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Alexander John Jordan was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1914. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Wisconsin. After about one year of college, Alex dropped out.

  Alex then went from job to job. He drove a taxi and worked for Royavac. He also worked for his father’s construction company, where Alex got his basic knowledge of construction.

In the 1940s, Alex discovered Deer Shelter Rock and began having small picnics on the top of the rock. He then started bringing his tent and camping out. One night, his tent got blown away and from that day, Alex decided he wanted to build something more stable. That was the beginning of his dreams. Alex started off by renting the rock and a bit of land around it from a local farmer. He first built a small studio with a fireplace. Then Alex, with his parents’ help, bought 240 acres of land, so he could build as he pleased. What took shape on and around Deer Shelter Rock was truly a wonderful achievement. More wonderful still is the fact that he built much of the original house by himself, carrying the materials up the 75-foot-high rock.

As curiosity grew surrounding his project, more and more people came to visit the House on the Rock. Alex decided to charge people 50 cents to visit, thinking that would drive them away; however, people gladly paid the fee. In 1960, Alex decided to open the House on the Rock to the public. This increased the interest and the crowds grew. All of the money taken in over the years was put directly back into the House. Alex was devoted to the House on the Rock. It was his life and dream.

I had worried myself sick over Simon’s mother coming to see me. I was a new teacher, and I gave an honest account of the students’ work. In Simon’s case, the grades were terribly low. He couldn’t read his own handwriting. But he was a bright student. He discussed adult subjects with nearly adult comprehension. His work in no way reflected his abilities.

So when Simon’s mother entered the room, I was very nervous. I was completely unprepared for her kisses on both my cheeks. “I came to thank you,” she said, surprising me beyond speech. Because of me, Simon had become a different person. He talked of how he loved me, he had begun to make friends, and for the first time in his twelve years, he had recently spent an afternoon at a friend’s house. She wanted to tell me how grateful she was for the self－respect I had developed in her son. She kissed me again and left.

I sat, surprised, for about half an hour, wondering what had just happened. How did Imake such a life－changing difference to that boy without even knowing it? What I finally came to remember was one day, several months before, when some students were giving reports in the front of the class, Jeanne spoke quietly, and to encourage her to raise her voice, I had said, “Speak up. Simon’s the expert on this. He is the only one you have to convince, and he can’t hear you in the back of the room.” That was it. From that day on， Simon had sat up straighter, paid more attention, smiled more, and became happy. And it was all because he happened to be the last kid in the last row. The boy who most needed praise was the one who took the last seat that day.

It taught me the most valuable lesson over the years of my teaching career, and I’m thankful that it came early and positively. A small kindness can indeed make a difference.

   We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (橱柜) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. "Buy it," my wife said at once. "We'll carry it home on the roof rack. I've always wanted one like that. "

   What could I do? Ten minutes later I was￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.

   In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.

   After a time my wife said, "There's a long line of cars behind．Why don't they overtake, I wonder?" In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.

   "Right, sir," he said. "Do you need any more help?"

   I was a bit puzzled. "Thanks, officer," I said. "You have been very kind. My house is just near here. "

   He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. "Well, well," he said, laughing. "It's a cupboard you've got there! We thought it was something else. "

   My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. "Yes, it's a cupboard, but thanks again. " I drove home as fast as I could.

Let us look at five excellent places to shop as follows.

Austin

“Keep Austin Weird” is the slogan of the city, so treat yourself at the host of vintage (古老的) stores when you are in Austin. The Texas capital also is home to many independent shops, which specialize in meeting the various needs of shopping lovers. If you are looking for an authentic (真正的) Texas style shopping, then do visit Allen boots and add those pairs of authentic cowboy boots to your collections.

Hong Kong

We all know thatHong Kongsurvives on international trade and therefore for a shopper this place is like a paradise.Hong Kongis mainly known for its street shopping, and don’t forget to bargain. We assure that you are bound to get a suitcase full of stuff. For electronic lovers,Hong Kongis a good place to shop.

Tokyo

Take some time off and visit Tokyo. The Shinjuku neighborhood is one of the city’s most famous shopping districts and will blow your mind with the options it provides. Skyscrapers, malls, and electronic large stores are all at your service.

Moscow

You might find the name of this city as a surprise on this list, but Russia’s capital is actually a fashion place that many people hope to visit as it is host to expensive boutiques (精品店). Right from bright to attractive, a shopper can find everything under one roof in Moscow to suit their personality. For a person who is fond of Soviet vintage and haute couture (高级定制服), you can have a list of options to choose from.

London

The Oxford Street in London is a popular shopping destination, spread across one arid a half miles with some top brands like Selfridges and Topshop. North London’s Camden market is another popular place where you can find something unique.

Hundreds of years ago, a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots, a brave people, love their country. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland. But there were too many of the Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.

　　One night, the leader of the Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight, my men,” he said, “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle. We must win, or we will die.”

　　They were all very tired. So they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they were very tired, too, and one by one, they fell asleep.

　　The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they went up the hill. Closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle (蓟). He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a minute they were on their feet and ready for a battle. The fighting was hard, but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved Scotland.

　　The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people liked it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.

