While all cultures share the same basic emotions, the body language used throughout different countries of the world varies（变化）greatly. What can mean one thing in one country can often mean something completely different in another.

    For example, in North America and Europe people tend to prefer direct eye contact（接触）. But in some Asian countries longer eye contact is considered rude.

    So when communicating with people, always be aware of different cultural customs that may exist.

    A V sign in the US could mean victory, but in England, it stands for a rude challenge, which has the same meaning as showing the middle finger in the US.

The OK gesture（手势）in America and England is given to mean everything is good or well. But in Latin America is looked on as a rude sign.

    The thumbs（拇指）up sign in America and most of Europe means that something is good or well done, but it is considered rude in many Asian countries.

    Putting your feet on the table is generally not thought to be rude in America and England. However, in Thailand（泰国）it is really rude.

    Telling someone to come to you by curling your index finger（食指）is acceptable in America and England, but this gesture signifies death in Singapore.

    Raising your hand up means stop in America and England. In some Asian countries this gesture is used when asking for permission to speak.

    In most westernized countries it is considered normal for two men to shake hands. In some Asian countries it is quite normal for men to kiss each other, while in most westernized countries men kissing in public would be viewed as homosexual（同性恋）behavior.

    If you would like more information on different cultural gestures all over the world, see this site on non-verbal （口头的）communication.

Best Inventions

    Sun Power

    People who buy solar panels (嵌板）for their home hope to help the environment and save some money. But they end up with large metal boxes on their roof. Tesla, a car company, solved the problem. The solution is the Solar Roof. It is a series of tiles (瓦) made to look like traditional roofing material while using the power of the sun. Tesla developed it with SolarCity, a longtime provider of solar panels. It is now available to the public.

    Talking Tech

    Echo gives users the ability to talk to their tech. Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana do that too. But in many ways，Amazon's version，Alexa, which is built into Echo，is more powerful. Alexa has grown since it was put on the market in 2014, and today, you can use it to turn on the lights, order a pizza, and more. Echo costs $ 180. Amazon recently developed a junior version, the $ 50 Echo Dot.

    Spin and Roll

    Goodyear is reinventing the wheel. It introduced its Eagle 360 spherical tire (球形轮胎) in March, 2016. The tires allow cars to move in many directions, including sideways, and at angles to handle slippery surfaces. The key is magnetic levitation (磁悬浮). Tires are fixed to cars, but Eagle 360s float beneath them. They're meant for self-driving cars of tomorrow.

    Cycle Safety

    Jeff Woolf had a serious bike crash. If he hadn't been wearing his helmet, he would have been badly hurt. He wondered why so many riders didn't wear helmets. That turns out it was mostly because helmets were big and hard to carry around. Woolf, an engineer, came up with Morpher. The helmet is made from interwoven plastics (交错编织的塑料). It is strong, but it's also flexible enough to fold almost totally flat. That makes it easy to carry. Morpher is priced at $ 119.

    We just love giving cards in Britain. If there's a special occasion coming up, there's no doubt that we'll be there, card in hand, to celebrate it. And this isn't just for birthdays; we also give cards when people are ill or when they have got a new job. And even if you forgot somebody's birthday, there are even "sorry it's late" cards. So you can pretty much find a card for any occasion.

    Before coming to Italy I had never even considered that our love for card giving might not be shared by other countries. In fact, my workmates told me that hardly anyone sends Christmas cards in Italy and that they actually don't really give birthday cards either! Unbelievable! In the UK, if a close friend or family member didn't get me a card I'd feel upset! However, the only place you can buy cards in Italy is in a shop which sells school things. In comparison, we have whole shops that sell them in the UK and we even have different types of card shops.

    Although cards can take up your time, from choosing the perfect one, to thinking up the personal message inside, I think it's a really nice gesture. And especially with Christmas cards, it adds to that festive feeling. When I sit down to write countless cards to friends and family, I get that little bit happier that it will be Christmas soon! Especially when I see my own Christmas cards, proudly sitting on my desk wishing me a very merry Christmas.

    Of course, the problem comes when they're no longer needed, when Christmas is over. It makes me sad just to throw them all away, so I try and hang on to my favorite ones.

    We all know what a brain is. A doctor will tell you that the brain is the organ of the body in the head. It controls our body's functions, movements, emotions and thoughts. But a brain can mean so much more.

    A brain can also simply be a smart person. If a person is called brainy, he is smart and intelligent. If a family has many children but one of them is super smart, you could say, “He's the brains in the family.” And if you are the brains behind something, you are responsible for developing or organizing something. For example, Bill Gates is the brains behind Microsoft.

    Brain trust is a group of experts who give advice. Word experts say the phrase “brain trust” became popular when Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president in 1932. Several professors gave him advice on social and political issues(问题)facing the U.S. These professors were called his “brain trust”.

