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    How far would you go for your kids education? That's a question many parents are asking in the wake of the college cheating scandal(丑闻)involving 38 wealthy parents around the country, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. Here's how far I went. In the fall of 2017 my husband and I lost our jobs. We had to tell our daughter, Casey, that we couldn't afford to send her back to school for her junior year at Fordham University. We decided the best choice for our family would be for Casey to sit out a year. We promised that we would get her back the following year. Casey decided to spend the year volunteering in South Africa On Sept 30, 2017, we put our oldest child on a plane halfway around the world. Casey worked as a tutor teaching kids math, English and music in Johannesburg. We did get Casey back in school in time. When she returned to the campus, she studied harder. She isn't what she used to be. Each day is marked by gratitude because she knows what it is like not to be able to get an education.

    I wonder why the college cheating scandal happened and I think it boils down to this: Parents want to create a comfort zone for their kids. Of course, we want the best for our kids but sometimes we forget that real growth doesn't happen in times of comfort; those valuable lessons come when we are forced to think in ways we otherwise wouldn't have.

    While I did less for my child than these wealthy parents did in terms of means, in other ways I did more. I taught her that disappointment is a part of life and we should face it bravely rather than avoid it. My husband and I showed Casey that her strength is in her struggle. That's how far I went for my kid s education. And I dare say she is wiser and better off for it.

    There are many programs for high school students today that help lonely teenagers deal with loneliness. However, loneliness is not only a problem for teens but also an important and rarely acknowledged one in the elderly.

    In Britain, Tracey Crouch was appointed to be the first Minister of Loneliness in order to address the problems caused by loneliness. This is the first time such a position has been created.

    In Britain, there are around 9 million people who say they are lonely frequently. In Germany, a study conducted by Ruhr University Bochum found that 20 percent of people over the age of 85 felt lonely, and 14 percent of those between age 45 and 65 felt socially lonely. In the United States, more than 25 percent of the population live alone, more than 50 percent are unmarried.

    Loneliness is generally associated with heart disease  overweight, and anxiety. Additionally, the stress from loneliness can cause your cells to change on a molecular (分子) level that reduces its abilities to defend your body against diseases. In fact, doctors believe having feelings of loneliness is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes per day in regard to its effect on health!

    In Britain, the new Minister of Loneliness will help introduce government policies on the problem and fund a charity—an organization for helping people in need, to devote their efforts towards aiding loneliness. There are charities that link lonely seniors to high school students in order to give them a line of communication whenever they feel lonely!

    The possibilities for the new Minister of Loneliness are endless. For example, she can provide education services to household businesses so that they can identify lonely customers if they see one. Loneliness fits into the category of being a social problem that must be monitored by the entire community in order to help those in need. Therefore, government involvement in medical services and care for seniors and others is vital for happy seniors.

    When I was 12 years old, I already knew that my teen years were going to be the worst years of my life. I was a total outsider, bullied (欺凌) at school. I felt completely alone in my small town.

    But by starting to do volunteer work when I was 14, I turned my problem into a passion for helping others. The opportunity to practice kindness made me feel like my life had a greater purpose. The more positive energy I shared, the more kindness and appreciation I received. I realized that my purpose in life would be to reach out to people, specifically teenagers, and help them feel less alone.

    Books were my true friends back then. I was so thankful that the authors wrote those books. The kindness they offered me with their books saved my life. One of my biggest dreams was to become an author so I could write books that would help other teenagers the way those books helped me.

    After surviving terrible experiences at school and at home, I made a choice to take the optimistic, positive road in the next steps of my journey. My dream career, one I thought was only possible for the authors I loved, is what I am doing now. I have been a full-time author of teen novels since 2007 and am grateful for this amazing opportunity to reach out to readers every single day.

    Kindness saved me when I needed help the most. Even small acts of kindness can change someone's life. You never know what someone else is going through. But by practicing daily kindness, you become an architect of positive change.

    Six months after a Chinese scientist was widely condemned for helping to make the world's first gene­edited babies, he remains out of public view, and new information suggests that others may be interested in undertaking the same kind of work outside the United States.

