Weddings in the United States vary as much as the people do. There are church weddings with a great deal of fanfare(仪式上的短曲); there are weddings on mountain tops with guests barefooted; there have been weddings on the ocean floor with oxygen tanks for the guests. But many weddings, no matter where or how they are performed, include certain traditional customs.

    Before a couple is married, they become engaged. And then invitations are sent to those who live nearby, their close friends and their relatives who live far away. When everything is ready, then comes the most exciting moment.

    The wedding itself usually lasts between 30 and 40 minutes. The wedding party enters the church while the wedding march is played. The bride carrying a bouquet enters last with her father who will “give her away”. The groom enters the church from a side door. When the wedding party is gathered by the altar, the bride and groom exchange vows(誓言). It is traditional to use the words “to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.” Following the vows, the couple exchange rings. Wearing the wedding rings on the fourth finger of the left hand is an old custom.

    After the ceremony, there is often a party, called a “reception” which gives the wedding guests an opportunity to congratulate the new couple.

    The car in which the couple leaves the church is decorated with balloons. The words “Just Married” are painted on the trunk or back window. And then the couple go in their honeymoon.

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    Dutch masters exhibition in Beijing

    The 17th century Dutch Golden Age had several significant artists and a range of great pieces produced during the period—including Jan Vermeer's Young Woman at Virginal,Jan Lievens' Boy in a Cape,and Turban and Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes.

    Some of the most refined examples of the time,including the three pieces mentioned above,will make their debut（首次亮相）in China as part of a world tour of The Leiden Collection.

    If you go:

    9 a.m.-5 p.m.,June 17-Sept 3 (closed on Mondays).National Museum of China,I Wusi Avenue,Dongcheng district.010-6400-1476.

    Ticket: 50 yuan ($7)

    The Age of Mechanical Reproduction

    The Age of Mechanical Reproduction,the latest exhibition at the Riverside Art Museum,features 41 artworks of US pop icon Andy Warhol,covering art installations,paintings and photographs.Warhol's well-known installation Electric Chair is a highlight of the show,which is also its debut in Asia.

    If you go:

    10 a.m.-5 p.m.,through August 28 (closed on Mondays).The Riverside Art Museum,Hongyan Road,Chaoyang district.010-5309-2062.

    Ticket: 60 yuan

    Back with a bang

    Beijing-based hand Escape Plan will hold a concert in Beijing this weekend.The band is most famous for the song The Brightest Star in the Night Sky.

    If you go:

    7:30 p.m.,June 17.Beijing Worker's Gymnasium,Gongti Beilu,Chaoyang district.400-610-3721.

    Ticket: 280-980 yuan

    Purple clay teapots

    Yixing purple clay potteries are a vital part of Chinese pottery culture and have been included in China's list of national intangible cultural heritage（国家非物质文化遗产）.A selection of more than 80 purple clay teapots will go on display at the Poly Art Museum starting Friday.The exhibit will include a range of delicate teapot works of Ji Yishun,Wang Xiaolong and Gao Lijun,who are all inheritors（继承人）the time-honored（历史悠久的）pottery handicraft.

    If you go:

    9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.(closed on Sundays),through June 30.Poly Art Museum,New Poly Plaza,1 Chaoyangmen North Street 9.010-6500-8117.

    Ticket: 20 yuan

    Cakan is a successful businessman from Montenegro, who has earned himself nicknames(昵称)like “the best boss” and “Brother” by being surprisingly generous to his employees.

    Cakan, who owns "Cakan Sports", the largest sporting goods store chain in Montenegro, has been making news headlines for years, but not for his professional success. He is best known for the generosity he shows to his faithful and hard-working employees. The businessman firmly believes that his company can boom only if he keeps his employees happy, and to that end, he has offered the best of them some pretty unbelievable presents.

    Cakan first surprised his workers back in 2012, when he offered four of them brand new cars — 2 VW Golf 6 and 2 VW polo — complete with paid insurance. They were some of the oldest and most hard-working employees of Cakan Sports, and since the company had recently moved its operations outside the city, Cakan thought his best people shouldn't have to struggle to get to work. "When we saw them, we were speechless," Danijela, one of the receivers, remembers. "While the boss was saying 'his is a gift for you', all I could think of was 'this is not real, this can't be happening to us'.” But this was just one of the generous ways Cakan has rewarded his employees over the years. In 2014, after hearing that one of his workers had been saving up his paychecks so he could buy a ticket to the world Cup soccer final, in Brazil, he took him there himself, at his own expense.

