My son was a second-grader. He went to school by bus every day. He was the first student on in the morning, as we were farthest from school, and the last student off in the evening. I was a teacher myself and it was a comfort to realize the school staff (职员) were all working as hard as I was to provide a safe learning environment.

    One day I came home from work and waited for my s on to get home for a long time. Then I called the school. “Perhaps he's just a bit late,” said the secretary. “I will call the driver to see if those children are home.” A few minutes later, I answered the phone to hear that the other students were home. Then I called his friends' parents, to see if perhaps he had gotten off at their stop to play. The answers were all “No.”

    By that time, it was dark and I was scared. My home was in the mountain areas, and it was said that a wolf had come up somewhere. My husband wasn't at home, so I forced myself to calm down and decided to go out to look for him. I was about to go out when the telephone rang; it was from the driver. “He's okay,” I heard. “He was asleep on the seats in the back, under a couple of jackets. Since it's dark, can he spend the night with my family?”

    I was relieved and agreed. Since my son had a great adventure, the school started giving a copy of the list to the driver, so he could check off the children's names when they got off the bus. I think highly of the school for taking the cautionary (警戒的) step ahead; it is a sign of their concern for students, parents, and staff.

    There is a story about a man who lost his legs and left arm in an accident. After the accident, only a finger and thumb on his right hand remained.

    He was a brilliant, creative, and educated man. He had gained a lot of experience while traveling around the world, so he became very depressed after his accident. He was afraid that he would spend the rest of his life suffering and would no longer be able to spend his life in a meaningful way. Then, he realized that he still had partial function of his right hand and could still write even though it was very difficult. An idea occurred to him. "Why not write to other people who need encouragement?"

    He wrote to the prison ministry about sending letters to the prisoners. The prison minister replied, "Writing to the prisoners is acceptable, but your letters will not be answered."

    Filled with excitement, the man knew he could write his letters. He began sending one-way messages of God's love, hope, strength, and encouragement. He wrote twice a week, testing his strength and ability to the limit. He poured his heart and soul into his words and shared his experience, sense of humor, optimism, and faith.

    It was difficult to write those letters, especially without hope of a reply. One day he received a letter from the prison ministry. It was a short note from the officer who monitored and checked the prison mail.

    The letter said, "Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from cell to cell until they literally fall to pieces!"

    No matter what circumstances life may present, we all have unique experiences, abilities, and God-given talents. We can discover ways to reach others who desperately need messages of encouragement and strength.

    Little New Year (Chinese: Xiaonian), usually a week before the lunar New Year, falls on Feb 8 this year. It is also known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, the deity(神) who oversees the moral character of each household. Here are six things you should know about the Little New Year, another sign of the start of spring.

    ⒈Offer sacrifices to Kitchen God

    One of the most distinctive traditions of the Little New Year is the burning of a paper image of the Kitchen God, who will report on the family's conduct over the past year. The offerings to the Kitchen God include pig's head, fish, sweet bean paste, melons, fruit, boiled dumplings, barley sugar, and Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat. Most of the offerings are sweets of various varieties. It is thought that this will seal the Kitchen God's mouth and encourage him to only say good things about the family when he ascends to heaven to make his report.

    ⒉House cleaning

    According to Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities' timely departure people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their houses, down to every last drawer and cupboard.

    ⒊Eat Guandong candy

    Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat, is a traditional snack that Chinese people eat on the Festival of the Kitchen God.

    ⒋Paste paper-cuts to windows

    In the Little New Year, old couplets and paper-cuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down, and new window decorations, New Year's posters, and auspicious(吉利的) decorations are pasted up.

    ⒌Bath and hair-cut

    As the old Chinese saying goes, whether they're rich or poor, people often have a haircut before the Spring Festival. The activity of taking bath and haircut is often taken on the Little New Year.

    ⒍Preparations for Spring Festival

    People start to stock up necessary provisions for the Spring Festival since the Little New Year. Everything needed to make offerings to the ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be purchased in advance.

    An earthquake is one of the most common natural disasters. It may cause great damage. So it is wise to learn some simple safety tips to protect yourself or your family members.

