Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?

    UBC Professor Simard explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was. In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through their co-operation and support, passing around necessary nutrition（营养）“depending on who needs it”.

    Nitrogen（氮）and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi（真菌）networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons（神经元）in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all.

    Simard talks about “mother trees”, usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down “mother trees” with no awareness of these highly complex “tree societies” or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest.

    “We didn't take any notice of it” Simard says sadly. “Dying trees move nutrition into the young trees before dying, but we never give them chance.” If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.

    George Bernard Shaw, the greatest and funniest British dramatist of the first half of the 20^th century, was born in Dublin, Ireland on July 26^th, 1856. His early life was not happy. His father was a selfish man who drank too much and could not support his family properly. His mother was a disappointed, unhappy woman who found more pleasure in studying music than in her children. Shaw and his two sisters received little love and attention from their mother while they were young. At the age of ten Shaw entered school. At first he was the best student, but soon he was at or near the bottom of his class.

    Although he did not like school, Shaw was a good, bright, curious student. His lifelong interest in everything from music and art to machines and medicine began at school. The interests of this tireless schoolboy were literature and music. He often entertained his classmates with stories he read.

    Early at the age of fifteen, he went to work in an office. He did well as an office clerk, but after five years he decided that he wanted to be a writer. He left Ireland and went to London, where he began to write seriously. Seventy-four years later the great dramatist died.

    The Lumière Brothers had their film shows, taken over 100 years ago, to 100 paying customers on December 8, 1985. One of their earliest films was a 30-second piece which showed a section of a railway platform. As the train approached, panic started in the theatre: people jumped and ran away. In their confusion, the audiences feared that a real train was about to crush them. That was the moment when cinema was born.

    Early cinema audiences often experienced the same confusion. In time, the idea of films became familiar, the magic was accepted — but it never stopped being magic. Film has never lost its unique power to embrace its audience and transport them to a different world.

    One effect of this realism was to educate the world about itself. Cinema makes the world smaller. Long before people travelled to America or anywhere else, they knew what other places looked like and how other people worked and lived. Undoubtedly, in the lives recorded in film people knew more about American life. Hollywood has dominated the world film market. American imagery — the cars, the cities, the cowboys became the primary imagery of film. Film carried American life and values around the globe.

    And, thanks to film, future generations will know the 20th century more familiarly than any other period. We can only imagine what life was like in the 14th century or in classical Rome. But the life of the modern world has been recorded on films. We shall be known better than any preceding generations.

    The “star” was another natural consequence of cinema. The cinema star was effectively born in 1910. Because everybody in the world seems to know who they are, they appear more real to us than we do ourselves. The star as magnified human self is one of cinema's most strange and enduring legacies(遗产).

    Cinema films originally were planned as short stories, because early producers doubted the ability of audiences to concentrate for more than the length of a reel. Then, in 1912, an Italian 2-hour film was hugely successful, and Hollywood settled upon the novel-length narrative that remains the dominant cinematic convention of today.

    And it has all happened so quickly. Almost unbelievably, it is only 100 years since that train arrived and the audience screamed and fled, perhaps, suddenly aware that the world could never be the same again — that, maybe, it could be better, brighter, more astonishing and more real than reality.

    People need to relax and enjoy themselves. One way they can have a good time is to watch a baseball game or another sports event. Even thousands of years ago, groups of people gathered to watch skilled athletes (运动员).

    Over 2000 years ago in Greece, certain days in the year were festival days. These were holidays when people stopped work and enjoyed themselves. They liked to watch athletes take part in races and other games of skill.

The most important festival was held every four years at the town of Olympia. It was held in honor of the Greek god Zeus (宙斯). For five days, athletes from all parts of the Greek world took part in the Olympic Games. At the Olympic Games, people could watch them box, run, jump and so on. There was a relay race between two teams of men in which a lighted torch (火矩) was passed from runner to runner. The Olympic Games were thought to be so important that cities which were at war with one another had to stop fighting. People were allowed to travel to the games safely. Thousands of people came to Olympia from cities in Greece and from her colonies (殖民地) in Africa, Asia and Italy. They met as friends to cheer their favorite athletes and to enjoy themselves.

Best Way to Save Money

    Although the best way to save money can vary from person to person, depending on age, family size and other characteristics, there are still some easy things that all shoppers can do to keep more money in their bank accounts.

    Avoid Impulse (冲动的) Purchases

    When you shop, a best way to save money is to have a plan in mind to help you avoid impulse purchases. For instance, you might leave your credit cards at home and only carry the exact amount of cash that you will need for your planned purchase. Some shoppers agree to discuss any purchases over a certain dollar amount with their spouses (配偶) first.

    Know When to Pay for Quality

    Sometimes the best way to save money in the long term is to spend a little more money right now. A good piece of furniture can stay in the family for decades. A high-quality pair of shoes will last longer than a bargain pair and prevent foot pain. Leaner cuts of meat and organic produce provide health benefits for your family.

    Buy Secondhand

    Check classified ads, thrift stores and garage sales for used clothing, toys, furniture, and much more available at a part of their original cost. For the most secondhand savings, check out groups like Freecycle where members offer unwanted items for free to anyone willing to pick them up.

    Borrow Instead of Buy

    If you're only going to use something once, try to borrow it instead of spending your money on it. Borrow a tool from your neighbor. Swap books with a friend. Check out the resources at your local library. You'll also be reducing disorder in your home.

    Recently, as the British doctor Robert Winston took a train from London to Manchester, he found himself becoming steadily angry. A woman had picked up her phone and begun a loud conversation, which would last an unbelievable hour. Furious, Winston began to tweet about the woman. He took her picture and sent it to his more than 40,000 followers.

    When the train arrived at its destination, Winston rushed out. He'd had enough of the woman's rudeness. But the press were now waiting for her on the platform. And when they showed her Winston's messages, she used just one word to describe Winston's actions: rude.

    Winston's tale is something of a microcosm(缩影) of our age of increasing rudeness, fueled by social media. What can we do to fix this?

    Studies have shown that rudeness spreads quickly, almost like the common cold. Just witnessing rudeness makes it far more likely that we, in turn, will be rude later on. The only way to avoid it is to deal with it face to face. We must say, "Just stop." For Winston, that would have meant approaching the woman, telling her that her conversation was frustrating other passengers and politely asking her to speak more quietly or make the call at another time.

    The rage and injustice we feel at the rude behavior of a stranger can drive us to do odd things. In my own research, surveying 2,000 adults, I discovered that the acts of revenge people had taken ranged from the ridiculous to the disturbing. Winston did shine a spotlight on the woman's behavior — but from afar, in a way that shamed her.

    We must instead combat rudeness head on. When we see it occur in a store, we must step up and say something. If it happens to a colleague, we must point it out. We must defend strangers in the same way we'd defend our best friends. But we can do it with grace, by handling it without a trace of aggression and without being rude ourselves. Because once rude people can see their actions through the eyes of others, they are far more likely to end that strain themselves. As this tide of rudeness rises, civilization needs civility.