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.

    The most widespread fallacy (谬论)of all is that colds ire caused by cold. They are actually caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coining into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in the isolated Arctic Regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.

    During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches(战壕), cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds.

    In the Second World War prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp，naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds. At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty rooms. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.

    If then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter. Despite the most pains-taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.

    October 15th is the Global Hand washing Day. Activities are planned in more than 20 countries to get millions of people in the developing world to wash their hands with soap（肥皂）. For example, donators（捐献者）will give 150,000 bars of soap to schools in Ethiopia.

    Experts say people around the world wash their hands every day, but very few use soap at so-called important moments. These include after using the toilet, after cleaning a baby and before touching food.

    Global Hand washing Day is the idea of the Public-Private Partnership for Hand washing with Soap. Partners include the United Nations Children's Fund, American government agencies, the World Bank and soap makers Unlever and Procter and Gamble. The organizers say all soaps are equally effective at removing disease-causing germ（细菌）. They say the correct way to wash is to wet your hands with a small amount of water and cover them with soap. Rub it into all areas, including under the fingernails. Rub for at least twenty seconds. Then rinse well under running water. Finally, dry your hands with a clean cloth or wave them in the air.

    The Partnership for Hand washing says soap is important because it increases the time that people spend in washing hands. Soap also helps to break up the dirt that holds most of the germs. And it usually leaves a pleasant smell. The Partnership for Hand washing also says washing with soap before eating or after using the toilet could save more lives than any vaccine（疫苗）or medicine. Hand washing could also prevent the spread of other diseases. When people get germs on their hands, they can infect（传染）themselves by touching their eyes, noses or mouths. Then they can infect others.

    When my son was about five or six, I traveled a lot on business. I worried all the time about what the absence might mean to him. I knew how important it was for a boy to have his father near. When I was small, the times I loved most were the special moments I shared with my father. I cherished these special moments and, to this day, hold those memories dear. I decided to create those kinds of special times for my son.

    In one of my letters home, I promised my son that I would teach him how to fly a kite and that we could go to a nearby beach and fly it as high as it would go. Through my travels I would pick up things for our kite adventure and send them to him. In my trip to Japan, I found the most beautiful blue silk with gold threads（线）woven through it. Perfect kite materials! I sent it home with a picture book that would serve as a weight.

    When I got home at night, I found him sleeping sound, surrounded by all the items I had sent him for our kite. For the next week, we started to work on our masterpiece. We had our time together in the garage, after dinner. Finally, it was finished. The blue silk made it so beautiful. He was obviously eager to fly it soon. “We'll fly it tomorrow, right, Dad?” “Yes, if the weather is right,” I explained that we needed wind to lift the kite off the ground. I was afraid that it might rain. “We'll fly it because I'm going to pray with all my heart for the best kite weather.” He was right. I will never underestimate（低估）the power of a child's prayer any more.

    My son is a dad now, with children of his own. Though we are both busy, we still try to make time for each other. The other day, we met for coffee. While paying for our coffee, his wallet dropped on the ground and something fell out. Suddenly, a flood of memories washed over us as he put back his treasure into wallet—the blue silk with gold threads woven through it.

    Forcing waiters and waitresses to survive on tips from customers rather than normal wages is a pointless, crude, and unique American custom that, in the past several years, a handful of progressive restaurant owners have attempted to do away with. Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, is about to join their ranks and has announced that he plans to gradually stop tipping at the company's 13 restaurants.

    What, exactly, is wrong with tipping? As Brian Palmer has explained, more or less it's everything. To start, leaving a waiter's pay in the hands of customers has a feeling of classism (阶级歧视). And in theory, handing restaurant customers the power to tip is at least supposed to motivate better service. This fails in practice because humans turn out to be pretty arbitrary (随意的) about their tipping behavior. Research has shown that the amount diners tip has very little to do with their level of satisfaction. All of this doesn't encourage waiters and waitresses to do anything but turn over as many tables as possible.

    Tipping is also very unfair to kitchen staff. The law allows restaurants to divide tips between front-of-the-house workers like waiters, hosts, hostesses, and bartenders (调酒师), but not cooks. This creates a system in which the people serving the food in a restaurant can earn more than the people preparing it.

    One of the most fascinating parts of Meyer's move is that, unlike some restaurant owners who have taken an anti-tipping stand, he won't simply add a standard extra charge to diners' bills. Rather, Union Square Hospitality Group means to raise menu prices enough to fully cover the cost of a meal. If Meyer manages to move away from tipping at all without hurting his profits, it would almost certainly set the stage for others to follow suit.

    My grandma whom we all called Nanny was a solid, first-generation, Italian immigrant. She came to this country with her family on a tiny ship during World War I when she was only 8 years old. During the trip she survived stormy seas, little food, and an attack by German U-boat. After getting here, her large family worked hard to build a new life in America. They never had much money but were rich in love.

    One day, when I was about 5 or 6 years old, my parents and brothers went on a trip. It was just me and Nanny in the house for the weekend. Nanny seemed so happy to be taking care of me all by herself. She made me a special breakfast that first morning. However, all I could do was to complain about how the food was not how Mom always made it, Nanny quietly put down the plate and went into the living room. I followed a minute later and saw that she had tears in her eyes. It was the first time I had ever seen my strong and proud grandmother cry and I was the one who had caused it.

    I walked over to Nanny, climbed on her lap, and for the first time in my short life I did something else too. I apologized without being told to and asked Nanny to forgive me. She smiled, rubbed my head, and told me I was a good boy even though I didn't feel like one then.

    That memory just like my Nanny's love will stay in my heart forever. It is a sign of both strength and wisdom. Asking for forgiveness helps us to learn, to grow, and to love.