A sense of humor is something highly valued. A person who has a great sense of humor is often considered to be happy and socially confident. However, humor is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it can damage self-respect and annoy others.

    People who use bonding humor tell jokes and generally lighten the mood. They're thought to be good at reducing the tension in uncomfortable situations. They often make fun of their common experiences, and sometimes they may even laugh off their own misfortunes. The basic message they deliver is: We're all alike, we find the same things funny, and we're all in this together.

    Put-down humor, on the other hand, is an aggressive type of humor used to criticize others through teasing. When it's aimed against politicians, as it often is, it's extremely funny and mostly harmless. But in the real world, it may have a harmful effect. An example of such humor is telling friends an embarrassing story about another friend. When challenged about their teasing, the put-down jokers might claim that they are "just kidding," thus allowing themselves to avoid responsibility. This type of humor, though considered by some people to be socially acceptable, may hurt the feelings of the one being teased and thus have a bad effect on personal relationships.

    Finally, in hate-me humor, the joker is the target of the joke for the amusement of others. This type of humor was used by comedians John Belushi and Chris Farley—both of whom suffered for their success in show business. A small amount of such humor is charming, but routinely offering oneself up to be embarrassed destroys one's self-esteem, and fosters depression and anxiety.

    So it seems that being funny isn't necessarily an indicator of good social skills and well-being. In certain cases, it may actually have a negative effect on interpersonal relationships.

    Eighty-five-year old Chinese pharmacologist(药理学家) Tu Youyou became China's first winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine when it was announced that she was one of three scientists awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in developing effective drugs against parastic diseases.

    Tu was honored for developing artemisin（青蒿素）,a drug for malaria that has saved millions of lives across the globe,especially in the developing world,the Nobel Assembly at karolinska Institue disclosed on its website on Monday.Tu,a Chinese trained pharmacologist and a researcher at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing, went to Stockholm, Sweden in December to receive her award, according to Cao Hongxin, the science and technology department head of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

    "She was calm and said she has received lots of congratulatory calls." Cao told China Daily on Monday after he telephoned Tu to congratulate her. "It's an overdue（迟来的）honor for Tu and the world's recognition of traditional Chinese medicine," he said.

    "Tu's breakthrough in winning the Nobel Prize in a natural science is the pride of the whole nation and the whole Chinese scientific community," said Zhou Dejin, spokesman of the Chinese Academy of Science, China's national research body that consists of more than one hundred research insistutes, universities and research branches,

    "The achievement of discovering artemisinin was made in the 1970s, but it only received international recognition in later years, which suggests that we might have more achievements that have reached the Nobel Prize level but have not been recognized." Zhou said.

    We've all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.

    What's the problem? It's possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It's more likely that none of us start a conversation because it's awkward and challenging, or we think it's annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it's an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.

    Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can't forget that deep relationships wouldn't even exist if it weren't for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease(润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. "Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk," he explains. "The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them."

    In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. "It's not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband," says Dunn. "But interactions with peripheral(边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also."

    Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. "Small talk is the basis of good manners," he says.

    Is it wrong—either grammatically or in terms of style—to mix the simple past tense with the past perfect in one sentence? To give an example, the following seems a bit heavy and awkward to me: "There had been a time when she had been happier.' I prefer: 'There had been a time when she was happier.' Any thoughts?

—ALEX

I think the second version is the correct one—it's shorter and clearer. Rather than focusing on tenses, focus on the clean, short sentence. If something seems heavy and awkward to you, the writer—then it probably is. Always short sentences.

—DIANA

    I have constructed texts for a range of children's picture books all based on working profession: bus driver, postman, footballer, cleaner, teacher, policeman to list a few. I've listed about thirty professions so far. I thought of titling them as Mr Bus Driver, Mr Postman and so on. Would I be infringing (侵权) the Mr Men titles if I did or should I think of something else?

—RAJIV

    The Mr Men stories are based on characteristics, not on jobs—Mr Lazy, Mr Noisy, etc—so they bear no relation to your projects. However, you will come under fire from gender equality supporters—every job you list could equally be done by a woman. No teacher and few parents would find work useful if it implies that all professions are open only to men. I advise you to look at modern children's books in a library or bookshop.

—DIANA

    It is obvious that all of our childhood memories are not accidental. When you are a child, every scent, every sound, every move, every toy, the first day of school, the first kiss, the first step… Everything together makes what is the personality of a man. All these are pieces of one whole entity.

    I was about 6 years old. My mom's best friend left to another town and asked my mom to stay at her place with me for two days in order to look after her two sons. One was a little older than I was, and the second boy appeared to be super grown-up, for he was already fourteen. I always enjoyed staying at their place.

    I remember the second day we were supposed to have the come-back party for my mom's friend at her place. I woke up. Mom went to work and reminded me to be nice and clean by the time she came back. I stayed with Tony, the older of the boys and suddenly somebody called him and though he was not permitted to leave me alone-he left. He said it would not be long. But it took him forever. I realized that I was alone. I could not come out of the house, so I opened the window. I was so desperate. So lonely. So betrayed. At that moment I pulled the curtain so strongly that I fell on the floor. And there I was standing-one little criminal-desperate to escape and knowing that I would be punished for destroying the curtain that was not even ours.

But then something changed. I stopped weeping. I looked around and realized that I was in a safe place, and that mom would come back and kiss me no matter what I had done.

    This was a moment of pure happiness, not the happiness of getting a new toy or a dog, or going to the party of your best friend. It was the moment of clarity for me-the first time in my life when I realized that I was happy to have my mom and that I was safe. My eyes saw the world in different shades that moment. And by the way-I was not punished for the curtain. I fell asleep on my mom's knees.

    In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity(繁荣). Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.

    I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.

    However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: "I may have lost, but it doesn't matter because I really didn't try."What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one's self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve(缓解)can we discover a new meaning in competition.