Relieving poverty has been one of our government's top concerns for the past decades. Poverty(贫困) in remote areas in China is virtually a great obstacle for the Chinese to get common progress; thus, it is urgent for us to help the people there to shake off poverty the sooner the better. For this aim, the government has already sent technicians and experts to poverty-stricken areas to help boost local agricultural production and teach the locals new techniques. The Ministry of Labor has also trained many rural laborers through different programs. But all these are not enough. Several other ways have been proposed as follows.

    First of all, the government should encourage a small part of the people in the remote areas to get wealthy ahead of others by equipping them with relevant funds and agricultural technology. These “better-offs” can not only set a good example but give confidence to the poorer in their efforts to get rid of poverty. When all the people get rich, the general level of living standard can be greatly improved. With their living standard improved, they can attach greater importance to environmental protection and are willing to input considerable amount of money to educate their children. Only in this way is a sustainable development guaranteed.

Secondly, we must call upon people in all walks of life throughout the country, especially those wealthy citizens in coastal areas to help those struggling below poverty line in poor remote regions out. We must realize that only after all Chinese people live a comfortable life can we be peacefully enjoying material prosperity in life. Helps can come in various forms—-donating money to the poor family and books to school drop-outs, college graduates volunteering to work in the most needed regions, bringing knowledge to them, etc.

    The last but not the least, the government should raise the rate of tax on the rich. This can shorten the gap between the poor and the rich as well as benefit the country's revenues(财政收入) whose better part is in turn allocated to the poor remote areas.

    Admittedly, it is never easy to cast off the shadow of poverty in the remote areas completely in the short run. But every one of us should go all out to help those in poverty, we are confident that our country will be more powerful and prosperous in the process of relieving poverty.

    Over the past few years I've had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been making changes to my brain. I'm not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I'm reading. Involving myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. That's rarely the case any more.

    I think I know what's going on. For over a decade, I've been spending lots of time online. The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer. Research that once required days in the rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes by a few Google searches. Even when I'm not working, I'm scanning headlines or just tripping from link to link.

The Net is becoming a universal medium where information flows through my eyes and ears and into mind. The perfect recall of silicon memory (硅制存储器) can be a blessing to thinking. But that comes at a price. As the media theorist Marshall Mcluhan pointed out, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is weakening my ability for concentration. Once I was a driver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a flying swallow.

I'm not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to acquaintances, Bruce Friedman, a blogger, also has described how the Internet has changed his mental habits. His thinking has taken on a "staccato (破碎)" quality. "I can't read War and Peace any more" he admitted, "I've lost the ability to do that."

A recently published study suggests that when reading online, we tend to become "more decoders (解码器) of information". We are not only what we read; we are how we read.

    Reader: For six years, I've run an office that has two employees: me and my boss. He used to be so appreciative that I didn't mind doing a little extra, but about two months ago, he started being rude and demanding. Now he even yells when I don't have time to bring his favorite wine to his home after work.

    This change started when we met a wealthy new customer, who is a huge jerk (古怪的人) — my boss's new behavior is just like his.

    My boss is a good man; he and his family have treated me like a little sister. Is there a good way to discuss this with him?

    Karla: Sounds like your new customer has set a bad example to your boss. You need to remind your boss that you're in his corner— but you're not his slave. My suggestions are as follows.

Start with a simple question in a calm moment: "Is everything okay?"

State the truth: "Until recently, I've felt like a valued teammate. But our relationship has become tense. Your expectations of me seem to have changed. Although I used to do occasional personal businesses for you as a favor, now it seems expected."

Draw your lines: "If you think my job description needs to change or my performance is not good enough, let's discuss that. Otherwise, I need you to stop yelling at me and to respect my personal time."

Ideally, you'll get an apology and a promise to do better. After that, it's a matter of reinforcement (加强) . If he starts yelling, look at him with a calm expression. After he cools down, restate his request and add, "Is that correct?" For the unreasonable request, such as fetching his favorite wine after work: "I'm afraid I can't take care of that for you." If he keeps acting like a jerk, there are bosses out there who will better respect your time and talent.

