"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 need 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 ways 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 think, "No, I disagree. I think you're wrong…" But it isn't very polite to disagree so strongly, so the other person might say "I'm not sure." It's a nicer 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 have to go now." Often, the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse: "Someone's at the door." "Something is burning on the stove." The excuses might be real, or 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.

    Whether they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, or finishing a talk, people 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 part of the game of language.

    First Lady Michelle Obama is on a five-day trip to Asia. She is visiting Japan and Cambodia to help publicize a program called "Let Girls Learn". Administration officials set up the campaign to support the education of millions of girls worldwide.

    Before her trip, Mrs. Obama and her husband noted the inability of an estimated 62-million girls to attend school. They said educating the girls should be a foreign policy goal.

    This week, Mrs. Obama criticized the fact that tens of millions of girls are not receiving a satisfactory education. In her opinion piece, she wrote this failure to educate girls it was more than "a tragic waste of potential." It is both a serious public health issue and a problem for the economic health of nations and the world. She also said it was "a threat to the security of countries around the world".

    The First Lady noted by 2012, every part of the developing world was educating both girls and boys in primary schools. But this is not the case in secondary education. She wrote in some areas girls face "the cultural values and practices that limit the prospects of women in their societies ".

    The Obama administration launched the "Let Girls Learn" campaign earlier this month. At the time, Mrs. Obama noted plans to involve the U.S. Peace Corps, and the Volunteer Development Agency.

    "This effort will draw on the talent and energy of the nearly 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers serving in more than 60 countries. Through this effort, Peace Corps will be supporting hundreds of new community projects to help girls go to school and stay in school. And, I want to emphasize that these programs will be community-generated and community-led. They will be based on solutions devised by local leaders, families and yes, even the girls themselves."

    President Obama also spoke at the same White House event, saying that campaign is important to his administration.

    We are surrounded by mixed messages about mistakes: we're told we earn by making them, but we work hard to avoid them. So the result is that most of us know that we are going to make mistakes, but deep down, we feel we shouldn't.

    Experiments with schoolchildren who did well on a given test show that those who were praised for being smart and then offered a more challenging or less challenging task afterward usually chose the easier one. On the other hand, children praised for trying hard-rather than being smart-far more often selected the more difficult task.

    If we try hard to avoid mistakes, we aren't open to getting the information we need in order to do better. In a writing study, experiments showed that those who are so scared to make mistakes perform worse in writing tasks than those who aren't as worried about being perfect. They fear receiving any kind of negative feedback, so they don't learn where they went wrong and how to get better.

    We don't just learn more when we're open to mistakes, we learn deeper. Research tells us that if we're only concerned about getting the right answer, we don't always learn the underlying concepts that help us truly understand whatever we're trying to figure out. Mistakes

need to be seen not as a failure to learn, but as a guide to what still needs to be learned. As Thomas Edison said, “I am not discouraged, because every abandoned wrong attempt is another step forward. "

    Furthermore, we often make mistakes because we try new things-we wander away from accepted paths. Teflon, penicillin-these are examples of great discoveries made by mistake. Take a page from Albert Einstein, who said, "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. "

    Using too much water or throwing rubbish into our rivers are clear ways that humans can put our water supply in danger , but we also affect our water supply in less obvious ways. You may wonder how paving(铺砌) a road can lead to less useable fresh water. A major part of the water we use every day is groundwater. Groundwater does not come from lakes or rivers. It comes from underground. The more roads and parking lots we pave ，the less water can flow into the ground to become groundwater.

    Human activity is not responsible for all water shortages(短缺). Drier climates are of course more likely to have droughts(干旱) than areas with more rainfall, but in any case, good management can help to make sure there is enough water to meet our basic needs.

    Thinking about the way we use water every day can make a big difference, too In the United States , a family of four can use 1.5 tons of water a day! This shows how much we depend on water to live, but there's a lot we can do to lower the number.

    You can take steps to save water in your home. To start with use the same glass for your drinking water all day. Wash it only once a day. Run your dishwasher (洗碗机)only when it is full 。Help your parents fix any leaks in your home. You can even help to keep our water supply clean by recycling batteries instead of throwing them away.

    In an effort to inform our citizens to clear the street snow, the city adopts a snow removal plan.

    Routes used by City Emergency Services come first. Secondly, connector streets will be cleared which allow citizens the greatest access to public roads. And thirdly, roads within neighborhoods will be cleared.

    Snow removal and ice control will start when:

    Snow accumulates 4 inches or more.

    Weather conditions do not endanger the safety of road crew.

    Snow falls during peak traffic periods of heavy use of main streets.

    Snow and ice removal will be delayed or cancelled when:

    There is severe cold, significant wind and limited visibility.

    The snowfall occurs on the weekend or a holiday and is not considered a threat to public safety. In that case, snow and ice removal may take place on the next normal weekday.

    Snow and ice may be left on roadways if melting is obvious.

    Your cooperation is requested during snow removal and these suggestions may apply:

    Limit travel during storms. Travel is possible once roads have been cleared or salted by the road crew

    Avoid removing snow from your driveway into the road. Pile the snow in your yard.

    Park your vehicles in your driveways and off the road or walks.

    Keep public sidewalks next to your house clear of snow and ice.

    Be responsible for removing this snow which is thrown by the snow plough(犁) from your driveways. Hopefully, you can understand this inconvenience.

    At times my mom has been uncomfortable seeing some quality in me. For example, when I was 12, I went to Puerto Rico all by myself to stay with my grandmother for the summer. My mom was extremely nervous about it. She kept telling me how things were different in Puerto Rico, to always put on sunscreen, not to wander away from my grandmother, and other warnings. She helped me pack and did not leave the airport until she saw my plane take off.

    But despite her worries, she let me go on my own. As I moved into my teens, she continued to give me space to grow and learn, even when it might have been difficult for her. When I reached my senior year, I decided to move away for college. Once again I found that I differed from my peers: while many of them wanted to stay close to home, I couldn't wait to be out in the world on my own. While my mom may not have been happy at the thought of my going away, she was supportive and excited for me.

    One big thing I realized during my senior year, as my mom granted me more freedom, was that she actually believes in me and trusts me. That means a lot. Most of my life, and especially when I was little, the main person I tried to impress in my schoolwork or other things was my mother. I knew she expected nothing but the best from me. Sometimes it was hard to live up to her standards: getting a single B on my report card would make me feel bad because I knew she wanted me to have all A's.

    I know that her high standards have helped me stay focused on what's important, like education, and made me who I am. I am thankful for her support and involvement in my life. Most of all I respect her. She is the strongest woman I know and that's why I have turned out so strong and independent.