I travel a lot in my work, and what I dislike about my job is eating alone. It always makes me feel lonely to see others laughing and talking. So, room service for several nights was a better choice for me.

    After having room service three nights at a hotel in Houston, however, I needed to get out of my room. Although the restaurant opened at 6:30, I arrived at 6:25. The waiter at the front desk made a comment(评论) about my “being there really early”. I explained my dislike of eating alone in restaurants. He then seated me at a lovely table and asked me whether I would mind if he sat down with me for a while.

    I was glad! He sat and talked with me about his career goals and the difficulty of being at work on nights, weekends and holidays. He said he hadn't enough time to be with his family. After 15 minutes, he saw some customers at the front desk and excused himself. I noticed that before he went to the front desk, he stopped in the kitchen for a moment.

    Then another waiter came out of the kitchen and had a wonderful chat with me. Before I left that night, some other waiters, even the cook, had come out of the kitchen and sat with me!

    When I asked for my bill about one hour later, all the people who had sat down with me came over in a big group to my table, and presented me with a red rose. And I cried! What had begun as a lonely night ended as a beautiful experience.

    Some people make you feel comfortable when they are around. You spend an hour with them and feel you are already close friends. They are always good talkers. Here are several skills that good talkers have in common. If you follow the skills, they'll help you put people at their ease, and make friends with them quickly. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    First of all, good talkers ask questions. Almost anyone, no matter how shy he is, will answer a question. One well-known businesswoman says，“At business lunches, I always ask people what they did that morning. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}” From there you can move on to other matters—sometimes to really personal questions. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Second, once good talkers have asked questions, they listen to the answers. Your questions should have a point and help to tell what sort of person you are talking to. And to find out, you really have to listen carefully. Real listening at least means some things. If someone sticks to one topic, you can take it as a fact that he's really interested in it. Real listening also means not just listening to words, but to tones of voice. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Finally, good talkers know well how to “say goodbye”. If you're saying goodbye, you may give him a firm handshake and say, “I've really enjoyed meeting you.” {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Let people know what you feel, and they may walk away, happy and satisfied.

A. It's polite to listen to others with a smile.

B. You'd better change the subject if the voice sounds dull.

C. Don't be afraid to say so if you want to see that person again.

D. Common as the question is, it will get things going.

E. You can become a popular person.

F. And how he answers will let you know how far you can go.

G. These people have something in common.

    My three-year-old granddaughter, Tegan, went with her parents to a family gathering at the home of her other grandparents. Everyone was having a wonderful time visiting and catching up on all the latest family news.

    Like most children, Tegan was having a good time playing with all the toys that were different from her own and that were kept for children to play with at her grandparents' house. In particular, Tegan had found a little tea set and had begun pretending that she was having a tea party. She set up all the place settings and arranged her table with the great care and elegance that only a three-year-old can create. Meanwhile, her Daddy concentrated on conversation, and as he continued to chat with his family, Tegan would hand him a cup of "tea". Her Daddy, who always tries to participate in her games, would pause for a few seconds from his conversation, and say all the proper words and gestures for her tea party which would thrill Tegan. He would request two lumps of sugar. He would tell her how wonderful her tea tasted, and then he would continue his adult conversation with his family.

    After going through this routine several times, her Daddy suddenly awoke to reality as he had a flash of concern in his mind: "She is only three years old, where is she getting this 'tea' that I've been dutifully drinking?" He quietly followed her, without her knowing, and his fears were growing stronger as he saw her turn and go through the bathroom door. Sure enough, there she was stretching up on her tippy toes reaching up to get her 'tea' water out of the container of water that grandpa used to soak (浸泡)his false teeth!

    "How are you" is a nice question. It's a friendly way that people in the United States greet each other. But "How are you?" is also a very unusual question. It's a question that often doesn't have an answer. The person who asks "How are you?" hopes to hear the answer "Fine.", even if the person's friend isn't fine. The reason is that "How are you?" isn't really a question and "Fine." isn't really an answer. They are simply other way of saying "Hello!" or "Hi!".

    Sometimes, people also don't say exactly what they mean. For example, when someone asks, "Do you agree?", the other person might be thinking, "No, I disagree. I think you're wrong…"But it isn't very polite to disagree strongly, so the other person might say "I'm not sure…". It's a nice way to say that you don't agree with someone.

    People also don't say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people. For example, many talks over the phone finish when one person says "I've to go now." Often, the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse," Someone is at the door." "Something is burning on the stove." The excuses might be real, or it might not. Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn't want to talk any more, but it isn't polite to say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn't hurt the other person.

    When they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, or finishing a talk, people often don't say exactly what they are thinking. It's an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it's also a part of the game of language.

    It is often necessary to release a fish, that is, set it free after catching, because it is too small, or you just don't want to take it home to eat. In some cases, releasing fish is a good measure that will help keep fish variety and build their population size. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) encourages fishermen who practice catch-and-release fishing to use a few simple skills when doing so. The advice provided below will help make sure that the fish you release will survive to bite again another day.

    —When catching a fish, play it quickly and keep the fish in the water as much as possible. Don't' use a net in landing the fish and release it quickly to prevent it from dying.

    —Hold the fish gently. Do not put your fingers in its eyes. Don't wipe the scales (鱼鳞) off the fish because it might cause it to develop a disease and reduce its chance of survival.

    —Remove your hook (鱼钩) quickly. If the hook is too deep or hooked in the stomach, cut the line and leave the hook in. The hook left inside will cause no serious problem to the fish.

    —Take good care of the fish by moving it gently in water. Release the fish when it begins to struggle and is able to swim.

    —Do not hold fish in a bucket or some other containers and later decide to release it. If you are going to release a fish, do so right away.

    With a little care and by following the suggestions given above, you can give the released fish a better chance of survival.

    All around the world, lawyers generate more hostility(敌视) than the members of any other profession-with the possible exception of journalism. But there are few places where clients have more grounds for complaint than America.

    During the decade before the economic crisis, spending on legal services in America grew twice as fast as inflation. The best lawyers made skyscrapers-full of money, tempting ever more students to pile into law schools. But most law graduates never get a big-firm job. Many of them instead become the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer that makes the tort system a costly nightmare.

    There are many reasons for this. One is the excessive costs of a legal education. There is just one path for a lawyer in most American states: a four-year undergraduate degree in some unrelated subjects, then a three-year law degree at one of 200 law schools authorized by the American Bar Association and an expensive preparation for the bar exam. This leaves today's average law-school graduate with $100,000 of debt on top of undergraduate debts. Law-school debt means that they have to work extremely hard.

    Reforming the system would help both lawyers and their customers. Sensible ideas have been around for a long time, but the state-level bodies that govern the profession have been too conservative to implement(实施)them. One idea is to allow people to study law as an undergraduate degree. Another is to let students sit for the bar after only two years of law school. If the bar exam is truly a strict enough test for a would-be lawyer, those who can sit it earlier should be allowed to do so. Students who do not need the extra training could cut their debt mountain by a third. The other reason why costs are so high is the restrictive guild-like(行会) ownership structure of the business. Except in the District of Columbia, non-lawyers may not own any share of a law firm. This keeps fees high and innovation slow. There is pressure for change from within the profession, but opponents of change among the regulators insist that keeping outsiders out of a law firm isolates lawyers from the pressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically.

    In fact, allowing non-lawyers to own shares in law firms would reduce costs and improve services to customers, by encouraging law firms to use technology and to employ professional managers to focus on improving firms' efficiency. After all, other countries, such as Australia and Britain, have started liberalizing their legal professions. America should follow.