Just like 60 years ago when I was a book-loving kid, our two grandkids like to go to the library, that is, the city library of Salem.  This is the place where I get most of the material that I listen to on my iPhone when I go walk in the neighborhood.  As soon as I took them inside the library, Kevin immediately went upstairs to the children section and talk to the librarian.  As the librarian took Kevin to look for his books, Caleb went to the section with books and computer games CDs for younger kids.

8-year-old Kevin is a wonderful boy.  He reads a lot and knows much.  And he always tries his best to be helpful.  Today when we got to our car to leave, he went to my side to open the car door for me, then went to the other side to help his 5-year-old younger brother Caleb buckle up.  I also heard from his parents that Kevin, knowing that his younger brother likes apples, would often save an apple from his own lunch to give to his younger brother.  What a precious boy indeed!

In case you did not know, all the books in the library are free to browse and borrow.  There is limit on how long the books can be checked out, but there is probably no limit on the number of books you can check out.  WiFi connection is available inside the library, so are Internet-enabled computers.  All services are free to citizens, who pay property taxes each year.  In our case, of our $3000 property tax for this year, $8.40 is allotted (detailed tax distribution) to the library, for which, I get a full year's access to Salem city library, as well as other libraries in the region--18 city libraries in all.  I can check on line for a title I am interested, and all collections of the 18 city libraries are within reach of the finger tip.  I can reserve any title from any of the 18 libraries, and pick it up in Salem city library in a couple of days, all without additional charge.

就像六十年前的我，我们的两个孙儿也喜欢读书。今天下午，我又带他们去图书馆--市图书馆。我走路时听的英文小说都是这里借来的。一到他们熟悉的少儿部，恺恩马上前去跟管理员说话，然后跟管理员去一个书架找书。恺乐则去摆放小儿图书和电脑游戏CD的地方找他自己喜欢的东西。然后，他们两个人找个地方坐下来读书。

八岁的恺恩是个了不起的好孩子。他读了很多东西也懂得很多东西。而且他会尽量去帮助人。今天我们准备上车时，他先到我这一边替我把车门打开，然后走到另一边帮他弟弟把安全带扣好。他父母还说，恺恩知道他弟弟喜欢吃苹果，就经常把自己在学校午餐买来的苹果省回来给弟弟吃。多么可爱的孩子！

顺便说说，这里的图书馆都是连线并开架的。借书基本不限本数（但有限时间）。馆内有联网的电脑，也可以自己无线上网。同时，这些服务对本市居民都是免费的，因为我们每年都要缴交房地产税。以我们为例，我们家今年的房地产税是三千美元，其中有12块四毛钱是划给市图书馆的（税款分配明细表）。由于市图书馆与另外十七家市级图书馆是连线的，我如果需要一本书或MP3光盘，都可以上网查看并预定。几天后，那本书或光盘就会从某个外地图书馆发到我们本地，等我去借出来。

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(will switch to How we are doing in 10 minutes; 十分钟后自动转到 我们的近况