My husband hasn't stopped laughing about a funny thing that happened to me. It's funny now but it wasn't at the time.

    Last Friday, after doing all the family shopping in town, I wanted a rest before catching the train, so I bought a newspaper and some chocolate and went into the station coffee shop — that was a cheap self-service place with long tables to sit at. I put my heavy bag down on the floor, put the newspaper and chocolate on the table to keep a place, and went to get a cup of coffee.

    When I went back with the coffee, there was someone in the next seat. It was one of those wild-looking youngsters, with dark glasses and worn clothes, and hair colored bright red at the front. Not so unusual these days. What did surprise me was that he'd started to eat my chocolate!

    Naturally, I was annoyed. However, to avoid trouble — and really I was rather uneasy about him — I just looked down at the front page of the newspaper, tasted my coffee and took a bit of chocolate. The boy looked at me closely. Then he took a second piece of my chocolate. I could hardly believe it. Still I didn't dare to start an argument. When he took a third piece, I felt more angry than uneasy. I thought, "Well, I shall have the last piece." And I got it.

    The boy gave me a strange look, and then stood up. As he left he shouted out. "This woman's crazy!" Everyone stared. That was embarrassing enough, but it was worse when I finished my coffee and got ready to leave. My face went red — as red as his hair — when I realized I'd made a mistake. It wasn't my chocolate that he'd been taking. There was mine, unopened, just under my newspaper.

Visitor Guide to Birch Aquarium General Information

Thank you for respecting the health of our animals and the experience.

◆ Keep voices low in exhibit areas.

◆ No tapping on marine life displays.

◆ As a courtesy, please silence cell phones.

◆ Please use trash and recycling bins.

◆ Birch Aquarium is smoke-free facility.

Photography

    For the safety of our live animals, please do not use flash photography. Visitors may be photographed or videotaped by aquarium staff for professional use, or by the media covering aquarium news. Entry into the aquarium grants permission for use of these images.

Refreshments

    Splash Cafe offers a variety of gourmet, sustainable, and organic sandwiches, snacks, and beverages.

Drinks, food, and gum are not permitted inside the aquarium.

Restrooms ＆ Baby Care

Changing tables are located in both the men's and women's restrooms.

Re-entry

    Please keep your ticket or have hand stamped at the Visitor Service Office if you plan to exit and re-enter the same day , including visits to Splash Coffee Shop.

Visitors with Disabilities

    See the Visitor Information Center for assistance. All exhibits are wheelchair accessible. Wheelchairs are available at no charge.

Emergencies /First Aid/ Lost ＆ Found

Go to the Visitor Service Office or alert the nearest staff member.

Don't Miss!

    Watch a diver hand-feed the fishes—including three species of sharks—during our Kelp Tank Dive Show.

Learn about this unique and beautiful undersea world during a live, interactive presentation. After your visit, view the exhibit at home through our live, online Kelp Cam.

You may think that the story of Pygmalion (《卖花女》, 1913) — in which people are judged by the way they talk — is something that only existed in the days of British high society. But thanks to etiquette (礼仪) expert and author William Hanson, we realize that little has changed during the past 100 years.

    In a BBC radio program, Hanson released a list of common words used in British English that could reveal whether a person is "common" or "fashionable".

    And yet here comes the interesting part: While some of us might go through life using fancy words, dressing in ways that make us appear more well-off than we really are, there are wealthy people in the world who try to hide their riches because they want to be seen as "normal" instead of "showy".

    Beatrice, for example, is a New Yorker who inherited (继承) millions of dollars. She told The New York Times that she has a habit of removing the price tags (价签) from her clothes so her house staff don't see them and feel uncomfortable.

    "We don't want that 'Wow'." said Scott, also a New Yorker, who had just inherited over $50 million. "We're just not the type of people who wear it on our sleeve."

    The English language has a lot of words which can be used in many different ways and in many different experiences.

    One such example is the word matter. In fact, matter can mean just about anything. It could be one of the most useful words in the English language.

Let's get to the heart of the matter —- a matter of principle(原则).

    If someone says that you owe(欠) him $50, but you don't, a friend might say, "Well, you could pay him the $50. It's not that much money. Then you won't have to hear him say it anymore." But if you do not owe him the money, do not pay him the money. It's a matter of principle.

    There is another way to use the word matter. But be careful with your choices of words.

