I had to knock on the taxi to get his attention. Finally, the driver, a man about 60, looked up from behind the wheel and apologized, “I'm sorry, but I was reading a letter.” He sounded as if he had a cold or a cough.

    Since I was in no hurry, I told him to finish his letter. He shook his head, explaining that he had already read it several times and almost knew it by heart. Curious, I asked whether it was from a child or maybe a grandchild. “This isn't family,” he replied. “though he might just as well have been a regular member of the family. Old Ed and I grew up together.”

    They were always friends. But since he moved away from the neighborhood 30 years ago, it'd generally just been postcards at Christmas time between them. A couple of weeks ago, Ed died. “I should have kept in touch.” He repeated this, more to himself than to me. To comfort him, I said sometimes we just didn't seem to find the time. “But we used to find the time,” he said. “Take a look.” He handed the letter over to me.

    The first sentence “I've been meaning to write for some time, but I've always delayed it.” reminded me of myself. It went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together. When I read the part where it said “Your friendship really means a lot to me, more than I can say because I'm not good at saying things like that”, I found myself nodding in agreement.

    We had gone several kilometers and were almost at my hotel, so I read the last paragraph: “So I thought you'd like to know that I was thinking of you.” And it was ended with “Your Old Friend, Tom.”

    “I thought your friend's name was Ed,” I said.

    “I'm Tom,” he explained. “It's a letter I wrote to Ed before I knew he'd died. I never put it in the mailbox. I guess I should have written it sooner.” His face was pale as he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.

    When I got to my hotel room I didn't unpack right away. I had to write a letter and post it.

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    The American believe that anybody can become President of the United States. In a recent Hollyhood comedy(喜剧), that is exactly what happens.

    Dave Kovic, played by Kevin Kline, is a kind-hearted man who runs a business that finds people jobs. He leads a typical(典型的) American way of life, except for one thing— he looks exactly like the President, Bill Mitchell. In fact, the only thing that makes him different from the nation's leader is that he is very nice!

    The president has started using look-alikes during some public appearance. Dave is offered a chance to “serve his country” by becoming one. However, things go wrong. The President becomes very ill and Dave ends up acting as the President forever.

    Director Ivan Reitman, who made the popular and successful comedies like Twins, Ghostbusters and Legal Eagles, could have gone for easy laughs by making fun of the American government. Instead, Dave is an attractive comedy about an ordinary man in extraordinary situations. Kevin Kline gives a double performance as Dave and the President, and Sigourney Weaver is at her best as his First Lady. The love story that develops between her role and Dave is a real classic(经典).

    The film is 100% American. However, if you've ever felt that anybody could do a better job running the country than the people in power, then you'll enjoy Dave!

    Rome wasn't built in a day, and the Internet didn't come out of a golden egg. Many of today's creations were not born of people who had creative ideas, but who did not stop at simply having an idea. They took one brick of capital (资本), another brick of knowledge, perhaps a brick or two of family and friends, and built their empires (帝国) brick by brick.

    If you want to build an online empire, you cannot settle for simply having a website full of articles, or a website full of pictures—there are already thousands of sites like that, so you need to come up with something new and creative.

    So if you are starting to build something up, ask yourself: what do you really want to do, and what are you really good at? Believe it or not, you can make money at something that you are an expert in, and you need to know what that is.

    Remember, having an online empire does not mean that you have to do it alone. You can take your friends along with you. Having a friend advertise your services online is a good way to attract more visitors to your empire.

    Building an online empire, you will have to be prepared to not only come up with creative ideas, but to carry your ideas through. Talk to people who have already succeeded in building their own empires. Talk to people who are struggling. Join a mailing list that will help you get through your struggle to achieve your goal.

    As you move forward, you will find that you can help other people, and you will have a good many stories to tell—not to mention a lot of money in the bank.

    If you learn the real secrets of creating a long term stable (稳定的) online business then you will have enough money to retire on.

    Some people are never right. They never have good luck. They usually do the wrong things and say the wrong things. And even if what they say and do is OK, they say it or do it at the wrong time. So these people always have problems. They often break glasses. They sometimes miss buses or trains.

    Mr. Neff is different. He is always right. He is never wrong. He usually has good luck. He hardly has problems. He never misses buses and trains. Even though he really misses them, it is always the fault of the buses and the trains.

    Mr. Neff knows almost everything. He doesn't ask questions. He answers questions. He never says “I don't know”．

    I don't know Mrs. Neff. It seems that not many people know her. I sometimes want to know about her. Is she always right? Or maybe she is always wrong? Does she often break glasses or miss buses and trains?

Does she have problems? I really want to know!

    What do you usually do to comfort your friends when they are sad? You probably pat them on the shoulder, or give them a warm hug.

    We used to think that knowing when and how to comfort others was an ability that only humans have. But scientists have discovered that apes (猩猩) have this ability too.

    Two researchers from Emory University in Atlanta, US, went to an Ape Protection Centre in Congo to study bonobos (倭黑猩猩), which are closely related to humans.

    The researchers analyzed the bonobos' reactions (反应) after more than 370 cases of stressful situations, such as fights and losing temper, and found that some bonobos rushed to hug those that were screaming after being attacked, just like humans would have done.

    However, researchers found that not all bonobos were able to comfort others. In the protection center, many bonobos are orphans whose mothers were killed by hunters. They were found to be more worried in times of tension and have greater difficulty controlling their own emotions, making them worse at reaching out to help friends in need.

    "Orphans, who have not had the benefit of a mother helping them handling their emotions, are much worse at comforting others," Professor Frans de Waal told TheTelegraph. "Bonobos with moms were able to curb their negative emotional reactions more quickly. Therefore, they pay more attention to others."

    This pattern mirrors the way that human children have been found to react. Those who are good at handling their own emotions—for example, those who can calm themselves down more quickly after upsetting experiences—are usually better at expressing their concerns for others.

    Compared with solar and wind energy, which are booming, tidal (潮汐的) power is a loser in the clean - energy competition. But if you did want to build a tidal power station, there are few better sites than the mouth of the River Severn, in Britain. Its tidal range, the difference in depth between high and low tides, of around 15 metres is among the largest in the world.

    Engineers and governments have been toying with the idea since at least 1925. But none of the suggested projects has materialised. Price is one objection. A study thought that tidal energy might cost between ￡216 and ￡368 ($306 - 521) per MWh of electricity by 2025, compared with ￡58 - 75 for seagoing wind turbines (轮机) and ￡55 - 76 for solar panels. Environmentalists also worry that any plant would change the tides, making life harder for wildlife.

    An engineer called Rod Rainey thinks he has a way around both problems. He plans to replace the conventional turbines of previous plans with a much older technology. Specifically, he plans to span (横跨) the river mouth with a line of water wheels. This is a design that dates back to the early days of the Industrial Revolution. Examples can be found fixed to the sides of old watermills (水磨).

    But there would be nothing old - fashioned about Mr Rainey's wheels. Thirty metres high and sixty wide, they would be made from ordinary steel. Two hundred and fifty of them, along with the supporting structures, would be floated into place and secured to the seabed, creating a line 15km long. Together, they could supply power at an avenge ate of 4GW. That is about as much as two biggish nuclear power stations would manage. Substituting one of the wheels with a set of locks would provide a shipping channel about twice the width of Panama Canal, permitting upstream ports such as Avonmouth and Cardiff to continue operating.