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.

    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, but truly can not 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.

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

    British English may have come first, but around the world, the American way of spelling is now far more popular.

    A recent examination of the English language shows that publications now largely use the American version swapping words like “centre” for “center” after the 1880s. To get data, researchers used Google's Ngram Viewer to analyze the words found in all English-language publications from 1800 to 2000. Entering a word into the viewer will show how frequently it occurs within the massive corpus(语料库)of books around the world.

    According to the data, this shift was further strengthened around World War I. Since then, English-language publications have preferred “gray” and “flavor” instead of “grey” and “flavour”. The American spelling has continued to grow over the years, with “liter” passing “liter” around 1900, and “center” becoming the more common choice over “centre” in 1913. “1913 marked a turning point in British spelling, as the American alternative became more frequently used in literature,” the post explains, in regard to “center”. This was just a year before the beginning of World War I, which many views as a key period in America's rise to superpower status.

    Though this switched again between 1920s and the late 1930s, the American, spelling took over for good around 1940, during which time the spelling “airplane” shifted dramatically over “aeroplane”.

    Ever since the middle of the 19th century, even the British Isles have slowly rejected the old spelling. The future is gray for British English.

    Every now and then, you may be struck with a difficult person at work or at home. What are some of the keys to empowering yourself in such situations? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Keep in mind that these are general rules of thumb, and not all of them can apply to your particular situation.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When you feel angry or upset with someone, before you say something you might later regret, take a deep breath. This will help you remember that you're in control of your emotions and feelings. Also, if you remain calm, the other person will likely notice and reflect on his or her behavior.

    Put yourself in their shoes. It's important to remember that we all have off days and times in our life when things are trickier. Instead of judging others' behaviors immediately, try to practice empathy. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you are sensitive to personality differences, you will be better able to handle diverse conflicts.

    Be frank with others. Some people are not very self−aware, so maybe you just need to tell them constructively what the problem is. For instance, if a colleague were making unkind comments, what would you do? {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They'll either be apologetic as they didn't realize it was a problem, or they'll make some excuse.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If someone is behaving in a threatening way, either verbally or physically, then regardless of who they are, it's OK to walk away or say that you are going to put the phone down and that you will return when they have calmed down.

A. Keep your cool.

B. Handle aggression wisely and confidently.

C. Adjust your style when you communicate with them.

D. It won't hurt you to take them to one side, and ask them why.

E. You step back and reflect on how you would feel in his or her place.

F. Here are some tried and true methods of handling them quite effectively.

G. It's helpful to remember that most difficult people also have positive qualities.

How To Know You're At The Right Job

    For more than 40 hours a week, you show up to the same building and interact with the same people. We call this work even if it does not always feel like it.

    We spend so much time at work that it is quite important to enjoy the time we have there.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Sometimes you just can't tell if it is for you or not. Here are some signs that what you are doing is working and is a positive situation.

No Coffee Necessary

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} If you feel like you don't need coffee to get you going in the morning, it signifies that you rely on natural energy and office excitement to get you through the day.

    Time Passes By

    It feels like you have only been there for an hour, but you look at the clock and see it's almost time to go home.

    That's not to say you feel the day slipping away from you, but that your productivity has topped your desire to go home.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    It's cliche (陈词烂调) to "step out of your comfort zone," but does not mean that you should stay conservative.

    If you feel like you can push yourself to test your abilities, you are likely in a great environment for yourself.

    Everyone Hates You On Mondays

    Nobody likes Mondays…except for you.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} They may hate you for it, but it only means that you love coming to work.

A. Not everyone is lucky enough to love their job.

B. Getting clear about what you expect from work

C. While everyone is deep in their fourth cup of coffee, you have all the energy in the world.

D. Most people begin their workday with a fresh cup of Joe.

E. The longer we work, the more we love it.

F. Taking Risks And Challenging Yourself

G. As they say, "time flies when you're having fun."

    It is an old expression about some people who are highly motivated about work in itself with the opposite view of someone who works to live. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But answering it honestly and accurately is critical to making intelligent career choices, and to your ultimate happiness in life. Unfortunately, many people lack the self-knowledge and realistic expectations necessary to address this vital issue properly.

    Certain people, it is said, live to work. Their lives center on their work or careers and that achievement in their professions is a major source of satisfaction and meaning in their lives {#blank#}2{#/blank#} In some cases, achieving huge levels of pay is considered more as a means of proving your worth than it is for the money itself.

    By contrast, other people work to live. These people view their work or careers largely as toil whose purpose is to earn the money necessary to support themselves and their dependents. Their real interests lie elsewhere. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Some of these people try to cut comers, to gain the maximum pay for the minimum amount of effort. Others do indeed take great pride in their work and put great effort into doing their jobs well, but their jobs simply are not the centers of their lives.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Examples abound of individuals who lose their native passion for work because they cannot find an adequate position or pay in their preferred fields of endeavor. When they settle for jobs in other fields, they often do so strictly for benefits, such as compensation (补偿). {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. It's critical to understand it.

B. Money may not be a motivation.

C. They may develop-a same attitude.

D. And their work or careers are only means to an end, not an end in itself.

E. There is no right or wrong answer to the question of which attitude is better.

F. The answer for a given individual may differ based on his or her circumstances.

G. Many individuals used to work to live but after a change of career start living to work.

China on Tuesday launched (发射) the Shenzhou-16 manned spaceship, sending three astronauts to its space station combination for a five-month mission. The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 9:31 a. m. (Beijing Time), according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

About 10 minutes after the launch, Shenzhou-16 separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit (轨道). The three astronauts are in good shape and the launch is a complete success, the CMSA declared.

The Shenzhou-16 astronauts will conduct a great many in-orbit tests and experiments in various fields as planned. They are expected to make high-level scientific achievements in the study of novel quantum phenomenon (新奇量子现象), high-precision space time-frequency systems and the origin of life.

Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao will see the dockings of the Tianzhou-5 cargo craft and the Shenzhou-17 manned spaceship, as well as the departures of the Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship and Tianzhou-5.

It is the first manned task for the application and development stage of China's-space station, and the 29^th flight since the country's manned space program was approved (批准). The launch also marks the 475^th flight of the Long March carrier rocket series.