1 . Dwayne Johnson was born Dwayne Douglas Johnson on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California, United States. His father, Rocky Johnson, was a professional wrestler while his mother, Ata Maivia, was the daughter of a wrestler. His father is of Black Nova Scotian origin, while his mother is of Samoan heritage, which explains his exotic (异国的) looks. Dwayne Johnson, previously employed as a professional wrestler, is an actor known for his appearance in the fantasy adventure film, ‘The Mummy Returns’. A highly successful professional wrestler before making his first attempt into films, Johnson is also famous for his ring name, ‘The Rock’.

Born into a family of wrestlers, it comes as no surprise that he too made a name for himself in the sport. Athletic and fond of sports from a young age, he used to join in many sporting activities as a school student. He played football for his high school and was also a member of the school’s track and field and wrestling teams. He was a promising footballer and received a full scholarship from the University of Miami to play defensive tackle (后卫). He was hopeful of making it big as a professional footballer when an injury put a full-stop to his football ambitions. Though disappointed, he did not let this incident demotivate him and instead decided to become a wrestler. His father, a professional wrestler himself, began training the young man. Eventually Johnson made his WWF debut (首秀) and established himself as a successful wrestler.

Due to his popularity coupled with his attractively strong looks he started receiving offers from Hollywood studios and he began his acting career with the movie, ‘The Mummy Returns’.

2 . Last August my family was holidaying at Diana’s Baths, where water falls off a series of giant rocks. I was ______   as I saw my kids jump between the slippery rocks. “Stay away from all those edges,” I said. But I soon ______ , and we were all having fun, my kids laughing under the cold running water. Then, seconds later, every ______   I’d ever had rose to the surface.

I turned and saw my son Wyatt disappear over the edge. I ______, “Somebody help my son!” My husband was already ______ down the rocks. Wyatt had fallen on his back, straight onto the rocks. While everyone else ______ from a distance, a lady with a mask didn’t______. She called 911. I couldn’t see her face. But she looked at me so deeply, ______ she was trying to push out every bit of energy, love, and strength in her body. I held on to that energy like a rope that could pull us to ______. She gave Wyatt a towel to put under his head and said to me “I’m not ______ you.”

An ______ took us to the local hospital. After ______ and scans, we got the all-clear. As soon as I knew that Wyatt was going to be OK, my ______ fell to the kind lady. Instead of ______ she went toward the unthinkable. I felt so ______ by her, because she stepped into what had been a dark period in my life.

3 . Looking at his pile of unpaid bills always makes Giuseppe Del Giudice feel uneasy. More often than not, Del Giudice leaves almost everything until the last moment. He is not alone. “It’s part of the human condition,” said procrastination (拖延症) researcher Tim Pychyl, a psychology professor at Carleton University. “We want to feel good now. The way to do that is to avoid the task.”

One big factor for avoidance is fear of failure, of not living up to expectations. Kelli Saginak, a 57-year-old functional health coach from Wisconsin, procrastinated about looking for a new job for years. “If I don’t take the risk, decide, or commit, I don’t have to face the judgment.” said Saginak. That inability to take action only confirmed her that she would never do any better. Procrastinators believe that they are more effective under pressure. But researchers have different opinions. “I once did an experiment, putting procrastinators under restrictions of time,” said Tim Pychyl. “They made more errors. They took longer than nonprocrastinators, but they thought they did better.”

Whatever the motivation, procrastination is usually not going to be good for you. Delaying a diet or exercise program may increase your risk of heart disease. Procrastinators experience higher levels of stress, both from leaving things to the last minute and from their own regrets about their procrastination. There’s one bit of good news: People tend to procrastinate less as they age. “As you grow older, the idea of living forever does fade away,” Tim Pychyl said. “It becomes clearer: How many summers do we have left? Ten? Fifteen? They’re really limited. What are you going to do with each of those summers?”

4 . “I’m going to tell you a heartbreaking story.” I told my class of high school seniors. All eyes looked up. Nothing quiets a chatty group of teenagers faster than the promise of a story.

“In sixth grade,” I began, “I fell in love. His name was David.” The girls were laughing. “So it was Valentine’s Day. I saw one enormous envelope on my desk. My mind raced: ‘Who could it be from?’ With trembling hands, I tore it open and there was a card. At the bottom I saw the signature and almost fainted: David. Then my eyes traveled up to the writing above his signature. It read, ‘To the Ugliest Girl in Our Class’”.

Mouths dropped open. Some looked down at their desks, seemingly embarrassed for me. “What did you do?” asked a brave soul. I said. “My eyes filled with tears. It ruined Valentine’s Day for me. It shook what little faith I had in myself for a long time after. But I survived, and it gave me the motivation to undo the cruelty of David.” I smiled. “And that’s why we’re going to have a card exchange.” Their eyes lighted up. “Write something positive and sincere to someone in the class. Even if it’s someone you barely know, there’s always something nice to say. Admire their fashion sense or their basketball skills. Tell them you appreciate their friendly smile.” Looking on as they composed each message was always a treat. But the real fun came when they read what people wrote to them. From then on, I made it a Valentine tradition.

