Close your eyes for a minute and imagine what life would be like if you had a hundred dollars less.Also imagine what it would be like spending the rest of your life with your eyes closed.Imagine having to read this page,not with your eyes but with your finger­tips.

     With existing medical knowledge and skills，two­thirds of the world's 42 million blind should not have to suffer.Unfortunately，rich countries possess most of this knowledge,while developing countries do not.

     ORBIS is an international non­profit organization which operates the world's only flying teaching eye hospital.ORBIS intends to help fight blindness worldwide.Inside a DC­8 aircraft，there is a fully­equipped teaching hospital with television studio and classroom.Doctors are taught the latest techniques of bringing sight back to people here.Project ORBIS also aims at promoting peaceful cooperation(合作) among countries.

     ORBIS tries to help developing countries by providing training during three­week medical programs.ORBIS has taught sight­saving techniques to over 35,000 doctors and nurses，who continue to cure tens of thousands of blind people every year.ORBIS has conducted 17 plane programs in China so far.For the seven to ten million blind in China，ORBIS is planning to do more for them.At the moment an ORBIS team is working on a long­term plan to develop a training center and to provide eye care services to Shanxi Province.ORBIS needs your help to continue their work and free people from blindness.

     For just US $38,you can help one person see;for $380 you can bring sight to 10 people;$1,300 helps teach a doctor new skills; and for $13,000 you can provide a training program for a group of doctors who can make thousands of blind people see again.Your money can open their eyes to the world.Please help ORBIS improve the quality of life for so many people less fortunate than ourselves.

Position: Sales Manager

    A Sales Manager with Hilton Hotels and Resorts will develop a sales team and a sales plan that maximizes revenue (收益) by driving the sale of conference facility space and guest rooms.

    What will it be like to work for the Hilton Brand?

    One of the most recognized names in the industry, Hilton Hotels & Resorts offers travelers a world of authentic (可信的) experiences. The brand continues to be innovative and forward-thinking. With products and services that meet the needs of tomorrow's smart global travellers, we share experiences in which every guest feels cared for, valued and respected.

    If you understand the importance of upholding a brand's reputation, you may be just the person we are looking for to work as a Team Member with Hilton Hotels & Resorts.

    What will you be doing?

    As a Sales Manager, you will work with the Conference & Events Sales Department to maximize revenue opportunities. A Sales Manager will be directly responsible for performing the following tasks to the highest standards:

●Maximize all Conference & Events revenue opportunities

●Meet the hotel's set targets

●Understand the marketplace to ensure the hotel stays competitive in the local market

●Ensure the sales team is developed effectively and embraces a culture of high quality

●Work effectively to build relationships with colleagues in the hotel

What are we looking for?

A Sales Manager serving Hilton Worldwide Brand hotels is always working on behalf of our guests and working with other Team Members. To successfully fill this role, you should maintain the following attitude, behavior, skills and values:

● Strong leadership skills that motivate the Sales Team to perform beyond expectations

● Excellent selling capabilities

● Desire to coach the Sales Team in selling techniques

● Excellent organizational and planning skills

What benefits will you receive?

Your benefits will include a competitive starting salary and holiday entitlement. As an employee you will become a member of the Hilton Club, which provides reduced hotel room rates in our hotels worldwide, plus discounts on products and services offered by Hilton Worldwide and its partners.

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    Like many thickly populated urban neighborhoods, Lincoln Park also has rats. A lot of rats. “Every night when I walk down the sidewalk, I see rats, ” says 36-year-oId Kelly McGee, who has come to accept this aspect of city living. “It's an urban area; I don't know what else we can expect.”

McGee lives just down the block from the old Children's Memorial Hospital, which is about to be torn down as part of a massive redevelopment project. “Construction all over the city often disturbs rats that are living underground,” says Lincoln Park's City Council representative, Alderman Michele Smith. “Every developer has to do active rat reduction on site, ”Smith says. Already, there are poisonous and inviting food boxes all around the old hospital complex. But the developer of the hospital site still warned residents in a recent community meeting that when digging begins later this month, the rat problem could be awful.

Victoria Thomas, who lives a few miles north of Lincoln Park in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood, says she tried everything from underground fencing to poison traps to wipe out rats, but nothing worked until she got some cats. From the first day she got the cats, Thomas says the rats started to disappear.

“The cats will kill off a great deal of the initial population of the rats, ”says Paul Nickerson, who manages the Cats at Work program for Tree House Humane Society. “And through spreading their pheromones, a chemical produced by an animal, the cats will keep other rats from filling their absence.” Nickerson says that is what makes the cat program so successful in keeping rats away for the long term. ” The rats are far from stupid. They smell the cats' pheromones so they'll stay out of the cats' territory(领域).”

    After Smith highlighted the program in a recent newsletter, Nickerson and Tree House Humane Society have been getting lots of calls from people seeking their own cat colonies. That means a lot more wild cats that might otherwise be killed out of pity will be cared for while doing something that they love: hunting rats.

    Let's face it. No one drinks diet sodas for the taste. People drink diet sodas in the hope that it will help them lose weight or at least keep them from gaining it. Yet it seems to have exactly the opposite effect, according to a new study.

    Researchers from the University of Texas said those who drank two or more diet sodas a day had waist size increases that were six times greater than those who didn't drink diet sodas. ＂What we saw was that the more diet sodas a person drank, the more weight they were likely to gain,＂ said Sharon Fowler.

The study was based on data from 474 participants in a large, ongoing research project, where the participants were followed for nearly 10 years.

    While the findings are surprising, they also offer some explanations.

    Nutrition expert, Melanie Rogers, who works with overweight patients in New York, has found that when patients are switched from regular to diet sodas, they don't lose weight at all. ＂We weren't seeing weight loss necessarily, and that was confusing to us,＂ said Rogers.

    So why would diet soda cause weight gain? No one knows for sure yet, but it could be that people think they can eat more if they drink diet sodas, and so over-compensate for the missing calories.

    A related study found some sweeteners (甜味剂) raised blood sugar levels in some mice. ＂Data from this and other potential studies suggest that the promotion of diet sodas and artificial sweeteners may be risky,＂ said Helen P. Hazuda, professor at the University of Texas's school of medicine. ＂They may be free of calories, but not of consequences.＂

    Now, I've talked much about education. I've talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn. I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV .I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards.

    But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world-and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. That's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.

    I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

    And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.

    That's okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. J.K. Rowling's who wrote Harry Potter- her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's why I succeed.”

And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

    It is widely acknowledged that it is by no means an easy task to bring up a child well. And our ancestors already understood it well. As an old proverb says, “It takes an entire village to raise a child.” That is being quoted more and more often these days. And I'm pleased about that.

    Parents need to be involved in their children's education in many ways. Helping children with homework and studying, going on a field trip, teaching a craft or coaching a child's sports team are all great ways to be involved with your child's education. And don't forget to communicate with teachers—they need and respect your input. Studies show that children learn more and schools function better when parents and schools work together.

    Communities can help children create and achieve new goals. There are other ways such as helping with homework. reading to a child, coaching a children's team, providing emotional support, helping solve problems and building self-esteem（自尊）. Kids need role models and advisers can be role models by sharing their experiences and wisdom.

    Businesses can also help shape our children's future—invite a class from your local school to visit your workplace. You may be providing a glimpse that opens a new world of possibilities. Show students what goes on during a typical day. Give a mini course for students: how products are made; how machinery works. You may have a developing electrician, a teacher, a nurse, or even a newspaper reporter on your hands.

    It really does lake an entire village to raise a child. So share the responsibility－and the joy—of bringing a child to his or her full potential.