A girl became a volunteer in the activities of Deathbed Care, which meant visiting and taking care of a patient suffering from an incurable disease with days numbered.

    The girl was assigned to look after an old man suffering from cancer whose children lived abroad. Their living conditions were not satisfactory while the old man had a lot of savings. She was expected to comfort him and keep up his spirits.

    Every Saturday the girl came on time to keep him company, telling him stories. When he was having an intravenous drip (静脉滴注), she would help massage his arms. The doctor found the patient much improved mentally. The old man began to involve himself actively in the medical treatment and he seldom shouted at others.

    But something that happened made the doctor uneasy and puzzled. Each time the girl left, the old man would give her some money. The doctor did nothing to interfere (干涉), unwilling to offend the old man. A month later the old man showed evident signs of decline after suffering coma (昏迷) a few times.

    When rescued from the latest coma, the old man told the doctor his last wish, “I have deep sympathy for the girl. Will you be kind enough to help her finish her studies？”

    But the doctor knew that her family was well­off and she had no difficulty pursuing her studies.  Sometimes she even came to the hospital in her father's car.

    When the girl came at the weekend after the death of the old man, the doctor told her the bad news. She was very sad and burst into tears. Then she handed $ 500 to the doctor, saying, “The old man had all along thought I came to do the job because of poverty. He gave me money so that I could continue my schooling.” Now he got the answer to the puzzle. In the last period of his life, the old man found it a real pleasure to be able to help a girl badly in need.

    Ahead of so-called Singles' Day on the 11th of this month，2013, online sales have already begun peaking.

    The leading e-business platform, tmall.com, has promoted(促销) its fifty-percent-off discount(折扣) to attract consumers. They are also trying to attract buyers through social media. Vice President of tmall.com Wang Yulei says more than 20 thousand online stores have joined the Double 11 Day sales. But this number has doubled. The final number of how many products going to be on sale has not been known yet. But so far, many more products planned to be put on shelves with discounts.

    During last year's Singles' Day, tmall.com, together with taobao.com, reached a record of 19.1 billion yuan in sales, which considered a milestone in the e-business history of China.

    Singles' Day was first started by Chinese college students in the 1990s as the opposite of Valentine's Day, a celebration for people without romantic partners. The timing was based on the date: Nov. 11—or double 11—for singles. Single young people would treat each other to dinner or give gifts to show love to someone and end their single status.

    But now, the Singles' Day has been promoted as a kind of grand craze just for the shopping season, thanks to thousands of discounted products being promoted online.

    Taobao.com was the first big e-retail platform which used the double 11 idea to promote sales. Taobao.com reached one million yuan worth of sales on that day in 2009, when they first promoted the Singles' Day idea. In 2010, the sales increased to 936 million yuan. The figure climbed up to 5.3 billion yuan in 2011, putting huge demand on shipping services. The figure doubled in 2012.

    E-commerce is considered to be replacing the traditional retailing industry, but the reality is that both sides are learning from each other.

The First Hello

    The man from the telephone department got off the bus, and made his way to the tea stall, wiping the sweat off his head, face, then slipping his handkerchief under his shirt to wipe his neck and back. It was a year ago that the phone line had been installed, six months later men from the public works department had come to put up the phone booth—a neat box-like structure, with a glass window, and wooden ledges, yellow in colour. And days after that, a painter had taken an entire day to colour in broad, black brushstrokes, the words: STD Booth, local and STD allowed.

    No one could tell that the last word had been misspelled. Besides, he had taken the entire day. After he had a cup of tea, he left, waving cheerfully. And now months later, someone else was here again.

    Everyone watched the man as he sat on the bench. No one said a word, and soon the sound of him slurping his tea filled the hot afternoon. A few leaves fell, heavy in the heat, and sometimes a car passed, on its way to the main city farther away.

    When the man had finished, he tried to pay but the tea shop owner who sat behind his steaming kettle and the washed upturned cups, waved him away.

    “You are our guest here.”

    So the man took his handkerchief out again and wiped his face.

    They crowded around him as he shut himself up in the phone booth. When the children pressed their nose against the glass, he shooed them away, as he took out a shiny black soon changed to an excited yell as they saw him dial a number, pressing a finger into the ringed dialer of the phone and letting it go all the way in a half-circle. A while later, they hear him say into the mouthpiece, “Hello.”

