You've probably heard about sports coaches, fitness coaches, voice and music teachers, career counselors（咨询） psychiatrists (精神科医师) and other specialists who teach skills and help us cope with daily life.

    But there's a rapidly growing kind of professionals who do a little bit of everything. She or he is called a “ life coach”. People who are at the crossroads in their life, and corporations that want to give certain employees a career boost , are turning to them for help.

    The idea that one person's success story can change other people's life for the better goes back at least to the 1930s. Dale Carneigie's famous self-improvement program “ How to Win Friends and Influence People” came along soon thereafter.

    But this new style of life coaches includes more than enthusiastic speakers or writers. They use their own experiences in business, sports, military service, or psychotherapy (心理疗法) to help others make critical life decisions. They often give their approaches a slogan, such as “energy coaching” or “fearless living” or “working yourself happy”.

    Dave Lakhani in Boise, Idaho, for instance, works with salespeople to develop what he calls a “road map”. He says an ongoing relationship with a coach is like having a personal fitness trainer for one's career and life outside work.

Lakhani's Bold Approach coaching firm also donates some of its time to help people who are anything but successful—including battered (殴打) women and struggling single mothers.

    But others in the so-called “helping professions” are not thrilled about the life-coaching movement. They say that anyone, trained or untrained, can call himself or herself a life coach, and that slick(华而不实的) promoters who mess with people's lives can do more harm than good.

    My husband, my four-month-old daughter and I set out on a five-day driving journey from California to Washington. We had to stop frequently because our little child needed to stretch from the car seat.

    One of our stops, once we crossed the Oregon border, was at a Black Bear Diner. Walking towards the front door we noticed a gentleman standing at one side. He was clearly untidy, without shoes and wearing worn clothing. We passed right by him and opened the restaurant door. Then something told me to go back.

    Holding my daughter, I turned around and said to the gentleman, “Sir. Are you hungry?” He said, “Yes.” I then asked, “May we buy you something to eat?” He responded with, “Sure, I can order something myself.”

    My husband opened the door and the gentleman went straight to the counter. I told him to order whatever he wanted. The manager of the restaurant came over quite quickly and looked frightened. I spoke before he had an opportunity to say anything. “This gentleman will have lunch with us today,” I said. “Please add his order to our bill.” The manager said with a frown(皱眉), “Okay.” We turned to our table and the gentleman said, loudly and quickly, “Thank You!” We were seated and upon completing our meal we were handed our bill. I asked my husband what the gentleman had ordered. One fresh orange juice, one coffee, one breakfast combination with a side of hash browns.

    When we left the restaurant I looked for the gentleman but didn't see him, but that very small act just made my day. I hope in some small way we were able to add some joy to his life, even if only for a few minutes.

    Winters are long and unforgiving in North Dakota. The winter of 1996 was especially brutal. It was a hard time in my own life too. A neck injury had kept me flat in bed for nearly a year. “Just in time for Easter,”my husband, Dick, said. But how could I feel the joy when the snow was four feet deep and I had months of painful physical treatment ahead?

    I was doing the dishes one day, feeling hopeless when there was a tap against the glass. It was a branch of the troublesome cottonwood (棉白杨).Back in the fall of 1979, it was a new subdivision (分支）then, an eight-foot stick. The people who'd briefly occupied the house before us had placed the pipe from the pump next to it. The earth was so wet that the poor thing had fallen down, most of its bare root system pointing skyward, and blowing hopelessly back and forth in the cold wind. Dick decided to pull it out one day, but I protested.

    “Look at how hard it's trying!” I said, pointing to the way it strongly kept hold of the earth. “It deserves a chance.”

     Dick borrowed some tools. We packed dry soil around the tree and put up some stakes (桩) into the ground, making it stand upright. That winter was still terrible. Surprisingly,in the spring my “rescue stick”put forth a few leaves,then with lots of branches. The year after that, we were able to remove the stakes. By the 1990s that little stick was a giant, towering over the house.

