Luke has always been my closest and constant companion these past five years. In fact, he is very friendly to me especially when I take care of other furry friends in our shelter.

    There have been a lot of forest fires during the summer season. Not far from our shelter, a forest caught fire during this hot summer. Luke rushed towards the forest where flames send out a terrible heat. There's no longer any hope at the moment to wait for Luke to come back to the shelter. In fact, I was waiting for the firemen to announce me his death in the forest. Suddenly, a fireman burst into my office and informed me that my dog Luke succeeded in saving four cats which were trapped by the flames. Luke seized the kittens, one by one moving them to a safe place. I immediately accompanied the fireman to the forest to pick up the rescued kittens, but Luke was not there. Then we heard the sound of a dog came from the forest barking furiously. The firemen followed the tracks of the dog until they found him barking loudly by the side of an injured fireman who was lying on the ground.

    That day, I was very proud of Luke for his two heroic actions. I paid a visit to the fireman accompanied with my adorable Luke. What a memorable scene when the fireman hugged Luke tightly to his chest!”One thousand thanks, Luke, for saving my life,” the fireman said.

    This true story of love and compassion shows us that pets are loving, caring and compassionate. We should love and protect them. Don't belittle them. Little animals can make enormous things for humans.

    A machine that takes sweat-laden (浸满汗水的) clothes and turns the sweat into drinking water is in use in Sweden. The machine makes the clothes turn round quickly, heats them to remove the sweat, and then passes the steam through a kind of special material to make purified water.

    Since it has been brought into use, its creators say more than 1000 people have drunk others' “sweat” in Gothenburg. They add the liquid is cleaner than local tap water.

    The device was built for the United Nations' child-focused charity UNICEF to promote a campaign highlighting the fact that 780 million people in the world lack access to clean water.

    The machine was designed and built by the engineer Andreas Hammar, known locally for his appearances on TV tech show “Mekatronik”. He said the key part of the sweat machine was a new water purification part developed by a company named HVR.

    “It uses a technique called membrane distillation (膜蒸馏),” he told the BBC. “We use a special kind of material that only lets steam through but keeps bacteria, salts, clothing fibers and other things out. They have something similar to the International Space Station, but our machine is cheaper to build. The amount of water it produces depends on how sweaty the person is, but one person's T-shirt typically produces 10ml, about a mouthful.”

    The device has been put on show at the Gothia Cup-the world's largest international youth football tournament. Mattias Ronge, chief executive of Stockholm-based advertising agency Deportivo, said the machine had helped raise awareness for UNICEF, but in reality had its limitations.

    “People haven't produced as much sweat as we hoped – right now the weather in Gothenburg is lousy,” Mattias Ronge said. “So we've equipped the machine with exercise bikes and volunteers are cycling like crazy. Even so, the demand for sweat is greater than the supply. And the machine will never be produced in large numbers, since there are better solutions out there such as water purifying pills.”

    If you're living in or visiting New York, take a few hours to visit one of these places to ice skate during your time in New York City.

    Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park

    The free rink in Manhattan's Bryant Park first opened in 2005 At 17,000 square feet, it is about half the size of the Wollman Rink in Central Park and twice as big as the rink at Rockefeller Center.

    As Manhattan's only free skating rink, and centrally located at that, it tends to be mobbed(闱聚) with waits up to 2 hours on weekend days.

    Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers

    Manhattan's only year-round skating rink is a delight that's been around since 1965 It's large, indoors, and has few lines, and courteous staff It's also, amazingly, open 24 hours a day In the winter it sometimes gets so cold that the ice cracks, but at least they fix it!

    Prices for skating admission is $11 and skate rental $6.

    Riverbank Stile Park Ice Skating Rink

    This sizeable outdoor rink is open to the public Friday through Sunday, and has a root to prevent December snows and April rain .And since Riverbank Stale Park overlooks the Hudson, you'll have nice views of the river and the George Washington Bridge as a backdrop.

    Admission is S5 for adults, children S3 Skate rental is $6 The Ice Kink at Rockefeller Center Ice skating at Rockefeller Center is a truly unique New York holiday staple(重要内容). It is the most sumptuous(豪华的)getting for skating Since opening on Christmas Day back in 1936 this skating rink has been an institution at the Rockefeller.

    Admission is $25—$32 for adults, children up to 12 years S15, skate retual $12.

    As winter set in, it's the perfect time to get out of town and escape the seasonal mood disorder. Here are vacation ideas to adopt now.

