The expression “a thirst for knowledge" may soon have a new meaning for millions of people who have no way to get clean water. Researchers have developed a book with specially treated pages that can turn dirty water into clean and drinkable water. They say their invention could improve the lives of many in the developing world.

    About 700 million people around the world are at risk of disease or even death because their drinking water is not clean. The water is polluted by harmful bacteria.

    The book contains 25 pages. Each page is about one millimeter thick. The pages contain very small particles (微粒) of silver. The pages can be used as filters（过滤器）to remove harmful microorganisms (微生物) that can pollute drinking water. The filter kills the organisms that pass throughit.

    Pictures on the pages show the dangers of dirty water and how to use the book for those unable to read. The pages aremade of filter paper. They are designed to be torn from the book. Water can bepoured through the paper to be cleaned.

    Ms. Dankovich, the inventor, says eachpage can treat up to 100 liters of water. She recently presented her invention at the meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston, Massachusetts. She was asked whether she had considered adding classic literature on the book's pages.

    "The idea of classic texts—that's of interest maybe later. We have discussed a little bit more exciting text. But we really haven't had the time to go through that part," she says.

    Teri Dankovich and another researcher tested the drinkable book in Bangladesh, Ghana and South Africa. The tests proved to be successful.

    Water for Life, a non-government alorganization, has provided financial support for the project.

    I am 26. I'm clear that I'm never going to catch up with Mother Teresa. But I want to do something to help people every single day like her.

    Everybody thinks we just serve food and soda. The safety training is serious and stressful. Caring for 49 people in a business class in 90 minutes is not easy. I had a roommate who was a waitress; she just left a candle and a table cloth burning, and I used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. If something goes bad at her job, she calls the police. But if something happens up in the air, it's up to us.

    I'm single and have no kids. I've flown every Christmas since 1995. If I fly, someone else can be with their kids. Christmas in an airport can be depressing, but it's the little things that make a difference.

We're not robots. It's hard to put on a smile and just pretend everything is great when it isn't. I've seen co-workers lose a family member the day before a trip and just pull themselves together (take control of their feelings and behave in a calm way). At the end of a 14-hour flight, it's like, "It was really nice to help you, but I'm ready for you to get off the plane." Those last 15 minutes can be the longest 15 minutes of your life. You can't wait to turn off the flight attendant's voice and get something to eat without anyone saying "Excuse me."

Sometimes I go all day and never hear a "please" or a "thank you" when you say "thank you", it's huge. It makes us feel like you actually see us as fellow humans. We're up there together at a height of 30,000 feet, enjoying the miracle of the modern flight.

    The forest in Senegal, a country in western Africa, is full of the chimps' usual noises. Suddenly dogs bark. Larger male chimps drop from the trees to face the threat while the others climb to safety. Then the dogs' young human masters appear.

One mother chimp with a tiny baby tries to run. The dogs attack and separate them. The two teenage boys quickly catch the baby chimp. But they don't act out of sympathy — they save the baby so they can sell it.

    After the teenagers return to their hometown, they visit a man who is said to be very interested in chimps. When they ask the man, Johnny Kante, if he wants to buy the baby, he replies, “That's not what we do.” Kante is a member of a scientific team. Although Kante is angry with the teens for capturing the chimp, he hides his anger and persuades them to take him to the baby chimp.

    Unsure of what to do next upon seeing the chimp, Kante calls Jill Pruetz, the head of the chimp research team. “I'm really worried,” says Pruetz, doubtful that the mother is still alive. But knowing that wild chimps sometimes adopt orphans（孤儿）， Kante and pruetz decide they must try to return the baby chimp to its wild community.

    Kante pays another visit to the teenagers. After he explains how much trouble they are in, because chimps are an endangered species, he requests they should give him the frightened baby without payment. They agree. Kante takes the baby chimp to his home and feeds her milk from a bottle whenever she cries.

    The next morning, Pruetz and Kante leave the baby with another team member and begin their search for the wild chimps. Pruetz quickly finds the group in the woods. She recognizes the female that is without her child.

    Pruetz is so excited that she runs the entire mile back to bring the baby chimp to the tree where the chimps are hanging out. The researchers place the baby on the ground near the tree and back away. Almost immediately, a male chimp drops to the ground and stares at the baby curiously. He carries her back to where the mother is waiting.

    Pruetz still can't believe how fortunate they were to have reunited the mother and child. “Surprising is the only word I can think of,” she says.

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    Although computers used to be large, expensive and difficult to use, they have been made smaller, cheaper and easier to use. As a result, more people have been buying computers for their homes and businesses. They are used to record information and make difficult things easy.

    Let's look at some of the many ways computers may affect(影响) your life.

