It is good to get in touch with your inner child from time to time，and obviously some people are willing to pay big money for the chance to do so in a proper environment．A Brooklyn-based adult preschool is charging customers between $333 and $999 for the chance to act like a kid again．

At Preschool Mastermind in New York adults get to participate in show—and—tell，arts—and—crafts such as finger paint，games like musical chairs and even take naps．The month-long course also has class picture day where the adults are expected to have a field trip and a parent day.30-year-old Michelle Joni Lapidos，the brain behind the adult preschool，studied childhood education and has always wanted to be a preschool teacher．She's always on the lookout for new ways to get people in touch with the freedom of childhood．A friend encouraged her to start the mastermind course instead．

    According to Candice，her blogger friend，Preschool Mastermind gives adults a chance to relearn and master the things that they failed to understand as children．“I realized all the significances of what we learn in preschool，”said founder Michelle Joni，“People come here and get in touch with their inner child．It's magical．We are bringing ourselves back to another place，another time with ourselves when we are more believing in ourselves，more confident and ready to take on the world.”

    “One person's here because they want to learn not to be so serious．”Michelle said．“Another's here to learn to be more confident.” She explained that most of the classes were planned．However，Joni added that while the planned activities were fun，it was often the spontaneous(自发的)moments that attracted students．“It's the things you don't plan for，the sharing between friends and learning from each other.''

    Science has a lot of uses. It can reveal (揭示) laws of nature, cure diseases, make bombs, and help bridges to stand up. Indeed science is so good at what it does that there's always a temptation (诱惑) to drag it into problems where it may not be helpful. David Brooks, author of The Social Animal, The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, appears to be the latest in a long line of writers who have failed to resist the temptation.

    Brooks gained fame for several books. His latest book The Social Animal, however, is more ambitious and serious than his earlier books. It is an attempt to deal with a set of weighty topics. The book focuses on big questions: What has science revealed about human nature? What are the sources of character? And why are some people happy and successful while others aren't?

    To answer these questions, Brooks surveys a wide range of subjects. Because of this, you might expect the book to cover a variety of facts. But Brooks has structured his book in an unusual, and perhaps unfortunate way. Instead of introducing scientific theories, he tells a story, within which he tries to make his points, perhaps in order to keep the reader's attention. So as Harold and Erica, the hero and heroine in his story, live through childhood, we hear about the science of child development and as they begin to date we hear about the theory of sexual attraction. Brooks carries this through to the death of one of his characters.

    On the whole, Brooks's story is acceptable if uninspired. As one would expect, his writing is mostly clear and, to be fair, some chapters stand out above the rest. I enjoyed, for instance, the chapter in which Harold discovers how to think on his own. While Harold and Erica are certainly not strong characters, the more serious problems with The Social Animal lie elsewhere. These problems partly involve Brooks's attempt to translate his tale into science.

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    First Lady Michelle Obama is a big fan of volunteering. Volunteering means working for free to help someone else. Mrs. Obama says volunteering is very important. “It should be part of everyone's life,” she says.

    Many teens agree. They say that helping others feels great and makes a difference. These days, more teens volunteer than work for pay. Teens clean up parks, walk dogs at animal shelters, visit the elderly and more.

    Some cities —including Seattle, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. —require high school students to volunteer. Students must volunteer in order to graduate. The student volunteers learn new skills and help their communities.

    Many parents are in favor of the idea —they say volunteering helps teens build job skills. But most teens don't want to be forced to volunteer. They say they are busy. And they say volunteering is only fun if it's a choice.

Read both sides of the debate and decide.

YES

Volunteering can help teens get into college or get a job.

Many cities and towns need help. Volunteers can help keep important programs going.

Not all teens will volunteer if it isn' t required. Schools should require students to do all they can to get ready for adult life.

NO

Most teens are already very busy with classes, homework, jobs and sports. Forcing them to do more isn't fair.

It should be up to each person. Helping out doesn't feel as good if you have to do it.

Finding a volunteer job isn't always easy. Students shouldn't be kept from graduating because of something they can't control.

C

   The English are often described as unfriendly people who don't talk to strangers (陌生人). But not London taxi drivers. I once asked one cabby to describe his life to me and he didn't stop talking until I arrived home half an hour later. He told me many interesting stories and this is one of them.”Some strange things happen late at night. The other day I was taking a woman home from a party. She had her little dog with her. When we got to her house, she found that she'd lost her key. So, I waited in the cab with her dog while she climbed in through the window.”

    “I waited and waited. After hour of ringing the bell I decided to find out what was going on. I tied the dog to a tree and started to climb in through the window: The next thing I knew was that the police came. They thought I was to rob the house! Luckily, the woman came downstairs. She'd gone to sleep and forgotten about me and the dog. I was in such a hurry to get away that I forgot to ask her for the fare.”

    Despite an advertisement campaign suggesting wall-to-wall special effects, “Bridge of Terabithia” is grounded in reality far more than in fantasy. Adapting Katherine Paterson's award-winning novel, the screenwriters David Paterson and Jeff Stockwell have produced a thoughtful and extremely affecting story of a transformative friendship between two unusually gifted children. The result is a movie whose emotional depth could appeal more to adults than to their children.

    Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) is a sixth grader with four sisters, financially tensed parents and a talent for drawing. An introverted(内向的) kid who is regularly picked on by the school buses, Jess forms a bond with a new student named Leslie (Anna Sophia Robb), a free spirit whose parents, both writers, are fondly neglectful. An attraction between outsiders, their friendship feeds on her words and his pictures; together they create an imaginary kingdom in the woods behind their homes, a world they can control and where their minds can wander free.

    Beautifully capturing a time when a bully in school can occur as large as a monster in a nightmare and the encouragement of a teacher can alter the course of a life, “Bridge to Terabithia” keeps the fantasy in the background to find magic in the everyday. Gabor Csupo directs this, his first feature, like someone close to the pain of being different, fascinated in tiny, perfect details.

    With strong performances from all the leads, “Bridge to Terabithia” is able to handle adult topics with sensitivity. As the emotional landscape darkens, those who haven't read the book may be surprised at the sorrow the filmmakers cause without ever resorting to horror or terror. In other words, your children may cry, but they won't be traumatized so badly.

    Consistently smart and delicate as a spider web, “Bridge to Terabithia” is the kind of children's movie rarely seen nowadays. At a time when many public schools are being forced to cut music and art from the curriculum, the story's insistence on the healing power of a cultivated imagination is both welcome and essential.

    Starbucks will stop using plastic straws from its stores globally by 2020, in a nod to the growing push for businesses to be more environmentally friendly. The Seattle-based company said on Monday it will instead use straws made from other materials, and lids designed not to need straws. McDonald's also recently said it would switch to paper straws in the UK and Ireland by next year, and test alternatives to plastic straws in some US locations. In February, Dunkin' Donuts said that it would refuse polystyrene foam (塑料泡沫) cups from its stores by 2020.

    Environmental activists have been pressuring businesses to ditch plastic straws because they can end up in the ocean and hurt marine life. The push gained great support after a video in 2015 showed rescuers removing a straw from a sea turtle's nose in great detail. Local governments have also been looking at the issue. Last week, Seattle's ban on single-use plastic straws and utensils in food service outlets took effect, and Starbucks says it already offers alternative straws there. Similar proposals are being considered elsewhere, including New York and San Francisco.

    While straws have become a highly-concerned issue, they make up only about 4% of the plastic trash by number of pieces, and far less by weight. Straws add up to only about 2,000 tons of the nearly 9m tons of plastic waste that hits waters each year.