When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer the older we get.

For kids, happiness has a magical quality. Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved (毫无掩饰的).

    In the teenage years the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it's conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.

    In adulthood the things that bring deep joy—love, marriage, birth—also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated (复杂的).

    My definition of happiness is “the capacity for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It's easy to overlook the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, and even good health.

    I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunch-box and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids and my husband come home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

    Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I don't think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children, had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this what satisfied her.

    We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we've got to have. We're so self-conscious about our “right” to it that it's making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren't necessarily happier.

    Happiness isn't about what happens to—it's about how we see what happens to us. It's the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It's not wishing for what we don't have , but enjoying what we do possess.

    Are you interested in country music? I like it very much! It will take me away for a while after I am tired. The guitars and songs will take me to mountains and fields.

    Country music usually talks of everyday life and feelings. It's the spirit of America, easy to understand, slow and simple.

    Country music developed in the Southern United States. It was the folk music of American countryside. Many of songs tell about the lives of farmers. They talk about love, crops or death.

    The life of the countryside can be hard, so the words in country music are often sad. At first, people played the music only at family parties. But it became more popular later. In the 1920s, people played country songs on the radio, and they made them into records.

    When people in the countryside moved to towns and cities to look for work, they took their music with them. Country music continued to change and became popular across America.

    John Denver was one of America's most famous country singers in the 1970s.His song Take Me Home, Country Roads is well­known and people still play it today.

    A business executive（主管）was deep in debt and could see no way out. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company.

    Suddenly an old man appeared. “I can see that something is troubling you,” he said. After listening to the executive's words, the old man said, “I believe I can help you.” He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.” Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

    The executive saw a check for $ 500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! “I can settle all my debts immediately!” he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there would give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

    With renewed optimism, he made better deals and extended terms of payment. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again. Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the uncashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as he was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.

    “I'm so glad I caught him!” she cried.” hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's always escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller.” And she led the old man away. The astonished executive just stood there.

    Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned him around. It was his newly found self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

    I waited half an hour, set the board, and sat in the studio, reviewing my questions until the telephone lines flashed.

    "Hello?"

    "This is Connie Chung. I'm so sorry I'm late."

    Connie Chung was one of the only four women anchors（主播）to make it into the club of major evening network television news. For almost an hour we talked about the industry. When I asked if she ever had an instructor throughout her trials, she turned around and offered to instruct me. When I asked why she decided to do it, she simply replied, "Because you're good."

    That afternoon I rushed home and told my mother what had happened. Without looking up, she just said "Good for you." Hearing this, I felt a sense of loss.  Her consistent response always made me feel under-appreciated.

    Until then I had been searching for something that I would never get—that sense of love and acceptance in a house full of negativity（消极）.

    I knew I needed to get rid of all the negativity in my life first, so I packed my bags and walked out of the house, thinking a risk would allow me to open myself to the world again and receive all the positive energy that I needed.

    Then radio became my way of connecting with others. My ability to book high-level guests and celebrities（名人）was gradually recognized and eventually all the words of encouragement from past guests and colleagues helped me to re-build my confidence levels. "I can do this," I kept telling myself, and pushed even harder to find my next aim.

    People had faith in me, so I developed faith in myself. Their positive attitudes towards themselves and towards me helped me develop my own positive attitude, leading to productive interactions with celebrities and adding to my list of instructors.

    I may not have started life surrounded by positivity but I surely feel that I am surrounded by it now. It's amazing how positivity builds on itself.

    Three-quarters of the world's coffee farms destroy forest habitat to grow coffee in the sun and typically use harmful pesticides (杀虫剂) and chemicals that poison the environment. When forests disappear, migratory (迁徙的) songbirds disappear, too. In order to deal with severe population and habitat loss, Smithsonian scientists created the Bird Friendly certification.

    Bird Friendly coffees are shade-grown, meaning the coffee is planted under trees, rather than on the land that has been cleared of all other plants. Coffee experts say shade-grown coffees taste better, because the beans ripen slower than coffee grown in the full sun, resulting in a richer, more complex flavor. Bird Friendly certified coffees grow under bio-diverse shade that provides habitat for migratory songbirds and other wildlife, stores carbon and fights climate change. Bird Friendly coffees are also certified organic, meaning they are grown without pesticides, which is better for people and for the planet.

    Bird Friendly producers can also earn more for their crops. The wood and fruit trees on shade coffee farms provide farmers with additional income. Every cup of Bird Friendly coffee purchased rewards these farmers with a little more money for being good stewards of the environment and encourages them to continue conserving Bird Friendly habitat.

    Buying Bird Friendly supports the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center's conservation research aimed at understanding and protecting your feathered friends. You can purchase Bird Friendly certified coffees around the world and protect wildlife and habitat with every cup. Find a store or cafe near you, or better yet, have it shipped to your door when you order online.

    Recently whenever I turned on my computer or my mobile phone, news about the great effect of Hurricane Harvey on thousands of people caught my eyes. We saw many unfortunate events. However, there were also the bright news that confirmed the goodness of mankind. As a journalist, I wrote many human interesting stories during my career. That's why the story about the guys in the bakery caught my eyes.

    When the staff at a Mexican bakery chain in Houston were trapped inside the building for two days, they didn't sit there feeling sorry for themselves. They used their time wisely after flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. While they were waiting for the eventual rescue that came on Monday morning, four decided to make as many loaves of bread as possible for their community.

    The flood water rose in the street outside. They took advantage of their emergency power supply to bake bread. They used more than 4,200 pounds of flour to create hundreds of loaves and sheets of sweet bread. Although the water kept rising, they continued baking to help more people. By the time the owner managed to get to them, they had made so much bread that we took the loaves to loads of emergency centers across the city for people affected by the floods.

    The store manager, Brian Alvarado, told The Independent, "Whenever a disaster occurs, nobody should just feel forlorn. Instead，we should take positive action to save ourselves and help others. Our acts of kindness will make a big difference."