Black History Month is also known as the African-American History Month. It is celebrated all over the United States of America and Canada in the month of February, while in the United Kingdom it is celebrated in October. Each and every school and university conducts various activities to make the generation aware of the importance that African-American history holds in the nation. The electronic media is filled with themes inrelevance to the occasion, and many activities are carried out across the country to remember the contribution made by African-American citizens in the development of this nation.

    Black History Month was first started bya famous African-American historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson in the year 1926. February was chosen as the month to celebrate the African-American history because it was the birth month of two of the most highly valued people among African-Americans. These were President Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, and Frederick Douglass, who was also the first vice presidential nominee (被任命者) amongAfrican-Americans. Initially, Black History Month was known as the “NegroHistory Week”. This was Dr. Woodson's attempt to encourage awareness amongcitizens about the contribution of African-Americans towards the building of the nation. It was only in the early 1970's that the name “Negro History Week”changed to “Black History Month”. And later, in the year 1976, the entire monthof February was declared to be the National African-American History Month, orthe Black History Month.

Every year, National African-AmericanHistory Month is celebrated by many activities with various ideas and themesfor the younger generation. In 2013, Black History Month celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington at which Martin Luther King, Jr. gavehis famous speech “I have a dream”. It also marks the 150^th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation (解放黑奴宣言). The theme for Black History Month in 2014 is “Civil Rights in America” remembering the important milestones by African-Americans and others in the battle for civil rights and equaltreatment under the law.

    Many kids don't drink enough water daily, according to a new study. The study's lead author, Erica Kenney, at first planned to look into the amount of sugary drinks kids were drinking in schools. However, during her research she found that many kids were simply not drinking enough water.

    Kenney and her team examined data from a group of 4,000 children, aged 6 to19. The data was taken from the National Health and Nutrition Survey, a study on the health of children in the United States done each year by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

    While looking through the survey results, she noticed that more than half of the kids who took part in the study were dehydrated (脱水的). Of that group, boys were 76% more likely than girls not to have enough water in their system. Nearly one quarter of the kids in the survey reported drinking no plain water at all.

    “These findings highlight (突出) a possible health issue that wasn't given a lot of attention in the past,” Kenney said in a statement. “Even though for most of these kids this is not an immediate and great health risk, this is an issue that could really be reducing quality of life and well-being for many children and youth.”

    The United States-National Agriculture Library says average kids need between 10 to 14 cups of water every day. This water can come from a mix of drinks and foods that contain high amounts of water, such as celery, melons or tomatoes. It is also suggested that fluids (液体) come from water instead of sugary drinks that are high in calories and can lead to weight problems.

    As children we are well-trained to find the right answer. We are rewarded for A's, the honor roll and acing the test. Our education trains us to follow the rules and deliver the expected answers. When we do, awards and congratulations follow. Yet when we grow up, it gets a little harder. Life and careers don't have tests with an A if we get the "right" answer.

    I recently had coffee with a college student who will graduate. She is struggling with what she wants for her career. She wants her parents to be proud of her and to continue the success she has had in school. She also talked about other students in her graduating class who are set to do "some big things," like working for impressive companies. Yet she wasn't sure of the right answer for using her degree. She said that deep down she was hoping that someone might give her the answer.

    We both agreed that it comes down to not looking for the right answer, but her answer. The grown-up definition of the "right answer" is different than that in school. What would you do if you weren't afraid? It takes time to know these answers. And they can change over time and at any point in your career. My encouragement is to get valued advice and input, of course, but finally to look within yourself for the answers. It helps to come back to:

What do I want to be known for? What is my definition of success? What am I best at?

    If I had no fears, what would I do?

    What is one step I can take today to move me toward my goal (even if it's not perfectly clear)?

    I find these types of questions are more helpful at getting to our unique answer rather than "right answer" questions, such as: What will my parents want? What degree or job will mark me as accomplished to the world? What is my best option based on where I work today?

    The year was 1932. Amelia Earhart was flying alone from North America to England in a small single-engined aeroplane. At midnight, several hours after she had left Newfoundland, she ran into bad weather. To make things worse, her altimeter (高度表) failed and she didn't know how high she was flying. At night, and in a storm, a pilot is in great difficulty without an altimeter. At times, her plane nearly plunged (冲) into the sea.

