My grandparents believed that you were either honest or you were not. They had a simple saying hanging on their living-room wall: “Life is like a field of newly fallen snow. Where I choose to walk every step will show.” They didn't have to talk about it; they showed this truth by the way they lived.

    They understood that honesty is an inner(内部的) standard for judging your behavior. Unfortunately, honesty is in short supply today. But it is the real bottom line in every area of society and a discipline (自制能力) we must demand of ourselves.

    There's a story told about a surgical nurse's first day on the medical team at a well-known hospital. She was responsible(负责) for all surgical instruments and materials during an operation. At the end of the operation, the nurse said to the doctor, “ You've only removed 11 sponges（海绵）, and we used 12. We need to find the last one.”

     “I removed them all,” the doctor assured her. “ No, you didn't , sir,” insisted the nurse. “ Think of the patient.”

    Smiling, the doctor lifted his foot and showed the nurse the twelfth sponge.

    So when you know you're right, you can't yield. Don't be afraid of those who might have a better idea or who might even be more intelligent than you are.

    Self-respect and a clear awareness (意识)of right and wrong are powerful parts of honesty and are the basis for enriching your relationships with others. Honesty means you do what you do because it's right and not just fashionable or politically correct. A life of principle, of not easily yielding, will always take you forward. My grandparents taught me that.

    Avatar has become the most successful movie in 2009. It is about a soldier whose mind is set into the body of a giant blue alien. He was sent to a dangerous planet called Pandora. His mission（使命） is to find a rare mineral（矿物质）. The mineral is the key to solve the earth's energy crisis(危机).

    According to the latest figures（数字）, Avatar has become the fastest film ever to make more than 1 billion dollars in ticket sales around the world. When it had been shown in cinemas for several days, it became the most popular film ever made.

    Avatar knocked the movie Titanic off the international release top spot. But Titanic's director James Cameron probably won't be too upset, because Avatar is directed by him as well! Before Avatar was filmed, the best selling film ever was Titanic.

    James Cameron decided to make Avatar in 1999. However, the means（方法）to realize his vision（影像画面） did not exist yet. In 2002, The Lord of the' Rings: The Two Towers made him believe that CGI (电脑影像合成) effects had progressed enough to make this film. After several years of production, the 3D spectacular Avatar successfully showed us a fully immersive experience.

    Gesture is the use of such movements to express thought, emotion, etc. A gesture can be many things. Slamming a book shut shows anger and frustration. Opening a door lor someone shows kindness. Gestures go much beyond small actions.

    My friend once told me a story in high school. One day he met a girl who was on the girls' basketball team. He said hello, gave her a hard handshake and wished her good luck as she had a game later. He came to find out he saved that girl's life. She had planned on committing suicide and by shaking her hand and saying good luck, he made her realize someone really cared about her. I'm not saying all actions are going to change someone else's life that much, but it may make their day better.

    Gestures can be negative too. In my senior year of high school, a guy on my football team was late and was walking down the field to practice. Everyone on the team knows our coach hates it when people are late and walk on the field. He was walking in as if he owned the place and had no care of what his teammates were thinking. His body language had never been good. The other players on the team had never liked him because of his body language.

    Gestures can often say more than a person wants. One day I was mad at my parents for some pointless reason. All day I stayed downstairs. When one of them walked by, I would just stare at the TV or my phone and hope they wouldn't try to start a conversation. When they tried to talk to me, I would give one-word answers. Sitting on the couch and watching TV by myself all day was not my intent but that was what my gestures told my parents.

    One simple gesture can change a person's thoughts, day or maybe even save their lives. If everyone made a nice gesture to someone else every day, our school, town, and world would become a better place. One single act of random kindness at a time or a kind gesture can change the world.

    Shyness is the cause of much unhappiness for a great many people. Shy people are anxious and self-conscious; that is, they are concerned with their own appearance and actions too much. Negative thoughts are constantly occurring in their minds: What kind of impression am I making? Do they like me? Do I sound stupid? Am I wearing unattractive clothes?

