Big Brothers Big Sisters is based on the simplicity and power of friendship．It is a program which provides friendship and fun by matching vulnerable young people (ages 7-17) with a volunteer adult who can be both a role model and a supportive friend.

    Volunteer tutors come from all walks of life—married, single, with or without children. Big Brothers and Big Sisters are not replacement parents or social workers. They are tutors: someone to trust, to have fun with, to talk and go to when needed.

    A Big Sister and Little Sister will generally spend between one and four hours together three or four times each month for at least twelve months. They enjoy simple activities such as a picnic at a park, cooking, playing sport or going to a football match. These activities improve the friendship and help the young person develop positive self-respect, confidence and life direction.

    Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations exist throughout the world. It is the largest and most well-known provider of tutor services internationally and has been operating for 25 years.

    Emily and Sarah have been matched since 2008. Emily is a 10-year-old girl who has experienced some difficulties being accepted by her schoolmates at school. “ I was pretty sure there was something wrong with me.”

    Emily's mum came across Big Brothers Big Sisters and thought it would be of benefit to Emily by “providing different feedback (反馈) about herself other than just relying on schoolmates to measure her self-worth.

    Sarah wanted to get involved in a volunteer program. “I googled it and found out how to be a part of it. I thought it would be fun for me to get involved in making time to do something because sometimes it is all work and no play.”

    Big Brothers Big Sisters has been of great benefit and enjoyment to both Emily and Sarah. They love and look forward to their time together and the partnership has certainly helped Emily be more comfortable in being the wonderful, happy and unique girl she is!

    One of the greatest contributions to the first Oxford English Dictionary was also one of its most unusual. In 1879, Oxford University in England asked Prof. James Murray to serve as editor for what was to be the most ambitious dictionary in the history of the English language. It would include every English word possible and would give not only the definition but also the history of the word and quotations (引文)showing how it was used.

    This was a huge task. So Murrary had to find volunteers from Britain, the United States, and the British colonies to search every newspaper, magazine, and book ever written in English. Hundreds of volunteers responded, including William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor was an American Surgeon who had served in the Civil War and was now living in England. He gave his address as “Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire,” 50 miles from Oxford.

    Minor joined the army of volunteers sending words and quotations to Murray. Over the next years, he became one of the staff's most valued contributors.

    But he was also a mystery. In spite of many invitations, he would always decline to visit Oxford. So in 1897， Murray finally decided to travel to Crowthorne himself. When he arrived, he found Minor locked in a book-lined cell at the Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally insane.

    Murray and Minor became friends, sharing their love of words. Minor continued contributing to the dictionary, sending in more than 10,000 submissions in 20 years. Murray continued to visit Minor regularly, sometimes taking walks with him around the asylum grounds.

    In 1910, Minor left Broadmoor for an asylum in his native America. Murray was at the port to wave goodbye to his remarkable friend.

    Minor died in 1920, seven years before the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. The 12 volumes defined 414,825 words, and thousands of them were contributions from a very scholarly and devoted asylum patient.

    Eight days for just ¥12,000

    Departs: 12, Dec. 2017

    Includes：

    Return flights from 6 China's airports to Naples

    Return airport to hotel transport

    Seven nights' accommodation at the 3 star Hotel Nice

    Breakfast

    The service of guides

    Government taxes

    Join us for a wonderful holiday in one of the Europe's most wonderful comers—Naples in Italy if you want to have a nice time in a beautiful small quiet place. The ancient Romans called the city “happy land” with attractive coastline, colorful towns, splendid views and the warm Mediterranean Sea. Your best choice for a truly memorable holiday!

    Choose between the peaceful traditional villages of Sant' Agata, set on a hillside six miles away from Sorrento, or the more lively and well-known international resort own of Sorrento, with wonderful views over the Bay of Naples.

    Breathtaking scenery, famous sights and European restaurants everywhere. From the mysterious Isle of Capri to the hunting ruins of Pompeii, and from the unforgettable “Amalfi Drive” to the delightful resorts of Positano, Sorrento and Ravello, the area is a feast for the eyes! Join us and you won't be disappointed!

    Price based on two tourists sharing a double room at the Hotel Nice. A single room, another ¥2,000. A group often college students, ¥10,000 for each.

    Like to know more? Telephone Newmarket Air Holidays Ltd on: 0845-226-7788 (All calls charged at local rates).

    Sam, I say to myself as I start across the bridge, you must stop these thoughts and start thinking about what to do now that you have lost your falcon（猎鹰）, Frightful.

    Life, my friend Bando once said, is meeting problems and solving them whether you are an amoeba or a space traveler. I have a problem. I have to provide my younger sister Alice and myself with meat. Fish, nuts, and vegetables, are good and necessary, but they don't provide enough fuel for the hard physical work we do. Although we have venison（鹿肉） now, I can't always count on getting it. So far this year, our venison has been only road kill from in front of Mrs. Strawberry's farm.