    A clinic in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai emailed scientist He Jiankui to seek training in gene editing, Stanford University bioethicist Dr. William Hurlbut said ahead of a speech Tuesday at the World Science Festival in New York.

    Hurlbut, whose advice He often sought, said He told him that scientists from multiple countries and families with inherited health problems had messaged support and interest in altering the genes of embryos(胚胎)to prevent or treat disease. Hurlbut gave The Associated Press the email the Dubai clinic sent to He in December but decided to hide the clinic's name.

    "It reveals what eagerness there is out there to use this technology" and the need "for some sort of practical governance" of it, Hurlbut said.

    Jennifer Doudna, a University of California, Berkeley, co­inventor of the CRISPR gene­editing tool that He used, said that she also has heard of others who want to edit embryos.

    "I think they're entirely credible," she said of such reports. Doudna, who was also a speaker at the New York festival, said the field needs to focus on setting specific principles for how and when such work should proceed.

    "The technology is frankly just not ready for clinical use in human embryos," although research should continue, she said. Doudna is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports AP's Health and Science Department.

    Scientists and policy leaders have been debating how to set international standards or controls since He claimed in November that he had altered the genes of twin girls at conception(怀孕)to try to help them resist possible future infection with the AIDS virus.

    Editing embryos is outlawed in many countries because it risks damaging other genes, and the DNA changes can be passed to future generations. Many scientists have condemned He's work, and attention has fallen on other scientists who knew or strongly suspected what He was doing.

    Developing healthy eating habits starts from childhood, therefore it is important for parents to teach and provide children with a healthy diet. DPHSS administrator of the Bureau of Nutrition Services, Charlie Morris told KUAM News, "A healthy diet for a child consists of a lot of fruits and vegetables in the diet limiting the amount of simple sugars in the diet and high fat food and highly processed(加工的) food."

    This means staying away as much as possible from food such as chips, cookies, candies and sugary drinks, as all children need to have meals which involve a well-balanced diet. Community nutritionist(营养学家) Thelma Romoso said, "The fruit, the vegetable, the grain, the protein, and also the milk, the diary product, so for the fruits it's easy for a mother to go into the two plus three concept of fruits and vegetables or five a day."

    This concept means that there are at least two servings of fruits a day, three servings of vegetables a day which can be served for lunch and dinner. As for protein parents can make a variety of dishes from chicken, beef, fish or even dried beans to make sure the child gets three servings a day.

    Morris said that the child's hunger level controls how much is eaten and the parent controls what and when the meal is offered, saying, "Mom needs to ensure that the food offered is good food for the child to eat and throughout the day depending on how active they are, snacks(零食) are not a bad thing, so the mom should offer good kinds of snacks."

    When it comes to preparing your child's lunch and snacks for school, make sure to keep in mind that the food you provide should not only be a source of energy but also be nutritionally beneficial such as fresh fruits, and whole grain bread. But parents must be sure to remember that a good nutritional diet must be balanced with physical activity, namely it is important that children get outside and run around and play and get activity in addition to eating a good diet.

    The light from the campfire brightened the darkness, but it could not prevent the damp cold of Dennis's Swamp (沼泽地) creeping into their bones. It was a strange place. Martin and Tom wished that they had not accepted Jack's dare. They liked camping, but not near this swamp.

    "So," Martin asked as they sat watching the hot coals. "How did this place get its name?"

    "Are you sure you want to hear it? It's a scary story," warned Jack.

    "Of course!" cried out Tom. "If there were anything to be scared of, you wouldn't have chosen this place!"

    "Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you," said Jack, and he began this tale.

    "Way back in time, a man called Dennis tried to start a farm here. He built that cottage over there to live in. In those days, the area looked quite different — it was covered with tall trees and the swamp was a crystal-clear river. After three hard years, Dennis had cleared several fields and planted crops. He was so proud of his success that he refused to listen to advice.

    "You are clearing too much land," warned one old man. "The land is a living thing. It will hit back at you if you abuse it."

    "Silly fool," said Dennis to himself. "If I clear more land, I can grow more crops. I'll become wealthier. He's just jealous!"

