4 . One minute, Peggy Lewis and her husband, Harris Lee, were watching the trees blow in the wind. The next, they were surrounded by flying pieces of glass from the house’s broken windows. The roof was torn off. The walls caved in (塌陷). After the 152-mph tornado (龙卷风) had passed, it took a team of neighbors to pull the couple from the rubble (碎砖) and take them to the hospital.

When the pair returned to their house three days later, it was clear that what remained of the house would need to be torn down, but before Peggy would let that happen, she wanted one thing first—her family Bible.

Peggy had bought the Bible 35 years earlier, at the start of her marriage. Like many people, she’d used it to hold her family’s history — old photos, and a handkerchief from her great-grandmother.

The Bible was the first thing Peggy looked for when she returned to the house. When two volunteers showed up, Peggy had one task for them.

After an hour of searching, one of the volunteers ran up to her. Peggy had tears running down her face. The young woman had found the book while looking through rubble. Surprisingly, while many other books inside the house had been destroyed beyond recognition, the Bible was still complete, even though it had sat in the rain for days. “I completely broke down,” says Peggy. “I thought it was gone forever.” She was extremely grateful.

Peggy and her family were living at a friend’s house until they got back on their feet. But the book already has its well-deserved place of honor, in Peggy’ borrowed dresser. She knows that while every good book tells stories of disastrous (灾难性的) weather and unlikely survival, this one actually lived it.

5 . When Americans think of the lunch menu at their childhood school dining halls, they probably imagine the shapeless, tasteless meat — plus some brown mush (糊状物) to match. But for children in Japan, school lunches are a rich experience where the students learn about culture and nutrition (营养) of foods.

“Japan’s opinion is that school lunches are a part of education, not a break from it,” Masahiro Oji, a government director of school health education in Japan said. The food offered at schools in Japan is affordable, fresh, and made by the students themselves. And Japanese children don’t just eat the food they prepare; they learn about the nutrition and culture of their meals, too. The food is grown locally and includes a balanced menu of rice, vegetables, fish, and soups. Even better, each meal only costs just $2.50.

“Parents hear their kids talking about what they had for lunch,” Tatsuji Shino, the headmaster at Umejima Elementary School in Tokyo said, “and kids ask them to re-create the meals at home.” Japanese students also learn cooperation (合作) and etiquette skills as they serve and clean up after each other.

Considering the fact that Japan has one of the world’s lowest childhood obesity rates (肥胖), the US probably has a lot to learn from this country’s school lunches. A recent study found that American students who regularly ate the school lunch — where choices include pizza, chicken, and French fries — were 29 percent more likely to be obese than those who brought lunch from home.

For American parents who want to be a little more like the Japanese, try sending your children to school with these great school lunches for kids who hate sandwiches.

7 . When he tells people that he is deaf, Oliver Stabbe is called a liar. “The idea that deaf people cannot speak is a very offensive (冒犯性的) assumption,” the sophomore (大二学生) said.

Stabbe’s experience speaks of many of the misunderstandings about deaf people and the struggles they face — things commonly found right in Rochester. This city is home to 90,000 deaf people, a significant slice of the more than 1.1 million national population. The percentage of deaf people here is higher than the national average, due to RITs National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the first technological college in the world intended for the deaf and hard of hearing.

“Really, there seems to be an embarrassment in communicating with deaf people,” said sophomore Stephen Davis, another deaf student. This awkwardness might arise because non-deaf people may have some concerns and

they just don’t know how to do so without possibly offending someone. “I guess they think saying ‘deaf’ is offensive, but it really isn’t and deaf people don’t get upset about it,” Davis said. He noted that the biggest issue he’s had when communicating with other students is their anxiety about communicating.

Deaf or hard-of-hearing students also face frustrations on their end when interacting with others. “Sometimes people talk about you, maybe to a non-deaf friend standing beside me, as if I’m not there,” Davis said. “That’s depressing.” As Davis put it, “We don’t see ourselves as the disabled, so the awkwardness is only one-sided.”

Stabbe advised that those communicating should not make assumptions about others’ preferences or ability. If you have a question, ask. A moment of awkwardness is absolutely worth it if you are being educated about an important topic.

Being deaf is not the end of world, and in some way, our non-deaf should treat them as equally as us to avoid the one-sided embarrassment.

8 . Are you happy with your appearance?     1    

“Almost all the girls with single-fold eyelids (单眼皮) in our class have had double eyelid operations,” Zeng, a Senior 2 student from Chengdu, told Xinhua. Zeng had the same surgery done this summer.     2    

From popular photo-editing apps to plastic surgery (整形手术), it seems that large eyes, pale skin and a skinny body are the only standard for beauty these days. But can following this standard really make us feel good about ourselves?

    3     . According to Huxiu News, over six in ten girls choose not to take part in certain daily activities, such as attending school, because they feel bad about their looks. As much as 31 percent of teenagers avoid speaking up in class because they worry that others will notice their looks.

“Many teenagers are upset about their appearance because they believe in unrealistic standards of beauty,” experts say.       4     Seeing all these things can make anyone believe that they’re too dark, too fat, too short, or too tall.

However, trying to live up to strict standards can make us feel anxious. What troubles us is not just our “imperfect” looks, but the fact that we criticize ourselves too much.

    5     Plus-size models are being featured in some fashion shows. All of us should be just as confident as they are.