When her five daughters were young, Helene An always told them that there was strength in unity (团结). To show this, she held up one chopstick, representing oneperson. Then she easily broke it into two pieces. Next, she tied several chopsticks together, representing a family. She showed the girls it was hard to break the tied chopsticks. This lesson about family unity stayed with the daughters as they grew up.

    Helene An and her family own a large restaurant business in California. However, when Helene and her husband Danny left their home in Vietnam in 1975, they didn't have much money. They moved their family to San Francisco. There they joined Danny's mother, Diana, who owned a small Italian sandwich shop. Soon afterwards, Helene and Diana changed the sandwich shop into a small Vietnamese restaurant. The five daughters helped in the restaurant when they were young. However, Helene did not want her daughters to always work in the family business because she thought it was too hard.

    Eventually the girls all graduated from college and went away to work for themselves, but one by one, the daughters returned to work in the family business. They opened new restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Even though family members sometimes disagreed with each other, they worked together to make the business successful. Daughter Elisabeth explains, "Our mother taught us that to succeed we must have unity, and to have unity we must have peace. Without the strength of the family, there is no business."

    Their expanding business became a large corporation in 1996, with three generations of Ans working together. Now the Ans' corporation makes more than $20 million each year. Although they began with a small restaurant, they had big dreams, and they worked together. Now they are a big success.

    When my son, Bob, was in the third grade, he saved all his pocket money for over three months to buy Christmas presents. The third Saturday in December, Bob said he had made his list and had twenty dollars in his pocket.

    I drove him to a nearby supermarket. Bob picked up a basket and went in while I waited and watched in the car. It took Bob over 45 minutes to choose his presents. Finally he came to the checkout counter and reached into his pocket for his money. It was not there! There was a hole in his pocket, but no money. Bob stood there holding his basket, tears falling down his face.

    Then a surprising thing happened. A woman came up to Bob and took him in her arms. "You would help me a lot if you let me pay for you," said the woman. "It would be the most wonderful gift you could give me. I only ask that one day you will pass it on. When you grow up, I would like you to find someone you can help. When you help others, I know you will feel as good about it as I do now."

    Bob took the money, dried his tears and ran back to the checkout counter as fast as he could. That year we all enjoyed our gifts almost as much as Bob enjoyed giving them to us.

    I would like to say "thank you" to that very kind woman, and tell her that four years later, Bob went from house to house collecting blankets and clothes for the homeless people in the fire. And I want to promise her that Bob will never forget to keep passing it on.

    There are so many expressions in American English that sound pleasant but are not.

    “Face the music” is a good example. When someone says they have to face the music, it does not mean they are going to a musical performance or concert. To face the music means to accept the unpleasant results of an action.

    Imagine a friend asks you to take care of her beautiful red sports car. She gives you the keys and says, “Thanks so much for watching my car while I'm away. But please do not drive it. It is an extremely fast car.” But you do not listen. You want to show off and pretend the car is yours. So, you drive it around town. As bad luck would have it, you lose control of the car and drive it into a stop sign. The damage is serious. When your friend returns, you must tell her what you have done and “face the music”. That could mean losing her friendship or paying for repairs to her sports car or both. Whatever the music is, you must face it.

    There are other American expressions that mean the same as “face the music”.

    To “take your medicine” means to accept the results from something bad you have done. And if someone says, “You made your bed. Now lie in it.” He means you created a bad situation and now you will experience the results, or as we say in American spoken English, you must deal with it!

    “Pay the piper” also means the same as “face the music”. But, that expression has its own very interesting beginning. We will talk about that on another Words and Their Stories.

    Katherine Johnson, a brilliant mathematician at NASA (美国宇航局), began working on the space program in the 1950s. Many of NASA's first missions were made possible by her amazing calculations (计算).

    As a child, she loved to count. Her father placed great importance on education and insisted all four of his children go to college, working overtime to pay for it. Johnson said this atmosphere was important to her success. "I was always around people who were learning something. I liked to learn." She said.

