The ninth week of SEAL(Sea, Air, Land) training is referred to as Hell Week. It is six days of no sleep, physical and mental suffering and one special day at the Mud Flats (泥沼）where you will sink into the mud.

    It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that we came down to the mud flats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing-cold mud, the cold wind and the strong pressure from the instructors to give up.

    As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having broken some of the rules, was ordered into the mud. We sank into the mud until only our heads could be seen. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would give up—just five men and we could get out of the cold.

    Looking around the mud flat, it was clear that some of us were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up--eight more hours of coldness. Our cries were so loud that it was hard to hear anything. And then, one voice began to fly through the night--one voice raised in song.

    The song sounded terrible, but it was sung with great power. One voice became two, and two became three, and before long everyone in the class was singing.

    We knew that if one man could rise above the suffering then others could as well. The instructors warned us of more time in the mud if we kept up the singing—but the singing went on and on. And somehow, the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little weaker and the morning not so far away.

    If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power can change the world by giving people hope.

    So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you're up to your neck in mud.

    On the third Sunday in June, Americans take time to recognize and thank a special person in the family -fathers! Father's Day celebrates the importance of fathers, young and old and the men thought of as father figures.

    The words "the child is father of the man" come from William Wordsworth's poem My Heart Leaps Up. "It means people's personalities form when they are children. They will most likely have the same qualities as an adult that they had as a child.

    Used in everyday speech, one could say, "In his case, the child was father of the man; he loved nature as a child and now works as a botanist(植物学家)".

    Let's say you want to tell a child a story about something that happened long before they were born. You could say it happened when they “were just a twinkle in their father's eyes.” This expression has a humorous and dreamy feel. Here, the word “twinkle” suggests the interest your father had in your mother.

    When a much older man is interested in a much younger woman and supports her with his money, he is called he “sugar daddy.” The money part is very important-that's the sugar.

    Sometimes fathers are not a good influence or active in the lives of the children. In that case, a person may look for a father figure, a man who is not actually the person's father but who acts like one.

    The relationship between a man and his son can be complex. But the relationship between a father and daughter is often simpler. The expression “daddy's little girl” is understood to mean that, in a father's eyes, his daughter can do no wrong.

    There is usually not a dry eye at any wedding during the traditional father-and-daughter dance, especially if they are dancing to a song like Michael Buble's “Daddy's Little Girl.”

                                                                                           Taktak tabulaba?

    You probably don't know how to answer that question ─ unless you happen to be one of the about 430 people in the world who speak a language called Matukar Panau. Then you would know it means “ What are we doing?” Matukar Panau is one of the world's rarest languages. It is spoken in just two small coastal villages in Papua New Guinea.

    Several years ago, David Harrison, a language expert, didn't know much about Matukar Panau either. No one had ever recorded or even studied its words and rules. With so few speakers, the language risked disappearing soon. It was endangered.

    Harrison didn't want that to happen to Matukar Panau. So in 2009, he set out for Papua New Guinea. His goal: use modern technology to help the remaining speakers preserve their native tongue.

    But Matukar Panau is not the only language facing loss. Studies suggest that by the end of this century，nearly half of the 7,000 languages now spoken worldwide could disappear. They're in danger partly because the only people left speaking them are elderly adults. When those old men die, their language will die with them. In addition, children may discard a native language and instead use more common global languages, such as Chinese, English or Spanish.

    In the United States alone, 134 native American languages are endangered. “Language hotspots” exist all over the world. These are places with endangered languages that haven't been recorded. They include the state of Oklahoma, pockets of central and eastern Siberia, parts of northern Australia and communities in South America.

Dream in Heart

    On the first day of school our professor introduced a new classmate—a wrinkled little old lady—to us. Her name was Rose, and she was eighty-seven years old.

    After class Rose and I walked to the Student Union Building and shared a chocolate milk-shake. She told me she always dreamed of having a college education and now she was getting one. We became instant friends. Every day for the following months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always attracted, listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

    Rose became famous and easily made friends wherever she went. She tended to be highly motivated, responsible, and deeply involved in class participation. In spare time she had someone hang out or go to bars with. She even participated in some form of athletic activity. She said that extra-curricular activities can form a vital part of her experience, creating unique chances for friendship and learning.

    At the end of the term we invited Rose to speak at our football meal. A little embarrassed, she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I'm sorry I'm so nervous.” As we laughed, she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you're nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year, you will turn twenty. If I'm eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. It's non-optional but that doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the chance in change. In this way the elderly don't have regrets for what they did, but rather for things they did not do.” Rose concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose”. She challenged us to study the words of the song and lived them out in daily lives.

    At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in honor of the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

    It can be a real struggle trying to learn a new language. I had always enjoyed learning languages in school, but only recently did I start learning German. I found that I could understand and learn individual words easily, but when it came to literature, I really struggled. That was when my tutor at university suggested reading some children's books printed in the target language.

    At first, I felt a bit silly going on a hunt for a book designed for someone half my age, lout then I realised that everyone has to start somewhere. As children, we are given these basic texts to familiarise our brains with certain vocabulary and writing structures, and from there, we can learn and develop. I started with books which are taught to us as children in the UK. I managed to find Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

    The beauty of reading books that were introduced to you as a child is that you are already familiar with the plot. As a result, you can work out some of the definitions of words with your prior knowledge of the story. At first, I used to read with the book in one hand and a dictionary in the other, but this method did not work well for me. The method I would recommend is to read a chapter of your chosen children's book and at the end of that chapter, highlight the words you do not know and then look up the definitions. If you can wait a bit before you use a dictionary, you may be surprised what you can get merely from the context of the sentence in the story. Additionally, a lot of children's books have pictures which may give you a clue as to what or to whom the passage is referring.

    Many languages are disappearing and languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over. Yet Maori promises to have a rosy future given that New Zealanders are showing great enthusiasm for speaking this local language.

    A "Maori renaissance (复兴)" blossomed in the 1970s as language activists championed their cause and Maori fought for greater political power. But until 2013, just 3.7 percent of New Zealanders spoke the language fluently, and many predicted it would soon die out. Now New Zealand's government is erasing prejudice and struggling to increase the percent of population who can speak basic Maori by 2040 to 20. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardem said last month that her newborn daughter would learn both Maori and English. "It's an official language, so why should we dismiss its universal availability and its much more common use?" said Ms. Ardem, adding that she also planned to study the language. Grassroots are also spreading it by word of mouth Answering the phone with the greeting "kiaora" (hello) or ending an email withunga mihi' (thanks) has become a fashion. Maori is gradually becoming part of New Zealand's mainstream popular culture.

    Ajit Kumar Samah, a famous professor in Auckland University, published a book—Coniagious: why Maori catches on, where he introduces readers to the popularity of Maori and expresses his great anxiety for the lack of teachers who have the competence to teach the Maori language.

    People are not on the same wavelength, however. Suggestions on officially replacing English-language place names with traditional Maori ones have been rejected. So when a police car was designed using Maori, it was condemned by some as ridiculous because of the higher Maori rates of arrest and imprisonment.