1 . While learning the science lessons, I used to get a doubt-why ears, nose, tongue and eyes should be called as special senses? The basic reason is that these are the channels through which we maintain contact with the surroundings. Though apparently it may feel like these are individual sensory organs, they do show some connectivity. Interestingly, our hearing is less sharp after we eat a heavy food. Isn't it good for a sound nap after a stomach-full meal? That does not mean we go deaf after a meal, but the hearing pitch does change after a heavy meal.

We usually give credit of the taste to our tongue, but do you know that unless saliva dissolves something, our tongue cannot recognize the taste of the food eaten？Taste is nothing but the food chemicals dissolved in the saliva being sensed by the taste buds present on the tongue. Try to dry off your tongue and mouth with a tissue paper and then taste something.

Women are much better smellers than men. They are born with this characteristic ability and can correctly pinpoint the exact fragrance of the sample. We all can store almost 50, 000 different scents, which are strongly tied to the memories.

Pupils do not respond to light alone, but to the slightest bit of noise around too. Thus surgeons, watchmakers and those professionals who have to perform a much delicate job do prefer to have a sound-free environment. Even a small noise can dilate their pupils, change the focus and blur their vision. If you do not wear glasses or contact lens due to having a 6/6 vision, you are just among the one third of the human population. It is now statistically proved that only one third of the population has perfect vision, the rest all are either wearing glasses or are trying to read with a compromised vision.

Each and every one of us has a particular or individualistic or characteristic smell, which is unique to us, except for the identical twins. This smell is very subtle yet can be sensed even by a newborn. It may be due to this scent that the newborn recognizes the presence of his parents around. Many of us can pinpoint the smell of our significant friends and colleagues. A significant part of this phenomenon is guided by genetics but it is also changed by the environment, diet and personal hygiene. This all together creates the unique chemistry that is individualistic for each person.

2 . Half of the world’s population is affected by Asian monsoons (季风), but monsoons are difficult to predict. American researchers have put together a 700-year record of the rainy seasons, which is expected to provide guidance for experts making weather predictions.

Every year, moist (潮湿的) air masses, known as monsoon, produce large amounts of rainfall in India, East Asia, Northern Australia and East Africa. All this wet air is pulled in by a high pressure area over the Indian Ocean and a low pressure area to the south.

According to Edward Cook, a weather expert at Columbia University in New York, the complex nature of the climate systems across Asia makes monsoons hard to predict. In addition, climate records for the area are too recent and not detailed enough to be of much use. Therefore, he and a team of researchers spent more than fifteen years traveling across Asia, looking for trees old enough to provide long-term records. They measured the rings, or circles, inside thousands of ancient trees in more than 300 places.

Rainfall has a direct link to the growth and width of rings on some kinds of trees. The researchers developed a document they are calling a Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas. It shows the effect of monsoons over seven centuries, beginning in the 1300s.

Professor Cook says the tree-ring records show periods of wet and dry weather. “If the monsoon basically fails or is a very weak one, the trees affected by monsoons at that location might put on a very narrow ring. But if the monsoon is very strong, the trees affected by that monsoon might put on a wide ring for that year. So, the wide and narrow ring widths of the chronology that we developed in Asia provide us with a measure of monsoon variability.” With all this information, researchers say they can begin to improve computer climate models for predicting the behavior of monsoons.

“There has been widespread famine and starvation and human dying in the past in large droughts. And on the other hand, if the monsoon is particularly heavy, it can cause extensive flooding.” said Eugene Wahl, a scientist with America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “So, to get a sense of what the regional moisture patterns have been, dryness and wetness over such a long period of time in great detail, I would call it a kind of victory for climate science.”

3 . In October, I told the eight-year-olds about my plan. “I’d like all of you to do extra jobs to _________ some money. Then we’ll buy food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner _________.” I wanted the children to _________ that it’s more blessed to give than to _________. I wanted them to understand that kindness is _________ nice ideas and that people somehow have to make it come _________.

Early in the week, the boys and girls arrived in class seizing their hard-earned money and couldn’t wait to go shopping. I watched _________ they ran up and down the supermarket aisles. _________, we headed toward the checkout. Then someone _________ a “necessity” that sent them racing.

