Mark Twain was a great writer. He was from the USA. He was born in 1835. He was also a famous speaker. He was famous for his sense of humor. Many people liked to listen to him talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.

    One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes in the town and told him that he'd better not go there. Mark Twain waved (摇动) his hand and said, ＂It doesn't matter. The mosquitoes are not relatives of mine. I don't think they will come to visit me.＂

    After he arrived at the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. ＂I'm very sorry, Mr. Mark Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town.＂ One of them said to him.

    Mark Twain, however, made a joke, saying to the waiter, ＂The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn't come into the wrong room.＂ What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.

    But that night Mark Twain slept well. Do you know why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.

    Most of us would be traveling for the rest of our lives if traveling abroad were not so expensive. But there is no need for you to cut down on the number of holidays you're having this year. Below are some of the cheapest places to travel to this year.

    Sri Lanka

    Great seafood, beautiful beaches, and amazing jungles await you in Sri Lanka. It is definitely one of the cheaper places to travel to as well. It will be possible for you to live in high-class hotels and resorts for as little as 70 dollars a night! If you don't want to spend that much money, you can find hostels, and smaller hotels for as little as 20 dollars a day. You can just spend the day exploring Anuradhapura or go adventuring in Habarana Lake as well!

    Hungary

    It might be surprising to see Hungary on the list of cheap places to travel to this year. It is located in the most expensive continent on the earth, after all. However, Hungary is the country where you get rooms for as little as 16 Euros, and beer for about 4 Euros each! This is definitely a bargain! You can get a travel card to use the public transport throughout the country, and save quite a few dollars on that as well. Spend a few nights in Budapest or head out to the northern hills where you can hike and swim in the clear lakes!

    Greece

    There was a time when Greece was unbelievably expensive, but due to its recent economic problems, Greece has become quite cheap to travel to. Price of accommodation and food is at an all-time low, so this might definitely be a great time for you to visit! There are some areas of the country that will be expensive like Santorini or Mykonos, but if you just want to explore local Greek culture, you can walk on the streets of Greece, or adventure across the smaller islands around like Kefalonia or Piraeus or Los!

Craziest Food Festivals sounds like a joke topic, but once you start looking into it, you'll realize they're everywhere—the crazier, the better.

    ⒈Bibimbap Festival

    In the South Korean town of Jeonjuloves, their “mixed rice” dish is a hearty serve of rice topped with raw beef, a rainbow of vegetables, a raw egg and gochujang sauce (韩国的辣椒酱) so much. They take four days out of October to celebrate it.

    Like any festival there's music, entertainment and magic, but making it that little bit different is the bibimbap that's whipped (搅拌) up in a big bowl by dozens of chefs and served to over 400 people.

    ⒉Waikiki Spam Jam (怀基基午餐肉节)

    Who knew this canned meat had so much love? Well, it turns out that a can of Spam is the go-to item in Hawaii, along with a grass skirt and garland (花环). The people of Hawaii love Spam so much that they even spend a day in May serving out the best Spam, a type of cheap canned meat made mainly from pork.

    ⒊Bessieres Easter Egg Festival

    At Easter time, for those in the French town of Bessieres it's all about an egg far less sweet.

    Here they celebrate the holiday by getting dozens of chefs to make one large omelette (煎蛋卷) - 15,000 eggs strong - for the townsfolk (市民).

    ⒋Potato Days Festival

    This festival actually takes place in Barnesville, Minnesota(明尼苏达州), the US. Over the last Friday and Saturday in August the town celebrates its potato-growing skills by hosting potato picking and peeling contests, as well as a Miss Tater Tot pageant (盛典) for five-and six-year-old girls.

    Give yourself a test. Which way is the wind blowing? How many kinds of wildflowers can be seen from your front door? If your awareness is as sharp as it could be, you'll have no trouble answering these questions.

    Most of us observed much more as children than we do as adults. A child's day is filled with fascination, newness and wonder. Curiosity gave us all a natural awareness. But distinctions that were sharp to us as children become unclear; we are numb(麻木的）to new stimulation(刺激), new ideas. Relearning the art of seeing the world around us is quite simple, although it takes practice and requires breaking some bad habits.

    The first step in awakening senses is to stop predicting what we are going to see and feel before it occurs. This blocks awareness. One chilly night when I was hiking in the Rocky Mountains with some students, I mentioned that we were going to cross a mountain stream. The students began complaining about how cold it would be. We reached the stream, and they unwillingly walked ahead. They were almost knee-deep when they realized it was a hot spring. Later they all admitted they'd felt cold water at first.

    Another block to awareness is the obsession(痴迷) many of us have with naming things. I saw bird watchers who spotted a bird, immediately looked it up in field guides, and said, a "ruby-crowned kinglet" and checked it off. They no longer paid attention to the bird and never learned what it was doing.

    The pressures of "time" and "destination" are further blocks to awareness. I encountered many hikers who were headed to a distant camp-ground with just enough time to get there before dark. It seldom occurred to them to wander a bit, to take a moment to see what's around them. I asked them what they'd seen. "Oh, a few birds," they said. They seemed bent on their destinations.

    Nature seems to unfold to people who watch and wait. Next time you take a walk, no matter where it is, take in all the sights, sounds and sensations. Wander in this frame of mind and you will open a new dimension to your life.

    "Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move," said David Belle, the founder of parkour.

    Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring. But what if making your morning jog a creative one? Like jumping from walls and over gaps, and ground rolls? Just like James Bond in the movie Casino Royale? Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way. It is just because of Bond's wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide.

    Yes, that's parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the barriers in the path using only the abilities of the human body. Parkour is considered an extreme sport. As its participants dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from rooftop to rooftop.

    Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds, but its participants see parkour much more than that.

    Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy behind parkour. This is the same as life. You must determine your destination, go straight, jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back in your life, to reach the destination successfully. A parkour lover said, "I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything."

    Another philosophy we've learnt from parkour is freedom. It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself.