It’s been just over a year since 9-year-old Zion Harvey received a double-hand transplant(移植), and now, what he really wants to do is playing football. “I feel happy about my new hands, and I don’t feel different. I like that now I can throw a football further than when I didn’t have hands,” he said.

The nation’s youngest hand-transplant patient has been working hard to learn how to use his new hands. He lost his hands and his feet 7 years ago after suffering from a serious infection. In August, the boy showed off his new abilities by throwing out the first ball at a baseball game. Dr. Scott Levin, team leader of Zion’s operation, said Zion was faced with the operation much braver than many adults. “I’ve never seen Zion cry,” Levin said. “He’s just an amazing boy. He has such courage and determination and gives us all inspiration.”

Zion said his courage came from the two most amazing people: his mom and his grandma. His mother, Pattie Ray, said, “It’s been a long journey but now I feel like I am living in my dream. It’s his dream, and it’s mine, too. I’m just living through him, and I’m just here to support him in any way and help him do whatever he wants to do.”

However，Zion told reporters his mom wouldn’t let him try out for football. His mom said it’s too dangerous. She also pointed out that he might be playing against little kids, not professionals, and she told him they would discuss it later. Zion tried to counter her argument. “My next goal: convince Mom to let me play football,” he said.

Two weeks ago, a 7-year-old girl, Chloe Bridgewater wrote a letter to Google, expressing her interest in working for the tech company when she gets older. “Dear Google boss, my name is Chloe and when I am bigger I would like a job with Google,” she wrote. “I also want to work in a chocolate factory and do swimming in the Olympics.” The student said she liked computers and had a tablet she played games on. She even showed off a robot game that her dad gave her.

It wasn’t long before Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, replied wit his own letter on Google website. In a letter dated Feb. 3, Pichai wrote, “Dear Chloe, I’m glad that you like computers and robots, and hope that you will continue to learn about technology. I think if you keep working hard and follow your dreams, you can accomplish everything you set your mind to. I look forward to receiving your job application when you are finished with school!”

Her father, Andy Bridgewater told ABC News he was completely shocked that his daughter received a reply. But he wasn’t surprised that she decided to write the letter in the first place. “She’s got determination. She doesn’t see the barriers that we face every day,” he explained. “If she wants to do it, she will set out to do it and nothing will stop her.”

The father remarked that his daughter began jumping up and down after receiving the letter. Still, he’s not in a rush to send his eldest daughter off to work. “Now, my daughter is confident, although she hasn’t yet fully understood that it will take more efforts than finishing her study to make it with Google,” he said.

Compassion（同情）is a desire within us to help others. With effort, we can translate compassion into actions. An experience last weekend showed me this is true. I work part-time in a supermarket across from a building for the elderly. These old people are our main customers, and it’s not hard to lose patience over their slowness. But last Sunday, one aged gentleman appeared to teach me a valuable lesson. This untidy man walked up to my register（收款机）with a box of biscuits. He said he was out of cash, had just moved into his room, and had nothing in his cupboards. He asked if we could let him have the food on trust. He promised to repay me the next day.

     I couldn’t help staring at him. I wondered what kind of person he had been ten or twenty years before, and what he would be like if luck had gone his way. I had a hurt in my heart for this kind of human soul, all alone in the world. I told him that I was sorry, but store rules didn’t allow me to do so. I felt stupid and unkind saying this, but I valued my job.

    Just then, another man, standing behind the first, spoke up. If anything, he looked more pitiable. “Charge it to me,” was all he said.

    What I had been feeling was pity. Pity is soft and safe and easy. Compassion, on the other hand, is caring in action. I thanked the second man but told him that was not allowed either. Then I reached into my pocket and paid for the biscuits myself. I reached into my pocket because these two men had reached into my heart and taught me compassion.

When others get off the train to finally go home,Leonie Muller slays behind.That’s because she is already home: The train is her apartment,and she says she likes it that way.The German college student gave up her apartment in spring.“It all started with an argument I had with my landlord,”Muller told The Washington Post via e-mail.“I immediately decided I want to live there anymore and then I realized: Actually,I didn’t want to live anywhere anymore.”