    "Dennis continued to chop down trees. Small animals that relied on them for food and shelter were destroyed. He was so eager to expand his farm that he did not notice the river flowing slowly towards his door. He did not notice salt seeping (渗透) to the surface of the land. He did not notice swamp plants choking all the native plants."

    "What happened?" Martin asked. It was growing colder. He trembled, twisting his body closer to the fire.

    "The land hit back — just as the old man warned," Jack shrugged. "Dennis disappeared. Old folks around here believe that swamp plants moved up from the river and dragged him underwater. His body was never found."

    "What a stupid story," laughed Tom. "Plants can't…" Before he had finished speaking, he screamed and fainted. The other two boys jumped up with fright, staring at Tom. Suddenly, they burst out laughing. Some green swamp ivy (常春藤) had covered Tom's face. It was a while before Tom could appreciate the joke.

    Chef Zhang Xuesi lowered the fire on the stove where he was cooking his Cantonese meal. He added all the necessary foods. He quickly lowered the fire and turned toward a phone camera as hundreds of people watched him online. "It ruins the dish if you burn the breadcrumbs," he advised his livestream video watchers.

    Many people in China are restricted to their homes in the effort to stop the spread of coronavirus. Millions of them are finding a new interest in cooking. People watching television and online cooking shows are learning how to make Chinese and Western foods. They are also pushing up the sale of special cookware on online markets. Downloads of the top five recipe apps doubled in February, said research company Sensor Tower.

    Billibilli said it has had more than 580 million views of its cooking videos in the two months since the coronavirus began to spread in China. Another online cooking show producer DayDayCook told Reuters its numbers of new users increased 200 percent from January to February. A recipe for bean curd and shrimp received the most watchers.

    This group is used to eating out or getting food delivery. Now these people are cooking at home. Wu Shuang is a 30-year-old who works and lives in Beijing. She was among those trapped at home in February. She says she spent a lot of time online, learning how to make bread and other foods.

    Chef Zhang Xuesi explained that many of his online viewers expressed interest in discussing more than just food. In the past, users were only interested in learning cooking tricks, but now we talk about all kinds of subjects.

    This story took place a long time ago. But it has been repeated time and time again. Everyone is moved by the story.

    An old man was knocked down by a car and was taken to hospital. He was badly hurt, and during his few returns to consciousness, he repeatedly called for his son.

    None knew where his son was. A dirty letter was found in his pocket. The nurse learned that his son was a soldier in North Carolina.

    The hospital called the Red Cross office to find the young man. The young soldier rushed to the airport in time to catch the plane.

It was evening when the young soldier walked into the hospital. A nurse took him to the beside of the old man.

   "Your son is here." she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the old man's eyes opened. He dimly saw the young man and got great comfort. He reached out his hand. The soldier held the old man's hand and offered words of hope.

    All through the night the young soldier sat beside the bed. The nurse offered to watch instead of him for a while, he refused.

    At dawn the old man died. The nurse started to comfort him but the soldier asked her," Who was that old man?" "He was your father," she answered," No, he wasn't. I never saw him before. I knew right away there was a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. I realized I was needed. So I stayed."

    Picture this: It's 2003 and your family has just finished arguing over which Netflix movies to rent that week. Movies come in the mail and the family watch them throughout the week before sending them back and ordering new ones. Then, fast forward to 2008, and you have started to watch TV shows on Netflix's new platform.

    Now, let's come to the present. You sit down and open up Netflix on your TV and scroll for a while. Then you flip over to Hulu to see if they have anything more interesting to offer. Then you check HBO GO. Finally, you check Disney+. Then you realize that you're paying for four different streaming services, maybe more.

    More generally, streaming. There are over 100 video streaming services available, as well as quite a few music streaming, including Apple Music, YouTube Music, Google Play, and etc. The streaming world, at least to some, is on its way to getting out of control, with each service requiring its own monthly subscription. And that is just entertainment subscriptions. We haven't even taken into account subscriptions like Microsoft Office, magazine subscriptions, and email newsletters. Subscriptions started out as a service of convenience, but now, the oversaturation may have become burdensome. The services believe customers will pay more to get the content they want. However, statistics show a growing frustration(失望) among consumers. With so many options, they find it harder than ever to make a decision on what to pick.

