It all began with a stop at a red light.

    Kevin Salwen was driving his 14-year-old daughter,Hannah,back from a sleepover in 2006.While waiting at a traffic light,they saw a black Mercedes Coupe on one side and a homeless man begging for food on the other.

    "Dad,if that man had a less nice car,that man there could have a meal," Hannah protested.The light changed and they drove on,but Hannah was too young to be reasonable.She pestered（纠缠）her parents about inequity,insisting that she wanted to do something.

    "What do you want to do?" her mom responded. "Sell our house?"

    Warning!Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager.Hannah seized upon the idea of selling the luxurious family home and donating half the proceeds（收入）to charity,while using the other half to buy a more modest replacement home.

    Eventually,that's what the family did.The project—crazy,impetuous（鲁莽的）and absolutely inspiring—is written down in detail in a book by father and daughter scheduled to be published next month: The Power of Half.It's a book that,frankly,I'd be nervous about leaving around where my own teenage kids might find it.An impressionable child reads this,and the next thing you know your whole family is out on the street.

    At a time of enormous needs in Haiti and elsewhere,when so many Americans are trying to help Haitians by sending everything from text messages to shoes,the Salwens offer an example of a family that came together to make a difference—for themselves as much as the people they were trying to help.In a column a week ago,it described neurological（神经生物学的）evidence from brain scans that unselfishness lights up parts of the brain normally associated with more primary satisfaction.The Salwens' experience confirms the selfish pleasures of selflessness.

    Mr.Salwen and his wife,Joan,had always assumed that their kids would be better bigger house.But after they downsized,there was much less space to retreat to,so the family members spent more time around each other.A smaller house unexpectedly turned out to be a more family-friendly house.

    For most of my 20 years as a teacher, summer vacation was my time to relax. So why was I standing in the schoolyard of an unfamiliar school, wearing myself out for a summer teaching job? The extra paychecks were nice, but I lacked the energy of my younger colleagues. Like Stella. She was in her early twenties, and made keeping up with the kids look effortless. She reminded me of myself, back when I was a bright-eyed student teacher at Ramona Elementary…

    I'd never forget my first day. I was too full of energy. Nervous energy. My supervising teacher was watching, and I wanted to make a good impression. I asked my third graders to take out their crayons for the day's lesson. All of them obeyed. Except one. A girl with two long, dark braids(辫子). Everyone called her Estrellita, or “little star.” Why was she unprepared for class? I demanded to know.

    “My sister has my crayons,” she said.

    “You should each have your own crayons,” I told her. “That's no excuse.”

    “There are 10 children in my family,” Estrellita said quietly, her big brown eyes never leaving my face. “We have to take turns.”

    I was taken aback. I'd completely misjudged the situation. All day Estrellita's words played on my mind. The next morning I bought a pack of crayons to leave on Estrellita's desk. She was so happy! That experience taught me an important lesson. Every student had a unique set of challenges—it was my mission to help my students overcome them. That mission used to energize(激励 )me.

    Rest was almost over. Stella turned to me and we started chatting. “How long have you been teaching?” she asked. I told her I'd started twenty years before, at Ramona Elementary.

    “I went to school there twenty years ago!” Stella said. I looked at her again, this time really seeing her. Those big brown eyes. That long, dark hair...

    “Did you use to have two long braids?” I said. “We called you Estrellita… ”

    Stella shouted. “ You ! You gave me the crayons!”

She'd become a teacher. To help students like I did. Even doing something that small mattered.

    That summer, I threw myself into teaching with a renewed sense of purpose. Estrellita had taught me a lesson once again.

    It sounds almost too good to be true, but a new study on sleeping brains suggests that listening to languages while you sleep can actually help you to learn them.

    For the study, researchers played recordings of foreign words and their translations to subjects enjoying slow-wave sleep, a stage when a person has little consciousness of their environment. To ensure that the results were not compromised by foreign language words that subjects may have had some contact with at some point in their waking lives, researchers made up totally nonexistent foreign words.

