Manners nowadays in big cities like London are particularly non-existent. It's nothing for a big, strong schoolboy to push an elderly woman aside in the dash for the last remaining seat on a bus, much less stand up and offer his seat to her, as he ought to. In fact, it is saddening to note that if a man does offer his seat to an older woman, it is nearly always one from the older generation.

    This question of giving up seats in public transport is much argued by young men, who say that, since women have claimed equality, they no longer deserve to be treated with courtesy and that those who go out to work should take their turn in the rat race like anyone else. Women have never claimed to be physically as strong as men. Even if it's not agreed, however, that young men should stand up for older women, the fact remains that courtesy should be shown to the old, the sick and the burdened. Are we really so lost to all ideals of unselfishness that we can sit there indifferently reading the paper or a book, saying to ourselves "First come, first served", while a gray-haired woman, a mother with a young child or a cripple stands? Yet this is too often seen.

    Older people, tired and easy annoyed from a day's work, aren't angels, either-far from it. Many an argument or an insulting quarrel breaks out as they feel tired of pushes in the queue and shove(猛推) each other to get on buses.

    If cities are to remain pleasant places to live in at all, however, it seems necessary, not only that communication in transport should be improved, but also that communication between human beings should be kept smooth and polite. Shop assistant won't bother to assist, taxi drivers shout at each other as they dash dangerously round comers, bus conductors pull the bell before their desperate passengers have had time to get on or off the bus, and so on. It seems to us that it's up to the young and strong to do their small part to stop such deterioration(恶化).

    I stand outside waving at the car pulling slowly out of our driveway. I force a smile, hoping it will cover up my tearing eyes, but I know it's not working. I run into the house, slam the door behind me, and begin crying. It's just occurred to me that I can't see my elder sister, Monsura, in the next four months.

    I ask myself why it is that I'm crying when I know she's doing something good for herself. I feel selfish for thinking about it but I'd be lying if I said I was happy for her choosing to study in a university in Boston. When my brother, Shafat, left for college, it was different. I still had one sibling at home to call me the stupidest person on a daily basis.

    I am reminded of the things we did together as kids. In our old two-bed-room apartment, our parents gave in to our constant begging and traded rooms with us for one night. It was like being part of the amusement park, using our parents' big bed as a trampoline (蹦床).It was during the first night that I witnessed a full moon. My sister and I believed my brother. He said that the moon was yellow because it was made from cheese. We made plans to visit the moon so we could melt a part of it and make cheese dip. But now I laugh at myself for being so innocent.

    Sitting in front of my computer, I listen to songs that remind me of my two best friends. I come to terms with the fact that there's no longer anyone here to laugh uncontrollably with me or to turn to at night when I have a nightmare.

    I'm shaken into reality by the sound of my cell phone ringing. Shafat is calling. I pick up and he immediately says “Thank you for such a great childhood.'' Those few words mean the world to me. We three-way call Monsura and spend the next hour reliving memory after memory, and by the end, I forget that I'm alone at home.

    At one time, computers were expected largely to remove the need for paper copies of documents(文件) because they could be stored electronically. But for all the texts that are written, stored and sent electronically, a lot of them are still ending up on paper.

    It is difficult to measure the quantity of paper used as a result of use of Internet-connected computers, although just about anyone who works in an office can tell you that when e-mail is introduced, the printers start working overtime. “I feel in my bones this revolution is causing more trees to be cut down,” says Ted Smith of the Earth Village Organization.

    Perhaps the best sign of how computer and Internet use pushes up demand for paper comes from the high-tech industry itself, which sees printing as one of its most promising new markets. Several Internet companies have been set up to help small businesses print quality documents from a computer. Earlier this week Hewlett-Packard Co. announced a plan to develop new technologies that will enable people to print even more so they can get a hard copy of a business document, a medical record or just a on-line e-mail, even if they are nowhere near a computer. As the company sees it, the more use of the Internet the greater demand for printers.

    Does all this mean environmental concerns (环境问题) have been forgotten? Some activists suggest people have been led to believe that a lot of dangers to the environment have gone away.

    “I guess people believe that the problem is taken care of, because of recycling（回收利用）,” said Kelly Quirke, director of the Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco. Yet Quirke is hopeful that high-tech may also prove helpful. He says printers that print on both sides are growing in popularity.

    The action group has also found acceptable paper made from materials other than wood, such as agricultural waste.

