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          One early morning, I went into the living room to find my mother reading a thick book called Best Loved Poems to Read Again and Again. My interest was aroused only by the fact that the word “Poems”appeared in big, hot pink letters.

      “Is it good?” I asked her.

“Yeah,” she answered. “There's one I really like and you'll like it, too.' I leaned forward.

“‘Patty Poem,'” she read the title. Who is Patty? I wondered. The poem began:

She never puts her toys away,

                Just leaves them scattered(散乱的)where they lay,…      

The poem was just three short sections. The final one came quickly:

          When she grows and gathers poise(稳重),        

           I'll miss her harum-scarum(莽撞的) noise,        

           And look in vain(徒劳地) for scattered toys.       

And I'll be sad.      

    A terrible sorrow was hed over me. Whoever Patty was, she was a mean girl. Then,the shock.

“It'syou, honey,” My mother said sadly.

    To my mother, the poem revealed a parent's affection when her child grows up and leaves. To me, the “she” in the poem was horror. It was my mama who would be sad. It was so terrible I burst out crying.

    “What's wrong?” my mother asked.

    “Oh Mama,” I cried. “I don't want to grow up ever!”

      She smiled. “Honey, it's okay. You're not growing up anytime soon. And when you do, I'll still love you, okay?”

    “ Okay,”I was still weeping. My panic has gone. But I could not help thinking about that silly poem. After what seemed like a safe amount of time, I read the poem again and was confused. It all fit so well together, like a puzzle. The language was simple, so simple I could plainly understand its meaning, yet it was still beautiful. I was now fascinated by the idea of poetry, words that had the power to make or break a person's world.

        I have since fallen in love with other poems, but “Patty Poem” remains my poem. After all, “Patty Poem” gave me my love for poetry not because it was the poem that lifted my spirits, but because it was the one that hurt me the most.

    Arriving in Sydney on his own from India, my husband, Rashid, stayed in a hotel for a short time while looking for a house for me and our children.

    During the first week of his stay, he went out one day to do some shopping. He came back in the late afternoon to discover that his suitcase was gone. He was extremely worried as the suitcase had all his important papers, including his passport.

    He reported the case to the police and then sat there, lost and lonely in the strange city, thinking of the terrible troubles of getting all the paperwork organized again from a faraway country while trying to settle down in a new one.

    Late in the evening, the phone rang. It was a stranger. He was trying to pronounce my husband's name and was asking him a lot of questions. Then he said they had found a pile(堆) of papers in their trash can(垃圾桶) that had been left out on the footpath.

    My husband rushed to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers and documents(文件). Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of unfamiliar(不熟悉的) papers. Her parents had carefully sorted them out, although they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents. At last they had seen a half-written letter in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend.

    That family not only restored the important documents to us that day but also restored our faith and trust in people. We still remember their kindness and often send a warm wish their way.

    For anyone still doubting the belief that our emotions influence our physical health, a new study from New Zealand should be able to settle the matter. It reports that the physical wounds of healthy seniors healed more quickly if they wrote about their most upsetting experiences.

    This confirms the results of a 2010 study, and extends those findings to cover older adults—a group that is likely to suffer wounds (as from surgery), and one with less access to other ways of lowering tension (such as exercise).

    Reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, a research team led by the University of Auckland's Elizabeth Broadbent made a study featuring 50 healthy adults ranging in age from 64 to 97. They were asked to write for 20 minutes per day for three consecutive (连续的) days.

    Half were asked to write about the most upsetting experience in their life, describing their deepest thoughts, feelings, and emotions about the events, ideally not previously shared with others. The others were asked to write about their daily activities without mentioning emotions, opinions or beliefs.

    Two weeks after the third day of writing, all participants received a standard 4mm skin biopsy (皮下活体组织检查) on their inner arm. The very tiny wounds caused by the biopsy were photographed regularly over the following days to determine the rate at which they healed.

    On the 11th day after the biopsy, the wounds completely healed on 76.2 percent of those who had done the expressive writing. That was true of only 42.1 percent of those who had written about everyday activities.

