Tulips(郁金香) are the national flower of Iran and Turkey. The European name for the flower is a misuse of the Persian word for turban(头巾), a mistake probably arising in the common Turkish custom of wearing flowers in the folds of the turban. Alternatively, the misuse may have arisen because this eastern flower, when not yet in full bloom, looks like a turban. In Persia, to give a red tulip was to declare your love for someone. The black center of the red tulip was said to represent the lover's heart, burned to a coal by love's passion.

    Originally growing in the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey), tulips were imported into Holland in the sixteenth century. When Carolus Clusius wrote the first major book on tulips in 1592, they became so popular that the tulips in his garden were stolen from time to time. As the Dutch Golden Age grew, so did this colorful flower. They were commonly seen in paintings and at festivals. In the mid-seventeenth century, tulips even created the first economics bubble（泡沫经济）, known as “Tulip Mania”. At that time, tulips were so expensive that they were used as money until the market for them crashed.

    Today, Holland is still known for its tulips and other flowers, often sincerely called “the flower shop of the world.” Tulips are planted in great fields of beautiful color, and transform the landscape into a sea of different colors. Tulip festivals are held throughout the country in spring. However, the most well-known tulip festival is organized in the Noordoostpolder, a province in the central Netherlands, each year. Held in the middle of the tulip fields, this flower festival runs from late April to early May. The Dutch people took their love of tulips abroad when they settled, and tulips and tulip festivals are now found in New York and Michigan, where the connection to their Dutch roots is still very strong.

    Remembering names is an important social skill. Here are some ways to master it.

1）Recite and repeat in conversation.

    When you hear a person's name，repeat it.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. You could also repeat the name in a way that does not sound forced or artificial.

2）Ask the other person to recite and repeat.

    You can let other people help you remember their names. After you've been introduced to someone，ask that person to spell the name and pronounce it correctly for you.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

3）Use associations.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} . For example，you could make a mental note: "Vicki Cheng -- tall, black hair. " To reinforce you're your associations, write them on a small card as soon as possible.

4）{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    When meeting a group of people, focus on remembering just two or three names. Free yourself from remembering every one. Few of the people in mass introductions expect you to remember their names. Another way is to limit yourself to learning just first names. Last names can come later.

5）Go early.

    Consider going early to conferences, parties and classes. Sometimes just a few people show up on time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. And as more people arrive, you can hear them being introduced to others—an automatic review for you.

A. Admit that you don't know.

B. Immediately say it to yourself several times without moving your lips.

C. There are fewer names for you to remember.

D. Limit the number of new names you learn at one time.

E. Link each person yon meet with one thing you find interesting or unusual.

F. Most people will be pleased by the effort you're making to learn their names.

G. You will be forgiven later.

    Google, one of the world's outstanding tech companies, was attacked. It wasn't its search engine that was attacked or its advertising platform or even its social network. Google⁺. Instead, it was a building.

    Two web security experts hacked (侵入) into its Wharf 7 office in Sydney, Australia, through Google's building management system (BMS). One of them, Billy Rios, says, “My colleague and I have lot of experience in web security, but it is not something that people couldn't learn. Once you understand how the system works, it is very simple.

    They found the system on Shodan, a search engine that lists devices connected to the Internet, and then ran it through their own software to identify who owned the building. In the case of the Google hacking, the researchers had no immoral purpose and just informed Google about what they found.

    According to Mr Rios, who runs security company Whitescope, there are 50, 000 buildings currently connected to the Internet, including research institutes, churches and hospitals, and 2, 000 of those are online with password protection, Martyn Thomas, a professor of IT at Gresham College in the UK, says, “It is beyond doubt that attempts to attack building management systems are happening all the time.”

    Making a building smart generally means connecting the systems that control heating, lighting and security to the Internet and the wider corporate network. There was a strong reason for doing this, said Andrew Kelly, principal security consultant at defence company Qinetiq.

    “Energy savings are the biggest factor in connecting building management systems to the corporate network,” he says. “It gives those who run the building better control and offers between 20% to 50% in energy savings,” he adds.

    But it also makes them less secure. And if any of these feels like a Hollywood filmy, think again.

