3 . The environmental practices of big businesses are shaped by a fundamental fact that offends our sense of justice. A business may maximize the amount of money it makes by damaging the environment and hurting people. When government regulation is effective, and the public is environmentally aware, environmentally clean big businesses may out-compete dirty ones, but the reverse is likely to be true if government regulation is ineffective and the public doesn’t care.

It is easy to blame a business for helping itself by hurting other people. But blaming alone is unlikely to produce change. It ignores the fact that businesses are not charities but profit-making companies, and they are under obligation to maximize profits for shareholders by legal means.

Our blaming of businesses also ignores the ultimate responsibility of the public for creating the conditions that let a business profit through destructive environmental policies. In the long run, it is the public, either directly or through its politicians, that has the power to make such destructive policies unprofitable and illegal, and to make sustainable environmental policies profitable.

The public can do that by accusing businesses of harming them. The public may also make their opinion felt by choosing to buy sustainably harvested products; by preferring their governments to award valuable contracts to businesses with a good environmental track record; and by pressing their governments to pass and enforce laws and regulations requiring good environmental practices.

In turn, big businesses can exert powerful pressure on any suppliers that might ignore public or government pressure. For instance, after the US public became concerned about the spread of a disease, transmitted to humans through infected meat, the US government introduced rules demanding that the meat industry abandon practices associated with the risk of the disease spreading. But the meat packers refused to follow these, claiming that they would be too expensive to obey. However, when a fast-food company made the same demands after customer purchases of its hamburgers dropped, the meat industry followed immediately. The public’s task is therefore to identify which links in the supply chain are sensitive to public pressure.

Some readers may be disappointed or outraged that I place the ultimate responsibility for business practices harming the public on the public itself. I also believe that the public must accept the necessity for higher prices for products to cover the added costs of sound environmental practices. My views may seem to ignore the belief that businesses should act in accordance with moral principles even if this leads to a reduction in their profits. But I think we have to recognize that, throughout human history, government regulation has arisen precisely because it was found that not only did moral principles need to be made explicit, they also needed to be enforced.

My conclusion is not a moralistic one about who is right or wrong, admirable or selfish. I believe that changes in public attitudes are essential for changes in businesses’ environmental practices.

4 . The kids are hanging out. I pass small bands of students, on my way to work these mornings. They have become a familiar part of the summer landscape.

These kids are not old enough for jobs. Nor are they rich enough for camp. They are school children without school. The calendar called the school year ran out on them a few weeks ago. Once monitored by teachers and principals, they now appear to be “self care”.

Passing them is like passing through a time zone. For much of our history, after all, Americans arranged the school year around the needs of work and family. In 19th-century cities, schools were open seven or eight hours a day, 11 months a year. In rural America, the year was arranged around the growing season. Now, only 3 percent of families follow the agricultural model, but nearly all schools are scheduled as if our children went home early to milk the cows and took months off to work the crops. Now, three-quarters of the mothers of school-age children work, but the calendar is written as if they were home waiting for the school bus.

The six-hour day, the 180-day school year is regarded as something holy. But when parents work an eight-bour day and a 240-day year, it means something different. It means that many kids go home to empty houses. It means that, in the summer, they hang out.

“We have a huge mismatch between the school calendar and realities of family life,” says Dr. Ernest Boyer, head of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Dr. Boyer is one of many who believe that a radical revision of the school calendar is inevitable. “School, whether we like it or not, is educational. It always has been.”

His is not a popular idea. Schools are routinely burdened with the job of solving all our social problems. Can they be asked to meet the needs of our work and family lives?

It may be easier to promote a longer school year on its educational merits and, indeed, the educational case is convincing. Despite the complaints and studies about our kids lack of learning, the United State still has a shorter school year than any industrial nation. In most of Europe, the school year is 220 days. in Japan, it is 240 days long. While classroom time alone doesn’t produce a well-educated child, learning takes time and more learning takes more time. The long summers of forgetting take a toll.

The opposition to a longer school year comes from families that want to and can provide other experiences for their children. It comes from teachers. It comes from tradition. And surely from kids. But the most important part of the conflict has been over the money.

Rice Dumplings: a taste that is out of this world!

