Q: I was the typical"I can't"child-whatever my mother told or asked me to do was immediately followed by my cry,"I can't."As a result,very few tasks or goals that I set out to achieve were ever completed. One evening,my mother called me into the family room."I want you to read this article,"Mother began."It's about Marlo Thomas.She tells how a simple poem that she was forced to learn by her father changed her life*She went from saying'I can't'to'I can'*According to this article,she was able to reorganize her life and her career by learning the principles in the poem." I took the small magazine from Mother and looked down at the pages.There was Marlo-my idol. Beside her photo was the poem my mother had spoken of,a simple poem entitled,"I Can"."I want you to memorize that poem,"Mother said firmly."Mama," _ ."I can't learn that poem.It's too long." "It's not too long and you can learn it.1 want you to know it perfectly by this time tomorrow,"said my mother. Unwillingly,I went back to my bedroom with the magazine.With a heavy heart,I threw myself into the bed and began my task. "Can't is a word that is the enemy to ambition,"I began.I repeated the line.I repeated it again and again."An enemy ambush to shatter your will..."I continued the process until I proudly recited the poem the following evening. It has now become my principle.Marlo 1 homas did not know me,but her story forever changed my life. Saying "I can" helped me to get through the worst moments of my life: Saying "I can" encouraged me to complete things I would have otherwise seen as out of my reach. A simple poem learned at seven is a poem that will support me to seventy-seven,maybe even longer.

1. no
2. yes
3. an article
4. Marlo Thomas
5. her fathe
6. I Can
7. no
8. too long
9. the word can't
10. I can't
11. seven

Numbered questions:
1. Was I always confident that I could do things?
2. Did my mom ask me to read something?
3. What was it?
4. who was the author?
5. How made Marlo learn the poem?
6. What was the name of the poem?
7. Did I think I could learn it?
8. Why not?
9. What hinders ambition?
10. What was my response when my mom asked me to do something?
11. How old was I when I learned the poem?

Q: CHICAGO ---Call it a reward, or just "bribery ".

Whichever it is, many parents today readily admit to buying off their children, who getgoodies for anything from behaving in a restaurant to sleeping all night in their own beds.

That's what worries parenting experts.

"I think that reward systems have a time and a place and work really well in certain situations," says Marcy Safyer, director of the Adelphi University Institute for Parenting.

"But what often gets lost for people is being able to figure out how to communicate to their kids that doing the thing is rewarding enough," Safyer says.

Parents and experts alike agree that thedynamic is partly a reflection of the world we live in. It's unrealistic to think a parent wouldn't reward their children with material things sometimes, says Robin Lanzi, a clinical psychologist and mother of four who's the research director at the Center on Health and Education at Georgetown University.

"But you want to make sure that they match the behavior, so it's not something huge for something small," Lanzi says.

She recalls hearing about a father who offered his child a Nintendo Wii game system for scoring a couple goals in a soccer game.

Elizabeth Powell, a mother of two young daughters in Austin, Texas, knows what she means.

"You want to raise them in a way that they're respectful and appreciate things," Powell says of her children. "But sometimes, you wonder now if kids appreciate even a new pair of shoes. "

1. Nintendo Wii game system
2. soccor
3. Two
4. no
5. young
6. unknown
7. Austin, Texas
8. clinical psychologist
9. Four
10. Georgetown University.
11. research director
12. Marcy Safyer
13. yes
14. Adelphi University Institute for Parenting.
15. director
16. unknown
17. yes
18. a new pair of shoes. "
19. yes
20. yes

Numbered questions:
1. What did a dad offer his kid for scoring some goals?
2. What game was the kid playing?
3. How many kids does Elizabeth Powell have?
4. Are they both boys?
5. Are they young or old?
6. Will they die in some traumatic event?
7. Where does Elizabeth live?
8. What's Robin Lanzi do for a living?
9. How many kids does she have?
10. Where does she work?
11. What's her official title there?
12. Who thinks that a reward system has a time and a place?
13. Does she think it works really well in some circumstances?
14. Where does she work?
15. What's her title?
16. Does Powell think kids should be respectful?
17. Does Powell also want to raise kids to appreciate things, in addition to being respectful?
18. What's an example of something she thinks kids should appreciate getting?
19. Do experts think it's worrisome to reward kids for sleeping all night in their own beds?
20. What about for behaving in a restaurant?

Q: Los Angeles (CNN) -- The City Council of Fullerton, California, approved Tuesday evening the hiring of an independent consultant to reform the city's police force and review last month's arrest and subsequent death of a homeless schizophrenic man, a spokeswoman said.

Before a gallery of residents angry about the death, the council voted 5-0 to award a one-year $50,000 contract to Michael J. Gennaco, a consultant whose rate is $260 an hour, to examine the police department's policies and practices, city spokeswoman Sylvia Palmer Mudrick said.

The council then approved 4-1 a second contract, also for up to a year, paying Gennaco $30,000 to prepare a public report looking at the July 5 incident involving police and the death of Kelly Thomas, Mudrick said.

Gennaco told the council he will begin investigating the death after the Orange County District Attorney's office completes its own inquiry into the incident, Mudrick said. Gennaco is currently chief attorney for a civilian oversight committee created by the Los Angeles County supervisors to monitor the sheriff's department.

Thomas, 37, died five days after what the Orange County district attorney has called "a violent and desperate struggle" last month with Fullerton police.

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles attorney said he is planning to file a police brutality lawsuit in federal court this week against Fullerton officers in a new unrelated case. But one of the officers in that case was also involved in the Thomas arrest, said the attorney, Garo Mardirossian.

Mardirossian is also representing Thomas' father, Ron, who is alleging that his son was a victim of police brutality and has notified Fullerton city officials that he plans to pursue legal action against them.

1. Thomas
2. 37
3. in a struggle with police
4. Fullerton police
5. no
6. yes
7. he was schizophrenic
8. Michael J. Gennaco
9. $260 an hour
10. a year
11. $50,000
12. two
13. yes
14. get a public report together
15. the incident
16. five days
17. Mardirossian
18. legal action against the city
19. in federal court
20. Fullerton officers

Numbered questions:
1. Who died?
2. How old was he?
3. How was he killed?
4. Which department?
5. Did he have a house?
6. What about health problems?
7. What?
8. Who was hired to look into the police department?
9. How much does he charge?
10. How long did the hire him for?
11. What is the cost of that agreement?
12. How many contracts did they give him?
13. Are they the same length?
14. What are they giving him $30,000 for?
15. about what?
16. How long after the conflict did Thomas pass?
17. Who is representing his father?
18. In what?
19. Where is Garo filing ha lawsuit?
20. against whom?