It was warm for a Sunday afternoon in early January. Kevin loved being outdoors among the wild rosebushes in front of his house with a view of distant mountains.

    It had been a good day for his wife, Sharon, too. They spent the morning in front of the house, talking and drinking tea. Sharon felt strong and tried her best to cook, starting a pot of homemade soup — a task that would have been nothing a few years ago, but is a little hard for her now. Her illness had left her weak, often puzzled.

    Sharon was the take-charge person in the family. She was seldom sick until 1997, when she began suffering from terrible headaches. One day at work, colleagues said she didn't look right and urged(敦促) her to go to the hospital. She rose from her chair and fell over. She could hear voices, but couldn't speak. It looked as if she'd had a stroke(中风).

    Other stroke-like symptoms (症状) followed. She had difficulty walking. She ran a fever all the time. The headaches never stopped. She and Kevin spent all their savings seeing doctors and on medical tests.

    In 2000, physicians said Sharon had brain damage that left her with symptoms resembling dementia (痴呆症). Once, she visited a familiar store and couldn't remember where the exit was. Another time, she was making spaghetti, but didn't know what to do after the water boiled.

    After seeing specialists, Kevin and Sharon came to believe that exposure(接触) to mould(霉菌) had caused Sharon's condition. Her world was certainly getting worse. At times she needed a wheelchair. The woman who never liked asking for help had to stay at home and rely on her husband.

    Throughout the past few years, I have tried to give myself to others. I have bounced around to find where I truly fit in. I found my place while I stayed in Guatemala, an orphanage (孤儿院)，with the children living there. Through hearing many stories of their lives, I was moved to tears and started to question my living ways and gave up everything that wasn't essential: makeup and any other sort of luxury (奢侈品). I lived like they did. It was the most relaxing feeling in the world.

    When at Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, we were given the task of creating a pig pen. At first, I thought it should be easy. After arriving at the area where the pig pen should be, we saw a hill. We were told to uproot the weeds as well as level the entire area. Looking at it, we felt it would be impossible. On my own faith journey, I have felt this type of doubt before. The “hole”, as we referred to, is a symbol of my faith journey. It appeared to be an obstacle I could not overcome, but in the end I completed it with efforts. I feel this pig pen wasn't easy to create but was so rewarding to give.

    I've always struggled to be on a journey of faith, but I've never completely stepped foot onto the path until Guatemala. I've always tried to open my heart to everyone around me and give them my love. I feel as though I cut open my heart and share every bit of love I had with these orphans. There is one orphan named Ceto who will always remain very close to my heart. In Guatemale, I sponsor with thirty dollars a month, but it doesn't seem enough. I'll return there next summer and give more of my love for a whole month.

    When it was time to leave, I looked out of the window and saw not just ordinary children. Overall, the most significant accomplishment I made in Guatemala was stepping towards my own faith journey and not looking back.

    Students in a college French class have helped fill the empty bookshelves of a very poor Haitian(海地的) school by writing 90 books. Although many children in Haiti speak Creole(克里奥尔语) at home, French is taught in classrooms and used by the government , and students are asked to know the language in order to get further education. Therefore, the class hoped to provide resources to help the young students learn French well.

    The project, called Little French Books, was headed up by Jennifer Shotwell, a French professor at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. Shotwell had visited Haiti with a group of students in 2013 to support a Haitian student and give books to a new library. Following the trip, Shotwell brought the experience back to her classroom.

    "My students have a chance to use the French language in a special way by writing children's books," Shotwell said. "Though some learners don't think they can produce much with a new language, my students are learning to express themselves and create entertaining stories that we finally share with disadvantaged children who are also learning French."

    Shotwell had sent French books to Haitian schools, but they were printed on cheap paper that could be easily broken. So she started a Kickstarter, which collected more than $1,000 to make books with durable covers.

    The books, which included stories about princesses, dinosaurs and exciting experiences, were given to the St.Gabriel's school in Lascahobas.

    "Each time a child gets into a new book, he will no doubt get new knowledge and new understanding. The Little French Books means a lot to our students, said Gardy Myrtil, a teacher at the school.

    Why does time seem to fly by faster as we get old? You've got your aging brain to blame. This is likely due largely to the physical changes of our nerves and neurons (神经元). New research suggests 'rapid fire' abilities of the young brain allow us to process more information during youth, causing the days to seem longer earlier in life. However, as we get old, researchers say the older brain takes more time to process information.

    The new finding put forward by a Duke University researcher was published in a paper in the journal European Review this week According to Adrian Bejan, the J. A Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke, the physical changes of our nerves and neurons play, a major role in our perception (知觉) of time as we get old. Over the years these structures become more complex and eventually begin to degrade.

    "Little babies, for example, move their eyes much more often than adults because they're processing images at a faster rate," Beian says, For older people, this means fewer images are being processed in the same amount of time, causing experiences to seem as though they're happening more quickly.

It is amazing how many of the things in science fiction and movies have become reality.For instance,in the movie Star Trek,the workers could go to a replicator(复制器) and order food,drinks or anything they could program into the computer.Before long,the item would appear.This is possible today,in a way,with technology we have had for years.

Several manufacturers(制造商) have created 3D printers.One company,MakerBot,has created a printer that the average person can afford.It is called The Replicator.You can download a lot of design software from the Internet for use with The Replicator.In the near future,rather than going to a store to buy what you need,you may be able to download what you want from the Internet and print it out at home.

The process was first used with music.At the very beginning,music was recorded onto plastic disks with etching(蚀刻法).Music can now be copied without a physical product.____ Rather than having to buy a physical book or magazine,you can now download them from the Internet in digital form.

This technology is already used in engineering and architecture.Melissa Shoes,a Brazilian foot wear company,is using this technology to create shoes.Rather than having to go through the current process of product design and development,the company is able to design and print shoes for display to see how well they will sell before having lots of them made.

Much of Earth is unexplored. An ocean census (普查) hopes to change that.

"Earth" has always been an odd choice of name for the third planet from the Sun. After all, two-thirds of its surface is covered not by earth at all, but by oceans of water.

Because humans are land animals, most of the Earth remains under-explored. Marine (海洋的) biologists think the oceans might host more than 2 million species of marine animals, of which they have so far identified perhaps a tenth.

A new initiative hopes to change this. Launched in London on April 27th, Ocean Census aims to discover 100, 000 new species of marine animal over the coming decade. It is backed by Nekton, a British marine-research institute, and the Nippon foundation, Japan's biggest charitable foundation. Its first ship, the Norwegian icebreaker Kronprins Haakon, set sail on April 29th, bound for the Barents Sea.

The initiative is happening for two reasons. One is that the longer scientists wait, the less there will be to identify. Climate change is heating the oceans, as well as making them more acidic (酸的) as carbon dioxide dissolves goes into the water. Already around half the world's coral reefs (珊瑚)—thought to be home to around 25% of all ocean species—have been lost. Oliver Steeds, Nekton's founder, says that one of Ocean Census's priorities will be identifying species thought to be in the greatest danger from climate change. The second reason is technological. Marine biologist s find about 2, 000 new species a year, a rate hardly changed since Darwin's day. Ocean Census is betting it can go faster.

Exactly what the new effort might turn up is impossible to predict. But history suggests it will be fruitful. Half a century ago scientists discovered hot vents (喷口) on the sea bed. These days, such vents are one possible candidate for the origin of all life on Earth. There are more practical benefits, too. Many drugs, for example, come originally from biological substance. An ocean full of unidentified life will almost certainly prove a rich mine from which to mine more.