There are two types of people in the world. Although they have equal degree of health and wealth and other comforts of life, one becomes happy, the other becomes unhappy. This arises from the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds.

    People who are to be happy fix their attention on the convenience of things. The pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine, the fine weather. They enjoy all the cheerful things. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things. Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied. By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, offend （hurt）many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere. If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. The intention of criticizing and being disliked is perhaps taken up by imitation. It grows into a habit, unknown to its possessors. The habit may be strong , but it may be cured when those who have it realize its bad effects on their interests and tastes. I hope this little warning may be of service to them, and help them change this habit.

    Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck. Those people offend many others; nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most common politeness and respect. This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments. If they aim at getting some advantages in social position or fortune, nobody wishes them success. Nor will anyone start a step or speak a word to favor their hopes. If they bring on themselves public objections, no one will defend or excuse them, and many will join to criticize their wrongdoings. These should change this bad habit and be pleased with what is pleasing, without worrying needlessly about themselves and others. If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact （接触）with them. Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one becomes mixed up in their quarrels.

    Pink has never been one of the favorite colors of the fashion industry,as it's often seen as silly and not cool enough.But this spring,it's having its moment in the spotlight,all thanks to the fact that the color is no longer all about being girly and sweet.Instead,pink is taking on a new meaning of independence and power.

    This shift happened last month during the Women's March.Tens of thousands of women filled the streets of major cities in the US and in countries all around the world to protest（抗议）against the disrespect to women.What was unusual about the protests is that a lot of people taking part were wearing pink hats,making the streets appear like a "sea of pink".Even though the hats were without any slogan（标语）,their pink color is thought to have sent out a message that is louder than any words."We women have power and we're not going to sit down and shut up," Aileen Gildea,one of the protesters in the US,told The Boston Globe.

    Now young people are changing their attitudes to pink.They are no longer trying to escape pink,but give new meanings to it instead.

    "Women who came before us ...to be taken seriously they had to get away from the symbols used to make women seem less capable.Younger women don't have that reaction.They're more interested in breaking and rebuild those symbols,"Audrey Gelman,a businesswoman in the US,told The Wall Street Journal.

    So sometimes it's not the thing itself that needs to be changed,but the way we look at it.And in the case of pink, what used to be seen as silly may be turned into something really serious.

Happy birthday

    The China National Opera (CNO) will give a concert to celebrate its 50th birthday.

Different generations of CNO vocalists, like Li Guangxi, Yao Hong and Ma Mei, will present the concert which will feature both songs from famous Chinese operas like “The White-haired Girl” and “The Hundredth Bride”, as well as, arias of such Western opera classics as “Madame Butterfly”, “La Traviata” and “Rigoletto”.

Time/ date: 7:30 p.m., September 7th, 8^th

Location: Tianqiao Theatre

Tel: 6551-4787, 8315-6170

Tickets: 60-500 yuan (U.S. $7.2- 60.2)

Folk music

    A concert will be held to feature some recently composed traditional Chinese music works. The concert, given by the Folk Orchestra of the China Opera and Ballet Theatre, will include such pieces as “Memory of Childhood”, “Memorial Ceremony for God” and “Wine Song”.

Time/date: 7:30pm, September 13th

Location: Concert hall at the National Library of China

Tel: 6848 –5462, 6841-9220

Tickets: 30-200 yuan (U.S. $3.6-24.1)

Moon music

    A concert of traditional Chinese music will be given on the eve of the Moon Festival which falls on September 21^st this year. The concert will feature a number of famous pieces centered on the theme of the moon, such as “Moonlight”, “Spring night on a Moonlit River” and “Lofty Mountain and Flowing River.”

A number of established traditional Chinese music performers like Zhou Yaokun and Fan Weiqing, will play solos as well as collaborate with the folk music orchestra.

Time / date: 7:30 pm, September 21^st

Location: Grand Theatre of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities

Tel: 6606-8888, 6606-9999

Ticket: 40-240 yuan (U.S. $4.8-27)

    Yinqixing Indoor Skiing Site, formerly known as Hokkaido Indoor Ski Resort, is the first indoor skiing site in Asia, which covers an area of 100.8 thousand square meters and the ski track is 380 meters in length and 80 meters in width, with the maximum drop of 42 meters. There are three sections of snow runs and a huge platform for practicing, which are suitable for skiing enthusiasts of various skiing degrees. The temperature in the skiing site maintains below -2℃ all the year round. Snow thickness ranges from 30 cm to 50 cm.

