Watson entered Mr. Smith's office. The boss was a hard man. He fired people who didn't do well without giving them a second chance.

    “Watson,” said Mr. Smith, “this past year your department hasn't earned money. We're going to drop that department. It's finished. I'm sorry, —but you'll have to go.” “But, sir — if I just had a little more time. For the moment I need the job to keep my son at Riverside School.”

    “What's that!” said the boss. “Riverside! I didn't know you had a boy there. That's an expensive school for a man with your salary.”

    “I know, sir. But he likes it there so much! He's a star athlete and the best boxer in the school. The boys call him Champ there.”

    The boss sat perfectly still for a long time — a faraway (恍惚的) look in his eyes. Then, suddenly, he said, “We've got to close your department, Watson. But you'll take over a new job in another department. It means longer hours—maybe more pay. Now get out. You're here for life.”

    Watson got out, with surprise on his face. Then the boss took a letter from the top drawer of his desk. It was Herbie's last letter from Riverside School —written a few days before he died. He had read it over and over again with sick pain. The letter read:

    I can't say the boys here are any nicer to me than the others were. I guess it's the same everywhere when you're a cripple (跛脚的人). But don't worry about me, Dad, They've got a good chemistry department here. And there's one boy here who is really great. He's a track star and boxing champ (冠军) and just tops in chemistry.

    The boys call him Champ. He made them stop throwing my books around. And he knocked a boy down who hit me. He is the best friend I ever had. Dad, when I grow up, I want to do something for Champ. Something big — that he won't even know about.

Your son,

Herbie

    Daniel was born in New Orleans, LA., in 1962, slow to walk and talk, and short. He was the tiniest in his class, but he developed a warm, outgoing nature and was popular with his peers(同龄人). And he became skillful at sports.

    Baseball gave him his earliest challenge. He was an excellent players in Little League. At graduation, the coach named Daniel the team's most valuable player.

    His finest hour, though, came at a school science meeting. He entered an exhibit explaining how the circulatory system works. It was traditional, especially compared to（与…相比）the modern, computerized, blinking-light models entered by other students. My wife, Sara, felt embarrassed for him.

    It turned out that the other kids had made their exhibits. As the judges went on their rounds, they found that these other kids couldn't answer their questions. Daniel answered every one. When the judges awarded the Albert Einstein Plague for the best exhibit, they gave it to him.

    By the time Daniel left for college he stood six feet tall and weighed 170 pounds. He was in superb condition, but he quit baseball for English literature. I was sorry that he would not develop his athletic talent, but proud that he had made such a satisfactory decision.

    One day I told Daniel that the great failing in my life had been that I didn't take a year or two off to travel when I finished college. This is the best way, to my way of thinking, to broaden oneself. Once I had married and begun working, I found that the dream of living in another culture had disappeared. Daniel thought about this. After graduation, he worked as a waiter at college, a bike messenger and a house painter. With the money he earned, he had enough to go to Paris.

    The night before he was to leave, I tossed in bed. I was trying to figure out something to say. Nothing came to mind. Maybe, I thought, it wasn't necessary to say anything.

    Some people will do just about anything to save money．And I am one of them．Take my family's last vacation．It was my six­year­old son's winter break from school, and we were heading home from Fort Lauderdale after a week long trip．The flight was overbooked, and Delta, the airline, offered us $400 per person in credits to give up our seats and leave the next day．I had meetings in New York, so I had to get back．But that didn't mean my husband and my son couldn't stay．I took my nine­month­old and took off for home．

    The next day, my husband and son were offered more credits to take an even later flight．Yes, I encouraged — okay, ordered — them to wait it out at the airport, to “earn” more Delta Dollars．Our total take: $1,600．Not bad, huh?

    Now some people may think I'm a bad mother and not such a great wife either．But as a big­time bargain hunter, I know the value of a dollar．And these days, a good deal is something few of us can afford to pass up．

    I've made a living looking for the best deals and exposing（揭露）the worst tricks．I have been the consumer reporter of NBC's Today show for over a decade．I have written a couple of books including one titled Tricks of the Trade: A Consumer Survival Guide．And I really do what I believe in．

    I tell you this because there is no shame in getting your money's worth．I'm also tightfisted when it comes to shoes, clothes for my children, and expensive restaurants．But I wouldn't hesitate to spend on a good haircut．It keeps its shape longer, and it's the first thing people notice．And I will also spend on a classic piece of furniture．Quality lasts．

    Technology is always trying to meet our needs and demands. There's a new frontier in 3D printing that's beginning to come into focus: food. Recent development has made possible machines that print, cook and serve foods on a mass scale. And the industry isn't stopping there.