    Karla L. Miller is ready to hear your work dramas. Send your questions to wpmagazine@washpost.com.

    An international group of coffee experts has considered Ethiopia's coffee as the best in the world. Coffee is a top export of the country. But at home, it is seen as national pride. Ethiopians feel good about their coffee, and enjoying a drink with friends is a long tradition.

    International coffee experts travel the world to find the best coffee. They keep returning to Ethiopia. Some people say the climate produces quality beans. Morton Wenner is a coffee importer. He said, “Ethiopia has different ancient types of coffee. They are planted in places with perfect soil, perfect altitude, and climates that are really suitable for coffee processing, such as drying and things like that.”

    Finding the best quality beans is often an issue of taste. The process is known as cupping — tasting and comparing coffee from different roasted beans, grading and then pricing them.

    But before international experts come to taste, coffee beans are studied in small coffee laboratories. Helen Assefa, a lab technician, describes the process, “When the coffee comes to the lab, we assess its quality first by recording the details. Then we weigh the wetness level and screen the beans for analysis. After that we polish the coffee beans and taste the samples. At the end we check for imperfect beans.”

    Ethiopia is making big profits on its coffee reputation by exporting coffee to more than 120 countries. The country has an export income of more than $840 million a year. But not all the best coffee leaves Ethiopia. Forty percent of the coffee grown in the country stays there. It remains an important part of everyday life at work, at home and at ceremonies just to celebrate that special cup.

    Italian Joseph Caspar Mezzofanti was said to have spoken more than 38 languages fluently at the time of his death in 1849, a skill that would have been useful in today's globalized economy. Unfortunately, when it comes to the high school Spanish lesson in the decades, most people nowadays have remembered that there is nothing more complex than "Donde esta la biblioteca". So we set out to uncover what's involved in learning a foreign language and which methods work best.

    Some advertisements say that some language learners believe they're just a 15-minute audio tape away from becoming UN interpreters. But experts say these get-fluent-fast programs are a complete sham." Actually, there is hardly a shortcut that can do that," says Dekeyser, a professor of second language acquisition at the University of Maryland." The only way to learn a language is to make quite a bit of effort on a daily basis."

    Many experts agree that the ideal learning method for language learners really depends on the individual." Find the method that works for you and stick with it," says Simcott, a polyglot who has professionally worked in over 14 languages at once for the British Foreign Service." If audio works for you, do audio. If you like taking classes, do classes. But remember to keep practicing every day."

    However, not all people are created equal. Some may have talent for language learning, but it doesn't mean they can passively await fluency. "Practice is an effective learning method," says Davidson." The more time that you spend during the day speaking your second language, the better at it you're going to be."

    Learning from multiple people is also a good way, especially when you are attempting to cultivate a native accent. "When you are exposed to a lot of people, you get a much better sense of what the sound of a word is supposed to be," says Davidson. "You avoid exposing yourself to what could be features in one individual's speech patterns."

    British children generally learn how to ride a bike at a young age. I am an exception to that rule. It's not my dad's fault—he tried to teach me. I remember cycling around the neighborhood. To be honest, though, I never saw the appeal. One of my earliest memories is falling from my bike and into some spiny(多刺的) plants. I definitely didn't want to repeat that.

    So I stopped learning. My dad wasn't going to waste his time teaching someone who didn't want to be taught. Time passed and I accepted that I couldn't ride a bike. It never affected my life in high school because I lived close enough to walk.

    I never felt like I was missing out until I couldn't go on a bike ride with friends in Byron Bay because I was only confident that I could go on a flat surface in a generally straight line. So when the opportunity came up to bike the wall of Xi'an, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it and make up for missed time. So, with a friend who is very patient, I got on the bike. Instantly nothing came flooding back to me, I had absolutely no idea how to start! "Push off with one foot hard" was my instruction. It sounded simple enough but it just would not happen. Until something clicked and suddenly I was off, going in a straight line on a flat surface and managing to avoid the Chinese tourists who obviously found exaltation on my face.

    At 22 years old, I finally learnt how to ride a bike, and nothing can hold me back.