America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.

    Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.

    Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don't show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.

    For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

    Social media is our new travel agent, and it's changing the places we go. In some cases, the places we go. In some cases, the newfound fame brought about by social media platforms has helped to boost local economies and bring tourists to places they might never have discovered otherwise. In other cases, it's creating problems for countries and cities that are simply not equipped to deal with the influx(涌入) of tourists. Check out two of the incredible locations around the world that have gone viral on social media.

    Iceland

    This northern island nation has seen a dramatic surge(激增) in visitors over the past few years. One reason for that is the so-called "Game of Thrones effect,". This, combined with the availability of cheap flights and some very effective marketing campaigns, has made Iceland a popular travel destination. The number of tourists almost doubled from 566,000 to over 1 million between 2011 and 2015, according to Iceland's tourism board.

    While this influx of visitors has brought a much-needed boost to the economy post-recession(经济衰退), it's also pushed up prices for residents and put pressure on the infrastructure. Locals complain of tourists destroying the fragile ecosystem and leaving a mess behind them as they trample over the formerly untouched natural sites.

    Cuba

    According to Cuba's ministry of tourism, four million visitors went to Cuba in 2016, an increase of 13 percent from the year before. The tourism boom has had some consequences for the country's residents, The New York Times reported in December 2016.

    The surge in visitors has led to a food shortage, and basic food items have become completely unaffordable for locals. Local hotels and restaurants are buying up supplies in bulk for guests, pushing up prices and leaving limited amounts for locals.

    The situation has been acknowledged by the Cuban government, who put caps on prices to make them more affordable for residents. This has only encouraged sellers to put products on the black market, according to The New York Times.

    Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five, he gave 12,000$ to the village school to buy land and equipment for a children's playground.

    As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk, Johnson said that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy—five. Johnson had a sense of humor. He liked whisky(威士忌)and drank some each day. "I have an injection(注射)in my neck each evening." he told the newspaperman, thinking of his evening glass of whisky. The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain asking him for the secret of his daily injection.

    Some people believe that international sport creates goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: that international contests encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sports encourage international brotherhood. Not only was there the incident of tragedy involving murder of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused principally by minor national contests.

    One country received its second-place medals with visible anger after the hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, the losers objecting to the final decisions. They were convinced that one of their goals should not have been disallowed and that their opponents' victory was unfair. Their manager was in a rage when he said; "This isn't hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished." The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension of the team for at least three years.

    The American basketball team announced that they would not yield first place to Russia, after a disputable end to their contest. The game had ended in disorder. It was thought at first that the United States had won by a single point, but it was announced that there were three seconds still to play. A Russian player then threw the ball from one end of the court to the other, and another player popped it into the basket. It was the first time the US had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. An appeal jury（评审委员会）debated the matter for four and a half hours before announcing that the result would stand. The American players then voted not to receive the silver medals.

    Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sport is played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals or in non-national teams, might be too much to hope for. But in present organization of Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism（爱国主义）.

    Kids Connect is a camp specifically for children with physical and mild intelligence disabilities aged 9-16 (Single consideration given to those over the age of 16). It is held in Blockhouse Bay, Auckland. Occasionally we require meeting a child before camp to ensure we are able to meet their needs during the camp. Acceptance is not automatic, but at the decision of the camp director.

    Our camps are conducted by experienced staff. We take every effort to give your children a safe and enjoyable weekend. Our aim is that every child comes away with lasting memories of what they have experienced, explored and enjoyed at our camp.

We focus on building strong, healthy relationships with other children (with and without physical disabilities) and with group leaders.

    We have a weekend packed full of activities, action and fun.

    Team games and competitions, songs

    Cross-country race on a wheelchair accessible track

    Motorcycling

    Process design

    Discussions, great food and loads of fun!

    The camp fee is approximately $135 (subject to change). We also accept payment by way of Ministry of Health carer support forms.

    Day visits and rates can be organized on a personal basis if a full weekend stay is unsuitable

    For a registration form or for more information, please email info@cbm.org.nz or phone 09 6305271

    Kids Connect

    Box 8774, Symonds Street Auckland 1150

    Website: www.cbm.org.nz

    You've probably heard people expressing alarm about the spread of 'fake news' – stories that look like news articles but describe things that never happened. Fake news is written to attract attention, to trick people so they will look foolish, or to work as satire (讽刺) making a point about society. But regardless of the source's motivation, spreading fake news embarrasses you and harms others, so follow these steps to ensure you only share real news.

    Check its grammar

    Legal news sites check their grammar carefully, so articles with many errors are usually fake. Also watch out for sentences written in all capital(大写的) letters and the use of multiple exclamation points(感叹号) at the ends of sentences. These are designed to bring about an emotional reaction, but they aren't considered professional, so trustworthy publications don't use them.

    Read the whole article

    Even in real news articles, headlines sometimes overstate or simplify the point of the article. Before reacting, read the article carefully to make sure you understand the whole context. Sometimes the claims of fake news articles become unreasonable as the article goes on.

    Consider the source

    If you've never heard of the publication, check the 'About' section on its website. Fake news sites often lack such a page, provide little information or even admit that they are fake. Also check an online article's URL; if it ends with '.com.co', it's probably a fake news site.

    Check the support

    Does the article support its claims with quotations and citations(引用)from experts? If not, don't trust it. If so, you should still look up those sources and make sure they actually say what the article claims. There are also websites, such as snopes.com, that will tell you whether the facts in online articles are accurate.