My mother and her best friend Martha were in their mid-80s when they saw each other for the last time.
They had been friends since they were 18, both of them students at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. My mother was the dreamy one, who loved to read and dream herself as an actress. Martha, however, was more practical. I'm not sure what they had in common except that they trusted each other, helped each other, and stayed in touch even when life separated them.
Martha spent most of her adulthood in Atlanta, where she raised three kids. My mother, meanwhile, raised eight children, and moved many times during her financially and emotionally troubled marriage, which included several months living with her family in seedy motels.
I sensed my mother hid her troubles from most people, but not from Martha, and I knew from my mother that Martha carried her own sorrows. Their willingness to share sorrow without judgment was part of what bond them.
The best friendships can also withstand (抵挡) periods without communication. They didn't communicate a lot — this was before the ease of emails and texts and yet I knew they were always in each other's minds.
One day in 2008, 1 drove my mother to Martha's house for their final visit. The moment my mother hobbled (蹒跚) into Martha's house, they threw their arms around each other and went to sit out in the garden, laughing until they were dizzy. I snapped a photo, and spotted something joyous, young and free on my mom, which existed only in the presence of her best friend.
Two years later, my mother died. Of all the people I had to tell, Martha was the hardest because I felt it erased her past. After that, we lost touch. But I still think of her and how that friendship strengthened my mother.
In this fast-developing world, it can be said that technology has killed culture and traditions. Radio was known as a stress reliever in the past, but the digitalization of music has done great damage to the radio industry. Radio stations no longer have a large audience that they once had. People can now easily download music from the Internet, or listen to it online.
In the technology-dependent era, George Oliver realized that it was nearly impossible to live a life without the Internet. If radio should be brought back and compete with the existing music streaming platforms, he has to take the radio online. On October 28, 2015, he founded Realmuzic.net.
Launching an online radio site and maintaining it was no easy job. George had to get his head into technology. He faced and overcame many challenges, and turned a deaf ear to those who always laughed at his idea. His passion for bringing back the golden times for radio was much stronger than any of these difficulties. George and his DJs team put in all their efforts, and used all their knowledge and every bit of energy to make this happen.
Just like any other business, Realmuzic.net began with a rough start. Not many people knew about this online radio station and were too absorbed in the new tech to turn to the radio-centric music streaming service. Giving up was not an option, so they decided to target the 80's and 90's kids with their nostalgic (怀旧的) playlists and carefully selected song collections that played 24/7 on Realmuzic.net. Their decision was right: they saw a huge increase in their site-visits. Their next step was to bridge the gap between younger generations and radio.
This is Scientific America's 60-Second Science. I am Christopher Intagliata.
The Apollo missions brought back 842 pounds of rock and soil from the moon, that's nearly 2200 different samples. But the most interesting one, according to a scientist Meenakshi Wadhwa, is a sample named "Apollo 1-0-0-8-5 collected by Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11.
"He was about to step back into the lunar module(登月舱) when he turned around and saw there were little spaces in the rock box. He knew that geologists on earth would be just so excited to study these materials, so he just scooped up nine scoops(勺) of soil and put it into the box." Wadhwa explained.
It was one of the most well studied samples of the Apollo missions. And a geologist named John Wood noticed white flecks(微粒) of rock in the soil, which inspired him to dig deeper into the moon's ancient past.
"This was quite a leap of imagination — he proposed that the whole of the moon had been almost covered with a magma(岩浆) ocean nearly 4.5 billion years ago. This was a revolutionary idea at the time, because people had thought the moon had formed cold, so it completely changed our idea how the moon formed."
But Wadhwa has a more personal reason to appreciate this sample. She met her husband Scott Parazynski also because of this rock sample. Scott, a mountaineer at that time, wanted to climb Mount Everest with a moon rock while Wadhwa was the chairman of the NASA committee that gives access to the samples for scientific purposes.