    Johnson graduated from high school at 14 and college at 18. In 1953, Johnson started to work for NASA, doing the math that powered engineers' work. Then, because of her outstanding talent, she was moved to work on rockets with an all-male flight research team. As for Johnson, her calculations contributed to many of NASA's most important projects. In 1961, with the help of Johnson's work, Alan Shepherd became the first American to go into space. Johnson also lent her unbelievable talent to the success of the Apollo 13, which had trouble getting back to earth. She worked hard to calculate a safe path back to Earth for the astronauts.

    Johnson retired in 1986, but her huge contribution to the space program has only been reaching the public attention for the past few years. Part of that is because, as she is the first to admit, science is based on collaboration. "I never took any credit because we always worked as a team, it was never just one person," she said in a 2010 interview.

    Earlier this year, NASA named a new data center after her. She was also given a Silver Snoopy award, which recognizes "outstanding performance, contributing to flight safety and mission success."

    Martha had been working for Miller Laboratories for two years, but she was not happy there. Nothing significant had happened in the way of promotions or salary increases. Martha felt that her supervisor, a younger and less experienced person than she, did not like her. In fact, the supervisor often said unpleasant things to her.

    One day, while talking with her friend Maria, she mentioned how discouraged she was. Maria gave her the name of a cousin of hers who was director of Human Resources Department for a large chemical company. Martha called him the next day and set up an interview on her lunch hour.

    During the interview, Mr. Petri said, "You're just the kind of person we need here. You're being wasted in your other job. Give me a call in a day or two. I'm sure we can find a place for you in our organization." Martha was so happy that she almost danced out of the building.

    That afternoon, Ruth Kenny, her supervisor, saw that Martha had come in ten minutes late from her lunch hour and she said, "Oh, so you finally decided to come back to work today?"

    This was the last straw. She could not take another insult. Besides, Mr. Petri was right: she was being wasted in this job.

    "Look," she said angrily, "if you don't like the way I work, I don't need to stay here. I'll go where I'm appreciated! Goodbye!" She took up her things and stormed out of the office.

    That night she called Maria and told her what had happened and then asked Maria, "What do you think?"

    "Well," said Maria carefully, "are you sure about the other job?"

    "Well, not exactly, but..."

    Maria continued, "Will you be able to get a recommendation from Ms. Kenny if you need one?"

    "A recommendation?…from Ms. Kenny?" hesitated Martha, in a worried tone.

    "Martha, I hope you didn't burn your bridges," Maria said. "I think I would have handled it differently."

Sea, Sun, Sand and South Africa: Readers' Favorite Beaches

    The Wild Coast five-day hike from Kei Mouth to Coffee Bay in South Africa is surely the best experience for beach lovers.

    Robben Island beaches

    On a visit to the prison museum here, be sure to leave time to explore the island's beaches. Few visitors realize that the island's shores are the natural habitat of sizable penguins: enjoy watching them with far fewer tourists here. Bird life is plentiful and includes oystercatchers, ibis, egrets and cormorants. Sharks and dolphins can often be spotted offshore too.

    Sand, sea and sculpture, Durban

    There's more to Durban's Golden Mile than sunbathing and surfing. Not only is there a gallery of sand sculptures(雕像) and drawings, but Lucas, one of the best local artists, offers lessons. His amazing rhino(犀牛) is the only permanent item in a frequently changing exhibition. Lucas charges a modest R50 (£3) for a fun and surprisingly physical hour of creativity. Or, you could ask him to create a personalized sculpture for a special occasion.

    Paternoster, Western Cape

    Paternoster is a small beach community about 150 km north of Cape Town. The town has a number of rentals(租赁), all the Cape Dutch architecture you could want for a weekend away and some great food. Long walks on the beach, eating and drinking and watching the fishing boats make for a peaceful break. And, unlike in Cape Town, you can dip your toes in the sea without your legs freezing solid.