Darek Fidyka, a 38-year-old Bulgarian, had been paralyzed (瘫痪的) from the chest down for four years after a knife attack. Scientists from Britain and Poland took cells from his nose, transplanted (移植) them into his back and re-grew his spinal cord (脊髓). Now he can walk and even drive a car. The doctors were delighted but said it was the first step in a long journey.

    The breakthrough came after 40 years of research by Professor Geoff Raisman, who found that cells had the possibility to repair damage to nasal (鼻腔的) nerves, the only part of the nervous system that constantly re-grows. “The idea was to take something from an area where the nervous system can repair itself and put it into an area that doesn't repair itself,” Professor Raisman said.

    Polish doctors injected (注射) the nasal cells into Mr Fidyka's spinal cord above the injury and used some nerves from his ankle to form a bridge across the damaged tissue. The nasal cells appear to have caused the spinal nerves to repair themselves.

    Professor Raisman achieved this with rats in the late 1990's, but this is his greatest success. “I think the moment of discovery for me was Christmas in 1997 when I first saw a rat, which couldn't control its hand, put its hand out to me. That was an exciting moment, because I realized then that my belief that the nervous system could be repaired was true.”

    Doctors chose the easiest case for their first attempt—it might not work for others. But there is a real sense of hope that an idea once thought impossible has been realized.

    David Nicholls, who helped provide money for the breakthrough, said information about the breakthrough would be made available to researchers across the globe.

    “What you've got to understand is that for three million paralyzed people in the world today, the world looks a totally brighter place than it did yesterday,” he said.

    Baby girls make their way to dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for the toy cars,  a study has shown. The findings, the first to show consistent differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological basis to their preferences.

    Psychologists Dr Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 babies aged nine months to 36 months. They were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were boys' toys - a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy.  The rest were girls' toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys, and could pick whichever toy they liked. Their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.

    Of the youngest children (nine to 14 months), girls spent much longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two-and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents' view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children's choice.

    Dr Brenda Todd said: “Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization. Boys may be given ‘toys that go' while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer moving objects, probably through hunting instincts（本能）, while girls prefer warmer colors such as pink, the color of a newborn baby.”

    Australia is the smallest continent in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is on the Southern Hemisphere of the earth. Australia is big, but its population is small. The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai.

    Enough laws have been made to fight against pollution. The cities in Australia have little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish in the rivers. Plants grow very well.

    Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flower exhibition. There we saw large numbers of wild flowers on show, most of which we had never seen before. We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. Every year in spring Perth has a wild flower exhibition. After visiting Perth, we spent a day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves very much. When we heard bells ringing at the top of the hills, we looked up, but what we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to our car as quickly as we could. There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us along the path.

    Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos. After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself among the white sheep. Sheep, sheep, everywhere you can see sheep.

Yoga (瑜伽) is a kind of sport. It is very popular around the world now. Everyone, young or old, men or women, can do yoga.

There are many reasons why people like yoga. First, yoga can build up your muscle. Your body will become stronger and more flexible. Second, yoga helps you get rid of stress. What's more, yoga can help your mind stay calm. To put it simply, the reason why so many people are falling in love with yoga is that they are discovering how wonderful it is for their mind, body and spirit.

Yoga began in India about 5,000 years ago. At that time, people wanted to be free, healthy and live a long life. As a result, this kind of exercise was born. The early yoga was part of the religion (宗教). It was usually taught one to one—one teacher and one student. Later, it was accepted by more people.

Yoga is an Indian word that means "to join together". There are three parts of yoga altogether: exercise, breathing and meditation (冥想). In the past, people paid more attention to the spirit. The idea behind the exercise was to join the mind, body and spirit as one.

With the development of the exercise, more and more people are doing yoga as a way of keeping healthy. Among them, office ladies enjoy doing yoga most. Yoga can give them peace, help them feel relaxed and have fewer worries and illnesses.

Gorman is the youngest poet in U. S. history. She became the youth poet laureate (获奖者) of Los Angeles at age 16 in 2014 and the first national youth poet laureate three years later. She has recently completed her studies at Harvard University.

Her mother, Joan Wicks, teaches middle school in Watts. Shuttling among the neighborhoods gave Gorman a window to the world. Her like for poetry dates at least back to the third grade when her teacher read Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine to the class.

Gorman is a lot better at it now, but still working on her confidence as a public speaker. "Until two or maybe three years ago, I couldn't say the letter 'r'. Even to this day sometimes I struggle with it. I'd want to say 'girls can change the world', but I can not say so many letters in that statement, so I'd say things like 'young women can shape the globe'."

For Gorman, writing became a cure. "I used writing as a form of self expression to get my word on the page. So the more I recited out loud, the more I was able to teach myself how to pronounce these letters which for so long had been my greatest impediment." Gorman said she also used a song from Miranda's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Hamilton to help with her speaking. "But I don't look at my disability as a weakness," said Gorman. "It's made me the performer that I am and the storyteller that I strive to be."

In September, Gorman will release Change Sings, the first of two children's books. The poet says she desires to publish a book "in which kids could see themselves as change-makers in history, rather than just observers".

Through My Modern Met Academy, our online learning platform, you'll be inspired in classes taught by industry experts. Learn mixed media skills to take your work to a new level! 

Intermediate Embroidery (刺绣)

With the help of artist Floor Giebels, you'll get gradual instructions on how to craft embroidery on printed cloth. Giebels will show you how to combine embroidery with cloth decorated with a photograph. Using that as the base, she'll go into techniques for stitching (缝) over the image and finishing your frame for display. 

Cost/Time: $34.95/1.3h 

Architectural Illustration for Everyone

Artist Demi Lang will take you through the process of drawing structures step-by-step. You'll learn how to choose your tools and paper, and analyze the project's photo. The final assignment is a row of three buildings, which Lang will go through first in line drawing lessons, then inking over the sketch (素描), and adding color to bring it to life. 

Cost/Time: $45.95/ 3.3h 

Beyond Botanicals

In Anna Zakirova's class, she shares the secrets to creating flawless pressed flowers and leaves and using them as the basis for original artwork. Intended for beginners, her class starts with a detailed introduction to the proper tools and continues with an example of how to turn several types of flowers into an artwork. 

Cost/Time: $34.95/ 56min 

Introduction to Pet Photography

Taught by pet photographer Belinda Richards, this class offers in-depth guidance of shooting a gorgeous picture of your dog in a studio setting. Richards will break down how to work with your dog, photograph it, and edit your image. This class is meant for someone who already owns a DSLR camera and has a basic understanding of Photography.