For many years, scholars have regarded My Mortal Enemy as somewhat of an enigma. Written in only a few months during the early spring of 1925 and published in 1926, Willa Cather's shortest novel was sandwiched in between The Professor's House (1925) and Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927). While the subject matter of these latter two works can be traced to Cather's experience in the desert Southwest, My Mortal Enemy seemingly has nothing to do with these subjects or her Nebraska roots; it appears to have come out of nowhere, puzzling those who have tried to fit this rather irregular work into a logical progression of Cather's artistic development. The question of what caused Cather to write such a novel at this point in her career, for example, has still not been answered definitively. One commonly held hypothesis (假说) was first voiced by Marcus Klein, who in his 1961 introduction to the novel wrote that for Cather, “The story of Myra Henshawe must have been a personal crisis”. Klein, though, acknowledged that he could not prove his theory, “because there is available no record other than the novel”. Emmy Stark Zitter has recently argued that in My Mortal Enemy and Sapphira and the Slave Girl(1940) Cather exercises the autobiographical impulse (冲击) by putting details of her own life into her fiction, but, like Klein, she is unable to name which “details” of her life Cather drew on in writing My Mortal Enemy.

    As hinted (暗示) in the above statements by Klein and Zitter, much of the general uncertainty about the meaning of My Mortal Enemy can be traced to the absence of a persuasive theory as to who the real-life models for the novel's characters were and what Cather's relationship to them was. Cather herself wrote in a 1940 letter that, in James Woodress's paraphrase, “she had known Myra's real-life model very well, and the portrait drawn in the story was much as she remembered her”; Cather also added that the woman had died fifteen years before My Mortal Enemy was published, and that many relatives of this model later wrote to her to say that they recognized the “real” Myra from her description in the novel. Given such hints and Cather's liking for drawing on her experiences in Nebraska for characters, settings, and plots, it is quite understandable that scholars have thus looked to Red Cloud and Lincoln for possible sources of the people and events depicted in My Mortal Enemy.

    In light of the evidence presented in this article, though, I believe that Cather intended her comments about the model for Myra Henshawe to serve as red herrings (转移注意力的言语) that would protect her relationship with the couple who were the prototypes (原型) for the Henshawes, both of whom were still alive in 1925. Mark Madigan has recently confirmed how Cather in 1905 had to hold off publishing “The Profile (传略)” because of fears that the main character might recognize herself and commit suicide, and twenty years later Cather would have been well aware of how her description of the Henshawes might have affected both the real-life wife (who died in 1929) and husband (who died in 1949) if they had recognized themselves. It is my argument that the Henshawes were modeled after people Cather knew not in Nebraska but rather in New York: S. S. and Hattie McClure. Myra's uncle, John Driscoll, was modeled after Hattie's father, Professor Albert Hurd.

    Possibly most important, identifying the Henshawes as the McClures allows us to more conclusively identify Cather herself with Nellie Birdseye. Nellie and Cather, both Midwestern onlookers and recorders, experienced four distinct stages in their relationships with the Henshawes and the McClures (especially with S. S.) My Mortal Enemy, I believe, was an extended attempt by Cather to deal with certain aspects of her own past and to move on in a world stripped of romantic illusion.

    One afternoon last week, I saw three tearful children from my son's school being comforted by teachers. That morning, my 11-year-old had stomach pains, retching(干呕)into a bowl. Talking to other mothers later, I heard about other children with stomachache or difficulty sleeping the night before.

What caused so much pain? Sports day. Sports day might be necessary at a highly-competitive independent school, but not at a village primary school. For the children who can fly like the wind, sports day causes no problem. For those who are overweight or just not good at sport, it is a nightmare(噩梦). Even for those who enjoy running but fall halfway down the track in front of the entire school and their parents, it can prove a disaster.

    Why do we put our children through this annual suffering? Some may say competition is character building; or it's taking part, not winning, that's important; or that it is a tradition of school life. I just felt great pity for those children in tears or in pain.

    Team games at the end of sports day produced some close races, wild enthusiasm, lots of shouting—and were fun to watch. More importantly, the children who were not so fast or quick at passing the ball were hidden a little from everyone's eyes. Some of them also had the thrill of being on the winning side.

    I wish that sports day could be abandoned and replaced with some other less-competitive event. Perhaps an afternoon of team games, with a few races for those who want them, would be less stressful for the children and a lot more fun to watch.

    Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal. Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.

    Different cultures emphasize (强调) the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries -- like the UK or France -- people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.

    Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realized that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.

    Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.

    People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.

    Our most important institutions, our schools and our workplaces, are designed mostly for extroverts (性格外向者).

In the typical classroom, students are often divided into groups—four or five or more kids all facing each other. And kids are working on countless group assignments. Even in subjects like math and creative writing, which you think would depend on unaccompanied flights of thought, kids are now expected to act as committee members. As for the kids who prefer to go off by themselves or just to work alone, those kids are seen as outliers (局外人) often or, worse, as problem cases. And the vast majority of teachers believe that the ideal student is an extrovert as opposed to an introvert (性格内向者), even though introverts actually get better grades and are more knowledgeable, according to research.

The same thing is true in our workplaces. Now, most of us work in open plan offices, without walls, where we are subject to the constant noise and stare of our coworkers. And when it comes to leadership, introverts are routinely passed over for leadership positions, even though introverts tend to be very careful, much less likely to take outsize risks —which is something we might all favor nowadays. And interesting research by Adam Grant at the Wharton School has found that introverted leaders often deliver better outcomes than extroverts do, because when they are managing thoughtful employees, they're much more likely to let those employees run with their ideas.

    In fact, some of our great leaders in history have been introverts. I'll give you some examples. Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Gandhi -- all these people described themselves as quiet and soft-spoken and even shy. However, they all took the spotlight, even though every bone in their bodies was telling them not to. And this turns out to have a special power, because people could feel that these leaders were in control, not because they enjoyed directing others and not out of the pleasure of being looked at; they were there because they had no choice, because they were driven to do what they thought was right.

    As a young boy, I knew what people said was not always what they meant or were feeling. And I knew it was possible to get others to do what I wanted if I read their real feelings and responded(回应) suitably to their needs. At the age of eleven, I sold sponge rubber(泡沫橡胶) door-to-door after school and quickly worked out how to tell if someone was likely to buy from me. When I knocked on a door, if someone told me to go away but their hands were open and they showed their palms (the inside surfaces of their hands), I knew it was safe to continue with my presentation(展示) because they weren't angry or threatening although they may have a dismissive(不屑 ) attitude. If someone told me to go away in a soft voice but used a pointed finger or closed hand, I knew it was time to leave.

    As a teenager, I became a pots and pans(炊具)salesperson, and my ability to read people earned me enough money to buy my first house. Selling gave me the chance to meet people and study them close and to know whether they would buy or not, simply by watching their body language.

    I joined the life insurance business at the age of twenty. And I went on to break several sales records for my company, becoming the youngest person to sell over a million dollars' worth of business in my first year. This achievement allowed me to become a member of the well-known Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT, which recognizes the world's top achievers in life insurance). I was lucky that the skills I'd learned as a boy in watching body language while selling pots and pans could be used in this new area, and were directly related to the success I could have in any business closely connected with people.

    Hipster Greenport: 4 places to eat, shop and visit

    Greenport may date back to the 1630s, but it's feeling pretty of-the-moment right now. Here are four places that embody the old-meets-new energy of the village:

    Claudio's

    If you've been to Greenport, you can't miss Claudio's — it's where generations of Long Islanders have made a tradition of eating, whether inside the main restaurant or at the floating dock-bar. The new owners have added fresh elements: Baccano Pizza by Nino, which offers a variety of slices and pies until as late as 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays — is right by the dock entrance.

    Little Creek Oyster Farm & Market

    It's little spots like this that tell the current Greenport story. There's no sign or advertising for this tiny house changed from the cabin of an old ship that's practically hidden down Bootlegger's Alley near Mitchell Park. But there they are — streams of people who come to enjoy the fresh oysters while drinking local craft beer, with a waterside view.

    The Times Vintage

    Nostalgia (怀旧) for bygone times runs high in this 1909 building, which once served as the base for the Suffolk Times newspaper. These days, this well-designed shop sells vinyl records (黑胶唱片) and loads of old-fashioned clothing and home decoration items including mid-century highball sets.

    Greenport Fire

    Heat comes in many forms and several are sold here — hot sauces, cigars and candles. Consult the chalkboard for the current sauce offerings or browse cigars such as a hand-rolled Honduran Leaf by Oscar or the Gurkha Cellar Reserve made with 18-year-aged tobacco.