competitions.

    Now，poetry competitions have been revived (恢复). This year 120,000 high school students competed in the first Poetry Out Loud national recitation contest，performing poems from memory for $100,000 in prizes.

    The first competitions were held in classrooms. The winners went on to school－wide contests, and then they competed in city and state competitions. Finally, the 50 state champions，along with the District of Columbia champion came to Washington D．C．last week for the last showdown. After the 51 champions competed against one another, 12 went on to the finals. Then the field was narrowed to five. The final five had one last chance to “perform” a poem. The overall champ, Jackson Hille, a high school senior from Ohio, won a $20,000 scholarship.

    The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation started Poetry Out Loud, because they realized that bearing a poem performed is a different experience from reading it on a page.

    It's not just a matter of saying the words in the right order. It's the tone of voice, the pauses, the gestures and the attitude of the person performing that bring the words to life. “Each time we hear somebody recite a poem, we understand again what we found fresh and interesting about it，” said National Public Radio Broadcaster Scott Simon, master of ceremonies for the finals. Hearing it in a new voice offers something new to the listener.

    Not only do the people hearing poems have a new experience, but memorizing and presenting poems helps the participants (选手) understand those poems in a new way. Another benefit of a competition such as Poetry Out Loud is that the participants learn public－speaking skills that can help them for life.

    In recent years, a growing body of research has shown that our appetite and food intake are influenced by a large number of factors besides our biological need for energy, including our eating environment and our perception（感知）of the food in front of us.

    Studies have shown, for instance, that eating in front of the TV (or a similar distraction) can increase both hunger and the amount of food consumed. Even simple visual clues, like plate size and lighting, have been shown to affect portion size and consumption.

    A new study suggested that our short-term memory also may play a role in appetite. Several hours after a meal, people's hunger levels were predicted not by how much they'd eaten but rather by how much food they'd seen in front of them—in other words, how much they remembered eating.

    This disparity (新旧研究的差异）suggests the memory of our previous meal may have a bigger influence on our appetite than the actual size of the meal, says Jeffrey M. Brunstrom, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Bristol.

    "Hunger isn't controlled individually by the physical characteristics of a recent meal. We have identified an independent role for memory for that meal," Brunstrom says. "This shows that the relationship between hunger and food intake is more complex than we thought."

    These findings echo earlier research that suggests our perception of food can sometimes trick our body's response to the food itself. In a 2011 study, for instance, people who drank the same 380-calorie milkshake on two separate occasions produced different levels of hunger-related hormones （荷尔蒙），depending on whether the shake's label said it contained 620 or 140 calories. Moreover, the participants reported feeling more full when they thought they'd consumed a higher-calorie shake.

    What does this mean for our eating habits? Although it hardly seems practical to trick ourselves into eating less, the new findings do highlight the benefits of focusing on our food and avoiding TV and multitasking while eating.

    The so-called mindful-eating strategies can fight distractions and help us control our appetite, Brunstrom says.

    I always felt sorry for the people in wheelchairs. Some people, old and weak, cannot get around by themselves. Others seem perfectly healthy, dressed in business suits. But whenever I saw someone in a wheelchair, I only saw a disability，not a person.

    Then I fainted(昏倒) at Euro Disney due to low blood pressure. This was the first time I had ever fainted, and my parents said that I must rest for a while after first aid. I agreed to take it easy, but as I stepped toward the door, I saw my dad pushing a wheelchair in my direction! Feeling the colour burn my cheeks, I asked him to wheel that thing right back to where he found it.

    I could not believe this was happening to me. Wheelchairs were fine for other people but not for me. As my father wheeled me out into the main street, people immediately began to treat me differently.

    Little kids ran in front of me, forcing my father to stop the wheelchair suddenly. Bitterness set in as I was thrown back and forth.

    "Stupid kids! They have perfectly good legs. Why can't they watch where they are going？"I thought. People stared down at me，pity in their eyes. Then they would look away, maybe because they thought the sooner they forgot me the better. "I'm just like you!" I wanted to scream "The only difference is that you've got legs，and I have wheels."

    People in wheelchairs are not stupid. They see every look and hear each word. Looking out at the faces, I finally understood: I was once just like them. I treated people in wheelchairs exactly the way they did not want to be treated. I realized it is some of us with two healthy legs who are truly disabled.

At just 18 years old, Khalifa Aminu from Kano, Nigeria, has proved himself as an amazing inventor, with his sensory glasses designed to help the visually impaired (视障人士).

The glasses are fitted with infrared sensors (红外传感器) that can "see" obstacles in the user's path, warning them about possible dangers without the need for traditional walking sticks or guide dogs. In their current form, the glasses let out a beeping sound when an object is nearby, helping users move past it safely. Aminu is now working on making the glasses even more effective, particularly in low-light and nighttime conditions.

Aminu's journey into the world of invention began in childhood. He started small, building a canoe (独木舟) as his first project, and quickly realized that his creations could be used to solve real-world problems in his community. This love for invention has led him to create various innovations such as a radio station, a bomb detector and an automatic water sprayer for farmers.

As for how Aminu came up with the idea of his latest creation, Aminu explained, "I grew up in an area where there are visually impaired people, and I understand what they're going through. This is why I began the process for a technology-based solution for them."

The glasses have received positive feedback from testing. In a recent trial, a blind man was highly impressed by their effectiveness. "He suggested several improvements, like a wireless switch, smaller parts, and lenses for better usability," Aminu explained. "These suggestions will be carried out in future versions, but the challenge remains the lack of materials and resources for further development."

Luckily, in June, Aminu's invention caught the attention of Nigeria's National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, suggesting a bright future for him in further innovation and mass production. "My ultimate dream is to build a global company that continues to develop innovative technological solutions not only for Nigeria but for the world," said Aminu.