Skateboarding is an action sport which includes riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as an activity for fun, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding will be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

    There are various theories about the origins of Skateboarding, but it is generally held that the sport began in the 1940s on the west coast of the USA when metal wheels were attached to a narrow wooden board. In the 1950s, plastic replaced metal as the material of choice for the wheels, and the first "Roller Surfboard" become commercially available, which in turn developed into the skateboard that we know today. The sport was a big hit with the younger generation and grew in global popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the late 1990s, skateboarding has become an important part of street culture.

    However, skateboarding has raised heated discussions in areas where the activity, although legal (合法的), has damaged stone works, steps, benches, and parks. Certain cities oppose the building of skate parks in their neighborhoods, for fear of increased crime (犯罪) and drugs in the area. The disagreement between the old image of skateboarding and a newer one is quite obvious: magazines such as Thrasher describe skateboarding as dirty, and still firmly tied to punk (朋克), while other publications, Transworld Skateboarding as an example, paint a more different and controlled picture of skateboarding. As more professional skaters use hip hop, or hard rock music in their videos, many urban youths, hip-hop fans and hard rock fans are also drawn to skateboarding, weakening the sport's punk image. Besides, group spirit influences the members of this community. In presentations of skateboarding, the evidence of crime is absent, and no attempt is made to tie extreme sports to any kind of illegal activity.

    The good news is that efforts have been made to improve recognition of the cultural heritage as well as positive effects of skateboarding in cities. By raising £790,000, the Long Live Southbank initiative managed to stop the destruction of a forty years old spot in London due to urban planning, a rescuing operation whose effect extends beyond skateboarding. The presence of skateboarders on this public space keeps the area under nearly constant watch and drives homeless people away, increasing the feeling of safety in the area. The activity attracts artists such as photographers and film makers, as well as a significant number of tourists, which in turn drives economic activity in the neighborhood.

    My folks bought their first house in the early 1940s after Dad got a better job in Marquette, Michigan. We lived just inside the city limits in what was still a rural area.

    In the spring of 1948, when I was 6 years old, my parents bought a calf（小牛）to replace our cow, which had been killed the year before. So one day we drove to a local farm and returned with a white and brown calf we named Tubby.

    We didn't own a truck, so Tubby rode home in the backseat of Dad's car with my 9-year-old brother, Steve, and me. As you can imagine, the trip was a lot of fun for us kids.

    Later that summer, Mom thought it would be cute to take a picture of me sitting on Tubby's back. All went well until the snap of the camera shutter sent Tubby charging off on a run, with me holding on for dear life.

    I lasted for about 30 feet before I hit the ground. Mom was quick enough to shoot a follow-up picture, so we had photos of me both on and off Tubby!

    When summer had passed, the day arrived for poor Tubby to fill our freezer. I must have been somewhere else with my Mom on the fateful day, because I have no memory of how it happened. All I knew was that the barn was empty, and that we had plenty of meat for dinners.

    I hadn't lived on a farm like my mother, so I didn't understand that what happened to Tubby was not unusual. Livestock aren't meant to be pets, and most farm kids know and accept that truth.

    Whenever we had beef for dinner, I would tearfully, “Is this Tubby?” This went on for a couple of weeks until Dad had finally had enough and declared, “No more cows!” That made me feel a little better about poor Tubby.

    Scientists have found an unexpected use for virtual reality headsets (耳机). The devices (装置), widely used by computer gamers, show pictures that can be used to test the navigational (导航的) skills of people, who were thought to be at risk of dementia (痴呆). Those who do worse in the tests will be the ones more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease later in life, scientists now believe.

    The discovery that the loss of navigational skills was associated with Alzheimer's was made several years ago by Dennis Chan and his colleagues based at several centers in the UK. These studies used computers to test navigational tasks. But now scientists plan to take their tests to a new level with the use of the virtual reality headsets in which wearers are placed in man-made environments through which they must navigate.

    Around 300 people, aged between 40 and 60, will be arranged to participate in the study. Some will have a gene that puts them at risk of the condition or will come from a family with a history of Alzheimer's. Not all will certainly be affected by the disease, however. Chan's project aims to find out who will. Wearing the headsets, participants will be asked to navigate their way through a series of different environments and then remember the details.

    Researchers recently pointed out the significance of a tiny area of the brain known as the entorhinal cortex (an important memory center in the brain). It acts as a center in a widespread brain network that controls navigation. This now appears to be the first part of the brain that seems to be easily harmed by Alzheimer's.