    Not only does the oversaturation of streaming result in confusing navigation, it also creates a financial burden for the consumers. Let's say if you want to watch Stranger Things , The Handmaid's Tale , and Game of Thrones , which belong to three different services, you would have to pay nearly $50 a month to access all three of those services, meaning it's not cheaper, and potentially more expensive, than cable.

    People cut their cords and went the streaming route because it was simpler and cheaper. Now, it's just as inconvenient and difficult as cable was, if not more so, and unless you're limiting yourself to one service, it's not cheaper. Streaming will survive because we're in a Golden Age of Media and because each service is able to create high-quality originals. But Golden Ages don't last, and bubbles tend to burst. Until the inevitable(不可避免的)day when some product or service proves streaming out of date, we must suffer the choices in front of us. The next time you are scrolling through Netflix, Hulu, or whatever, and the overchoice is killing you, maybe you should just go pick up a book instead.

    Everyone needs friends. As the saying goes, "Friends are God's way of taking care of us."

    The American writer, Sally Seamans, tells young students some smart ways to make friends. Sally says finding friendship is just like planting a tree. You plant the seed and take care of it to make it grow.

    First you should choose a friend. What makes a good friend? It is not because a person has money or good looks. A good friend should be kind and patient. For example, if you have a bad day, a good friend should listen to your complaints and do his best to help. To make friends, you cannot be too shy. You should make each other happy and share your lives.

    But things cannot always be happy. Even the best friends have fights. What should you do when you have a fight with your friend? You have to talk to him or her. When there is no one around, have an honest talk. If he or she doesn't want to talk, you could write a letter.

    There are three steps to be friends again:

    Tell him or her how you are feeling; say what your friend has done wrong; explain why you did this or that. Remember that friendship is the most important thing in your life.

One day I stopped to think about growing apples. I was eating a delicious, juicy apple and took a big bite. As a result, I got an apple seed into my mouth. I spat it out into my hand, with the intention of throwing it away. But instead I looked at the apple seed. I realized I was holding an apple tree in the palm of my hand. A little seed with the potential to become a beautiful big tree-a tree that could grow thousands of apples in its lifetime. Why then the world wasn't filled with apple trees? It is a rule of nature that only a few of these seeds grow.

And it came to my mind that it's also quite often so with people's dreams. Wonderful ideas come to our minds but they die too soon-we don't tend to the little saplings, we don't protect them as we should. And then one day we wonder what happened to our dreams-why did they never come true?

The seeds of your dreams did not automatically grow, like planting an apple tree. It might take many tries: like a hundred job applications to get that good job. You might send your manuscript out two hundred times before it was accepted.

Some people think their best time in life is when they are young. I refuse to believe that. There are plenty of examples out there that prove you can achieve amazing things even in your mature years. I love the little story of a woman who decided she wanted to go and study when she was in her forties. Her husband asked her. "Do you realize that if you start your studies now, you will be fifty when you graduate?" To which this admirable lady replied:" Darling-l shall be fifty in any case".

So go ahead and follow your dreams. No matter what they are, no matter what your age, and no matter what others think of it. It's your life after all.

Four days after Dad's 67th birthday, he had a heart attack. He was lucky—he survived. But something inside him had died—his enthusiasm for life was gone.

My husband and I asked Dad to live with us on our small farm, hoping the fresh air would help him adjust. Within a week after he moved in, I regretted the invitation. He criticized everything I did. I became frustrated.

One day I read an article about a nursing home. Several depressed patients' attitudes had improved dramatically when they were given dogs. So, I drove to the animal shelter that afternoon. As soon as I got there, a pointer's(指示犬) eyes caught my attention. They watched me calmly.

A staff member said, "He got here two weeks ago and we've heard nothing. His time is up tomorrow." I turned to the man in horror, "You mean you're going to kill him?"

"Ma'am" he said gently. "We don't have room for every unclaimed dog."

