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I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled（贴标签）everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.
    War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming. “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.
    The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled under her covers, sobbing.
    Obviously, that was not something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart.
    Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had sat up. She was watching, her tears dried and her expression one of disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, “Thanks.”
Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.

We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.

 What’s the problem? It’s possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s awkward and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.

 Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t

even exist if it weren’t for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease(润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. ＂Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk,＂ he explains. ＂The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.＂

In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. ＂It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,＂ says Dunn. ＂But interactions with peripheral(边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also.＂

Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. ＂Small talk is the basis of good manners,＂ he says.

German conceptual(概念的) artist HA Schult has built the world’s first hotel made out of rubbish in Rome only a few steps from the Vatican and Castel Sant’ Angelo.

        Schult used a total of 12 tonnes of rubbish collected on beaches along European coasts to form the outer walls of the three-room structure. The rubbish was cleaned in Germany before being transported to Rome for use in the project.

      Cans, tyres, newspaper, socks and even deserted cameras, footballs and love letters are used to decorate the hotel. Schult hopes his art project will draw attention to the amount of rubbish produced in the world and confront people with the situation.

      “We are in rubbish time. We produce rubbish and we will be rubbish,” said Schult who built the hotel to mark World Environment Day. Only running water and electricity were lacking inside the hotel.

      The inside of the hotel was complete with colorful sheets and hard wood floors. Among its first guests were Danish top fashion model Helena Christensen and a 53-year-old London  man and his daughter, They spent the night before World Environment Day in the hotel.

      The rubbish used to make the hotel comes from all over the world, according to Schult. This is symbolic because rubbish is a worldwide problem , he said.

      “ We are living on a planet of garbage,” said Schult, who has used garbage to create art in various projects since the 1960s to point out the increasing amount of rubbish.

      Among his best known projects is Rubbish People, which consisted of an army of human-like figures that he set up at numerous prominent locations, including Rome’s Piazza del Popolo, Brooklyn Bridge in New York, the Pyramids at Giza and Red Square in Moscow.

On the night of October 16^th, coming up at ten o’clock, my mother prepared what would be my father’s last meal. That week he worked   (1)  shifts(轮班). He started at midnight.

Just after 2 am, the group went for coffee. There was a   (2)   that always had to be operated and he said, “It’s okay. You guys all   (3)   and I’ll work it.”

The machine would   (4)   quickly, occasionally, for one moment Dad made a   (5)  —he didn’t pay attention, and his head was stuck in the machine. In panic, the workers   (6)  back and cut the base of the machine and transported it with him in the ambulance.

Mother was   (7)   that there was an accident and to meet at the   (8)  . My oldest brother Ken, then sixteen,   (9)   mother there, and my other brother Bob, then fourteen, stayed with me at home. Father died on the road.

When we were overcome with the   (10)  , a spokesperson for the hospital   (11)   my mother if they could take one of my father’s eyes—they had a person   (12)   it. My mother replied , “Yes!”

Years later, in the late summer, I was at the Woodlawn Cemetery(公墓) where my father’s body rests. As I finished   (13)   and stood, a man from behind me said, “How are you now, Frank?”

Knowing only the   (14)   , and his friends and co-workers called him “Frank”, I   (15)   thought that this man must have   (16)  him. As I turned to face him, I replied, “He’s my father.”

This man, Bazylak, as I would learn later, replied, “I   (17)  with your father for a short time, just over a year, but he made an impact on my life. He was so powerful, so   (18)  and so giving. You know, he wasn’t meant to be there that day. But that was Frank.”

Almost four decades later and from a   (19)  , there in the cemetery, I’d heard   (20)  stories about my father.

The Intelligent Transport team at Newcastle University have turned an electric car into a mobile laboratory named “DriveLAB” in order to understand the challenges faced by older drivers and to discover where the key stress points are.

    Research shows that giving up driving is one of the key reasons for a fall in health and well-being among older people, leading to them becoming more isolated(隔绝) and inactive.

    Led by Professor Phil Blythe, the Newcastle team are developing in-vehicle technologies for older drivers which they hope could help them to continue driving into later life.

    These include custom-made navigation(导航) tools, night vision systems and intelligent speed adaptations. Phil Blythe explains: “For many older people, particularly those living alone or in the country, driving is important for keeping their independence, giving them the freedom to get out and about without having to depend on others.”

    “But we all have to accept that as we get older our reactions slow down and this often results in people avoiding any potentially challenging driving conditions and losing confidence in their driving skills. The result is that people stop driving before they really need to.”

 “We hope that our work will help with technological solutions(解决方案) to make sure that older drivers stay safer behind the wheel.”

Albert was an ordinary worker in an oil company in America. His workmates gave a nickname (绰号) “Four dollars a bucket (桶)” to him, for he was always used to leaving an advertisement of his company “Four dollars a bucket of oil” below his name whenever and wherever he wrote down his name.

As time went by, people forgot his real name. Later, when Rockefeller, the board chairman of the oil company, heard of it, he was very surprised, so he invited Albert to come to his office.

“Some people give you a nickname for ‘Four dollars a bucket’. Why aren’t you angry?” asked Rockefeller with some puzzlement in his eyes.

“Oh! Mr. Rockefeller! I like this nickname very much, because ‘Four dollars a bucket’ is our company’s advertisement. As long as someone calls me ‘Four dollars a bucket’ once, I think it’s a free advertisement for our company. I have no reason to get angry. Don’t you think so, Mr. Rockefeller?”