    The goal of the work is to help people as they develop the disease. "So far, drug trials for Alzheimer's have been applied when people have already got dementia, by which time considerable damage to the brain has already occurred," Chan told the Obsenver. "If we can develop drugs and use them earlier, for example, before the disease has spread beyong the entorhinal cortex, then this would have the potential to prevent the dementia."

    It all started in 2007 when James Bowen, a thirty­something drug addict who survived by playing guitar on the street, found an orange cat sitting in front of the door of his apartment.

    Bowen noticed the cat was wounded. Without hesitation, the young man took him to the Humane Society and spent the little money he had on medicine to heal him.

    Shortly thereafter, the cat, who was healing and feeling much better, began to follow the musician when he left the house. Then one day the cat got on the bus that Bowen took to the place where he worked.

    That's how the cat, who had recently been named Bob, began to accompany his human friend to his musical performances. Bob's mere presence attracted the attention of passers­by. He and Bowen would finish off each song with a high five. Pretty soon, the images of Bob wearing a scarf while sitting on the musician's shoulder, or keeping him company while he played the guitar, began to go viral all over the world.

    Eventually, the news found out about the pair and did a story for the magazine Islington Tribune. It was not long after that when a book agent appeared in their lives and gave them a chance to tell their story.

    By then, Bowen, who had managed to get away from drugs, wrote a novel called A Street Cat Named Bob. He related in great detail how meeting the cat changed him.

    The book soon sold more than six million copies and even spread beyond the borders of the United Kingdom. In fact, it was translated into thirty languages.

    Through all of these changing circumstances, Bob has always been with Bowen—on his shoulder.

    You can't make up a story like this. But life always gives opportunities to those who know how to get hold of them. So if you are ever in a position where a cat has chosen you, don't ignore it. You can't imagine all the good that life may have in store if you decide to accept the proposal.

    It is not always a good thing to praise children because "empty" words may make them unhappy. Words such as "well done" may make them doubt their own abilities, a leading psychologist (心理学家) Stephen Grosz has warned. He says that words such as "you're so clever" or "you're such an artist" could also hinder their future development at school. He says that such empty praise causes children to be unhappy as they may say they can't live up to these expectations.

    Instead he advises parents and teachers to praise children less frequently and use words like "trying really hard," Mr. Grosz said, "Empty praise is as bad as thoughtless criticism (批评). People often pay no attention to children's feelings and thoughts." He also mentions research showing that children who are heavily praised probably perform worse at school.

    Some psychologists from Columbia University asked 128 pupils aged 10 and 11 to work out a number of math problems. Afterwards, some were told, "You did really well­—you're so clever." But the researchers told the other group, "You did really well­—you must have tried really hard." Both groups of children were then given more difficult questions and those who had been told they were clever did not do as well as the others.

    He says that when collecting his daughter from a school near their home in North London, he heard a teacher tell her, "You have drawn the most beautiful tree. Well done," Later, after she had done another drawing, the same teacher said, "Wow, you are really an artist." In his book, Mr. Grosz writes, "How could I explain to the teacher that I would prefer it if she did not praise my daughter?"

    As a parent of two children, I strongly agree with Mr. Grosz. I praise them when praising is proven right. I want them to know if I praise them, they have done something beyond my expectation, beyond what they are able to do.

    A headache is the feeling you get when your head hurts. Headaches can differ from very mild to incredibly powerful. They can last anywhere from 10 minutes to hours. Very bad headaches are called migraines. People who suffer from migraine headaches often need to take the day off from school or work and lie in bed all day.

    Why do people get headaches? There are many possible causes. People who drink too much caffeine (in coffee or soft drinks, for example) or alcohol can end up with headaches. This is because these kinds of drinks take water away from the body. If the brain doesn't have enough water, it gets smaller and pulls away from the head. This can be extremely painful. The best way to get rid of this kind of headache is just to drink lots of water.

    Tension headaches happen when the body's muscles are too tight. When people feel stress, it is common for the muscles near the head to become tense. Tension headaches might also be caused by not getting enough sleep. Some people suffer from tension headaches for only short times but for other people, these kinds of headaches are a chronic problem that happens again and again. A massage (按摩) might help to stop a tension headache. If that doesn't help, you might need to see a doctor.

    Headaches can also be caused by much bigger health problems. For example, a head or neck injury can cause them. Headaches can also be a warming sign of a heart attack.