Forgiveness(宽恕)

    Forgiveness is a quality that is difficult to possess. When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your hate. However, forgiveness is possible, and it can be surprisingly beneficial to your physical and mental health. People who forgive show less sadness, anger and stress and more hopefulness, according to a recent research. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Try the following steps：

    Calm yourself. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You can take a couple of breaths and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, or someone you love.

    Don't wait for an apology. Many times the person who hurt you does not intend to apologize. They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don't see things the same way. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Keep in mind that forgiveness does not necessarily mean becoming friends again with the person who upset you.

    Take the control away from your offender(冒犯者). Rethinking about your hurt gives power to the person who caused you pain. Instead of focusing on your wounded feelings, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}If you understand your offender, you may realize that he or she was acting out of unawareness, fear, and even love. You may want to write a letter to yourself from your offender's point of view.

    Don't forget to forgive yourself. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}But it can rob you of your self-confidence if you don't do it.

A. How should you start to forgive?

B. Why should you forgive?

C. Try to see things from your offender's angle.

D. Recognize the benefits of forgiveness.

E. For some people, forgiving themselves is the biggest challenge.

F. If you wait for people to apologize, you could be waiting an awfully long time.

G. To make your anger die away, try a simple stress management technique(技能).

    I arrived late one night on a business trip, so I decided to have dinner in the hotel I stayed in. As I was finishing my meal, an elderly couple came in. They were holding hands and had lovely smiles on their faces. They sat three tables from me. I was amazed at the love they showed for each other. It struck me because it was shortly after ending a 20-year marriage and I still had pain in my heart.

    My waiter was also their waiter. As I paid my bill, I asked what their bill was. He told me, and I gave him $40 to pay their bill. He asked if I knew them and I told him “No, I just wanted to repay them for the love that they were showing to each other,” and then I left. The next day I entered the restaurant again. After I had been seated, the waiter who served me the night before told me that the strangest thing happened after I left the restaurant. When the elderly couple went to pay for their meal, they were told that it had been paid. The waiter just told them what I said. They were amazed. They looked around, asked for the bill of two young couples who were seated together, paid their bill and left.

    I smiled and ordered my meal. About 45 minutes later, I finished my meal and was about to head out, but my waiter was nowhere to be found. I explained to the hostess that I needed to pay for my meal and hurry to the airport. She smiled and explained that I would not have to pay, because she felt she should pay for my bill because of the joy brought to the faces of the elderly couple and the amazement of the young couples.

    When I told her that they didn't have to do that, she said with a smile “Love creates Love.”

    What can technology do to make your world better?Three young people are starting new businesses to answer that question.

Mateusz Mach

    Eighteen-year-old Mateusz Mach was the youngest person in Poland to receive money from investors to expand his company.He started Five,a mobile messaging application,or app,for deaf people.The app lets deaf people create their own hand signs to communicate with friends.The app now has more than 10,000 deaf users.And Mach thinks there will be about 150,000 more deaf users in the U.S. next year.There are many different sign languages in various parts of the world.Mach will be working with the United Nations in New York.He says,"I love to create.And I think that the creation of things will be my passion to the end of my life."

    William Zhou

    William Zhou is the co-founder and leader of Chalk.com.The education software company helps teachers from the kindergarten level t0 12th grade,or the end of secondary school.Zhou was born in Beijing,China,grew up in the Canadian city of Vancouver and founded his first company when he was still in high school.Zhou sold the company when he was studying computer science at Canada's University of Waterloo.But he strongly wanted to make a change in education,From his dorm room,Zhou created Chalk.It is a group of programs that supports individual teaching and learning.Based in Canada,Chalk is now used in 20,000 schools by more than 100,000 users worldwide. Zhou says building startups is a difficult process because it could last years."It's only worth it if you find something you truly care about—something you're passionate about.Otherwise,you may just end up crashing."

    George Mtemaharji

    George Mtemahanji was born in the African country of Tanzania and moved with his family to Italy in 2002, where he attended the Technical Institute of Alfredo Ferrari in Maranello.There he learned about renewable energy and began thinking that solar energy would be easier to use in Africa than in Europe.After graduation,he returned to Tanzania in 2014 to start his own solar energy company—Sun Sweet Solar—in partnership with his friend Manuel Rolando.He explains that he could not understand why,in a place with bright sunshine,"more than 90 percent of people had no access to electricity.So when I returned to Italy I spoke with Manuel on the huge electricity demand in Tanzania and to the possibility to open a business there."Sun Sweet Solar found early success in rural areas of Tanzania.Since then,the company has been expanding.He hopes to create jobs and help build his country in the process.He understands the process will take time."But I think we are on the right path."

