What would it be like to walk on Mars? If you could build the highest building in the world，what would it look like? Do you dream of being the next J. K. Rowling? This summer, you can experience all of these things, and more. All you need is an Internet connection and your imagination.

    A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that kids spend an average of 1 hour and 29 minutes online each day. Many kids like to use that time to chat with friends, play games or check e­mails. But the next time you get on the Web, try exploring the world instead. “With the Internet，you can go back 11,000 years in time，or go 11,000 kilometers across the planet.” said Russell, Web search expert of Google. “The whole scope of history and the world is open to you.”

    There is a wealth of information to be found online. For example, if your family is going on vacation somewhere, do a quick online search on the area before you even get in the car. “What's the background of the place; what's the history？” says Russell. “I like to tell my kids, ‘Whenever you have a question, whenever you have a doubt, search it out.'”

    Ready to launch a virtual journey of your own? Here are a few starting points to get you thinking and to help you on your way. You can invite your parents along for the ride, too. Always ask for permission before downloading programs and software onto your computer. And check with a parent or an adult before visiting any new Web site.

    Navigate the world in 3­D with Google Earth. Begin in outer space and zoom (快速移动) into the streets of any city, from Hong Kong to San Francisco. Or visit ancient monuments, watch the changing rainforests over time, and dive underwater to explore tropical reef.

    With the Moon in Google Earth tool, you can walk in Neil Armstrong's famous footsteps. Take a guided tour of the moon's surface with Armstrong's fellow shuttle mate astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

    When you're exploring that part of the solar system, hop on over to the Red Planet with Google Mars. There, you can move very quickly around the surface and see images from the Mars Rovers.

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    The value-packed, all-inclusive sight-seeing package that combines the best of Sydney's harbor, city, bay and beach highlights. 

    A Sydney Pass gives you unlimited and flexible travel on the Explore Buses: the ‘red' Sydney Explorer shows you around our exciting city sights while the ‘blue' Bondi Explorer visits Sydney Harbor bays and famous beaches. Take to the water on one of three magnificent daily harbor cruises(游船). You can also travel free on regular Sydney Buses, Sydney Ferries or City Rail services (limited area), so you can go to every corner of this beautiful city.

    Imagine browsing at Darling Harbor, tasting the famous seafood at Watsons Bay or enjoying the lights on an evening ferry cruise. The possibilities and plans are endless with a Sydney Pass. Wherever you decide to go, remember that bookings are not required on any of our services so tickets are treated on a first in, first seated basis.

    Sydney Passes are available for 3,5 or 7 days for use over a 7-calendar period. With a 3 or 5-day pass you choose on which days out of the 7 you want to use it. All Sydney Passes include a free Airport Express inward trip before starting your 3,5 or 7 days, and the return trip is valid (有效的) for 2 months from the first day your ticket was used

Sydney Pass Fares

*A child is defined as anyone from the ages of 4 years under 16 years. Children under 4 years travel free.

**A family is defined as 3 adults and any number of children from 4 to under 16 years of age from the same family.

    Now, I've talked much about education. I've talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn. I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV .I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards.

    But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world-and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. That's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.

    I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

    And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.

    That's okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. J.K. Rowling's who wrote Harry Potter- her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's why I succeed.”

And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

    “I could see a huge flow (流动) of water, coming down fast from very high. I had no idea of shape, or situation, or anything. It was just so big.”

    These are the words of the great English writer Charles Dickens. He wrote them when he was visiting Niagara Falls. This waterfall is on the border (边界) of the United States and Canada. It is one of the largest in the world, and the largest in North America.

    Niagara Falls is on the Niagara River. The river divides just before the waterfall, and there are actually three waterfalls. On the American side are American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. Horseshoe Falls is mostly on the Canadian side. The name comes from its shape — like a horseshoe, in a half circle. Horseshoe Falls is the widest of the three.

    People mainly know about Niagara Falls because of its size and natural beauty. However, the Niagara River is also an important source of electricity.

    In the 1890s, the Westinghouse Electric Company built a large power system (电力系统) on the river. Many other companies also hoped to use the land around Niagara Falls for factories and power systems. However, around the same time, many people began to work to protect the natural area. Soon, the governments of the United States and Canada got involved with it. They protected the land around Niagara Falls. They made parks — green, natural areas. No one could buy this land for factories. For hundreds of years, millions of people have visited Niagara Falls to enjoy its beauty.

    I was having a great morning until I sat down in front of my office computer. "Your password has expired(过期)," a server message flashed on my screen, with instructions for changing it.

    Coming up with a new code doesn't seem like a big deal, unless you work at my company, where we have to change it monthly, using at least one uppercase character, one lowercase character, one symbol, and one numeral. Oh, and the whole darn thing can't be fewer than eight characters. And I can't use any of the same passwords I've used in the past three months.

    Suddenly I was furious. What didn't make it any better was that I was deeply depressed after my recent divorce. Disbelief over what she had done to me was all I thought about. Every day.

