Dear Parents, As you know, Sandy Brown, our after-school swimming coach for six years, retired from coaching last month. So, Virginia Smith, who swam for Bredard Community College and has won several awards in national competitions, has been named the school's new swimming coach. This is her first job as a coach, and she is going to start working from next week. She will teach her class in the afternoons, and continue with our summer program. By promoting the health benefits of swimming, she hopes that more students will get healthy through her instruction. Sincerely, Fred Wilson Principal, Riverband High School

The mountain shelter had four walls, with an opening about five feet wide in the front wall. I picked a spot in a corner. Other hikers arrived; it would be a full house tonight. It was seven o'clock and the start of one of the worst nights of my life. When I crawled into my sleeping bag, my underwear was still moist after sweating so much on the difficult climbs of the day, and none of my other clothing was dry. I could not ignore another inconvenience, either: the air movement brought to the surface all the smells of bodies and wet sleeping bags. Lying on the floor in the corner of the crowded shelter, surrounded by bad smells, I could not fall asleep.

Language play is good for children's language learning and development, and therefore we should strongly encourage, and even join in their language play. However, the play must be owned by the children. If it becomes another educational tool for adults to use to produce outcomes, it loses its very essence. Children need to be able to delight in creative and immediate language play, to say silly things and make themselves laugh, and to have control over the pace, timing, direction, and flow. When children are allowed to develop their language play, a range of benefits result from it.

If you walk into a room that smells of freshly baked bread, you quickly detect the rather pleasant smell. However, stay in the room for a few minutes, and the smell will seem to disappear. In fact, the only way to reawaken it is to walk out of the room and come back in again. The exact same concept applies to many areas of our lives, including happiness. Everyone has something to be happy about. Perhaps they have a loving partner, good health, a satisfying job, a roof over their heads, or enough food to eat. As time passes, however, they get used to what they have and, just like the smell of fresh bread, these wonderful assets disappear from their consciousness. As the old proverb goes, you never miss the water till the well runs dry.

Have you ever wondered why a dog doesn't fall over when he changes directions while running? When a dog is running and has to turn quickly, he throws the front part of his body in the direction he wants to go. His back then bends, but his hind part will still continue in the original direction. Naturally, this turning movement might result in the dog's hind part swinging wide. And this could greatly slow his rate of movement or even cause the dog to fall over as he tries to make a high-speed turn. However, the dog's tail helps to prevent this. Throwing his tail in the same direction that his body is turning serves to reduce the tendency to spin off course.

Many people suppose that to keep bees, it is necessary to have a large garden in the country; but this is a mistake. Bees will, of course, do better in the midst of fruit blossoms in May and white clovers in June than in a city where they have to fly a long distance to reach the open fields. However, bees can be kept with profit even under unfavorable circumstances. Bees do very well in the suburbs of large cities since the series of flowers in the gardens of the villas allow a constant supply of honey from early spring until autumn. Therefore, almost every person―except those who are seriously afraid of bees―can keep them profitably and enjoyably.

The above graph shows the key factors influencing people's movie choices in 2013 and 2015 in Korea. In both 2013 and 2015, the rates for Storyline were the highest of the four key factors. In the case of Actor, it influenced more than 70 percent of the respondents in both years. Compared to 2013, the rates for all the key factors, except Online Rating, decreased in 2015. Among the four factors, Storyline had the smallest difference while Director showed the largest difference between 2013 and 2015. Unlike in 2013, in 2015 the rate for Director was less than half that for Actor.

Nauru is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is located about 800 miles to the northeast of the Solomon Islands; its closest neighbor is the island of Banaba, some 200 miles to the east. Nauru has no official capital, but government buildings are located in Yaren. With a population of about 10,000, Nauru is the smallest country in the South Pacific and the third smallest country by area in the world. The native people of Nauru consist of 12 tribes, as symbolized by the 12-pointed star on the Nauru flag, and are believed to be a mixture of Micronesian, Polynesian, and Melanesian. Their native language is Nauruan, but English is widely spoken as it is used for government and business purposes.

《Kids Coding Camp》 For kids 10 to 15 years old, the Kids Coding Camp offers a great opportunity to learn computer programming languages while also having fun. ◈ Activities: • Individual work in basic programming • Group work in designing and playing games ◈ Dates & Price: • Dates: June 28-30, 2017 • Price: $35 per kid (includes Internet use, a gift, and a certificate) ◈ Requirements & Registration: • Each kid must bring their own notebook computer. • Please sign up for the camp no later than June 15th by phone(2345-6789) or e-mail(kevincho@codingcamp.com).

