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.

    Have you ever run into a careless cell phone user on the street? Perhaps they were busy talking, texting or checking updates on We Chat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new “species” of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name—phubbers (低头族).

    Recently, a cartoon created by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film, phubbers with various social identities bury themselves in their phones, a doctor plays with his cell phone while letting his patient die, a pretty woman takes selfe in front of a car accident site, and a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone, a chain of similar events eventually leads to a series of destruction.

    Although the ending sounds overstated, the damage phubbing can bring is real.

    Your health is the first to bear the consequence (后果) of it. “Constantly bending your head to check your cell phone could damage your neck,” Guangming Daily quoted doctors as saying. “The neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching.” Also, staring at cell phones for long periods of time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.

    But that's not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. At reunions with family or friends, many people tend to stick to their cell phones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.

    It can also cost you your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed of their cell phones in broad daylight.

    What do you plan to do this summer vacation? Do you want to travel over the sea, experience the ocean wave and enjoy the wonderful sea scenery? If that is what you want, come and sail on a Crystal Cruise ship (游轮). We have three ships: The Crystal Queen, The Crystal Princess, The Crystal Palace.

    Come and sail in luxury (奢侈) on cruises around the Caribbean Sea for 7 or 14 days.

    Our seven-day cruise costs $2,000 and our two-week cruise is $3,500. A typical one week cruise:

    Day One— set off from Miami

    Day Two— free day in Nassau, in The Bahamas Day Three— near Haiti

    Day Four— visit Puerto Rico and Antigua Day Five— free day in Barbados

    Day Six— free day in Port of Spain, Trinidad Day Seven— travel to Caracas, Venezuela Day Eight— fly home.

    All food and drink is included in the price of your cruise (except for wines). Our cruise ships all have a cinema, a five-star restaurant, a theatre, a library and a gym. However, you have to pay extra money to enjoy the films and plays.

    If you prefer to go on a cruise in another part of the world, we also organize cruises in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean.

    Our ships carry over 2,000 passengers and we have nearly 600 crew members in all. So come on board today for the holiday of a lifetime!

    Call immediately: 020-4455832

    I'm sure you will enjoy your luxury cruise ship journey very much!

    At 1,345 meters above sea level, Ben Nevis is not the world's most difficult mountain to climb. But things get considerably tricky if instead of hiking shoes you put on a pair of 5-inch high heels, especially if you're a guy. One English teenager recently proved that it was not impossible.

    Ben Conway, a 19-year-old art student from London, recently took up the challenge as a way to stand out in an application for a scholarship for the School of Communication Arts in Brixton. He started his unusual high-heel climb at 8 a.m., on June 27, and was joined by Callum MacKenzie Allen, a friend from his art foundation year, who videotaped the whole thing for a two-minute video that was used as his application project. The whole climb took five hours and wasn't the smoothest experience.

    Halfway up Ben Nevis, one of his shoes broke, so he had to tape the shoes to his feet to make sure they stayed on. The weather didn't make it easy for him either, as he claimed that it rained pretty much the whole time, and he had to go against 40 to 50 miles an hour winds. Due to these difficult conditions, Ben and his friend had to turn back after reaching 900 meters up the mountain.

    Besides providing a unique art school application project, the high-heel climb also allowed the 19-year-old to raise some money for worthy causes (事业), like Sal's Shoes, which provides footwear for barefoot children around the world.

    "Raising money for charity brings happiness to people's lives and if I can do something ridiculous and bring someone happiness, then that's what it's all about." Ben said.

I was standing in the checkout line behind a woman who looked to be in her 60s. When it was her turn to pay, the cashier greeted her by name and asked her how she was doing.

The woman looked down, shook her head and said: "Not so good. My husband just lost his job. The truth is, I don't know how I'm going to get through these days." Then she gave the cashier food stamps (食品券).

My heart ached. I wanted to help but didn't know how. Should I offer to pay for her groceries, or ask for her husband's resume (简历)?

Walking into the parking lot, I spotted the woman returning her shopping cart. I remembered something in my purse that I thought could help her. It wasn't a handful of cash or an offer of a job for her husband, but maybe it would make her life better.

"Excuse me," I said, my voice trembling a bit. "I couldn't help overhearing what you said to the cashier. It sounds like you're going through a really hard time right now. I'm so sorry. I'd like to give you something."

I handed her the small card from my purse. When the woman read the two words "You Matter" on the card, she began to cry. And through her tears, she said: "You have no idea how much this means to me."

I was a little startled by her reply. Having never done anything like this before, I didn't know what kind of reaction I might receive. All I could think to say was: "Would it be OK to give you a hug?"

A few days earlier, one of my workmates gave a similar card to me as encouragement for a project I was working on. When I read the card, I felt a warm glow spread inside of me. Deeply touched, I ordered my own box of "You Matter" cards and started sharing them.

This morning, I saw the shocking headline: "Passenger Dies When Car Crashes in Driverless Mode". In the article, various people said that the public should oppose the idea of developing driverless cars. They said that some advances in technology were unnecessary and could even be dangerous. Hence, we should cease accepting technology just because it is new. The newspaper reported that the car company had already apologised for the accident, but the families of the deceased（死者）said it was not enough. Nevertheless, the company still claimed that most people would be travelling in driverless cars one day soon.

On the one hand, there are many different groups of people around the world who live happily in the absence of new technology. Probably the most well known are the Amish（亚米希人）,a group of Christians living in rural America. They do not own or drive cars, watch TV, or use the Internet. They have lived mainly as farmers since the 18th century, and they will probably be living the same way in the distant future. They advocate a simple life with an emphasis on hard work, family, and community. They think that is better than caring about luxuries or following the lives of the rich and famous. It could even be argued that the Amish's quality of life is better since they live in and appreciate the natural environment rather than living in large, polluted cities.

On the other hand, new technology has provided people everywhere with many benefits over the years. For example, the latest weather-tracking computer programmes give people lots of warnings about potential natural disasters, which saves many lives. Moreover, the Internet has made it possible for friends and family to keep in touch easily even if they are on opposite sides of the world. It has also made finding opportunities in life much easier, as it allows people to make larger networks of friends through using social media.

Personally, I have benefited quite a lot from technological advances. I found my career as an AI designer through a social media network. My health monitor, which I wear all the time, has also helped me get into the best shape of my life. Of course, when new technology changes the way we live, it can be a scary prospect.

Nevertheless, I will always look on the positive side of change and accept it rather than resist it.