“Flowers!” Kristine cried. The group rushed toward the holiday __________. I pronounced, “You can’t eat flowers.” “But Mrs. Sherlock, we want flowers.” __________, I sighed as the children moved a pot of purple daisies (雏菊) into the cart.

Then we set off for the house of a needy grandmother and finally __________ in front of a small house in the woods. A woman with a tired face came to the door to __________ us. My little group hurried to get the turkey and the trimmings. As each box was carried in, the old woman thanked us — much to children’s __________. When Amy put the daisies on the counter, the woman seemed __________.

We returned to the car. Fastening seat belts, we could see the kitchen window. The woman inside waved goodbye, then turned and walked across the room, past the turkey, past the trimmings, __________ to the daisies. She put her face in the flowers. When she raised her head, there was a __________ on her lips. She was transformed before our eyes. The children were quiet. In that one brief __________ they had seen for themselves the __________ they possessed to make another’s life better. The children had __________ that sometimes a person needs a pot of funny flowers on a dark November day.

5 . I’d done it before, and so I had no reason to believe that this time would be any different. I was sure that when I returned home from my mission trip, as always, I’d bring back nothing more than some mud on my boots, a hole or two in my jeans and, of course, a lot of great memories.

The summer before my high school graduation, I went to West Virginia with others as volunteers to repair the homes of those in need. Arriving at our destination, my group was assigned the task of rebuilding sections of a home that had been damaged by fire. No sooner had we parked on the home’s dirt driveway than we saw an excited little girl, no more than six years old, standing in the doorway of the family’s temporary home. Shoeless and wearing dirty clothes and the biggest smile I’d ever seen, she yelled, “Ma, Ma, they really came!” I didn’t know it then, but her name was Dakota, and four more days would pass before she’d say another word near me.

Behind Dakota was a woman in a wheelchair — her grandmother, we’d soon learn. I also discovered that my job that week would be to help change a fire-damaged dining room into a bedroom for this little girl. Over the following days, I noticed Dakota peeking at us every now and then as we worked. A few times, I tried talking with her, but she remained shy and distant, always flying around us like a tiny butterfly but keeping to herself.

By our fifth and final day, however, this was about to change. Before I went to work on her home on that last morning, I spoke for a moment or two with the grandmother. I was especially pleased when she told me how much Dakota loved her new room — so much. As we talked, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before — Dakota was hiding behind her grandmother.

Cautiously, she stepped into view, and I could see that just like her clothes, her face was still dirty. But no amount of soil could hide those bright blue eyes and big smile. She was simply adorable. Slowly, she began walking toward me. It wasn’t until she was just inches away that I noticed the folded piece of paper in her tiny hand. Silently, she reached up and handed it to me. Once unfolded, I looked at the drawing she’d made with her broken crayons on the back of an old coloring book cover. It was of two girls — one much taller than the other — and they were holding hands. She told me it was supposed to be me and her, and on the bottom of the paper were three little words that instantly broke my heart: “Please don’t leave”. Now almost in tears, I couldn’t control myself anymore — I bent down and hugged her. She hugged me, too. And for the longest time, neither of us could let go.

I left for home early the next morning. I was returning with muddy boots and holes in my jeans. But because of Dakota, I brought back something else, too — a greater appreciation for all of the blessings of my life. I’ll never forget that barefoot little butterfly with the big smile and dirty face. I pray that she’ll never forget me either.

7 . The ancient Greek philosopher Plato said, “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and joy to life and to everything.”

This is one of Don Spencer’s favorite mottos that he firmly believes. For the founder of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation, this motto forms the basis of the message he is trying to put across --- that music should be a necessary part of a child’s education.

The power of music

Much research supports both Spencer and Plato. A Stanford University study found that musical training improves the way the brain processes the spoken word. Research from Canada found that children aged four to six years old who had music lessons had better memories, as well as higher ability to read and write and maths levels.

Research shows it’s not that smart kids play music; it’s that music makes kids smarter. It supports Spencer’s call for music to be a standard part of the school curriculum, like English and maths. “It’s sad that many children don’t have access to formal musical education, particularly when it has such an effect on a child’s development,” Spencer says.

