Peter Huszcz once taught in an agricultural (农业的)college. In the 1990s, he moved to Canada. Peter started out washing dishes in a restaurant in downtown Ottawa. When the manager asked him to help out rolling meatballs in the kitchen, he soon 1earned how to do the job very well. But it was boring and Peter suggested that the manager should buy a meatball-making machine. When the manager told him there was no such thing as a meatball maker, Peter was quick to notice that something was missing in the market. Putting his engineering knowledge to good use, he quickly came up with a simple method—the Magic Meatball Maker.

    He was sure there was a market for his machine. but it took him ten years of hard work to find it. He had to take risks, but he believed in his idea, and he managed to persuade other people to believe in him too. A local manufacturer (制造商) offered to produce the first 1,000 units in return for a share in the profits (收益), local shops offered to keep his meatball makers and a friend's daughter helped him out with his first sales.

    But his lucky break came when he managed to persuade a TV shopping channel to help sell the Magic Meatball Maker. The channel broadcast a program about how the invention worked in the studio kitchen. Within minutes, they had sold more than 4,000 units.

    This was just the start. Peter had been right. He had said his meatball maker would bring him great wealth, and it has: more than two million dollars so far and it's till selling to thousands of American housewives all across the USA.

Get a Thorough Understanding of Oneself

    In all one's life time it is oneself that one spends the most time being with or dealing with. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    When you are going upwards in life you tend to overestimate(高估) yourself. It seems that everything you seek for is within your reach.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}It's likely that you think it wise for yourself to stay away from the outer world. Actually, to get a thorough understanding of oneself, you may as well keep the following tips in mind.

    Gain a correct view of oneself. You may look forward hopefully to the future but be sure not to expect too much, for dreams can never be fully realized. You may be courageous to meet challenges but it should be clear to you where to direct your efforts.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Self-appreciate. Whether you compare yourself to a towering tree or a blade of grass, a high mountain or a small stone, you represent a state of nature.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}If you earnestly admire yourself you'll have a real sense of self-appreciation.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}In time of anger, do yourself a favor by releasing it in a quiet place so that you won't be hurt by its flames; in time of sadness, do yourself a favor by sharing it with your friends so as to change a bad mood into a cheerful one; in time of tiredness, do yourself a favor by getting a good sleep.

    Get a full control of one's life. Then one will find one's life full of color1 and flavor.

A. But it is precisely oneself that one has the least understanding of.

B. As long as you have a perfect knowledge of yourself, there won't be difficulties you can't overcome.

C. When you are going downhill you tend to underestimate yourself for your own incompetence.

D. It has its own value.

E. Especially if it is well within your reach, you are just too blind to see it.

F. Do oneself a favor when it's needed.

G. Do yourself a favor when you resist the attack of illness.

    For most city people, the elevator is an unremarkable machine that inspires none of the enthusiasm or interest that Americans afford trains, jets，and even bicycles. Dr. Christopher Wilk is a member of a small group of elevator experts who consider this a misunderstanding. Without the elevator, they point out, there could be no downtown skyscrapers or tall buildings, and city life as we know it would be impossible. In that sense, they argue，the elevator's role in American history has been no less significant than that of cars. In fact, according to Wilk_? the car and the elevator have been locked in a “secret war” for over a century, with cars making it possible for people to spread horizontally (水平地)，and elevators pushing them toward life in close groups of towering vertical (垂直的)columns.

    If we tend to ignore the significance of elevators, it might be because riding in them tends to be such a brief, boring, and even awkward experience^one that can involve unexpectedly meeting people with whom we have nothing in common, and an unpleasant awareness of the fact that we're hanging from a cable in a long passage.

    In a new book, Lifted, German journalist and cultural studies professor Andreas Bernard directed all his attention to this experience, studying the origins of elevator and its relationship to humankind and finding that riding in an elevator has never been a totally comfortable experience. “After 150 years, we are still not used to it”， Bernard said. “We still have not exactly learned to cope with the mixture of closeness and displeasure.” That mixture, according to Bernard, sets the elevator ride apart from just about every other situation we find ourselves in as we go about our lives.

