Before I studied psychology, I used to think that people would laugh when funny things occurred. While I was right about that, I discovered there are lots of other psychological factors that make people laugh other than the funny part of a joke. When someone laughs at a joke, there will usually be more than one reason that makes him laugh—and the more reasons there are, the more powerful the joke will be.

    I was attending a stand-up comedy show in Egypt, and when the man started to make fun of pedestrians crossing streets, everyone laughed their hearts out. The main reason those people strongly laughed was that almost all of them felt angry towards pedestrians who crossed streets carelessly. The joke wasn't only funny, it also made the audience feel that they were right about being angry at those pedestrians. That is, people were laughing both because of the funny joke and becauseof the happiness experienced as a result of the psychological support they got.

    The better a joke makes a person feel, and the more it includes other psychological factors, the more the person will like it. For example, if you envy one of your friends, and someone tells a joke that is funny and, at the same time, makes your friend seem stupid, then you will probably laugh at it louder than if you weren't jealous of him.

    In short, we don't laugh only when we hear something funny; we also laugh when we experience some kind of happiness that results from the other psychological factors involved in the joke. I strongly discourage making fun of anyone or be littling someone to make someone elselaug. All I want to explain is that if your joke supports a person's emotions, he will certainly like it a lot.

    To develop one's taste in English，the most effective way is to read English books extensively. However, one may be at a loss to choose the appropriate books，especially as a beginner.I would like to share some of my experience.

    My first English novel was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice，recommended by many English teachers and professors as an ideal book for English learners. But I had great difficulty in understanding the novel，let alone enjoying it. It's not the vocabulary that troubled me，but rather the way Austen constructs sentences，and her way of thinking，which seemed too remote to me at that time. My fading enthusiasm was much recovered after reading Hemingway's novel Farewell to Arms. I particularly liked his brief and lively style. So my first suggestion is，as a beginner, you'd better choose contemporary novels instead of classical ones.

    However，reading novels is not the only way to improve your English. English essays can at once inform you，entertain you, and improve your taste in English. The best example is Bertrand Russell's work. Its language is plain, yet you cannot help feeling the elegance and the unique sense of humor. His simple language enables his philosophy(哲理) within the reach of ordinary people. Here comes my second suggestion—essays are indispensable.

    Never follow other's opinions blindly，however famous or influential the person might be. As a saying goes，one man's meat is another man's poison. With that in mind，we are sure to find out our favorite writers through reading and develop our fine taste in English.

    On the arrival of the graduation season, a large number of students will leave their colleges and get busy finding jobs. However, it seems not all students will be in a hurry to get to work. According to a survey online in May, about 9.8 percent of the 93,420 graduates surveyed said they wouldn't begin working right after graduation. This phenomenon is called "delayed employment".

    One reason why the graduates don't start their careers immediately is that they want a job related to their personal interests, and they are unwilling to give in and take jobs they don't like. "Looking for the right career is like looking for Mr. Right. Maybe I could have found a job or two, but I don't want to just make a living or be stuck in a specific position,” said Shen Yu, who graduated in 2014 but didn't look for a job right away.

    Another reason is to avoid the fierce competition of the job market.Statistics provided by the Ministry of Education show the number of the new university graduates will reach 7.95 million this year. Meanwhile, only 26.7 percent of the new graduates have signed contracts(合同) with employers, 8.7 percent down from the previous year.

    And some Chinese college students have chosen to travel or volunteer instead of finding jobs. For example, Chen Nuan, who will graduate from the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts this summer, has planned to tour Europe immediately after graduation. "As the old Chinese saying goes,traveling thousands of miles is better than reading thousands of books,"she told China Daily.

    However, no matter what you choose after graduation, make full use of the first few years—this is when people develop soft skills such as punctuality and teamwork. The first 10 years are essential, which shapes careers in the long term.

    Both are so much related to each other. And both are so dissimilar! What are the differences between friendship and love? Is platonic (理想的) friendship possible between persons of opposite sex? Let us try and understand.

    What is friendship? Why do we call a person our friend? When do we call someone a very good friend? If we care for a person, if we are always ready to help that person and if we share most of our thoughts with a person, they are our good friends. We can always count upon our good friends in an emergency. We are always sure that our friend will understand why we acted in a certain way. We need not explain anything to our very good friends. The friendship is so deep and the relationship is so close.

