From a young age, Michael Platt loved two things: the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and cupcakes. He imagined ways he too could fight for justice. He memorized figures about income inequality and childhood hunger. But he also spent afternoons at his home computer, amazed by YouTube bakers who made perfect cupcakes.
When his parents gave him a pair of Toms shoes for Christmas three years ago, Michael saw a way to connect his twin passions. At age 11, he founded a bakery that operates on the Toms one-for-one model: For every cupcake, cake or cookie that Michael sells, he donates another to the homeless and hungry. Twice a month, he heads to locations to pass out goodies. Michael, now 13, said he especially enjoys handing out cupcakes to kids.
"I know I like cupcakes, but also cupcakes are part of a child's childhood so they should get them," said Michael, noting that he always eats one with whippedicing (打发的糖霜) on his birthday.
Michael calls his baking business Michaels Desserts. He left out the apostrophe (撇号) as a reminder that he is baking for others, not himself. "I always wanted to have a purpose for what I do." he said. "It's all about helping people— not just having a purpose for yourself, but thinking about, 'How does this touch other things? "
When he started the bakery, he knew that he wanted his business to do more than make money. That's why the intention of Michaels Desserts is fighting hunger and giving back, which Michael accomplishes through his giveaways. Michael hopes his cupcakes inspire others to work for social equality.
Sometimes, Michael admits, he grows tired of being in the kitchen. Then he remembers the homeless boy he met once while handing out cupcakes. A couple of days afterward, the boy's father messaged Michael on Facebook to say that his son, encouraged by Michael's example, now desired to become a baker.
"That inspired me," Michael said. He smiled and looked down.
Rescue workers and thousands of volunteers are not the only ones who have won hearts and minds for their heroic efforts in the search for survivors after Tuesday's powerful earthquake in
Mexico. Fifteen dogs from the navy's canine (军犬) unit have assisted this week in the rescue efforts at the sites of collapsed buildings across Mexico City, where more than 50 people have been pulled alive from the ruins.
Of the canine heroes none is more famous or loved than Frida, a six-year-old white Labrador who in her distinguished service has won praise for her ability to detect people who have been trapped by various natural disasters. Over her admirable career she has found 52 people including 12 survivors in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
This week, Frida and Evil and Echo—two Belgian Shepherds that have also been specially trained for rescue efforts一were sent to the site of the collapsed Enrique Rebsamen School in southern Mexico City.
Equipped with goggles that protect her eyes from dust and smoke, boots to prevent damage to her paws while she climbs over rough ruins, Frida took to her work looking every bit the part of the ruins.
If Frida detects the presence of a survivor, she is trained to bark to alert rescue workers but if she detects a corpse she stops suddenly before proceeding, her handler explained.
Eleven children were rescued from ruins at the school but this time human rescue workers rather than the dogs were the ones who located them.
However, that hasn't stopped Frida from becoming a social media star and reaching a new level of fame this week. Videos and other social media posts that highlight the work of Frida and her impressive record of detecting people trapped by natural disasters spread quickly online.
While she has yet to detect anyone trapped in the ruins this week, she and other rescue dogs are continuing to work tirelessly, searching through spaces that humans cannot reach. With the possibility that there are still people trapped alive, time will tell whether she adds to her rescue record.
Even though they're not the most exciting things in the world, plants have fascinated us ever since the days of early humans. They may not do any tricks or greet us when we come home at night like a dog would, but that doesn't mean they're any less interesting than animals.
However, just when we thought we knew everything we could about them, a recent study found that plants may possess a secret ability that's gone unnoticed all this time. According to the study by Australian biologist Monica Gagliano, published in the journal Oecologia, plants may be able to hear sounds.
To come to this conclusion, Gagliano and her team planted pea seedlings in a pair of different Y-shaped pots with two arms. The first pot's arms led to fresh water, while the other's led to either dry soil or a sealed plastic tube containing flowing water.
Naturally, the first pot's seedlings grew toward the water. What's surprising, however, is that the second pot's seedlings grew toward the sealed water supply and not the soil.
They just knew the water was there, even if the only thing to detect was the sound of it flowing inside the pipe, Gagliano told Scientific American. Gagliano believes that plants are able to use their leaves to detect sound waves, which make tiny vibrations (振动) as they're produced.
This could explain why so many people believe that singing or playing music to their plants helps them grow.
I had a plant that I used to wash the leaves once a week and sing to it, plant lover Heather Goodall told BBC News. It grew from being about 2 feet tall to 7 feet tall in just a couple of years.
