Dear John,

    My name is Amber and I want to share my story with you because what you've shared about life and positive energy has changed my life. This past year has been one of the hardest for me. I felt I was stuck in a position that had nothing to do with what I wanted to do with my life. In January, after two years of being together, my boyfriend left me.

    I read your blog every morning as I drink my coffee at work, but it wasn't until this March that I told myself "no more negativity" as you taught readers in your blog.

    Since then I've got into new habits at work to keep my energy positive. When people walk in the front door, I'm the first face they see, so I smile big when I say "good morning" to them, especially on Mondays. Instead of waiting for someone to ask me for help, I offer it with an open mind. The CEO noticed my change and offered me the executive assistant position that I wanted.

    One of the biggest things I've taken to heart from your blog is changing my opinions on my job. Yes, it was not an important position, but when I was passionate （热情的） about it, I could make my life fulfilling.

    All in all, I have to thank you somehow for having the passion to help others because it truly is inspiring to me. So thank you so much, John. My life has changed because your words pointed me in the right direction, Take care!

                                                 Sincerely ,

                                                     Amber

    The United States of America is mainly an English-speaking country. The majority of the population speak English as their native language. Besides, education, social activities, etc. are conducted in English. Across but for the most part, Americans speak one common language. This language is sometimes called American English.

    However, not everyone in the USA is a native speaker of English. Most immigrants(移民) are speakers of other languages. There are hundreds of communities around the USA where English is not the most commonly used languages. Chinese, Italian, German, Greek, Spanish and French are all spoken in various communities in the USA. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language after English. It is widely spoken in New York and across the southern part of the country. For speakers of other languages, learning English is important, but teaching people to speak English as a second language was given little attention. Non-English speakers were expected to pick up the language by meeting with others in public. Recently, this has changed.

    Today, most large public schools and community colleges have ESL (English as a Second Language) programs; American English teachers feel that English students should learn the language the way they will use it. Therefore, ESL programs offer different English lessons to different students. Some programs teach students to communicate in English in public. Other programs teach the kind of English people who will need for their jobs. American ESL instructional methods do not lay emphasis on grammar or translation, but on the importance of communication. The goal is to get the English learners to learn by using the language.

    A few weeks ago, I sat with a California farmer named Dave Ribeiro. I asked him what he wished to know about farmers. He smiled and said, "That we walk among you. We look like you and talk like you. We have advanced degrees and hobbies, just like you."

    Take Dave for example: He's a young man with a music degree. And if you walked past him on the street, you'd never think, "There goes a farmer."

    Is someone like Dave who you picture when you think of a farmer? Probably not. I think that most people would picture a man in his overalls(工作服). I can tell you, that does not represent Dave or any of the many other farmers I have gotten to know.

    Not only do we have to throw out our previous impression of farmers, but farming as a whole doesn't look much like it used to either. We recently sent a team out to see what modern farming looks like, and they found farmers to be completely different from our usual ideas about them and also came across them in some unexpected places.

    In a parking lot in a neighborhood of Brooklyn, they met a new crop of young farmers who were trying to bring fresh greens closer to eaters in the city by growing them in high-tech indoor vertical(垂直的) farms. In a Florida field under the fight path of an airport, they discovered farmers with university degrees growing plants that might someday fuel our cars. And in a modern farm in California, they observed how farmers were using technology to take the best possible care of their animals.

    These farmers all spend their days in very different ways—none of them looks like the previous farmer we have in our mind—but they're all working on new ways to feed our planet. Not only do we need to change our idea of what farming looks like, but we also need to change our view of where solutions can come from. Feeding all of us is going to take all of us working together.

    Of the several films Hirokazu has made about childhood and children, this one is the most modest, but no less pleasing for its delicate style and small setting. I Wish was originally called Miracle, and the change is for the better. The two-word title makes you want to know who's wishing for what, while the single word sounds plain and self-praising. This wise and funny film works small miracles in describing such a moment when kids turn from the wishfulness of childhood into shaping the world for themselves.

