Woman Uses Daughter's Key to "Steal" Car

    Charlie Vansant, a college student of Athens, Ohio, who reported that his car was stolen, got a surprise when he learned a woman had mistaken it for her daughter's car and taken it — using her key.

    Kate Anderson became an accidental car thief when picking up her daughter's car near an Ohio University building last week. Anderson spotted the Toyota Camry（丰田凯美瑞）and used her daughter's key to unlock the car, start the engine and drive home — without realizing that the car wasn't her daughter's.

    When Charlie Vansant left class a short time later, he found only an empty parking spot. He first assumed the car had been towed, but when the police couldn't find a record of it, they took a theft report.

    The morning after Anderson took the car, her daughter discovered the Camry in the driveway wasn't hers. Anderson said she was able to find Vansant's name on paperwork in the glove compartment and look up his phone number on the website for the university.

    When Anderson told Charlie the car was in her driveway, "It sounded really suspicious at first, as she wanted to hold the thing for ransom (赎金) , ” said Vansant. He eventually went to the house with a police officer, where he was reunited with his car. According to the police report, the case was closed "because of mistaken car identity", and Anderson wasn't charged.

    Vansant seemed to blame the car company more than the "thief". "Her key fitted not only my lock, but my ignition（点火装置）as well — so high-five for Toyota, I guess." he said.

    My parents moved to Mississippi when my brother and I were small children, and we were separated from our Oklahoma grandparents by some 600 miles. This long distance allowed us to only visit our grandparents once a year, either at Christmas or during summer vacation.

    Most of my classmates lived near their grandparents, and I would often hear stories of big families regularly spending time with one another, fishing at “grandpa's” house or going over to “grandma's”for her famous fried chicken. We were disappointed that we did not get to spend more time with our grandparents, but our love for them remained deep and strong.

    We always expected a road trip to Oklahoma. We would count the days, and when the day came, the entire family would pile into our car at four o'clock in the morning. Crossing the Mississippi River into Louisiana, the scenery changed. Crossing the Red River in Oklahoma, we were in a foreign world.

    Every trip to see my grandparents can't be without bringing delight. We jumped out of the car in their driveway to be met with bear hugs. My grandparents wanted to know everything about their grandchildren, and we would sit for hours and tell story after story. Grandma had a meal planned, and you could guess she prepared her grandsons' favorite foods. Of course the best part of the visit was that we were able to do whatever we wanted without punishment from our grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa always had presents for us, short trips planned and lovely surprises, such as the time we got to a local restaurant and ate the world's largest hamburger.

    It was a warm April day when a big fat envelope came in the mail from the only college I had ever imagined attending. I tore open the packet. My eyes were fixed on the word “congratulations”. I don't remember ever smiling so wide.

    Then I looked at my financial(财政的) package.

    The cost of Dream School's tuition(学费), room and board was around ＄40,000 ? An impossible sum! How could I afford to attend? What good reasons did I have to go there when three other fine colleges were offering me free tuition? My other choices were good, solid schools even if they weren't as famous as my first choice.

    In my mind, attending my dream university would be the only way to realize my dream of becoming a world-class writer. My parents understood how I felt. They told me that even though it would be a financial problem, I could go wherever I would be happiest. But as I was always careful with money, I wasn't sure what to do.

    One of the schools that offered me a full ride had an informational dinner one night in the spring. Considering my parents' financial difficulties, I decided to drive the 45 minutes and attend. At first, all I had planned to do was smile politely, eat free food, listen quietly. But I surprised myself.

    At dinner the president of the university talked about the wonderful activities on campus (校园) including guest lectures and social gatherings. He also made it perfectly clear that free food would be offered at all future events. He continued with explanations of professors, class sizes, activities, and sporting events on campus. As he spoke, I began to realize that this school, though not as good as my first choice, might be the best one for me. It seemed small yet with many great programs. It seemed challenging yet caring.

    As the president ended his speech, we clapped politely and pushed back our chairs. As I walked out of that door, a feeling of comfort washed over me. Looking at the campus that night, I realized that I would be spending the next four years right there.

