The Yosufs' house is unlike any other house. In the sitting room, instead of a television there is a blackboard on the wall. For two hours every day Mr Yosuf writes complex mathematical problems on the board. His daughter, Zuleika, copies them into an exercise book and solves them.

Zuleika is special. She's five years old, but, instead of watching cartoons, or playing computer games, her favorite pastimes(消遣) are solving problems and reading books. She already spends hours every day in a university library. Next year, Zuleika will become Britain's youngest "A" level student.

Not surprisingly, the Yosufs are a very clever family. Zuleika's two sisters and brother, aged 16, 14 and 12 are also good at maths and are already at university. Her father, who specializes in maths research, has taught them all. "Zuleika is very competitive," says her father, "She sees her brother and sisters working every day and she can't wait to catch up with them. I remember teaching the others maths when they were eight. Zuleika solves the same problems now, although she took up maths much earlier. We could see she was interested in numbers at a much younger age.

So what is the secret of their success? When their first child arrived, Mr Yosuf and his wife made up their minds to teach all of their children at home. They say that home teaching combined with love and understanding has helped their children to succeed. "We'll be patient and supportive, and they take pride in what they do," says Mr Yosuf. "Maybe Zuleika has a natural talent for maths, but I believe given the right surroundings, any child could do well."

One thing all child prodigies(神童) have in common is a complete love of their subject. They spend many more hours working at it than the average child, and this extra effort is reflected in their achievements. It is not necessary to be extremely talented to be a child prodigy, but you do have to have a lot of motivation.

    Every year, thousands of teenagers participate in programs at their local art museums. But do any of them remember their time at museum events later in life? A new report suggests that the answer is yes – and finds that alumni (毕业生) of arts-based museum programs credit them with changing the course of their lives, even years after the fact.

    The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles recently asked researchers to conduct a study to find out how effective their long-standing teen art programs really are. They involved over 300 former participants of four programs for teens that have been in existence since the 1990s. Alumni, whose current ages range from 18 to 36, were invited to find out how they viewed their participation years after the fact.

    Among the alumni surveyed, 75 percent of alumni rated the teen program experience as the most favorable impact on their own lives, beating family, school and their neighborhoods. Nearly 55 percent thought that it was one of the most important experiences they'd ever had, regardless of age. And two-thirds said that they were often in situations where their experience in museums affected their actions or thoughts.

    It turns out that participating in art programs also helps keep teens enthusiastic about culture even after they reach adulthood: 96 percent of participants had visited an art museum within the last two years, and 68 percent had visited an art museum five or more times within the last two years. Thirty-two percent of program alumni work in the arts as adults.

    Though the study is the first of its kind to explore the impact of teen-specific art programs in museums, it reflects other research on the important benefits of engaging with the arts. A decade of surveys by the National Endowment for the Arts found that childhood experience with the arts is significantly associated with their income and educational attainment (成就) as adults. Other studies have linked arts education to everything from lower drop-out rates to improvement in critical thinking skills.

    Since the mid-1980s, the Aluminum Cans for Burned Children Burn Camp has been offering children with burn sears a week of relief. "They have a lot of emotional things that they go through, trying to fit back in with society with their scars," said Becky Mundy burn center education coordinator at Akron Children's Hospital.

    The camp typically has around 15 campers. Many are repeat customers, and most were treated at Akron Children's Hospital or began coming after they moved to the area. The camp is free to campers and is funded by an organization named Aluminum Cans for Burned Children which raises money for burn survivors and their families.

    The Thursday of the camp week is Fire Truck Day, when dozens of local fire trucks arrive, along with camp alumni(校友），doctors and nurses, and family members. Campers get to see fire vehicles up close and interact with the firefighters.

    Sometimes they are the very ones who rescued the campers, months or years earlier. It is, they say, a bond that never goes away. But Fire Truck Day contributes in another way, allowing them to see each other in a different light.

    Memories of a bad fire can be unforgettable. Nearly two years ago, Pazdernik carried an injured girl out of a burning house in which her parents perished, and later the girl was adopted by a kind family.

    On Fire Truck Day, Pazdernik got to see the girl he saved, Shaniya Simpson. She shared a hug with the firefighters who had rescued her. and said it was good to see them.

    ＂I think it helps her heal," said Kim Canterbury, who was Shaniya's teacher at the time of the fire." Just by saying thank you."

    It was good for Pazdernik, too. "To see her go on with life and be happy, you're able to see that you had an impact on her," he said. "lt's definitely a lot more fulfilling."