An Invisible Smile

    Mr Dawson was an old man who always complained a lot, and everyone in town knew it. Kids ever went into his yard to pick a delicious apple. Old Dawson, they said, would come after them with his gun.

    One Friday, 12-year-old Janet was going to stay all night with her friend Amy. They had to walk by Dawson's house on the way to Amy's house, but as they got close, Janet saw him sitting on his front porch and suggested they cross over to the other side of the street. Like most of the children，Janet was scared of the old man.

    Amy said not to worry, Mr Dawson wouldn't hurt anyone. Still, Janet was growing more nervous with each step closer to the old man's house. When they got close enough, Dawson looked up with his usual frown, but when he saw it was Amy, a broad smile changed his entire face as he said, “Hello, Miss Amy. I see you've got a little friend with you today. ”

    Amy smiled back and told him Janet was staying overnight and they were going to listen to music and play games. Mr Dawson said that sounded fun and offered them each a fresh picked apple off his tree. They gladly accepted. Mr Dawson had the best apples in the whole town.

    When they left, Janet asked Amy, “Everyone says he's the meanest man in town. How come he was so nice to us?”

    Amy explained that when she first started walking past his house he wasn't very friendly and she was afraid of him, but she pretended he was wearing an invisible smile and so she always smiled back at him. It took a while, but one day he half-smiled back at her.

    After some more time, he started smiling real smiles and then started talking to her. Just a “hello” at first, then more. She said he always offered her an apple and was always very kind.

    “An invisible smile? ”questioned Janet.

    “Yes,”answered Amy, “my grandma told me that if I pretended I wasn't afraid and pretended he was smiling an invisible smile at me and I smiled back at him, sooner or later he would really smile. Grandma says smiles are contagious.”

If we remember what Amy's grandma said — everyone wears an invisible smile, we too will find that we're always on the go trying to accomplish so much, aren't we? It's so easy to get caught up in everyday life that we forget how simple it can be to bring cheer to ourselves and others. Giving a smile away takes so little effort and time. Let's make sure that we're not the ones that others have to pretend to be wearing an invisible smile.

    A new study shows students who write notes by hand during lectures perform better on exams than those who use laptops.

    Students are increasingly using laptops for note-taking because of speed and legibility(清晰度).But the research has found laptop users are less able to remember and apply the concepts they have been taught.

    Researchers performed experiments that aimed to find out whether using a laptop increased the tendency to make notes "mindlessly" by taking down word for word what the professors said

    In the first experiment, students were given either a laptop or pen and paper .They listened to the same lectures and were told to use their usual note-taking skills. Thirty minutes after the talk, they were examined on their ability to remember facts and on how well they understood concepts.

    The researchers found that laptop users took twice as many notes as those who wrote by hand. However, the typists performed worse at remembering and applying the concepts. Both groups scored similarly when it came to memorizing facts.

    The researchers' report said, "While more notes are beneficial, if the notes are taken mindlessly, as is more likely the case on a laptop, the benefit disappears."

    In another experiment aimed at testing long-term memory, students took notes as before but were tested a week after the lecture. This time, the students who wrote notes by hand performed significantly better on the exam.

    These two experiments suggest that handwritten notes are not only better for immediate learning and understanding, but that they also lead to superior revision in the future.

A clever technologist took steamboat inventions and turned them into the first commercial steamboat service.

Although Robert Fulton did not invent the steamboat, as is commonly believed, he played an important role in making steamboat travel a reality. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1765. As a young man, he set out to make his name as a portrait painter. His career took him to Europe and into the orbit of people with the power to support him politically and financially.

Fulton entered London society after he painted Benjamin Franklin's portrait. While abroad, Fulton left the arts for a career in shipbuilding. He was interested in the recently-invented steam engine, and thought it could be used to power ships. Fulton's vision was not original; many others had entered the field, and the unfortunate inventor John Fitch had built a working steamship already. But like Henry Ford, Fulton's talent lay not in the invention but in the product's application in the marketplace.

Fulton didn't focus entirely on the steamboat. In 1804, he tested the first submarine successfully, which he had built for the British Royal Navy. His invention would make him a celebrity upon his return to the United States two years later. Fulton's partner Robert Livingston obtained an exclusive license for steamboat services on New York's Hudson River. It was time for Fulton to deliver.

To build an efficient, reliable steamboat, Fulton used a special English steam engine. The ship's bottom was flat and its stern was square. The steamboat Clermont made its debut (首次亮相) on August 17, 1807, steaming up the river from New York to Albany, and it soon entered commercial services. The hilly terrain of New York made water transport faster than land transport, and Fulton's boat — formerly known as the "North River Steamboat" — was a hit. Within five years, Fulton would be running services on six major rivers plus the Chesapeake Bay, and bring in great profits.