So, does this mean we should start treating our plants like pets? Not necessarily, although perhaps it does mean we should give them more respect. I would like to see plants acknowledged more as the amazing, interesting, exotic living beings they are, and less as a mere source of human nutrition, Fatima Cvrckova, a scientist at Charles University in the Czech Republic, told BBC News.
How long does a year last?Your parents might say that a whole year can pass―in the blink of an eye. Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?
This physical change causes the rate at which we take in and process new information to decline. Babies, for example, move their eyes much more often than adults because they're processing images at a faster rate. They take in a lot of information and do many things in a single day.However, as people's brains degrade over time, fewer images are processed in the same amount of time. Therefore, older people receive less information during a day than younger people. This causes things to seem as though they're happening more quickly.
People may measure time by the number of memorable events that can be recalled within a certain period. Have you ever noticed that when you recall your firsts, they seem to be in slow motion? That's because when something is a first, there are many exciting things to remember. Recalling these memories makes you feel like they took forever.
For many adults, life is routine. When they look back, they might feel like there are not many novel things to remember.
A. Children might say that a year lasts forever.
B. Different people have different feelings toward time.
C. Therefore, time seems to be moving faster to them.
D. As we grow older, we become less interested in new things.
E. This makes them feel like a single day lasts for a long time.
F. According to scientists, our brains degrade and change over time.
G. In addition, people may also feel time differently due to psychological reasons.
Jake and Max Klein are twin brothers who have a passion for volunteering. Their family have always done community 1 .At a young age, they chose to 2 family's gifts at their birthday parties, but asked them to donate money to a charity. When they were seven, Jake and Max were interested in 3 with a family friend at the local homeless shelter to help cook. 4 ， he turned them down because they were too 5 and they had to be fourteen to cook. This led them on an endless 6 to come up with a way to help other kids who were also facing a 7 challenging: wanting to help but 8 because of their age.
So, Kids That Do Good was 9 to "show ways to kids or adults, at any age, they could join the community and make a 10 .The small 11 has grown into a large website that brings thousands of 12 visitors each year. Jake and Max say that their website brings 35,000 unique viewers, of those viewers, Kids That Do Good has 13 kids to 16,000 organizations.
Jake and Max are 14 with school and after-class activities and other community service promises. Kids That Do Good also has blog posts that advise kids on 15 their own charitable event.
Did you grow up in one culture, your parents came from another, and you are now living in a (total) different country? If so, then you are a third-culture kid.
The term “third—culture kid” (use) in the 1960s for the first time by Dr. Ruth. She first came across this phenomenon while (research) North American children living in India. In general, third-culture kids benefit from (they) intercultural experience and they often reach excellent academic results.
Yet many (difficulty) may arise from this phenomenon. Third-culture kids may not be able to adapt themselves completely their new surroundings. Also, they often find it hard (develop) new friendship. Additionally, for a third-culture kid, it is often easier to move to a new country to return to his homeland. For example, after living in Australia for many years, Louis finally returned to the country she was born. She didn't know anything about current TV shows fashion trends. And she didn't share the same values as other teens of her age.
When I was 9 years old, I used to cut grass for Mrs. Long. The elderly lady paid me very little, for she hadn't much money. But she did promise me. When Christmas comes, I shall have a present for you.‖ I spent much time wondering what it would be. The boys I played with had baseball gloves and bicycles and ice skates, and I was so eager to acquire any one of these that I convinced myself that Mrs. Long intended choosing from among them.
It would hardly be a baseball glove, I reasoned with myself. A woman like Mrs. Long wouldn't know much about baseball. Since she was old and weak, I also ruled out the bicycle, for how could she handle such a large item.
On my last Saturday at work, Mrs. Long said, '' At Christmas you come to the door and collect the present. '' These words clinched(确定)my guess. Since she was going to have the present in her house and handle it herself, unquestionably she was giving me a pair of ice skates.
I became so convinced of this that I could imagine myself upon the skates and the excitement they brought me. As the cold days of November arrived and ice began to form on the ponds, I began to try my luck on the ice. ''Get away from that ice!'' a man shouted.
''It's not strong enough yet.''
As Christmas approached it was with difficulty that I restrained (抑制) myself from reporting to Mrs. Long and demanding my present. On the 21st of December, icy weather froze all the ponds so that boys who already had ice skates were able to use them. My longing to possess mine became overpowering.
So the next day I could control myself no longer and presented myself at Mrs. Long's door. ''I've been waiting for you, '' she said with a smile.
Paragraph 1: She set me in a chair and handed a package to me.
Paragraph 2: On Christmas morning, I could not wait to open the package.
