I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kidsate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others hadcokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supperwas different from the other kids' also. But at least, I wasn't alone in mysufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.

My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times.You'd think we were on a chain gang. She had to know who our friends were andwhere we were going. She insisted if we said we'd be gone an hour, that we begone one hour or less — not one hour and one minute.

We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath everyday. The otherkids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of insultsbecause she made our clothes herself, just to save money.

The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each nightand up at eight the next morning. We couldn't sleep till noon like our friends.So while they slept — my mother actually had the nerve to break the ChildLabor Law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, make beds, learn to cookand all sorts of cruel things. I believe she laid awake at night thinking upmean things to do to us.

Through the years, things didn't improve a bit. We could not liein bed, "sick" like our friends did, and miss school. Our marks inschool had to be up to par. Our friends' report cards had beautiful colors onthem, black for passing, red for failing. My mother, being as different as shewas, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks.

As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us wasput to shame. We were graduated from high school. With our mother behind us,talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure ofbeing a drop-out.

My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of fourchildren, a couple of us attained some higher education. None of us have everbeen arrested or divorced. Each of my brothers served his time in the serviceof this country. She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honestadults. Using this as a background, I am now trying to raise my three children.I am filled with pride when my children call me mean. Why? Because now I thankGod every day for giving me the meanest mother in the whole world.

    For a long time, the traditional method of identifying liars was to watch their body language, including facial expressions.

    What if the person appears to be nervous? Is the person unable to look me in the eye? Is he or she look around the room? What about other nervous movements, such as fidgeting（坐立不安）or shifting from side to side? Many people—from parents to police officers and airport security personnel—depend on this method. But does a person's body and face reveal the truth? Not according to a new study.

    Talking, it seems, is the best way to smoke out a liar. That is what researchers in the United Kingdom found out recently. Their investigation took place at one place where lying can get you into big trouble—an airport.

    The researchers asked volunteers to pretend they were real passengers and then lie to airport security agents. Some of the agents used spoke conversation-based methods to question these make-believe passengers. Others depended instead on the person's body language, like lack of eye contact and showing signs of nervousness. The agents talking with the passengers were 20 times more likely to catch the liars. The study found that these conversation-based techniques can help you recognize when a person is lying to you. Like many methods, this conversation method has a name. It is called Controlled Cognitive Engagement or CCE, for short.

    The British government partly financed this study. The American Psychological (APA) published the findings. Body language cannot be trusted. Using body language and facial expressions to catch someone in a lie is really hard. And it only works, seemingly, by chance.

    Thomas Ormerod is the head of the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex in England. On the APA website, he reported that the “suspicious-signs method”—or using body language—“almost completely fails” in finding lies.

    I travel a lot in my work, and what I dislike about my job is eating alone. It always makes me feel lonely to see others laughing and talking. So, room service for several nights was a better choice for me.

    After having room service three nights at a hotel in Houston, however, I needed to get out of my room. Although the restaurant opened at 6:30, I arrived at 6:25. The waiter at the front desk made a comment(评论) about my “being there really early”. I explained my dislike of eating alone in restaurants. He then seated me at a lovely table and asked me whether I would mind if he sat down with me for a while.

    I was glad! He sat and talked with me about his career goals and the difficulty of being at work on nights, weekends and holidays. He said he hadn't enough time to be with his family. After 15 minutes, he saw some customers at the front desk and excused himself. I noticed that before he went to the front desk, he stopped in the kitchen for a moment.

    Then another waiter came out of the kitchen and had a wonderful chat with me. Before I left that night, some other waiters, even the cook, had come out of the kitchen and sat with me!

    When I asked for my bill about one hour later, all the people who had sat down with me came over in a big group to my table, and presented me with a red rose. And I cried! What had begun as a lonely night ended as a beautiful experience.

    While beach vacations may be a great way to take your mind off work, lakes surrounded by mountains make for an even grander experience. If you are looking for come peace on your vacation, we have some recommendations for you in the Caucasus (高加索).

Lake Sevan

    Lake Sevan is situated in the central part of Armenia, in the Gegharkumk province. It is the largest lake in Armenia, located 6,200ft above sea level. Along the lake shore, there are various accommodations such as resorts and hotels with plenty of activities to partake in such as windsurfing, swimming and sunbathing. While there, do not forget to visit one of the famous cultural monuments, the Sevanavank Monastery, and it offers a great view of the lake as well.