《Family Activities at the Basque Museum》 Whether you are a new or regular visitor, this is your guide to the family activities coming up at the Basque Museum. ▣ Dates & Hours: • June 1 – 30 • Weekdays: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. • Weekends: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. ▣ Activities: • Treasure Hunt - Age 5+, lasts 30 minutes, 3 times a day • Making History Books - For kids of all ages, weekends only ▣ Notices: • All activities are free, donations are welcome. • Reservations are required for all activities. • Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Are you honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses? Get to really know yourself and learn what your weaknesses are. Accepting your role in your problems means that you understand the solution lies within you. If you have a weakness in a certain area, get educated and do what you have to do to improve things for yourself. If your social image is terrible, look within yourself and take the necessary steps to improve it, TODAY. You have the ability to choose how to respond to life. Decide today to end all the excuses, and stop lying to yourself about what is going on. The beginning of growth comes when you begin to personally accept responsibility for your choices.

Many successful people tend to keep a good bedtime routine. They take the time just before bed to reflect on or write down three things that they are thankful for that happened during the day. Keeping a diary of things that they appreciate reminds them of the progress they made that day in any aspect of their lives. It serves as a key way to stay motivated, especially when they experience a hardship. In such case, many people fall easily into the trap of replaying negative situations from a hard day. But regardless of how badly their day went, successful people typically avoid that trap of negative self-talk. That is because they know it will only create more stress.

Grandfather had worked hard building an ice rink on the lake. He had spread the snow, watered the ice, and made it smooth. Now, said Grandfather, setting Tommy down on a wooden chair to explain things to him. The first thing you will do is to hold onto the wooden chair and try to skate with it. Okay, said Tommy, taking a hold of the back of the chair. It was a little difficult at first and he did end up falling a few times. However, he learned pretty quickly. I think you are ready to try to skate without the chair, said Grandfather. He walked backward on the ice, at first holding Tommy's hands, but then he let go and Tommy moved toward him. Soon, Tommy was skating all by himself. Grandfather was so proud of him.

If we lived on a planet where nothing ever changed, there would be little to do. There would be nothing to figure out and there would be no reason for science. And if we lived in an unpredictable world, where things changed in random or very complex ways, we would not be able to figure things out. Again, there would be no such thing as science. But we live in an in-between universe, where things change, but according to rules. If I throw a stick up in the air, it always falls down. If the sun sets in the west, it always rises again the next morning in the east. And so it becomes possible to figure things out. We can do science, and with it we can improve our lives.

In 1995, a group of high school students in Miner County, South Dakota, started planning a revival. They wanted to do something that might revive their dying community. Miner County had been failing for decades. Farm and industrial jobs had slowly dried up, and nothing had replaced them. The students started investigating the situation. One finding in particular disturbed them. They discovered that half of the residents had been shopping outside the county, driving an hour to Sioux Falls to shop in larger stores. Most of the things that could improve the situation were out of the students' control. But they did uncover one thing that was very much in their control: inviting the residents to spend money locally. They found their first slogan: Let's keep Miner dollars in Miner County.

What do rural Africans think as they pass fields of cash crops such as sunflowers, roses, or coffee, while walking five kilometers a day to collect water? Some African countries find it difficult to feed their own people or provide safe drinking water, yet precious water is used to produce export crops for European markets. But, African farmers cannot help but grow those crops because they are one of only a few sources of income for them. In a sense, African countries are exporting their water in the very crops they grow. They need water, but they also need to export water through the crops they produce. Environmental pressure groups argue that European customers who buy African coffee or flowers are making water shortages worse in Africa.

One real concern in the marketing industry today is how to win the battle for broadcast advertising exposure in the age of the remote control and mobile devices. With the growing popularity of digital video recorders, consumers can mute, fast-forward, and skip over commercials entirely. Some advertisers are trying to adapt to these technologies, by planting hidden coupons in frames of their television commercials. Others are desperately trying to make their advertisements more interesting and entertaining to discourage viewers from skipping their ads; still others are simply giving up on television advertising altogether. Some industry experts predict that cable providers and advertisers will eventually be forced to provide incentives in order to encourage consumers to watch their messages. These incentives may come in the form of coupons, or a reduction in the cable bill for each advertisement watched.

In early 19th century London, a young man named Charles Dickens had a strong desire to be a writer. But everything seemed to be against him. He had never been able to attend school for more than four years. His father had been in jail because he couldn't pay his debts, and this young man often knew the pain of hunger. Moreover, he had so little confidence in his ability to write that he mailed his writings secretly at night to editors so that nobody would laugh at him. Story after story was refused. But one day, one editor recognized and praised him. The praise that he received from getting one story in print changed his whole life. His works have been widely read and still enjoy great popularity.

