One of the most important things in the world is friendship. In order to have friends, you have to be a friend. But how can you be a good friend at school?

    Listen — Listen when they are talking. Don't say anything unless they ask you a question. Sometimes it's not necessary for you to have anything to say; they just need someone to talk to about their feelings.

    Help them — If your friend is ever in need of something, be there to help them. You should try to put them first, but make sure you don't do everything they want you to do. Try to take an extra (额外的) pencil or pen with you to classes in case (以防) they forget one. Have a little extra money in your pocket in case they forget something they need.

    Be there for them — Try to make something for your friend to help make them feel better in hard times. Making cards and encouraging them are among the nicest things you can do for a friend. Marilyn Monroe, a famous U.S. actor, once said, “I often make mistakes. Sometimes I am out of control. But if you can't stay with me at my worst, you are sure not to deserve (值得) to be with me at my best.” Always remember this! If you don't want to stay with your friends when they're in hard times, then you don't deserve to be with them when they're having a good time!

    Try to make plans with your friends. Go shopping, go for ice cream, have a party, go to a movie and so on. Take time to know each other even better by doing something you both enjoy. By planning things together, you both can have a good time. And you'll remember these things when you're all old!

    It was a simple letter asking for a place to study at Scotland's oldest university which helped start a revolution in higher education. A 140-year-old letter written by a lady calling for her to be allowed to study medicine at St Andrews University has been discovered by researchers. Written by Sophia Jex-Blake in 1873, the seven-page document, which urged the university to allow women to study medicine at the institution, was released yesterday on International Women's Day.

    The document was discovered buried in the university archives (档案) by part-time history student Lis Smith, who is completing her PhD at St Andrews Institute of Scottish Historical Research. She said: “We knew that Sophia Jex-Blake and her supporters, in their effort to open up university medical education for women, had written to the Senatus Academicus (校评议委员会) at St Andrews in an attempt to gain permission to attend classes there, but we didn't know documentary evidence existed. While searching the archives for information about the university's higher certificate for women, I was astonished to come across what must be the very letter Jex-Blake wrote.”

    In the letter, Sophia and her supporters offered to hire teachers or build suitable buildings for a medical school and to arrange for lectures to be delivered in the subjects not already covered at St Andrews. Although her letter was not successful, it eventually led to the establishment of the Ladies Literate in Arts at St Andrews, a distance-learning degree for women. The qualification, which ran from 1877 until the 1930s, gave women access to university education in the days before they were admitted as students. It was so popular that it survived long after women were admitted as full students to St Andrews in 1892.

    Ms Jex-Blake went on to help establish the London School of Medicine for Women in 1874. She was accepted by the University of Berne, where she was awarded a medical degree in January 1877. Eventually, she moved back to Edinburgh and opened her own practice.

    The world is too big to take in all at once. To make sense and beauty of it, you have to look at a small part at a time.

    In using a camera, you choose a small part through he view finder. You move the camera, "framing" pictures until you see one that pleases you. Then-click! If you make a good choice, your picture will please others, as well as yourself.

    "Wherever you are," says photographer Ernst Haas, "you are surrounded by pictures. The trick is to recognize them." His photograph of a twist of barbed wire shows what he means.

    Mr. Haas tells us of ways to practice seeing. Make a simple frame of black cardboard. Take it out of the doors and look through it at everyday things, large or small, far away or near.

    At first you may see nothing to interest you. But soon pictures seem to leap (跳) at you through the frame. Oil floating on water makes a picture in rainbow colors. Three people on the steps of an old house form a picture that seems to tell a story.

    Did you notice such things before you used the frame? Perhaps not. But, with practice, you soon do not need its help. You see things as artists do. Everywhere, shapes and colors catch your eye. Your mind takes "snapshots (快照)" of their patterns. Then, if you wish, you can share what you see by taking a photograph or by making a drawing or a painting.

    Sometimes it's fun to "see small". Did you ever notice the design of the seeds in sliced bananas? Have you looked deep inside a lily? Or seen the starburst in the center of a wet ice cube?

    Do you see colors as they really are? When you paint tree trunks, you would make them brown or black. But tree trunks are really gray, purple, yellow-green—almost any color except brown or black!

    Do you notice detail? Doing so can be in many ways. Remembering what you see is often useful, too. Practice can help you.

    A trick for helping you to remember detail is the double take. Look—don't look—then look again.

Family Fun in Canadian Museum of Nature

    Bring the whole family to rediscover our fully redecorated museum.

    WHAT TO SEE AND DO

    Check out What's On for all the events, educational activities and HD movies happening during your visit. Care for birds, dive down into the depths at the helm (舵柄) of a research submersible(潜水器) or explore a cave… on the first floor. Don't miss our gallery play areas on the third floor when visiting with kids. By visiting here, your children will learn more about nature. Check out Our Exhibitions which present our special exhibitions and our galleries. Be sure to stop at our Nature Boutique on the second floor for a vast selection of games, books and nature-related souvenirs from 9:30 am until the museum closes for the day.

    HOURS, ADMISSION, SERVICES AND MORE

    The Canadian Museum of Nature provides a host of information, images and videos on our websites about nature, such as http://www.nature.ca/en/family-fun and http://www.expeditionarctic.ca/.The museum also participates in several social networks. Follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

    America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while—then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.

    Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily, but truly can't manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.

    Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don't show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes,

    For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for pure business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!