Jumping off random cliffs(悬崖) into the sea is not clever. However, as a sport, coasteering uses local experts to help groups travel around the coast so they can then jump safely and have a lot of fun in the process. But coasteering is also so much more than cliff jumping.

    A usual day's coasteering will involve swimming, climbing, scrambling(攀岩) and cliff jumping. All trips begin with a safety brief and equipment check. You will be equipped with a helmet, wetsuit and life vest. You will need to wear some old sneakers you don't mind getting wet.

    From here it could be a short swim to the first jump site. Following an instructor, you swim through rock pools, around rough rocks and right up to the next jump spot. A brief climb and you'll be standing on the edge wondering, “Why the hell did I agree to this?” Then, and to the yell of your friends, you're leaping in, with a smile that's guaranteed to last the rest of the day.

    Coasteering is certainly more than cliff jumping. If ever a sport could claim to be confidence building, this is it. And it's also a perfect activity for groups of friends or for adventurous families who want to explore the coast. Many companies offer daily trips, so even if you are on your own or a couple you can join in with a large group. Companies use trained guides with much knowledge of local tides and weather conditions. These people lead the show and are qualified lifesavers as well.

    Coasteering is already popular around the UK. At least now you won't have to ask “What is coasteering?” if someone you know gives it a go.

    Queensland is one of the most amazing states in Australia. It has some of the most beautiful natural scenery on the planet, with the Great Barrier Reef, rainforests and impressive beaches.

The Great Barrier Reef

    It is one of the world's largest natural features. It stretches more that 2,300 km along the north eastern coast of Australia from the northern tip of Queensland to just north of Bundaberg. The things that most surprise visitors to the reef are the colors.

Without doubt, the best way to see the Great Barrier Reef is by diving. If you have a little extra money and you are feeling a bit lazy, you can fly over the reef in a plane.

Fraser Island

    Another area of natural beauty is Fraser Island. This is the world's largest sand island. It's best visited from Hervey Bay on the mainland, where there are a number of places offering trips around the island. To fully appreciate Fraser Island you should go for three or four days. Attractions include some beautiful fresh-water lakes, particularly Lake Wabby and Lake Mckenzie. You can walk around these on white sands untouched by human footprints. Indian Head also has some beautiful views. Braver travelers can go and watch sharks circling the water hundreds of meters below.

The Whitsunday Islands

    It would be a pity to travel around Queensland without taking a trip around the Whitsunday Islands. They were named by Captain Cook in 1770, after the day on which he arrived. Here are some of the great things you can do there.

●Cruise around them on a relaxing trip.

●Take a sailing course.

●Look at the aboriginal (土著的) paintings in caves on Hook Island.

●Have fun in the water doing lots of water sports.

    So, will you be going to Queensland?

    George Bernard Shaw(1856,07-1950,11) was an Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist. During his career Shaw wrote more than sixty plays. He was uniquely honored by being awarded both a Nobel Prize(1925) for his contribution to literature and an Oscar(1938) for Pygmalion. Shaw was a free-thinker, defender of women's rights, and advocate of equality of income.

    George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, where he grew up in something close to genteel poverty. His father, George Carr Shaw, was in the wholesale grain trade. Lucinda Elisabeth Shaw, his mother, was the daughter of a landowner. She was 16 years younger than her husband. George Carr was a drunkard -his example made his son become a teetotaler(禁酒主义者). When he died in 1885, his children and wife did not attend his funeral. Young Shaw and his two sisters were brought up mostly by servants. Shaw's mother eventually left the family to teach music, singing in London. When she died in 1913, Shaw confessed to Mrs. Patrick Campbell: "I must write to you about it, because there is no one else who hates his mother."

    Boy and man, he was always bitterly opposed to schools and teachers, saying "Schools and schoolmasters, as we have them today, are not popular as places of education and teachers, but rather prisons and turnkeys in which and by whom children are kept to prevent them disturbing and chaperoning (陪伴) their parents."

    As computers become more popular in China, Chinese people are more and more depending on computer keyboards to input Chinese characters(汉字). But if they use the computer too much, they may end up forgetting the exact strokes(笔画) of each Chinese character when writing on paper. Experts suggest people, especially students, write by hand more.

    Do you write by hand more or type more? In Beijing, students start using a computer as early as primary school. And computer dependence is more widely spread among university students. Almost all their homework and essays are typed on a computer.

    All the students interviewed say they usually use a computer.

    It's faster and easier to correct if using a computer. And that's why computers are being used more and more often to modern education. But when people are taking stock in computers increasingly, problems appear.

    'When I'm writing with a pen, I find I often can't remember how to write a character, though I feel I'm familiar with it.'

    'I'm not in the mood to write when faced with a pen and paper.'

    Many students don't feel this is something to worry about. Now that it's more convenient and efficient to write on a computer, why bother to handwrite?

    Many educators think differently. Shi Liwei, headmaster of a famous primary school in the capital said, 'Chinese characters enjoy both practical and aesthetic (审美的)value. But those characters typed with computer keyboards only keep their practical value. All the artistic beauty of the characters is lost. And handwriting contains the writer's feelings. Through one's handwriting, people can get to know one's thinking and personality. Beautiful writing will give people a better first impression of them.'

    To encourage students to handwrite more, many primary schools in Beijing have made writing classes compulsory（必修的）and in universities, some professors are asking students to turn in their homework and essays written by hand.

Nick Torrance, a junior in high school, suffers from muscular dystrophy(肌肉萎缩症), and attends school in a specialized wheelchair. The muscle disease prevents him from accomplishing many everyday tasks, such as carrying his books and putting things away in his locker. So he had a fellow student assigned to help him. But Amy Smith, the school's occupational therapist(治疗师), thought that being able to do something simple like opening his locker on his own would be empowering.

Amy initially thought they would be able to buy a device to help. But searching online turned up nothing that could meet their needs—everything needed a keycode or some other physical action, things her disabled student couldn't do. After the outside search for a method came up short, she looked within the school itself for an answer. Amy turned to the school's robotics instructor.

The instructor, in turn, suggested that two of his most capable students take on the project: Micah Stuhldreher and Wyatt Smrcka. They took first place in a national robotics competition, so they were a natural choice to tackle the locker door problem with a robotics solution. Micah and Wyatt wasted no time getting down to work and for an hour each school day, the boys brainstormed, built, and rebuilt various versions of the device until they landed on the perfect solution one year later.

Like in any device development, it took a lot of trial and error for Micah and Wyatt to make something that would work for their target audience. For example, they initially built a locker-opening button, but Nick wasn't strong enough to push it, so they replaced it with a sensor.

Now, between classes Nick steers his electric wheelchair to his locker and waves his hand over a sensor on the arm of the wheelchair. A few seconds later, the locker door swings open. Another wave closes the door. Nick can make it with ease—it may be a small thing, but it gives him a sense of independence.