The introduction of the iPad,with its touch screen technology,has allowed even very young children to take advantage of a computer.So what if all children in a school were given an iPad to use in class and take home with them?

    Anne Laure Bazin works in a school where every child,teacher and teaching assistant is given a free iPad to use in and out of lessons.For her,the main advantage of everyone having an iPad had been the improvement in communication.Documents can be emailed straight over to workmates during a meeting.Children submit their homework by email,or through the school's learning environment.Teachers now take the register（点名）using their iPad,which means that there is a record of which children are in school,and which classroom they are in.

    The use of iPad has encouraged greater sharing of resources among teacher.All communication with parents is now done by email.Working as a group in class is much easier as children can share documents.The whole class can look at one child's work by attaching（连接）the iPad to the whiteboard.If a child has forgotten the textbook,the teacher can take a photograph of the relevant（相关的）page and send it to the student in class.

    While the use of the iPad in schools has revolutionized（变革）the way children are taught ,it hasn't completely replaced more traditional methods of teaching .Worksheets are still used in class as some children prefer the contact with paper.The children all have a textbook and exercise books.In Anne Laure's school,parents feared that the iPads would replace exercise books and children would lose handwriting skills.Anne Laure says,” The teacher are not ready to let go of the traditional style of teaching.We have welcomed the iPads in so much as they help communication and widen the resources available but we are not ready to let go of paper yet.The children themselves still value their exercise books and depend on them for review.”

    Parents whose children show a special interest in a sport feel very difficult to make a decision about their children's careers. Should they allow their children to train to become top sportsmen and sportswomen? For many children it means starting schoolwork very young. And going out with friends and other interests have to take a second place. It's very difficult to explain to a young child why he or she has to train five hours a day, even at the weekend, when most of his or her friends are playing. Another problem is of course money, In many countries money for training is available from government for the very best young sportsmen and sportswomen. If this help can not be given, it means that it is the parents who have to find the time and the money to support their child's development and sports clothes, transport to competitions, special equipment, etc. All can be expensive.

    Many parents are worried that it is dangerous to start serious training in a sport at an early age. Some doctors agree that young muscles may be damaged by training before they are properly developed. Professional trainers, however, believe that it is only by training when young that you can reach the top as successful sports person. It is clear that very few people do reach the top, and both parents and children should be prepared for failure even after many years of training.

    BKLYN House Hotel

    There are works by Brooklyn artists in this hotel. The 116 rooms are of great value and Manhattan is only 20 minutes away by taxi or subway. The immediate surroundings feel urban—the hotel is by a high-rise public housing project while the nearest commercial street is under elevated（高的）subway tracks—but Bushwick's best bars and cafes/restaurants are near-by.

    Doubles from $99, room only. Tel: 718 3884433

    Archer Hotel

    Visitors eager to stay in the heart of Manhattan should try one of the bargain-priced rooms at this hotel. Some start from as low as $179 a night (if prepaying in full). Rooms are small but tasteful, with nice touches such as exposed brick. Some have close-up views of the Empire State Building.

    Doubles from $199, room only. Tel: 212 7194100

    Pod 39 Hotel

    In an elegant brick building in Manhattan's Murray Hill, this excellent budget（预算）option opened following the success of its sister hotel, The Pod. The rooms are called pods given for their small size and may not suit everyone. But with prices among the most competitive in Manhattan, budgeters will be happy.

    Doubles from $95, room only. Tel: 212 8655700

    CitizenM New York Times Square

    This is the first US location for a Netherlands-based concept hotel chain—CitizenM. The hotel features self check-in at its 230 little but comfortable rooms via touch screen “Mood-Pads”. There's a rooftop bar, a 24-hour grab-and-go cafeteria and an area with public iMac workspaces. Although New Yorkers avoid nearby Times Square, all the lights, cameras and action can make it a fun tourist experience.

    Doubles from $170, room only. Tel: 212 319 7000

    Being physically active three times a week reduces the odds of being depressed by about 16%, according to new UCL research carried out as part of the Public Health Research Centre.

