“People are ruder today because they are rushed and more 'time poor' than ever before，” says Patsy Rowe, “Manners_have_fallen_off_the_radar(雷达)．” Due to our strong attraction to electronic equipment it is a wonder more people don't wake up each morning and greet the singing birds with a complaint(抱怨)about the noise. Here are some examples of rudeness.

    Some people prefer to do almost everything over the Internet. To them, dealing with an actual human needs more patience. It feels very slow because humans don't work at 4G speeds. When you have dinner with friends, you will often notice someone paying more attention to his mobile phone. We have programmed ourselves to think that every new message brings life－changing news, so taking calls and checking our texts are more important than talking to the people we are with. What is worse, some people even tend to send anonymous(匿名的) rude messages by email.

    However, rudeness is never acceptable. Don't assume it is OK to be rude if the person you're in touch with won't recognize you. If you have something awful to say, have the courage to face the person and say it, write a letter or email and sign it, or forget it. Upsetting people with unsigned messages is cruel and disgusting.（令人厌恶的）

    We shouldn't blame technology for our shortcomings. Technology is here to help us，but we should not allow it to take over our lives. An important step is acknowledging our shortcomings. People spend a lot of time pointing out bad manners but it would be even more helpful if we'd publicly acknowledge good manners when we see them.

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    Nowadays there is less and less contact between the old and the young. There are many reasons for this, but the result is the same: increasing numbers of children without grandparents and old people who have no contact with children. And more old people who are lonely and feel use- less, along with more and more families with young children who desperately need more support. It's a major problem in many societies.

    That's why intergenerational programmes, designed to bring the old and the young together, are growing in popularity all over the world, supported by UNESCO and other local and international organisations. There are examples of successful initiatives all over the world. Using young people to teach IT skills to older people is one obvious example. Using old people as volunteer assistants in schools is another, perhaps reading with children who need extra attention.

    One successful scheme in France is combining a residential home for the elderly with a creche/nursery school in the same building. The children and the residents eat lunch together and share activities such as music, painting, gardening and caring for the pets which the residents are encouraged to keep. In the afternoons, the residents enjoy reading or telling stones to the children and, if a child is feeling sad or tired, there is always a kind lap to sit on and a cuddle (依偎). There are trips out and birthday parties too.

    The advantages are enormous for everyone concerned. The children are happy because they get a lot more individual attention and respond well because someone has lime, for them. They also learn that old people are not different or frightening in any way. And of course, they see illness and death and learn to accept them. The residents are happy because they feel useful and needed. They are more active and more interested in life when the children are around and they take more interest in their appearance too. And the staff are happy because they see an improvement in the physical and psychological health of the residents and have an army of assistants to help with the children.

    DINERS

    TONY SOPRANO'S LAST MEAL

    Between 1912 and the 1990s, New Jersey State was home to more than 20 diner manufacturers who made probably 95 percent of the diners in the U.S, says Katie Zavoski, who is helping hold a diner exhibit. What makes a diner a diner? (And not, say, a coffee shop?) Traditionally, a diner is built in a factory and then delivered to its own town or city rather than constructed on-site. Zavoski credits New Jersey's location as the key to its mastery of the form. “It was just the perfect place to manufacture the diners,” she says. “We would ship them wherever we needed to by sea.”

    VISIT “Icons of American Culture: History of New Jersey Diners,” running through June 2017 at The Cornelius House/Middlesex County Museum in Piscataway, New Jersey

    GOOD FOOD, GOOD TUNES

    Suzanne Vega's 1987 song “Tom's Diner” is probably best known for its' frequently sampled “doo doo doo doo” melody rather than its diner-related lyrics. Technically, it's not even really about a diner — the setting is New York City's Tom's Restaurant, which Vega frequented when she was studying at Bamard. Vega used the word “diner” instead because it “sings better that way,” she told The New York Times. November 18 has since been called Tom's Diner Day, because on that day in 1981, the New York Post's front page was a story about the death of actor William Holden. In her song Vega sings: “I Open /Up the paper/There's a story /Of an actor /Who had died/While he was drinking.”

    LISTEN “Tom's Diner” by Suzanne Vega

    MEET THE DINER ANTHROPOLOGIST

    Richard J.S. Gutman has been called the “Jane Goodall of diners” (he even consulted on Barry Levinson's 1982 film, Diner).His book, American Diner: Then Now, traces the evolution of the “night lunch wagon,” set up by Walter Scott in 1872, to the early 1920s, when the diner got its name (adapted from “dining car”), and on through the 1980s.Gutman has his own diner facilities (floor plans, classic white mugs, a cashier booth); 250 of these items are part of an exhibit in Rhode Island.