    Open work spaces definitely have their benefits，but they come with the drawback of offering employees little to no control over visual distractions(干扰)．With so many people around and so much going on，some of us can easily get disturbed by this information overload and lose focus in what's really important．That's where the Focus Cap comes into play．

    “As we are still cavemen or mammals kept in an unnatural environment，I believe that only by reclaiming(收回)the normal，stress-free human state through simple tools and techniques can we finally release our actual creative potential and create our meaningful work for a brighter future，”says German designer Hannes Greblin，inventor of the Focus Cap．

    After looking at other products designed at minimizing visual distractions，Greblin decided that most of them were either too expensive or too uncomfortable to become mainstream，so he decided to go with something much simpler —a simple cap with a retractable visor(可伸缩的帽沿)．

    Greblin's Focus Cap is really straightforward．You just wear it like a regular cap'with the sides of the visor retracted，and just collapse the sides whenever you need to focus on what's ahead of you．Whether you're trying to focus on a task in an open work office．Trying to study at university，or practicing yoga in a park and trying to ignore stares from strangers，the Focus Cap can help．

    To be honest，this whole project sounds like a joke，but the Focus Cap does have its own website where people interested in this unusual accessory can actually sign up for updates on when it will go on sale．Greblin claims it will cost 30 euros($37)plus shipping．

    Move over, helicopter parents. "Snowplow(扫雪机) parents" are the newest reflection of an intensive(强化的) parenting style that can include parents booking their adult children haircuts, texting their college kids to wake them up so they don't sleep through a test, and even calling their kids' employers.

    Helicopter parenting, the practice of wandering anxiously near one's children, monitoring their every activity, is so 20th century. Some rich mothers and fathers now are more like snowplows: machines moving ahead, clearing any difficulties in their children's path to success, so they don't have to suffer failure, frustration(挫折)or lose opportunities.

    It starts early, when parents get on wait lists for excellent preschools before their babies are born and try to make sure their kids never do anything that may frustrate them. It gets more intense when school starts: running forgotten homework to school or calling a coach to request that their children make the team.

    Rich parents may have more time and money to devote to making sure their children don't ever meet with failure, but it's not only rich parents practicing snowplow parenting. This intensive parenting has become the most welcome way to raise children, regardless of income, education, or race.

    Yes it's a parent's job to support the children, and to use their adult wisdom to prepare for the future when their children aren't mature enough to do so. That's why parents hide certain toys from babies to avoid getting angry or take away a teenager's car keys until he finishes his college applications.

    But snowplow parents can take it too far, some experts say. If children have never faced a difficulty, what happens when they get into the real world?

    "Solving problems, taking risks and overcoming frustration are key life skills," many child development experts say, "and if parents don't let their children experience failure, the children don't acquire them."

While conquering the world's swimming pools in the late 1990s and the 2000s, Amanda Beard had already included breathing exercises in her training. Several years after the end of her athletic career, she discovered walking meditation. Today the seven-time US Olympic medalist practices walking meditation in nature, around the house, or while walking the dog. It's a daily practice with the focused mindfulness of meditation that contributes positively to every aspect of her life, she says. 

You don't need equipment or a designated space to start. The idea of a walking meditation is to pay attention to the way your body feels, noticing things like the sky, trees, tuning into all of your senses. This means you can meditate "on the go" in the countryside, in the city, in your backyard, and virtually anywhere. A simple, 10-minute walking meditation for beginners requires that you just start at ease. Consider what you hear, smell and see. Think about how your feet touch the ground. Fully focus on these feelings. 

A report in Health Promotion Perspectives also found that walking meditation can improve your balance, adjust your heart rate, boost your mental focus, and help you battle anxiety and depression. "The benefits of meditation are many," says Dr. Schramm, a board-certified family physician and meditation teacher. "When we do this over and over again, we train the brain to focus on only one thing at a time and this increases both our blood flow and actual neuronal (神经元) changes within our brains. "

"The magic of meditation is to be able to help you connect with yourself; meditation shouldn't feel a certain way," says Tara Stiles, a yoga and wellness expert. It's a common mistake in meditation: People fear a wandering mind. "A wandering mind is completely normal," Stiles says. "Even experienced meditators aren't sitting there never having a thought, but when they have the thought they choose to guide themselves back to their breath instead of getting frustrated.