B

    Two weeks before my 12th birthday, my teacher asked me to conduct an experiment. When I mixed some powder together, they exploded. Molten liquid hit me in the face, but I felt no pain.

    I vividly remember standing there in a state of calm. I thought I was in a dream, but however hard I struggled to swim to the surface of consciousness, I couldn't wake up. I didn't understand how terrifying it was until I heard people saying, ＂Who's that?＂ That's when I knew I was unrecognizable.

    I was taken to hospital, but the doctors didn't know what to do with me. Later I was flown to Houston for surgery. Between the ages of 13 and 16, I had 40 operations. As each operation came and went, my vision would come back, then fade again. Eventually, it faded completely and I had what was left of my eyes removed for cosmetic reasons.

    Since then, I have lived in total darkness. Most blind people, even if they don't have any sight they're aware of, are still able to sense light. That gives them a sense of day and night. But not me. I absolutely lost that sense of time passing.

    For many years, I felt my sight loss darkening my life like the loss of my parents from which I would never recover. But when I was in my 40s, I realized I had to find a way to live. I trained to become a counselor, and that has helped me see my experiences in a different way. I can't fix people's broken lives — just like I can't fix my sight — but I can help them find a way to manage.

    Sometimes it feels as if all the struggles and negative experiences I've lived through were in fact a kind of preparation for helping others to make their own way towards the light.

    Modern man has cleared the forests for farmland and for wood, and has also carelessly burned them. More than that, though, he has also interfered(干预) with the invisible bonds between the living things in the forests. There are many examples of this kind of destruction. The harmfulness of man's interference can be seen in what happened many years ago in the forest of the Kaibab plateau （凯亚巴布高原） of northern Arizona. Man tried to improve on the natural web of forest life and destroyed it instead.

    The Kaibab had a storybook forest of large-sized pine, Douglas fir, white fir, blue and Engelmann spruce. In 1882 a visitor noted, "We, who have wandered through its forests and parks, have come to regard it as the most enchanting（迷人的）region it has ever been our privilege to visit. "This was also the living place of the Rocky Mountain mule deer. Indians hunted there every autumn to gather meat and skins. The forest also had mountain lions, timber wolves and bobcats that kept the deer from multiplying too rapidly.

    Then, in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt made the Kaibab a national game preserve. Deer hunting was forbidden. Government hunters started killing off the deer's enemies. In 25 years' time, 6,250 mountain lions, wolves and bobcats were killed. Before the program, there were about 4,000 deer in the Kaibab, by 1924, there were about 100,000.

    The deer ate every leaf and twig they could reach. But there was not nearly enough food. Hunting of deer was permitted again. This caused a slight decrease in the deer herd，but a far greater loss resulted from starvation and disease. Some 60 percent of the deer herd died in two winters. By 1930 the herd had dropped to 20,000 animals. By 1942 it was down to 8,000.

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    A Spanish company Siesta&Go has opened the first public napping (小睡) space in Madrid. It promises people a quiet rest in the middle of the city's business center.

    Napping spaces are nothing new; places to rest are already set up in other big cities in the world. But the idea would appear to work well with the culture of Spain, where people traditionally take an afternoon nap, called siesta.

    The Madrid nap space recently opened with 19 beds. People can use them by the minute or by the hour, and they can also choose either a private or shared room. An hour of napping inside a private room costs about $15.

    Siesta &Go provides all bedding, clean nightshirts and other materials. Nippers can request to be woken up when their time is up. It also offers areas to work, with armchairs, newspapers and coffee for those not wishing to sleep.

    Philip &Go is one happy customer. Marco says he gets tired during the day because of hard work. He says a siesta is the perfect way to build up energy. "I come for about 30 minutes or something like that. That is usually enough for me to be full of energy."

    While many Spanish people love their naps, others like Carlos Villarroja say they are just too busy to keep the tradition. "It's a Spanish tradition, but I think it's more of a legend (传说) than a tradition. Because of the lifestyle and the working hours, we have very little free time for a siesta at least during the week."

    But many health experts believe there is evidence that taking a short nap can be very good for the body and mind. Scientific studies show that taking a siesta can also prevent illness and lower blood pressure.

    Coming to the end of my assistantship in Barcelona, I start to think about what the future might hold.

    It's been seven months and a few days since I arrived here and things have changed so much in what some might call a short period of time. When I first arrived in Terrassa I was excited and nervous to start a new adventure in a country I love. The first few days seem so long ago now, trying to find a place to live, organizing my timetable with the schools, meeting new people.

    However, a fortnight later, the excitement started to fade and I began to spend more than a few nights thinking about family and friends back home, wondering if I should be there with them. Everything started to change after meeting some new friends and spending good time with them, eating together and seeing new places as a group. I suppose we should never forget how important it is to have good people in your life, because they can make a difference.

    Coming back to Terrassa after visiting home for Christmas felt like returning to a second home, to a place that was mine with people I cared about. Things got even busier and more people came into my life; new friends, romance and a whole lot of good food flowed by in what seems to have been weeks, not months.

    Now, looking forward, there are some decisions to make. Should I return home to Scotland and move on with life there or try to extend my time here, perhaps make it something permanent? Experiencing other cultures or learning about the world is such an important thing to do if you have the means.

    My advice from my experience so far is to travel and try new things whenever you get the opportunity. You may find somewhere you were always supposed to be.

    NAIROBI­Tin Tin, a Chinese restaurant located in central Nairobi, has been serving local Kenyans for nearly four decades with its delicious dishes and unique cultural background.

   "This is a restaurant definitely worth a try," said Steven, a local resident in his 30s. "It has provided Chinese food since my grandfather's time."

    According to Henry Tin, the restaurant owner, Tin Tin was established in 1978 at the heart of the Nairobi Central Business District, upholding Chinese cuisines while adapting to Kenyan preferences.

    For years, it has become a defining part of the city's landmark­Kenya International Conference Center­attracting lots of office workers nearby and even presidential customers.

   "The former president of Kenya, Moi, was a very good customer for us. He came almost always in cash. Then former president Mwai Kibaki and now president Uhuru. They all like to enjoy our food," Tin said.

    Danis, an office worker of an insurance company near the KICC says he is a frequenter of the restaurant.

   "It is the only Chinese restaurant in the highly competitive downtown area. Besides, its food has been adapted to our taste," Danis said, "My favorite dishes are fried shrimp and fried pork, which you can also find in a Kenyan restaurant."

   "High­quality food consistently served over the decades has helped maintain loyal customers," Enoch Kivunaga said, at Tin Tin.

   "My experience depends on the customers. If I cook good food, they always come back, whether they are presidents or ministers," he said.

    Tin said he speaks Swahili well and perfectly pronounces local names, which shows the Chinese culture and its Kenyan counterpart are quickly combining. "I am a Kenyan Chinese. I love both great countries."

    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, but truly can't 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.

    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,

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