    Now the tapping at the window continued, louder as the wind picked up, almost as though to tell me to look up. At last, I did. I caught my breath. In the window against the icy blue sky, thousands and thousands of fresh red buds were waving in the wind.

    The tree was bursting with life and I had a wonderful Easter.

    In England, people often talk about the weather because they can experience (经历) four seasons in one day. In the morning the weather is warm just like in spring. An hour later black clouds come and then it rains hard. The weather gets a little cold. In the late afternoon the sky will be sunny, the sun will begin to shine, and it will be summer at this time of a day.

    In England, people can also have summer in winter, or have winter in summer. So in winter they can swim sometimes, and in summer sometimes they should take warm clothes.

    When you go to England, you will see that some English people usually take an umbrella (伞)or a raincoat with them in the sunny morning, but you should not laugh at them.

    If you don't take an umbrella or a raincoat, you will regret (后悔) later in the day.

    Where to Drink

    Cafe San Bernardo

    Join table-tennis and pool-playing port. Cafe San Bernardo has been running since 1912. The Villa Crespo dive bar also offers up table football for￡4 an hour. Service is efficient; with last orders at 5 am. The daily happy hour between 6 pm and 9 pm includes 60 minutes playing your game of choice, plus a half bottle of red wine and a corn pie, for￡9.

    Avenue Corrientes 5436, Villa Crespo, 5411 4855 3956, cafesanbernardo. com

    M Salumeria & Enoteca

Trading only in wine with a story, sommelier (侍酒师）Mariana Torta chooses new ways on a daily basis, and keeps a list of around 250 labels. There's no wine menu—simply take your bottle from the shelf.

    Open 11:00am-11:30pm, El Salvador 5777, Palermo Hollywood, 5411 4778 9016, on Facebook

    Negro Cueva de Cafe

    Coffee has found its place in Buenos Aires. While LAB: Tostadores, the Shelter and Coffee Town are famous new places, Negro Cueva de Cafe is one of the best bars. It serves Ecuadorian, Colombian and Brazilian beans and its attracting cakes include croissant.

    Open 9:30 am—7:00 pm, Suipacha 637, Microcentro, 5411 4322 3000, negrocuevade-cafe. com

    La Calle

Head to the Niceto Vega address and you'll be faced with a pizza. Don't worry, it's the right place. La Guitarrita is the front to “hidden” bar La Calle. Order the house cocktail, special candy, and prepare to sing until dawn with a high-energy young crowd.

    Open 8:00 pm—2:00 am, Niceto Vega 4942, Palermo Soho, 5411 3914 1972, on Facebook

    Emily and Zach are confused! Their parents told them they could choose between Massachusetts and Arizona for their vacation this summer.

    Emily has always wanted to visit Boston, the capital of Massachusetts. Zach and she both agree that walking along the Freedom Trail would enable them to see Boston's most famous places of historic interest, like the site of the school Ben Franklin attended and the Old State House. If Emily and Zach went to Massachusetts, they could spend a few days at the beaches on Cape Cod. Emily loves body boarding, and Zach is great at body surfing. They both enjoy building sandcastles .

    Zach finds learning about Native Americans wonderful and has always wanted to travel along the Apache Trail in Arizona. This mountain highway passes Native American ruins in Tonto National Forest. Emily is not as interested in traveling along this trail as Zach, but they both would like to visit Phoenix, the capital, and then travel to Grand Canyon National Park and Meteor Crater (陨石坑). Zach learned in science class that Meteor Crater is a hole over 4,000 feet wide and 520 feet deep that was created when a huge object from space fell to Earth. The object went so deep that it has never been found. Zach would really like to try to discover it. But Emily thinks if experienced scientists and researchers cannot find it, Zach might as well not even bother (费工夫) to try.

    The only drawback for Zach and Emily if they choose Arizona would be the heat. It is very hot and dry in this southwestern state. Massachusetts, on the other hand, is in the northeastern United States. Here Zach and Emily and their parents could enjoy mild (温和的) temperatures. Their parents love hot weather, but Zach and Emily do not really like to sweat.

    How will they ever decide to which state they should travel? If only they could take two trips!