Once when I was facing a decision that involved high risk, I went to a friend. He looked at me for a moment, and then wrote a sentence containing the best advice I've ever had: Be bold and brave — and mighty (强大的) forces will come to your aid.

      Those words made me see clearly that when I had fallen short in the past, it was seldom because I had tried and failed. It was usually because I had let fear of failure stop me from trying at all. On the other hand, whenever I had plunged into deep water, forced by courage or circumstance, I had always been able to swim until I got my feet on the ground again.

          Boldness means a decision to bite off more than you can eat. And there is nothing mysterious about the mighty forces. They are potential powers we possess: energy, skill, sound judgment, creative ideas — even physical strength greater than most of us realize.

       Admittedly, those mighty forces are spiritual ones. But they are more important than physical ones. A college classmate of mine, Tim, was an excellent football player, even though he weighed much less than the average player. “In one game I suddenly found myself confronting a huge player, who had nothing but me between him and our goal line,” said Tim. “I was so frightened that I closed my eyes and desperately threw myself at that guy like a bullet（子弹） — and stopped him cold.”

       Boldness — a willingness to extend yourself to the extreme—is not one that can be acquired overnight. But it can be taught to children and developed in adults. Confidence builds up. Surely, there will be setbacks (挫折) and disappointments in life; boldness in itself is no guarantee of success. But the person who tries to do something and fails is a lot better off than the person who tries to do nothing and succeeds.

       So, always try to live a little bit beyond your abilities—and you'll find your abilities are greater than you ever dreamed.

    Valentine's Day, a day traditionally reserved for expressing romantic love, is observed practically all around the world. However, not many people are familiar with Sweetest Day. Actually it is a holiday, especially designed to express love and care for those who were routinely neglected（忽视）by society.

Sweetest Day was the idea of Herbert Birch Kingston, who worked for a company in Cleveland, Ohio. He felt that there were plenty of children, especially orphans and poor kids, who didn't necessarily get the attention they deserved. Thus in 1922, he launched the first Sweetest Day to give out boxes of candy to mainly poor children.

    Since the day picked was the third Saturday in October, this became the traditional time to celebrate Sweetest Day. The tradition was so enjoyed that people often looked beyond kindness to treating their own friends or family to treats on Sweetest Day.

    In the US, Sweetest Day is celebrated primarily in the Northeastern region of the US, still on the third Saturday of October. Yet news of the tradition, which began nearly 100 years ago, has spread to other parts of the country, especially as people who lived in those areas moved elsewhere. People may distribute candy or small gifts to those in patient homes, hospitals, foster homes, or mental institutions, and they may also treat friends and family to little gifts from the heart.

    In keeping with the original tradition, celebrating Sweetest Day should really be most focused on people who ordinarily don't have the good fortune of attention from friends or family, either due to difficult family circumstances or to poverty. This can be a great tradition to start if your community doesn't routinely celebrate the day, and there are many candy manufacturers that are willing to help donate or reduce costs on gifts intended for people in unfortunate circumstances.

    On a recent visit to the Museum of Modem Art with a friend and her daughter,wandering through the museum's exhibits,I was struck by how often my friend's 13-year-old daughter asked us to take photos of her with her smart phone in front of the artwork.Then,she gazed at the photos which she would then post on Instagram,Snapchat and all the rest.She was not the only person who was doing this; it seemed everyone was busy taking photos of themselves "experiencing" the museum.

    This is by no means a criticism of my friend's daughter or anyone else.What was concerning,at least to me,was that in between being photographed and posting,my friend's daughter had no interest in the artwork,a fact which didn't seem to matter or have anything to do with wanting to post herself as someone enjoying the experience.

    When I was her age,I had no interest in going to museums either.Having no interest in art at her age (and any age) is completely normal.But what is disturbing is how much of a young person's energy these days goes into creating an image of the life they're living and the character they "are" in that life.While creating a self-image has always been a big part of growing up and figuring out our identity,social media seems to have changed the rules of the game.Social media has not just increased the pressure and possibility of creating a self-generated（自我创造的）  self-image,but also distorted（歪曲）the process through which we become who we are.Young people now seem to be creating an image of who they are in place of becoming who they are,posting their life rather than living it.

