【推荐2】The Book Lady

It was Jennifer Williams's mother who got her hooked on books. A librarian, she read to her three children every day. “Not until we went to kindergarten,” Williams told vadogwood.com, a local news site. “Until we went to college.”

When Williams, now 54, became an elementary school teacher and tutor in Danville, Virginia, she wanted her students to fall in love with reading just as she had. But early on, she realized that some kids had limited access to books.

“It’s very obvious to teachers of young children which kids are read to versus kids who are not,” she said. “It’s obvious at the end of the first day of school.” To Williams, the solution was simple: Give kids books. In 2017, as part of a civic event called Engage Danville, she gave away 900 used children’s books over three days. Most people would be satisfied with that.

“I was like, ‘Anybody could do that,’” she said. “I wanted to do something that’s going to stretch my faith, my work ethic, my everything.”

So she set a new goal for herself: Give away one million books. It sounds like an unreachable number, but as Williams posted on Facebook: “Don’t complain in the bleachers if you aren’t willing to work hard out on the field.”

So she got to work, first by roping in friends to donate books or money to buy books. Before long, as news of Williams’s project spread, strangers started leaving piles of books on her front porch. As quickly as the books come in, Williams gives them to local schools — free of charge — and also supplies books to little free libraries around the city of 41,000 just over the North Carolina border. She also hosts a book club for prisoners in the local prison.

In the four years she's been doing all this, the Book Lady, as Williams has come to be known, has given away more than 78,000 books — only 922,000 more to reach her goal! And she’s not slowing down. It’s too important for kids with few options.

“Reading can take you anywhere,” she told CNN. “You can travel in time and space. If you can read, you can learn almost anything.”

Too much TV-watching can harm children’s ability to learn and even reduce their chances of getting a college degree, new studies suggest in the latest effort to examine the effects of television on children.

One of the studies looked at nearly 400 northern California third-graders. Those with TVs in their bedrooms scored about eight points lower on math and language arts tests than children without bedrooms TVs.

A second study, looking at nearly 1,000 grown-ups in New Zealand, found lower education levels among 26-year-olds who had watched lots of TV during childhood. But the results don’t prove that TV is the cause and don’t rule out that already poorly motivated youngsters(年轻人) may watch lots of TV.

Their study measured the TV habits of 26-year-olds between ages 5 and 15. Those with college degrees had watched an average of less than two hours of TV per weeknight during childhood, compared with an average of more than 2.5 hours for those who had no education beyond high school.

In the California study, children with TVs in their rooms but no computer at home scored the lowest, while those with no bedroom TV but who had home computers scored the highest.

While this study does not prove that bedroom TV sets caused the lower scores, it adds to accumulating findings that children shouldn’t have TVs in their bedrooms.

【推荐1】Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was born on 9 June, 1836, in Whitechapel, East London. She was expected to marry well and live the life of a lady. However, meetings with the feminist(女权主义者) Emily Davies and Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman physician, convinced Elizabeth Garrett that she should become a doctor.

This was unheard of at that time and her attempts to study at a number of medical schools were refused. She enrolled(入学) as a nursing student at Middlesex Hospital and attended classes for male doctors, but was driven out after complaints from other students. As the Society of Apothecaries did not specifically forbid women from taking its examinations, in 1865 she passed their exams and gained a certificate which enabled her to become a doctor. The Society then changed its rules to prevent other women entering the profession this way.

In 1866, she set up a clinic for women in London, thanks to her father’s backing；in 1870 she was made a visiting physician to the East London Hospital. There she met James Anderson, a successful businessman, who she married in 1871.

In 1872, Anderson founded the New Hospital for Women in London, staffed entirely by women. She appointed her spiritual guide, Elizabeth Blackwell, as a professor there.

Anderson’s efforts paved the way for other women, and in 1876 an act was passed permitting women to enter the medical professions. In 1883, Anderson was appointed to manage the London School of Medicine for Women, which she had helped to found in 1874. It was the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors.

Anderson, Britain’s first female doctor, retired in 1902. Six years later, she became the mayor(市长) of Aldeburgh, the first female mayor in England. Anderson died on 17 December, 1917.

【推荐2】One spring, when I was 10, during one of my father’s layoffs (失业), I could tell my mother was unhappy. I decided to cheer her up by buying her a special Mother’s Day gift.

One day after school I rode my bike to the Agins, which, I learned years later, was known for its high-end fashions (时尚) and styles. I introduced myself to Sylvia Agins, telling her I was looking for a Mother’s Day present.

“Do you think she’d like a purse?” she asked. I told her. I thought she might.

She took out an Italian handbag made of leather. She asked me what I thought, and I told her that my mom would like it.

“How much money do you have?” she asked.

“Twelve dollars,” I said.

“You’re in luck,” she told me. “It’s only $11. You have a dollar left over for the card.” She gift-wrapped the purse and thanked me for my business, and I rode off home with the package under my arm.

When my mother opened the gift the next Sunday morning, she asked in an accusing tone, “Where did you get this?”

“I bought it at the Agins. It cost me $11.” I said.

My mother was shocked into silence.

It wasn’t until many years later, when I learned that the purse was worth several hundred dollars, that I appreciated just how wonderful Sylvia Agins had been to me. I always felt bad that I never had a chance to properly thank her.

“You know, my son, what really amazes me to this day,” my mother said, “Letting you have the purse for just a few dollars was unbelievable enough. But the fact that she let you leave the store with a dollar for the card was a touch of kindness that I’ll never forget.”