    Solo Adventure Tips:

    Location: No, 1835, Qishen Road, Qibao Town, Shanghai

    How to Get There?

    Public Bus: 91, 92, 803, 953

    Free Scheduled Bus:

    Location: North Square, Xinzhuang Station, Subway Line I

    Departure time: from 9: 00 to 21: 00, operating every half an hour

    Ticket Price:

    Adults: ¥138; Children: ¥80 (Ordinary time)

    Adults: ¥158; Children: ¥100 (On weekends)

    Opening Hours:

    9: 30 to 22: 30 from Monday to Thursday and Sunday; 9: 30 to 24: 00 on Friday and Saturday;

    It will stop selling tickets after 21: 00.

    More Tips:

    Bathing fees: ¥6 per person

    Stay overnight: ¥20 per person

    Private room of 2 people: ¥58 per person

    Private room of 3 people: ¥68 per person

    Meal: ¥50 per person

    For more information, you can click here Yinqixing Indoor Skiing Site or directly call 021-64788666 /021-63816698.

    A man going abroad to work leaves his young lady crying. "Don't worry, I will write to you every day," he said. For years he did write to her. But since he was happy with his job, he had no immediate plans of going home. One day, he received a wedding invitation. His girlfriend was scheduled to be married. To whom? To the mailman bringing regularly the letters of her boyfriend! Indeed, distance does make hearts struggle.

    While presents are important, love demands what is basic: presence of the beloved.

    Martha was busy with her job. She believed she had to work harder because she loved her father who had serious disease. She had to provide for his expensive medicine. Her brothers and sisters meanwhile stayed with their father most of the time. They bathed him, sang for him, spoon­fed him or simply kept him company.

    One day Martha was hurt. She overheard her father telling her mother, "All our children love me except Martha." "How can this be?" Martha thought. "Am I not the one killing myself in my work to earn money to buy for his medicine? My brothers and sisters do not even provide their share in the expenses as much as I do."

    One night, as Martha was as usual late in going home, she peeped for the first time in the room where her father was lying. She noticed that her father was still awake. She decided to come close at his bedside. Her father held her hands and said, "I miss you. I don't have much time. Stay with me." And she stayed with her father holding his hand the whole night.

    The next morning Martha said to everyone, "I have taken a leave of absence. I would like to be with my father. I will bathe him and sing for him from now on." Her father had a beautiful smile. He knew this time Martha loved him.

    As children, we need the assuring presence of our loved ones. Adult people need no less.

    I spend half of my life with my mother and the other half with my father. My father lives with a twenty-pound cat named Tofu. He calls me his favorite daughter. I am an only child.

    My father's apartment is quite different from any other person's living space. Except for my room, there is no furniture. He doesn't like sofas or any comfortable chairs, so he has only a drawing table, a desk and his bed. He spends a lot of time lying on the studio floor. That's how he thinks, he says. Then he does yoga

    He has a big kitchen, and on top of the refrigerator is an old clock he winds every week for good luck. The last time the clock stopped, my father's car was towed(被警察拖走) and some other terrible things happened, so he has become very superstitious (迷信的) . When he goes out of town, he hires someone to feed Tofu and wind the clock so it won't stop.

    The one thing he has plenty of is house rules. You have to take off your shoes when you come in. He won't allow anyone who wears a baseball cap into his house. He says only baseball players should wear baseball caps and only the catchers should wear them backward. Every time I go to stay in his house, he makes up a new rule. "House rule number 579, no television programs with laugh tracks!" he will say. But then be can never remember the numbers, so they change constantly.

The rule that he always enforces is the one that requires me to write a two-page essay anytime I want something. He didn't speak English until he was sixteen, and he had a hard time learning to write it, so he wants me to become a good writer at an early age. This ritual(仪式)started when I asked him if I could have my ears pierced when I was nine. He said it was very cruel and told me I couldn't do it until I was thirty-five. But l kept asking him, and he finally said that if I wrote an essay and I could persuade him in writing why I wanted holes in my ears, maybe he would say okay. I wrote my first essay for my father, and after one month of writing and rewriting, he finally gave me his permission.