Jack threw the papers on my desk. “Next time you want to change anything, ask me first,” he said. I had changed a long sentence and corrected its grammar — something I thought I was paid to do.

    Several days later, he made me angry again. I went to his office, prepared to lose my job if need be, but not before I let the man know how I felt. “What?” he said nervously. Suddenly I knew what I had to do. “Jack, the way you've been treating me is wrong. And it's wrong for me to allow it to continue,” I said. “I want to make you a promise. I will be a friend.” The next day I brought some cakes to Jack's office. Every time I saw Jack in the hall, I smiled at him. After all, that's what friends do.

    One year after our talk, I was told that I had breast cancer (乳腺癌). When I was in hospital, my friends tried to find the right words to say, but no one could. The last day of my hospital stay, the door opened and Jack walked over to my bed. “Tulips (郁金香),” he placed some bulbs (球茎) beside me and said, “If you plant them when you get home, you'll be there to see them when they come up.” Tears filled my eyes. In a moment when I prayed for just the right words, a man with few words said the right thing. After all, that's what friends do. Now, I have seen those tulips push through the soil every spring for over ten years.

    Awarding wining film Ballad From Tibet(《天籁梦想》) by Chinese director Zhang Wei is scheduled to premiere in New York City on Saturday, March 10.

    The film, which tells the story of four visually impaired kids from China's Tibet autonomous region embarking on a journey for their dreams, will be presented at the Bronx Library Center on Saturday, at Mid-Manhattan Library on Sunday, at Lehman College and Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan on Tuesday, and at the Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday.

    Based on a true story, Ballad from Tibet is about the four 1ibetan kids—Thupten, Sonam, Kelsang and Droma—achieving their dreams against all odds.

    Thupten is a 10-year-old boy partially sighted in one eye and blind in the other. His doctor says that there is a chance he could completely lose his sight, but there is an operation that could offer a 50 percent chance of saving his vision.

    His teacher firmly suggests that he should have the operation right away, but Thupten is afraid and wants to see the world before his life is plunged into total darkness.

    Along with his three friends who also suffer from blindness, Thupten embarks on an exciting adventure. Together they decide to go to Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province, a city more than 37,000 km away from Tibetan regional capital Lhasa.

    The reason for the children's decision to go to Shenzhen is their love of music. They are all talented and want to sing their hearts out in front of national audience by participating in a Shenzhen-based reality show.

    The foursome's trip is indeed fun, but also turns out to be dangerous as well. Luckily, help is on hand along the way in the form of a wandering family, a shepherd, a motorcycle club, and a TV producer's assistant.

    Ballad From Tibet has won the award for Best Children's Feature at the 13th China International Children's Film Festival in November 2017, and earned nominations at 17 different international children's film festivals in Germany, Canada, Japan, Greece, Australia and India.

    Teens don't understand the big fuss (小题大做). As the first generation to grow up in a wired world they hardly know a time when computers weren't around, and they eagerly catch the chance to spend hours online, chatting with friends, so what?

    But researchers nationwide are increasingly worried that teens are becoming isolated, less skillful at person-to-per son relationships, and perhaps numb to the cheatings that are so much a part of the e-mail world. "And a teen's sense of self and values may be changed in a world where personal connections can be limitless," said Shetty Turkle.

    Another researcher, Robert Kraut, said he's worried about the "opportunity costs" of so much online time for youths. He found that teens who used computers, even just a few hours a week, showed increased signs of loneliness and social isolation. "Chatting online may be better than watching television, but it's worse than hanging out with real friends," he said.

    Today's teens, however, don't see anything strange in the fact that the computer takes up a central place in their social lives. "School is busy and full of pressure. There's almost no time to just hang out," said Parker Rice, 17 "Talking online is just to catch time."

    Teens say they feel good about what they say online or taking the lime to think about a reply. Some teens admit that asking someone for a date, or breaking up, can be easier in message form, though they don't want to do so. But they insist there's no harm.