    Today，as the world's urban population explodes，and cities become more crowded, taller, and more crowded, America's total number of elevators—900,000 at last count, according to Elevator World magazine's “2012 Vertical Transportation Industry”一are a force that's becoming more important than ever. And for the people who really, really love them, it seems like high time that we looked seriously at just what kind of force they are.

    English is an excellent language to learn, whether it's for business, travel or personal reasons. Here are some important ways to improve your spoken English.

    When you have time to speak, just try your best to practice. Don't wait until you “feel more comfortable” speaking in English, so start speaking English today. You'll be surprised at how quickly your language skills improve. Find a native English speaker who is willing to spend some time speaking English with you—you may be able to offer them a language exchange, where they spend 30 minutes speaking English with you and you spend 30 minutes speaking your native language with them.

    Even if you have a good knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary, native English speakers may find it's very difficult to understand if you don't work on your pronunciation. Correct , clear pronunciation is necessary if you really want to improve your English. Listen closely to how native English speakers pronounce certain words and sounds and do your best to copy them.

    The wider your vocabulary and the more English phrases you learn, the easier speaking English will become. Once you have learned a new word or phrase, you should make an effort to use it in a sentence—this is the best way to keep it in mind. You should also start a notebook of phrases that English speakers use all the time.

    Another great way to add some more English conversation into your weekly practice is to sign up for a class of discussion group. Attending an English class is a great way to pay attention to some of the more formal aspects of speaking English. A class will teach you the correct way of speaking. Attending a discussion group is a more informal and relaxed way of learning English, where the emphasis(重点) is more on communication and relationship building than on speaking “correct” English.

    The Terracotta Army Museum is one of the must-visit attractions for all travelers to China. The attraction is located in Xi'an, in west China's Shanxi Province.

    What's special?

    The terracotta Army is the buried army of Qin Shi Huang, an ancient Chinese emperor. These ancient sculptures were built and buried over two thousand years ago near the city of Xi'an. They were discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well looking for underground water. Over a thousand terracotta warriors and horses have been uncovered since then. Each warrior is made of clay (泥土). They are around two meters tall. The sculptures are so detailed that it is possible to guess the age, rank and personality of each one. None of the soldiers are the same.

    The best time to visit

    The Terracotta Army is an indoor attraction, which is not likely to be affected by weather, so it can be visited all year round.

    As the Terracotta Army Museum is one of the must-visit attractions in China, it is crowded most of the time. We advise our customers to avoid the following periods when the museum is particularly crowded:

    National Day holiday(October 1-7), when it is fully packed.

    Labour Day holiday(May 1-3)

    Weather in winter is dry, cold and the least comfortable, and it's also the worst season for air quality, but it's also low season.

    Travel style: private, group or independent?

    A private tour means a lot of flexibility and you will be well taken care of by a private guide and driver. The museum is crowded most of the time, but our guides know how to escape the crowds, and help our customers to enjoy more in the museum. See our 3-Day Terracotta Warriors Private Tour.

Going with a group you won't get lost, but i lacks flexibility and personal service.

    Travelling on your own you may meet a lot of trouble, such as wasting time on finding a taxi or public bus to the attraction, lining up for tickets, reading maps, making sense of Chinese signs, etc.

    Google, hoping to put down a protest by employees upset that the technology they were working on could be used for deadly purposes, will not renew a contract with the Pentagon(五角大楼) for artificial intelligence work when a current deal expires next year.

    Diane Greene, who is the head of the Google Cloud business that won a contract with the Pentagon's Project Maven, said during a weekly meeting with employees Friday that the company was backing away from its AI work with the military, according to a person familiar with the discussion but not permitted to speak publicly about it.

    Google's work with the Defense Department on the Maven program, which uses artificial intelligence to interpret video images and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes, riled the internet giant's workforce.

    About 4,000 Google employees signed a petition(请愿书) demanding "a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology," and a handful of employees resigned in protest.

    The money for Google in the Project Maven contract was never large by the standards of a company with profit of $110 billion last year — $9 million, one official told employees, or a possible $15 million over 18 months, according to an internal email.

    But some company officials saw it as an opening to much greater revenue down the road. In an email last September, a Google official in Washington told colleagues she expected Maven to grow into a $250 million-a-year project, and eventually it could have helped open the door to contracts worth far more.