She was walking home from work one evening when she got the idea. Rosa didn't like her job at the factory, but it was better than no job at all. So, while she was trying not to think about work, she saw the pots in an alley. They were cheap plastic pots, but there were dozens of them piled up behind the flower shop. Such a waste, she thought. When the pots were still there three days later, Rosa went in and asked if she could take some. The flower shop lady said she didn't mind, so Rosa carried home a tower of pots, pretending she was a circus performer on the way.

    At home, Rosa set them on the fire escape outside her tiny apartment. And there they sat. Once a gust of wind sent them slipping to the street three floors below, and she had to go to run after and catch them before the gathering storm.

    Every day, Rosa went to work and thought about her pots- She was wailing for something, but she had patience.

    At last, the newspaper brought good news. A hardware store had a sale on potting soil. Rosa carefully counted her money, then walked six blocks to the store. She bought six bags and carried them home. She bought seeds, too. Rosa slept well that night and dreamed of masses of flowers and fat, glowing fruits,

    Sundays were always good days. Rosa didn't have to work on Sundays. But Rosa couldn't remember when she had had such a good Sunday. She got up early and ate her breakfast on the fire escape with her pots. Then, she began to put dirt into the pots. She sang a little song until all six of her bags of soil were empty. Then, she laid her precious seed packets out and planned her garden. Tomatoes for the biggest pots, and peppers for the next-biggest ones. Flowers in all the rest.

    At the end of the day, Rosa sat in her garden and watched the sunset. Soon, she thought, there will be masses of flowers and fat, glowing fruits.

Come and join us to celebrate his birthday.

    Even nowadays there is a lot of misunderstanding between nationalities. Let's have a look at what the following people have to say.

    Maria Conti: I find the English people insincere, cold and unfriendly. They keep saying "Thank you", "I'm sorry" even when they don't know each other. They are even polite to their own relatives. Except for helping you find your way in the streets, they aren't really friendly and never invite you to their houses.

    Giannis Stinios: On the contrary I found them broad-minded and friendly.I was invited to people's houses and they all showed great interest in my ideas,Greek life and people.In England I learned that it was possible to be warm, friendly and polite at the same time.

    Judy Brown: I lived in both Italy and Greece for a few years.At first there were a few misunderstandings between my foreign friends and myself. For example, I once gave a Greek friend a present for her birthday party.I was rather sorry that she did not unwrap it immediately. What's more, she even didn't thank me until I asked her if she liked it.I've learned from different experiences that a lot of foreigners find our attitude to what we English people call politeness rather insincere. They feel that politeness isn't necessary between friends.

    The vast majority of us spend our entire lives pulled down by gravity. Then there are astronauts.

This small population of space travelers has given researchers a rare look at what happens to the human body when it's able to spend large amounts of time outside the downward pull of the Earth. This week, a study on one of the largest groups of astronauts yet —34 participants—was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

    In the new study, a team of international radiologists supported by NASA looked at MRIs of the brains of astronauts before and after their trips to space. The scientists found that upon returning to Earth, many of the astronauts' brains had become repositioned inside their skulls, floating higher than before. In addition, the space between certain brain areas appeared to have shrunk. The changes were more common in astronauts who took longer trips into space.

    The team characterized astronaut trips as short (an average of less than 14 days) or long (an average of about 165 days). Radiologists who didn't know each astronaut's duration（持续时间）in space compared MRIs from before and after their trips.

    Of the 34 total astronauts involved in the study, 18 took long trips to space—spending most of that time on the International Space Station —and of those, 17 returned to Earth with smaller areas between the frontal lobe（脑前额叶）and parietal lobe（顶叶）. The same area of the brain also shrank for three of the 16 astronauts who took shorter trips with the US Space Shuttle Program. The researchers also found that 12 of the ISS astronauts and six of the space-shuttle astronauts returned home with their brains sitting slightly higher in their skulls than before.

    It's not clear what, if anything, these brain changes mean for the health of space travelers. In general, it appears the human body tolerates space travel fairly well: the time astronauts have spent in zero-gravity environments so far doesn't seem to have had any strong or long-lasting effects.

    A mystery surrounds my grandmother's collection of salt cellars (盐瓶). No one in the family seems to know when she started collecting them, or exactly how many she had.

    My grandmother died just over two years ago. At 91, she had spent 30 years without her right leg, which was removed due to cancer the year I was born. She was a poet, an artist, a food lover and a salt cellar collector. The funny thing about the salts, as she called them — I never once heard her say salt cellar — was that although everybody knew they were her hobby and everyone was always searching for them at yard sales or in stores, nobody seemed to know what they meant to her and they just wanted to make her happy. Grandma kept her salts in a dark wooden corner display case in the living room. Since her death the case has remained exactly as she left it. Grandpa tries his best to preserve his memories of her just as they are.

    Now I am collecting, too. Collecting memories about my grandmother's hobby, a way she spent her time. And as I hold one of them in my hand, I picture her holding it in her hand on the day she got it. She is smiling. My mother and her two sisters all have small collections, but my mother admits that she was more interested in finding salts to send to Grandma.

    Grandma once wrote a poem titled “When April Comes”. The poem contains the line, “When April comes and I am not around, remember me when daffodils are found.” Now, Grandpa is working on a poem with the line, “April came and you were not around”.

    But she was, somehow. She was there in the memories left behind by her possessions.

    In Africa, Christmas Day begins with groups of carolers (欢唱颂歌的人) walking to and from through the village, along the roadway, by the houses of the missionaries (传教士), singing the lovely carols known to the world around. Often people may be awakened by a group of carolers beginning to gather at the house of worship(敬神活动). They return home to make final preparations as to the clothes one must wear and also as to their offering for the Christmas service.

    The most important part of their Christmas worship service is the love offering. This is the gift in honor of Jesus. At about 8 or 9 o'clock everyone goes to the celebration of the birthday of Jesus. Everyone who attends the service goes forward to lay down their gift upon the raised platform near the Communion table. No one will attend the service without giving a gift.

    Christmas in South Africa is a summer holiday. There is no snow, but it has many flowers, many beautiful varieties of wild flowers being in their full pride.

    In Ghana, most churches show the coming of Christmas by decorating the church and homes beginning with the first week in Advent, four weeks before Christmas. This season happens to be the time of cocoa harvest, so it is a time of wealth. Everyone returns home from wherever they might be such as farms or mines.

    In Africa, it is the traditional dinner of turkey, roast beef, mince pies, or suckling pig, yellow rice with raisins, vegetables, and plum pudding, crackers. In the afternoon, families go out into the country and usually there are games or bathing in the warm sunshine, and then home in the cool of the evening. Boxing Day is also a proclaimed (正式宣布的) public holiday usually spent in the open air. It falls on December 26 and is a day of real relaxation.