The sun was setting and the farm would be closing soon. I dressed our three daughters quickly as my husband started the car. Cutting down our own Christmas tree had been a family tradition.
As we walked through the rows of trees, my youngest daughter Kimberly shouted excitedly, "There it is, the perfect tree!" The other two agreed. My husband and I looked at each other puzzled (困惑的). It was misshapen and pine needles (松针) were missing here and there.
We tried to talk our daughters into changing their minds, but failed. We had to tie the tree to the top of our car and headed home. As we reached our house, Heather jumped out first. Suddenly she shouted, "The tree isn't there!" We thought she was kidding. However, it wasn't there.
The girls were so sad. "We'll get another tree tomorrow," I said, secretly hoping the new tree would be prettier. But the girls gave us the look that no parent can say no to. We had no choice but to go back and find that tree.
About five minutes into our drive, we saw our tree on the side of the road. Clearly it had been run over by a truck and a big part of it had fallen off, but we took our little broken tree home anyway.
Once at home, we all agreed that the flat broken side would go up against the wall. That night, as we decorated our tree, something magical happened. By the time we were done, I had to admit (承认), it didn't look sad after all. "This is the best tree we ever had. It's perfect!" my second daughter Samantha said excitedly. My husband and I couldn't have agreed more!
Now we always recall that little broken tree! Year by year, we tell the story of that very special Christmas almost twentyfive years ago.
For a year and a half, kids sent hurtful messages like "You are so ugly." or "Why are you still alive?" to Rebecca Sedwick. In 2013, Rebecca, then 12, couldn't stand it anymore. She jumped to her death near her home in Florida. Soon afterward, Trisha Prabhu read about the story. "I was surprised and heartbroken," says Trisha, now 15, who is from Naperville, Illinois." I knew that I had to do something to stop this from ever happening again."
Trisha did some research. Studies show that one fourth to half of all teens in the US have been cyberbullied(网络欺凌). Experts say that if you are ever bullied online, you should tell a trusted adult. Tell the cyberbully to stop, and prevent him or her from contacting(联系) you again. Print and save messages to share with the police. This is good advice, agrees Trisha. But these methods all take place after the bullying has already happened. Trisha had a different idea. Why not teach cyberbullies to stop before they post these messages?
Trisha's research won awards, including a prize in the Google Science Fair. Then, Trisha built the ReThink app (应用软件). It is programmed to recognize words or phrases that could be hurtful. When that happens, different warning messages come out. "Don't say things that you may regret later!" says one message. Others ask, "Are you sure you want to say this？" and "Are these words really yours？"
Now Trisha is working on a version(版本) of ReThink for computers. "I'm a big dreamer," she says. "I want to stop cyberbullying before the hurt is done."
Are you always late for school because you can't wake up at the right time? Don't worry. Here are some ways to help you have a great morning routine.
Put all of your books, papers and other school requirements inside your schoolbag the night before. Watch the weather forecast to see what you should wear the next day.
Make sure you wake up at an early hour. Wake up at least thirty minutes or earlier before school starts. It's also helpful to use an alarm clock to help you wake up. Don't set your alarm too late. And remember not to set your alarm too early just to give yourself an excuse to hit the snooze button.
Go straight to the bathroom to brush your teeth and wash your face. This is a good start for keeping nice and clean during the school day. If you want, take a quick shower.
Have a quick breakfast available. Make sure you like what you have for breakfast. If you don't have enough time to prepare, choosing bread, eggs, yogurt, and fruit as your breakfast is also a good idea. It won't take you much time to make such a nutritious breakfast.
A．Prepare everything in advance.
B．Make sure you get at least 8 hours of sleep.
C．Only in this way can you have plenty of time to get ready.
D．Do you always have a great morning routine before school?
E．But always remember that any breakfast is better than none.
F．It will make you smell and feel better throughout the whole day.
G．Or are you always rushing into getting ready in the school morning?
