You have to shake hands when you're coming or going in Germany, but in Britain you usually only shake hands when you meet someone for the first time.

    You have to give your present in public in the Middle East to show it's not a bribe(贿赂), but it's good manners to give your present in private in Asia.

    You mustn't give cutlery（刀具） in Latin America because it suggests that you want to cut off the relationship. You mustn't give a clock in China because the Chinese word for clock is similar to the word for funeral(葬礼).

    “Come any time” means “I want you to visit me” in India. If you don't suggest a time and arrange a visit immediately, an Indian will think you are refusing the invitation.

    Offices are usually closed on Friday in Moslem countries.

    It's bad manners to discuss business at social occasion in India.

    In an English pub, you have to take your turn to buy a “round” drink for everyone in your group.

    There was once an 11-year-old boy who went fishing every time he went to an island in the middle of a New Hampshire lake.

    On the day before bass (巴斯鱼) season opened, he and his father were fishing early in the evening, catching other fish with worms. Then he tied on a small silver lure(鱼饵) and put it into the lake. Suddenly the boy felt something very big pulling on the lure. His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully brought the fish beside the bank. Finally he lifted the tired fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass.

    The boy and his father looked at the big fish. The father lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 10 pm — two hours before the season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy. “You'll have to put it back, son,” he said.

    “Dad!” cried the boy. “There will be other fish,” said his father. “Not as big as this one,” cried the boy. He looked around the lake. No other fishermen or boats could be seen in the moonlight. He looked again at his father.

    Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he had caught the fish, the boy could tell from his father's voice that the decision couldn't be changed. He threw the huge bass into the black water.

    The big fish disappeared. The boy thought that he would never again see such a big fish.

    That was 34 years ago. Today the boy is a successful architect in New York City. He often takes his own son and daughters to fish at the same place.

    And he was right. He has never again caught such a large fish as the one he got that night long ago. But he does see that same fish ... again and again ... every time he has an ethical (道德的) decision to make. For, as his father had taught him, ethics are simple matters of right and wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult.

    Some parents can't resist the strong desire to help their children play hooky (逃学) for a trip. Five-year-old Erica and her siblings Alex, 9, and Kate, 12, missed school in Denver on Aug. 21, 2017. Their father Mr. Reed took them on a camping trip to Halsey to see the solar eclipse (日食). Kate had told her teachers she'd be absent and Mr. Reed let Erica's and Alex's teachers know, too. But he didn't ask for permission.

    Mr. Reed has loved astronomy since seeing Neil Armstrong walk on the moon on his sixth birthday. He says, “I want my own kids to have a similar kind of wonderment and hope about future discoveries.”

    Parents often dream of traveling with their children to teach them about science, geography and culture. Many teachers support them, as the Reed children's teachers did. Other teachers were angry about the extra work.

    Teacher Amanda says she feels frustrated when parents take students out of school for family trips. If she sends homework, she finds it's often returned incomplete or incorrect, because the absent student didn't hear her explanation in class. Some students suffer anxiety as they struggle to catch up. Research shows that students who are absent often, for any reason—excused or unexcused—performed more poorly in school.

    Garrick agreed to miss five days of school for the Antarctic trip last year as a senior high school student, however. Managing the homework was a challenge, but it helped him gain time management skills. “And the trip is worth the effort,” he says, “sparking his interest in international relations. You can't really put a price on changing your world view,” Garrick says. “That's what travel has done for me. It has changed how I think about things.”

My First Marathon（马拉松）

    A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.

    I remember back to my 7th year in school. In my first P.E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and then hit a softball. I didn't do either well. He later informed me that I was ＂not athletic＂.

    The idea that I was ＂not athletic＂ stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!

    The night before my marathon, I dreamed that I couldn't even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.

    Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces(鞋带) became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!

    At mile 3, I passed a sign: ＂GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!＂

    By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt badly. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.

    By mile 21, I was starving!

    As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign. She is my biggest fan. She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a.m. or questioned my expenses on running.

    I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. In fact, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.gkstk

    Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels(世俗标签), I can now call myself a ＂marathon winner＂.

    The national environmental watchdog has declared that boosting efforts to cut air pollution in northern China, especially winter smog from the burning of coal, is a mission for this year.

    Burning coal for winter heating has been listed as one of the primary causes of air pollution, Chen Jining, minister of environmental protection, said on Monday at the annual meeting on environmental protection in Beijing.“As much as 60 percent of smog content is caused by coal burning in the starting phase of each smog”, said Fang Li, an official with Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau. Therefore, Beijing has declared that it will wipe out coal use in its most rural areas by 2020.

    To start with, Beijing will replace coal-fired heating stoves with those powered by electricity or gas in 400 villages this year, before taking the campaign to the districts of Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai and Shijingshan by 2017,said Guo Zihua, a municipal rural development official. Beijing's downtown districts of Dongcheng and Xicheng eliminated coal burning last year, officials said.

    The capital and other places in northern China experienced several smog alerts in November and December, when peak readings were many times higher than the national safety level. Obviously, the situation is deteriorating, and will become a norm. So the government came up with a “smog subsidy (津贴)” for those who work outdoors, and 95 percent of the respondents to a survey support it.

    The Trade Union in Zhengzhou City surveyed subscribers to its official WeChat account and found that 88 percent of nearly 400 respondents said priority should be given to outdoor workers on smoggy days But 9 percent said air pollution affects everyone so it would be unfair to only address the concerns of people who work outdoors.

    Over half of the respondents think the extra subsidy, if applied, could come in the form of protective tools or cash. Twenty-two percent said money is the easiest way. To finance the proposed subsidy, 53 percent think the government and companies should jointly pay the bill, while 44 percent said central and regional governments should be responsible.

    When you are sitting in class, have you ever drawn pictures in the margins (页边的空白处) of your notebooks? If so, you are doodling. Many people think of doodling as a distraction (分心) from more important things. But it might be just the opposite.

    One study shows that doodling may help you remember things you hear 29% more. Besides, doodling can help you think creatively. Walking away from a problem to draw might actually help you solve it. When you come back, you'll have a fresh perspective and figure out an answer more quickly.

    An author named Sunni Brown wrote a book on doodling. She argues that doodling is a tool that can help people think. In fact, she runs a business that helps companies improve organization and planning through doodling. Brown believes doodling is helpful because it includes many ways of learning. You learn in four ways: seeing, hearing, reading or writing, and through movement. The more ways you use, the better you learn. And when you doodle while listening to a lecture, you use all four.

    You might think that being good at drawing is important for doodling. But if the point of doodling is to help you think, then it doesn't matter what the picture looks like. Even if you're not an artist, doodling can help you. So next time you need help focusing, pick up a pen and doodle away!