People are compassionate. With effort, we can translate compassion into action. An experience last weekend showed me this is true. I work part-time in a supermarket across from a building for the elderly. These old people are our main customers, and it's not hard to lose patience over their slowness. But last Sunday, one aged gentleman appeared to teach me a valuable lesson. This untidy man walked up to my register (收款机) with a box of biscuits. He said he was out of cash, had just moved into his room, and had nothing in his cupboards. He asked if we could let him have the food on trust. He promised to repay me the next day.

    I couldn't help staring at him. I wondered what kind of person he had been ten or twenty years before, and what he would be like if luck had gone his way. I had a hurt in my heart for this kind of human soul, all alone in the world. I told him that I was sorry, but store rules didn't allow me to do so. I felt stupid and unkind saying this, but I valued my job.

    Just then, another man, standing behind the first, spoke up. If anything, he looked more pitiable. “Charge it to me,” was all he said.

    What I had been feeling was pity. Pity is soft and safe and easy. Compassion, on the other hand, is caring in action. I thanked the second man but told him that was not allowed either. Then I reached into my pocket and paid for the biscuits myself. I reached into my pocket because these two men had reached into my heart and taught me compassion.

    Housework is a frequent source of disputes (争论) between lazy husbands and their hard-working wives, but women have been warned not to expect men to pull their weight any time soon.

    A study from Oxford University has found that men are unlikely to be doing an equal share of housework before 2050. Mothers, the researchers warned, will continue to shoulder the burden of childcare and housework for the next four decades, largely because housework such as cleaning and cooking is still regarded as“women's work”.

    The gap between the amount of time men and women spend on housework has narrowed slowly over the past 40 years. But it will take another four decades before true housework equality is achieved, the study concluded. The research found that in the Nordic countries, the burden of housework is shared more equally between men and women. In the UK, women spend an average of four hours and forty minutes each day on housework, compared with two hours and twenty-eight minutes for men. This is an improvement from the 1960s, when British women typically spent six hours a day on housework, while men spent just 90 minutes every day.

    But progress towards housework equality appears to be slowing in some countries. Dr Oriel Sullivan, a research reader from Oxford's Department of Sociology, said, “we've looked at what is affecting the equality in the home, and we have found that certain tasks seem to be given according to whether they are viewed as ‘men's work' or ‘women's work'.”Dr Sullivan said cultural attitudes taught at school may be responsible for the views of housework. “At school it is much easier for a girl to be a tomboy, but it is much more difficult for a boy to enjoy baking and dancing,” she said.

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    You know that balloons must be kept away from sharp objects. They also needed to be kept away from flames. A fire can weaken the rubber and cause it to break. However, in this experiment you will find out how you can hold a balloon directly in a flame without breaking the balloon.

    Materials needed:

● two round balloons not inflated(充气的)

● several matches

● water

    Inflate one of the balloons and tie it. Place 1/4 cup of water in the other balloon, and then inflate it and tie it. Light a match and hold it under the first balloon. Allow the flame to touch the balloon. What happens? The balloon breaks, perhaps even before the flame touches it. Light another match. Hold it directly under the water in the second balloon. Allow the flame to touch the balloon. What happens to this balloon? It doesn't break.

    Why does the balloon with no water break in the flame? The flame heats the rubber of both balloons. The rubber of the balloon without water becomes so hot that it becomes too weak to resist the pressure of the air inside the balloon. However, when the balloon with water in it is placed in the flame, the water takes in most of the heat from the flame. Then, the rubber of the balloon doesn't become very hot, it doesn't weaken, and the balloon doesn't break.

    Water is a particularly good absorber(吸收者) of heat. It takes a lot of heat to change the temperature of water. On the other hand, when water cools, it gives off a great deal of heat. That's why areas near oceans or other large bodies of water don't get as cold in winter as areas at the same latitude(纬度) further inland.

    A middle-aged man with a long beard was caught by the police for bad behavior and property damage. The man, Bill Wild, checked into a hotel last night, telling the clerk he would pay cash in advance and would be staying for four nights. He then asked her where the nearest store was and she told him it was John-Johns.

    Wild went to the store and bought three gallons of honey and four gallons of chocolate syrup (糖浆). The cashier asked him why he wanted these things and he replied, "I'm trying to become a sweeter person." The cashier smiled at the joke. Wild drove back to the hotel. He opened all bottles and poured them into the bathtub. He added warm water to the mix. He tuned the radio to an opera music station, took off his clothes, jumped into the tub, and started singing loudly with the music.

    Fifteen minutes later, the neighbor phoned the clerk complaining about the noise. The clerk knocked on Wild's door, but he just kept singing. She phoned his room, but he didn't answer. Then she called the police, who arrived quickly. They broke into the room. The floor was covered in water and the bathtub was full of chocolate and honey. "He seemed so nice and friendly. Who'd have thought he was a bathtub-singing nut?" said the clerk. The police said this was the third time that Wild had been arrested for this kind of behavior.

    The park bench was deserted as I sat down to read beneath the branches of an old willow tree, with good reason to frown, for the world was dragging me down. At this time, a boy approached me. He stood right before me, and said with great excitement, "Look what I found!"

    In his hand was a flower, and what a pitiful sight, with its petals (花瓣) all worn. Wanting him to take his flower and go off to play, I managed a smile and then turned to the other side.

    But instead of leaving, he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his nose and declared, "It really smells pretty and it's beautiful, too. That's why I picked it. Here it's for you."

    The flower before me was dying or dead. But I knew I must take it, or he might never leave. So I reached for the flower, and replied, "Just what I need."

    But instead of placing the flower in my hand, he held it in mid-air. It was then that I noticed that the boy was blind.

    I heard my voice quiver (轻微颤抖), and at the same time my tears shone like the sun. As I thanked him for picking the very best one, he smiled and said, "You're welcome." And then he ran off to play, unaware of the impact he'd had on me.

    I sat there and wondered how he managed to see a self-pitying woman beneath an old willow tree. Perhaps from his heart, he'd been blessed with true sight.

    Through the eyes of the blind boy, I could see the problem was not with the world; the problem was me. And for all of those times I had been blind. From now on, I promised to see beauty and appreciate every second. Then I held the flower up to my nose and breathed its fragrance and smiled as that young boy.

    The UK has a well­respected higher education system and some of the top universities and research instructions in the world. But to those who are new to it all, sometimes it can be confusing.

    October is usually the busiest month in the college calendar. Universities have something called Freshers' Week for their newcomers. It's a great opportunity to make new friends, join lots of clubs and settle into university life.

    However, having just left the comfort of home and all your friends behind，the prospect(前景) of meeting lots of strangers in big halls can be nerve­wracking (令人焦虑不安的). Where do you start? Who should you make friends with? Which clubs should you join?

    Luckily, there will be thousands of others in the same boat as you worrying about starting their university social life on the right foot. So just take it all in slowly. Don't rush into anything that you'll regret for the next three years.

    Here is some top advice from past students on how to survive Freshers' Week:

    Learn rules. Make sure you know British social etiquette(礼节). Have a few wine glasses and snacks handy for your housemates and friends.

    Be kind. Sometimes cups of tea or even slices of toast can give you a head start in making friends.

    Be sociable. The more active you are，the more likely you'll be to meet new people than if you're someone who never leaves his room.

    Bring a doorstop. Keep your door open when you're in and that sends positive messages to your neighbors that you're friendly.

    So with a bit of clever planning and effort, Freshers' Week can give you a great start to your university life and soon you'll be passing on your experience to next year's new recruits.