You get on an almost-empty bus, but the next passenger decides to ignore all the empty seats to sit right next to you. While you are waiting in line at the supermarket, the next customer stands just behind you shouting into his phone.

    These are attacks of the personal space invaders(侵略者). Though preferences for personal space differ from culture to culture, we Britons do love our independence and personal space.

    As the British customs website Debrett has said, as a British person, somebody standing too close may make you “focus less on what somebody is saying than on how close they are to you”. Simple acts like putting an arm around someone you don't know that well may seem friendly in China, but they can make us very uncomfortable. The ediplomat.com website explains: “The British are not back slappers (拍打者) or touchers and generally do not show affection (喜欢) in public.”

    Being a British person around people from other countries can therefore be full of problems. People from many European countries such as France and Spain kiss each other on the cheek when they meet, yet to us this seems too friendly and “touchy-feely”.

    Simple matters like how close others stand can be problems to Britons who want to keep their own personal space. Giving advice on how to behave around a British person, Debrett's says that “if you can feel the warmth of their worried breath upon your face, then you're standing too close”.

    So, are British people unfriendly? No. The ediplomat.com website explains that we are not as “indifferent” as we may seem, but “very friendly and helpful to foreigners”. However, we do have different ideas about our own space to many people from other countries. Just let us know if you're going to come any closer than arm's length, and you'll be fine!

    White-collar workers increasingly unhealthy

    An increasing number of white-collar workers in Shanghai are getting failing grades on their physical examinations, according to a white paper on the health of white-collar workers in Shanghai.

    Carried out by Shanghai Foreign Service Group,a human resources company,the report indicated that more than 53 percent of males are overweight,46 percent suffer from a fatty live and about 26 percent have elevated blood lipids（血脂）.However,females are more often diagnosed as having breast lesions（乳房病变）that could lead to cancer (85 percent),thyroid（甲状腺）disorder (34 percent) and hemorrhoids（痔疮）(23 percent).

    Though the report also found that white-collar workers were paying increasing attention to their health—with about 84 percent saying they followed their condition closely or very closely—those with healthy lifestyles dropped to 64 percent last year from 77 percent in 2015.

    The report came from about 500,000 physical exams taken by while-collar workers in Shanghai over the past five years.“I always eat and drink too much and never exercise,”said Wei Ruoxi,a 26-year-old working in finance who is struggling with being overweight.“I know what a healthy lifestyle looks like,but the job just brings too much pressure and squeezes out exercise time,”she added.Hu Xiaolong,30,an accountant in Shanghai,said he was determined to live healthily from now on.“My recent physical examination shows a little shadow in the lung,which startled me when I heard it.I really need to quit these habits like smoking and staying up late.”

    The white paper also showed that more people are turning to commercial health insurance to cope with financial risks caused by health problems.The popularity of insurance purchases among the participants reached 15.3 percent last year,a rise of 4 percentage points in just one year.Most participants also expected their companies to help them with effective health management,such as offering membership cards for gyms,flexible working schedules and regular physical examinations.

    For the last eight years, Jo Meade rode her bike each Sunday on a 16-mile round trip to her job washing dishes. It took more than an hour each way. Other days of the week she would spend two hours on three buses from her apartment to get to the other work, for a four-hour round trip.

    That was the “before” part of her life. The “after” part of her life was started by the community Police Officer Trevor Arnold, who delivered a used car to her with the help of a car dealer and other donors.

    Arnold, who spotted Meade, red and sweaty, riding her bike in the worst heat this summer, decided he would get her a car. He intended to quietly buy her a used car out of his own pocket so he turned to his friend Kody Slaght, a car salesman to ask about a car priced $1,000. That wasn't enough for a reliable ride, Slaght said, but the dealership said they would find a good car for her at a good price. Soon others were donating. Slaght and Arnold wouldn't say how much the car cost, but the value is about 4,000.

    Arnold said he was motivated by Meade's work ethic（职业道德）to help. “I see a lot of hardworking people nut that's when they are at work. Can you imagine spending four hours of your day getting to and from work?” he said.

    Meade's boss said she was awesome and really reliable when she worked and she got along with others. “She's willing to rise the three buses to get in here on her day off if we need her too.”

    Meade said she was planning to buy a car, “but I haven't been able to afford it,” she said. “Trevor, he is a very good guy. I did not expect this.”

    You know those nutrition guidelines the government issues every few years? It turns out that following them isn't just good for your health. It's good for the planet, too.