Neil Armstrong's last-minute scoop of moon dust brought two people together here on Earth and upturned our understanding of how the moon — and the Earth itself-got here.
Thank you for listening for Scientific American's 60-Second Science.
Nowadays, many of us are working long hours at home, so more than ever, we are in need of a pet to help relieve anxiety and provide company for the lonely days. There are simply too many benefits to list, so we've gathered only our top reasons.
Working long hours from home can never be a nice thing. Without all the human contact we would normally get in the office, we can often find ourselves feeling lonely and isolated. However, with a pet at home we're likely to feel much better.
A call to head outdoors. For those who have an animal that enjoys going outdoors, pets can serve as a great reminder of heading outdoors to get some fresh air. However, often owners will return from their walks feeling calmer, more relaxed and more energized. Whatever the weather, getting outside is beneficial to us.
Caring for something else. Often, when we feel loneliness or anxiety, we tend to be focusing inwards, to our own worries and self-doubts. Therefore, it's advisable to invest time in our pet's well-being by giving them the best care we can.
Motivation (动力) and routine. Pets are a source of motivation for their owners simply because they rely on us so heavily. Without a pet, we'll find it hard to keep our daily routine while working at home. . But when we have a pet to look after, we have to get up early and be ready for the day ahead. This is going to benefit both the pet and ourselves.
A. An end to loneliness.
B. A time killer in daily life.
C. We tend to skip meals or sleep late.
D. Pets often walk here and there and make our house dirty.
E. The positive effects a pet can have on our mental health are amazing.
F. The task of heading out for a walk on a rainy day may not seem attractive.
G. Directing our attention to the outside world helps relieve those negative feelings.
Weeks ago, I went to visit my son Chase's teacher for math problems in the fifth-grade classroom. Afterward, we began to 1 about teaching children and we both agreed the most important thing is to shape little hearts to be kind and brave and 2 to a larger community. Not until then was I told a(n) 3 activity in her class.
Every Friday afternoon, she asks her students to write down four children with whom they want to 4 in the following week, and nominate (提名) one student to be the 5 brilliant classroom citizen. All the 6 votes are handed to her. After the students go home, she 7 those pieces of paper and studies them. She looks for patterns. "Who is not getting requested by anyone else? Who never gets 8 enough to be nominated?" 9 she is not looking for a new seating plan or "brilliant" citizens. 10, she is seeking lonely children, who are struggling to 11 others.
It's like taking an X-ray of a 12 to see beneath the surface and into the hearts of students. As she said, the 13 comes out on those private sheets of paper. I was quite 14 and couldn't help asking, "How long have you been doing this?" "Every single Friday afternoon since Columbine," she said.
This brilliant woman watched Columbine, knowing all outward violence begins as inner 15. So she decided to fight violence early and often within her 16 What she is doing when 17 those lists is saving lives. She knows everything-even love, even belonging — has a 18. She finds the patterns and 19 the codes (密码) of disconnection. Then she gets lonely kids the help they need. It's math to her. All is 20— even math.
Jason was nervous on his first day of school. He climbed onto a third-floor balcony (阳台) put legs over the side. His teachers tried their best to bring him down, but failed. However, firefighter who was dressed as "Spiderman" succeeded in (save) him.
Firefighter David Smith was called in after the boy's teachers had failed (get) him down from the balcony. "He was asking his mother," Smith said. "He was crying, and wouldn't let any of us get near him." After he heard a conversation between the boy's mother and his teachers about his love of superheroes, Smith hurried home to get (he) Spiderman clothes.
"I told him Spiderman was there to save him. No one would hurt him," Smith said. "Then I told him to walk slowly toward me. I was really nervous that he might fall if he got too excited and started running." Then the crying boy (break) into a smile, and eventually walked into the Ereman's arms.
The superhero (create) by writer Stan Lee in the early 1960s. It recently has regained (popular) through a series of movies made about him. In them he is acted by superstar Tobey Maguire, performed with Kirsten Dunst and James Franco.
