Jimmy is an automotive mechanic, but helost his job a few months ago. He has good heart, but always feared applyingfor a new job.

One day, he gathered up all his strengthand decided to attend a job interview. His appointment was at 10 am and it wasalready 8:30. While waiting for a bus to the office where he was supposed to beinterviewed, he saw an elderly man wildly kicking the tyre(轮胎） of hiscar. Obviously there was something wrong with the car. Jimmy immediately wentup to lend him a hand. When Jimmy finished working on the car, the old manasked him how much he should pay for the service. Jimmy said there was no needto pay him; he just helped someone in need, and he had to rush for aninterview. Then the old man said, “Well, I could take you to the office foryour interview. It's the least I could do. Please. I insist.” Jimmy agreed.

    Upon arrival, Jimmy found a long line ofapplications waiting to be interviewed. Jimmy still had some grease on himafter the car repair, but he did not have much time to wash it off or have achange of shirt. One by one, the applicants left the interviewer's office withdisappointed look on their faces. Finally his name was called. The interviewerwas sitting on a large chair facing the office window. Rocking the chair backand forth, he asked, “Do you really need to be interviewed?” Jimmy's heartsank. “With the way I look now, how could I possibly pass this interview?” hethought to himself.

    Then the interviewer turned the chairand to Jimmy's surprise, it was the old man he helped earlier in the morning.It turned out he was the General Manager of the company.

  “Sorry I had to keep you waiting, but Iwas pretty sure I made the right decision to have you as part of our workforcebefore you even stepped into the office. I just know you'd be a trustworthyworker. Congratulations!” Jimmy sat down and they shared a cup of well-deservedcoffee as he landed himself a new job.

    Here are some themed attractions inside this Disneyland Park that all have something to offer.

Mickey Avenue

    Once you entered the Disneyland Park, Mickey Mouse and his friends gather along the street welcoming you. This place is also a busy bazaar where tourists can select varieties of goods and enjoy tasty snacks while wandering around.

Gardens of Imagination

    It is the first garden-designed Disney park in the world, with bridges and paths connecting seven themed areas. Chinese Zodiac Mural (生肖壁画) in the Garden of the Twelve Friends turn the movie figures into twelve animal signs. Guests can try to find their own zodiac sign on the wall and take photos with it.

Adventure Isle

    Adventure Isle takes visitors into a newfound ancient tribe(部落). Drifting down the river on the rafts, you will pass through unknown places and rush into the dark caves, meeting the huge mysterious monsters.

Tomorrowland

    The carefully designed Tomorrowland presents endless possibilities of the future. Using high tech, this park is like the settings of science fiction movies. The shooting program, “Buzz lightyear Planet rescue”, gives visitors a mission to save the world.

Admission Fee

Note:

Children between 1 and 1.4 meters tall and seniors aged over 65 can enjoy a 25% discount on the ticket price.

    Before I studied psychology, I used to think that people would laugh when funny things occurred. While I was right about that, I discovered there are lots of other psychological factors that make people laugh other than the funny part of a joke. When someone laughs at a joke, there will usually be more than one reason that makes him laugh—and the more reasons there are, the more powerful the joke will be.

    I was attending a stand-up comedy show in Egypt, and when the man started to make fun of pedestrians crossing streets, everyone laughed their hearts out. The main reason those people strongly laughed was that almost all of them felt angry towards pedestrians who crossed streets carelessly. The joke wasn't only funny, it also made the audience feel that they were right about being angry at those pedestrians. That is, people were laughing both because of the funny joke and because of the happiness experienced as a result of the psychological support they got.

    The better a joke makes a person feel, and the more it includes other psychological factors, the more the person will like it. For example, if you envy one of your friends, and someone tells a joke that is funny and, at the same time, makes your friend seem stupid, then you will probably laugh at it louder than if you weren't jealous of him.

    In short, we don't laugh only when we hear something funny; we also laugh when we experience some kind of happiness that results from the other psychological factors involved in the joke. I strongly discourage making fun of anyone or belittling someone to make someone else laugh. All I want to explain is that if your joke supports a person's emotions, he will certainly like it a lot.

    Do you often feel lonely? What do you do when you feel that way? Hide yourself away and spend your time reading, watching TV or walking around?

