The concept of culture has been defined many times, and although no definition has achieved universal acceptance, most of the definitions include three central ideas: that culture is passed on from generation to generation, that a culture represents a ready-made principle for living and for making day-to-day decisions, and, finally, that the components of a culture are accepted by those in the culture as good, and true, and not to be questioned. The eminent anthropologist George Murdock has listed seventy-three items that characterize every known culture, past and present.

    The list begins with Age-grading and Athletic sports, runs to Weaning and Weather Control, and includes on the way such items as Calendar, Fire making, Property Rights, and Tool making. I would submit that even the most extreme advocate of a culture of poverty viewpoint would readily acknowledge that, with respect to almost all of these items, every American, beyond the first generation immigrant, regardless of race or class, is a member of a common culture. We all share pretty much the same sports. Maybe poor kids don't know how to play polo, and rich kids don't spend time with stickball, but we all know baseball, football, and basketball. Despite some misguided efforts to raise minor dialects to the status of separate  tongues, we all, in fact, share the same language.

    There may be differences in diction and usage, but it would be ridiculous to say that all Americans don't speak English. We have the calendar, the law, and large numbers of other cultural items in common. It may well be true that on a few of the seventy-three items there are minor variations between classes, but these kinds of things are really slight variations on a common theme.

    There are other items that show variability, not in relation to class, but in relation to religion and ethnic background — funeral customs and cooking, for example. But if there is one place in America where the melting pot is a reality, it is on the kitchen stove; in the course of one month, half the readers of this sentence have probably eaten pizza, hot pastrami, and chow mein. Specific differences that might be identified as signs of separate cultural identity are relatively insignificant within the general unity of American life; they are cultural commas and semicolons in the paragraphs and pages of American life.

    Standing in the shower waiting for the water to het up could be a thing of the past, along with all the wasted water. Three and a half years ago, Lindy Honeychurch, a thirty-year-old Australian full-time mum living on a farm outside Launceston, didn't consider herself a very good water saver. Neither did her partner who often complained about it with good reasons. Their farm had to rely on tank water and solar power, which meant water had to be trucked in if he tank water ran out in summer.

    “I looked at where I could save because I could lead an easier life without the complaint,” she said. Modeling her idea on a car thermostat(恒温器), Lindy used her kids' magnetic(磁的)drawing board to design a device that diverts the cold water back down the hot water pipe. “The first aim when I started designing was to keep it really small and simple without having to use power. I wanted to keep it as something that everyone could use,” said Lindy.

    She got a patent for her design and took it to some engineers to have it tested out. At first, even though the engineers were amazed that she wasn't an engineer, she said she sometimes found it hard to be taken seriously. “My age was a real factor because in the plumbing(管路系统)and manufacturing industries you're dealing with people who've got a lot of experiences,” she said. But the engineers soon saw the potential of her design, which she estimated would save average families between 14,000 to 22,000 liters per year.” when you transfer that to the dollar savings on tank water that you have to buy, it can be a saving of $600 per year,” said Lindy.

    Armed with positive feedback from engineers and people using rainwater tanks, her design proved a great success. Soon she found a manufacturer early this year, and completed a state government commercial ready course to help her research, her markets and distribution channels. With an Australian Standard for her device just approved, she's about to start manufacturing and wishes to see her products on the shelves within the next few months. Once that happens, Lindy plans to return to being a full-time mum.

My Experience in Ghana

    I decided to take part in an exchange program in Ghana. The 30 of us participating in the program met up the first morning in Ghana to meet Fred, our guide in Ghana.

    We boarded the bus to Senase, a village of 3,000 in Northwest Ghana. Once we got to the village, we were greeted by the queen mother and the other elders. A young girl performed a dance for us with Ghanaian drums, and then the elders each thanked us for coming to the village and helping their children and their schools.

    After our meeting ended, we split up into three groups and went to different schools, spending most of the day handing out toothbrushes and school supplies, meeting with the children, and playing games with various classes. It was really interesting to see the schools and to see what all of the different classes were learning.

    We got back to our host's house that night literally seconds before the skies opened up over Senase, and since the power was out, Fred, Cari (my roommate) and I sat out under the roof listening to the pouring rain and talking about our lives. We were able to hear Fred's story, which was absolutely incredible. I can say it gave me a new sense of respect for the Ghanaian people, their unity in the face of tremendous hardship, and the immense amount of care and love they hold in their hearts, not only for their families but their entire community.

    The next day we performed our dance for one of the schools, to the delight (and laughter) of the children, queen mother, and principal. After that we were on the bus heading back.

    During the bus ride, new thoughts and questions filled my mind. Where is this fire Senase lit in my heart going to take me, and how can I feed it and build it into real change? How do I bring this back to my community, and then back home to my family and friends? These were only a few of the questions that I was struggling with and continue to struggle with, and I can't say I have found any answers yet. All I know is that Senase did light a fire within me, and I refuse to ever let it burn out.

    Nov. 21 is World Hello Day. It began back in the 1970s as part of an effort to make the world more peaceful. It was created by the United Nations just after the war between Israel and Egypt in 1973. The philosophy (理念) behind it is: Say “Hello” and stop war.

    It sounds like a fine idea, but most of us know that simply saying “Hello” won't bring about world peace. Still, on a smaller range, the simple act of saying hello to someone can make a lot of difference.

    This might not be obvious. After all, it's such a casual thing and requires so little effort. You raise your head to someone as you pass by them in the school corridor (走廊), say “Hello' then it's over.

    Although we might not realize it, a small thing like a greeting can mean a lot to a person. Many people are lonely because they're shy. They find it difficult to communicate with people, even though they want lo. It leads to them feeling cut off.

    On this basis, maybe it's a good idea, not just on Nov. 21, but every day, to remember to say “Hello” to as many people as we can. The stranger who hears your greeting may secretly smile in their heart. You might even make their day.

    Greeting other people is the easiest way to be polite. Politeness is the way we individual humans link up with the rest of the human world outside of our circles of family and friends. Politeness is one of the aspects of culture that make us a society rather than just many individuals living in the same space.

    No one said it better than the French author Joseph Joubert: “Politeness is the flower of humanity''. A “Hello” to a stranger is a small thing, and often neglected (忽视), but through it we can make the world better for another person.

    Robots are now being employed not just for dangerous tasks, such as discovering mines or rescuing people in disasters. They are also finding application as household helps and as nursing assistants. As increasing numbers of machines, equipped with the latest artificial intelligence, take on a growing variety of specialized and everyday tasks, the question of how people see them and behave towards them becomes ever more urgent.

    A team led by Sari Nijssen of Radboud University and Markus Paulus, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU), have carried out a study to determine the degree to which people show concern for robots and behave towards them based on moral principles.

    According to Sari Nijssen, the study set out to answer the following question:" Under what circumstances would adults be willing to sacrifice robots to save human lives?" The participants were faced with a hypothetical (假设的) moral dilemma: Would they be prepared to put a single person at risk in order to save a group of injured persons? In the situations presented the intended victim was either a human, a humanoid robot that had been humanized (人性化的) to various degrees or a robot that was clearly recognizable as a machine.

    The study suggested that the more the robot was humanized, the less likely participants were to sacrifice it. Situations that included vivid stories in which the robot was described as a merciful being or as a creature with its own understandings, experiences and thoughts, were more likely to stop the study participants from sacrificing it in the interests of anonymous (无名的) humans.

    "This result indicates that our study group attached a certain moral status to the robot," says Paulus. "One possible suggestion of this finding is that attempts to humanize robots should not go too far. Such efforts could come into conflict with their intended function—to be of help to us."