As a little child, I was always plump（胖的）. In college I started blowing up. It got out of control when l went to law school.

    I'd made a decision a thousand times: I'm going to lose weight now. But what motivated（激发） me to get serious about it was turning 30.1 weighed 414 pounds.1 was always tired. Some of my family members have suffered from heart disease, and l was frightened. I also wanted to look better.

    So after my birthday, I walked into the office of a weight loss doctor.

    She was very understanding. Her focus was on balanced meals and she wanted me to exercise.

    Walking was all I could do at first. I started by walking a few blocks and gradually increased the distance, until one weekend, I heard myself saying, "Wow, this seems pretty easy." So I started to run.

    I was losing nine or ten pounds a month, and I had more energy. I started to think about the New York City Marathon. For years, I watched the runners and thought, "This looks like fun, but I could never do that." But now I realized that maybe I could. I joined the New York Road Runners. I ran a 10km, then a half marathon.I still wasn't confident I could run a full 26 miles. But I told myself I was going to do it, no matter what.

    By my 33rd birthday, I was down to 180 pounds. I started formally training for the marathon.

    And on the morning of November l, I stood on the Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island with more than 40,000 0ther runners, waiting for the event to start.

    It was unbelievable to have the audience cheering me on, handing me cups of water. And I crossed the finish line. My friends sprayed（向……喷射）me with beer, as if I'd won the Super Bowl.

    And at that moment, I knew: If I set my mind to something, nothing is impossible.

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We thought we had it all—a beautiful house, three healthy children and one more on the way, two cars — and we loved it. We spent money like it was going out of style. Then, the market turned and my husband's job as a bigwig(大人物) at a construction company was gone. The company was closing down for ever.

    We both started looking for jobs right away, but there weren't any to be found. With each passing day our panic increased and we continued to work together in order to pull our family through. The more we pulled together, the closer we got. I felt feelings of great love for my husband that I hadn't felt in years.①

    That's why it was so hard for me to watch him blame himself for our present situation. I knew that he had no control over the economy, however, he constantly degraded (降低…身份)himself and his spirit sunk lower with each unkind comment. I continually asked him to stop, but he seemed to want to punish himself for not having a job.②

    Finally one afternoon I pulled him aside and said, “We have four healthy children. That's what's important. That makes you a rich man.”

    “But what if we lose the house? They'll hate me—you'll hate me.” he replied.

    I smiled at him and put my hands on both sides of his face to make him look me in the eye.③

    “If we live in a cardboard box on the empty place across the street I will be happy—as long as I have you.” I smiled again as I realized that I wasn't saying it. Somehow, in all the struggling together I had found that deep love for him that I had on the day we said “I do.”

    I could see relief wash through him as his shoulders and neck relaxed and the tension left his body. He held me close and we were able to talk and plan and dream together in a way that we hadn't in quite some time. ④

    We are still struggling financially, but I consider us well-off because we have something that money can't buy and no one can take away from us.

    At Jacobs Creek Job Corps, students receive the skills needed to succeed in today's workforce—at no cost to them or their families!

    If you are looking for a better quality of life and are willing to dedicate yourself to our life changing program, Jacobs Creek Job Corps is the place for you!

    Sharon, Aged 22

    The most important thing to keep in mind when going into high school is to be yourself. Besides, I don't know what your middle school was like, but high school teachers will not care about things such as how much homework you already have in one night. It's best to just learn to deal with things and manage your time wisely so you can achieve everything you need to.

    Frank, Aged 21

    I think almost every kid feels both nervous and excited before their first day. You will probably love it. I know I did. You should join some sports or activities that will make your high school experience more enjoyable. Good luck!

    Eddie, Aged 20

    When I started high school I was really nervous too, especially since I had been homeschooled （自主学习，在家教育）all through middle school and didn't really know anyone. I suppose the best advice would be to just relax. The first couple of days can be a little bit hard, but things will become easier before you know it.

    David, Aged 19

    I'm not going to lie. The first day is kind of frightening(令人恐惧的). But you'll get used to it. Don't be afraid of anyone; upperclassmen（高年级学生） will pick on（招惹） you more if you let them know you're afraid. Just take it easy. Making some friends and staying with them will greatly help you get used to high school quickly. After the first week it's really not bad at all. Don't worry.

    It is increasingly popular for Chinese young people to share their experiences on Social media, such as the “moments” (朋友圈) on popular instant messaging service WeChat.

    “I have been reading 'Jane Eyre' for 40 days with 48,000 words finished,” Li Anqi said. Li has been sharing her reading experience on WeChat moments every day since January. Working in Yinchuan, capital of Northwest China's Ningxia, Li wants to learn English very much, but cannot bare (摆脱) the daily grind (日常工作) of school lessons.

    “I found many of my WeChat friends had been reading books or learning English on mobile reading apps, and I did not want to fall behind,” Li said.

    In January, she spent more than 100 yuan purchasing an online reading class at the Bohe Reading app, which tells customers they can: “Finish reading your first English book here.” At the reading class, teachers assign reading homework and give instructions to 430 class members every day.

    A survey report released (发布) on Thursday said 70.9 percent of primary and middle students in China use the Wechat instant messaging App. At the same time, 75.9 percent of Chinese children have their own mobile phones, according to China National Children's Center.

    The figures were based on a survey of nearly 9,000 children across China. However, 28.8 percent of them never read news online and 43.2 percent have never touched newspapers.

    The Center called for efforts to address the digital divide between urban and rural education and protect children's privacy as Internet users.

    Everybody sleeps, but what people stay up late to catch or wake up early in order not to miss varies by culture.

    From data collected, it seems the things that cause us to lose the most sleep, on average, are sporting events, time changes, and holidays.

    Around the world, people change sleep patterns thanks to the start or end of daylight-saving time（夏令时间）. Russians, for example, began to wake up about a half-hour later each day after President Vladimir Putin shifted the country permanently to "winter time" starting on October 26.

    Russia's other late nights and early mornings generally correspond（相一致）to public holidays. On New Year's Eve, Russians have the world's latest bedtime, hitting the hay at around 3:30 a. m.

    Russians also get up an hour later on International Women's Day, the day for treating and celebrating female relatives.

    Similarly, Americans' late nights, late mornings, and longest sleep fall on three-day weekends.

    Canada got the least sleep of the year the night it beat Sweden in the Olympic hockey（冰球）final.

    The World Cup is also chiefly responsible for sleep deprivation. The worst night for sleep in the U. K. was the night of the England-Italy match on June 14. Brits stayed up a half-hour later to watch it, and then they woke up earlier than usual the next morning thanks to summer nights, the phenomenon in which the sun barely sets in northern countries in the summertime. That was nothing, though, compared to Germans, Italians, and the French, who stayed up around an hour and a half later on various days throughout the summer to watch the World Cup.

    It should be made clear that not everyone has a tool to record their sleep patterns; in some of these nations, it's likely that only the richest people do. And people who elect to track their sleep may try to get more sleep than the average person. Even if that's the case, the above findings are still striking. If the most health-conscious among us have such deep swings（明显改变）in our sleep levels throughout the year, how much sleep are the rest of us losing?