    Costa Rica

    Costa Rica, located in the Valle del General, is an off-the-radar agriculture town that's not overrun with tourists. The area is known for its coffee, pineapples and sugar cane plantations, as well as its rich forests. What's more, you can enjoy horseback riding, spend afternoons at the spa or tour a nearby wildlife shelter to look out for colorful birds, sloths and other animals.

    Los Cabos, Mexico

    If you love wine, travel to Los Cabos, a beautiful vacation destination at the southern edge of the Baja Peninsula. During your getaway, you can enjoy special wine tastings and dinner cooked by Los Cabos's Michelin-starred chef. There are wildlife-viewing opportunities, too. From December through May, you can spot whales, manta rays and more wildlife.

    Petit St Vincent, the Grenadines

    This private Caribbean island was spared the anger of hurricanes Irma and Maria. What's more, the whole island is only 115 acres and has 22 cottages. Each cottage is located in a quiet place, and you can expect to unplug and recharge phones with no wireless connections, televisions or telephones in the cottages. Even better, you can spend your days admiring fascinating marine (海洋的) life at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Diving Caribbean center.

    The Exumas, Bahamas

    On Fowl Cay's 50-acre private island, you can enjoy a carefree escape. Days can be spent fishing, boating and diving before wandering along white sands. The resort features large one-, two- and three-bedroom houses. Best of all, if you're planning a group getaway or multigenerational trip, you rent the entire island for a one-of-a-kind island escape.

Humans act with purpose, but much is still unknown about how we become purposeful agents — that is, how we develop the ability to willfully make things happen. In a recent study to explore agency's mysterious roots, we tried to catch infants (婴儿) in the act of discovering their own agency, thereby revealing the process of agency formation.

Researchers place a baby into a cradle with a mobile suspended above. Then a scientist ties one end of a string to the mobile and the other to the infant's foot. Now if the baby moves, the toy will, too. By observing babies in this setup, scientists can watch as the infants learn and recall a simple cause-and-effect interaction: kick a foot and the mobile moves.

As predicted by the researchers, infants kicked significantly more when their foot was tethered (拴住) to the mobile than when it was not. However, when an experimenter pulled the string to make the mobile move instead, infants moved less than when the mobile was at rest. Furthermore, when we freed the babies' foot from the mobile, they kept on kicking at higher rate to make the toy respond — and were visibly frustrated when that did not happen.

Our observations also pointed to a notable pattern: The babies' initial movements consisted of twisting and pushing without clear direction. But once tethered to the mobile, the more intensely they moved, the more their attention was drawn to the effect their kicking had on it. At some point, the infants must have figured out that they had agency, thus the aimless movements became intentional action — a highly coordinated exchange between the tethered infant and the mobile.

The baby-mobile study emphasizes how understanding the relationship between an organism and its environment is essential to uncovering the origins of directed behavior. The experience of agency emerges only when an organism senses it is coupled to its environment. In this way of thinking, the interaction and relationship between the two are crucial for purpose to arise.

Last year, I baked biscuits for complete strangers to say "thank you". I'd had to call 999 because I found my husband unconscious on the floor. Within minutes, a police car arrived and soon my husband received medical care in hospital.

A week later, when I dropped off still-warm biscuits and presented a thank-you note at the police station, the policemen thanked me for delivering gifts.

I drove away feeling light and happy. Later, I realized that my natural high might have been more than it seemed. Research has shown that sharing gratitude has positive effects on health. People who express gratitude will increase their happiness levels, lower their blood pressure and get better sleep.

What about people who receive gratitude? Research has confirmed that when people receive thanks, they experience positive emotions. "Those are happy surprises," says Jo-Ann Tsang, a professor of psychology. When someone is thanked, he's more likely to return the favouror pass kindness on, and his chances of being helpful again doubles, probably because he enjoys feeling socially valued.

The give-and-take of gratitude also deepens relationships. Studies show that when your loved ones regularly express gratitude, making you feel appreciated, you're more likely to return appreciative feelings, which leads to more satisfactory in your relationships.

Nowadays, however, many people don't express gratitude. Our modern lifestyle may be to blame. With commercial and social media, everything is speeding the younger generation to feel they're the centre of the world. If it's all about them, why thank others?

Why not thank others? Just take a look at how many positive effects can saying "thank you" have on personal health—and the well-being of others.

If you aren't particularly grateful, I strongly suggest you learn to be. People who are instructed to keep gratitude journals, in which they write down positive things that happen to them, cultivate（培养） gratitude over time.