    “The biological and psychological mechanisms (机体) behind this effect remain unclear,” the researchers wrote, noting that those who had done the expressive writing did not report lower stress levels or fewer depressive symptoms than the others in the control group. Even if they weren't consciously aware of feeling more relaxed or positive, the expressive writing appeared to have caused some sort of bodily reaction—probably involving their immune systems—that hastened their recovery.

    Jealousy is such a powerful emotion that at least one study has characterized it as the third leading cause of non-accidental homicide(杀人) in all cultures. In a recently published study, researchers experimented with dogs to see whether they, like humans, have the nature of jealousy.

In an experiment, the authors took 36 dogs—along with their owners—and observed the dogs' behavior as their masters interacted with three non-living objects. One object was a children's book, which they read aloud; another object was a plastic pumpkin lantern; and the third was a mechanical stuffed dog that gave out a bark when the owner pressed a button.

    Former studies concluded that babies were probably capable of jealousy. In the experiment, their mothers showed attention to a life-like doll instead of their child, and other objects. The babies were reportedly more likely to respond with “negative” behavior if their mother turned to pay her attention to the doll.

    In the dog experiment, authors instructed the dog owners to push the bark button on the stuffed dog's head, and then speak to it sweetly, while ignoring their own dog. After that, they showed attention to the pumpkin lantern, and read the children's book, while also ignoring their dog.

    It is interesting to see the dogs were far more likely to act aggressively when their owners spoke to the stuffed dog than when they paid attention to the other objects. One-fourth of the dogs snapped at the stuffed dog, while only one dog snapped at the lantern or the book. The dogs were also more likely to push or touch their owners as they interacted with the mechanical dogs, and tried to get in between the owner and the stuffed dog more frequently than the other objects.

    “One possibility is that jealousy developed in species of many young relying on the parents, the young compete for parental resources such as food, attention, care, and affection,” the authors wrote.

    Generally speaking, people like those who have a good sense of humor.

    Sometimes a touch of humor might well enable us to win. Consider the case of a young friend of mine, who hit a traffic jam on his way to work shortly after receiving an ultimatum (最后通牒) about being late on the job. Although there was a good reason for Brian's being late—serious illness at home—he decided that this by-now-familiar excuse wouldn't work any longer. His boss was probably already pacing up and down preparing a dismissal speech.

    Yes, the boss was, as Brian entered the office at 9:35. The place was as quiet as a locker room (更衣室): everyone was hard at work. Brian's boss came up to him. Suddenly, Brian forced a smile and stretched out his hand. "How do you do!" he said. "I'm Brian. I'm applying for a job, which, I understand, became available just 35 minutes ago. Doesn't the early bird get the worm?"

    The room exploded in laughter. The boss clamped off a smile and walked back to his office. Brian had saved his job, with the only tool that could win—a laugh.

    Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for patching up differences, apologizing, saying "no", criticizing, getting the other fellow to do what you want without his losing face. For some jobs, it's the only tool that can succeed. It is a way to discuss subjects so sensitive that serious dialog may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance (忍受力) than people in any other forum.

    On the very first day, God created the cow and said to him, "As a cow, you must go to the field, working under the sun all day long! And I will give you 40 years to live." The cow objected, "What? You want me to live such a tough life for 40 years? Let me have 20 years, and I'll give the rest back to you." So God agreed.

    On the second day, God created the dog and said, "You'll be man's best friend, guarding his house and eating his leftovers. I'll give you a life span of 30 years." The dog shook his head. "Eating leftovers for 30 years? No way! I'll give half back to you!" So God agreed.

    Then, God created the monkey, saying, "Your job is to entertain people. You've got to do monkey tricks and make them laugh. And you'll live 20 years."" Do monkey tricks to make them laugh? 10 years will do." the monkey said. So God agreed.

    Finally, God created the man. "You will be the man. All you need to do is to sleep, eat, and play, simply enjoying your life. And I'll give you 20 years to live." Thinking for a while, the man replied, "I can be the man, but I want to take all the years that the cow, the dog and the monkey didn't want." So God agreed.

    Since then, man eats, sleeps and plays in the first 2 decades, marries and spends the next 2 decades like a cow, working very hard to support his family. Then when he has children, he lives 15 years like a dog, taking care of the house and eating whatever is given to him. And when he is old, he retires and lives 10 years like a monkey, doing tricks to amuse his grandchildren.