It’s up to parents!

Involving our children in music doesn’t have to be expensive. And many parents give their kids musical exposure subliminally (下意识地) through singing, the radio or stereo. But parents can take it to the next level by talking about music and exposing kids to different styles.

For many older children, music is part of their culture and while parents don’t have to like it, they can still engage their kids in conversation about it.

Ideally, Spencer would like every child to learn an instrument. “Kids can access cheap instruments like a ukulele, recorder or harmonica,” Spencer says. He says the Internet has a lot of free videos which teach you how to play instruments.

“I can’t stress enough how important music is,” he says. “It builds relationships, unites people and, most importantly, it is fun.”

9 . It was a sunny day, and as a routine for years, I was shopping at my local supermarket. On that particular day, I had done about 2 weeks worth of shopping and ________________ toward the counter to pay for my groceries. After the cashier had scanned my items and I had bagged them up, she stated that the ________________ was $150.

I ________________ into my back right pocket to grab the money to pay and noticed that there was no money there. I started to get ________________. I knew my purse was in the car and I was sure I had put the ________________ in my back right pocket. I looked at the cashier with wet eyes and a ________________ look not knowing what to do. There were people behind me on the line. She told me to speak with the courtesy counter (爱心柜台). I ________________ and said, “Really? It’s ________________. No one would hand that in!” But she ________________ me to. “You never know…” she said.

I decided that there was no ________________ in checking, so I walked up to a woman behind the counter and said, “I have to ask, did anyone ________________ cash by any chance?” She asked, “How much?” My face then ________________. “$200 in the form of one hundred dollar bills.” I replied. She said, “________________, yes, someone did!” I was so________________! “Who? I want to thank her.” She pointed to a young girl about 10 years old and said, “She did.”

I walked over to the mom and hugged her. She said, “It wasn’t me, it was my ________________”. I said, “I know, I wanted to thank you both. ________________ she found it, it’s because of you that I got this back.” I was so happy, I was almost in tears.

The next day at work, a person in another department ________________ me tickets to the circus. He handed me 5 tickets. Almost ________________ that young girl’s face popped in my head. After work I went back to the supermarket and stopped at the courtesy counter and asked if she had any idea who that woman was. She smiled and said, “Yes, she is a friend of mine”. Then I asked her to do me a favor and pass along these 5 tickets to her.

She told me that the family of the little girl who found my money were not rich, so they would really ________________ this. She also said that they had   3 children, so five was the ________________ number of tickets!

10 . Below is a web page from http://www.parents.com/

Kid of the Year Photo Contest

Enter your kid’s photo today and win! We’re giving away 52 weekly $250 prizes from Readers’ Choice votes. Plus, our editors will select one entry to win our grand prize of $7,000.

Official Contest Rules

No purchase necessary to enter or win. The Kid of the Year Photo Contest entry period begins at 12:00 a.m. January 23, 2022, and ends January 21, 2023 (the “Entry Period”). Entries must arrive by 9:00 p.m. on January 21, 2023 (“Entry Deadline”). Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.

SPONSOR: Meredith Corporation, 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa.

ENTRY: There will be two methods of entry.

Share My Entry: Visit http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-l/kid-of-the-year/ and click the button to enter.

Facebook Entry: Visit http://www.Facebook.com/ParentsMagazine and click the Kid of 2022 tab.

Then complete the registration form and follow the instructions to upload one album of up to six photos of your child aged three months to eight years. You may provide one description and one album title that will be applied to all photos. Photos, without any brand names or trademarks, must be taken by participants, non-professional, unpublished and may not have won any prize or award. Photos must be .jpeg or .bmp image formats and cannot exceed 3 MB.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, supported or run by, or associated with Facebook. You are providing your information to Parents Magazine and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used to run the promotion and register for Parents.com.

Photos must not contain material that infringes the rights of another, including privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright violation.

LIMIT: One entry per household, per child, per week. One weekly prize per child. For entries of more than one child in a family, the entry process must be completed separately for each child. No group entries.