After years of research and testing, the hybrid car was developed and put on the market. It' s an interesting and exciting new improvement in today' s world as we look for better ways to protect the quality of the air we breathe and conserve our natural resources.

    The quality of our air is affected by many different things. But one of the largest sources of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline which is used to power a car' s engine. The EPA has set national standards to help control the level of harmful pollutants sent off into the air, and the automobile industry has acted by producing a hybrid car that uses less gas and therefore causes less pollution.

    A hybrid car is a combination of a regular car that runs on gasoline and an electric car that is battery powered. Some people tend to think that since the hybrid car is partially electric, you have to plug it in to charge it. But that's not how it works. The 144volt battery pack is actually recharged through the energy that is produced when the car's brakes are used. This is referred to as “regenerative braking”, because it generates electricity.

    Although the hybrid car still runs on gasoline most of the time, this helps it use less gas than a regular car. When the driver stops at a traffic light, the engine automatically shuts off to save fuel. Then, as soon as the driver puts the car in gear and touches the gas pedal, the engine starts back up.

    Have you ever ridden in a car with someone who ran out of gas? That probably wouldn't happen if you were riding in a hybrid car. It flashes a warning on its computer screen that says, “I am low on gas”. When it completely runs out, the warning reads, “YOU ARE NOW OUT OF GAS!” Then the electric power supply kicks in to let the driver travel a few more miles to a gas station.

    Imagine waking up one day and finding that your beautiful local beach is no more—gone, its fine white sand swept away by an abnormal storm. You go about your daily business for 12 long years and then suddenly the beach is back, all its glory restored by another storm. This is what happened on the island of Achill, off the coast of Ireland, where people are celebrating the return of the beautiful Ashleam Bay beach that was taken from them in 2005.

    That in itself is unusual enough, but the story gets even better! You see, another beach in Achill did a disappearing act once, but took much longer to return. The beach at Doonagh, located only six miles away from Ashleam Bay, was restored earlier in 2016 after waves created by spring storms had swept away all the sand in 1984, leaving just rock pools behind.

    There is local legend that stretches back hundreds of years that says this beach at Ashlcam Bay returns for a short every seven years then disappears again. But this time around it took a bit longer than that. It was last seen in 2005 and it stayed for a few months at that time before it was washed away again.

    As you can imagine, everyone on the island of Achill is thrilled to have their sandy beach back, and even though no one knows how long it's going to be around for, they are making the most of the time they've got before it disappears again.

    Some may be quick to believe climate changes cause the phenomenon, but that's not the reason these two beaches in Achill keep disappearing, Dr Kevin Lynch, a geographer at NUT Galway, says that these occurrences are the result of hydrodynamics (流体力学) and sediment(沉积物) supply, rather than climate changes.

    Regardless of what's causing them, disappearing and reappearing beaches are just part of what makes nature so fascinating.

    There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.

    I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen newspapers and magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my 21^st Century Teens.

    It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.

From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.

    The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug. I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.    I looked forward to the return journey, by train.

    BEIJING (News Agency) — Children in China today spend five times more money than their parents did when they were young.

    So what are all these children buying? The list is long: iPads, cell phones and jeans are typical items that children “have to” buy. And they will do anything to get them. They ask their parents over and over until they buy them.

    But parents also need to take the blame(责备) for spending so much money. They want their children to have the best things. They end up competing with other parents over whether their children have the latest products.

    So it's no wonder children find it hard to learn the importance of saving money rather than spending it all the time.

    And it's hard to save when companies use advertising (打广告)and clever slogans (口号) to encourage young people to buy their products. They even encourage children to keep asking their parents for something until they get it.

    Today, you don't even need to have money in order to buy something. Banks give out credit cards and loans (贷款) all the time, so people are saving less and less. We are used to carrying lots of money around. And if you don't have much, you can always borrow some.

    But this hasn't always been the case. When our grandparents were young, there was very little money and everyone had to save hard for things they bought. They only bought things they needed, not things they just wanted.

    The older generation made the wise expression, “Money doesn't grow on trees.” This is as true now as it was 50 years ago. They give money a great deal of value. And we all have a lot to learn from them.

    Owen Williams and his wife befriended their eighty-year-old neighbor, Ken Watson, when they moved into their home in Wales three years ago. When their daughter, Cadi, was born a year later, Watson became a grandfather figure, taking the time to drop off Christmas presents for the child. Watson died in October.

    On Monday, Watson's daughter stopped by the Williams home with a large bag containing 14 wrapped Christmas presents her father had bought and wrapped for Cadi.

    Williams posted notes about what happened on Twitter to spread some Christmas spirit. He wrote that he wasn't sure whether he should give his daughter all the presents now, or hold onto them and give her one a year. Twitter responded in a big way, with many saying the story brought them to tears. So many people weighed in about the gifts, in fact, that Williams made a Twitter poll. So far, more than 55, 000 people have voted on how he should distribute the gifts.

    Williams, who is a social-media consultant, said the majority of people are voting for giving Cadi one present a year. He said he has no idea what is in the packages, but he's leaning toward listening to the will of the voters. "I think we're going to turn it into a Christmas story for our daughter," he said. "We'll do one a year for the next 14 years. It feels like the right thing to do now. If she opens a box of Lego when she's 16 then so be it."

    He said he was struck by how many people have responded by saying their neighbors are virtual strangers to them. "The thing that stands out to me is how few people know their neighbors," Williams said. "People are saying, 'That's so lovely. I don't even know my neighbors.' … This Christmas, take your neighbors a bottle of wine or a small gift, a token. Just say, 'Hi.' You can open a new world like we did."

    Please take a few seconds and think of your personal biggest goal. Imagine telling someone you meet today what you're going to do. Imagine their congratulations and their high image of you. Doesn't it feel good to say it out loud? Don't you feel one step closer already? Well, bad news: you should have kept your mouth shut, because that good feeling will make you less likely to do it.

    Any time you have a goal, there is some work that needs to be done to achieve it. Ideally, you would not be satisfied until you'd actually done the work. But when you tell someone your goal and he acknowledges (认可) it, psychologists have found it's called a "social reality". The mind is kind of tricked into feeling that it's already done. And then, because you've felt that satisfaction, you're less motivated to do the actual hard work necessary. This goes against the traditional wisdom that we should tell our friends our goals, right?

    In 1982, Peter Gollwitzer, a Professor of Psychology, wrote a whole book about this. And in 2009, he did some new tests that were published. It goes like this: 163 people across four separate tests—everyone wrote down their personal goal. Then half of them announced their commitment (许诺) to this goal to the room, and half didn't. Then everyone was given 45 minutes of work that would directly lead them towards their goal, but they were told that they could stop at any time. Now those who kept their mouths shut worked the entire 45 minutes on average, and when asked afterwards, said they felt they had a long way to go to achieve their goal. But those who had announced it quit after only 33 minutes on average, and when asked afterwards, said that they felt much closer to achieving their goal.