I was waiting for a phone call from my agent. He had left a message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled. I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later. So I waited and waited, but there was still no call. Three hours passing by, I became more and more impatient. I was certain that my agent didn't care about my work, and he didn't care about me. I was overcome with that thought. I started to shout at the phone, “Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”

    At that time I didn't realize my wife was looking on. Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone, “Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone!” And she swept it into the wastebasket.

    I stood watching her, speechless. What on earth...?

She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the rest of the house, “Now hear this! All objects in this room—if you do anything to upset my husband, out you go!”

    Then she turned to me, kissed me and said calmly, “Honey, you just have to learn how to take control.” With that, she left the room.

    After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight , I noticed that something in my mood (情绪) had changed. I was laughing. How could I have trouble with that phone? Her anties helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things. Twenty minutes later my agent did call. I was able to listen to him and talk to him calmly.

    It seems that no one can live a happy life without friendship. While a great number of people expect others to be their friends, they don't give friendship back. That is why some friendships don't last long. To have a friend, you must learn to be one. You must learn to treat your friend the way you want your friend to treat you. Learning to be a good friend means learning three rules: be honest; be generous; be understanding.

    Honesty is where a good friendship starts. Friends must be able to trust one another. If you do not tell the truth, people usually find out. If a friend finds out that you haven't been honest, you may lose your friend's trust. Good friends always depend on one another to speak and act honestly.

    Generosity means sharing and sharing makes a friendship grow. You do not have to give your lunch money or your clothes. Naturally you will want to share your ideas and feelings. These can be very valuable to a friend. They tell your friend what is important to you. By sharing them, you help your friend know better.

    Sooner or later everyone needs understanding and help with each other. Something may go wrong at school. Talking about the problem can make it easier to solve. Turning to a friend can be a first step in solving the problem. So to be a friend you must listen and understand. You must try to put yourself in your friend's place so that you can understand the problem better.

    No two friendships are exactly alike. But all true friendships have three things in common. If you plan to keep your friends, you must practice honesty, generosity and understanding.

    Shyness May Be Partly Inherited(遗传)

    About 92 million Americans are shy, and according to recent research about half of them inherited the trait.

    The studies were discussed at the American Psychological Convention.

    One study, by Harvard University, was of babies 21- 48 months old. It concluded that these babies had a high heart rate when shown unfamiliar people or different toys.

    Although shyness is not new, it has only recently become of interest to researchers. The first study on the genetic connection was in 1979.

    According to Warren Jones of the University of Tulsa, social relations these days are more complex. "With less ritual(仪式) and more complex situations," he said, "shyness is a national concern."

    Not all shy people are anxious and fearful, according to another study. Evidence shows that only half of shy people are tense, worried, and fearful in social situations.

    Many men use shyness as an excuse for failing in social situations, according to C.R. Snyder of the University of Kansas. "This is not true of females. Perhaps,

    American men are pressured to be assertive(自信的) and successful. So they would rather say they're shy than admit they're incompetent."

    Shy people may do very well socially after the first meeting with someone. In fact, shy people tend to be more stable.

    The psychologists said shyness seems to be cultural. Japan has the highest rating. China and Israel have the lowest rating. The United States rated in the middle.

    I always dreamed of studying abroad, to learn at a world﹣class university while further exploring the grounds on which these nations achieved new milestones of development with each passing day.

    To study abroad after my graduation, I could not stop seeking my dream. To take the first step, I did some brainstorming and explored opportunities on the Internet and finally decided to go for China. There were a number of reasons behind it﹣its advanced education system and thousands of centuries of rich culture inspired me to study there. The primary one was my curiosity how a nation has left many nations behind in a short time at its fast pace of development.

    So just like that, I applied, along with some of my friends, for a master's degree program at Communication University of China. I was the only one who got selected in the said program and in addition, the Chinese Scholarship Council sponsored all of my expenses. This good news was welcomed by my family.

    This is my seventh month in Beijing. In my experience so far, one thing that appeared to be missing was the internship（实习） which I tried to find because I want to work here after completion of my studies. After some struggles I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to work as an intern with the Center for China and Globalization（CCG）. It's very exciting to work on their team as a researcher. Now I can proudly say that my decision to choose China as a study destination was the best decision I have ever made.

    When one tried to unify gravity with quantum mechanics (量子力学), one had to introduce the idea of 'imaginary' time. If one can go forward in imaginary time, one ought to be able to turn round and go backward. This means that there can be no important difference between the forward and backward directions of imaginary time. Yet there is a big difference between the forward and backward directions of 'real time' in ordinary life. Imagine a cup of water falling off a table and breaking into pieces on the floor. If you take a film of this, you can easily tell whether it is being run forward or backward. You can tell that the film is being run backward because this kind of behavior is never observed in ordinary life.

    The explanation that is usually given as to why we don't see broken cups gathering themselves together off the floor and jumping back onto the table is that it is forbidden by the second law of thermodynamics (热力学). This says that in any closed system disorder, or entropy (熵), always increases with time. In other words, it is a form of Murphy's law: things always tend to go wrong! An intact cup on the table is a state of high order, but a broken cup on the floor is a disordered state. One can go readily from the cup on the table in the past to the broken cup on the floor in the future, but not the other way round.

    The increase of disorder or entropy with time is one example of what is called an arrow of time, something that tells the past from the future, giving a direction to time. There are at least three different arrows of time. First, there is the thermodynamic arrow of time, the direction of time in which disorder or entropy increases. Then, there is the psychological arrow of time. This is the direction in which we feel time passes, the direction in which we remember the past but not the future. Finally, there is the cosmological arrow of time. This is the direction of time in which the universe is expanding rather than contracting.

    More and more people like bicycling and it is no surprise. It is fun, healthy and good for the environment.

    Maybe that's why there are 1.4 billion bicycles and only 400 million cars on roads worldwide today. Bikes can take you almost anywhere, and there is no oil cost! Get on a bicycle and ride around your neighborhood. You may discover something new all around you. Stopping and getting off a bike is easier than stopping and getting out of your car. You can bike to work and benefit(受益)from the enjoyable without polluting the environment. You don't even have to ride all the way.

    Folding(折叠) bikes work well for people who ride the train. Just fold the bike and take it with you. You can do the same on an airplane. A folding bike can be packed in a suitcase. You can also take a common bike with you when you fly. But be sure to look for information by getting on airline websites. Not all airlines are bicycle-friendly to travelers.

    Health benefits of bicycling

    It helps to prevent heart diseases

    Bicycling helps to control your weight

    A 15-minute bike ride to and from work three times a week burns off five kilos of fat in a year.

    Bicycling can improve your mood.

    Exercise like bicycling has been shown to make people feel better, more relaxed and self-confident.