    Social media has turned life and its experiences into an exercise in narcissism（自恋，自我陶醉）.No matter what the experience is actually about,it becomes about you,the person who is living it.A concert is not about the music,a restaurant not about the food and a sport event not about the sport;it's all about you,the doer,and what the event says about you.As a result the more we use life create an identity,the more distant from life we feel.Instead of being part of it,we feel as if we have to keep generating new life material.

    I hope the next time you post your story,pause for a moment and experience where you are,feel what it feels like to live what you're living without using life for your benefit,or for anything at all.Just live,without the narrative（叙述）.While you may feel this practice is a threat to your identity,causing you to miss a chance to prove your value,in fact,the benefit will far outweigh any loss it brings.

    When my family moved to the United States from Colombia, I was 9 years old and knew little about English. As time passed, teachers finally knew all of their students and slowly everyone began to head inside, except for me. No one called out my name, and no one seemed to know I existed. I spent the next month in my new classroom quietly. I felt a wave of fear, loneliness and sadness came over me.

    It turned out the school administration never cared that I didn't speak English, but something else was teaching me English. Every morning when my aunt drove me to school and picked me up, she always had 106.7 Light FM on. It was this station that introduced my young ears to the English sounds of R&B, soul, jazz and much more.

Because of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, I learned the difference between "witch" and "which". While watching the TV show South Park, I was attracted by the funny characters. I related "You bastards!” to anger and saved it in my mental word bank. In fact, thanks to pop culture, the world of English became not so hard to me while it was being turned down at school.

    I also learned how to express my emotions thanks to pop culture. One day at school, we were taking a math quiz and the whole class was quiet. Suddenly, the tip of my pencil broke and I yelled, “You bastards!" Everyone held their breath in surprise and I laughed to myself because something at that moment told me I had just learned my first bad word in English.

    Four months passed before the school placed me into an ESL program. By this time, I was speaking broken English and making myself understood. Finally, I learned how to speak and write English at a more advanced level, and I owe it all to pop culture.

    Shakespeare's Birthplace and Exhibition of Shakespeare's World

    Welcome to the world-famous house where William Shakespeare was born in l564 and where he grew up. The property (房产) remained in the ownership of Shakespeare's family until 1806. The House has welcomed visitors travelling from all over the world, for over 250 years.

    Enter through the Visitors' Centre and see the highly-praised exhibition Shakespeare's World, a lively and full introduction to the life and work of Shakespeare.

    Stand in the rooms where Shakespeare grew up.

    Discover examples of furniture and needlework from Shakespeare's period.

    Enjoy the traditional English garden, planted with trees and flowers mentioned in the poet's works.

    The Birthplace is within easy walking distance of all the car parks shown on the map; nearest is Windsor Street (3 minutes' walk).

    The House may present difficulties but the Visitors' Centre, its exhibition, and the garden are accessible (可进入的) to wheelchair users

    The Shakespeare Coffee House (opposite the Birthplace).

    In 1800, only three percent of the world's population lived in cities. Only one city — Beijing — had a population of over a million. Most people lived in rural areas, and never saw a city in their lives. In 1900, just a hundred years later, roughly 150 million people lived in cities, and the world's ten largest cities all had populations exceeding one million. By 2000, the number of city dwellers exceeded three billion; and in 2008, the world's population crossed a tipping point — more than half of the people on Earth lived in cities. By 2050, that could increase to over two-thirds. Clearly, humans have become an urban species.

    In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many people viewed cities negatively — crowded, dirty environments full of disease and crime. They feared that as cities got bigger, living conditions would worsen. In recent decades, however, attitudes have changed. Many experts now think urbanization (城市化) is good news, offering solutions to the problems of Earth's growing population.

    Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, author of The Victory of the Cir, is one such person. Glaeser argues that cities are very productive because "the absence of space between people" reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas. While the flow of goods has always been important to cities, what is most important today is the flow of ideas. Successful cities enable people to learn from each other easily, and attract and reward smart people with higher wages.

    Another urbanization supporter is environmentalist Stewart Brand. Brand believes cities help the environment because they allow haft of the world's population to live on about four percent of the land. This leaves more space for open country, such as farmland. City dwellers also have less impact per person on the environment than people in the countryside. Their roads, sewers, and power lines need fewer resources to build and operate. City apartments require less energy to heat, cool, and light. Most importantly, people in cities drive less so they produce fewer greenhouse gases per person.

    So it's a mistake to see urbanization as evil; it's a natural part of development  The challenge is how to manage the growth.