    Asked why he doesn't use cheaper means of motivating his employees, like a small raise or a cash bonus, Cakan had this to say, "Money comes and goes, but memories are forever." Asked why many of his employees call him "Brother", Cakan told a reporter that it was because "brothers always help each other".

    People who like travelling have their reasons. They believe that travelling can help them expand their field of view, especially in the geographical and historical sense. They also think that touring will give them more chances to enjoy different kinds of food and experience new things that would never be brought by other activities. But those who dislike travelling also have some reasons.

    Travelling, in my opinion, does more good than harm. Most importantly, it broadens  (使扩大) our mind. We can get in touch with other civilizations (文明), cultures, customs and ideas.

    Through history, most people travelled because of necessity (必要性)—not for pleasure. People travelled just in order to remain alive. They searched for food to eat or places to live in. They sometimes ran away from enemies. This is not to say that no one ever travelled just for the fun of it. In ancient times, for example, rich Romans travelled all the way to Greece to take part in the Olympic Games, and festivals. Of course, some people decided to travel just out of curiosity (好奇心). They wanted to find out what it looked like beyond the horizon (地平线). Also business travel has been going on for centuries. Traders could not only make money but also learn to speak several languages and be introduced to different cultures.

    So, travelling does enrich our mind and draw new ideas to us. There is no doubt that we can get much from it.

    When I was 3 years old, I was found to be deaf in my left ear and have a small problem in my right. Being hard of hearing has been difficult, but I've never lived in a state of self-hating sorrow.

    Imagine being able to shut out all sounds as you lay your head down to sleep by simply rolling over onto one side. That's my reality when I sleep on my “good ear”, and it even makes me feel like a superhero sometimes.

    People call my deaf side my “bad ear”, but when I wear my hearing aid, I have access to a range of features(特征)that some other deaf people don't.

    In cinemas, for example, with one click of a button I can enjoy a whole film as though it were whispered to me from the mouths of the actors.

    Having a hearing aid hasn't always felt good, however.

    On the first day I got my aid, when I was 8, I took it to school for show-and-tell. As I explained how it worked to my classmates, a boy yelled out, “Aren't those for old men?”

    At that moment, I felt different. It took a long time for me to get over that sense of being so unlike my peers(同龄人).

    But it's not just choolkids who can make us deaf and hard-of-hearing people feel like burdens(负担).

    Every video on social media that lacks subtitles, for example, means an entire community of deaf people is unable to enjoy it.

    Completely deaf people are excluded from enjoying many movies too, as subtitles in cinemas are almost impossible to find.

    And with hearing aids costing around $2,500 each, it can be hard for many people to afford to be able to listen to the things that others take for granted.

    As for me, I can listen to music, enjoy films, and catch conversations – I'm lucky.

I'm deaf, but I can still hear everything. I've been blessed with wonderful life experiences.

    Schoolgirl Lorna O'Brien was in her kitchen when she looked out of the window and was terrified (惊恐的) at what she saw. "Help!" she shouted. "There's smoke and fire coming out of the kitchen window opposite."

    Her father, John, ran across to the house while her 15­year­old brother Paul called the fire service. Lorna, 16, rushed across and caught up with her dad, who had just kicked open the front door. They looked upstairs where they saw smoke coming out of the top flat. Lorna followed her father into the flat, where they found a pan (平底锅) on fire in the kitchen and the young mother, Mane Linn, who had been asleep, passed out (失去意识) in the smoke­blackened sitting room. Lorna's dad threw a wet cloth over the pan and then turned off the stove (炉子) before starting to help Mane through the smoke down the stairs to safety.

    Suddenly Mane started crying, "My baby, my baby!" "Where's the baby?" asked Lorna. "In the bedroom," Mane shouted back. While John pulled the crying mother from the house, Lorna, without a thought for her own safety, turned back to search for the baby. She found the little girl, 14­month­old Ann, lying with her eyes closed.

    Lorna quickly took the baby, rushed downstairs through the fire and smoke. "It didn't cross my mind at the time that I was near to dying when I rushed through the smoke，" said Lorna. "I was just thinking of the baby. Even after I came out of the house, I wasn't frightened."

    When help arrived, baby Ann and her mum were taken to hospital for treatment. It was only when Lorna got back into the safety of her own house that she realised the danger she had faced. "I started shaking all over and thought of what could have happened to me，" she said.