【推荐2】Rock climbing is not just for grown-ups. Your children can also enjoy this fun-filled activity as well as getting its advantages. Aside from its heart-health benefit, it is also known   to   increase   their   self-confidence   and   esteem(尊重).   While   it   may   not   be   an impromptu(即兴的) activity like running or biking, there are many climbing walls that are now available, especially with the development of fitness centers and camps.

The great thing about having your kids join these activities is that it follows up on their natural quality. As you know, children are natural climbers. You can see them going up on trees or climbing tall ladders. With rock climbing, you can satisfy their urges to be a climber.

What’s   more,   it is fairly easy for the kids compared with adults. With a high strength-to-weight rate, they have less body weight to pull up, and they are more flexible(灵活的).

It is also a low-impact workout that tests your children’s endurance(耐性). It’s easy on their joints(关节) as they burn energy during their ascent. In addition, climbing walls are like giant puzzles begging to be solved. Not only does it test the physical aspects of your children’s development, but it also wakes their mental abilities.

This exercise also helps develop your children’s essential strength and flexibility. Kids are challenged physically as they pull, lift, stretch, and twist their way up. This activity also develops their eye-hand coordination(协调) as they perform their climb.

Almost anyone can do it although it may vary in skill level, namely beginner, intermediate, or advanced. But despite its reputation as an extreme sport, children can do this. One does not need to be super-fit to join a rock climbing class. However, good technique is more necessary than strength when doing this sport.

【推荐1】As a student,I heard the line “graduate school is stressful” so many times that it began to bear no meaning.

Sure,there were campus resources that encouraged healthy behaviors,including deep thought,and the benefits of self-care,but self-care sounded expensive and time-consuming to me;I had work to do.And I was not a fan of deep thought:The thought of sitting still for 30 minutes only caused me greater stress.But one thing I couldn’t stay away from was walking my dog.

Tessa is a six-year-old lovely coonhound that I got as a gift to myself,for completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston.I first saw Tessa as a thin and little dog in a photo on the Internet.She was found,huddled up with her friends,in a deserted house in Alabama.

Because of Tessa,I took frequent walking breaks while studying for a master’s degree in public health at Yale University in New Haven,Connecticut.I discovered the best corners and crannies on campus,including the sloping grass land behind the school,filled with squirrels and sticks — a safe place for dogs.I found a tree accidentally with a swing,overlooking the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History,which offered the best sunset view in town.On our daily walks,I found calm in the woods and quiet in the early mornings enveloping the city streets.

Now,as I work from home,Tessa continues to help me deal with a lonely existence.Just like in graduate school,she demands that I stop working,however briefly,and accompany her on a walk.These forced breaks throughout the day take me away from my computer and help me to stay active,greet my neighbors and come back to work refreshed.And although I certainly haven’t escaped from stress,and I am still trying to find my footing in research,I will continue to make time for walks every day.I recommend it very much.

【推荐2】Pigeons in London have a bad reputation. Some people call them flying rats. And many blame them for causing pollution with their droppings. But now the birds are being used to fight another kind of pollution in this city of 8.5 million.

“The problem for air pollution is that it’s been largely ignored as an issue for a long time,” says Andrea Lee, who works for the London-based environmental organization Client Earth. “People don’t realize how bad it is, and how it actually affects their health.” London’s poor air quality is linked to nearly 10,000 early deaths a year. Lee says, if people were better informed about the pollution they’re breathing, they could pressure the government to do something about it.

Nearby, on a windy hill in London’s Regent’s Park, an experiment is underway that could help — the first week of flights by the Pigeon Air Patrol. It all began when Pierre Duquesnoy, the director for DigitasLBi, a marketing firm, won a London Design Festival contest last year to show how a world problem could be solved using Twitter. Duquesnoy, from France, chose the problem of air pollution.

“Basically, I realized how important the problem was,” he says. “But also I realized that most of the people around me didn’t know anything about it. “Duquesnoy says he wants to better measure pollution, while at the same time making the results accessible to the public through Twitter.

“So,” he wondered, “how could we go across the city quickly collecting as much data as possible?” Drones were his first thought. But it’s illegal to fly them over London. “But pigeons can fly above London, right?” he says. “They live here — actually, they are Londoners as well. So, yeah, I thought about using pigeons equipped with mobile apps. And we can use not just street pigeons, but racing pigeons, because they fly pretty quickly and pretty low.”

So it might be time for Londoners to have more respect for their pigeons. The birds may just be helping to improve the quality of the city’s air.

【推荐3】Mark Twain was a great writer. He was from the USA. He was born in 1835. He was also a famous speaker. He was famous for his sense of humor(幽默). Many people liked to listen to him talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.

One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes (蚊子) in the town and told him that he’d better not go there. Mark Twain waved (摇动) his hand and said, “It doesn’t matter. The mosquitoes are no relatives of mine. I don’t think they will come to visit me.”

After he arrived in the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Mark Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town.” One of them said to him.

Mark Twain, however, made a joke, saying to the waiter, “The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn’t come into the wrong room.” What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.

But that night Mark Twain slept well. Do you know why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.

【推荐3】On a Sunday morning, I was driving down a road and saw something I couldn’t believe. A little girl, less than two, was pushing her stroller (婴儿车) across the road. It was Sunday morning and traffic was not heavy.

I stopped my car at once and ran toward her. This little girl knew enough to run from a stranger. I tried to catch her in order that I could get her out of the road.

Suddenly her father came running down a hill across the road from where I had parked my car. He ran right to her and caught her up, saying “bad girl” to her. I picked up the stroller and gave it to him. The father grabbed the stroller and walked toward where he came from without a word.

I went back and sat in my car for a few minutes with my son. My hands were shaking and tears were about to run out of my eyes. “Do you feel cold, Mom?” asked my son. I just shook my head.

After this happened, I thought about how thankful I am. Even though the father didn’t say thank you, I feel that I did something good. Doing something for someone else is pleasing, even when it’s only a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

I didn’t really “save” her, but I feel like it was important that I happened to be there. It is sad that I was the only one who stopped. It really made me a little disappointed that no one else stopped to help.