Do you feel bored during your holidays? Here are some books for the stay-at-home who are fond of reading to pass time during their holidays.

A License to Heal(By Steven Bentley,www.iuniverse.com, $11. 95 sc, $ 3. 99 eb)

In the world of emergency medicine,there is pain,blood and tragedy(悲剧），but there is also hope and compassion. The book shows readers the stories from an ER doctor that brings this dynamic world to life. In this highly personal narrative,an emergency room physician describes the world of the ER as one filled with pain,fear and grief,but also compassion,hope,and a surprising amount of humor.

Imperfect Family(By Leyland A. King,www.xlibris.com, S 19. 99 sc, $3. 99 eh)

This book is a novel showcasing an ordinary family's union,strength,ambition and determination that made it possible for one generation to climb the slippery and shabby ladder from poverty to the security of American middle-class.

Walking the Stones of Time(By Oswald Brown,www.xtibris.com, $ 18. 99 sc, $3. 99 eb)

It is an extraordinary love story of an awkward young man and an equally awkward young woman who,despite their lack of social skills,developed a love that was stronger than all their inadequacies.

Honeyball (By Pete Liebengood, www.xlibris.com, $19. 99 sc, $3. 99 eb)

A group of women pull together in a dedicated campaign to find success at the box office while their leader finds the love of her life and the persons responsible for the death of her father in a plane Crash.

Batting Rocks over the Barn(By Lawn Griffiths,www.xlibris.com, S 19. 99 sc, $ 3. 99 eb)

The rhythm of rural life during the 1950s and 1960s comes alive through the eyes of a boy who grew up to become a newspaper journalist and film editor. Follow his journey in this book.

Najib is an Afghan who grew up in Iran. He led a tough life. When he found his children would be in the same situation, his family initially returned to Afghanistan. But with the country filled with conflicts, they decided to leave for Indonesia.

“When we first came here, we were in a bad situation. Its language, culture and even weather were different. We had moved away from friends and family,” says Najib. “I was in a tough position but I acted strong because there were no other choices.”

Refugees (难民) cannot work in Indonesia and there are limited choices for refugee children to attend local schools. Determined to avoid such a fate, a group of refugees in Puncak took action and scraped together (东拼西凑) their resources to set up a school—the Refugee Learning Center (RLC).

“Our only goal and task is to provide basic education, and prepare the refugee children for their future,” says Abdullah Sarwari. “We’re also trying to provide a normal life as much as possible for them.”

The RLC has also started offering Bahasa Indonesia classes to the refugee community. “Between the refugee and the local community, I feel like there’s a language barrier which stops the refugee from having an honest and open interaction with Indonesians,” says Abdullah.

“If you try your best, to learn the language of a particular place or country, it really helps make things easier,” says Najib. He is among those who signed up for classes, although he admits progress has been slow. But life has improved in some ways for him and his family.

Najib says, “The centre is an opportunity for refugee to show that they are not a burden. If they have the opportunity, they can accomplish big and great things like this.”

I grew up in California but have spent about four years living in various parts of the UK. The first thing I noticed was that my West-Midlands host family did not sound like the queen. I’ve since learnt that accents change almost every five miles. As far as America goes. I can tell the West Coast from the East or the South, but I can’t tell you a state, much less a county (郡).

The next thing I couldn’t imagine was the quiet, stare-ahead norm of public transportation- if you talk to somebody on the Tube, you’re probably a serial killer or a lost tourist.

I’ve had to deal with the Tube from Heathrow to Victoria with heavy bags more times and Victoria Station is not exactly tourist friendly. Each time I’ve had someone walk up and ask to help with my bags. Not once have they been English. In America, at least from what I’ve experienced, people will start a chat if they see you’re travelling by yourself, and I always immediately have someone taller offer to put my things in an overhead bin (行李箱).

Opening hours-especially Sunday trading laws have also taken so much to get used to. In America, 24/7 fast food, grocery stores. petrol stations, etc. are the norm. In my first year in the UK,I forgot it was Easter Sunday, and went into town at 2：00 pm. Imagine my surprise when 1 found the city center was deserted, and there wasn’t a single car at Tesco. Approaching the building, I saw a large sign announcing opening times. I had to make do with plain bread until 9：00 am Monday, when I’d be able to pay for groceries again.

Speaking of groceries, it took so many people telling me I was crazy to convince me to eat eggs here- they’re not refrigerated, and they’ll often have bits of feather or chicken waste on the outside. 1 am now aware that they ‘re safe, but coming from a childhood of perfectly clean, white, large AAA eggs, I was convinced I’d die a terrible salmonella (沙门氏菌) death.

Mercury(水星) is the closest planet to the sun. It is a planet slightly larger than the Earth’s moon. It is covered in craters. Some craters have ice in them, even though the planet is hot. Sunlight never touches some parts because of the planet’s special position. Without air, there are great temperature differences between the coldest and hottest parts. Mercury days are so long that there are big differences between temperatures on the daylight side and the night side.

Mercury was created billions of years ago, when big rocks ran into each other. After these accidents, the planet was frequently visited by meteorites (流星) for several hundred million years. There were also many volcanic eruptions. As the planet cooled, the thin, rocky outside shell reduced in diameter(直径) by about 3 kilometers.

The Caloris Basin is one of the largest craters on Mercury. This big crater is 1, 300 kilometers wide and was formed when a large rock, about 100 kilometers across, knocked into the surface. Beethoven, another large crater, is 643 kilometers across.

The cliffs on Mercury are up to 2 kilometers high and hundreds of kilometers long. The cliffs were formed when the thin surface fell apart, as volcanic activity slowed down and Mercury became cooler.

One Mercury day lasts about 59 Earth days. Mercury takes about 88 Earth days to have a complete year, instead of the 365 days that we have on the Earth. Mercury speeds around the sun so that there are three Mercury days every two Mercury years! Mercury has a strange relationship with the Earth. Every 117 days, when Mercury is closest to the Earth, it always has the same side facing us.

Mariner 10 is the only spacecraft to visit Mercury. It made three visits to Mercury in, the 1970s, taking photos of many cliffs and craters. Although the first three visits answered many questions, they have raised others.