Instead,she bought a subscription (会员费) that allows her to board every train in the country for free.Now, Muller washes her hair in the train bathroom and writes her college papers while traveling at a speed of up to 190 mph.She says that she enjoys the freedom since she gave up her apartment.“I really feel at home on trains.It’s like being on vacation all the time,”Muller said.

“I want to inspire people to question their habits and the things they consider to be normal,” Muller told The Post.“There are always more opportunities than one thinks there are.The next adventure is waiting just around the comer-provided that you want to find it.”

Muller frequently travels late at night,although she tries to sleep at the apartments of relatives or friends. Often, she is accommodated by her boyfriend,her mother or grandmother.“Normally,we would have to have a long-distance relationship,but living on a train enables me to see him all the time,” Muller told German TV station SWR regarding her boyfriend.“Most of ray friends really like the idea,although some consider it to be quite adventurous. Others, however,have reacted more negatively.They feel offended by the fact that I question the ordinary way of life and living.”

The only problem? “Possessing a headset that reduces most surrounding noises is important,” she said.

  Minutes after the last movie ended yesterday at the Plaza Theater, employees were busy sweeping up popcorns and gathering coke cups. It was a scene that had been repeated many times in the theater’s 75-year history. This time, however, the cleanup was a little different. As one group of workers carried out the rubbish, another group began removing seats and other theater equipment in preparation for the building’s end.

       The film classic The Last Picture Show was the last movie shown in the old theater. Though the movie is 30 years old, most of the 250 seats were filled with teary-eyed audience wanting to say good-be to the old building. Theater owner Ed Bradford said he chose the movie because it seemed appropriate. The movie is set in a small town where the only movie theater is preparing to close down.

    Bradford said that large modern theaters in the city made it impossible for the Plaza to compete. He added that the theater’s location(位置) was also a reason. “This used to be the center of town,” he said. “Now the area is mostly office buildings and warehouses.”

    Last week some city officials suggested the city might be interested in turning the old theater into a museum and public meeting place. However, these plans were abandoned because of financial problems. Bradford sold the building and land to a local development firm, which plans to build a shopping complex on the land where the theater is located.

    The theater audience said good-by as Bradford locked the doors for the last time. After 75 years the Plaza Theater has shown its last movie. The theater will be missed.

Unlike other men of his time, Irish writer Oscar Wilde was showy, outspoken and unconventional. At the height of his fame, he was betrayed by his lover Lord Alfred Douglas and had to serve two years hard labor for being himself. He died three years after he came out of prison.

The work Wilde is remembered for was written over a period of less than 10 years. The Happy Prince and Other Tales was published in 1888. That volume marks the beginning of Wilde’s true creativity. However, academic criticism of Wilde’s work has too often dismissed his fairy stories as lesser works, a minor bit of sentimentalism(多愁善感).

Today, since JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, children’s literature has been repositioned as central, not secondary, shifting what children read, what we write about what children read, and what we read as adults. At last we seem to understand that imagination is ageless. Wilde’s children’s stories are splendid. In addition, it seems to me that they should be revisited as a defining part of his creative process.

“The Happy Prince” starts a new note in Wilde’s writing: loss. Fairytales always involve reversals of fortune. This works in both directions: beggars become kings, palaces collapse into shelters, the spoilt son swallows bitterness. Wilde’s own reversal of fortune from fame and money to poverty and imprisonment shares the same rapid drama. Fairytales are also and always about transformation of various kinds – frogs into princes, coal into gold – and if they are not overly moralistic, there is usually a happy ending. Wilde’s fairytale transformations turn on loss.

“The Happy Prince” is the story of a gilded(鎏金的) and jeweled statue on a column high above the town. One day, a Swallow rests at the feet of the Happy Prince, who tells him of all the suffering he can see. He asks the Swallow to take the ruby(红宝石) from his sword and give it to a poor family. The Swallow does so. The Prince begs him to stay and to strip him bit by bit of all his gold and jewels to distribute to others. The weather is getting colder and the Swallow knows he should fly to the sun. But as he takes the Prince’s jeweled eyes, he realizes that he must stay, for now the Prince is blind.

