How many calories are there in every meal you eat? That seems like a difficult question to answer. But students at Aitkin High School in the United States can easily answer it now. They put what they eat into an online calorie counter（计算器）. It quickly measures the amount of calories in their meals.

In fact, this is part of the school’s health class. It includes heart health, nutrition and fitness. Students can learn basic knowledge about fats, proteins, calories and sugar.

Students learn how to balance calories in and out. They will know what happens when the balance isn’t there. “The online calorie counter has turned out to be a cool tool to help you make healthy choices. Making one healthy eating decision can really make a difference.” Adam Carlson, the teacher in charge, told local newspaper Aitkin Independent Age.

They also discus good ways to burn calories in the gym. According to Carlson, the gym is a great place to burn calories and get stronger. But it doesn’t work for everyone. So they try to find different workout tips. “I’m trying hard to teach the students that working out can be fun, challenging, and doesn’t need to take hours out of the day,” she said.

The class has indeed changed students. “I am now watching what I am eating and pay attention to the food labels,” said seventh-grader Karena Burgstaler. Another student James Erickson began to control his sugar input because it almost went over his daily calorie intake goal.

You may have seen many pumpkins in posters and TV shows recently since Halloween came on October 31.

Lanterns made of pumpkins, also known as jack-o’-lanterns, are often seen during Halloween. Many people in the U.S. like to make them and put them in front of their houses. People hollow out（挖空）a pumpkin, carve a face on one side and place a candle inside to make the pumpkin glow. The lanterns can look funny or scary.

This is not the only way in which pumpkins are part of American culture.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, pumpkin pie is a common food. It is made from pumpkins and has some delicious spices to give it a nice flavor. People often put some cream on top of it before serving it. It is one of my favorite things to eat during Thanksgiving.

There is also “pumpkin chucking”. It’s a competition where people build machines to throw pumpkins through the air. The person whose pumpkin flies the farthest wins the competition. The world record for pumpkin chucking was set in Utah in 2010. The distance for that world record was about 1.69 kilometers!

Finally, there are also pumpkin growing contests. For these contests, farmers try to grow the biggest pumpkins they can. The person who has the biggest pumpkin will win the first prize.

Hollywood is still seen as a “man’s world”, but one woman is doing her best to change that.

In May, 2017, U.S. director Sofia Coppola,46,became the second woman in the history of the Cannes Film Festival to win the Best Director Award for her movie The Beguiled. The last time a woman won the award was 56 years ago.

Coppola seemed to be born for a career in film. Her father is Francis Ford Coppola, who directed the famous movie The God father. Coppola first appeared as a, baby boy, Michael, in The God father.

However, it didn’t make her path to success easier. Instead, she grew up in the shadow of her father. People often criticized her for nepotism（裙带关系）and bad acting. She was named the “Worst Supporting Actress（配角）” and “Worst New Star” at the 1990 Golden Raspberry Awards for her acting in The God father Part III.

After that, she turned to directing-what she really wanted to do all along. Her first film Lick the Star came out in 1998. And Lost in Translation soon won her an Academy Award in 2003. She gradually became famous for films focusing on women. “I just think, half the world is female,” she told Elle.com. She makes films with these females in mind. From the cute Lisbon girls in the Virgin Suicides to the teen queen Marie Antoinette, Coppola brings us into the amazing worlds of girls, rather than simply showing them as stupid, unimportant or useless, Deviant World noted.

What do you use to unlock your cellphone? A password? A fingerprint? Or simply a glance?

On September 12, 2017, Apple introduced its iPhone X, which has an eye-catching feature—Face ID.

With Face ID, Apple says, you can unlock your new iPhone by just looking at it. It is powered by a so-called TrueDepth camera system built into the front of the iPhone X.

When the camera system sees a person’s face, it uses 30,000 unseen dots to “map” the shape and outline of the face. A mathematical model of the face will then be created and stored in the phone.

The next time the person looks at the iPhone X, the same dots are mapped onto his or her face and compared to the stored model. If the two match, then the phone unlocks. This happens in less than a second.

Apple says the system is smart. If you change your hairstyle, put on sunglasses or makeup, or use the phone in the dark, Face ID still works.

Although the technology sounds fancy, there are still concerns. For example, will Face ID work for twins?

According to Apple, the chance of others to unlock your iPhone X using Face ID is one in a million. Face ID can tell the difference between twins, but the error rating（出错率）rises. So one would need to set a password then.

Apple also emphasizes that Face ID only unlocks when you stare at it. It is what Apple calls “attention aware”. So the phone won’t unlock if you are just glancing at the phone for the time. It won’t work either if someone puts the phone at your sleeping face or your photo.