【推荐2】Abbey Inn is a special hotel. You might spend a holiday there and never meet any other people. No other guests, sometimes. No full-time employee.

The place looked pretty to Katrina Arthur. So she and her husband booked a weekend holiday last year. However, things started to go wrong as soon as they walked into the room.

“Smelt terrible,” Arthur said, “The air conditioning didn’t work, either. We started checking the sheets and the bed. They were really dirty.” She went to the desk to complain, but no one was there. Arthur found no employees in the hotel at all. So she cleaned the room herself. When they woke the next day, they still found no one else in the hotel. So they put the room key in a drop box and got away.

Later she left a statement online. “I was honest; I wanted people to know.” she said.

The next month, Andrew Szakaly, owner of Abbey, sent a letter to Arthur, saying her statement had caused injury to the hotel, and Szakaly would sue(起诉) her unless she took it down.

Arthur was scared. She deleted(删除) the statement, but still the hotel asked her for an extra $350 anyway.

Now the state is suing Abbey Inn for asking guests for extra money for bad statements.

【推荐3】Papa, as a son of a dirt-poor farmer, left school early and went to work in a factory, for education was for the rich then. So, the world became his school. With great interest, he read everything he could lay his hands on, listened to the town elders and learned about the world beyond his tiny hometown. “There's so much to learn.” he’d say. “Though we’re born stupid, only the stupid remain that way.” He was determined that none of his children would be denied an education.

Thus, Papa insisted that we learn at least one new thing each day. Though, as children, we thought this was crazy, it would never have occurred to us to deny Papa a request. And dinner time seemed perfect for sharing what we had learned. We would talk about the news of the day; no matter how insignificant, it was never taken lightly. Papa would listen carefully and was ready with some comment, always to the point. Then came the moment—the time to share the day’s new learning.

Papa, at the head of the table, would push back his chair and pour a glass of red wine, ready to listen.

“I learned that the population of Nepal is. ..”

Silence.

Papa was thinking about what was said, as if the salvation of the world would depend upon it. “The population of Nepal. Hmm. Well...” he’d say. “Get the map, and let’s see where Nepal is.” And the whole family went on a search for Nepal.

This same experience was repeated until each family member had a turn. Dinner ended only after we had a clear understanding of at least half a dozen such facts.

As children, we thought very little about these educational wonders. Our family, however, was growing together, sharing experiences and participating in one another’s education. And by looking at us, listening to us, respecting our input, affirming our value, giving us a sense of dignity, Papa was unquestionably our most influential teacher.

Later during my training as a future teacher, I studied with some of the most famous educators. They were imparting what Papa had known all along—the value of continual learning. His technique has served me well all my life. Not a single day has been wasted, though I can never tell when knowing the population of Nepal might prove useful.

【推荐1】Two robbers have been put into prison in Italy. One of them is called Daniel Pure. He is twenty years old. The other one is Doran, and he is twenty-one. It's new in the world to catch robbers with the help of mobile phones. This is a new kind of mobile phones. It can take a photo and send it to other mobile phones.

These two persons moved slowly outside a clothes shop for a long time, and they seemed to have nothing to do. The owner of the shop felt they were unusual. So he used his mobile phone to take their picture. After that he sent a message with the picture to the police. The picture surprised the police. Because the persons in the picture had done something wrong, and the police were trying to catch them! A police car was immediately sent to the shop. The pair was caught there.The two robbers were put into prison for six months.       

A police told a newspaper, "We think it is the first time in the world that a picture message has been used to help catch criminals. "

【推荐2】When Veronika Scott was a student at the College in Detroit, Michigan, she received an assignment to “design to fill a need.” She dreamed up an idea for insulated (绝缘的) overcoats that would double as sleeping bags, and handed them out to people living in the temporary shelters. While her efforts were greeted mostly with enthusiasm from those who suffered from Detroit’s winters, one woman expressed a disagreement. “We don’t need coats; we need jobs.” she told Veronika. Then Veronika had her second inspiration.

Veronika, now 26, found an expert to teach two homeless women to sew and hired them to assemble the coats. She paid them with donations she received through her blog. At first, the coats were constructed in a small homeless shelter’s utility closet. After graduating from college in 2012, she founded the Empowerment Plan, a nonprofit organization. Clothing producer Carhartt donated several old industrial sewing machines and so on. GM and other companies chipped in operating funds and insulating materials.

The group employs about 20 people — mostly single mothers, some of whom have served time — and pays them more than Michigan’s minimum wage. “We don’t require a GED (General Educational Development) or even previous employment.” Veronika says. “Instead, we’re looking for people who are motivated.” The Empowerment Plan provides free education and offers micro-loans to those who qualify. Nearly all the employees eventually move into permanent housing, and some go on to well-paid jobs.

To date, the Empowerment Plan has produced more than 10, 000 coats and distributed them home and abroad. “Still, we less focus on coats than on the workers who make them.” Veronika says, “At the end of the day, the coat is a vehicle for us to employ people.”

【推荐3】My parents moved to Mississippi when my brother and I were small children, and we were separated from our Oklahoma grandparents by some 600 miles. This long distance allowed us to only visit our grandparents once a year, either at Christmas or during summer vacation.

Most of my classmates lived near their grandparents, and I would often hear stories of big families regularly spending time with one another, fishing at “grandpa’s” house or going over to “grandma’s” for her famous fried chicken. We were disappointed that we did not get to spend more time with our grandparents, but our love for them remained deep and strong.

We always expected a road trip to Oklahoma. We would count the days, and when the day came, the entire family would pile into our car at four o'clock in the morning. Crossing the Mississippi River into Louisiana, the scenery changed. Crossing the Red River in Oklahoma, we were in a foreign world.

Every trip to see my grandparents can’t be without bringing delight. We jumped out of the car in their driveway to be met with bear hugs. My grandparents wanted to know everything about their grandchildren, and we would sit for hours and tell story after story. Grandma had a meal planned, and you could guess she prepared her grandsons’ favorite foods. Of course the best part of the visit was that we were able to do whatever we wanted without punishment from our grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa always had presents for us, short trips planned and lovely surprises, such as the time we got to a local restaurant and ate the world’s largest hamburger.