Will it matter if you don’t take your breakfast? Recently a test was given in the United States. Those tested included people of different ages, from 12 to 83. During the experiment, these people were given all kinds of breakfasts, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all. Special tests were set up to see how well their bodies worked when they had eaten a certain kind of breakfast. The results show that if a person eats a proper breakfast, he or she will work with better effect than if he or she has no breakfast. This fact appears to be especially true if a person works with his brains, if a student eats fruit, eggs, bread and milk before going to school, he will learn more quickly and listen with more attention in class. Contrary to what many people believe, if you don’t eat breakfast, you will not lose weight. This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch, and end up gaining weight instead of losing. You will probably lose more weight if you reduce your other meals.

Norman Cousins was a businessman from the United States who often traveled around the world on business. He enjoyed his work and traveling. But now，Mr. Cousins got sick. Because he had pushed his body to the limit of its strength on the trip, a chemical change began to take place inside him. The material between his bones became weak. In less than one week after his return, he could not stand. Every move that he made was painful. He was not able to sleep at night.

The doctors told him that they did not know how to cure Mr. Cousins’ problem and he might never get over the illness. However, Mr. Cousins refused to give up hope. He thought that unhappy thoughts were causing bad chemical changes in his body. He didn’t want to take medicine to cure himself. Instead, he felt that happy thoughts or laughter might cure his illness.

He began to experiment on himself while still in the hospital by watching funny shows on television. Mr. Cousins quickly found that 10 minutes of real laughter during the day gave him two hours of pain-free sleep at night. After that Mr. Cousins left the hospital and checked into a hotel room where he could continue his experiments with laughter. For eight days, Mr. Cousins rested in the hotel room watching funny shows on television, reading funny books, and sleeping whenever he felt tired. Within three weeks, he felt well enough to take a vacation to Puerto Rico where he began running on the beach for exercise.

After a few months, Mr. Cousins returned to work. He had laughed himself back to health.

I was never very neat, while my roomate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled(贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.

War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming,“Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.

The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled(爬)under her covers, sobbing. Obviously, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart.

   Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had sat up. She was watching, her tears dried and her expression one of disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, “Thanks.”Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.

“Microbots”smaller than the width of a human hair could be highly effective and cost-efficient tools for removing lead and other pollutants from industrial wastewater, according to a new study published in the journal Nano Letters last month. In the space of a single hour, the study showed the microbots could remove up to 95 percent of lead from water.

   Lead is commonly found in wastewater from mines or factories that make batteries and electronic devices, and can cause a serious risk to public health, as the water crisis in Flint,Michigan shows. Industrial activities can also contaminate water with arsenic (砒霜), mercury and other metals.

   Heavy metal pollution can cost big cities billions of dollars a year, said Samuel Sanchez, co-author of the study and ICREA professor at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia in Spain. He added that current methods of treating the pollution either are expensive or produce secondary waste.

   Sanchez said his team imagined using the microbots “for the pre-treatment of industrial wastewater before dumping into a river”. At the moment, the bots aren’t ready for open water, so they would swim in “a controlled environment, such as small reservoirs, pipes and containers”.

   The microbots have three layers. The outer layer is made of something that absorbs heavy metals, while a middle layer makes the microbots ferromagnetic (铁磁性的) so that they can be directed by external magnets (磁铁). An inner layer reacts when hydrogen peroxide (双氧水) is added to the wastewater, producing a stream of oxygen micro-bubbles that the microbots eject (喷射) to push themselves in the water. Once the bots finish their clean-up work, external magnets collect them for reuse. The heavy metal pollutants can also be recycled, making the process even more efficient.

   “This technique can be helpful, so we imagine that small companies can use microbots to deal with their water in case they cannot afford to bring their waste water to plants that handle polluted Water,” Sanchez said. “In my opinion, we should see first commercial use of self-driven microbots in the next couple of years.”

I always feel sorry for world leaders busy dealing with fights between nations. When my three children were young, most days it was hardto keep my house from becoming a battlefield.

      It got worse as they grew older. Three years ago, Zack, then 16, couldn’t make it through a day without making his sisters, Alex 11 and Taryn 9, angry.

      My husband and I tried to be understanding the boy at such an age. We reasoned, punished, and left heartfelt notes on his bed about how he was hurting our family. His answer was “I say it because it’s true.”

      I even tried telling the girls to fight back. Bad idea. Now I had three children at war. Whatever I said to them, they paid no attention. When there was no way out, I told everything to my sister, Mary, in an e-mail. She replied, “Don’t e-mail me. E-mail him.”

      Our son was online every day, mailing and talking with his friends. Maybe he would actually hear me this way. I didn’t say anything different, but e-mail just took the tension away. There’d be no shouting or door banging. Zack wouldn’t feel under attack.

      Zack didn’t reply for days. When he finally did, his entire message was four small words. I smiled when I read them: “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

      The children still fought, of course, but Zack changed. Best of all, I now have a better way to talk with not one but three of them. I like it that they don’t tune me out as much as they used to. They like not having to listen to me shouting to them. Or as Alex says, “You’re so much nicer online.”

      All I know is that the house is quiet. But we’re talking.