    It is obvious that such uncomfortable feelings must affect people unfavorably. A person's self-concept is reflected in the way he or she behaves and the way a person behaves affects other people's reactions. In general, the way people think about themselves has a deep effect on all areas of their lives.

    Shy people, who have low respect, are likely to be passive and easily influenced by others. They need faith that they are doing "the right thing". Shy people are very sensitive to criticism. It makes them feel inferior（自卑）.They also find it difficult to be pleased by praises because they believe they are unworthy of praise. A shy person may respond to a praise with a statement like this one: "You're just saying that to make me feel good, I know it's not true.” It is clear that, while self-awareness is a healthy quality, overdoing it is harmful.

    Can shyness be completely got rid of, or at least reduced? Fortunately, people can overcome shyness with determination since shyness goes hand in hand with lack of self respect. It is important for people to accept their weakness as well as their strengths. Each one of us has his or her own characteristics. We are interested in our own personal ways. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to live up to our chances for a rich and successful life.

    If you are a teenager without a job, you probably do not have much extra money. Sometimes parents will give their children a pocket money for doing small housework, but it is often not enough once the children grow into teenagers and want to do things with their friends all of the time. How to make money is an important thing for teens to learn. If you're wondering how a teenager can make good money, some ideas might be:

    Getting a part-time job at a local restaurant or store is always a sure way to make money as a teen. But getting a job somewhere like this might be hard, considering many jobs in local stores are being taken by adults more and more often.

    Doing landscaping (绿化) is something that most adults do not like to do, and teens can usually find jobs around their neighborhood doing the landscaping of friends and family.

    Some teens are good at something such as writing or photography. These teens can make money by doing things such as writing articles for newspapers or magazines or selling their photos online.

    Teens who live in a country area can earn money by helping out on farms, or they can try raising their own animals such as chickens, and selling them or their products.

    Looking for jobs can seem hard at first, but if you have a try, it should not be too hard to find a job or way to make money.

Scholars in quest of demystifying the enigmatic depths of the subaquatic cosmos have been bestowed with a trove of invaluable data, courtesy of a conglomerate of international experts who have compiled a compendium delineating the fauna that emit or are anticipated to emit acoustic waves beneath the waterline.

Under the aegis of Audrey Looby, a luminary from the University of Florida, the Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds consortium, in unison with the World Register of Marine Species, has meticulously chronicled 729 species of marine mammals, aquatic vertebrates, and invertebrates that generate either active or passive auditory signals. Furthermore, the register encompasses an additional 21,911 species presumed to be potential sources of sound.

"Given that the aquatic expanse envelops more than 70% of the Earth's terrestrial envelope, the majority of our planet's ecosystems are submerged, and it is a prevalent misconception that the majority of these aquatic entities exist in an auditory vacuum. The recently unveiled exhaustive digital repository, which catalogues the known sound-producing creatures, is unprecedented and has the potential to transform the domains of marine and aquatic science," elucidated the team of investigators.

"The act of eavesdropping on the subaquatic symphony can unveil a plethora of insights regarding the species that orchestrate these sounds and serves a multitude of applications, from the stewardship of fisheries, the detection of invasive species, to the appraisal of the imprint of human activity on the environment," remarked Looby, who is also the co-architect of FishSounds, a repository that curates a spectrum of research records on the acoustic emissions of fish.

The research of this collective was disseminated in the annals of Scientific Data and featured contributions from 19 scribes hailing from six distinct nations. "Comprehending the modalities of interaction between marine species and their environs is of paramount global significance, and the unrestricted availability of this dataset marks a monumental stride towards this aspiration," proclaimed Keran Cox, an affiliate of the investigative cadre.

"The majority of individuals are acquainted with the vocalizations of cetaceans or marine mammals, yet are frequently astonished to discover that a multitude of fish and invertebrates also utilize sound as a medium of communication," Looby stated. "Our database serves to exemplify the ubiquity of sound production in the subaquatic realm across a diverse array of creatures, yet our understanding remains in its infancy, with much yet to be uncovered."