Wondering where to watch the fireworks on the fourth Friday of July? Here are some restaurants where you can sit, grab a bite to eat and watch the show.

    The Roof on Wilshire offers a view of the city, so chances are that you'll be able to catch a fireworks show while you're up there. The restaurant will also offer an all-you-can-eat menu for $20 that includes all beef hot dogs and sweet potato chips. The festivities will take place from 2 to 11 pm. Reservations are recommended. 6317 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, (323) 852-6002.

    Whiskey Red's is located in Marina Del Rey. Beginning at 5:30 pm, it will include live music from Jack of Hearts. The event is free and open to the public. Guests can make reservations from 5:30 to 10 pm. It costs $59 to reserve a seat on the patio(露台) and $49 for indoor seating. Kids aged 5 to 12 need $25 for a seat outside and $20 for an indoor seat. Kids aged four and below are free. 13813 Fiji Way, Marina Del Rey, (310) 823-4522.

    High Rooftop lounge in Venice at the top of the Hotel Erwin offers views of the Venice coastline. The fireworks show starts at 9 pm. The rooftop lounge (休息室) offers a full menu of cocktails and a selection of snacks. 1697 Pacific Avenue, Venice Beach, (800) 786-7789.

    The last one is Carbon Beach Club at the Malibu Inn. Here you can see fireworks from a seat on the restaurant's oceanfront balcony from 6 to 9:30 pm. Reservations are recommended. 22878 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, (310) 456-6444.

    Culture can affect not just language and customs, but also how people experience the world on surprisingly basic levels.

    Researchers, with the help of brain scans, have a shocking differences in perception (感知) between Westerners and Asians, what they see when they look at a city street, for example, or even how they perceive a simple line in a square, according to findings published in a leading science journal.

    In Western countries, culture makes people think of themselves as highly independent individuals. When looking at scenes, Westerners tend to focus more on central objects than on their surroundings. East Asian cultures, however, emphasize inter-dependence. When Easterners look at a scene, they tend to focus on the surroundings as well as the object.

    Using an experiment involving two tasks, Dr. Hedden asked subjects to look at a line simply to estimate its length, a task that played to American's strengths. In another, they estimated the line's length relative to the size of a square, an easier task for the Asians.

    The level of brain activity, by tracking blood flow, was then measured by Brain Scanners. The experiment found that although there was no difference in performance, and the tasks were very easy, the levels of activity in the subjects' brain were different. For the Americans, areas linked to attention were more, when they worked on the task they tended to find more difficult — estimating the line's size relative to the square. For the Asians, the attention areas lit up more during the harder task also—estimating the line's length without comparing it to the square. The findings are a reflection of more than ten years of previous experimental research into East-West differences.

    In one study, for instance researchers offered people a choice among five pens; four red and one green. Easterners were more likely to choose a red pen while Westerners were more likely to choose the green one.

    Culture is not affecting how you see the world, but how you choose to understand and internalize(使内化) it.

    But such habits can be changed. Some psychological studies suggest that when an Easterner goes to the West or vice versa, habits of thought and perception also begin to change. Such research gives us clues to how our brain works and is hopeful for us to develop programs to improve our memory, memory techniques and enhance and accelerate our learning skills.

    Have you ever been sad because of failure? Please remember, for quite often achieving what you set out to do is not the most important thing.

    A boy decided to dig a deep hole behind his house. As he was working, a couple of older boys stopped by to watch. “What are you doing?” asked one of the visitors. “I want to dig a hole all the way through the earth!” the boy answered excitedly. The older boys began to laugh, telling him that digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible. After a while, the boy picked up a jar. He showed it to the visitors. It was full of all kinds of stones and insects. Then he said calmly and confidently, “Maybe I can't finish digging all the way through the earth, but look at what I've found during this period!”

    The boy's goal was far too difficult, but it did cause him to go on. And that is what a goal is for－to cause us to move in the direction we have chosen, in other words, to cause us to keep working!

    Not every goal will be fully achieved. Not every job will end up with a success. Not every dream will come true. But when you fall short of your aim, maybe you can say, “Yes, but look at what I've found along the way! There are so many wonderful things having come into my life because I tried to do something!” It is in the digging that life is lived. It is the unexpected joy on the journey that really makes sense.