    The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found a two-way relationship between depression and physical activity. People who increased their weekly activity were reported to have fewer depressive symptoms but those with more depressive symptoms were less active, particularly at younger ages.

    Researchers followed 11,135 people born in 1958 up until the age of 50, recording depressive symptoms and levels of physical activity at regular intervals in adulthood. They found that each additional activity period per week reduced odds of depression by 6%. In England 19% of men and 26% of women are currently classed as "inactive", and this study suggests that activity could significantly improve their mental as well as physical health.

    "Assuming the association is causal, physical activity has a protective effect against depression. If an adult between his twenties and forties who isn't physically active became active 3 times per week, he would reduce his risks of depression by about 16%," said Dr Snehal of the UCL Institute of Child Health, lead author of the study.

    Professor Mark，Director of the Public Health Research Centre, said: "Many people are already aware of the benefits of physical activity on their general health, but now we are seeing more evidence that suggests it also has a positive effect on a person's mental well-being. The latest research highlights just how important it is to ensure that people are working and living in environments that allow them to be both physically active and mentally healthy."

    A new algorithm(演算法)raises parking rates in busy neighborhoods and lowers them elsewhere, guaranteeing free parking spots regardless of location, Christopher Intagliata reports.

    If you drive in a city, you've no doubt experienced the headache of circling block after block, cruising for parking. But scientists who study that phenomenon have a solution to free up more spots: “You make them more expensive, so people have to decide whether to park farther away and Pay less, or closer and pay more.”Itzhak Benenson, a system scientist at Tel Aviv University.

    San Francisco has piloted a program that raises parking rates based on demand—and it's been shown to reduce cruising. But the sensors required for those systems can cost millions of dollars to install and operate, Benenson says. So instead, writing in IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine, he and his colleague Nir Fulman describe an algorithm that can determine smart pricing, without the use of sensors.

    They tested it on the Israeli city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. First, they divide the city into zones. They estimate the parking demand in each zone, by calculating the number of apartments and offices there. Then they take account of parking supply in the area, along with how wealthy potential parkers might be. Using that data, the algorithm suggested pricing for each zone that would guarantee a 90-percent occupancy rate of parking spots city-wide. Meaning 10 percent of spots were always available to drivers willing to pay the price, regardless of neighborhood.

    Of course, not everyone will agree that raising parking prices will reduce the press of parking. Last time Benenson proposed hiking rates for city residents? “I got about 100 reactions on the web and 99 of them that said they have never heard such a stupid statement from the professors, and I should be punished and fired.”

    Eventually, he says, it'll be up to cities themselves to estimate their residents'political appetites for an easier parking spot.

    One of the best-loved American writers was William Sydney Porter, or O. Henry. From 1893 he lived with his family in a house in Austin, Texas, which is now a museum. Visitors to Austin can see the house. It was saved from destruction (破坏) and turned into a museum in 1934. The museum is a good way to learn about the interesting life of the American writer.

    William Porter rented this house in Austin and lived there with his wife Athol and daughter Margaret for about two years. Many objects in the museum came from the Porters. Others did not. An important piece in the room is the original photo over here. It was taken there in the house about 1895. The piano there dates back to the 1860s. His wife took lessons on it when she first moved to Austin.

    Porter wasn't a successful writer in the beginning. He worked on a farm, in a land office and bank. He also loved words and writing. The museum has a special proof (证明) of Porter's love of language—his dictionary. It is said that he had read every word in that dictionary.

    Later William Porter was forced to leave Austin because he was charged (指控) with wrongdoing at the bank and lost his job. Because he was afraid of a trial (审判), he left the country secretly. But he returned because his wife was dying. After her death, he faced the trial and served three and a half years in a prison in Ohio.

    William Porter would keep his time in prison a secret. But there was one good thing about it. It provided him with time to write. By the time he was freed, he had published 14 stories and became well-known as O. Henry. Porter later moved to New York City and found great success there. He published over 180 stories in the last eight years of his life.