“Oh! What a fantastic man!” Rockefeller said excitedly when hearing Albert’s words. “Young man, work harder! You must succeed in the future! I believe in you!”

Five years later, Albert became the second board chairman after Rockefeller.

Later Albert said in one of his reports, “I don’t think we should feel frustrated when we have no way to do the world-shaking things. We should treat everything actively because maybe our future success will begin from a small thing!”

Though Elena Desserich died at the age of six, she left behind an amazing gift for the family: a series of hidden love notes.

Elena was a beautiful girl with long hair and a sweet smile. She loved to draw, paint, and write. And most of all, she loved her parents and her little sister, Gracie. Elena had dreamed of becoming an artist when she grew up but sadly, she never had the chance to reach adulthood. When Elena was only five years old, she was diagnosed with brain cancer.

“They told us at the very beginning that she had 135 days to live,” Elena’s father, Keith Desserich, told WLWT News. Elena and her family made the most of that time. She spent the long days in the hospital working on the paintings, which were full of hearts and smiling families. One of her artworks was displayed in a local gallery in Cincinnati, right next to a Picasso painting. As the disease became worse and she lost the use of her voice, she began to communicate with her family by writing notes.

Up until the very end, she wanted nothing more than to be with her family: Just days before her death, she danced with her father.

Not long after her death, Elena’s parents were sorting through her things when they began to find notes that she had written to them. “They would be in between DCs or between books on our bookshelf,” said Keith. All through her final days, Elena had been writing love notes to her family, and hiding them in secret places throughout the house.

“We started to collect them and they would all say ‘I love you Mom, Dad, and Grace.’ We kept finding them, and still to this day, we keep finding them.”

   In 1816, there were no schools for the deaf in America. Several people started a few schools, but in the end all of the schools closed. There were too many problems. The first people to succeed were Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. They opened their school in 1817, and the school did not close. At that time it was the only school for deaf children in America!

   Clerc and Gallaudet did not know what would happen after they opened their school. They worked very hard. The school grew, and many more students went to this school. These new students were from all over the country. People thought the school would be big enough for all of the deaf children in America. The school is still open today, but the name was changed. Today it is called the American School for the Deaf. It is in West Hartford, Connecticut.

   After Clerc and Gallaudet established their school, many other schools for the deaf were opened as well. Before Gallaudet's death in 1851, 15 other schools for deaf children were built! Many of the teachers at those 15 schools used Gallaudet's teaching methods. Many had even studied with Gallaudet and were deaf themselves!

One of the most important things in the world is friendship. In order to have friends, you have to be a friend. But how can you be a good friend at school?

 Listen — Listen when they are talking. Don’t say anything unless they ask you a question. Sometimes it’s not necessary for you to have anything to say; they just need someone to talk to about their feelings.

Help them— If your friend is ever in need of something, be there to help them. You should try to put them first, but make sure you don’t do everything they want you to do. Try to take an extra (额外的) pencil or pen with you to classes in case (以防) they forget one. Have a little extra money in your pocket in case they forget something they need.

 Be there for them — Try to make something for your friend to help make them feel better in hard times. Making cards and encouraging them are among the nicest things you can do for a friend. Marilyn Monroe, a famous U.S. actor, once said, “I often make mistakes. Sometimes I am out of control. But if you can’t stay with me at my worst, you are sure not to deserve (值得) to be with me at my best.” Always remember this! If you don’t want to stay with your friends when they’re in hard times, then you don’t deserve to be with them when they’re having a good time!

 Make plans — Try to make plans with your friends. Go shopping, go for ice cream, have a party, go to a movie and so on. Take time to know each other even better by doing something you both enjoy. By planning things together, you both can have a good time. And you’ll remember these things when you’re all old!

Fifteen years ago, I took a summer vacation inLeccein southern Italy. After climbing up a hill for a panoramic(全景的) view of the blue sea, white buildings and green olive trees, I paused to catch my breath and then positioned myself to take the best photo of this panorama.

      Unfortunately, just as I took out my camera, a woman approached from behind, and planted herself right in front of my view. Like me, this woman was here to stop, sigh and appreciate the view.

      Patient as I was, after about 15 minutes, my camera scanning the sun and reviewing the shot I would eventually take, I grew frustrated. Was it too much to ask her to move so I could take just one picture of the landscape? Sure, I could have asked her, but something prevented me from doing so. She seemed so content in her observation. I didn’t want to mess with that.

      Another 15 minutes passed and I grew bored. The woman was still there. I decided to take the photo anyway. And now when I look at it, I think her presence in the photo is what makes the image interesting. The landscape, beautiful on its own, somehow comes to life and breathes because this woman is engaging with it.

      This photo, with the unique beauty that unfolded before me and that woman who “ruined” it, now hangs on a wall in my bedroom. What would she think if she knew that her figure is captured(捕捉) and frozen on some stranger’s bedroom wall? A bedroom, after all, is a very private space, in which some woman I don’t even know has been immortalized(使……永存). In some ways, she lives in my house.

      Perhaps we all live in each others’ spaces. Perhaps this is what photos are for: to remind us that we all appreciate beauty, that we all share a common desire for pleasure, for connection, for something that is greater than us.

      That photo is a reminder, a captured moment, an unspoken conversation between two women, separated only by a thin square of glass.