    I decide to take the longest way home, down the flood plain of the West Branch of Delaware to Spilkill, my own name for a fast stream, that cascades down the south face of the mountain range I'm on. I need time to think. Perhaps Alice and I should be like the early Eskimos. We should walk, camp and hunt, and when the seasons change, walk on to new food sources. But I love my tree and my mountaintop.

    Another solution would be to become farmers, like the people of the Iroquois Confederacy who once lived here. They settled in villages and planted corn and squash（南瓜）, bush beans and berries. We already grow groundnuts in the damp soil and squash in the poor land. But the Iroquois also hunted game. I can't do that anymore

    I'm back where I started from.

    Slowly climb the Spillkill. As I hop from rock to rock beneath shady basswoods and hemlocks, I hear the cry of the red﹣tailed hawk who nests on the mountain crest. I am reminded of Frightful and my heart aches. I can almost hear her call my name, Cree, cree, car-ree.

    Maybe l can get her back if l beg the man who is in charge of the peregrines（游隼） university. "But it's the law," he would say. L could write to the president of the United states and ask him to make an exception of Alice and me. That won't work. The president swore to upload the constitution（宪法） and laws of the United States when he took office.

    I climbed on. I must stop thinking about the impossible and solve the problem of what to do now. I must find a new way to provide for us. Frightful is going to be in good hands at the university and she will have young.

    I smile at the thought of little Frightfuls and lift my reluctant feet.

    When I am fat above the river,1take of my clothes and moccasins（鹿皮鞋） and bathe in a deep, clear pool until I am refreshed and thinking more clearly. Climbing up the bank, I dress and sit down. I breath deeply of the mountain air and try to solve my problem more realistically.

Harry, the first camel to arrive in Australia in 1840, was an unlucky beast. He was imported from the Canary Islands by explorer John Horrocks. On an expedition (探险), Horrocks picked up his gun in order to shoot “a beautiful bird to be added to the collection.” Perhaps Harry was an ecologist —- he lurched (突然倾斜), and the gun discharged, shooting Horrocks in the face.

    Horrocks not surprisingly died of his injuries, and his treatments ordered Harry to be shot. The first importation of a camel into Australia came to naught.

    In 1860, 24 camels arrived in Australia to be part of an expedition by explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills. It was an unlucky expedition. The pair made one mistake after another, and ended up eating most of their camels, before starving to death.

    Six years later, more than 100 camels and their Afghan minders, arrived in Australia. This time it succeeded and thousands more camels followed.

    Sir Thomas Elder set up the first camel studs (种畜场) in South Australia, while others were set up in Western Australia. This time the camels bred (繁殖) like wildfire. They were used for working, rather than exploring expeditions.

    The imported Afghan cameleers were just as hardy and vital, leading camel trains across the cruel interior (腹地) of Australia, where few dared to go. The camels carried heavy packs of wool and supplies and opened up the desert areas as none had managed to do before. The train that does this crossing today is called The Ghan, in their honor.

    Motorization put these camel trains out of business, and many camels were turned loose. The camels loved Australia, and multiplied in amazing numbers. What is to be done with them?

    Not surprisingly they have become quite a tourist attraction and you can take a camel ride in the desert as the Afghan cameleers once did. But the fact is that camels create quite a problem in areas where they have taken over, as they damage local vegetation, muscle out native animals competing for food, and create chaos when they wander into settled area.

Damarie Thomas, a twelve-year-old Jamaican teen, was concentrating on practising his skills for the upcoming football contest when he felt a hard tackle(抢断球) from behind, which pushed him to the ground. His world changed overnight. Though his injuries did not result in paralysis(瘫痪), they were serious enough to affect his movement. It was the last time that he had played football.

Now Thomas is an adult and he uses a wheelchair to travel distances. Despite a number of difficulties, he perseveres in his attempts to walk. He proudly claims that from being able to move only two steps at a time, he can now do five steps unaided. Limited resources have influenced his treatment, but he is hopeful that he will be able to complete recovery soon. Having an experience like this would have broken many an adult, but not this young man. "It's not what happens but how you come back from it that counts," he said.

After his injury, Thomas did well in his primary school exams and gained a place at one of the top-rated high schools in Jamaica. However, at that time the school was not equipped to accommodate a physically disabled student and he had to accept a transfer to a high school near his home.

It is a blessing that Thomas has now signed up for an information technology course at Abilities Foundation, proudly claiming his improvement by learning coding(编码). The Abilities Foundation aims to equip the disabled with skills through training. The training centre encourages Thomas to chase his dream — he wants to become a successful software engineer, creating innovative technology accessible and beneficial to all, especially people with disabilities.