    Larry Bird was born in 1965 in a small town in the Middle Western State of Indiana. He was tall, and good at playing basketball. He attended Indiana State University. Bird led the team into the College Basketball Championship Game.

    After completing his college studies, Larry Bird began playing professional basketball for the Boston Celtics. He remained with the Celtics for all his professional career. During those 13 years, Larry Bird was named the Most Valuable Player of the Year three times. He scored more than 21, 000 points, and he played in 13 of the highest scoring games in his team's history. Once he scored 60 points in just one game.

    During his very successful basketball career, Larry Bird suffered a number of injuries. In 1989, he stopped playing because of pain in his feet. He returned in 1990, but the pain in his feet returned too. In the next two years he experienced more medical problems, and he missed many games.

    Larry Bird did play on the Dream Team－the first Olympic Team with professional players. However, after winning the gold medal in Barcelona, he announced that he would retire from professional basketball. Larry Bird said he would have liked to play a little longer, but he could not because of his health problems. He also said it was a good time to leave the game. He wanted to be remembered as a winner.

    The annual World Economic Forum (经济论坛) took place in Davos, Switzerland, in Jan. 23-26, 2018. What did Chinese entrepreneurs (企业家) speak in the forum? Are there some quotable quotes for you?

    Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group

    "I think globalization cannot be stopped — no one can stop globalization, no one can stop trade. If trade stops, the world stops. Trade is the way to dissolve (溶解，结束) the war not cause the war," said Ma in Davos, "Google, Facebook, Amazon and Alibaba — we are the luckiest companies of this century. But we have the responsibility to have a good heart, and do something good."

    Richard Liu, founder and chief executive officer of JD

    "Business is not only a way to make money but also a way to contribute yourself, to help people," Liu said in a speech in Davos. "How can we face the fractured (分化的) world? That's the topics of the Davos this year. I think a very important thing in business is cooperation. If we can unite, work together, if we work very closely, I think we can bring more hope to the people and we can build more trust between the people, countries and companies and partners," he said.

    Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip

    "Tourism is a sunrise industry. Since I entered Ctrip, every year there are new comers, which, first of all, shows that tourism is booming." Sun told Sina.com in Davos. "We invested heavily in ABC. A refers to AI, B is big data, and C is cloud computing. As we continue to expand overseas, these three will be very good weapons for us. So we think those mean opportunity," she said.

    Hu Xiaoming, president of Aliyun

    "In 2018, people will see the development in various countries more closely connected with cloud computing. More manufacturing enterprises and financial institutions will start to use 'cloud', and cloud computing will increase the efficiency of technology and finance," Hu told Xinhua in Davos.

    Of the several films Hirokazu has made about childhood and children, this one is the most modest, but no less pleasing for its delicate style and small setting. I Wish was originally called Miracle, and the change is for the better. The two-word title makes you want to know who's wishing for what, while the single word sounds plain and self-praising. This wise and funny film works small miracles in describing such a moment when kids turn from the wishfulness of childhood into shaping the world for themselves.

    The sweetly reflective hero, a sixth-grader named Koichi, starts out by wishing for a volcano to erupt. Not just any volcano, but the one that towers above his town, smoking heavily and giving off ash. An eruption would lead to a withdrawing, which would lead, at least in his mind, to a reunion with his father and kid brother, who've been living in Hakata while Koichi lives with his mother and retired grandparents in Kagoshima. The volcano, knowing nothing of this, refuses to erupt, but Koichi hears of another approach to realizing the desired miracle.

    One of the pleasures of I Wish is watching how kids behave—how Koichi attacks his dinner, for example. Another pleasure is rediscovering how kids think. These kids can be logical and ever so tricky. But children's thought processes can also be fancy. A boy wishes he could play baseball like one of baseball stars, who eats curry for breakfast; so he, too, starts eating curry for breakfast, instead of practicing on the field. Another boy tries to wish his dead dog, Marble, back to life. And what does Koichi finally wish for? I wish you'd see this delightful film to find out.