On the eve of our daughters' weddings, I gave both of them what Iconsidered to be excellent marital advice: never leave your husband unsupervised(无人监督的) with pruning shears (修枝剪).

If only I had taken my own advice. I recently let my guard down. Thirty-some years of marriage can do that toa woman. Give a man pruning shears and electric trimmers (电动修剪器) and he will givenew meaning to “armed and dangerous.”

One day earlier this year, my husband saidthat the crab apple tree was dead.

“Why do you think it is dead?” I asked.

“Look at it. There's not a leaf on it.”

“There's not a leaf on anything. It'sMarch,” I said.

“It looked sick last fall and with thisbitter winter we had, I'm convinced it's dead.”

The truth is he's never liked thecrabapple. Sure, it has beautiful blooms in the spring, but then it gets adisease, the leaves curl, and it drops those little apples that sit on thedriveway.

Each passing week he pronounced the treedead. Eventually I began to believe him. Though he agreed it would be aregrettable loss, there was a twinkle in his eye. He armed himself a couple ofweeks ago and began trimming. A branch here, a branch there, a small limb, thena large limb. I watched and then decided to check the wood on some of thebranches closer to the trunk. I broke one off and saw green.

The crabapple was not dead. It just hadn'thad time to leaf out. The tree was now falling to one side, but it was notdead. I would have told him so, but he had moved on to a maple. Once the manstarts, he can't stop. One trim leads to another.

“Please, stop!” I called.

He smiled and nodded, but he couldn't hearbecause he had started the hedge (树篱) trimmers and was getting ready to fix a line of hedges.

Zip (飕飕声), zip, zip.

“What do you think?” he shouted.

“It's supposed to be a privacy hedge; nowall that will be private are our ankles.”

He started the trimmers again.

“Stop!” I called, “Come back!”

“Why?” he shouted.

“You're in the neighbor's yard.”

    When I walked into the house after school, I found my dad at home.

    "What are you doing home already?" I asked casually.

    "Andrew, I was laid off today," he answered quietly.

    I was sure he was joking. "No, you weren't. Why are you really home?"

    Then I noticed his expression and realized he was telling the truth. My father has always been a hard worker and prided himself on his career. My father's unemployment created many changes in our lives. He was home all day, which meant my bed had to be made, my room cleaned up, and my homework done right after school. I would come home every day to find him at the computer searching for jobs. I began to notice how down he seemed, and how losing his job had affected his self-esteem, though he tried to be optimistic. He asked my brother and me to spend less money. I gave up my allowance, which even though it wasn't much, felt like the right thing to do. I also found a part-time job.

    After several difficult months of searching, my dad decided to go in a totally different direction. He explained that he never wanted to be laid off again, so he was going to start his own business. Day by day, I watched him build it, and I admired how much time and energy he devoted to it.

    One evening I asked if he needed help. "Only if it doesn't interfere（打扰，妨碍） with school," he said, which sounded like a yes.

    I showed up at his office the next afternoon, and most afternoons after that for two months. I always knew he was a hard worker, but watching him in action really influenced me. Although this was one of the worst experiences for our family, it taught me a lot about dealing with adversity. Now I know that through creative problem-solving, I can always find Plans, ask for help, and take risks.

    We all know the hard work that filmmakers and actors put in to provide us with entertainment, but it seems that even regular moviegoers like us have a big impact on how a movie turns out too.

    For decades now, film studios have used so-called test screenings（试映）to get feedback from members of the public before a movie comes out.

    While test audience members are usually asked to fill in a questionnaire after a screening, telling the film studio what they liked and didn't like, media giant Disney has come up with a more high-tech solution.

    According to a paper published this summer by the company's researchers, Disney is measuring test audiences' reactions(反应) by using special cameras placed inside cinemas.

    Pairing the cameras with custom(定制的) software, the company can track what each audience member is feeling at any point in the movie, from anger to joy.

    This works by mapping 68 different points on each audience member's face. The cameras can see in the dark, and the software can figure out a person's mood based on the slightest of facial expressions.

    It is hoped that this new method will allow more detailed feedback from test audiences. Rather than relying on audience members to recall their feelings after the movie's over, it can accurately read their reactions in real-time.

    Test screenings are highly valued in the movie industry, and several well- known movies have been greatly altered following feedback.

    Viewers of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial(1982) would have left the cinema feeling a whole lot differently if it weren't for its test audience's feedback.

    "In one cut of the film that was tested, E.T. died instead of going home in his spaceship. You won't be surprised to hear that the test audience in question didn't warm to this ending at all," wrote media website Den of Geek.