    Food production

    With a 3D printer, a cook can print complicated chocolate sculptures and beautiful pieces for decoration on a wedding cake. Not everybody can do that — it takes years of experience, but a printer makes it easy. A restaurant in Spain uses a Foodini to "recreate forms and pieces" of food that are "exactly the same," freeing cooks to complete other tasks. In another restaurant, all of the dishes and desserts it serves are 3D-printed, rather than farm to table.

    Sustainability (可持续性)

    The global population is expected to grow to 9.6 billion by 2050, and some analysts estimate that food production will need to be raised by 50 percent to maintain current levels. Sustainability is becoming a necessity. 3D food printing could probably contribute to the solution. Some experts believe printers could use hydrocolloids (水解胶体) from plentiful renewables like algae (藻类) and grass to replace the familiar ingredients (烹饪原料). 3D printing can reduce fuel use and emissions. Grocery stores of the future might stock "food" that lasts years on end, freeing up shelf space and reducing transportation and storage requirements.

    Nutrition

    Future 3D food printers could make processed food healthier. Hod Lipson, a professor at Columbia University, said, "Food printing could allow consumers to print food with customized nutritional content, like vitamins. So instead of eating a piece of yesterday's bread from the supermarket, you'd eat something baked just for you on demand."

    Challenges

    Despite recent advancements in 3D food printing, the industry has many challenges to overcome. Currently, most ingredients must be changed to a paste (糊状物) before a printer can use them, and the printing process is quite time-consuming, because ingredients interact with each other in very complex ways. On top of that, most of the 3D food printers now are restricted to dry ingredients, because meat and milk products may easily go bad. Some experts are skeptical about 3D food printers, believing they are better suited for fast food restaurant than homes and high-end restaurants.

    When international aid is given, steps must be taken to ensure（确保）that the aid reaches the people for whom it is intended. The way to achieve this may not be simple. It is very difficult for a nation to give help directly to people in another nation. The United Nations Organization （UNO） could undertake to direct the distribution of aid. Here however rises the problem of costs. Also tied with this is time. Perhaps the UNO could set up a body of devoted men and women in every country who can speedily distribute aid to victims of floods and earthquakes.

    More than the help that one nation can give to another during a disaster, it would be more effective to give other forms of help during normal times. A common proverb says, "Give me a fish and I eat for a day, teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime." If we follow this wise saying, it would be right to teach people from less developed nations to take care of themselves. For example, a country could share its technology with another. This could be in simple areas like agriculture or in more complex areas like medical and health care or even in building satellites. Even a small country is able to help less developed nations. Sometimes what is taken for granted, like the setting up of a water purification plant or the administration of a school, could be useful for countries which are looking about to solve common problems. It does not cost much to share such simple things. Exchange students could be attached for a number of months or years and learn the required craft while on the site. They can then take their knowledge back to their homelands and if necessary come back from time to time to clear doubts or to update themselves. Such aid will be truly helpful and there is no chance of it being temporary or of it falling into the wrong hands.

    Many countries run extensive courses in all sorts of skills. It will not cost much to include deserving foreigners in these courses. Besides giving effective help to the countries concerned, there is also the build­up of friendships to consider. Giving direct help by giving materials may be effective in the short run and must continue to be given in the event of emergencies. However, in the long run what is really effective would be the sharing of knowledge.

    The saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover, means you should not guess the worth or value of something based on how it looks. That message was clear at a recent event called the Human Library Project. The event took place at the Northern Virginia, or NoVa, Community College, outside of Washington. D. C.

    The Human Library began 19 years ago in Denmark. It grew from a youth organization called "Stop the Violence". Today, it is a worldwide movement. At the NoVa event, students got the chance to learn from a person—a "human book"—instead of a library book.

    Patricia Cooper organized the event. She said that human books celebrate variety by telling their life stories in an easy-going setting. "The goal of the human library is to talk to people in your community who you may otherwise not speak to because you have your own prejudices (偏见) and hopefully to break down some of these barriers."

    This is the third year that NoVa has held such an event. The collection of human books included a civil rights activist, a scientist from the American space agency NASA, and an opera singer.

    Artist Brian Dailey was a human book. He spoke about his travels to 113 countries in seven years. Dailey said that, during his travels, he asked people whom he took pictures of for a one-word answer to a series of other words—such as love, freedom and war. He discovered that people in different countries often had very different reactions to the same word.

    When Dailey asked people in Africa about the word "war" they used words like justice, liberation and peace. When he asked the same question to people in Syrian refugee camps, the answer was: "tears, hunger, fear, destruction".