    When the subjects woke up, they were presented with the made-up words again without their translations. The subjects were then asked to imagine whether this made-up word indicated an object that was either smaller or larger. This vague(模糊的)way of testing their understanding of the words is an approach that is supposed to tap into the unconscious memory.

    Unbelievably, the subjects were able to correctly classify the words in this way at an accuracy rate that was 10 percent higher than random chance. That's not a rate high enough to have them suddenly communicating in a foreign tongue, but it is enough to suggest that the brain is still absorbing information on some level, even during sleep.

    Researchers have long known that sleep is important for memory, but previously its role in memory was thought to relate only to the preservation and organization of memories acquired during wakefulness. This is the first time that memory formation has been shown to be active during sleep.

    In other words, our brains are listening to the world, and learning about it, even when our conscious selves are not present.

    The next step for researchers will be to see if new information can be 1earned quicker during wakefulness if it was already presented during sleep. If so, it could forever change how we train our brains to learn new things. Sleep learning might become a widespread practice.

    A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.

    "It's extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件)," said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. "The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own," he said.

    They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. "The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it's connected to," said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.

    While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers' fields or on the battlefield. "Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around," he said.

    Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. "You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead," he said. "So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis."

    I was given the book Running on Faith written by Jason Lester as a birthday gift last month. After I started reading, I really couldn't keep my eyes off it. It is always inspiring to read a story of someone who has gone through obstacles to reach his goals.

    Jason Lester is a disabled (残疾的) extreme athlete. When he was twelve years old, a fast car ran a red light and hit him. Then he was sent into the hospital with twenty broken bones and. a famous baseball player, but at that a seriously injured arm. Jason had always wanted to become a time that dream was gone.

    However, Jason loved sports and he still wanted to be a good athlete. He began running and taking part in duathlons(铁人两项) in high school. Years later in 2004, he decided to start training for the Ironman, and has competed in many extreme races since then. In 2008, Jason became the first disabled athlete to complete the Ultraman (320 miles of biking, swimming and running) ,and it led him to an ESPY award (奖项) for Best Male Athlete with a Disability in 2009.

    If you are in a bad situation and don't know what to do now, Running on Faith is a good book for you. If you love running and want to reach some race goals, this book is good for you, too. Anyway, this book is worth reading for everyone who loves reading and wants to turn dreams into reality.

The internet, once only a tool for communication, has quickly become a gateway to countless gaming adventures. Online gaming, the born of this digital revolution, has reshaped the landscape of entertainment, offering players an absorbing escape into virtual world.

Before the internet age, gaming was a communal experience. However, it wasn't until the dawn of the internet that gaming truly underwent a revolution. The transformative power of the internet transcends geographical boundaries(边界), connecting gamers from every corner of the globe in a shared virtual playground. Online gaming is a cultural phenomenon that reflects the evolution of digital society. It becomes increasingly vital to look at its impact on individuals, communities. 

Today, online gaming has transformed into a huge industry. The options for online gaming are endless. This evolution has been fueled by advancements in technology.The rise of online gaming platforms has revolutionised the way we play, offering a large number of convenience factors that have carried its popularity forward to new heights. Gamers can instantly access a vast library of titles with just a few clicks. 

With the power of smartphones at our fingertips, gaming is no longer limited to consoles(操控台) and PCs. Online gaming agrees with the fast-paced lifestyles of modern-day enthusiasts. Mobile internet connectivity allows players to visit cyber space whenever and wherever they please. As the lines between the physical and digital worlds are not clear, online gaming stands as evidence of the incomparable convenience and accessibility afforded by the internet.

The internet has not only provide access for gaming but has also redefined gaming itself, promoting connections among community members, shaping identities. Yet, in the wonders of online gaming, we must proceed with caution and mindfulness. Let us raise self-awareness, setting healthy boundaries, and seeking support when needed, ensuring that everyone can enjoy the wonders of online gaming in a safe and welcoming environment.