61   Teenagers have opinions about everything and they aren’t shy about sharing them. So allow them to make more decisions. For example, let them decide when and where to study, what to wear, what sports team to join. However, keep in mind that some decisions can’t be discussed or changed. Parents need to set limits that protect their children’ health and safety.

   62   There’s something happy about the family sitting together around the dinner table. The evening meal is often the time of the day when the family can sit together in one place and talk with each other. So make dinner a family affair. You can use the chance to share the news of the day and make weekend plans.

  63   You can tell your children that you, too, sometimes feel angry or unhappy, which shows your children that you’re not just a parent—you’re a human. Not only will your children feel closer to you, but he or she may feel safe enough to disclose uncomfortable things or feelings.

   64   They maybe make some wrong choices sometimes. But if they’re over 18, give them the chance to deal with problems on their own. After all, didn’t you want the same from your parents when you were their age?

  65   Don’t read her diary, eavesdrop (偷听) on his phone conversations, or upset her with questions. Remember that they are humans and have their own privacy (隐私) just like you. If you think they have some problems, point it out directly, using five little words: “Can we talk about it?” For example, you can use the words such as “I’ve smelled smoke when you walk into the room several times now. Have you been smoking? Can we talk about it?”

61_______

As awareness of the benefits of humour increases, most of us want to get all the laughs we can. It seems that almost every day there is another new discovery about the power of humour to help us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Every system of the body responds to laughter in some important or positive way .

62_______

Many people mistakenly believe that we are born with a sense of humour. They think that when it comes to a sense of humour. “either you have got it or you don't . ” This is false! What is true, however, is that the ability to laugh and smile is actually something we are born with. For example, we laugh when we are tickled under the arm, even without thinking about how to react.

63_________  

The parts of the brain and central nervous system that control laughing and smiling are mature at birth in human infants, but that is not the same thing as having a sense of humour. (After all, when a baby laughs in his small bed we don’t rush over and say, “That kid has a great sense of humour!”) Your sense of humour is something you can develop over a lifetime. Don’t be nervous before others and try to laugh at yourself-then you will make them laugh too.

64________

Humour includes a lot more than laughing and joke telling. Many people worry needlessly that they do not have a good sense of humour because they are not good joke tellers. More than jokes, a sense of humour requires being willing and able to see the funny side of life’s situations as they happen. In fact, one of the best definitions（定义）of a sense of humour is “the ability to see the nonserious element in a situation. ”

65 _________

There may be a thousand different ways to express your sense of humour, but joke telling is only one of those ways. As more is discovered about how humour benefits our life, more people will be able to see and enjoy the humour when they are in a difficult situation. Life depends on air, food and water, but it is made easier to live with a good sense of humour.

C 

On Jan. 3, a netizen（网民）nicknamed “Programmer Humor” published a short story on his micro-blog. It said that there was an old lady who swept nearly every inch of his Internet company. When she passed by a programmer, she took a look at the codes on the programmer’s computer and kindly reminded him, “Be careful, the stack is overfilled!”

Certainly, it is a casual and fictitious（虚构的）story made up by the micro-blogger. However, no one would have guessed that the short blog would eventually cause the first great Internet meme（网络快速爆红现象）of 2011 in China. Suddenly, the mysterious “Sweeping Old Lady” is showing up nearly everywhere and reminding professionals of their mistakes. From 8 a. m. on Jan. 5, some netizens collected stories of the “Sweeping Old Lady” and found she had appeared to give advice in 150 kinds of careers. A netizen even said he had met with a similar situation in real life.

Actually, the “Sweeping Old Lady” is not new figure, but is based on the “sweeping monk （和尚）”in Louis Cha’s famous Kung fu novel of “Tian Long Ba Bu”. The “sweeping monk” is an old monk and does the lowest class of work in Shaolin Temple, but he is actually the No. 1 master in the novel both in Kung fu and in the study of Buddhism.

The “Sweeping Old Lady” is also a great modest master. Lots of netizens wish that they could have such a lady beside them to give them precious suggestions at a key time.

Although there may be 1,000 “Sweeping Old Ladies” in 1,000 people’s minds, it cannot prevent the “Sweeping Old Lady” from becoming the most popular figure on the Internet.

“Programmer Humor” said he is just a programmer in the real world and once he saw the story about the “Sweeping Old Lady,” he wrote it down in his micro-blog because it was funny. He never knew who the original writer of the story was and never thought the story could be so popular.