The first Starbucks (星巴克) coffee shop opened in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It was a small coffee shop that roasted its own coffee beans. The coffee shops business did well, and by 1981 there were three more Starbucks shops in Seattle.

    Things really began to change for the company in 1981. That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who ran Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen equipment (设备). He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers and he was curious about the company. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did, and he liked what he saw. He wanted to become part of the company. In 1982, the original (原先的) Starbucks owners hired (聘用) Schultz as the company's head of marketing.

    In 1983, Schultz travelled to Italy. The special atmosphere of the coffee bars there caught his eyes. To Schultz it seemed that Italians spent their daily lives in three places: home, work, and coffee bars. His experience in Italy gave Schultz a new idea for Starbucks back in Seattle.

Schultz created an atmosphere for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable, and customers (顾客) everywhere seemed to like it. Between 1987 and 1992, Starbucks opened 150 new shops—and that was only the beginning. In fact, by the year 2000, three new Starbucks shops opened somewhere around the world every day!

    Today, Starbucks has thousands of shops, including shops in twenty-six countries. One thing that helps make Starbucks succeed in cities outside the United States is the way Starbucks works with local shops and restaurants. By working together with a store already in the city, Starbucks gets an understanding of customers in the city. This understanding helps Starbucks open shops in the right locations for their customers.

My son, Kevin, loved wrestling (摔跤运动) as he was growing up. When he entered high school, he showed a lot of athletic ability. Even as a freshman wrestler, we could see the hope of his future, and he went on to improve each year. As a senior, he'd become the leader of a team that set an unbelievable record. Just as we expected, he went into the state tournament (锦标赛). 

Then he won four matches and ranked number one. Here we were, in the finals of the state tournament, ready to win our championship—we still didn't have a state championship when his high school career was over. 

Unluckily, his last match didn't go well! I felt terrible, and I was unwilling to accept what had just happened and unable to believe it. I painfully watched Kevin as he shook hands with his opponent (对手) and stood calmly as the judge raised his opponent's hand in victory. Then he quietly walked out of the gym. 

A few weeks later, I received a letter from Kevin's school. In the letter, the principal praised Kevin's devotion to his team, his respect to his opponents and his spirit of competition. After I read this, I cried. 

For years, I had watched every single match where Kevin had wrestled in high school, but I hadn't noticed all the outstanding qualities that his principal (校长) mentioned. I always focused on the wins. And when he didn't get that final win, I was especially hurt and disappointed. I'd failed to realize that Kevin was working hard to achieve victories, but always performing with character no matter whether he won or lost. 

At that moment, my son became my mentor (导师). He taught me that winners in life appreciate the pursuit more than the victory itself. 

Sometimes when the rain falls hard and fast on you, it might hurt a little. But what happens when it hits a mosquito(蚊子)?

In 2012, David Hu, a scientist at Georgia Tech, became interested in this problem and decided to do a research. He used a high- speed camera so that he could watch the mosquitoes in very slow motion and find out what they' re doing when they' re out in the rain.

What he found is that when a raindrop falls on a mosquito, it's like when a bus hits a person. Besides, the little insect(昆虫) is hit by a raindrop about once every 20 seconds. So why don't we see many dead mosquitoes after it rains?

A mosquito is as big as a raindrop, but it is much lighter—0.002g only. This saves its life in raindrop hits. Because the mosquito is so light, when it is hit by a raindrop, it won't experience a force that is strong enough to kill it.

The study also found that when a mosquito is hit by a raindrop, the insect is pushed by the raindrop and falls together with it. But the mosquito doesn't get wet easily because it is covered with hairs which keep off water. After dropping about 6 cm, it will roll off the raindrop and fly away.

However, this trick isn't always successful. If the mosquito flies too low when it is hit by the raindrop, it won't have time to fly off. Then it will hit the ground and meet its death.

Have you ever been to Taiwan? Do you want to pay a visit there? We'll show you the best places in Taiwan. Here we'd like to introduce an eight- day tour to you. 

Animal superstars

Recently（最近）, some cute animals have got so many fans online. Why are they so popular（受欢迎）?

Panda Huahua

The full name of this three - year- old animal star is Cheng Hehua. She lives in Chengdu, Sichuan. and visitors may wait for up to three hours to just see her. Why do people like her? Because she is shorter than other pandas of her age. That makes her look fat and round. Some people even say she looks like a triangular（三角形的） rice ball when she sits. That's really fun!

Capybara

Capybaras are the biggest rodents（啮齿动物） on Earth. Nowadays, the name "capybara" has become a buzzword（热词） in China, and people like capybara toys. Why do people like capybaras? Because they are friendly. They can make friends with everyone - turtles（乌龟）, ducks or even monkeys. Sometimes, capybaras become "animal buses" while moving. They take small animals for a free ride.