    Some inventions are so useful, but seem so simple, that we wonder why no one thought of them long ago. Post-it Notes, the pieces of paper that you can stick almost anywhere and then remove without leaving any sign that they are there, are an example of such an invention.

    Post-it Notes were invented about twenty years ago by Art Fry, a scientist at 3M Corporation. The idea for the product came from an upsetting experience he often had while singing in his church choir. Fry used pieces of paper as bookmarks to mark the places in his book of songs, but these bookmarks were always falling out. He knew he needed a bookmark that would stay where he put it, but that he could remove without damaging the pages.

    Around that time, Fry heard about a new adhesive(粘合剂) that a colleague, Dr. Spence Silver had created. This adhesive was special because it was sticky, but not too sticky. It was strong enough to hold papers together, but weak enough not to tear the paper when it was removed. Fry saw that the new adhesive could help solve his bookmark problem. One morning, Fry put some of the adhesive on the edge of a piece of paper. Just as he hoped, it made a perfect bookmark.

    A short time later, Fry realized that his new invention had even more uses than being a great bookmark. He came to this realization when he wrote a note on one of his new “bookmarks” and attached it to a report he was going to give to a colleague. Soon, co-workers were asking Fry for more sample of his invention so that they could use the new type of notes themselves.

    Fry and some other people at 3M believed so much in the new product that they persuaded the company to give away thousands of the sticky pieces of paper for trial use. When some salespeople at 3M went to offices and showed workers just how helpful the new type of notes could be, they immediately received many orders. As more and more people discovered how useful Post-it Notes could be, the product took off.

    Hilton English Language Center

    Information for New Students

    Class time: 8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m.-12:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m.

    The Language Center is open Monday to Friday. Each class has one afternoon free per week. On the first day, go to the lecture hall to check your timetable.

    Self-access (自习): The language laboratory (Room 1110) is open Monday to Friday from 3:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for all full-time students.

    You can learn how to use computers for language games. There are tapes for students to borrow to practice their English. Go in and ask the teacher to show you. If you plan to take public examinations, there are listening comprehension tapes for you to practice with. There are other kinds of exercises on the computers. Ask your class teacher for a list of past exam essays. Students can borrow tapes to take home but they must be returned after two days.

    Attendance (出勤): All students are expected to attend classes as it is required. Students who do not attend classes will be reported to OSS. Eighty percent attendance is required for students to receive their certificates (证书) when they finish their courses.

    Books: If students are given course books, the books are their responsibility. If a book is lost, the student will be expected to pay for it. If students wish to buy books, there is a bookshop in the college specializing in English books (Room 3520).

    It has been described as art by some people, but to others it's an ugly part of modern life. What is it? Graffiti (涂鸦), of course. Look around cities in the UK today and you can see graffiti on buildings, walls, doors and even on buses or trains that have stayed in one place for too long. But where modern technology creates a problem, it also finds a way to deal with it. Last week, The Weekend West was shown around the factory of a small but successful company, Hubdean.

    Hubdean's achievement is a series of special paints which are graffiti-resistant. How do they work? It couldn't be simpler. Take any graffiti-covered surface. First, a treatment called Agproclear is used. Then, using a very hot pressure jet (压力喷嘴), this treatment is taken away and the graffiti disappears at the same time. Now you have a clean wall. But before this clean wall can be painted on by graffiti lovers, a new product, Agproshield, is used. This paint has a special surface which gives it two important advantages. Firstly, spray paint (喷雾颜料) won't stick to the surface very well, and secondly, the whole surface can be cleaned very easily, just using water. Once the surface is painted, no specialist equipment is needed to keep the area clean and graffiti-free.

    Not surprisingly, Hubdean's products are used by both local governments and private companies all over the UK, and now orders are being received from around the world. This brings the company a problem, however. Can they increase production to satisfy the needs? Of course, they can build a second factory or work with a large international company to make their products. The future is looking good for Hubdean!