    If you ask someone, "What's the matter?", it shows you are worried about the other person. But saying, "What's the matter with you?" has a completely different meaning. And it usually sounds rude. In fact, when you say, "What's the matter with you?", you are suggesting that the person did something wrong or stupid.

    Another expression that could sound rude is to say, "It doesn't matter to me." Here, it depends on the context, and how you say it.

    Let's say you tell someone that a friend just got a big raise at work. That person answers with, "It doesn't matter to me." Here, it means he or she does not care. And it sounds rude.

    But saying, "Oh, you pick where we eat dinner. It doesn't matter to me." does not sound rude. In the situation, "it doesn't matter" shows you are easy-going.

    No matter how you look at it and what you say, matter is a very useful word. And it's only a matter of time before you will become an expert on the use of matter.

    “Has anyone seen Charge?” I asked, only half expecting a reply. The kids were running around the house, each doing their own thing, and my husband was watching the football game. Since she had only been out of sight for a few hours, I wasn't overly concerned. I thought she must be under one of the kids' beds, hiding from all the mess that was normal for a Sunday afternoon in our home.

    ①

    Charge was not good-looking, to put it kindly. It wasn't her fault; she was simply gifted with the worst appearance traits（特征）in her background.

    My husband had found Charge wandering along the freeway one day on his way home from work. She looked as though she hadn't eaten in weeks, so he stopped and fed her with bits of his leftover lunch. Not knowing what to do, he brought her home with the hope of finding her owners or at least a loving family that would take her. However, once she was in the house, the kids were determined not to let her go. After a day or two of begging, we unwillingly gave in and told them we could keep her.

    After observing her actions for days, I found she was extremely distrustful and afraid of everyone. In time, though, she came to love the kids and slept on their beds every night. I wondered if what she had experienced had conditioned her to be protective of those who were hurting. Every time the kids cried, Charge would run to them and gently offer her comforting paw（爪子）. Unlike our cat, who had recently given birth to five kittens, Charge would have been a great mother.

    ②

    When I was finally able to get everyone's attention at the dinner table, I asked again if anyone had seen Charge. After a unanimous（异口同声的）“No”, I decided to take a look around the neighborhood.

    ③

    “Charge!” I cried, because there she was in the closet! She looked up at me from inside the little cats' box as if to say,“ Shhh, I just got them to sleep!”

    We usually kept the closet door open a bit so our mamma cat could go in and feed her kittens, but she always left as soon as she finished nursing. Obviously, Charge knew they needed more mamma time and was more than willing to help out.

    ④

    The kids smiled upon seeing the dog with the kittens. My husband shook his head and said, “Only you, Charge. Only you!”

    Charge continued to mother the kittens until they were placed in their new homes. Charge may not have been an attractive dog, but she truly had her inner beauty.

    When I first married my wife, I lived and worked in Ontario, moving from small town to big city as I pursued my career as a radio broadcaster. We have two sons, both of whom were born in Toronto and moved with us to Ottawa. They went to school, grew up there, and then pursuing their own careers, they also moved. One went to Canada's east coast near a city called Halifax and the other headed to the west coast Vancouver. We had a dilemma; we were left in the middle.

    The problem wasn't pressing at the time because I was still working and my job was in Ottawa. However, as we began to considering retirement we wondered where we should spend our final years. We couldn't be close to both of our children and there was no telling when they might again relocate. For several reasons, we settled on a small town on Vancouver Island. At least we were close to one of them. However, he had his sights set on Hollywood and, when an opportunity presented itself, he left Canada and headed south. So, there we were, and still are, in our little west coast town. We love our little corner of paradise (乐园）but we paid a price. We have not been there for some important events such as the births of two of our grandchildren. We have missed watching them grow up, backyard barbecues, and the normal, noisy households. Our home, while comfortable, is also very quiet.

    Every fall we travel to see the children and try to spend a week or more with them and we make the even longer trip to see our grandchildren, who are now teenagers, actually into their twenties. They seldom come to visit us. The distances are just too great and it is costly.

    Fortunately, both our boys are doing well and our grandchildren are growing straight and tall. We love all of them and they love us but the reality is that they don't need us. We have done our jobs and at least in theory，we can sit back, relax and enjoy the time remaining to us. In fact, we're happy but there were times I think about the things we didn't see. They have also missed having a set of parents and grandparents around.

    Life has been good for our family but we have paid a price.