Robert is nine years old and Joanna is seven. They live at Mount Ebenezer. Their father has a big property. In Australia they call a farm a property.

    Robert and Joana like school very much. At school they can talk to their friends, but Robert and Joanna can not see their friends. They live 100,perhaps 300,miles away and like Robert and Joanna, they all go to school by radio.

    Mount Ebenezer is in the centre of Australia. Not many people in “The Centre”, there are no schools with desks and blackboards and no teachers in “The Centre”.  School is a room at home with a two-way radio. When all students answer, lessons begin.

    Think of your teacher 300 miles away!

    The Verizon Innovative App Challenge gives kids a chance to create apps that can solve problems in their community.

    Do you want to make a difference in your community? The Verizon Innovative App Challenge can get you started. The first step is to think of a problem in your community. The next step is to create an app that can solve the problem.

    Groups of five to seven students in middle school or high school, led by a teacher, can enter the contest. First, teams compete on a local level. Teams that make it to the next round receive $5,000 for their schools. Finalists present their app ideas to judges in a live webinar (网络研讨会)．

    Next, the judges pick national winners. The top eight teams receive an additional $15,000 for their schools, and each team member receives a Samsung tablet. Plus, the winning teams get the chance to bring their app to life.

    A group of six girls from Los Fresnos, Texas, won the second annual Verizon Innovative App Challenge. They came up with the Hello Navi app concept, short for “hello navigation”. The app was designed to help visually­impaired (视力受损的) students navigate their school by using an internal compass and voice­over technology. Read more about the team in September 19, 2016 issue of TIME For Kids: Edition 3－4.

    Do you have an app idea that could help solve a local issue? The deadline to register is November 24, 2016. Find more information and register your team at www. verizonfoundation. org/appchallenge.

    Here are some tips from the Verizon Foundation to get you started：

•Get your team together for a brainstorming meeting. Write out all the ideas that come to mind.

• Don't ignore challenges. Think of the problems that exist in your community.

•Ask family, friends, and people in your community to share their thoughts about problems that they want to see solved.

    “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.

    R. U. Darby and his uncle were digging for gold in the West. After weeks of labor, he was rewarded when he discovered shining ore(矿石). He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. So he borrowed money from his relatives and neighbors and went back to work on the mine.

    The first car of ore was mined and sent to a smelter. The gold that they got in return proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big profits.

    Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then something happened! The vein of gold ore disappeared! The pot of gold was no longer there! They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again, but they found nothing.

    Finally, they decided to quit. They sold the machinery to a man for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home. That man asked a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer said that the project had failed because the owners were not familiar with “fault lines(裂纹线)”. His calculations showed that the vein would be found just three feet from where it was found.

    The man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew enough to ask for expert advice before giving up.

    R.U. Darby was struggling for years to pay back the money from his relatives and neighbors. He went into the business of selling life insurance.

    Remembering that he lost a huge fortune because he stopped three feet from gold, Darby profited from the experience in his chosen work, by the simple method of saying to himself , “I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say 'no' when I ask them to buy insurance.”

    Darby is part of a small group of fewer than 50 men who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance every year. His “stick-ability” comes from the lesson he learned from his “quit-ability” in the gold mining business.

    If you follow these insider tips, your photos will look like you had the place to yourself at the popular tourist attractions.

    Vatican Museums: Vatican City

    The Vatican draws more than five million people each year, and queues can reach four hours during peak season. Christie Hudson, senior communications manager at Expedia，recommends, choosing a skip-the-line tour.“ This not only lets you avoid the ticket counter，but also includes the use of a private partner entrance.” Extra time to visit the Sistine Chapel? Yes!

    Bamboo Forest: Kyoto, Japan

    Bamboo Forest is the most worthy sight in Kyoto. If you're longing to enjoy the pathways and take pictures in total quietness, Kyoto Arashiyama Travel Guide recommends hitting the famous Bamboo Grove Path as early in the morning as possible—think 7 a.m. if you're up for it. Don't miss these hidden treasures you can only witness in Japan.

    Chichen Itza: Yucatán，Mexico

    Home to E1 Castillo and the Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza is a must-see. Want to beat the rush? Schedule an early tour that takes place before a site opens to the public. Led by an archaeologist guide，it's full of fascinating insights and facts—without tons of pack-wearing tourists.

    Louvre Museum: Paris, France

    The Louvre is one of the most popular museums on the planet. If waiting around in line to get in isn't the way you prefer to spend your time in Paris，consider purchasing a reserved ticket. This will give you entry to the pyramid within a half-hour window. The Louvre is also open until 9:45 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, if you're up for some late-night art visits.

    Have you ever run into a careless cell phone user on the street? Perhaps they were busy talking, testing or checking updates on WeChat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new "species" of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name — phubbers (低头族).

    Recently, a cartoon created by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film, phubbers with various social identities bury themselves in their phones. A doctor plays with his cell phone while letting his patient die, a pretty woman takes selfie(自拍照) in front of a car accident site and a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events eventually leads to the destruction of the world.

    Although the ending sounds overstated, the damage phubbing can bring is real. Your health is the first to bear the effect and result of it. "Constantly bending your head to check your cell phone could damage your neck," Guangming Daily quoted doctors as saying. "The neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching." Also, staring at cell phones for long periods of time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.

    But that's not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. At reunions with family or friends, many people tend to stick to their cell phones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.

    It can also cost you your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed of their cell phones in broad daylight.