Yesterday I went to the nursing home to visit my grandma. She just got out of the hospital recently where she had some serious operations. I wanted to surprise her after work so I stopped by for a quick visit.

    When I got there, she was so happy to see me. We hugged, kissed and exchanged greetings. Then I heard a woman crying. It was my grandma's roommate. The curtain was drawn so I could not see her. She started calling out a name that wasn't mine but she was certainly talking to me, begging me to go to her side of the room.

I ignored her at first and continued talking with my grandma. Then she started begging and saying, "Please, come to see me!" So I went to see her.

    When I drew the curtain back, she looked so old but flashed me the biggest smile! She opened her arms wide for me to hug her so I bent low and gave her a hug. I sat on her bed and talked with her for a few minutes. She kept calling me by the other name, but I did not correct her. She told me stories as if I had been there when they happened.

Finally I went back to talk with my grandma. Then the woman started crying again, saying, "Please, come back." She finally slept.

    I stopped by the nurse's station and the nurse told me that the lady suffers from Alzheimer's (老年痴呆症). I mentioned the name she had called me. The nurse told me it was the lady's daughter's name. Then I understood why she wanted me to go to visit her.

    We will all get old some day. Some of us will have broken minds like the lady and some of us will have broken bodies like my grandma. As I was leaving, I promised I would go back and visit the lady, even after my grandma moved back to her home.

    The month of March was a milestone for supporters of renewable energy in the U.S. For the first time, wind and solar power accounted for more than 10% of the country's electricity—up from less than 1% at the turn of the century. And total wind and solar power-plant capacity(发电量) is expected to grow more than 30% over the course of this year and next, according to the Energy Information Administration.

    Such forecasts have led many scientists and policymakers to think that moving a large part of the nation's power supply to renewable sources—as cities from Miami Beach to Salt Lake City have promised to do—may not be as far-fetched as once thought. But like any debate, there are dissenters, including those inside the federal government. Their argument is that the nation demands an uninterrupted supply of electricity and cannot count on sun, wind and natural gas to provide it. “You need solid hydrocarbons(固体碳氢化合物) on-site for rising peak demand,” Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt said on Fox Business in May, referring to the importance of coal as a power source.

    Many experts say the government's concern fails to account for how the power grid(电网) has improved in recent decades. Utility companies(公共事业公司) have developed innovative ways to move electricity from place to place to account for variation in weather. Battery technology can store power for use when renewable sources cannot operate, meaning solar power can be used on days when the sun doesn't shine. And the nation's vast supply of natural gas can be turned into usable energy with the flick of a switch.

    “I don't think 5 or 10 years ago I'd be comfortable telling you we could not sacrifice reliability when we're going to have 35% of our energy come from wind,” said Ben Fowke, CEO of the utility company Xcel Energy, at a recent conference. “I'm telling you, I'm very comfortable with that today.”

    Indeed, many parts of the country are already close to that reality. In some regions, like Iowa and Kansas, renewable energy supplies more than 25% of the electricity. The market has shifted so far in favor of natural gas and renewable energy that even the most concerted federal effort is unlikely to stop its growth. Any attempt to slow the growth of wind and solar will face strong pushback. “If anyone wants to do away with it,” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley told Yahoo News of the federal government's potential cuts to wind energy, “he'll do it over my dead body.”

    But the federal government could slow the acceleration—and with billions of dollars in private and public investments at risk, the pace of change matters. Decisions made today will shape the future of the nation's energy grid for decades to come.

    Brian Hamilton's life changed in a prison when he was accompanying his friend, Reverend Robert J. Harris, who often went to local prisons to do his work. During the visit, Hamilton started talking to one of the prisoners and asked what he was going to do when he got out.

    "He said he was going to get a job," Hamilton recalls(回忆). "I thought to myself, wow, that's going to be difficult with a criminal background."

    The conversation made Hamilton consider how prisoners could benefit from entrepreneurship, something he thought about for years. Finally in 2008, 16 years after that initial conversation, Hamilton created Inmates to Entrepreneurs, a nonprofit organization that helps people with criminal backgrounds start their own small businesses. "Harris and I taught our first course at a prison called 'How to Start Your Own Business When You Get Out'," he recalls.

    At the time, Hamilton was building his own company, Sageworks. As Sageworks grew, so did Hamilton's time spent teaching at prisons throughout North Carolina.

    Eventually, Hamilton decided it was time to change his focus to his true passion. In May 2018, he sold his stake(股份) in Sageworks, focusing his commitment on Inmates to Entrepreneurs.

