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.

    Before we came to Canada in 1951, when I was three, my parents and I spent a year at refugee camp (难民营) in Austria. We had escaped from what was then called Czechoslovakia. My parents had already lost their livelihood once to the Nazi. Mummy was freed from the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen and spent the years after the war trying to find her family, only to discover she was the only survivor. She met my father in a small town outside Prague. They married and had me in 1948. When we arrived in Montreal, everything we owned was contained in an army trunk and a couple of army blankets. Mummy bought an old sewing machine and some inexpensive materials and using patterns in magazines, taught herself to sew. Her hands were always going, making something. She learned English by singing along to the hit song as she worked.

    For me, high school was a lonely time. My mother worried that I'd never come out of my shell so she signed me up for classes at the Montreal Children's Theatre. That's where I found my voice with her strong faith in me, Mummy had opened a door. Although she was an educated woman, I never heard my mother said “This is what I gave up for you.” She was always there for my younger brother and me. When I sat in the kitchen with her, I felt safe. When she made soup or sewed a ballet costume for me, it was all a gift, a labor of love. She wanted to make us happy. For a long time, I had a picture hanging in the kitchen saying “Put your heart into it.” I grew up with that phrase. Mummy taught that lesson by example, and it has become my own work ethic(职业道德).

    Rome, Paris and New York are the world's top fashion cities, all of which have produced some of the top trends, from fashionable skirts to the hottest new shoes. But have you ever wondered about the negative ideas that they have enforced?

    In April 2016, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in Britain banned an ad from Gucci that featured models dancing around and having fun, because they were all extremely skinny. Banning ads due to the models' extreme figures isn't new. The ASA banned an ad in 2015 for the same reason. In France, it has been ruled that models are to provide a doctor's no providing that they are at a healthy weight.

    So what is the healthy weight for models? Twenty years ago, the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, they weigh 23 less.

    People may think that being at an unhealthy weight will help them gain the benefits that the models do. This provides a standard of beauty, and therefore people who want to achieve those things may attempt to obtain them through unhealthy ways. People may think that they are overweight, due to the images of models' thin figures. They see something wrong with their bodies whether they are overweight or not. This is a key factor in a lowered body image, low self-esteem, depression and possibly even eating disorders.

    I'm not blaming the fashion industry by any means. It's not their fault that many people look up to the models and expect to live a life like theirs. I am glad that the ASA is raising its voices when discussing the growing issue of body images in the fashion industry. By banning photos and videos, speaking out against them and pushing for doctor's notes from the models, it's pushing for the ideas that the traditional fashion industry's body image demands should be changed and something more needs to be questioned.

    Three-quarters of a million tourists flock to the primitive, white beaches every year—but this booming industry has come at a price. When foreigners left the government struggling to cope with a stream of rubbish, their answer was to turn one of these islands into a dumping ground. Clouds of sharp, poisonous smoke rising from open fires, piles of rubbish made up of plastic bottles, crisp packets and consumer junk. It's a far cry from the white sands, crystal-clear waters and gently swaying palm trees that we associate with the Maldives（马尔代夫）, the beautiful paradise island holiday destination set in the Indian Ocean.

    Of its 200 inhabited islands, which are spread across an area of 35,000 square miles, 99 are dedicated resorts. Three-quarters of a million tourists visit every year—more than double the domestic population. Of these, over 100,000 travel from the UK. The capital, Malé, is four times more densely populated than London. Given these facts, it's hardly surprising that the Maldives on which has a waste disposal problem.

    What you are seeing here is a view of the Maldives on which no honeymooners will ever fix eyes. Four miles west of Malé is the country's dumping ground, Thilafushi—or Rubbish Island as it has simply become known.

    The country dumps upwards of 330 tons of rubbish on the island every day, a figure attributed largely to the tourist industry on which the chain of islands relies. Each visitor generates 3.5 kg of waste per day.

    Now, the government of the Maldives has banned the dumping of waste on the island, which is too late, due largely to an increase in the number of waste boats “fly-tipping”（非法倾倒）directly into the sea, fed up with waiting seven hours or more to offload their cargo.

    Home gardening is an enjoyable family activity. It brings many benefits to your body's health, your wallet and the environment. There is the fun of growing whatever pleases you all year round. And you can get the freshest and safest vegetables.

    However, being a home gardener in modern society is tricky. As you have too much to do every day and have no time to take good care of them, all your plants may die. Luckily, there are many gardening apps that are helpful in teaching the art of growing a wonderful garden.

    One of them is Gardenia. It can provide a great deal of information for crazy gradeners who want to increase their gardening skills and continue growing fresh produce. If you've got a smart phone with this app, everything becomes a lot easier, whether you are a beginner or an expert in home gardening.

    Gardenia is designed to teach you the best gardening tips, and it can predict how fast the plants much have grown and what needs to be done. It is light with a beautiful interface (界面), user - friendly and easy to use. Anyway, Gardenia is a perfect planting organizer for you to use and plan your green tasks. It was developed by an experienced home gardener.

    The best thing about this app is its over 90,000 different plants library for you to choose and the right way of planting each of them. More importantly, it helps everyone recognize a plant that grows well in their local area. So it's always something you deserve to enjoy! Do use it on your phone if you're really interested in gardening.

    When I was a baby, I entertained you and made you laugh. Whenever I was “bad”, you'd shake your finger at me and ask, “How could you?”--but then you'd give up, and roll me over for a belly scratch and I believed that life could not be any more perfect.

    My house-training was a long process, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. We went for long walks, runs in the park and car rides. We stopped for ice cream. I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.

    Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. Eventually, you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a dog person, but I still welcomed her into our home. I was happy because you were happy. Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement, I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them too. Your wife was afraid I would bite them. But nevertheless, as they began to grow, I became their friend.

    Now, you have a new job in another city and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your “family”, but there was a time when I was your only family.

    I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the dog pound. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said, “I know you will find a good home for her.” They shrugged and gave you a pained look. The children were in tears as they waved me goodbye. And “How could you?” were the only three words that swept over my mind.

    Is it better to live with hope or without hope? At first, whenever anyone passed my pen (围栏), I rushed to the front, hoping it was you, that you had changed your mind and that this was all a bad dream.

    My beloved master, I will think of you and wait for you forever. I hope you receive more faithfulness from your family than you showed to me.