The kids in this village wear dirty clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts (棚屋) made of sticks and mud. They have no school. Yet they all can sing the English letters, and some can make words.    

    The key to their success: 20 tablet computers (平板电脑) dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a U.S. group called One Laptop Per Child.

    The goal is to find out whether kids using today's new technology can teach themselves to read in places where no schools or teachers exist. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers analyzing the project say they're already amazed. “What I think has already happened is that the kids have already learned more than they would have in one year of kindergarten (幼儿园),” said Matt Keller, who runs the Ethiopia program.

The fastest learner—and the first to turn on one of the tablets—is 8-year-old Kelbesa Negusse. The tablet's camera couldn't save memory, yet within weeks Kelbesa had figured out its workings and made the camera work. He called himself a lion, a marker of accomplishment in Ethiopia.

With his tablet, Kelbasa rearranged the letters HSROE into one of the many English animal names he knows. Then he spelled words on his own. “Seven months ago he didn't know any English. That's unbelievable,” said Keller.

The project aims to get kids to a stage called “deep reading,” where they can read to learn. It won't be in Amharic, Ethiopia's first language, but in English, which is widely seen as the ticket to higher paying jobs.

    There was a story many years ago of a school teacher—Mrs. Thompson. She told the children on the first day that she loved them all the same. But that was a lie. There in the first row was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. He did not play well with the other children and he always needed a bath. She did not like him.

    Then Mrs. Thompson got to know that Teddy was actually a very good boy before the death of his mother. Mrs. Thompson was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when, like all her other students, Teddy brought her a Christmas present too. It was his mother's perfume(香水).

    Teddy said, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smell just like my Mom used to.” After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she stopped teaching reading, writing and math. Instead, she began to teach children.

    Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. The boy's mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he improved. By the end of the sixth grade, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class.

    Six years went by before she got a note from Teddy. He wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. He went to college. Mrs. Thompson got two more letters from him with the last one signed, Theodore F.Stoddard, M.D. (医学博士)

    The story doesn't end there. On his wedding day, Dr Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, “Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. You made me feel important and showed me that I could make a difference.”

    Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you.”

    My daughter Alisa was born blind in her right eye and was bullied (欺侮）pretty severely in school. So I quitted my job as a babysitter and then schooled my daughter heart and soul at home.

    A year ago a boy of 14 befriended my daughter on Facebook after reading something Alisa wrote about bullying. Today he messaged her and asked if she would like six tickets to a Colorado Rockies baseball game. They have never met in person but she said, “Sure! That would be great.”

    Then I received a call from his mother explaining why her son had chosen my daughter. She said he thought my daughter deserved them because of all the good she does in the community. Her son, she explained, had experienced a similar situation and was also home schooled.

    What she said is true. Now my daughter Alisa continues to teach groups of girls in trouble in our community how to look within themselves for the positive and how to be their own person.

    Everything taken into consideration, we decided to meet the mother and the boy at a local bike shop. After meeting, the boy approached my car and my daughter gave him a hug and thanked him for his generosity. She told him that she had never been to a baseball game and that she was going to take her entire family, including myself, her dad, little sister, her cousin and an aunt who has brain cancer.

    We all thanked one another, got in our car, and went our way. As we drove home my daughter opened the envelope. Inside it were the tickets and ＄100 each to buy hot dogs, pay for parking and not have any worries but a great time.

    My daughter has always been the giver and now she and our family are the receivers and I can not tell you how incredibly honored we feel to be on the other end. What an incredible young man to have such a kind idea.

    Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, but also the most neglected. Common reasons for not eating breakfast include lack of time, not feeling hungry, traditional dislike for breakfast, and dieting.

    Breakfast simply means "break the fast". Your body spends at least 6 to 12 hours each night in a fasting state. In the morning your body needs energy for the day's work ahead.

    A good breakfast should provide up to 1/3 of your total calories needs for the day. On average(平均)we eat 400 less calories for breakfast than for dinner. If breakfast doesn't attract you in the morning, try eating a lighter for the breakfast in the morning.