    "Now, anyone is able to access the curriculum, either to become an instructor to go into prisons to teach it or to access it for themselves as a prisoner or part of the general population," Hamilton explains. In addition, he visits middle schools and presents the curriculum to at-risk students as a preventative measure against crime.

    The free curriculum is funded by the recently established Brian Hamilton Foundation, which offers assistance to military members as they adjust to civilian life and provides loans to small businesses. "We're giving prisoners something they can do independent of a system that isn't working for them. If you can let people know that other people care about them, it makes a difference."

Volunteer Day

    What better way is there to enjoy your own hobbies while helping others at the same time? Come to Volunteer Day and choose which activity you'd like to join for the day. See below for a schedule of events on Volunteer Day.

    Volunteer Day schedule:

    7:30a.m.: Meet at the Community (社区) Center for juice and bagels.

    8:00—8:30 a.m.: Choose which activity you'd like to help with for the day.

    8:30 a.m.: Board the bus to your activity site.

    9:00 a.m.—3:30 p.m.: Work as a volunteer.

    3:30 p.m.: Board the bus that will take you back to the Community Center.

    See below for a list of volunteer opportunities for Volunteer Day so you can begin thinking about which activity you might want to join.

    A list of volunteer activities:

    Paint houses: Do you enjoy making art? If so, this volunteer opportunity might be just right for you! Happy Homes is a local organization that provides home repairs for needy people in the form of painting. For elderly or physically disabled people who cannot do repairs to their homes, Happy Homes provides volunteer painters to repaint old homes; outside or in. Happy Homes also provides painters to create beautiful wall paintings inside schools or community centers.

    Plant flowers: Do you enjoy being outside in nature? City Parks Association has many great opportunities for people who love to be outdoors. Help plant flowers and bushes in city parks; help lay paths at Cave Springs Park, or help pick up rubbish around the river banks. These activities are very active, so remember to be prepared with plenty of drinking water!

    Read to children: Do you enjoy working with young children? Do you like books? Love and Learning is an organization that provides volunteers to help children with learning disabilities. Read books out loud to groups of children four to six years old, or read one-on-one with struggling readers seven to eight years old.

    Play with animals: Do you love animals? Lovely Friends is an organization that visits local animal shelters and provides volunteers to spend time with the animals while their cages are being cleaned. Play with puppies, snuggle with cats, or hand-feed rabbits.

    I travel a lot, and I find out different "styles"(风格）of directions every time I ask "How can I get to the post office?"

    Foreign tourists(游客) are often confused(困惑)in Japan because most streets there don't have names; in Japan, people use landmarks(地标)in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, "Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop."

    In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, "Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile."

    People in Los Angeles , California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure(度量) distance in time, not miles. "How far away is the post office?" you ask. "Oh," they answer, "it' is about five minutes from here." You say, "Yes, but how many miles away is it ?"They don't know.

    It's true that a person doesn't know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, "Sorry, I have no idea." But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers "I don't know." People in Yucatan believe that "I don't know" is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!

It was very late and everyone had left the cafe except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light. In the day time the street was dusty,but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference,The two waiters inside the cafe knew that the old man was a little drunk,and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying,so they kept watch on him. 

"Last week he tried to commit suicide,"one waiter said. 

"Why?"

"He was in despair. "

"What about?"

 "Nothing. "

"How do you know it was nothing?" 

"He has plenty of money. "

They sat together at a table that was close against the wall near the door of the cafe and looked at the terrace(露台)where the tables were ll empty except where the old man sat in the shadow of the leaves of the tree that moved slightly in the wind. 

"The guard will pick him up,"one waiter said. 

"What does it matter if he gets what he's after?"

"He had better get off the street now. The guard will get him. They went by five minutes ago. "

The old man sitting in the shadow tapped his saucer with his glass. The younger waiter went over to him. 

"What do you want?"

The old man looked at him. "Another brandy,"he said. 

"You'll be drunk,"the waiter said. The old man looked at him. The waiter went away. 

"He'll stay all night,"he said to his colleague. "I'm sleepy now. I never get into bed before three o'clock. He should have killed himself last week. "

The younger waiter took the brandy bottle and marched out to the old man's table. 

"You should have killed yourself last week,"he said to the deaf man. The old man motioned with his finger. "A little more,"he said. The waiter poured on into the glass. "Thank you,"the old man said. The waiter took the bottle back inside the cafe. He sat down at the table with his colleague again.