“You're leaving again?” asked my daughter as she saw me packing my carry-on.

More than her words, it was her face that pierced (刺穿) my heart —I could see how crestfallen she was.

    “It's only for two nights, “I explained.

    But that didn't matter to her. It was just one more trip after barely being home for five days. I decided in that moment to travel less whenever possible and I managed to avoid flying altogether for most of the summer. As a result, it was a summer full of discoveries. I realized that my kids really were proud of me. In their time away from me they had learned lessons I couldn't have imagined.

    Recently I began traveling a lot again. But this time it was different, mainly due to the fact that I had seen firsthand that my children value strong female role models. They realize that hard work pays off. Being away from them even for a day at a time in many ways had done them a lot of good.

In particular, being a working mom is teaching my daughter how important it is to be independent and that you can follow your dreams. In many ways, her idea of a professional woman is much more realistic than what I imagined when I was her age. I think that even at nine years old she already knows that for all the success you might achieve, there is a price to pay, whether it's long hours, spending time away from those you love, or simply not having the energy to have fun at times. I know the wishes I would devote all of my time to her, but honestly, even if I didn't work I would rather she learned not to depend on me for everything, She needs to realize that she can fly on her own — and that isn't possible if I am hovering over her every single second of the day .

    I have also realized that having a career sets a good example for my son. He is not afraid of a strong woman, and has a great respect for them. When he's older, this will help him build healthier relationship.

    Therefore, for all the working moms out there who work long hours, remember to value the positive lessons you might be teaching your kids.

    Here are a few practical apps that can help you with your studies, and beyond.

    MyHomework

    Price: Free

    Platform: iOS and Android

    As you star your new term, let the planning app MyHomework create a personalized study schedule. Rank as one for the best homework management apps by USA Today, this app allows you to prioritize(排序)assignments by color-coding subjects. It also reminds you of every single deadline and upcoming test you have. MyHomework is not only for smart phones but also for Apple Watch.

    Notability

    Price: 18 yuan

    Platform: iOS

    Taking good notes is important to good results. As a result, one note-taking app, Notability, is gaining popularity among students. This app allows users to take handwritten notes on touch screens and type essays. Plus, Notability users can easily share files with classmates through e-mail or cloud services like iCloud.

    Sleep Cycle

    Price: 6 yuan

    Platform: iOS and Android

    For students struggling to wake up on time during school days, Sleep Cycle can be your lifesaver. It cleverly records your sleep. After you wake up, the app shows your sleep quality through easy-to-read graphics(图表). Even better, Sleep Cycle has an intelligent wake-up mode. It wakes you up when you are in your lightest sleep state with the help of soft music. This stress-free wake-up call can potentially improve your daily productivity.

    MyMoney

    Price: Free

    Platform: iOS and Android

    MyMoney, a Chinese money management app, can help you achieve financial independence. This popular app allows you to add up all your accounts including campus(校园)cards and transportation cards. And it tracks your every expense(开支)to help you understand your spending habits. If any of your accounts is low, MyMoney will alarm you.

    It is quite natural for all of us to want to preserve and protect the foods we buy. We always think that the best way is by putting them in our refrigerators. However, there are certain foods which should never be placed in the fridge. The foods listed below may surprise you.

    Bananas in the fridge? Because they keep nutrients better outside the fridge, they should never be placed inside the refrigerator. Bananas are better kept on the counter until they ripen. The cold temperatures actually slow down the ripening process of the bananas, while the moisture and darkness of the fridge will only make them go bad.

    Potato should be placed in a cool, dry and dark space. By reason of the cold temperatures of the fridge, it can turn starch（淀粉）into sugar more rapidly. It is also recommended that potatoes be removed from plastic or paper bags they may have been placed in. Also, keep them unwashed, as well as in a well-ventilated cardboard box.

    Placing your onions inside your refrigerator will eventually end up turning them moldy and soft. Unpeeled（未剥皮的）onions should be kept out of plastic bags and fridge. One of the reasons for this is because unpeeled onions require and need air exposure for maximum life. If you have peeled an onion though, then you should keep it in the fridge, in a covered container.

    Believe it or not, placing garlic in your refrigerator will actually cause it to sprout（发芽）. The garlic will also got moldy and even rubbery. Moreover, inside your fridge, the look of the garlic will rarely change. This means you won't be able to tell if it's any good until you finally slice it open.