    “Hello,”the children around the booth took up the cry, the teashop owner broke into a smile and the men waiting for a bus smiled and said hello to each other. The sadhu(印度的僧人)who sat under the banyan tree nodded wisely. As the sound carried, more hellos were heard. The women winnowing grain giggled as they tried the word tentatively, the shepherds feeding their flocks called out to their sheep, laughing as they used the word.

    “It's a big occasion, ”said the headman, in an awed(敬畏的) voice.

    “It is.” agreed those around him. The telephone man emerged and handed over a small chit of paper to the headman. “This is the telephone number.”

    The headman looked at it respectfully as if it were a mantra(符咒). The others around him read out the numbers slowly, digit-by-digit.

    The telephone man was now too tired to notice the cheering around him. He knew he had to wait long before the bus to take him back arrived. As he sipped his second cup of tea, he remembered something else.

    “Oh, you can't start using the phone now. The minister will come next month and inaugurate it. ”

    No one said a word. No one was surprise. They had waited so long; a month more did not really matter.

    Booking a theatre

    These locations have theatres available for rental:

    Fairview                • Palmerston                • York Woods

    Priority Bookings

    Each June, theatre booking requests for dates in the following calendar year (January to December) are accepted.

    For more information call the Room Booking Unit at 416-397-5969.

    Regular Bookings

    For people who didn't make a booking request in June, call the Room Booking Unit at 416-397-5969 to check for remaining dates.

    Completing a Booking

    Once the library receives a request, staff will check the availability and place a tentative booking for you. You will then receive a contract that you must return with payment within 10 calendar days of the tentative boding and with a minimum of two months before the first booking to confirm the booking.

    Payment

    Payment for the first booking and any bookings in the current month is due when you return the signed contract. If you have booked for multiple months, payments for those months are due at the beginning of each month.

    About 6 years ago, I was on a plane next to a woman. I was tired and wanted to take a nap. But before I could go into "ignore pattern", she tapped me on the shoulder to introduce herself.

    "Hi, my name is Helga!"

    We got to talking and eventually it came up that I had started an organization in high school called R.A.K.E.(Random Acts of Kindness, Etc.). As I described what we did, Helga got very serious and told me that she admired me for that. She told me a story about the last time she had flown. She was on the way to Arizona because she had gotten sudden news that her dad's health was on the decline. Later her father's physician called to inform her that her dad had rather suddenly passed away. For the 3-hour plane ride, she sat in silence around strangers.

    When she arrived at the airport in Arizona, she walked to the nearest wall, sat down, and cried. And here is the part I'll never forget about Helga's story. For 2 hours she sat and wept while thousands walked to and fro in the airport. Helga looked at me and said, "Houston, not a single person stopped and asked if I was okay that day." It was that day that I realized how much we need each other. It was that day I realized that kindness isn't normal.

    Kindness isn't normal. That has stuck with me all these years especially now. I work in schools nationwide speaking about sympathy, kindness, empathy (同理心) and love. I'm reminded all the time that, for many of us, kindness is not usually our default setting. We spend so much time worrying about our problems, our lives, our insecurities, getting to our flight so we walk by or ignore people in need of help.

    So, I've made it my mission to do my part in sharing stories with students, teachers, and parents about our need for character and sympathy. I'm always be on the lookout for the little opportunities that surround me every day to do something nice.

    Pure Yoga is devoted to serving the yoga community in Asia and beyond, offering a wide variety of classes such as Hatha Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yin Yoga and Vinyasa Yoga, etc. Our yoga classes are offered and taught by nearly 200 professional yoga teachers. Private Yoga is also available for learners of all levels. Pure Yoga constantly invites world-known teachers to lead guest teacher workshops.

    Class Bookings

    Class bookings can be made 2 days in advance of the class. It is important that you book your class in advance since some classes are more heavily attended than others.

    We also limit our class sizes so that they are not overcrowded. If the class you wish to take is full, we will place you on the wait list and inform you of an opening as soon as possible. To create the best experience for yourself and others, please follow these guidelines：

    No talking

    The yoga studio is a silent room. Please do not talk while in the studio and studio corridors.

    No eating

    Do not eat in the studio.

    No shoes

    Remove your shoes before entering the practice rooms. Keep your shoes in your locker. Shoe lockers are also available for rental.

No mobile phones

    Turn your mobile phones off or to "vibrate"(震动)mode. Do not take phones into the practice rooms.

    Personal Belongings

    Daily lockers are not for overnight use. Locks from any daily lockers that are kept overnight will be cut.