    If you aren't hungry in the morning, start with something small like juice or toast or have a nutritious mid-morning snack alter when you are hungry.

    So, you say you're on a diet. Some people fear eating breakfast will make them hungrier during the day and they will eat more. It is true that eating breakfast is likely to make you eat more. That's because your body is working all day long, in fact, you are probably not.

    Not eating breakfast can also cause you to overeat, since a fall in blood sugar often makes you feel very hungry later. To make matters worse, since your body is in a slowed state it will not be able to burn those extra calories very quickly. If you feed your body healthy snacks and meals through the day, you are less likely to become hungry and fill yourself as soon as you begin to eat. Since breakfast is the first and most important meal of the day, choosing the right fuel is important. The best breakfast foods are fruits, juice, lean meat, and grain products such as bread, rice, noodles and cereals(谷物).

    It is reported that a record-breaking high-speed rail will connect Inner Mongolia in the north to Hainan in the south. According to the Shaanxi Development and Reform Commission, the proposed line will operate at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour(217 mph).

    Beginning in Inner Mongolia's Baotou city and running through southern Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong, its final stop would be in Haikou city on Hainan Island, China's southernmost province.

    Though the exact length of the proposed route has not been released, it will likely become the world's longest high-speed rail line as the journey by road between Baotou and Haikou is approximately 3, 000 kilometers(1, 864 miles) long. Currently, the world's longest high-speed rail line is almost 2, 300 kilometers long (1, 429 miles), running from Beijing to Guangzhou.

    The proposed rail is part of China's aim to create another "Silk Road of the 21st Century" and improve the country's transportation network while driving land development and urbanization(城市化) in some provincial areas.

    Many of the provinces through which the high-speed trains will travel are near major bodies of water, such as the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi province, the Yangtzi River in Hubei and the South China Sea, where the line would end. It will also take passengers to popular tourist attractions including Zhangjiajie, Xi'an, Guilin and minority areas in western Hunan and Hubei.

    "The country is now shifting its focus and investing in the western regions and economically underdeveloped areas, making up for China's long debt to these areas, " Tan yuzhi, professor of the School of Economics and Management at Hubei University for Nationalities, told local media. " The project will significantly narrow regional disparities(差异) and solve minority issues."

    However, Deng Hongbing, director of China University of Geosciences' Center for Regional Economic and Investment Center, said that if the north-to-south railway is to go ahead, there needs to be a sound ecological program in place to ensure the protection of these underdeveloped and ecologically sensitive areas.

Signs of Healthy Friendships

Once in a while it's helpful to see if your friendship is as healthy as it can be. You might get used to a friendship over time to the point where you don't see the room for improvement. And since great friendships are priceless, you should always surround yourself with the kind of people who will lift your spirits, make you laugh, and remind (提醒) you that you are loved. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are characteristics (特征) that strong friendships share.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Friends make you feel comfortable with yourself, so you don't need to act like someone you're not. Your friends know your shortcomings and love you anyway. You are perhaps the "best version" of yourself when you're with your friends.

A healthy friendship includes plenty of gentle honesty. True friends won't pretend just to avoid an argument (争论). {#blank#}3{#/blank#} As a result, you'll know where you stand with your friends and won't be afraid to share your true opinions.

They argue in a healthy way.

One of the biggest misunderstandings about good friends is that they never fight. But let's face it everyone fights. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} In fact, voicing your opinions freely will cause you to disagree from time to time and that's okay.

Healthy friendships mean you can be friends with someone else, too.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} That's why great friends will improve your relationship yet still encourage you to meet people and try new things without them. A healthy friendship means that sometimes the two of you spend time apart, and that's okay.

A. Arguing isn't unhealthy.

B. Is your friendship as healthy as it can be?

C. Good friends dine out together from time to time.

D. Good friends are real and honest with each other.

E. With an unhealthy friendship, you know clearly that something is "off".

F. Even if you have the best friend, it doesn't hurt to expand your social circle.

G. In a positive friendship, your friends won't lie to you, and they won't hurt your feelings either.