Master painter Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) was well known for having a large number of friends and students. Among them, painter Li Qiujun was special.

    They got to know each other through Li's elder brother, who was one of Zhang's best friends.

    They admired each other's artistic talent and became confidants, which resulted in a romantic relationship.

    In 1948, Zhang produced Spring Clouds Amid Autumn Landscape, a mountain-and-water ink painting featuring gongbi (meticulous brushwork), as a gift for Li's 50th birthday.

    A year later, Zhang permanently departed from the mainland, and traveled and exhibited around the world before settling down in Taipei in 1976.

    After leaving the mainland, he often said that he missed Li, who died in Shanghai in 1973.

    Spring Clouds Amid Autumn Landscape will be auctioned in Hong Kong on Oct 4.

    The painting not only marks a friendship between the two painters, but it deserves special attention because it shows Zhang at the top of his game as he sought to master the mountain-and-water style, according to C.K. Cheung, head of Sotheby's Chinese painting department.

    Sotheby's will auction the work at its major autumn sale, which runs from Oct 1 to 5.

    Cheung says the painting's composition and Zhang's attention to details reflect his incorporation of traditional touches, especially from Song Dynasty (960-1279) paintings, while also developing his own style.

    John Smith was a very handsome young man but he was lazy. He had finished his education and was happy to sit in his room and listen to the radio all day long. In fact, he had been doing nothing for almost six months, which worried his father a lot. One day Mr. Smith decided that he had to do something. “Johnny, When I was your age I was working and supporting my ten brothers and sisters. I want you to go out and get a job.” So that was what he did. In fact, in the next three months, Johnny started ten jobs and was fired from ten jobs. He explained to his father.

    “They wanted me to be at work at 8:00 a. m. and told me to do all sorts of unpleasant things.”

    “I don't care how you do it,” Mr. Smith said. “Either you earn some money or move out of the house. I gave you one week's time.”

    In the next few days Johnny began to change. He still stayed in his room all day, but spent his time writing letters and reading through the newspapers. More and more posts began to arrive for him. He bought a new suit for himself and invited his parents to the theatre and for dinner afterwards at the most expensive restaurant in town. When his proud parents arrived home after their evening hour, a policeman was waiting at the front door.

    “John Smith,” he said as he handed him a piece of paper, “I'll see you in the court tomorrow.”

    When he got outside, Johnny told his parents everything. “When you told me to earn some money, I decided to put an advertisement in the newspaper saying, 'New way to money fast! Send me $ 5 and I'll tell you my secret.' When I received the money I wrote back telling people to do as I do.”

    Johnny was fined $250 by the court and was ordered to pay all the people back. As he left the court house feeling very ashamed, a newspaper man came up to him, “Young man, would you like to tell your story to my newspaper for $2,500?”

    It's undeniable that spending time outdoors and in nature lifts our spirits and makes us feel more centered and at peace. When we breathe in fresh air, and enjoy the beauty of trees, streams and oceans, we naturally tend to feel more connected to ourselves and others.

Over the past decade, scientists have been exploring why nature — and dirt specifically — is such a powerful tool in improving our mood. According to researchers, the secret may lie in the microbes (微生物)of the soil. One bacterium specifically—-Mycobacterium Vaccae (M. Vaccae) —has been identified as having the power to affect our moods and cognitive function as well.

    Experiments conducted at Sage Colleges in New York found that contact with M. Vaccae can increase serotonin levels in the brain — a chemical that is associated with higher levels of happiness, increased focus, and reduced anxiety. In order to explore how the bacteria can improve learning, researchers Dory Mathews and Susan Jenks experimented with mice in a maze. Mice that ingested the bacteria navigated the maze twice as fast as the control group and proved less anxious as well.

    Humans can absorb M. Vaccae just by playing in the dirt. We take in it when we breathe, we consume it in organic vegetables, and it can also enter our bloodstream through skin contact, especially where we have open cuts. This may explain why children in school perform better after break.

    Neuroscientist Christopher Lowry at the University of Bristol in England believes that he has identified why this incredible bacterium works. "What we think happens is that the bacteria activate immune cells, which release chemicals called cytokines that then act on receptors on the sensory nerves to increase their activity.”

    Beyond the power of M. Vaceae, scientists have been proving for decades that exposure to dirt, and the huge number of microbes found in dirt, can strengthen our immune system. When our body comes into contact with bacteria, it stores die information in a type of library and can then use that information to fight sickness and infection more effectively.

    Happiness, focus, less anxiety… I'll take a double dose of dirt; please!

    "Have a nice day!" may be a pleasant gesture or a meaningless expression. When my friend Maxie says "Have a nice day" with a smile, I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well.

    "Have a nice day. Next!" This version of expression is spoken by a salesgirl at the supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words come out in the same tone(腔调)with a fixed procedure. They are spoken at me, not to me. Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else's is the management's attempt to increase the business.

    The expression is one of those behaviors that help people get along with each other. Sometimes it indicates the end of a meeting. As soon as you hear it, you know the meeting is at an end. Sometimes the expression serves us when we don't know what to say." Oh, you just had a tooth out? I'm terribly sorry, but have a nice day."

    The expression can be pleasant. If a stranger says "Have a nice day" to you, you may find it heart-warming because someone you don't know has tried to be nice to you.

    Although the use of the expression is an insincere, meaningless social custom at times, there is nothing wrong with the sentence except that it is a little uninteresting. The salesgirl, the waitress, the teacher, and all the countless others who speak it without thinking may not really care about my day. But in a strange and comfortable way, it's nice to know they care enough to pretend they care when they really don't care all that much. While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like.

    Oxford and Cambridge have now decided to remove the words CAN'T and IMPOSSIBLE from their dictionary. Jessica Cox, 25, a girl born without arms, stands inside an aircraft. The girl from Tucson, Arizona got the Sport Pilot certificate lately and became the first pilot licensed to fly using only her feet. Jessica Cox of Tucson was born without arms, but that has only stopped her from doing one thing: using the word "can't".

    Her latest flight into the seemingly impossible is becoming the first pilot licensed to fly using only her feet.

    With one foot manning the controls and the other delicately guiding the steering column, Cox, 25, soared to achieve a Sport Pilot certificate. Her certificate qualifies her to fly a light-sport aircraft to altitudes of 10,000 feet.

    "She's a good pilot. She's rock solid," said Parrish Traweek, 42, the flying instructor at San Manuel's Ray Blair Airport. Parrish Traweek runs PC Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Services and has trained many pilots, some of whom didn't come close to Cox's abilities.

    "When she came up here driving a car," Traweek recalled, "I knew she'd have no problem flying a plane."

    Doctors never learned why she was born without arms, but she figured out early on that she didn't want to use prosthetic devices. So, the next time you are ready to tell yourself, "I can't possibly..." remember this amazing young woman and change your vocabulary.

    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.