Chimps(黑猩猩) will cooperate in certain ways, like gathering in war parties to protect their territory. But beyond the minimum requirements as social beings, they have little instinct (本能) to help one another. Chimps in the wild seek food for themselves. Even chimp mothers regularly decline to share food with their children, who are able from a young age to gather their own food.

In the laboratory, chimps don't naturally share food either. If a chimp is put in a cage where he can pull in one plate of food for himself or, with no great effort, a plate that also provides food for a neighbor to the next cage, he will pull at random —he just doesn't care whether his neighbor gets fed or not. Chimps are truly selfish.

Human children, on the other hand are naturally corporative. From the earliest ages, they decide to help others, to share information and to participate in achieving common goals. The psychologist Michael Tomasello has studied this cooperativeness in a series of experiment with very young children. He finds that if babies aged 18 months see an unrelated adult with hands full trying to open a door, almost all will immediately try to help.

There are several reasons to believe that the urges to help, inform and share are not taught, but naturally possessed in young children. One is that these instincts appear at a very young age before most parents have started to train their children to behave socially. Another is that the helping behaviors are not improved if the children are rewarded. A third reason is that social intelligence develops in children before their general cognitive（认知的）skills, at least when compared with chimps. In tests conducted by Tomasello, the human children did no better than the chimps on the physical world tests but were considerably better at understanding the social world.

The core of what children's minds have and chimps' don't is what Tomasello calls shared intentionality. Part of this ability is that they can infer what others know or are thinking. But beyond that, even very young children want to be part of a shared purpose. They actively seek to be part of a “we”, a group that intends to work toward a shared goal.

    When we talk about stars, especially women stars, it seems that they are always young, pretty and own charming body shapes. But recently a Britain's Got Talent（英国达人）star Susan Boyle has changed our views absolutely.

    Simon Cowell, one of the judges of the talent show spoke of his shock over Ms Boyle's voice. "This lady came up, and I'm thinking, 'This will take five seconds and I can go to have a cup of tea'. That changed when she began to sing I Dreamed to Dream from Les Miserables. She knew we were going to have that reaction and just to see that look of satisfaction on her face through -it was one of my favorite moments," Cowell said.

    The performance was posted on line and before long, the 47-year-old Scottish woman has been famous all over the world.

    Speaking from her home in Scotland, Ms Boyle said that she hasn't thought of changing her appearance. She said that her friend helped her with make-up. "I mean, that's hardly a makeover（改头换面）," she added. Ms Boyle also spoke of the reason she first began to explore her vocal talents, "I was kind of slow at school, so getting like singing was a good way of hiding behind that and thus it built my confidence."

    More and more birds are flying to settle at Qinghai Lake, one of the highest inland lakes in China, thanks to the protection efforts of local governments. Covering an area of over 4,000 square     kilometers. Qinghai Lake is also the country's biggest salt­water lake. Located in Northwest China's Qinghai Province, the lake is famous for the two islands at its northwest point—Cormorant Island and Egg Island. The two islands have plenty of floating grass and various schools of fish, offering rich food sources for birds. The islands have become a paradise for different kinds of groups of birds and have been called“Bird Islands”．

    Each March and April, when ice and snow covering the Qinghai­Tibet Plateau starts to melt, over 20 kinds of birds fly to the Bird Islands to lay eggs.  During the months, flocks of birds cover the whole sky over the islands and birds eggs can be found everywhere. Visitors can hear the singing of birds from miles away. These have become a world famous symbol of the lake.

    To protect this paradise for birds and support calls for ecological protection, China set up the Qinghai Lake Natural Protection Zone at the end of 1997.Meanwhile, the State has pointed out the Bird Islands and Spring bay of the Qinghai Lake as central protection zones.

    Inspection officials and management employees often patrol the lake, improving local residents' knowledge of related laws and spreading knowledge about animal protection to visitors. They are making great efforts to call on people to love and protect the birds. At the same time, they have built special fences around the island area to prevent wolves, foxes and other carnivorous animals, as well as illegal hunters from breaking up the birds' nest­building, egg­laying and breeding. As a result, more and more birds are coming to the islands for sheltering and breeding.

    Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were sitting on the sand, reading their magazines. Mr. Gordon was too stingy (吝啬的) to rent (租) a chair. Their twelve-year-old daughter, Sandra, was playing at the water's edge. Suddenly a huge wave lifted Sandra up and carried her out to sea. Fortunately, a lifeguard (救生员) was on duty and he saw the wave carry Sandra away. He ran along the beach and dived into the sea. He swam quickly to where the girl was, with her head only just above the water, was shouting for help. She was very frightened. When the lifeguard reached her, she struggled with him, as drowning people often did. However, he was a skillful lifeguard and quickly took hold of her and swam with her back to the beach. By the time he reached it, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon had realized what had happened. They had run down to the water's edge. Neither of them could swim. They just stood in the shallow water, and worried about their daughter. Had the lifeguard reached her in time? Fortunately, he had. “That was quick work, young man,” Mr. Gordon said. He turned to his wife, “Give the lifeguard a dollar.” “A dollar!” Sandra cried. “Dad, how can you give him a dollar! He saved my life. I was half dead.” “Quite right, girl,”Mr. Gordon said, pleased by his daughter's awareness of the value of money. He turned to his wife again and said, “She's right. She was only half dead. Give him fifty cents.”

    The "Give It Up for Earth Day" encourages people to commit to giving up actions that are harmful to the environment, such as using poisonous cleaners.

    Throughout the month of April, Canadians are being asked to "Give It Up for Earth Day!" Earth Day has been celebrated every year on April 22 since 1970. Earth Day Canada president Jed Goldberg says that as people become more environmentally aware, they want to find ways to reduce their environmental influence, not just celebrate one special event.

    "Earth Day is a great launching pad for thinking about environmental action every day," said Goldberg. "Choosing healthier options, even for the short term, can lead to thinking about the influence of our decisions for a lifetime."

    That's the reason behind the "Give It Up for Earth Day" campaign. It's designed to encourage healthy habits that benefit people and the planet. It challenges everyone to help create a healthier world by making changes in their daily routine.

    "We wanted to plan an action—targeted campaign that will give people a chance to act on their concern for the environment in a positive way," said Goldberg.

    The campaign has identified four daily actions that can add up to huge environmental savings. They include pledging (保证) to turn off the TV, give up the use of poisonous cleaners, reduce consumption of consumer products and cut out meat.

    At the end of April, all of the pledges will be recorded and converted (转化) into the number of TV hours not watched, dollars not spent on unnecessary items, electricity saved, greenhouse gas emissions (排放) avoided by cutting out meat, and poisonous chemicals produced from homes and landfills.

    "What we're trying to achieve this year for Earth Day is to give people a chance to do something that is meaningful and measurable," said Goldberg.

    A man going abroad to work leaves his young lady crying. "Don't worry, I will write to you every day," he said. For years he did write to her. But since he was happy with his job, he had no immediate plans of going home. One day, he received a wedding invitation. His girlfriend was scheduled to be married. To whom? To the mailman bringing regularly the letters of her boyfriend! Indeed, distance does make hearts struggle.

    While presents are important, love demands what is basic: presence of the beloved.

    Martha was busy with her job. She believed she had to work harder because she loved her father who had serious disease. She had to provide for his expensive medicine. Her brothers and sisters meanwhile stayed with their father most of the time. They bathed him, sang for him, spoon­fed him or simply kept him company.

    One day Martha was hurt. She overheard her father telling her mother, "All our children love me except Martha." "How can this be?" Martha thought. "Am I not the one killing myself in my work to earn money to buy for his medicine? My brothers and sisters do not even provide their share in the expenses as much as I do."

    One night, as Martha was as usual late in going home, she peeped for the first time in the room where her father was lying. She noticed that her father was still awake. She decided to come close at his bedside. Her father held her hands and said, "I miss you. I don't have much time. Stay with me." And she stayed with her father holding his hand the whole night.

    The next morning Martha said to everyone, "I have taken a leave of absence. I would like to be with my father. I will bathe him and sing for him from now on." Her father had a beautiful smile. He knew this time Martha loved him.

    As children, we need the assuring presence of our loved ones. Adult people need no less.