The pointer's calm brown eyes awaited my decision. "I'll take him." I said.

Glancing at the dog, Dad wrinkled his face and turned back toward the house. Then, suddenly, the pointer pulled free from my grasp. He sat down in front of Dad. Dad's anger melted, and soon he was hugging the animal.

It was the beginning of a warm friendship. Dad named the pointer Cheyenne. Together they spent long hours walking down dusty lanes and relaxing on the banks of streams.

Dad's bitterness faded, and he and Cheyenne went on to make many friends. Then, late one night two years later, I felt Cheyenne's cold nose searching through my bed covers. He had never come into our bedroom before at night. I ran into my father's room and found that he had passed away.

Two days later, my shock and grief deepened when I discovered Cheyenne lying dead beside Dad's bed. As I buried him near their favorite stream, I silently thanked the dog for restoring Dad's peace of mind.

It was a cold March day in High Point, North Carolina. The girls on the Wesleyan Academy softball team were waiting for their next turns at bat during practice, stamping their feet to stay warm. Eighth-grader Taylor Bisbee shivered(发抖) a little as she watched her teammate Paris White play. The two didn't know each other well —Taylor had just moved to town a month or so before.

Suddenly, Paris fell to the ground. "Paris's eyes rolled back," Taylor says. "She started shaking. I knew it was an emergency. "

It certainly was. Paris had suffered a sudden heart failure. Without immediate medical care, Paris would die. At first, no one moved. The girls were in shock. Then the softball coach shouted out, "Does anyone know CPR?"

CPR is a life-saving technique. To do CPR, you press on the sick person's chest so that blood moves through the body and takes oxygen to organs. Without oxygen, the brain is damaged quickly.

Amazingly, Taylor had just taken a CPR course the day before. Still, she hesitated. She didn't think she knew it well enough. But when no one else came forward, Taylor ran to Paris and began doing CPR. "It was scary. I knew it was the difference between life and death," says Taylor.

Taylor's swift action helped her teammates calm down. One girl called 911. Two more ran to get the school nurse, who brought a defibrillator, an electronic devices(器械) that can shock the heart back into work. Luck stayed with them: Paris's heartbeat returned.

"I know I was really lucky," Paris says now. "Most people don't survive this. My team saved my life. "

Experts say Paris is right: For a sudden heart failure, the single best chance for survival is having someone nearby step in and do CPR quickly.

Today, Paris is back on the softball team. Taylor will apply to college soon. She wants to be a nurse. "I feel more confident in my actions now," Taylor says. "I know I can act under pressure in a scary situation."

No one ever said science education was easy. Certainly the concepts we teach, like conservation of momentum (动量守恒) or quantum mechanics (量子力学)，can be hard to grasp. But what really makes our reaching complicated is that we're also trying to teach a deeper lesson at the same time — to help students understand the nature of science itself.

All too often, young people get the impression that science is about learning certain "laws" and then applying them to different situations. After all, that's what we make them do on tests, to show that they've been doing the work. But that's not it at all. Science is the process of building these concepts through the collection of experimental evidence.

And while I'm on it let's call these concepts what they really are — not laws, but models. Science is all about building and testing models. It's difficult to help students understand that aspect of science when we just give them the models to begin with. Sure, in physics we often include historical or mathematical evidence to support big ideas, but that often isn't enough.

Of course, we can't start from scratch. If students had to build their own models from the ground up, it would be like trying to learn programming by inventing computers. As Isaac Newton is supposed to have said, we stand on the shoulders of giants. We must take models built by others and go from there.

What I'd like to suggest is that this actually provides a great way into the adventure of science and an opportunity to meet our objectives as educators. If you can create a situation that challenges students' assumptions and produces conceptual conflict, that's a great opportunity for learning.

Claire was set up to get her dream job working as a reporter at a popular news station. She went to visit her father before her interview. Her mother, who had always been her biggest supporter, had died a few years earlier.

As she visited her father, she told him about how nervous she was about the interview. Her father said, "You will do great because you are a lot like your mother, and your mother did great at everything."