You might think that feeling lonely is just like feeling happy, sad or scared — that it's just one of your various moods. That is true. However, if you let yourself be lonely for too long without dealing with it, you could be making a serious mistake.

    Doctors have known for some time that feeling lonely is bad for the mind. It can lead to mental health problems such as depression, stress and reduce confidence. “Being lonely means not feeling connected or cared for, but it's not about being mentally alone,” Lisa Jaremka, scientist from Ohio State University, US, told Live Science in January. And there's growing evidence that not having friends is connected with physical illness as well.

    In 2006, for example, scientists studied 2,800 women who had cancer. They found that those who had few friends or family were five times more likely to die of their disease than women with many social contacts. Also, even healthy people had a better chance of falling ill if they felt left out by others, according to the BBC.

    The results have scientists thinking that loneliness might hurt the immune system(免疫系统), which protects the body from diseases.

    Hoping to prove this theory, Jaremka and her research team put volunteers(志愿者) through a stress test. During the test, volunteers were asked to make an unprepared speech in front of a group of stony-faced people. The researchers found that volunteers who said they were lonely in their daily lives felt more stress during the test. And their blood samples showed that all the stress had managed to cause harmful changes to their immune system.

     “Loneliness has been thought of in many ways as a chronic stressor(慢性增压器) — a socially painful situation that can last for quite a long time, ” explained Jaremka, who led the study.

    The number of people suffering from loneliness is increasing all over the world. However, solving the problem is easier said than done. It won't work to just “tell anyone to go out and find someone to love you”, said Jaremka. “We need to create support networks.”

    When was the last time someone unexpectedly did something nice for you? Not someone you knew, but a total stranger? It's happened to me a few times, but two instances really stand out.

    A few years ago, I was dining in a restaurant with a friend who kept talking about himself, completely not aware of the fact that I was sitting there in misery. It wasn't my friend's talks that made me suffer. I was recovering from a broken heart, and just sitting down to dinner reminded me of my last relationship. I could have burst into tears right there at the table.

    When we picked up the check, the waitress said, ―Your meal was already paid for.  My friend and I didn't have a clue how it happened. Then I remembered a man coming in out of the corner of my eye. He was dressed in mostly white, sat down at the bar, had a beer, and stayed for maybe ten minutes. The waitress said, ―Yes, the gentleman in white paid for you.  It felt like an angel was saying ―I see you, honey. It's going to be okay.

    Just last year, I was running a half-marathon. With just 1 mile to go, I was out of gas. Runners call it ―hitting the wall . I thought I couldn't move another inch. Out of nowhere, a stranger came up to me and said, ―What's your name, sweetie? Jennifer? Okay, Jennifer, let's go! Come on! It's just around the corner! You can do it!  And he ran with me until I picked up my pace. I found him at the finish line to thank him for the encouragement only to learn he wasn't even supposed to be in the race that day.

    I still shake my head when I think of these momentary angels that came to me at my point of need.

    Do you have any experiences like these?

Dickens House Museum

Type: Historic House / Palace

Address: 2 Victoria Parade, Broadstairs, Kent, CT10 1QS

About

Dickens House Museum, Broadstairs celebrates Charles Dickens' long connection with Broadstairs from 1837 to 1851, through personal items and letters. Guided tours available.

The museum is housed in the cottage that was Charles Dickens' inspiration for the home of Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield. David's description of Betsey's cottage with its square gravelled garden full of flowers, and a parlour of old fashioned furniture still fits today.

The character Betsy Trotwood is based on Miss Mary Pearson Strong who lived in the cottage that is now the museum. According to the reminiscences of Charles Dickens' son Charley, he and his father regularly had tea and cakes in the parlour (会客室) with the kindly and charming Miss Mary Pearson Strong. He also remembers that Miss Pearson Strong was completely convinced of her right to stop the passage of donkeys along the cliff top in front of her cottage. This belief became the donkey incident for the character of Betsy Trotwood, with the famous quote: "Janet! Donkeys!"

Spread over four floors, the Charles Dickens Museum holds the world's most important collection of paintings, rare editions, manuscripts, original furniture and other items relating to the life and work of Dickens. Perhaps the best-known exhibit is the portrait of Dickens known as Dickens' Dream by R. W. Buss, an original illustrator of The Pickwick Papers. This unfinished portrait shows Dickens in his study at Gads Hill Place surrounded by many of the characters he had created.

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