    READ American Diner: Then & Now (John Hopkins University Press)

    VISIT “Diners: Still Cooking in the 21st Century,” currently running at the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island

Dear Aunt Tara,

    I have a problem with my homework. We have to do it in a group. It has to be finished this Friday, but Gary, the boy in our group, has done nothing helpful. He just keeps rocking the boat.

    Every time we talk about the work with him, he always "Don't worry. I'll do it later" But he seldom does his job. And when he does it be the wrong way. Someone has to do it for him again what's is when Mas Lin asks about our group, Gary always tell her that we others don't work hard enough I'm really mad at Gary about this. We're in the same group. Shouldn't we help each other to do a better job?

Kate

Dear Kate

    It is important or students to learn how to work together in a group. Maybe you should talk to Gary about the problem and tell him you all need his help. If he still doesn't changes, go to talk to your teacher. I believe she can make Gary do his job.

Aunt Tara

    The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that one in every 12 kids is living in homes where no one has worked for at least a year. That may be due to unemployment or issues such as sickness or disability that mean they can't work, and aren't required to. This is known as being in a "long term workless" family.

    The issues faced by children in workless families have very bad influence on their development and education, limiting their future employment prospects, and reducing their opportunities to succeed throughout their lives.

    Not only does worklessness reduce family income, it can also damage families' health and stability, and thus destroy children's development. This is because many workless families are held back by disadvantages such as debt, drug and alcohol dependency, and by homelessness. Suffering from the family problems, many children face a greater and greater possibility of repeating the poor outcomes of their parents. Government research has shown that children in workless families are almost twice as likely not to reach the expected level at all stages of their education. For example, three-quarters of children from families where no one works failed to reach the expected level at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), compared to around half of children in lower-income working families.

    So attention should be paid to children in out-of-work homes. Having working parents means a child is more likely to do better at school, to have better health, education and development, and also means they are less likely to fall into crime.

    But for some families, worklessness, or not employment, is the norm. They just choose not to work. These families often face huge barriers to getting on with their lives but they take the opportunities offered by the society. Parents' ability to work is frustrated by issues like low skills or poor mental or physical health, or drug and alcohol dependency, leaving children without the stability they need.

    We all want to help workless families with complex problems so that their children can take advantage of the opportunities in Britain. We all want parents to have the chance to go out to earn a living and to enjoy the pleasure of work, so that their children can benefit from the good examples of working parents. In doing so, we should know the need to understand the complex issues that some families face and to develop a new approach to deal with poverty. Because the root causes are not financial. It is about helping families overcome the problems they face so that they can go as far as their talents and hard work will take them. We shouldn't retreat from acting to deal with disadvantages, because we know the costs of inaction to individuals, communities and society.

Fishy Weather Conditions

    Laj amanu，Australia，is a dry little town，sitting right on the edge of the Tanami desert. Can you imagines How surprised were people when live fish rained down on them from a dark gray cloudy. It happens that there are similar cases in England and Honduras.

    How do clouds make fishy. The simple answer is that they don't. There is a particular weather phenomenon(现象)called a waterspout. A waterspout is just like a tornado，only it forms above oceans，lakes，or rivers. Like a tornado，a waterspout moves in a circle at high speeds. When it moves above the water，it tends to carry the fish with it，as well as frogs or other small plants or animals.

    Scientists couldn't work it out at first. To make matters stranger still，the fish in Honduras were very much alive when they rained down to the ground，but they were all blind. In England and Australia，it rained fish and snakes，and none were blind. It was difficult to puzzle out，but the blind fish gave them a place to start.

    Scientists knew that some fish that lived in deep，underground caves with no light sources often lost their eyesight. So when blind fish rained down on Honduras，scientists began to connect some dots. Clearly，these particular fish were pulled from an underground water source by force.

    It has rained fish on every continent，and each time，people have tried in various ways to explain this strange phenomenon. Historically，villagers thought the “fishes from the heavens” might be answers to prayers for food. Others suggested that floods overran river banks and oceans，leaving the fish on the city streets. No scientist had actually seen the rain as it occurred，only the fish left on the ground. But in 1990，a National Geographic team happened to be in Honduras when the Rain of Fishes began. They recorded what was happening and made history by finally proving that the fish really did fall from the sky.

    This huge breakthrough wasn't just a spot of good luck. It changed thousands of years of myths and legends into true stories and provided scientific explanations for how fish came to live in deep caves. It explained ancient cave paintings and shed new light on how species have spread over time. It turned out to be a lot more than just a little fishy weather.