The Case of the Missing Dinosaur（恐龙）

My little brother Teddy and I run a detective agency together out of an office in my bedroom closet. The sign on the door says Investigations by Nina (with help from Teddy). Well, We’re detectives. We find things like missing shoes and hats.

Teddy handed me notes he’d gathered from the empty flowerpot on our porch(走廊). That’s where family and neighbors let us know about mysteries to solve. I read the papers, only to find that there were nothing important.“ How about a dinosaur?” asked Teddy. “ My friend Peter is missing his dinosaur.” That sounded great. I asked Teddy to tell me everything he knew.

Most days after school, my brother goes across the street to Peter’s house to play Go Fish. But yesterday, Peter refused to play any games. His eyes were red. He kept talking about his dinosaur, Bruno. We decided to help him. Then we walked to Peter’s house to check things out.

When I was 13, I climbed my first mountain — a fairly gentle 3, 900-foot peak near where I live in Surrey, British Columbia. I loved the challenge of conquering something bigger than myself. Soon I’d climbed nearly 100 peaks.

I often go climbing with my friend Mel Olsen. Two years ago, on December 30, when I was 16, she and I drove to Oregon to conquer 11, 240-foot Mount Hood.

It's safer to start winter climbs at night when there's less risk of the sun melting the snowpack. That day, we started at 3 a. m. The temperature was about 14 degrees, and we wore clothes we could easily remove. Along the way, we met two other climbers, and the four of us continued on together.

After about five hours, we reached Devil's Kitchen, a plateau at about 10, 000 feet, just before the final push to the top. By this point, the wind conditions were horrible. My exposed skin felt as though it were burning. The other climbers decided to turn back, but Mel and I went ahead. We had ice axes (斧), helmets, and crampons (钉鞋). We were prepared for the climb.

The trail we followed grew narrower and steeper. At around 9 a. m., we reached a patch of ice called an ice step. It was about three or four feet tall and sloped at a 75-degree angle. I volunteered to go first. I placed my left foot on the ice step.

I gained a sense of the ice when I stuck my ax and crampons into it, and it felt good. Confident that I was safe, I put my full weight on it. Suddenly, I heard a crack, and a whole block of ice broke off the step, right under my foot.

In an instant, I fell backward.

As Mel made her way down, I yelled for help.

It was Hoppy’s first day at his new school. He didn’t know anyone yet, but he had seen some cool kids at the beach during the summer.

Billy, one of the cool kids, sat down next to Hoppy at break and started to have a talk. They discovered they shared the same interest, surfing, but Hobby went to the beach with his dad, instead of hanging out there with friends, which was laughed at by Billy. He invited Hoppy to the beach with his friends. Hoppy nodded, happy to have a new friend.

After school Hoppy met Billy and his three friends at the school gate, one of whom tried to punch Hoppy’s stomach as a way of “greetings”. While walking on the street, they met a boy, having trouble with his bike. Billy and his friends started to tease the boy. The boy looked up uneasily about this interest in him and his flat-tyre.

Billy nudged the boy so that he fell on the kerb (侧石) and broke his glasses. Billy and his friends ran off down the street, laughing. However, Hoppy just stood there.

The boy, Gerald, sat on the kerb, crying now. He looked up at Hoppy and begged him not to hit him. Hoppy smiled and said, “I’ve never beaten anyone up. Only bullies (霸凌) and cowards do that. Really strong people keep their fists in their pockets. That’s what my dad says.” Gerald seemed relieved. They walked to Gerald’s house, talking about going to the beach together. Their friendship grew.

One Sunday, Hoppy went to the beach with his father. Billy and his friends were there. Billy called out to Hoppy, complaining about helping Gerald. He spoke in an unpleasant tone, saying his dad was his babysitter. Hoppy smiled and ignored him.

Gerald arrived to see Hoppy. When he saw the boys, his heart sank. Billy and his gang surrounded him. “Hoppy’s tricked me,” thought Gerald, and he started to walk away. Billy ran after Gerald and tripped him. Gerald fell onto the sand, but picked himself up and asked them to leave him alone. However, Billy didn’t stop and tripped Gerald again.

This time Gerald managed a brave smile as he got up and faced the boys.

Hoppy and his dad came up beside Gerald, but Gerald said to them, “Why don’t you go with your friends?”