    My anger didn't mean anything to the empty input field with a pulsating cursor (闪动的光标), waiting for me to type a password that I'd have to re-enter — many times — for the next 30 days. I remembered a tip I'd heard from my former boss. He'd said, "I'm going to use a password to change my life."

    I couldn't focus on getting things done in my current mood. There were clear indicators of what I needed to do to regain control of my life, but I couldn't notice them.

    My password became the indicator. My password reminded me that I shouldn't let myself be a victim of my recent breakup and that I was strong enough to do something about it.

    I made my password Forgive@h3r.

    I had to type this statement several times a day. Each time my computer would lock. Each time my screen saver with her photo would appear. Each time I would come back from eating lunch alone. In my mind, I wrote Forgive her every day.

    The simple action changed the way I looked at my ex-wife. That constant reminder of reconciliation led me to accept the way things had happened at the end of my marriage and embrace a new way of dealing with my depression. As the month wore on, I felt a slow healing begin to take place. By the time my server prompted me to reset my password the following month, I felt free.

    One month later, my dear Exchange server asked me yet again to reset my password. I thought about the next thing that I had to get done.

    My password became Quit@smoking4ever.

    I quit smoking overnight. This password was a painful one to type during that month, but doing it helped me to yell at myself in my mind as I typed that statement. It motivated me to follow my monthly goal.

    One month later, my password became Save4trip@thailand.

    Guess where I went three months later: Thailand.

    Seeing how these reminders helped to materialize my goals kept me motivated and excited. While it's sometimes difficult to come up with your next goal, keeping at it brings great results.

    Here is a simplified extract of what some of my passwords have been in the past two years, so you get an idea of how my life has changed, thanks to this method:

    Forgive@h3r To my ex-wife, who started it all.

    Quit@smoking4ever it worked.

    Save4trip@thailand it worked.

    Eat2times@day it never worked, still fat.

    Sleep@before12 it worked.

    Ask@her4date it worked. I fell in love again.

    No@drinking2months it worked. I feel better.

    Get@c4t! It worked. I have a beautiful cat.

    MovE@togeth3r it worked.

    Facetime2mom@sunday it worked. I talk with Mom every week.

    And the one for last month: Save4@ring Yep. Life is gonna change again soon.

    In 1963, at age 65, my grandfather, Erwin, decided to build a new house. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the old house since it sat where the new house would be. He finally hired a powerful vehicle to push it far out into a small group of trees. That old house sits there to this very day.

    Erwin and his wife, Elida, passed away, and I purchased the farm from their estate. My wife and I raised our sons on this place and have lived here for more than 30 years. When we first moved in, my wife took one look at the deserted house and declared it a hidden danger. I agreed and planned on a large bonfire. But I thought it appropriate to check out the house first, just in case something of worth had been left behind.

    I walked through the tall grass in the meadow where the old house sat. Time had worn it out. The entrance floor had fallen down on itself and most of the windows were gone. We entered through an open window. ①Here lay the reminders of my grandparents' lives: a broken chair, some old clothes ... But the thing that drew my eye was a cardboard box stuffed with papers. I dug through its contents and was instantly transported back in time. There was a tax return from 1957. Greeting cards from old friends and relatives, now all dead and gone. An uncle's third-grade spelling book. So sweet were the memories that the old house was spared the torch.

    As we hurried through our lives, my visits grew infrequent. I might catch a glimpse of the house through the trees and remembered how, as a child, I would struggle to walk in my father's footprints. Even then, I could imagine no nobler calling than farming, just like Dad. Then, one April morning, my father was felled by a massive heart attack, at age 68. The entire family was shocked by his passing, none more than me. Why I visited that old house on a day shortly after my father's funeral is still beyond me. It was as though it were calling; even the trees seemed to whisper an invitation to come, to visit, to stay awhile.

    ②As I stood once again on that ancient floor, my eye was drawn to a pile of papers on the floor. An envelope, yellowed with age, lay on top. A blue stamp on the envelope read "Passed by Naval Censor" How could I have missed this treasure? My father had served aboard the USS Washington during World War II and had written home whenever he could. My grandmother saved all of his letters.

    I removed one letter carefully from its envelope. ③It was dated September 1944. My father would have been somewhere in the South Pacific at that time and all of 18 years old. T studied the familiar handwriting. Dad wondered how the com harvest had been. He supposed that his youngest brother was starting first grade and imagined that he was becoming quite the little man. He asked his mother to greet everyone and said that he missed them all.

    It wasn't hard to read between the lines. Here was a homesick young man, a kid really, who had spent his entire life living upon a sea of flat land grass. Now he was on a different kind of sea, an ocean that was being disturbed by the thunder and the lightning of a world at war. At the bottom of the page, my father had passed on one last message. ④Tears burned my eyes as I read those words he had so carefully emphasized: "All is well here. Please don't worry. I am doing fine."

    As I left the old house that day, I took one last glance back at it over my shoulder. I don't care what any one thinks, I decided. That old house gets to stay there until it rots into the earth.