Claire pictured her mother, the most supportive person she had ever met, and had a realization. Was she really like her mother? She didn't think so. She was so focused on herself that she didn't even know about her family's struggles.

Suddenly, she felt ashamed. She left for the airport with a lot more to think about than her job. An hour before boarding, her sister called to wish her luck. She listened to her sister in a way she had never listened before. She asked her about her kids and her life. Her sister admitted that she wasn't doing very well. She was having a hard time.

Claire ended the conversation with her sister just before boarding started. She made a decision to be more like her mom and take care of what really matters in life. She spent the next few months living with her sister and helping her maintain her house and take care of the kids.

Claire found the courage to do what was right because of her mother. She realized that doing what was right brought on a type of happiness that looking out for herself could never bring. She never regretted her decision. Thanks to the decision, she and her sister grew closer than they had ever been. She learned a lot and felt much better when focusing on more than just herself. She easily got her dream job later that year.

It was an autumn morning shortly after my husband and I moved into our first house. Our children were upstairs unpacking, and I was looking out of the window at my father moving around mysteriously on the front lawn. "What are you doing out there?" I called to him.

He looked up, smiling. "I'm making you a surprise.'' I thought it could be just about anything. When we were kids, he always created something surprising for us. Today, however, Dad would say no more, and caught up in the business of our new life, I eventually forgot about his surprise.

Until one gloomy day the next March when I glanced out of the window, I saw a dot of blue across the yard. I headed outside for a closer look. They were crocuses (番红花) throughout the front lawn—blue, yellow and my favorite pink, with little faces moving up and down in the cold wind. I remembered the things Dad secretly planted last autumn. He knew how the darkness and dullness of winter always got me down. What could have been more perfectly timely to my needs?

My father's crocuses bloomed (开花) each spring for the next five seasons, always bringing the same assurance: Hard times are almost over. Hold on, keep going, and light is coming soon.

Then a spring came with only half the usual blooms and the next spring there were none. I missed the crocuses, so I would ask Dad to come over and plant new bulbs (块茎植物). But I never did. He died suddenly one October day. My family were in deep sorrow, leaning on our faith.

On a spring afternoon four years later, I was driving back when I felt depressed. It was Dad's birthday, and I found myself thinking about him. This was not unusual my family often talked about him, remembering how he lived up to his faith. Suddenly I slowed as I turned into our driveway. I stopped and stared at the lawn. There on the muddy grass with small piles of melting snow, bravely waving in the wind, was one pink crocus.

How could a flower bloom from a bulb more than 18 years ago, one that hadn't bloomed in over a decade? But there was the crocus. Tears filled my eyes as I realized its significance.

Hold on, keep going, and light is coming soon. The pink crocus bloomed for only a day, but it built my faith for a lifetime.

While the human world is suffering from the novel coronavirus outbreak, our planet is actually showing certain signs of "recovery" from the damage caused by human activity. According to the BBC, new satellite images released by the European Space Agency showed that levels of air pollutants and greenhouse gases have "fallen sharply" in major cities in Europe and the United States ever since the lockdown started.

This is a great example of how the world can change overnight as soon as people change their behavior— especially after recent discoveries in Antarctica.

An international team of 89 scientists found that the ice in Greenland and Antarctica is melting six times faster in the 2010s than it was in the 1990s. And in February, Argentina's Marambio research station in Antarctica recorded a record high temperature of 20. 75 ℃ on the continent.

So what exactly will happen if the temperature keeps rising and the ice keeps melting? A third study might give you an idea. A team of scientists drilled a hole into the seafloor in west Antarctica and extracted material from underground, in which they found traces of roots, spores and pollen—typical products of a rainforest—that dated back 90 million years ago. In other words, Antarctica was very likely a rainforest back when the dinosaurs walked on Earth.

But given the fact that the South Pole has four months of darkness winter—even millions of years ago— scientists believe that the rainforest could only exist if the greenhouse gas concentrations were extremely high back then to keep the continent warm when there was little or no sunlight. "We didn't know that this Cretaceous（白垩纪的）greenhouse climate was that extreme," Johann Klages ofthe Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and a co-author of the research told the Guardian. "It shows us what carbon dioxide is able to do."