    On November 14, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt was on a hunting trip in Mississippi while trying to settle a line(边界) problem between Mississippi and Louisiana. Being an expert outdoorsman, he liked to hunt large animals.

    However, his hunt was going poorly that days, and he couldn't seem to find anything worthy of firing his gun. His followers, trying to help him, caught a Louisiana black baby bear for the President to shoot, but he refused. The thought of shooting a bear that was tied to a tree did not seem sporting, so he spared the life of the baby bear and set it free.

    A famous political cartoonist for the Washington Star, Mr. Clifford Berryman, drew a cartoon titled. Drawing the Line in Mississippi, which used the story of the President refusing to shoot the bear.

    The cartoon in the Washington Star showed Teddy Roosevelt, gun in hand, with his back turned on a pretty baby bear. Morris Michtom, owner of a Brooklyn toy store, got the idea from the cartoon and make a toy bear. Planning to use it only as a display, he placed the bear in his toy store window, and next to it placed a copy of the cartoon from the newspaper. To Michtom's surprise, he was surrounded by customers eager to buy it. He asked for and received President Roosevelt's permission to use his name for the bears that he and his wife made, and the Teddy Bear was born! Michtom soon made Teddy bears by the thousands. The money from selling Teddy bears made him, in 1903, form the Ideal Toy Company.

    On a flight from Dallas, Texas, to Cincinnati, Ohio, to visit a friend in 2013, event planner Paige Chenault daydreamed about the grand birthday parties she'd throw for her daughter one day. (Paige was five months pregnant at the time.) Then, flipping through a magazine, she saw a photo of an impoverished Haitian boy, skinny. "I thought, this kid has nothing," Paige says.

    The image stayed with her, and she resolved to do something to help. "I decided I would use my talents to throw birthday parties for homeless kids," Paige says. For the next four years, Paige and her husband, Colin, took time out from parenthood to visit shelters to determine how best to pull off the parties.

    Finally, in January 2017, Paige launched the Birthday Party Project, a nonprofit organization, and recruited friends and family to help decorate Dallas's 75- occupant Family Gateway Shelter with balloons and streamers, celebrating the birthdays of 11 boys and girls, with 60 more homeless kids in attendance. "That first party was better than I could have ever imagined," says Paige.

    Now Paige and her staff of three paid employees work with regional volunteers to plan monthly themed parties at 15 shelters across the country, some of which house abused or abandoned kids. Each child celebrating a birthday that month gets a $30 gift, a decorative place mat, and an individual cake or cupcake.

    One of Paige's favorite parts of each party is when the kids make a wish and blow out the candles. "They rarely get a chance to dream big," says Paige.

    Her daughter, Lizzie, now seven, often helps out at the parties. Paige says, "The one thing I've always wanted is for my kid to be generous."

Biofuels (生物燃料), gained from plants and animal matter, are a key solution to the environmental problems caused by fuels like coal. "Bioalcohol (生物酒精) is the most common biofuel and is produced by sugars found in materials such as corn. With some engine redesigned, it can be used directly by cars, buses, etc. ," says Professor Daniel Tan, "12 percent of transport fuel could come from biofuels, especially bioalcohol, by 2030. "

But a 2016 study of biofuels said, "Bioalcohol presently is mostly produced with food crops. Altogether, the environmentally-friendly biofuels rely on about 2-3 percent of the global water and land used for agriculture, which could feed a large number of hungry people. "

Energy experts have therefore been trying to deal with the problem. Recent research led by an international team found that the agave (龙舌兰) plant might offer a way out. This plant tends to be the right bioalcohol source to supersede others such as sugarcane (甘蔗) and corn.

Daniel Tan explains that the agave can be grown in unfavorable conditions and is not a major food crop. "It can grow in areas that lack water and rainfall without being watered by farmers, and it does not compete with food crops or put demands on limited water. This kind of useful plant is recently being grown in Australia. It can survive Australia's hot summers," he says.

The study finds that sugarcane produces just a little more fuel per square meter each year than the agave. However, the agave outperforms sugarcane in a range of areas, including pollution to the earth, and water using. The agave uses 69 percent less water than sugarcane and 46 percent less water than corn for the same amount of fuel produced. As for corn，it produces less fuel per square meter each year than the agave.

However, Daniel Tan states: "The first generation of bioalcohol from the agave recently faces a big competition from oil, whose recent low price makes it far more attractive to customers. Without some policy support from the government, bioalcohol production from the agave faces big challenges. "