    What about love? In a relationship of deep love, all the sharing that we discussed above are taken for granted. But love transcends (胜过) all this. During love, we are attached with a particular person, while in friendship, one may have many friends. A loving relationship makes one so much attached to the other, that one gets pained if his/her beloved is hurt! Love also involves a physical element. Friendship does not have that. This is a vital difference. Nature gives us love but does not give us friendship.

    Your heart beats will never increase in expectation of meeting your friend. You will not lie awake at night thinking about your friend. You will not feel totally lost, if you don't meet your friend for a few days. You will not have dreams in your eyes thinking about your friend. But in love, you will do all this and much more. Indeed, there is no comparison between love and friendship.

    An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old son. Suddenly a crow (乌鸦) landed on their window.

    The father asked his son, "What is that?"

    The son replied, "That is a crow."

    After a few minutes, the father asked his son for the second time, "What is this?"

    The son said, "Father, I told you just now. It's a crow."

    After a little while, the father asked his son the same question for the third time, "What is this?"

    This time, the son said to his father in a low and cold tone, "It's a crow, a crow."

    After a moment, the father yet again asked his son for the fourth time, "What is this?"

    This time his son shouted at his father, "Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again? I have told you already, 'IT IS A CROW'. Are you not able to understand this?"

    A minute later the father went to his room and came back with a diary, which he had kept since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page.

    Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa when a crow suddenly landed on the window edge. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied him 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question. I didn't at all feel angry, but instead felt affection for my son.

    If your parents reach old age, do not look at them as a burden, but speak to them gently, and be kind to them. From today say this aloud, "I want to see my parents happy forever. They have cared for me ever since I was a little child. They have always showered me with love. I will take care of my old parents in the best way no matter how they behave."

    The year of 2017 marked the 100th birthday of the honoring Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei.

    From museums to business headquarters, Pei had designed many notable buildings around the world throughout his long professional career. According to the organizers of ''Rethinking Pei: A Centenary Symposium (百年纪念座谈会)" held that year, Pei remained one of the most celebrated architects of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

    The Hong Kong Bank of China Tower is one of his most famous works in Asia. As the bank itself also celebrated its centenary in 2017, it's worth examining the building's historical and architectural background to gain a deeper understanding of the architect who changed Hong Kong's skyline forever.

    The Bank of China Tower (BOC Tower) was completed in 1989, a year which the "New York Times" called, the year of I.M. Pei." For it was in this same year that Pei also completed the glass pyramid of the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, the Creative Artist Agency Headquarters in Los Angeles, and other marvellous architectures all around the world.

    Pei was commissioned (委托)in 1982 by the Beijing-based Bank of China to design it shead quarters in Hong Kong, but construction did not start until 1985.

    There were many reasons for the delay. One of the biggest was the huge challenges posed by the location. The land parcel had been the address of a Victorian building which served as a prison during Japanese occupation of Hong Kong between 1941 and 1945. This terrible heritage might be one of the reasons why it was dismantled in 1982.

    For I.M. Pei, the challenge of the site was not its past, but its present: the relatively small land parcel was surrounded on three sides by elevated roadways serving high-speed heavy traffic, meaning there was no possible public pedestrian access. Then there was its awkward trapezoidal (梯形)shape and the fact that the site also had a deep north-south height difference.

    Another challenge was the unavoidable comparison of the BOC Tower to the neighboring Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Headquarters(HSBC), which was also under construction. A spectacular building generously funded, its architect Norman Foster was simply told to create "the best bank building in the world." At that time it was also the world's most expensive building, costing $668 million. The Bank of China Tower's budget was approximately one fifth of the budget allowed by HSBC.

    The Hong Kong government had promised HSBC that no tall buildings would ever be built in front of its headquarters. Besides, in between the site of the Bank of China and the harbor, there were already a few buildings over 70 meters tall blocking views.

    Recognizing that going tall was the only way to create a landmark at this site with his budget, Pei came up with an architectural tower design that was simple, expressive, innovative, and upon its completion, the tallest building outside of America and the fourth tallest in the world.

    After the Bank of China officially moved into the tower in 1991, noted architect and critic Peter Blake visited the building and declared it to be "probably the most innovative skyscraper structure built anywhere to date."

    Now 30 years after the building^'s construction, the Bank of China Tower continues to offer valuable lessons of architectural and structural creativity under the most demanding conditions. Most importantly, the tower has become one of the most important cultural icons for the city of Hong Kong.