Hans Christian Andersen is a Danish writer famous for his fairy tales, many of which depict (描述) characters who gain happiness in life after suffering and conflict.

    Andersen's father was a poor shoemaker and his mother worked as a washerwoman. As a child he was highly emotional, suffering all kinds of fears and shame because of his unmanly interests. Encouraged by his parents, he composed his own fairy tales and arranged puppet (木偶) theater shows. At the age of 14, Andersen moved to Copenhagen to start a career as a singer—he had a beautiful voice. He succeeded in becoming associated with Royal Theater, but he had to leave it when his voice began to change. When casually referred to as a poet, he changed his plans and began to write plays, all of which were refused.

    In 1822, Jonas Collin, the director of the Royal Theater, gave Andersen a grant to enter the grammar school at Slagelse. In 1827, Andersen gained admission to Copenhagen University, where he completed his education. In 1828 he wrote a shot story on travel, a fantastic tale in the style of the German Romantic writer, E. T. A. Hofmann. He traveled widely in Europe and remained a passionate traveler all his life.

    As a novelist, Andersen made his breakthrough with The Improvisatore. The story described a poor boy's integration (融合) into society, an Ugly Duckling theme of self-discovery. The book gained international success and remains the most widely read of all his works.

    In his early collections, Andersen returned to the stories that he had heard as a child, but gradually he started to create his own tales. Most of Andersen's works were original. Only 12 of his 156 known fairy stories drew on folktales.

    The ugliness of the hero or heroine in his stories often conceals (隐藏) great beauty，which is revealed (揭示) after misfortune. Some of Andersen's tales reveal a positive belief in the victory of the good, among them, The Snow Queen and The Ugly Duckling, and some end unhappily, like the Little Match Girl. In The Little Mermaid the author expressed a longing for the ordinary life that he had never had. Andersen never married, and he died in his home in Rolighed in 1875.

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    My mom only had one eye. I hated her... she was such an embarrassment. My mom ran a small shop at a flea market. She collected little weeds and such to sell... anything for the money we needed she was such an embarrassment. There was this one day during elementary school.

I remember that it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school... "Your mom only has one eye?!" and they taunted me.

I wished that my mom would just disappear from this world so I said to my mom. "Why don't you just die?" My mom did not respond. I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt good to think that I had said what I'd wanted to say all this time. Maybe it was because my mom hadn't punished me, but I didn't think that I had hurt her feelings very badly.

    That night... I woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. My mom was crying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she might wake me. I hated my mother who was crying out of her one eye. So I told myself that I would grow up and become successful, because I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty.

Then I studied really hard. I left my mother and came to Seoul and studied, and got accepted in the Seoul University with all the confidence I had. Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids, too. Now I'm living happily as a successful man. I like it here because it's a place that doesn't remind me of my mom.

This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when someone unexpected came to see me "What?! Who's this?!" It was my mother... Still wither one eye. It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran away, scared of my mom's eye.

And I asked her, "Who are you? I don't know you!!" as if I tried to make that real. I screamed at her "How dare you come to my house and scare my daughter! Get out of here now!!" And to this, my mother quietly answered, "oh, I'm so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address," and she disappeared. Thank goodness... she doesn't recognize me. I was quite relieved. I told myself that I wasn't going to care, or think about this for the rest of my life.

    Then a wave of relief came upon me... one day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. I lied to my wife saying that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went down to the old shack, that I used to call a house, just out of curiosity there, I found my mother fallen on the cold ground. She had a piece of paper in her hand. It was a letter to me.

She wrote:

My son, I think my life has been long enough now. For you... I'm sorry that I only have one eye, and I was an embarrassment for you. You see, when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you having to grow up with only one eye… so I gave you mine... I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. I was never upset at you for anything you did. The couple times that you were angry with me I thought to myself, ‘it's because he loves me.' I miss you so much. I love you. You mean the world to me. So I gave you mine. With all my love to you! Your mom.

My World Shattered. I hated the person who only lived for me. I cried for My Mother, I didn't know of any way that will make up for my worst deeds...

    The World Health Organization report compared the “obesity-related behaviors” for youngsters across 42 nations. And it reveals UK kids are among the laziest.

    Among teenage girls, the Scots topped the league table for most screen time, with 80 per cent spending at least two hours a day on computers. Wales came fourth with 76 per cent, and England seventh with 75 per cent. Girls in Armenia and Albania were least likely to spend hours idling online.

    Screen time figures for boys were even higher. Wales was second in the European “couch potato” league, with 85 per cent glued to their screens for at least two hours. Scotland was third with 84 per cent, and England 15th with 77 per cent. Boys in Switzerland and Portugal were least likely to dedicate two hours a day to sitting in front of a computer.

    Lead researcher Dr. Jo Inchley, from the University of St Andrews, said social media was impacting on kids' health. She said,“ We know there are risks, such as cyber bullying and impact on mental health. Also, there are longer-term impacts on physical health from being sedentary. One of the main challenges is that this kind of activity (social media and computer use) is so much part of young people's lives these days.” She said more needs to be done to get kids moving throughout the day.

    Dr. Steven Mann, research director for UK Active said the findings were “alarming”. He said, “Modern life has changed, but when teens are spending hours having fun with Facebook, Instagram and videogames, they simply aren't getting the exercise that they need. These alarming inactivity figures show that playtime is over before it has started for too many children, putting them at far greater risk of future conditions like heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.”

    Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, warned Brit teens are now “slaves to hand-held devices”. And the WHO warns four in five fat teens will continue to struggle with their weight throughout life. The report also shows less than half of UK youngsters consume fruit or veg daily.

    Enrique Iglesias is a most successful singer! Born in 1975 in Madrid, Spain, Enrique is the child of the famous singer Julio Iglesias. Enrique's mother is a journalist. His parents divorced in 1978. Although Enrique lived with his mother, she sent him to live with his father because of concerns about her son's safety. Enrique wanted to be a singer secretly, he didn't wish his father to know that and didn't want to live under his shelter. He sought his dream on his own.

    Enrique released(发行) his first album “Enrique Iglesias” in 1995. This album had a collection of rock ballads(民谣) and five singles from it went straight to the top spots in Latin music. This album was followed by another “Vivir” in 1997. Three singles from this album occupied the top spots on the Latin charts yet again! Enrique also found himself nominated(提名) for the “Favorite Latin Artist” at the American Music Awards. By 1998, he had released his 3^rd album, “Cosas Del Amor”.This year Enrique won the “Favorite Latin Artist”. “Bailamos” got him great fame. One of the songs in this album was also used in a movie. With the success of “Bailamos”, Enrique now already had many loyal fans. The album, “Enrique”, was released in 1999.

    The year 2001 brought more success for him. His album, “Escape” had a few singles that reached the top spots. Enrique became a household name. This album is his biggest successful album so far. “Hero” and “Don't Turn Off the Lights” soon turned Enrique into a super star. His next release in 2002 was a Spanish album “Quizas”. This album brought Enrique a “Latin Grammy Award” for the Best Pop Vocal Album. In 2007, he released another album “Insomniac” and the song “Do You Know” became an instantly popular song.

    A survey said the average Asian dad spent one minute a day with his children. I was shocked. I mean, a whole minute? Every day? Get real. Once a week maybe. The fact is, many Asian males are terrible at kid-related things. In fact, I am one of them.

    Child-rearing (养育) doesn't come naturally to guys. My mother knew the names of our teachers, best friends and crushes. My dad was only vaguely aware there were short people sharing the apartment. My mother bought healthy fresh food at the market every day. My dad would only go shopping when there was nothing in the fridge except a jar of butter. Then he'd buy beer. My mother always knew the right questions to ask our teachers. My dad would ask my English teacher if she could get us a discount on school fees. My mother served kid food to kids. My dad added chili sauce to everything, including our baby food.

    The truth is, mothers have superpowers. My son fell off a wall once and hurt himself all over. I demanded someone bring me a computer so I could google what to do. My wife ignored me and did some sort of chanting (咏诵) phrase such as" Mummy kiss it better," and cured 17 separate injuries in less than 15 seconds.

    Yes, mothers are incredible people, but they are not always correct. Yet honesty forces me to record the fact that mothers only know best 99.99 percent of the time. Here are some famous slip-ups.

    The mother of Bill Gates:" If you're going to drop out of college and hang out with your stupid friends, don't come running to me when you find yourself penniless." The mother of Albert Einstein:" When you grow up, you'll find that sitting around thinking about the nature of time and space won't pay the grocery bills." The mother of George W. Bush: "You'll never be like your dad, who became President of the United States and started his own war."

A significant proportion of the American populace within the working-age demographic are encountering challenges in meeting the financial demands associated with health care, as per a recent comprehensive evaluation. This study, which is the inaugural edition of the Health Care Affordability Survey conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, reveals that a substantial 51 percent of adults falling within the age bracket of 19 to 64 years have expressed that affording health care for themselves and their family is either exceedingly challenging or moderately difficult. This observation encompasses 43 percent of individuals who are beneficiaries of health insurance provided by their employers and an even higher 57 percent who have secured health insurance through a marketplace or have opted for an individual plan.

Additionally, it is noteworthy that nearly one-half of the working-age adults who are under the Medicare program and 45 percent of those who are recipients of Medicaid also admit to facing hardships in covering their health care expenses. It is particularly striking that a majority, specifically 65 percent, of working-age adults have indicated that the escalation in the cost of various goods and services over the past year has had a detrimental impact on their capacity or that of their family to manage health care expenses.

The aforementioned survey, which is based on a sample that is representative of the nation and comprises nearly 7,900 individuals who are 19 years of age or older, was carried out from the mid-point of April through the month of July in the current year. This survey follows on the heels of another analysis conducted by the research entity known as KFF, which demonstrated an upward trend in the costs associated with health insurance for employer-sponsored plans as well as an increase in the contributions made by workers towards these plans in the year 2023.

The newly disseminated analysis has further unearthed that 38 percent of the individuals who participated in the survey identified cost as the primary factor that led them or a family member to either forgo or postpone the receipt of necessary health care services or the procurement of prescribed medication within the last 12 months. This includes 29 percent of those who are under the protection of employer-based coverage, 37 percent who are insured through individual and marketplace health plans, 42 percent who are covered by Medicare, and 39 percent who are recipients of Medicaid.

Furthermore, it is observed that more than six-tenths of the individuals who are devoid of any form of health insurance have reported that they or a family member have had to delay or forgo medical care due to financial constraints. Among all those who have reported such instances of skipping or delaying care, a considerable 57 percent have stated that a health issue has consequently deteriorated.