Ice or no ice, Antarctica will be—and has always been—fine with extreme changes. The human world, however, may not be.

Now, during the coronavirus lockdown, we've seen the changes resulting from less human activity. Hopefully, we'll hold on to those changes—not for Antarctica or the planet, but for ourselves.

As aging population gets bigger and dementia (老年痴呆症) more common, more families are struggling with a complex question: How do you support a loved one with dementia, especially when you have a full-time job and several kids?

Reg Urbanowski may have an answer to this pressing issue: ROBOTS.

He and his team managed to develop a new type of robots named TP robots. Looking like stand-up vacuum cleaners attached to an iPad, they can be activated remotely via a smartphone and guided remotely by a controller app similar to the way a mouse is used on a desktop computer. All possess audio and visual communication capabilities, allowing the operator to be "in the room" to interact with Mom or Dad.

He believes that caregivers and family members can use a TP robot to "look in" on people with mild dementia. He says, "TP robots provide an effective solution for minimizing caregiver burden, especially for those who have career or other out-of home activities."

Urbanowski and his team have conducted a study that involves providing TP robots for 15 Manitoba families. These robots are programmed to provide reminders of necessary daily routine like turning off the gas, taking medicine and having dinner. They will also help ensure patients are getting the exercise they need to maintain their health and well-being.

Erin Crawford, Program Director with the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba, says she has faith that TP robots will prove beneficial, particularly when it comes to reminding people with dementia to do certain things at certain times. "It means that family members that can't be there, for whatever reason, know that those things are still happening," she says.

I'd thought I was ready for the challenges of graduate school. But when I left Nepal to further my study abroad, I felt as if I had dropped into the vast ocean where every fish swam faster than I could. The coursework wore me out. Instead of being the outgoing person I had been, I suddenly became a shy girl. Worse still, my research was not progressing at the pace I had expected.

I needed something to return to my old self. After a conversation with my friend, I thought I should go to help others. Then I began to search online for volunteer opportunities. Luckily, a local organization that drives senior citizens to their destinations was looking for volunteers. I thought it might be just what I needed.

I was a bit anxious before my first ride, as I had not interacted much with people outside school. But I quickly recovered my poise when I picked up an old woman who wanted to go downtown. She talked with me like my grandmother and shared how thankful she was. Connections like this and the smiles on my passengers' faces encouraged me to continue driving.

I started to volunteer about three hours every weekend — time I otherwise would have spent oversleeping or looking through information on social media. Sharing stories with my passengers was rewarding. And seeing how eager they were to spend time going out inspired me to think about how to spend my time which used to slip away.

As my confidence grew, I began opening up to my fellow graduate students about the ups and downs in my research and was surprised to discover that all my fellows faced the same challenge — even the student who I had considered to be on top of everything. As these connections grew, my natural personality began to reappear.

We all have problems and barriers (障碍) that prevent us from moving into new areas. When someone meets the problem which he can't get over, he usually turns away and starts walking along a different path. Unluckily, soon he may get into another similar one. In this way, his life stays inside the same old cycles, in which he is unlikely to make progress or keep learning.

While others deal with problems by loving them instead of hating them. The word" love" means accepting your problems. The more we deny (否定) a problem, the stronger it seems to become. Only when we accept the fact can we find the useful ways to deal with it.

Suppose one of your barriers is taking a final exam. You fear that you will forget everything that you have remembered. One way of dealing with it is to pretend (假装) that you are not afraid—tell yourself " I'm not going to be scared "and then try to force a smile on your face.

But compared with that, loving your fear actually works better. You just need to say to yourself," I'm scared. But I'm going to take it easy. It is not only a problem, but also a chance for me to make progress. "By doing that, you allow yourself to be afraid and you can have a right understanding to your problem. You welcome your problem and face it in an active way. So there's no doubt that you are more likely to overcome it completely.

It is impossible to live a life without problems. Loving them doesn't mean hiding them. Instead, it means admitting the truth about them. This helps us take effective (有效的) actions, which can free us from the problems once and for all.