    Fragile items, like those made of glass should usually be placed on a lower surface, near the ground instead of placing them on cupboards higher up. Never place them near your bed, sofas and other furniture where you would be sitting or lying down. When there is a strong movement, these pieces will fall on the floor directly and not on you.

    There is a strong chance of short circuit (短路) and fire breakouts during an earthquake. Make sure you turn off electrical connections and gas immediately when an earthquake happens.

    During an earthquake, lie beneath an object that is not easily damaged. Do not go near objects that could directly fall on you. Never use the elevator to go down. Stay inside until the shaking stops and it is safe to go outside. Research has shown that most injuries happen when people inside buildings try to go out. Use the staircases at all times.

    If you are outdoors, do not take shelter under a tree, streetlights, electric poles or tall buildings. If you are driving, stop your car and stay in a safe place. Do not park your car under a tree or any tall object.

    If trapped in debris (瓦砾堆), cover your mouth with a handkerchief or clothing. Tap on a pipe or wall so rescuers can find you. Use a whistle (哨子) if you have one. Never shout for help. Shouting can cause you to breathe in dangerous amounts of dust. Do not light a match because you may burn yourself. Do not move about or kick up dust.

    Despite what so many people would love to believe, NASA hasn't discovered any evidence of past or present intelligent life on Mars. So, when the Curiosity rover (好奇号探测器）found something suspicious on the Red Planet's surface, they were not only surprised but also a little bit worried.

    The thin fragment (碎片）was suspicious enough to guarantee its own name, with NASA's Curiosity rover team calling it the “Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris,” named for the location where it was discovered. With no idea what it was or where it came from, the rover s handlers began to worry that it might actually be a piece of the rover itself, suggesting some unseen damage or other issue with the robot. Thankfully, those concerns seem to have been unfounded.

    In a new update from NASA the object has now been identified as a natural piece of rock rather than a piece of any man-made craft or vehicle. The team analyzed the bizarre object with a tool called the ChemCam RMI. The instrument uses a laser (激光器）t0 sniff out the makeup of anything it's pointed at, and the results for this particular piece of debris revealed that it's actually just a very thin piece of rock.

    NASA describes the inspection： The planning day began with an interesting result from the previous plan's ChemCam RMI analysis of a target that was referred to as “Pette Point Foreign Object Debris” （PPFOD),and speculated to be a piece of spacecraft debris fact was found to be a very thin flake of rock, so we can all rest easy tonight-Curi0sity n0t begun to shed its skin!

    How this particularly thin sliver of rock got to where it is—and why it seems to be a different colour than the surrounding sand and debris-remains unexplained, but at least the rover falling apart.

    When athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics collect their medals, they'll not only be wearing something that celebrates their sporting performance, but something that symbolizes lastingness. For both the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, organizers aim to make all of the gold, silver, and bronze medals out of used electronics. This strong message about how to make use of e-waste has gotten a lot of Japan involved.

    Starting in April 2017, the Japanese Olympic Committee began collecting old laptops, digital cameras, smartphones, and other abandoned electronics. The initiative (倡议) has achieved great success. Already, the quantity needed for bronze medals has been met, and they're in the homestretch for silver and gold medals, meaning the collection process can pack up at the end of March.

    When looking just at the number of cell phones collected, the amount of waste is shocking. In a period of about 18 months, a little over 5 million smartphones were collected thanks to cooperation with NTT DOCOMO. Japan's largest mobile phone operator allowed the public to turn in phones at their shops, which counted a lot in the project's success.

    After being taken apart and sorted, the small electronics underwent a smelting process to extract (提炼) all the gold, silver, and bronze elements. Thanks to this initiative, the worldwide struggle with e-waste will have a global platform. According to a study published by the United Nations University—44.7 million metric tons of e-waste were made in 2016. Only 20% of that was actually recycled. Unfortunately, this figure is set to rise significantly in the coming years, moving to 52.2 million metric tons by 2021. So while the Tokyo Olympics initiative might be just a drop in the bucket, it's a good start in showing what the public can do if they're made more aware of the issue.