    These ways we use the word “brain” all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand. For example, to understand the next brain expression, you first need to know the word “drain”. As a verb, to drain means to remove something by letting it flew away. So a brain drain may sound like a disease where the brain flows out the ears. But, brain drain is when a country's most educated people leave their countries to live in another. The brains are, sort of, draining out of the country.

    However, if people are responsible for a great idea, you could say they brainstormed it. Here, brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic. For example, business leaders may use brainstorming to create new products, and government leaders may brainstorm to solve problems.

    If people are brainwashed, it does not mean their brains are nice and clean. To brainwash means to make some accept new beliefs by using repeated pressure in a forceful or tricky way. Keep in mind that brainwash is never used in a positive way.

    Sometimes just when we need the power of miracles to change our beliefs, they materialize in the places we'd least expect. They can come to us as a great change in our physical reality or as a simple coincidence in our lives. Sometimes they're big and can't be missed. Other times they're so subtle that if we aren't aware, we may miss them altogether. They can come from the lips of a stranger we suddenly and mysteriously meet at just the right instant. If we listen carefully, we'll always hear the right words, at the right time, to dazzle (目眩) us into a realization of something that we may have failed to notice only moments before.

    On a cold January afternoon in 1989, I was hiking up the trail that leads to the top of Egypt's Mt. Horeb. I'd spent the day at St. Catherine's Monastery and wanted to get to the peak by sunset to see the valley below. As I was winding up the narrow path, I'd occasionally see other hikers who were coming down from a day on the mountain. While they would generally pass with simply a nod or a greeting in another language, there was one man that day who did neither.

    I saw him coming from the last switchback on the trail that led to the backside of the mountain. As he got closer, I could see that he was dressed differently from the other hikers I'd seen. Rather than the high-tech fabrics and styles that had been the norm, this man was wearing traditional Egyptian clothing. He wore a tattered, rust-colored galabia and obviously old and thick-soled sandals that were covered in dust. What made his appearance so odd, though, was that the man didn't even appear to be Egyptian! He was a small-framed Asian man, had very little hair, and was wearing round, wire-rimmed glasses.

    As we neared one another, I was the first to speak, "Hello," I said, stopping on the trail for a moment to catch my breath. Not a sound came from the man as he walked closer. I thought that maybe he hadn't heard me or the wind had carried my voice away from him in another direction. Suddenly he stopped directly in front of me on the high side of the trail, looked up from the ground, and spoke a single sentence to me in English, "Sometimes you don't know what you have lost until you've lost it." As I took in what I had just heard, he simply stepped around me and continued his going down the trail.

    That moment in my life was a small miracle. The reason is less about what the man said and more about the timing and the context. The year was 1989, and the Cold War was drawing to a close. what the man on the trail couldn't have known is that it was during my Egyptian pilgrimage (朝圣), and specifically during my hike to the top of Moses's mountain, that I'd set the time aside to make decisions that would affect my career in the defense industry, my friends, my family, and, ultimately, my life.

    I had to ask myself what the chances were of an Asian man dressed in an Egyptian galabia coming down from the top of this historic mountain just when I was walking up, stopping before me, and offering his wisdom, seemingly from out of nowhere. My answer to my own question was easy: the odds were slim to none! In a meet that lasted less than two minutes on a mountain halfway around the world from my home, a total stranger had brought clarity and the hint of a warning, regarding the huge changes that I would make within a matter of days. In my way of thinking, that's a miracle.

    I suspect that we all experience small miracles in our lives every day. Sometimes we have the wisdom and the courage to recognize them for what they are In the moments when we don't, that's okay as well. It seems that our miracles have a way of coming back to us again and again. And each time they do, they become a little less subtle, until we can't possibly miss the message that they bring to our lives!

The key is that they're everywhere and occur every day for different reasons, in response to the different needs that we may have in the moment. Our job may be less about questioning the extraordinary things that happen in our daily lives and more about accepting the gifts they bring.

    When I was a kid, I was the girl who kept the training wheels on my bike as long as possible. Even my younger sister had got rid of them much earlier than me. But as I began to grow older, this changed.

    All this happened on the Bike Safety Day. It is supposed to be a fun day at school when all of us kids bring our bikes to school and the school provides us with the opportunity to ride outside and learn proper bike safety. Sounds like fun, right? No. In fact, it caused me to panic. What was I going to say when my friends asked me about my training wheels?

    With the pressure of everyone seeing my training wheels, I determined to let them go. This was the first big change I'd ever made on my own.

    I went to my parents and told them all about my dilemma. They were more than happy to help. We went outside and got my bike. Instead of running away and hiding behind, I stood in front of my bike and took great pride in my decision as my dad removed the training wheels.

    I got on and steadied myself. My heart raced but my feet and hands were calm. My dad started to push before my feet even moved and suddenly I was off. The fear faded away and a relaxed mind came into its place. It was crazy to think how quickly I learned something that took so long for me to even try!

    My confidence soared. This was going to be the start of a brand new world for me. My accomplishment would carry me forth to new goals and wins. I realized that if I set my mind to something, I could achieve it.