Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. We go fishing, sit in the garden, have a picnic, live in the suburbs or go to the seaside. The most popular leisure activity in Britain is going for a walk. When joggers jog, they don't run the streets. Every one of them tend to go to the park or the river.

    But despite this, our children are growing up nature­deprived(剥夺). I spent my boyhood climbing trees. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and strange new ideas about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.

    The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD—attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(多动症). Those whose accommodation had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.

    ADHD is one of the great problems of modern childhood. One study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.

    The life of old people is measurably better when they have access to nature. The increasing concern for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality. Even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.

    We need the wild world. It is essential to our well­being, our health and our happiness.

    The new study shows that we spend more time using the mobile Internet reading newspapers or magazines or doing some other things. According to the European Interactive Advertising Association(EIAA), the average European spends 4.8 hours reading newspapers and magazines but 1.6 hours more using the mobile Internet a week.

    The EIAA questioned 15,000 people in 15 European countries, looking at how people are using the Internet and its influence on their everyday lives. It found that the mobile Internet is increasingly finding its way into the public awareness. Over 71 million Europeans now have Internet access on their mobile phones. In the UK, 10 million people now access the Internet through their mobile phones and spend 6.3 hours doing so in a week.

    Unsurprisingly, younger generations in the UK are leading the way, with nearly half of the country's 16-to 24-year-olds and a quarter of 25- to 34-year-olds using the Internet, spending 6.5 and 6.2 hours online each week.

     Entertainment plays a main role in our mobile Internet lives, with one in five British people using their phones for online games, a third listening to the online radio and 39 percent watching films, TV or other videos at least once a week. One third of those using an Internet phone said they received videos, images or other multimedia on their mobile, and 61 percent said they passed on contents they received.

    From a communication point of view, 80 percent of those questioned agreed that the Internet had made it easier for them to stay in touch with friends and family.

    Alison Fennah, director of the EIAA, said the mobile Internet use had come to the point that marketers should be looking to develop strategies (策略) that connect with consumers more effectively. “Better devices as well as improved consumer motivation that start coming together in 2011 can make a great difference to extending the online experience.” Fennah said.

    On the day the tornado hit, there was no indication severe weather was on its way—the sky was blue and the sun had been out. The first alert my husband, Jimmy, 67, and I, 65, got came around 9 p.m., from some scrolling text on the TV Jimmy was watching. He ran upstairs to find me in our third-floor bedroom, and we changed the channel from the presidential primary debate I had been watching to our local Pensacola, Florida, station.

    No sooner had we found coverage of the tornado than it was on top of us. Suddenly, the bones of the house shook, the power went out, and the wind began to roar through blown-out windows. We had three flights of steps to navigate to the relative safety of the first floor, where a closet fixed underneath a brick staircase might be the firmest place to wait things out. Everything around rattling, we struggled forward, uncertain whether we would make it.

    As we reached the last flight of steps, our front door blew out. Shards of glass flew everywhere. A three-foot-long tree branch whipped, missing us by inches.

    By the time I reached the closet, the tornado had been over us for about a minute. Jimmy pushed me down to the closet floor, but the wind kept him outside. I grasped his arm as the tornado constantly sucked the door open and tried to bring him with it. My knees and scalp were full of glass, but I felt no pain. If I had let go, Jimmy would have flown right out the back of the house and into the bay. Then everything stopped. In those first quiet moments, I couldn't believe it was over.

    The storm lasted four minutes. Four of the twelve town houses in our unit were completely destroyed. Of the houses left standing, ours suffered the most damage. Amazingly, none of us were severely injured.

    You can tell a lot about a country by what's on its television sets. Britain's TV screens are completely steeped in class, and have long been so.

    From laughing at poor people in reality shows to laughing at posh people in Downton Abbey, this is how Britain likes to unwind in the evening: by laughing at other classes, and laughing at people for laughing about class.

    Like it or loathe it, many see the class system as a quite essential element of British life, together with our obsession for tea and cake and talking about the weather.

    Whether you are a lord, a lady, or just the king of your own middle class kingdom, everyone in the UK fits into the class system. How the class system works is a hard question even for a British person to answer.

    There are four main groups in the British class system: lower, working, middle and upper class. Although recently the BBC has tried to confuse everyone even more by adding three more categories.

    The British are very aware of class; it is often said that we have an in-built 'class radar'; we pick up on subtle social clues which indicate which class a person comes from. Class is not just about your job, where you live and how much you earn. It's about who you are.

Volunteer with ICS and make a difference in 2019

    Raleigh International are looking for young people to volunteer overseas with ICS, development program which is fully funded by the UK Government, ICS aims to bring about three things: project impact, volunteer personal development and the creation of active citizens.

    •Aged 18-25 Apply as a volunteer. Placements last 10 weeks.

    •Aged 23-35 Apply as a learn leader. Placements last from 14 weeks to 8 months.

    Your impact

    •With Raleigh ICS, you will focus on improving people's access to water and health care, or supporting women and young people to set up small businesses in order to improve community development.

    •You will contribute to sustainable development and make a real difference to the lives of people living in poverty.

    What's in it for you?

    •It won't cost you a penny.

    Your flights, visas, vaccines, training,food, medical insurance and accommodation are all covered.

    •You'll have a completely unique experience.

    Living with a host family for 10-12 weeks, experiencing a new culture and working with local volunteers, you'll be part of the community.

    •You'll be more employable afterwards.

    •You'll gain teamwork, leadership and communication skills, which will make you stand out and set you up well for whichever career you choose.

    Interested? Apply online today.

    Requlrements

    •You'll need a positive attitude, commitment, and drive to make a difference.

    •You must be a UK or EU/EEA citizen and have lived in the UK for at least 12 months.

    •You'll be asked to raise a minimum of £800 to demonstrate your commitment to the program.

    Finding a suitable name for a baby is a big deal in China. When picking out a Chinese name, parents usually select two or three characters that have a carefully thought out meaning, but when deciding on an English name, many of them struggle. That's where Jessup and her company, Special Name, come in. In the last few years, Jessup has helped name 677,900 Chinese babies, and earned over $400,000 in the process, more than enough to pay her college fees.

    Jessup came up with the idea for Special Name in 2015, after accompanying her father on a business trip to China. One of her dad's business partners, a Mrs. Wang, asked her to help choose an English name for her daughter. Jessup felt honored and quickly realized the importance of choosing a proper name in Chinese culture. The woman wanted people to be surprised by the things her daughter could achieve, so Jessup suggested the name "Eliza" after the character Eliza Doolittle from the play Pygmalion. Mrs. Wang seemed delighted with Jessup's choice. "If Mrs. Wang needed this service, maybe other parents would as well," Jessup thought.

    After returning to UK, Jessup borrowed ￡1,500 from her parents and paid a web designer to build a website, She then spent her free time filling up a database(数据库)with around 4,000 English names, associating them with five major personality characteristics, like honesty and optimism.

    In the beginning, Jessup offered the service for free to promote the website, but later, she started charging fees. The business is almost completely self-sufficient, requiring only a small team in China that manages technical operations. She updates the database each month, allowing her to focus full-time on studies.