    Just before dawn, there was further trouble. Amelia noticed flames coming from the engine. Would she be able to reach land? There was nothing to do except to keep going and to hope.

    In the end, Amelia Earhart did reach Ireland, and for the courage she had shown, she was warmly welcomed in England and Europe. When she returned to the United States, she was honored by President Hoover at a special dinner in the White House. From that time on, Amelia Earhart was famous.

    What was so important about her flight? Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean alone, and she had set a record of fourteen hours and fifty—six minutes.

    In the years that followed, Amelia Earhart made several flights across the United States, and on each occasion (时刻) she set a new record for flying time. Amelia Earhart made these flights to show that women had a place in aviation (航空) and that air travel was useful.

    Retired judge Davison hated all the quiet. Evy, his wife of 66 ears, had passed away, and he was lonely and sad in the months after her death. But he knew how to beat those feelings; he decided to build a pool.

    Davison contacted a family-run company in Hopkins, Minnesota, that had built a pool for his previous house 40 years ago. “They did such a great job before and were still in business, so they came out and planned it,” Davison said.

    Kevin, who works on new pools for the company, helped Davison with everything, from initial planning and completing contracts back in March to teaching him how to filter the water once the pool was finish in July.

    “If You build it, they will come,” he thought. He invited all the neighborhood kids over to swim. Now it's not so quiet anymore.

    He hears the sounds of laughter and splashing as he sits on a chair in the shade, watching happy children play in his backyard.

    “I knew they'd come.” 94-yvear-old Davison told KARE-TV.

    Neighbor Jessica thought the judge was joking when he talked about putting in a pool until she saw the work starting. Now she and her four kids have been regulars since the pool was finished in July.

    “It's him spreading joy throughout our neighborhood for these kids.” Jessica said.

    Davison's pool includes a diving board and reaches nine feet in the deep end under the board. It's especially welcome in a town that doesn't have a public outdoor pool.

    Although Davison has three adult children, he doesn't have any grandchildren.

Jessica says she's told him, “You kind of adopted our whole neighborhood of kids. These are your grandkids.”

    The judge's rules require that a parent or grandparent stay while the children are swimming. Once the kids leave, he likes to swim, too.

    Davison tells KARE-TV that he realizes that putting in the pool didn't make a lot of financial (经济的) sense for an old man. But that didn't matter to him.

    “I'm not sitting by myself looking at the walls.” he says. “What else would you think of doing where you could have a whole bunch of kids over every afternoon?” The 94-year-old judge now hears laughter all day as he watches children splash in his backyard pool.

    In the nineteenth century, one of America's greatest writers, Walt Whitman, helped people learn to value poetry. Whitman created a new kind of poetry.

    Walt Whitman was born in eighteen nineteen in New York City. During his long life, he watched America grow from a young nation to the strongest industrial power in the world. As a young man, Whitman worked as a school teacher, a printer and a newspaper reporter. He was thirty-six years old when he published his first book of poetry in eighteen fifty-five. He called it Leaves of Grass. It had only twelve poems. The poems are written in free verse. The lines do not follow any set form. Some lines are short. Some are long. The words at the end of each line do not have a similar sound. They do not rhyme.

    One of America's greatest thinkers and writers immediately recognized the importance of Leaves of Grass. Ralph Waldo Emerson praised Whitman's work. But most other poets and writers said nothing and even denounced it. Most readers also rejected Whitman's poems. The new form of his poetry surprised many people. Even his own brother told Whitman that he should stop writing poetry. But Whitman had many things to say. And he continued to say them. Readers began to understand that America had a great new poetic voice.

    Walt Whitman's poems praise the United States and its democracy. The poet expressed his love for America and its people in many ways. Experts today praise Leaves of Grass as a major literary work. In eighteen seventy-three, Walt Whitman suffered a stroke. He spent the last years of his life in Camden, New Jersey. Whitman was poor and weak during the last years of his life. He died in eighteen ninety-two. Some critics say Walt Whitman was a spokesman for democracy. Others say he was not a spokesman for anything. Instead, they simply call him a great poet.