The uninvolved dad, turning up his nose at diapering(换尿布) and too busy to bathe, dress and play with his kids, is mostly a myth(神话) , a big government survey suggests. Most American fathers say they are heavily involved in hands-on parenting, the researchers found.

    The results are encouraging and important " because others have found the more involved dads  are, the better the outcomes for their children. " said researcher Jo Jones of the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control Prevention. She co-authored the report released Friday.

    "Times have changed," said Robert Loftus, 34, of Yonkers, NY. He quit a six-figure sales job a year ago to care for his two young children while his wife works full time. "We are trying to rethink our priorities (优先考虑的事) and family seem to be NO.1 priority while in the past maybe people were more focused on career. "

    The study involved nearly 4.000 fathers who were interviewed in person between 2009 and 2013.

◇ Key findings among fathers living with children younger than 5 :

*9 in 10 bathed, diapered, helped them use the toilet or get dressed at least several times weekly .

* Even higher numbers played with them and ate meals with them that often

* Almost 2 0ut of 3 read to them at least several times weekly.

◇Among dads living with kids aged 5-18.

* More than 9 0ut of 10 ate meals with them at least several times weekly and talked with them about what happened during the kids' day that often.

* Almost 2 0ut of 3 helped with homework several times weekly.

* About half took their kids to or from activities that often.

    Dr. David Hill, a Wilmington, N. C. pediatrician (儿科医生) said the survey reflects what he's seen among his patients' fathers. Increasingly, fathers rather than mothers take their kids to the doctor. Some "are anxious about changing a diaper, " he said.

    Census(调查) numbers show that there were almost 190,000 stay-at-home dads nationwide last year versus 93,000 in 2010. Loftus, the New York stay-at-home dad, said, "I feel fortunate to be able to be such a hands-on father.  I'm doing the most significant occupation in the world. "

    Put your car keys away and forget about your travel pass — it's time to do a bit of walking.

    National Walking Month is organized every May by Living Streets, an organization that campaigns for the rights and the needs of pedestrians — indeed, the organization was previously known as the Pedestrians' Association. The association's aim is to make streets safe, attractive and enjoyable spaces for people to live, work, shop and play. By putting people (rather than vehicles) first, Living Streets wants to create streets and spaces where people feel happier, healthier and more sociable.

    The annual campaign gives participants a great opportunity to experience the many virtues（优点）of walking. These include the physical health benefits of becoming fitter; the environmental advantages of not using vehicles（车辆）; the joy of local discoveries seeing more of your local area on foot; the enjoyment of walking with other people, whether family, friends or work colleagues and finally the stress relief that comes from walking—walking can clear your head.

    Walk to School Week, 19 to 24 May, is part of the month's activities and its aim is to encourage parents to send children to school on foot, rather than take them in the car or let them use public transport. The movement was started in 1995 with only five participating schools and now two decades later, more than one million children take part.

    Similarly, there is Walk to Work Week, 12 to 16 May, where grown-ups are encouraged to walk. In the morning, getting off the bus a stop early or parking a few streets away is a good way to add more steps to the daily total. And during the working day, rather than having lunch at the desks or in the canteen, take a walk and get some fresh air. Walk home with your workmates and chat away about everything under the sun but work!

    Surfing the Internet for fun will make you a better employee, according to an Australian study.

    The University of Melbourne study shows that people who use the Internet for their own reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive(具有创造性的) than those who do not. Study author Brent Coker said, “Surfing the Internet at times helps increase workers' attention.”

    “People need to relax for a bit to get back their attention,” Coker said on the university's website. “Having a short break, such as a quick surfing of the Internet, helps the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total Internet attention for a day's work, and as a result, increases productivity (生产效率),” he said.

    According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work surf the Internet for their own reasons during office hours. Among the most popular surfing activities are searching for information about products, reading online news, playing online games and watching videos. “Firms spend a lot of money on software to block their workers from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online,” said Coker. “That's not always a good idea.”

    However, Coker said the study looked at people who surfed the Internet in moderation(适度), or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office. “Those who spend too much time surfing the Internet will have a lower productivity than those without.” he said.

    For centuries people have hunted animals for food and pleasure.The invention of the gun made it so easy for humans to hunt that some animals were lolled by the thousands and even became extinct（绝种的）.This brings up some serious problems since breaks in the food chain upset the balance of nature.

    Large animals like tigers are being killed by the hundreds every year in India.The Royal Bengal tiger is the only type that exists in India and their number is greatly reduced every year because of poaching（偷猎）.The present number is about 2,000, all of which live in tiger reserves.Two hundred years ago the population was 23,000 or more.

    During the British rule of India,many of the so-called English gentlemen killed tigers for pleasure and to show their bravery.This seems stupid because killing an innocent（无辜的）creature with a gun is not a brave deed.

    Today the tiger skin is very popular.Rich people and fashion designers have no idea what they are doing. Competition between the rich to show off makes them blind to the serious effects.People persuade villagers to kill tigers to get money,and they do it because they are poor and need to feed their families.We must educate them,and the government should give them proper jobs to help solve this problem.

    The people to blame are those who buy animal products like ivories,furs,tiger bones for medicine and handbags made of animal skins.They must be put behind bars to stop this kind of trade.The earth is home for everyone on it. The trees,animals,birds,and fish of all kinds belong here as much as we do.Only we have the power to change their fate.

    Water is very important to living things. Without water there can be no life on the earth. All animals and plants need water. Man also needs water. We need water to drink, to cook our food and to clean ourselves. Water is needed in offices, factories and schools. Water is needed everywhere.

    There is water in seas, rivers and lakes. Water is found almost everywhere. Even in the desert part of the world, there is some water in the air. You can't see or feel it when it is a part of the air. The water in the seas, rivers and lakes is a liquid, the water in the air is a gas, and we call it water vapor (蒸汽).

    Clouds are made of water. They may be made of very small drops of water. They may also be made of snow crystals(结晶体). Snow crystals are very small crystals of ice. Ice is frozen water. It is a solid. There can be snow and ice everywhere in winter.

    Water may be a solid or a liquid or a gas. When it is a solid, it may be as hard as a stone. When it is a liquid, you can drink it. When it is a gas, you can not see or feel it.

    Free Online Drawing Classes

    Drawing is a skill you can learn at any age. When you are ready, you can learn the basics of drawing by taking one or more of the free online drawing classes offered here. The websites all offer helpful instruction for beginning artists, and many of them offer classes at intermediate (中级的) or high levels. When you use the websites as your art instructors, you can log on to learn whenever you please.

    Artyfactory

    The Artyfactory Art Lessons Gallery offers free online art lessons that include basic drawing classes for pencil, ink and colored pencil. For visitors who want to expand their knowledge of art, the site also offers an Art Appreciation Gallery and a Design Lessons Gallery.

    Academy of Art University

    This free video class from the Academy of Art University called "How to Draw a Head" teaches you how to draw a head from a photo or from memory. The instruction is mainly on facial proportion (比例), expression and drawing basics.

    How to Draw It

    The How to Draw It website offers a simple approach to drawing animals and people. The animal tutorials (教程) are super easy to do, while the people lessons are a bit more difficult. All are free to visitors and making fast progress in your drawing skills is possible.

    Free Online Art Classes

    This site covers a range of art classes, but there are several free drawing tutorials for online learners, including: Learn Basic Drawing, Draw with Pen and Ink, and Learn Colored Pencils. Some of the classes are downloadable and some are in video form.