    " What we found is that impacts vary across nations, but in the high­impact nations, in general, you can see that, if you follow a nationally recommended diet, despite the fact that these diets don't mention explicitly—or most of them don't explicitly mention—environmental impacts, that you are going to have lower environmental impacts due to that. So that's sort of fairly clear across all the high­income nations." said Paul Behrens, an environmental scientist at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

    The food we eat takes a big toll on the environment. A third of the ice­free land on Earth is used for agriculture, and according to some estimates, producing food accounts for roughly a fifth of all human­caused greenhouse gas emissions. Fertilizer runoff also leads to other problems, like the algae blooms in Lake Eerie and the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

    However, following dietary guidelines would reduce those impacts, especially in wealthy countries like the US. "Most of the reductions come from meat and dairy," which have an outsized impact on land use and pollution, and are a major source of greenhouse gases.(That's partly due to cow farts. Seriously.) Following the suggestions would also mean eating fewer calories, since many people here eat more than they need.

    Overall, in high­income countries, Behren's team estimates that following the rules could result in as much as a 17 percent reduction in land use, a 21 percent reduction in nutrient pollution, and a 25 percent drop in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Cutting down on how much food we waste—which is roughly a third in the US—could help even more. The results are in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    Of course, people are notoriously bad at following diets. But: "These nationally recommended guidelines do actually have a knock­on effect on other areas of policy making. So if I'm developing a new healthy­eating­for­schools program then that's going to be based off a lot of detail that I get from the nationally recommended guidelines. So while it might not necessarily be the case that people follow directly …they actually are quite influential on the preparation of other advice."

    It seems that a smaller environmental footprint and a healthier lifestyle could go hand in hand.

    Four teenage girls from Minnesota, US. 120 hours of non-stop togetherness. No cellphones. This is not a reality show, but an adventure journey.

    "It was really perfect," said Julia Ruelle of her recent adventure to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with three of her childhood friends. "By unplugging, we had an amazing time."

    Last year, the 16-year-old took part in an essay contest and carried off a prize. The award was a 5-day canoe and camping adventure with up to three friends. No parents or guides would be there. So Julia invited her friends Anna Wander, Madeline Wilson and Julianna Torelli.

    The four Minnetonka High School juniors arrived in Ely for training the day before they began the journey. They set out the next day at 7 a.m., quickly developing a routine.

    "We were done paddling by noon," Julia said. "We ate lunch at the campsites and then it was time for hammocks (吊床), reading, making friendship bracelets (手镯) and talking."

    The girls had all had experience in the outdoors before.

    Anna had been to the Boundary Waters with her family. "I love how you are separated from everything in your life, especially technology," Anna said. Without her phone, she said, "I'm less worried about things." Madeline, too, had been to the Boundary Waters a few years back. "But this time, I had to paddle right and set up camp," she said. The girls made fire and cooked meal together. No one was ever hungry or homesick, but they were nervous the final night as they waited out a thunderstorm. They left wet sleeping bags in one tent, and squeezed into another for the night. "Every thunderstorm in the Boundary Waters feels huge," Julia said.

    On the car ride home, they were all on their phones catching up with friends. "It was a little at a loss turning my phone on," said Anna. "Mental health can be improved so much in the Boundary Waters. It really helps to get away and reconnect with yourself."

    My son Leon's passion for surfing began at the age of 13. After school each day, he put on his wet suit, paddled out beyond the surf line and waited to be challenged by his companions.

    One afternoon, the lifeguard reported over the phone to my husband Wilson that Leon's eye was badly injured by his board. Wilson rushed him to the emergency room. He received 26 stitches (缝针) from the corner of his eye to the bridge of his nose.

    I was on an airplane flying home. Wilson drove directly to the airport after they left the doctor's office. He greeted me at the gate and told me Leon was waiting in the car.

    "Leon?" I questioned. I remember thinking the waves must have been terrible that day.

    "He's been in an accident, but he's going to be fine."

    A traveling working mother's worst nightmare had come true. I ran to the car so fast that the heel of my shoe broke off. I swung open the door, and my son with the patched eye was leaning forward crying, "Oh, Ma, I'm so glad you're home."

    I cried in his arms telling him how awful I felt about not being with him.

    "It's okay, Mom," he comforted me. "You don't know how to surf anyway."

    "What?" I asked, confused by his logic.

    "I'll be fine. The doctor says I can go back in the water in eight days."

    I wanted to tell him he wasn't allowed to go near water again until he was 35, but instead I bit my tongue and prayed he would forget about surfing.

    For the next seven days he kept pressing me to let him surf again. One day after I had repeated "No" to him for the 100th time, he beat me at my own game.

    "Mom, you taught us never to give up what we love."

    I gave in.

    Back then Leon was just a boy with a passion for surfing. Now he ranks among the top 25 professional surfers in the world.