    A monk lived with his brother, a one-eyed idiot(a very stupid person).One day ,when the monk was scheduled to have an interview with a famous theologian(a scientist who studies religions) who had come from far away to meet him, he needed to take care of some matters and would therefore be absent when the theologian arrived. He told his brother: "Receive this scholar and treat him well！Don't say a word to him，and everything will be OK."

    The monk left the temple. Upon returning, he went to meet his guest.

    "Did my brother receive you properly?" asked the monk.

    "You brother is outstanding. He's a great theologian!" exclaimed the theologian with great enthusiasm.

"What do you mean? My brother—a theologian?" stuttered(结巴地说)the surprised monk.

    "We had a passionate conversation," replied the scholar." We communicated professionally by means of gestures. I showed him one finger and he replied by showing me two. Logically, I answered with three fingers and then he astonished me by raising a closed fist, ending the debate. With one finger, I implied the unity of Buddha. With two fingers, he expanded my point of view by reminding me that Buddha was inseparable from his theory. Delighted by the reply, with three fingers I expressed: Buddha and his theory in the world. Then he suggested a wonderful response, showing me his fist: Buddha, his theory and the world, all together as one whole. "

    A little later, the monk went to look for his one-eyed brother.

    "So how did it go earlier with the theologian?" he asked.

    "Very simple," said the brother. "He made fun of me; he show me one finger emphasizing that I have but one eye. Not wanting to fall into the conflict, I showed that he was fortunate enough to have two eyes. Critically, he continued, 'Be that as it may, between us, we have three eyes.' That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Showing him a closed fist, I threatened to lay him out right then and there if he didn't stop his insulting challenges."

    Little New Year (Chinese: Xiaonian), usually a week before the lunar New Year, falls on Feb 8 this year. It is also known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, the deity(神) who oversees the moral character of each household. Here are six things you should know about the Little New Year, another sign of the start of spring.

    ⒈Offer sacrifices to Kitchen God

    One of the most distinctive traditions of the Little New Year is the burning of a paper image of the Kitchen God, who will report on the family's conduct over the past year. The offerings to the Kitchen God include pig's head, fish, sweet bean paste, melons, fruit, boiled dumplings, barley sugar, and Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat. Most of the offerings are sweets of various varieties. It is thought that this will seal the Kitchen God's mouth and encourage him to only say good things about the family when he ascends to heaven to make his report.

    ⒉House cleaning

    According to Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities' timely departure people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their houses, down to every last drawer and cupboard.

    ⒊Eat Guandong candy

    Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat, is a traditional snack that Chinese people eat on the Festival of the Kitchen God.

    ⒋Paste paper-cuts to windows

    In the Little New Year, old couplets and paper-cuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down, and new window decorations, New Year's posters, and auspicious(吉利的) decorations are pasted up.

    ⒌Bath and hair-cut

    As the old Chinese saying goes, whether they're rich or poor, people often have a haircut before the Spring Festival. The activity of taking bath and haircut is often taken on the Little New Year.

    ⒍Preparations for Spring Festival

    People start to stock up necessary provisions for the Spring Festival since the Little New Year. Everything needed to make offerings to the ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be purchased in advance.

    In early November of 1942, my geology (地质学)class was supposed to go on a field trip to see the mica mine (云母矿). Although it rained, everyone showed up on time. I was the only girl in the class. We all fit into two cars.

    Near Deary, Mr. Tier, our teacher, went into a store to ask about the direction, while townsmen looked at us with curiosity. On the store owner's advice, we drove out into the hills for a few miles. Then we left the cars. We were afraid they would get stuck in the mud.

    Eventually, we located the mine near the top of the mountain. There was a very small hole, running about two or three hundred feet into the mountainside. The passage (通道) was so narrow that we could touch both sides with our hands, and not tall enough to allow us to stand up straight. The first boy held the torch; we took hold of the backs of each other's coats, in a line, and followed him in, ducking our heads. After getting in, we were disappointed because it was not the mine our teacher was looking for.

    The rain was coming down hard as we started back to the cars to go home. Back at Deary, we went into a drugstore and stood around its big heating stove to dry out. The clerk was a middle­aged lady. Seeing our entirely wet hair and clothes, she handed each of us a cup of hot water immediately and asked if there was anything wrong with any of us.

    Hiking eight miles in the rain had not reduced our interest at all. We all felt we had had a wonderful time, even if we didn't find the mine.