    In all honesty, my university is not as well-known as my “dream” university. However, it turned out to be the right choice of schools for me.

    Poetry is the artistic expression of the human thoughts and feelings in rhythmical and emotional language. Compared with prose (散文) , it lays more stress on rhythm, imagery (意象), emotion, and imagination. As its language is rhythmical, its sound is highly musical. We may say, "No rhythm, no poetry", no matter the rhythm of poetry is traditional as in metrical (格律的) style or "natural" as in free verse.

    So the poet must write carefully and reflectively in order to find words that not only fulfills the demands of meter and rhyme, but also expresses the meaning in a manner that complements the imagery and tone of the rest of the poem. This careful use of language is the most significant difference between ordinary prose and poetry.

    The ordinary prose writer neatly builds an argument using words the way a mason (石匠) builds a house using bricks; the poet is an artisan who creates a fieldstone hearth (大卵石壁炉炉床) — each stone or each word is turned over  examined, and often laid aside until it can be placed where its shape, weight, and color will contribute to the strength and beauty of the whole. Prose, according to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is "words in their best order", and poetry is "the best words in their best order".

    The reader's chief delight in reading poetry comes from his response to its musical effect, which comes from many metrical patterns represented in conventional iambic (抑扬格) feet or from repetitions and parallel phrasing shown in free verse and from other elements of poetry.

    Who doesn't want to live life in style? Life is like a road on which you never get a chance to return, and is not a very long road either. So we should try to live life to the fullest and enjoy every bit of it.

    Every individual has unique likings and preferences, and all of us try to live the lives that suit us best. The world is like a painting cloth on which different people with different races, different languages, and different cultural backgrounds interact. But among these, the arts provide an easy and natural way for people to connect.

    People with a knack for the arts usually discover it in childhood. But art isn't only for the talented; it can help everyone grow. Those with a strong artistic background are often more energetic, and more successful in all fields of life. Art widens the range of a person's life.

    Painting is one of the most popular art forms. Those who are interested in taking it up as a career need to go through extensive training to get familiar with the various styles. Professional painters often host art exhibitions, with art lovers from all over the world coming to see and buy their creations. Sometimes the paintings are sold at high prices.

    Performing arts are equally popular and admired. Dance, instrumental music, drama and so on require unusual artistic talent as well as a long period of education and training before audiences start to applaud the performances. But anyone with some artistic sense can make art part of his/ her life, and benefit from it.

If you are a psychology enthusiast, you have probably heard of the famous marshmallow test （棉花糖实验）. In this task, kids are given a marshmallow, and are told that they can eat that marshmallow now, or wait a little while, and have two marshmallows instead. Some kids eat the marshmallow immediately, but most try their best to wait for two. 

When the researchers followed up with those kids later in life, children who waited longer had better life outcomes: more academic success, better social behavior, and even markers of better health. They believe those children who keep waiting are the ones with the most self-control-a key factor in success, and that's why they are so successful later. 

But what if the behavior in the marshmallow test has more to do with cultural norms than self-control?

A 2022 study tested the idea that children may decide how long to wait for rewards based on what they are accustomed to waiting for in their culture. For example, in the United States, there is no widespread mealtime custom of waiting until everyone is served. In Japan, however, there is. 

Because of this difference in norms, the researchers hypothesized that Japanese children would wait longer in the marshmallow test than the American children. This is exactly what they found later in experiments. 

But this isn't conclusive evidence; after all, maybe Japanese children actually have better self-control, or maybe they differ from American children in other ways that could explain the result. 

In the U. S. , gifts are usually given on special occasions and children usually have to wait before they can unwrap their presents. In Japan, however, gift-giving happens more often, and children usually open presents immediately. 

Given these cultural differences, scientists expected that if they ran the test with gifts instead of marshmallows, American kids would wait longer. Once again, their hypothesis was correct. 

This is a powerful result because it demonstrates the importance of culture and habit in shaping behavior. If a child waits only few minutes before giving up on two marshmallows but much longer to unwrap a gift, can we really say that child lacks self-control? I don't think so. I think it just means that they are adjusting well to their social settings.