After 20 years of teaching, I harbor few hopes that students will remember all of the vocabulary. But if a student recalls of the lesson they received on Valentine’s Day, to me that makes it all worthwhile.

5 . If you are looking to keep your kids busy—without spending any money—then you should consider signing them up for an in-store class near you. The classes are free and held at locations all across the country. Smaller local businesses likely offer some too, so be free to check local listings.

Home Depot

Home Depot’s Kids Workshops happen every Saturday. Past projects have included model race cars, mail organizers, picture frames, and planters. Classes are free and also include an orange apron and an achievement pin.

These sometimes fill up quickly, so be sure to sign up as soon as you can.

Lego Stores

Each month, Lego Stores have free events for kids between the ages of 6 to 14 where they can come in and build a mini model, which they get to take home for free.

There is a limit of four children per household per event.

Lakeshore Learning Center

The Lakeshore Learning Center offers free arts and crafts classes for children ages 3 and older. These classes happen on the first Saturday of every month, and a parent or guardian must be present to look after the children and help as needed. No reservations are required.

Williams-Sonoma

William-Sonoma offers a range of cooking classes that take place a few times a month, and while a lot of them are aimed at adults, they also have classes for kids between the ages of 8 to 13. Most of the classes are free, though some do have a fee. And those fees are donated to a nonprofit.

In war-torn Afghanistan, where children have little access to quality reading, a teacher named Saber Hossein has turned his bicycle into a mobile library which he rides to remote villages. “I came up     1     the idea six months ago. I started alone with 200 storybooks for kids. Soon found more volunteers — now there are 20 of us, and we have a     2     (collect) of about 6, 000 books.”

Hossein loads his bicycle with books every weekend and rides to remote villages, most of     3     don’t even have schools. “We work as a sort of library — we bring kids     4     (entire) new books and take back the old ones for children in other villages. At first, I chose very simple books,     5    now most of the older kids are able to read more advanced books.”

Hossein does more than just distributing books to children —he also stops     6     (talk) to them about     7     (topic) such as peace and tolerance. “One time. I talked to children in a village about guns,     8     (use) the slogan “say no to guns and yes to books,” he recalled, “The next time I came again, the kids     9     (gather) up all of their plastic toy guns and handed them over to me, but they had one condition: they wanted their village to be the first in the next round of book deliveries so they could get first pick. It was the most     10     (joy) moment of my life!”

Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization created in 2006 by educator Salman Khanand aiming at     1    (provide) “a free world-class education to anyone anywhere.”

Khan offers more than 4, 200 free micro lectures, each of     2     usually lasts 10 to 15 minutes. Unlike     3    (tradition) classes, Khan mainly offers courses for students below the college level. The classes can also help those planning to take the SAT,     4     exam often required for student wishing to enter an American college or university.

    5    (start) your learning journey at Khan Academy, you should first of all enter the website with a personal e-mail account. Your personal homepage at Khan Academy     6    (design) to help you learn math. You can take it first to see your level. The academy then suggests exercises of the right level for you.

If you are interested in other subjects, click “LEARN” to see all topics     7    (offer) online. Try “Art History”, for example,     8     you will be taken to all the things in that area like articles, videos and questions.

Don’t worry if you find     9     difficult to follow the course in English. Courses in     10    (translate) in Chinese, Japanese and other languages are also available.

10 . A 21-year-old female student has become the youngest woman ever to be elected as Mayor (市长) after first entering politics to campaign about food.

Labor Party (工党) member Rosie Corrigan was elected as Mayor of Selby, a market town in North Yorkshire, on Monday. The student’s election was unchallenged to the mayoralty, following a year serving as deputy mayor. Corrigan has just finished her second year studying politics at the University of Hull. A political activist since secondary school, lifelong Selby citizen Corrigan has always been ambitious. As a member of the UK Youth Parliament, she co-founded the Selby Youth council, and then went on to run for and win the local council election as a Labour candidate (候选人) aged just 18.

Corrigan plan to use her year in office to further encourage political awareness in the youth of Selby. By breaking a political record of being the youngest woman ever elected in UK history, Corrigan hopes this will break the misunderstanding of Selby being a sleepy town with old-fashioned views. “It’s an honor to be the Mayor of my lovely hometown,” Corrigan told a newspaper. “I plan on using the year to encourage children and young people to champion their communities.”

The politics student’s election has been supported whole heartedly by the politicians she has worked with throughout her early-developing career, including the backing of former deputy Prime Minister (副首相) John Prescott. Simon Darvill said in an interview, “I hope that the success of Rosie and others like her encourages more young people to get involved in politics and change where they live for the better.”