One of the most essential decisions any of us can make is how we invest our time. Of course, how we invest time is not our decision alone to make. Many factors determine what we should do either because we are members of the human race, or because we belong to a certain culture and society. Nevertheless, there is room for personal choice, and control over time is to a certain extent in our hands. Even in the most oppressive decades of the Industrial Revolution, people didn't give up their free will when it came to time. During this period, people worked for more than eighty hours a week in factories. But there were some who spent their few precious free hours reading books or getting involved in politics instead of following the majority into the pubs.

China's frequent times of unity and Europe's constant disunity both have a long history. The most productive areas of modern China were politically joined for the first time in 221 BC, and have remained so for most of the time since then. It has had only a single writing system from the beginning, a single principal language for a long time, and solid cultural unity for two thousand years. In contrast, Europe has never come close to political unification. It was divided into 500 states in AD 1500, got down to a minimum of 25 states in the 1980s, and is now up again to over 40. It still has 45 languages, and even greater cultural diversity. The current disagreements about the issue of unifying Europe are typical of Europe's disunity.

Music appeals powerfully to young children. Watch preschoolers' faces and bodies when they hear rhythm and sound―they light up and move eagerly and enthusiastically. They communicate comfortably, express themselves creatively, and let out all sorts of thoughts and emotions as they interact with music. In a word, young children think music is a lot of fun, so do all you can to make the most of the situation. Throw away your own hesitation and forget all your concerns about whether you are musically talented or whether you can sing or play an instrument. They don't matter when you are enjoying music with your child. Just follow his or her lead, have fun, sing songs together, listen to different kinds of music, move, dance, and enjoy.

I have seen many companies rush their products or services to market too quickly. There are many reasons for taking such an action, including the need to recover costs or meet deadlines. The problem with moving too quickly, however, is that it has a harmful impact on the creative process. Great ideas, like great wines, need proper aging: time to bring out their full flavor and quality. Rushing the creative process can lead to results that are below the standard of excellence that could have been achieved with additional time.

According to an Australian study, a person's confidence in the kitchen is linked to the kind of food that he or she tends to enjoy eating. Compared to the average person, those who are proud of the dishes they make are more likely to enjoy eating vegetarian food and health food. Moreover, this group is more likely than the average person to enjoy eating diverse kinds of food: from salads and seafood to hamburgers and hot chips. In contrast, people who say I would rather clean than make dishes. don't share this wide-ranging enthusiasm for food. They are less likely than the average person to enjoy different types of food. In general, they eat out less than the average person except for when it comes to eating at fast food restaurants.

With thousands of websites, television channels, text messages, and phone calls, it is easy to become drowned in a flood of media. We often try to absorb too much in too many ways, to enjoy music while at the same time e-mailing someone on our laptops and being interrupted by constant messages on our mobile phones. Is there any one thing I have learned to help me survive? Yes. Try to stick to one type of media at a time. To a large extent we have a very limited ability to focus. If we try to absorb too many things at once, they often conflict. Just the action of talking takes up much of our working memory. Trying to talk about complex subjects and drive well at the same time pushes our abilities to their limits. This is one of the reasons why people still go to cinemas for good films; it is a full experience because all mobile phones are switched off. Many forms of communication are only really enjoyed one at a time.

It was evening when I landed in Kuching, Malaysia. I felt alone and homesick. I was a 19-year-old Dubai-raised kid away from home for the first time to start my university studies in mechanical engineering. I took my luggage and headed to the airport exit. I looked around and found my driver waiting for me in front of his gray van with the name of my university on it. As we left the airport, he began talking about the city and its people. As I loved driving very much, we moved onto talking about cars and driving in Kuching. Never make Kuching people angry, he warned. No road rage. Very dangerous! He then went on to list his experiences of road rage and advised me to drive very cautiously. A bit later, the car behind started to flash its lights at us. This continued more aggressively and my driver started to panic. Honks and more flashes followed, so he pulled the van over to the roadside. My heart was pounding as the man from the car behind approached us. As he reached my window, I lowered it and then looked down at his hands to see that he was holding my wallet. I had left it in the airport and I realized he had been trying to return it to me ever since we had left the airport. With a sigh of relief, I took my wallet and thanked him. I could imagine a horrible scenario if he had not returned it. The man welcomed me to Kuching and drove away. As my driver dropped me off, he smiled and wished me luck with my university studies. Thanks to the kindness of these strangers, the initial doubt I had had about my decision to study away from home was replaced with hope and excitement.