Fort Scott High School English teacher Emily Rountree has been working this semester to raise money for Charity Water, a nonprofit organization that uses 100 percent public donations to help fund water projects in places without access to clean drinking water. Her goal was to motivate her students to use their writing in class to make a real-world difference. Twelve students got top grades for the project, and their articles will be published both in The Tribune and online. Here is one example:

    Did you know that there are many countries around the world that dont have access to safe drinking water? Just think: that could be you, or someone in your family. My name is Tanner Johnson, and I attend Fort Scott High School. In my English classes, we are trying to raise money for Charity Water. Charity Water is an organization that helps people get water in countries where there is no safe drinking water.

    In developing countries, 780 million people dont have access to clean drinking water. In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking to get water. Women and children are the ones that mainly do the walking. They could be attacked or get hurt while they travel to get water. When they do get home, the water that they have brought is unsafe water from swamps, ponds, or rivers. If they had safe drinking water, they wouldnt have to worry about these problems, and they wouldnt be wasting hours of their day. Unsafe drinking water causes many different kinds of diseases that could lead to death.

    You could help save someones life, by donating $20 so we can help get them some safe drinking water. You can easily donate online at mycharitywater.org/fshsenglish, or you can send a check to Emily Rountree, payable to Fort Scott High School. If we dont help these people, then who will?

    Given Australia's size and the fact that early settlements were far apart, Australian society is remarkably homogeneous (同种的). The way of life in the major cities and towns is much the same, however many miles divide them. It takes a sharp ear to tell the differences between regional accents.

    However, there is some difference in lifestyle between people in the city and those in the countryside. Almost 90 per cent of the population lives in the fast-paced cities along the coast and has little more than a passing familiarity with the desert. The major cities keep some colonial (殖民的) heritage, but the overall impression is modern, with new buildings reflecting the country's youth. By comparison, the rural communities tend to be slow-moving. For many years, Australia was said to have “ridden on the sheep's back”, a reference to wool being the country's main money-earner. However, the wool industry is no longer dominant. Much of Australia's economy is now achieved from natural coal and wheat, and by being the largest diamond producer in the world. Newer industries such as tourism and wine making are also increasingly important. Australians are generally friendly and relaxed, with a self-deprecating sense of humor. On the whole, Australia is a society without hierarchies (等级制度), an attitude generally held to stem from its prisoner beginnings.

    Yet, contrary to popular belief, very few Australians have true prisoner origins. Within only one generation of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Australia had become a nation of immigrants. Originally coming almost entirely from the British Isles, today one in three Australians comes from elsewhere. Australia's liberal postwar immigration policies (政策) led to a growing number of survivors from war-torn Europe, most notably Greeks, Italians, Poles and Germans.

    The emphasis has changed in recent years and today most of the new immigrants are from Southeast Asia. Today Australia is a ‘blend of nations' and although some racial (种族的) problems exist, it has generally been a successful experiment and the country is proud to have one of the most harmonious multicultural communities in the world.

    Up to 60 Shanghai maths teachers are to be brought to England to raise standards, in an exchange arranged by the Department for Education.The announcement comes as a campaign is launched to raise adult maths skills.A survey of 300 adults for the numeracy campaign found that over a third thought their level of maths had held them back.An accompanying economic analysis said that a lack of maths skills cost the UK 20 billion pounds per year.

    The plan to bring 60 English-speaking maths teachers from Shanghai is an attempt to learn from a city that has been the top performance in the OECD's Pisa tests.The OECD says that children of poor families in Shanghai are on average better at maths than middle class children in the UK.The Shanghai teachers, expected to arrive from the autumn, will help share their teaching methods, support pupils who are struggling and help to train other teachers.

    “We have some smart maths teachers in this country but what I saw in Shanghai-and other Chinese cities-has only strengthened my belief that we can learn from them.” said education minister, Elizabeth Truss, who has recently visited Shanghai, accompanied by head teachers from England, “They have a can-do attitude to maths-and I want us to match that, and their performance,” She stressed the economic significance of raising maths standards, for individuals and the country.'As part of our long term economic plan, we are determined to drive up standards in our schools and give our young people the skills they need to succeed in the global race.Good maths qualifications have the greatest earning potential and provide the strongest protection against unemployment,” said the education minister.

    For the business traveler who is all about efficiency: Check out these hotels that will get you in and out with a minimum of trouble. When you are pressed for time on a business trip, nothing can infuriate you more than a slow hotel check-in process. On your next trip, try these hotels that offer a speedier check-in process.