    But for those of us who are concerned about privacy, the cameras won't be installed in public cinemas.

    After all, unless you're part of a test audience, being in front of the camera is best left to the movie stars.

    The hit movie Notting Hill（诺丁山）begins with a famous scene. Hugh Grant bumps into Julia Roberts and spills orange juice all over her. After the collision, Grant repeatedly says, “I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.”

    His actions in this scene are very British. If Roberts' character were from the Britain, than she would probably apologize repeatedly as well – even if the crash were not her fault. But this doesn't happen in the movie, as Roberts is from the US.

    A report in The Telegraph once said that three quarters of British people apologize when they bump into someone in the street – regardless of whether they are responsible or not. In fact, Britons use “sorry” in many situations. For example, if they mishear someone, they say “Sorry?” The person they are talking to will also apologize by replying, “No, I am sorry!” This can go on for up to five minutes as they compete over who is the most sorry.

    Why are Britons so sorry? Mark Tyrell, a psychology writer in the UK, thinks that their apologetic tendencies are rooted in British class system. “We say sorry because historically the new middle class in Britain had to apologize for not being the working class, but also for really being the upper class.” Another theory is that they apologize to avoid conflicts. For example, if they bump into someone, he might get angry. To avoid this, they instantly say “Sorry!”

    True manners are about being considerate, and today's constant use of apologizing shows that we are perhaps not as thoughtful as we once were. The word “sorry” has lost some of its meaning.

    Do you see my point? Sorry, it might just be a British thing.

    Indian-origin Anvitha Vijay has given a new meaning to the phrase “age is just a number”; she has proved that achievements and knowledge follow passion and not just age and experience.

    Vijay, who lives with her parents in Melbourne, Australia, at the age of seven realized that her piggy bank did not have enough money to hire a developer to make her an app, so she decided to teach herself how to code. With the help of YouTube videos, the young techie learned to code. For one entire year, she watched multiple coding tutorials on the web and became a programmer herself.

    Vijay's inspiration for developing the apps was her little sister, who was still learning to talk. Therefore, Vijay developed an educational app for children that were her sister's age. The app is called Smartkins, which uses about 100 sounds and flashcards of different animals that help children learn and identify. Later, Vijay developed a similar iOS app for children to identify and learn colors. Each app has been downloaded thousands of times.

    Anvitha's skills won her a scholarship to attend a big tech conference hosted by Apple in San Francisco, California. There, she got tips from the pros. She went to workshops where she learned about the latest software for app building.

    All that training led to an idea for a third app. This one, called GoalsHi, inspires kids to practice good habits. Users are rewarded for achieving goals, such as eating their vegetables or practicing piano. Anvitha says the rewards are like getting a sticker for a job well done.

    Anvitha's goal is to continue creating technology that helps kids learn while having fun. But even more important to her is that the world sees the power of technology in kids' hands. “The more training we get in tech at an early age,” she says, “the better chance we have of becoming creativity champions who will one day change the world.”

    Many Chinese people have awakened their interest in classical Chinese poetry recently thanks to a popular TV show that aims to “appreciate classical Chinese poetry, explore cultural genes and enjoy the beauty of life” by combining traditional literary form with light-hearted TV quizzes.

    The ten-episode “Chinese Poetry Competition”, since its broadcast, has been praised for injecting vitality(活力) into TV programs with fantastic performances of contestants, impressive comments from judges as well as its innovative interactive mode. In the show, poems can be adapted into songs or depicted(描绘) through artistic pictures. Any contestant who can memorize the largest number of poems may not necessarily be the final winner, while fast reaction and usage of poems matter a lot more in the competition.

    Wu Yishu, a 16-year-old student from the High School Attached to Fudan University in Shanghai, is the champion of this season. Her rich knowledge of classical poetry impressed everyone and she rose to become famous online. In an earlier episode, Wu wowed the audience when performing in a section. She amazingly recited lines from the Classic of Poetry(《诗经》), the earliest collection of poems in China.

    “Learning poems isn't about winning or losing. The power of poetry lies in shaping one's view of life and developing one's inner world,” said Li Bo, an expert guest at the Chinese Poetry Competition's second season.

    When it comes to teaching people about poetry, Li Dingguang, the show's academic advisor, suggested that teachers should explain more about the beauty of the poetry from both the aesthetic(审美的) and emotional sides, and guide students to lose themselves in the poems' rhythmic and rhyming(押韵的) lines.

    “Although the proportion（比例) of ancient Chinese poems in the textbooks of primary and secondary schools has increased, many students still learn them for exams,” Li Dingguang said.“ Therefore, it's important to help students truly appreciate the artistry and fun of poetry.”