    Want to get the best treatment at hospitals? Your doctors at hospitals have been greatly helped by computers to get information about patients. It is possible for doctors from different hospitals to read the records of patients, discuss them and make decisions on the best treatment. It would, at one time, take them hours and days to do so.

    Want to talk to your friends both at home and abroad? Then it's necessary to connect your computer to the Internet and set up your own e-mail letter box. You can then collect and send mails in seconds. It will be a waste of time and money to post your letters.

    Want to get advice from Michael Jordan on how to play basketball like a NBA super star? Now it is possible to find out what it is on the Internet.

    But if you think you have entered the information age because you have the chance to use the Internet, you are wrong. The reason is quite a simple one: over 98 percent of the information on the Internet is in English. The information on-line won't be helpful to you unless you can use English freely.

A Teenage Inventor

    The world could be one step closer to quick and inexpensive Ebola detection thanks to a teenager from Connecticut.

    Olivia Hallisey, a junior at Greenwich High School, was awarded $50,000 in the Google Science Fair for her new method that detects Ebola, a virus that causes bleeding from different parts of the body and usually causes death. Olivia's method is to ask patients to put their saliva (唾液) onto a testing card. The card changes color if the person is catching Ebloa. Present Ebloa tests take up to 12 hours and cost $1,000. Olivia's method, however, can be done just in 30 minutes for about $25. Besides, the sample (样本) doesn't have to be put in a refrigerator thanks to the silk material Olivia uses to produce the testing cards.

    Olivia was inspired to deal with this global problem after watching the news that more than 10,000 people died from Ebola in West Africa. She was particularly worried about the fact that, while the acts of involvement can improve survival rates, present detection methods are costly, time-consuming and require complex tools. Olivia got help from her science research teacher. She drew out directions from past research, and figured out detection systems that have proven to work with other diseases, including Lyme disease and yellow fever.

    "What affects one country affects everyone," Olivia told CNBC. "We have to work together to find answers to the huge challenges which cause harm to the global health." The Connecticut's teen, who hopes to become a doctor one day, was named the Google Science Fair winner in the competition of 20 competitors from across the globe. The fair is open to young people between the ages of 13 and 18 in most countries.

    Olivia hopes her success will inspire other girls interested in science and computers. "I would just encourage girls to try it in the beginning, and remind them that they don't have to feel naturally drawn or feel like they have a special talent for maths or science," she told CNBC, "but just really look at something they are interested in and then think how to improve something or make it more enjoyable or relate it to their interests."

    Imagine looking at yourself in the mirror; you do not look like these stick -thin models seen across the media. Your legs are too big, your bottom is too small, and you are too pale. You are too “ugly” You stare in wonder and anger, “Why don't I look like them?" However, you don't need to imagine this situation, because this is a bitter truth for millions of people. In the media，one can quickly see the ideal body, the ideal face, and the ideal person. The advancement of unrealistic beauty on social media causes millions of people to become dissatisfied with their looks.

    Dissatisfaction with one's appearance can cause dangerous behaviors like dieting, which result in eating disorders like Anorexia Nervosa (神经性厌食症) and Bulimia Nervosa (神经性易饿病). Eating disorders have seen a dramatic increase following the rise of social media, 119% increase according to recent statistics. According to Brittany Tackett, a mental health professional,“30% -50% of patients in eating disorder hospitals used social media as a means of supporting their eating disorders.”

    Not only can social media become a support-system for unhealthy behaviors, but an article written by Rachel Simmons, a Time magazine writer, suggests that people who spend more time online tend to link their self-worth to their looks. A study conducted by Park Nicollet Melrose Center also says that in the 1990's, fifty-percent of women wanted to lose weight. Now it finds that eighty-percent of women want to lose weight. Although this higher percentage cannot be directly related to the rise of social media, one can argue that the unrealistic and damaging beauty expectations that social media presents contribute to this number.

    In addition, social media causes stress. A survey was conducted in which people were asked whether or not they used social media, and how stressed they felt they were. The study found that “social network users are, in fact, 14 percent more likely than non-users to characterize their lives as at least 'somewhat stressful.' Non-users are 28 percent more likely than users to say their lives are 'not at all' stressful”. Additionally, stress may have more connection to self-confidence than is believed.

    So，there you are again, standing in front of the mirror criticizing the parts of your body which do not follow the idealistic images of models seen on social media. Your legs are too big, your bottom is too small, and you are too pale. You are too “ugly”. Although this time, you realize it is not you who are the problem. The problem is the unhealthy and unrealistic standards that social media encourages. So the next time you are looking through Instagram, opening WeChat, or commenting on Twitter, ask yourself, “Is it worth it?”