Before I had my son, I spent two years working with children with disabilities. I learnt that shouting and threats of punishment would result in a disaster. Coming up against their behaviour could only make the job harder and their behaviour more extreme. I found something that worked, though.

    There was a very naughty boy in the nursery and a teacher who was generally very confident with the children was asked to take charge of him. One day the boy joined a session in the room next to mine. His appearance created an atmosphere of tension. He spent the entire session running around, hitting and kicking, and destroying property.

    I was in the craft room working with some other children when my co­worker told me that this boy's teacher was in tears, and could not get control of the situation. As we were talking, the boy ran in. I told my co­worker that I would take care of him.

    I closed the door. He was full of energy, throwing things around and making a huge mess. But I could see that he was doing all these to annoy me. He needed connection, and this was the only way he knew how to ask for it. So I sat back down and kept quiet. Then he slowed down and began making a rocket. I talked to him about it. We continued like this for a few minutes before I slipped into the conversation：

    “So what happened today？”

    It was purely a question, no blame or anger in my tone. I believe that if I had criticized him, the gate that was slowly opening would have shut firmly closed. He told me that the teacher didn't let him do what he knew well due to safety but asked him to do what he disliked. He also admitted that he had enjoyed making her run around and saw it as a game. I explained that his teacher had not seen it as a game and was very upset. This again was stated simply as a fact. I suggested that next time he had a session, he talk about what he hoped to do at the start, which might be easier for everyone. He agreed and was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at me with tears in his eyes before quietly asking if he could go to find his teacher to apologize.

    The yearly Academy Awards ceremony was once a private affair. Now, because of television, it is very much a public affair. Hundreds of people gather in Hoolywood to see the Oscars presented to outstanding actors, and others involved（参与） in the motion picture industry. Millions more watch on the television.

    It all began on May 16, 1929, when 270 men and women sat down to dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. There was no secret about the winners. The names of the winners had been known for months. Janet Gaynor, for example had won as Best Actress. Douglas Fairbanks presented her with the famous gold statue（塑像）. The little statue was not then called Oscar. Like a new actor, Oscar was unknown. About six years later, it somehow got that renowned name. A number of explanations have been offered for its origin(由来), but nobody knows the true story for certain.

    Nowadays the result of the Oscar voting are kept secret. Only two people know the winners before the names are announced at the ceremony. The counting of votes is not done by one group of people but by different groups. Nobody except two members of an accounting company sees the final results.

    The information is not kept in open files. Winners' names are placed in closed envelopes. The accountants each carry a complete set of envelopes to the ceremony. One set is simply a spare to be used in case something happens to the other one.

    On the way to my company, I was driving behind a small truck. I was a few minutes late and watching the two men ahead of me talking in that slow truck made me angry.

    The light turned green, but the truck was still moving very slowly. I became impatient, so I turned right to go past it. Suddenly, a new blue Chevy Silverado was rushing by. I tried to stop, but my car hit the side of the Chevy.

    "Pow!" I heard a big noise and then I realized that an accident happened. For a moment, just a moment... I asked if I was OK, and honestly, I was waiting for people to come over and help me. Those thoughts didn't last long, as the answer came into my mind that the air bag had saved me. Luckily, I was still alive.

    Slowly I opened the door. The warm, bright morning sunlight hit my face and I felt better. I saw the Chevy Silverado and I ran over to check if the driver in it was injured. "Are you OK？"I shouted loudly through the window. His head was down, eyes closed, and he didn't answer me.

    At that moment, I thought I was looking at a dead man. Full of fear, I shouted again, and knocked at the window heavily once more. His eyes started to open, and he slowly shook his head, "Yes."

    Once again, I said to myself, "How lucky I am!"

    With all the wars, fighting and sadness in the world today, it's not only necessary, but also essential to have a good sense of humor just to help us get through each and every day of our lives. Putting a smile on someone's face when you know they are feeling down in the dump, makes me feel good and warms my heart.

    How would you feel if you could not joke around with your wife, husband, child, co-worker, neighbor, close friends, or even just someone that you are standing in line with at your corner store? I am always saying things that make others smile or laugh, even if I don't know the person I'm joking around with. My Grandma always found humor in everything she did, even if it was the hardest job anyone could imagine. This not only relieves stress in any situation, but also is common courtesy(礼貌)to speak to others that are around you.

    I know of a few people that don't have a funny bone in their bodies, as they say. Everyone around them could be rolling on the floor after hearing a great joke and they would sit there without the s lightest smile on their face. They don't get the joke that makes others laugh. I am busting a gut while they just sit there, looking at me as if I were from outer space. How can people not get a really funny joke?

    Laughing is essential to keep your stress levels under control. Without humor we would find ourselves with a lot of psychological problems, or on a lot of medications to keep us from going crazy. There is too much sadness in this present world. It drives people crazy. We all need to find a way to ignore the sadness and bring a little light into our lives. So, I believe our best medicine is to get together and tell some jokes and have some fun laughing together.

    Qibao Ancient Village

    Qibao, located in the center of Minhang District, Shanghai, is a village with a history of one thousand years. In the village, wine and tea are served on old-fashioned square tables together with long benches, long-mouth copper pots and flat-end chopstick used. The most famous snacks in old Shanghai are square pastry, rice wine and steamed salted pork in wine.

    Telephone: 021-21087225

    Entrance Ticket: 45 yuan per all-in-one ticket (preferable price of 30 yuan is available now), covering almost all tourist attractions inside the village.

Jinshan Village of Farmer Painting

    Villagers skillfully make good use of folk arts such as printing and dyeing, embroidery (刺绣), wood carving. They take the various folk customs and the busy scenes of labor of villagers in the lower Changjiang valley as the theme of paintings and create farmer paintings in a simple style.

    Telephone: 021-57355555

    Entrance Ticket: 30 yuan/person

    Merry Countryside Tour in Zhonghua Village

    The village provides tourists with accommodations, tours, chess, cards, fitness and entertainment through renting out separate farmhouse and sells tourist products and agricultural by-products related to the merry countryside tour.

    Telephone: 021-57395433

    Entrance Ticket: Free

    Pudong Lingkong Agric Gardening

    It is one of Shanghai countryside tour scenic spots, which features art of teapots, crop plantation and export. The Geological Science Popularization Hall stores up tens of thousands of rare stones collected all over the world.

    Telephone: 021-33935557

    Entrance Ticket: 50 yuan /person

    How do young children learn to have good values? How can parents teach their children about the importance of kindness and patience? At a time more and more parents worry about the violent images (暴力形象) their children see on TV and on the Internet. So many parents are turning to fairy tales. They want to teach their children how to behave in society by this way.

    It is believed that fairy tales have a great influence on children because they describe the two sides of good and evil (邪恶) very clearly. When children hear the tales, they learn to care about others' feelings. In each tale, they can see that there are many different kinds of people in the world and that we all have a choice about what kind of person we want to be. We can choose to do good actions, rather than bad ones, in our lives.

    What kind of values can children learn from fairy tales? In The Princess and the Pea, a poorly dressed girl says she is a princess. Few people believe her, so she is given a difficult test. When she passes the test, we learn that her dream comes true because she stays true to herself. In the Little Mermaid (《小美人鱼》), the mermaid, who lives under the sea, wishes to be with the humans on land. Through her experiences, we learn about the importance of living with and accepting other cultures.

    Teaching values is probably the main reason for encouraging children to read fairy tales. These tales can teach children lessons about human relationships that have been accepted around the world for many centuries. This might be the reason why they have been around for so long and will not disappear any time soon.