⒈Yotel New York

    The self-service kiosks at this high-tech New York hotel work just like the ones you'd see at an airport. There are just five-steps to register and obtain your card key. There is even a robotic luggage bellboy. You tap in the number of bags you are carrying and sizes, then wait for a robot arm to swing down and store your luggage in a locker (say, for a day trip). This also speeds up the check-in process if the first thing you need to do, like me, is head to a series of meetings.

⒉Marriott Detroit Airport

    Another option for business travelers in a hurry: Marriott is rolling out its mobile check-in app to 325 hotels this year, including the Marriott Detroit Airport hotel. (I've tested the app itself but not for a real visit quite yet.) Here is the basic idea: you download the iphone or Android app. The night before, you can “check-in” virtually. When you arrive, you get an alert that the room is ready and your key, which is already tied to your reservation, is waiting for you at the desk.

⒊Hyatt Regency Minneapolis

    I happened to stay at this hotel recently and liked how fast the kiosk check-in works. Like the Yotel, the kiosk asks you to insert your credit card, similar to an airport terminal. The whole process took about three minutes, when I left, I was equally impressed with the fast check-out. An agent meets you in the lobby with an ipad and asks for an email to use for a receipt. The big advantage: you never have to wait in line.

⒋Radisson: LaCrosse

    The Radisson is trying to make the kiosk process even faster, at a few select hotels like the Radisson Lacrosse in Wisconsin, you use a mobile app to register and then receive a barcode by email or text. When you get to the kiosk, you scan the barcode to get your key without any other steps required. It's super fast. You can find this new check-in system at the Radisson hotels in Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Phoenix as well.

    "Tomorrow is another day" — this line has impressed various people at various times. It's now 70 years after it appeared in the film, but it still seems to hold its power especially during an economic downturn.

    The phrase comes from a film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's successful 1936 novel Gone With the Wind. It's set in the American South and tells the story of a strong heroine, Scarlett O' Hara, who struggles to find love during the Civil War and, afterwards, of her strength in surviving the war and its hardships.

    Love story

    In a moment of despair, Scarlett finally realizes that her love belongs to Rhett Butler. For many audiences, it is the theme of love and struggle that has kept the movie alive. While the burning of Atlanta might seem irrelevant (不相关的) to today's viewers, the timeless theme of love keeps its ability to touch people.

    With a promise to her lover still in her mind, Scarlett chooses to stay in the midst of war and take care of Melanie. But her heart is broken when Rhett just walks away, leaving the woman that he once loved with cruel words, "Frankly, dear, I don't give a damn." (毫不在乎)

    Great epic (史诗)

    The film shows the love-hate relationship of these characters, but also American history, the fall of the Confederacy and the following period of Reconstruction in the South. The background made this film a true classic in the epic genre.

    When the film opened after World War II, French viewers loved it, and it reminded them of their fight against the Nazis. In 1940 Shanghai, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (侵略), people stood in line for hours to watch this film, and saw the same suffering they were having as well as the hope and possibility of building a new homeland from the ruins. Each nationality could identify with the story and see it as a victory. In fact, Gone With the Wind never lost its charm and ability to inspire and amaze.

    Biggest of all time

    The film had five directors, 15-plus screenwriters, and an unexpected $3.9 million budget. The film brought in $200 million, which makes it the biggest selling film of all times in North America. It also won 10 Academy awards in 1940.

    Move over, helicopter parents. "Snowplow(扫雪机) parents" are the newest reflection of an intensive(强化的) parenting style that can include parents booking their adult children haircuts, texting their college kids to wake them up so they don't sleep through a test, and even calling their kids' employers.

    Helicopter parenting, the practice of wandering anxiously near one's children, monitoring their every activity, is so 20th century. Some rich mothers and fathers now are more like snowplows: machines moving ahead, clearing any difficulties in their children's path to success, so they don't have to suffer failure, frustration(挫折)or lose opportunities.

    It starts early, when parents get on wait lists for excellent preschools before their babies are born and try to make sure their kids never do anything that may frustrate them. It gets more intense when school starts: running forgotten homework to school or calling a coach to request that their children make the team.

    Rich parents may have more time and money to devote to making sure their children don't ever meet with failure, but it's not only rich parents practicing snowplow parenting. This intensive parenting has become the most welcome way to raise children, regardless of income, education, or race.

    Yes it's a parent's job to support the children, and to use their adult wisdom to prepare for the future when their children aren't mature enough to do so. That's why parents hide certain toys from babies to avoid getting angry or take away a teenager's car keys until he finishes his college applications.

    But snowplow parents can take it too far, some experts say. If children have never faced a difficulty, what happens when they get into the real world?

    "Solving problems, taking risks and overcoming frustration are key life skills," many child development experts say, "and if parents don't let their children experience failure, the children don't acquire them."