    The sweetly reflective hero, a sixth-grader named Koichi, starts out by wishing for a volcano to erupt. Not just any volcano, but the one that towers above his town, smoking heavily and giving off ash. An eruption would lead to a withdrawing, which would lead, at least in his mind, to a reunion with his father and kid brother, who've been living in Hakata while Koichi lives with his mother and retired grandparents in Kagoshima. The volcano, knowing nothing of this, refuses to erupt, but Koichi hears of another approach to realizing the desired miracle.

    One of the pleasures of I Wish is watching how kids behave—how Koichi attacks his dinner, for example. Another pleasure is rediscovering how kids think. These kids can be logical and ever so tricky. But children's thought processes can also be fancy. A boy wishes he could play baseball like one of baseball stars, who eats curry for breakfast; so he, too, starts eating curry for breakfast, instead of practicing on the field. Another boy tries to wish his dead dog, Marble, back to life. And what does Koichi finally wish for? I wish you'd see this delightful film to find out.

Atmospheric （大气层的） rivers are long and narrow bands of water vapor （水蒸气） in Earth's atmosphere, which are called "large rivers in the sky". These rivers form over warm ocean waters. They are huge. They can be 930 miles long and one-third that wide.

Like real rivers, they carry huge amounts of water. These large streams of small water drops are blown by wind over land. When that happens, the water vapor cools down and condenses （凝结）. Atmospheric rivers can be good. They bring water to dry areas. However, they can cause huge, fast-moving storms. Some cause snowfalls that bury towns. They are also the main cause of floods on the U.S. West Coast.

Atmospheric rivers are hard to predict. But scientists are working to change that. Marty Ralph, a scientist who works at the University of California, directs the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E). They created the first computer model to predict atmospheric rivers on the U.S. West Coast. This model uses a program that runs on a computer to create a model of a real-world event. CW3E also studies atmospheric rivers using planes. Pilots drop instruments into atmospheric rivers to collect information like temperature and wind speed, which helps with forecasting.

Will climate change affect atmospheric rivers? Climate change happens naturally over a long period of time. But today, it is largely caused by human activities and is causing the Earth to warm, which affects atmospheric rivers.

Atmospheric rivers are pushed by the wind. Those winds are driven by the temperature differences between the poles and the equator （赤道）. But the poles are also warming faster than areas near the equator. That makes the temperature difference between the areas smaller. This can make winds weaker.

Climate change might not cause more atmospheric rivers. But there may be very, very wet seasons and very, very dry seasons. Such a seesaw in rainfall could make it harder to manage what water there is.

Four Best Shows for Toddlers (学步的孩童)

Peppa Pig

If you're looking for a British TV show for toddlers, look no further than Peppa Pig. This charming series will have your little one love Peppa and her family as they start their adventures through life in a colorful world.

Each episode of Peppa Pig is like a colorful storybook, combining five parts into 25 minutes of pure joy. Not only is it entertaining, but it also teaches essential social skills, such as kindness, loyalty, and thoughtfulness, making it an ideal choice for young kids and preschoolers.

Sesame Street

If you have fond memories of watching Sesame Street back in the day, why not pass on some of that magic to your little one? The show now is in its 54th season, which is the longest running program of the four shows, and the whole group is still bringing the fun. Not only is the 30-minute program still a crash course in all things smart, with numbers and words on the menu, but there's also wonderful music.

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood

Step into the interesting world of Daniel Tiger, the lovable star of this show that's a popular offshoot (分支) of the timeless Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. With a runtime of 30 minutes, this show offers plenty of learning opportunities through engaging stories and catchy musical numbers.

Curious George

If you have fond memories of your parents reading Curious George books, you're in for a treat! The beloved stories were transformed into a charming lively series on PBS in 2006, ideal for toddlers. Each episode clocks in at a solid 30 minutes, and it's all about encouraging kids to be as curious and eager to explore as George himself.