Winter comes. The Swallow dies at the feet of the Happy Prince, no longer sparkling with jewels and gold. The Mayor has the statue pulled down. As the workmen melt down the Prince they find they cannot melt his heart. They throw it on the rubbish pile next to the body of a swallow.

I don’t think anything could be closer in description than this to the criticism of Wilde and his talent by a society fascinated with appearances and indifferent to imagination. Wilde believed in the soul. The soul is often described as a bird – and if Wilde is the Happy Prince, then the Swallow is his soul, that returns to him and will not leave him.

_______ gift and sacrifice is another theme of Wilde’s fairy stories. In “The Nightingale and the Rose”, a Nightingale colors a white rose red with her own heart’s blood so that a poor student will have the most beautiful flower in the world to give to his beloved. His beloved rejects him and his rose, and the rose is thrown in the gutter(排水沟), where it is broken by a cart-wheel. As Wilde says in his letter to Douglas: “Having got hold of my life you didn’t know what to do with it… and so you broke it.”

Reason and logic are tools for understanding the world. We need a means of understanding ourselves, too. That is what imagination allows. When a child reads of a Nightingale who bleeds her song into a rose for love’s sake, or of a statue who feels the suffering of the world more keenly than the Mathematics Master who scoffs (嘲笑) at his pupils for dreaming about Angels, the child knows at once both the mystery and truth of such stories. We have all at some point in our lives been the overlooked idiot who finds a way to kill the dragon, win the treasure, marry the princess.

Traveling by bicycle is a very popular means of transportation throughout China. China has a huge population, and it is said that there is at least one bicycle for every two people within the company. Of course, many people in China ride bicycles purely for sport or exercise, but it’s also a much more commonly accepted means of everyday transportation, as compared to countries such as the United States.

If you are living for a long period of time in China, chances are you will want to purchase your own bicycle so that you can use it whenever you want for transportation or just for the enjoyment of riding. Even if you don’t use a bicycle for everyday transportation, owning one can be a great way of enjoying some of the trails in the rural areas, just for fun. However, if you are just visiting China, renting a bicycle can be a more convenient choice.

It is important to choose the correct bicycle for your use. You’ll find that in China, the one-speed style of bicycle is extremely popular. These bicycles are great if you want to ride around in the city to see the sights. They are quite comfortable and easy to ride. You can often rent a bicycle for an entire day for around $15.  

However, if you wish to ride on some of the rural paths, a mountain bike style would be a better choice. They are great for different kinds of road surfaces, providing for a safer ride. If you are planning to have a desire to tour and still be able to carry packages with you, then a touring bike would be the best choice. These are generally the most expensive to rent, but are extremely handy for carrying packages and even some of your luggage along with you.

The firsttime she saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time he saw Juli Baker, he ran. For six years of living close by, they had played the same game of cat-and-mouse (Juli was the cat; Bryce was the unfortunate mouse).

For years Juli dreamed of one thing: her first kiss from the boy. Nothing else seemed to matter. But when Juliˈs favorite sycamore tree is threatened by developers, things begin to change. She begins to see things and places and people in a different light. Things, for years, she thought to be important, become things she can live without; and people she thought to be the center of her universe, become nothing more than a star in a faraway galaxy.

Things begin changing with Bryce also. It all begins with the eggs...which then cause a domino effect of changes with his relationships with his best friend, his father, the Bakers and, ultimately, Juli.