Lake Paravani

    Lake Paravani, located at 6,801ft above sea level, is in the south of Georgia, near the Javakheti plateau. At this level, altitude sickness can occur and it is a good idea to be prepared to adapt to it properly, or bring medication for altitude sickness. Being a volcanic lake makes for a more interesting: experience. The lake is best known for fishing. Do not come home during the winter months when the lake freezes.

Lake Cildir

    Lake Cildir is located in the Ardahan province. East Turkey, near the borders of Georgia and Armenia. It is the second largest freshwater lake of Eastern Turkey, and many tourists are not aware of this beautiful attraction. Lake Cildir is surrounded by mountains of the Caucasus. The lake freezes during late November. If the winter is not extremely cold, you can try some lake activities like ice skating and ice fishing.

Lake Van

    Lake Van is the must visit of all lakes in this list. The largest lake in Turkey. Lake Van is located on the eastern shore of Turkey and is also the most accessible lake here. It's situated at 5,380ft above sea level, and unique to lakes around the world, the water is high in salt content.

    Their cheery song brightens many a winter's day. But robins are in danger of wearing themselves out by singing too much. Robins are singing all night一as well as during the day, British-based researchers say.

    David Dominoni, of Glasgow University, said that light from street lamps, takeaway signs and homes is affecting the birds' biological clocks, leading to them being wide awake when they should be asleep.

    Dr Dominoni, who is putting cameras inside nesting boxes to track sleeping patterns, said lack of sleep could put the birds' health at risk. His study shows that when robins are exposed to light at night in the lab, it leads to some genes being active at the wrong time of day. And the more birds are exposed to light, the more active they are at night.

    He told people at a conference, "There have been a couple of studies suggesting they are increasing their song output at night and during the day they are still singing. Singing is a costly behaviour and it takes energy. So by increasing their song output, there might be some costs of energy."

    And it is not just robins that are being kept awake by artificial light. Blackbirds and seagulls are also being more nocturnal. Dr Dominoni said, "In Glasgow where I live, gulls are a serious problem. I have people coming to me saying `You are the bird expert. Can you help us kill these gulls?'.During the breeding(繁殖)season, between April and June, they are very active at night and very noisy and people can't sleep."

    Although Dr Dominoni has only studied light pollution, other research concluded that robins living in noisy cities have started to sing at night to make themselves heard over loud noise.

    However, some birds thrive(兴旺)in noisy environments. A study from California Polytechnic University found more hummingbirds in areas with heavy industrial machinery. It is thought that they are capitalising on their predators(天敌)fleeing to quieter areas.

    Everyone can try his best to achieve something. We don't need to be the best, but to challenge the limits of what we are capable of. I gained this belief from my third grade teacher, the most special, honored, trustworthy, and beloved person in my life.

    Mr. Myrus was always perfectly dressed and spoke with the belief that talking to an eight－year－old child didn't mean he had to sacrifice proper statements or grammar. And he was demanding, but he wasn't unreasonable or cruel. He simply felt that no matter what your best was, you should achieve it.

    Luckily enough, I met him again as my eighth grade math teacher. I was not, nor ever will be, gifted in math. I remember my struggles in class. “I don't know the answer,” I would say. "I can't do it!" “Perhaps you don't know the answer,” he would say quietly. “Do you think we might figure it out together? How do you know what you can do if you don't have a try？”

    Mr. Myrus lived around the corner, and I would often stop by to talk while he worked in his garden. I knew there was someone who let me know that if I had really tried, that was enough. “Don't be so hard on yourself,”he'd say.“ Stop blaming yourself. Did you try your best? Well, then you're not a failure,” he often told me these words.

    Mr. Myrus died in 1978. I had never thought about his death. He was too young. I felt sorry. But when I think about him now, I don't feel so sorry. He taught me to be kind, not only to others, but to myself. He taught me my own value. He taught me about honor, about truth, and about doing my best and he also taught me that all feelings and beliefs have dignity and deserve respect. And of all the things I know, I believe that we can't all be “the best”, but we can, each of us, be our best. And I know that's true because Mr. Myrus told me that.