B

    Two weeks before my 12th birthday, my teacher asked me to conduct an experiment. When I mixed some powder together, they exploded. Molten liquid hit me in the face, but I felt no pain.

    I vividly remember standing there in a state of calm. I thought I was in a dream, but however hard I struggled to swim to the surface of consciousness, I couldn't wake up. I didn't understand how terrifying it was until I heard people saying, ＂Who's that?＂ That's when I knew I was unrecognizable.

    I was taken to hospital, but the doctors didn't know what to do with me. Later I was flown to Houston for surgery. Between the ages of 13 and 16, I had 40 operations. As each operation came and went, my vision would come back, then fade again. Eventually, it faded completely and I had what was left of my eyes removed for cosmetic reasons.

    Since then, I have lived in total darkness. Most blind people, even if they don't have any sight they're aware of, are still able to sense light. That gives them a sense of day and night. But not me. I absolutely lost that sense of time passing.

    For many years, I felt my sight loss darkening my life like the loss of my parents from which I would never recover. But when I was in my 40s, I realized I had to find a way to live. I trained to become a counselor, and that has helped me see my experiences in a different way. I can't fix people's broken lives — just like I can't fix my sight — but I can help them find a way to manage.

    Sometimes it feels as if all the struggles and negative experiences I've lived through were in fact a kind of preparation for helping others to make their own way towards the light.

    It was a hot day, and my brother Walt and I had decided that the only way to survive it would be to go swimming in a deep swimming hole across Mr. Blickez's Pasture（牧场）and through some woods.

    The only problem with our plan was that this pasture was guarded by a huge, mean Hereford bull（公牛）. Mr. Blickez had told us that Elsie was the meanest bull in the town, maybe even in the county, and we believed him. But the hotter it got, the more we thought there was something fishy about his words. For one thing, we remembered Mr. Blickez liked telling tall tales; for another, Elsie seemed like a strange name for a bull.

    Finally, I talked Mom into asking permission for us to walk through the pasture, but then another problem surfaced. Mom said she would talk to Mr. Blickez if we would take our cousin Joanie along with us. Joanie was almost two years older than me and a head taller. If her teasing ever got around my grade school, it would be all over for me. In fact, I still had a headache from a quarrel with her that morning. “I'm not going swimming with that silly girl cousin,” I told my mom.

    “Either Joanie goes with, or you stay home alone,” Mom said in her serious tone（语气）. I gave in and we set out. On your way across the pasture, Walt yelled suddenly. Elsie had approached him quietly and was licking（舔）his back. Joanie and I dove under the wire fence, but while I was on the ground I looked up and saw that Elsie wasn't a big mean bull after all. She was going to keep licking my brother's back as long as he stood still.

    We had many good days growing up and visiting our secret swimming hole guarded by the so-called “big mean bull”. And as it turned out, for a girl cousin, Joanie hasn't been too bad. She's been one of my best friends over the years.

    No one is sure how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids near Cairo. But a new study suggests they used a little rock 'n' roll. Long-ago builders could have attached wooden poles to the stones and rolled them across the sand, the scientists say.

    "Technically, I think what they're proposing is possible," physicist Daniel Bonn said.

    People have long puzzled over how the Egyptians moved such huge rocks. And there's no obvious answer. On average, each of the two million big stones weighed about as much as a large pickup truck. The Egyptians somehow moved the stone blocks to the pyramid site from about one kilometer away.

    The most popular view is that Egyptian workers slid the blocks along smooth paths. Many scientists suspect workers first would have put the blocks on sleds(滑板). Then they would have dragged them along paths. To make the work easier, workers may have lubricated the paths either with wet clay or with the fat from cattle. Bonn has now tested this idea by building small sleds and dragging heavy objects over sand.

    Evidence from the sand supports this idea. Researchers found small amounts of fat, as well as a large amount of stone and the remains of paths.

    However, physicist Joseph West thinks there might have been a simpler way, who led the new study. West said, "I was inspired while watching a television program showing how sleds might have helped with pyramid construction. I thought, 'Why don't they just try rolling the things?' "A square could be turned into a rough sort of wheel by attaching wooden poles to its sides, he realized. That, he notes, should make a block of stone "a lot easier to roll than a square".

    So he tried it.

    He and his students tied some poles to each of four sides of a 30-kilogram stone block. That action turned the block into somewhat a wheel. Then they placed the block on the ground.

    They wrapped one end of a rope around the block and pulled. The researchers found they could easily roll the block along different kinds of paths. They calculated that rolling the block required about as much force as moving it along a slippery(滑的)path.

    West hasn't tested his idea on larger blocks, but he thinks rolling has clear advantages over sliding. At least, workers wouldn't have needed to carry cattle fat or water to smooth the paths.

Volunteer With CarePartners

    CarePartners volunteer opportunities cover a wide range of needs and areas，so whatever your interests, talents or skills are, we can find the fit that works for you.

Retail Volunteers

    Interested in volunteer work at the Hospice Thrift Store or Estate Sales? Check out the list of opportunities, or sign up now. Volunteers are also needed to assist in Rehabilitation Hospital Gift Shop. For more information, please contact Sharon Peareon at 828-277 4888

    Special Event Volunteers

    Drums and Dragons — This is a brand-new fundraising event. Dozens of volunteers managed a dragon boat race. Visit the event website for Drums and Dragons. For updates about this unique and competitive event, please “like” our FaceBook page, Drums and Dragons. To join the race, please contact John Napolitano at 828-277-4816.

    Little Trees Project — For over ten years, the Little Trees

    Project has been delivering decorated trees to patients served by CarePartners programs. Last year, school children and adult volunteers decorated nearly 800 trees with handmade decorations and heartwarming notes. For more information, please contact Lynn Blankenship at 828-777-2827.

    Hospice Volunteer Application Process

    If you're interested in becoming a Hospice volunteer, you will need to fill out an application, sign a confidentiality agreement, and provide two references. Once your application is received, we will arrange a personal interview so that we can answer your questions and become more familiar with your interests and availability. If you are specifically interested in working with Hospice patients, call Danny Johnson at 828-274-9567.

Teen Ink Contests

    Educator of the Year Contest

    Do you know an outstanding school teacher, coach, librarian, or principal? Recommend that special teacher and give him/her the chance to be recognized in a national magazine!

    Convince us your educator is special. Tell us about his or her style of teaching, involvement in school activities, and community service. Give examples with specific details. Keep your essay between 200 and 1,000 words.

    Prizes:

    Cash awards will be given to educators from across the country honored as Teen Ink Educators of the Year. Winning essays are published in Teen Ink magazine.

    Deadlines:

    The deadline for submitting Educator of the Year essays is April 30. Entries are accepted and considered for publication in Teen Ink magazine throughout the year.

    Cover Art Contest

    Want your photo or artwork to appear on the cover of a national magazine? Submit your images now!

    Teen Ink will only consider photos and artwork by teens. The subjects should primarily be other teens. The best images for the cover are clear, in color, and close up.

    Submit entries through our website. All photographs and artwork submitted to Teen Ink are automatically considered for the cover art contest.

    Prizes:

    Every month one image is selected to appear on the cover of Teen Ink magazine. Winners receive a copy of the magazine featuring their image.

    Deadlines:

    There are no deadlines; images are accepted and published throughout the year. Keep in mind 迁 your submission has a seasonal or holiday theme, it's best to send it early.

    Nonfiction Contest

    Make us laugh, move us to tears... write a memorable nonfiction piece and you may be one of our two monthly winners.

    Teen Ink will only consider original writing by teens. Entries of all kinds are accepted serious, funny, long or short. We like to read them all!

    Prizes:

    Winning articles are published in Teen Ink magazine, and contest winners receive a copy of the magazine featuring their work.

    Deadlines:

    There are no deadlines; entries are accepted throughout the year. Winning nonfiction pieces are published in Teen Ink magazine and online each month.

The 2024 Peace Poetry Awards

The awards con test is to encourage people to explore peace and the human spirit. There are three age categories（类型）： Adult （19 & over）, Youth （13-18）, and Youth （12 & under）. The yearly con test is open to people worldwide. Your poems must be unpublished , and in English.

Deadline

All entries（参赛作品） must be submitted by July 30, 2024.

Entry Fee

Adults — $ 20

Youth （13-18） —— $ 10

Youth （12 & under） — no fee

Notes

● You may submit up to three unpublished poems. At most 30 lines per poem.

● Include name, address, email, telephone number, and age in the upper right-hand corner of each poem. For the Youth （12 & under） category, please also include your school's name and your teacher's name.

● Title each poem.

● Please keep copies of all entries as we will be unable to return.

● Email your entries to: www. peacepoetryawards. com. By the way, we have no other ways to receive your entry. Please click here to pay your entry fee online.

Awards

Adult Winner — $ 800

Youth （13 -18） Winner — $ 500

Youth （12 & under） Winner — $ 200

Winners will be announced by September 30, 2024 on our website. Winners will be informed by mail. Past years' winning poems can be found here.