I had seen this book on the shelf at bookstores for years, but never bothered to pick it up because it looked to be another book from Jerry Spinelli (not exactly my favorite author in the world) and so, continually, I would walk past it without giving it a second glance. If by chance I had picked it up, I most likely would not have read it, since the summary on the back didnˈt seem too appealing. It wasnˈt until a couple of weeks ago that I heard about Flipped the movie. I read an interview with Callan McAuliffe (the actor who portrays Bryce) and thought that Flipped was a romance right up my alley; cute, innocent and as far from Jane Austin as you could pet. After reading the interview and a summary of the movie.Ifound the plot-line to be somewhat appealing and a definite breath of fresh air opposed to the dark material I have been recently reading and writing.I found the book a few days later in a Goodwill bookstore and finished it in three days.

The story isn’t what you would consider deep.. .it isnˈt shallow and pointless either…I guess you could say it’s the perfect balance of life-lessons and innocence.

You read about Bryce and Juli (each from their own points of view) and how, throughout six years, their lives and views and opinions change and develop. Flipped is somewhat of a coming of age story about two kids learning to see life from the other’s point of view and learning that growing up isnˈt about staying the same, but changing; changing likes and dislikes; changing friends and crushes and views on family.

Uniquely written, every other chapter showing the same scenes and events, only from the otherˈs point of view, you see how the saying. "Two sides to every story,” is true. You are able to see both Juli and Bryceˈs reasons for doing what they do and saying what they say...not just what the other sees.

It will be interesting to see how this writing style comes into play in the movie. Overall I thought this story was incredibly cute and light-hearted, although it didn’t entirely meet my expectations. Especially the ending. I felt as though it ended quite abruptly and that there was more story that needed to be told.

But even with that, after having taken a step back and taken my mind offof Flipped, I find the story has stuck with me and stayed in the back of my mind, making me highly anticipate seeingthis book turned to a film. I understand why it has been so popular for almost two decades and am looking forward to seeing Flipped on the big screen soon.

 I think it was October, 1982. A friend had business dealings in the city of Reno, Nevada, and I was asked to accompany her on an overnight trip. While she conducted her business, I was aimlessly wandering down Virginia Street，heading into a most gloriously beautiful sunset. I had an urge to speak to someone on the street to share that beauty, but I couldn’t make eye contact with anyone. Quickly I ducked into a department store and asked the lady behind the counter if she could come outside for just a minute. She 1ooked at me as though I were from some other planet and said, “Well…’’ Surprisingly, she followed me out.

   When she got outside I said to her, “Just look at that sunset! Nobody out here was looking at it and I just had to share it with someone.”

  For a few seconds we just 1ooked. Then I said, “God’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world.” I thanked her for coming out to see it and sharing the beauty.

  Four years later my situation had changed considerably. I had come to the end of a twenty-year marriage. I was alone and on my own for the first time in my life. One day, while my clothes were going around, I picked up a Unity Magazine and read an article about a woman who had been in similar circumstances. She had come to the end of a marriage, moved to a strange community, and the only job she could find was one she disliked: cosmetic sales in a department store. We had a lot in common.

  Then something happened to her that changed everything. She said a woman came into her department store and asked her to step outside to look at a sunset. The stranger had said, “God’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world.”, and she had realized the truth in that statement and that she simply had not been seeing it. From that moment on, she turned her life around.

Once upon a time there were two smart boys. Their talents were obvious from an early age. They knew they were special, and they desired that, in the future, everyone would admit how great they were.

   They developed in a different way. The first boy had a successful career. He took part in all kinds of competitions, visited the most important people and places. No one doubted that he would be the wisest and most important person in the land.

   The second boy always felt a heavy responsibility. He would feelobligedto help others. This didn’t leave him enough time to follow his dreams of greatness. He was busy looking for ways to help others. As a result, he was a much-loved and well-known person in his small circle.

   A disaster took place, spreading misery (痛苦) there. The first man had never come across anything like this, and he failed to improve the situation. The second man was used to solving all kinds of problems, and had such useful know-how in certain subjects. So the disaster hardly affected thepeople at all.His methods were adopted there, and the name of this man spread even wider. Indeed, he was elected the governor of the nation.

   The first man understood the greatest wisdom isfrom the things we do in life, from the impact (影响) we have on others, and from the need to improve ourselves. He never again took part in competitions. Instead, he always took books with him to be ready to help others.