Sidewalks in Chicago were packed during the rush hour. I marched along as quickly as I could. If I didn't get to the station fast I would miss the early train out of the city. That meant even less time to spend at home with my baby.

    On my left was Saint Peter's Church. I'd passed it on the way to the station many times, but today I stopped. Other commuters (使用月票乘车者) rushed around me. I knew I should follow them since my train wouldn't wait. But I had the strangest compulsion to go into the church instead. I hesitated for a moment, but the feeling was strong. I went inside.

    I sat down in a comer. It seemed like ages since I'd sat down to think. Mary Ellen had been born in October, on the very date of her due date, in fact, October 16. A month before my husband, Rick, had lost his job. I often worked as a designer, but I'd planned on taking time off after the baby was born. With Rick out of work, I didn't have the choice. One of us had to find a job fast. I was lucky to find the job I had now. Unfortunately, it wasn't one I could work on at home. Every day I had to take the train into Chicago, a two-hour commute in both directions. I left the house so early and came home so late, so I felt like I barely got to see my baby.

    I was grateful that Rick was at home caring for her, but it was not her mother. Every minute away from her I felt like I was abandoning her.

    Looking around at the windows, I remembered when Rick and I bad first decided to try for a baby. My friend Renee was almost as excited as I was when I told her about it.

    “I've got something for you,” she said one afternoon when I her for lunch. She pulled a medal out of her purse.

    “Fix this to your clothes every day,” she said. “You'll have a baby in no time.”

    Not long after I learned I was pregnant, I was thrilled at first. But little by little I started to worry: Was my baby okay? What if something happened? The doctor assured me things were going smoothly. My family gave me support. Rick tried to encourage me. I even continued to wear my medal. But no matter what anyone said, I couldn't shake off my worries.

    Now that Mary Ellen was born I had new worries about motherhood. Is this how life was going to be from now on, with every stage of my child's life bringing new fears and anxieties?

    I thought of Renee and her gift of the medal, feeling hopeful. On my way to the door I stopped at the gift counter. I'd missed the early train, so there was time to look around. I went over to a box full of angel cards, thinking of Renee. So many things could happen in the future as Mary Ellen grew up, went to school and went out on her own. So many things to worry about. It would take an army of angels to cover them all.

    I saw a familiar face in the box. It almost felt like I was looking at a friend, someone who cared about my baby as much as her father and I did: On the back of the card was a date. “October sixteenth?” I said, not believing my eyes.

    “That's the angel's birthday,” the woman at the counter told me. I nearly burst out laughing right there. Mary Ellen's birthday! Maybe I couldn't be with Mary Ellen every minute. But never again would I worry that she was out of the angers protection, or doubt that she had a special friend.

    Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy. After all, you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.

    Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However, they sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.

    Do you know what a “territory” is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claims（声称）as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same species are welcome. Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.

    If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting（筑巢）season. So he is screaming all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird's song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.

    Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs.

    You can see that birds have a language of their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.

    Some students prefer a part-time job after class to earn some money and improve themselves. Here are some good companies:

    IN-N-Out Burger

    It is the best hamburger shop in the west of America. Regarded as one of the best employers, it offers flexible hours and the highest part-time salaries(薪水). Above all, the company treats its employees the way they would like to be treated like family. However, there is no discount offered to its employees.

    Position: selling assistant (experience required)

    Website: www.in-n-out.cm

    Starbucks Coffee

    Starbucks has been at the forefront(前沿) of the United States' coffee revolution. Working hours are flexible. Fit twenty hours of work into your week. There is also a 30% discount and a free pound of coffee or box of tea every week.

    Position: assistant coffee taster(experience required)

    Website: www.Starbucks.Com

    Whole Foods Market

    Whole Foods Market is the world's largest natural and organic food selling company. With its focus on organic ingredients, Whole Foods Market is all about health. Working hours are flexible. Benefits include paid-time off and a 20% discount so you can eat like a king or at least like a top chef in training. There are also training courses on health and food every week.

    Position: secretary

    Website: wwww.wholefoodsmarket.com.

    Lands' End

    Lands' End is a Wisconsin-based clothes store that focuses on casual comfort and warmth for the great outdoors. Employees(even part-time employees) have the chance to go to a company-owned entertainment centre and get a 25% discount on theme parks and movies, and an invitation to the yearly company picnic. Besides, for part-time employees, working hours are flexible and they can come to work anytime they like as long as they work for 4 hours a day.

    Position: salesperson

    Website: www.landsend.com

    The British are known for their sense of humour. However, it is often difficult for foreigners to understand their jokes. The main point to remember is that the British often use understatement.

    Understatement means saying less than you think or feel. For example, if someone gets very wet in a shower of rain, he might say, "It's a little damp (潮湿的) outside." Or, if someone is very impolite and shouts at another person, someone else might say, "She isn't exactly friendly." Understatement is often used in unpleasant situation or to make another person look silly. Understatement plays an important part in British humour.

    Another key to understanding British humour is that the British like to make fun of themselves as well as others. They often laugh about the silly and unpleasant things that happen to our everyday life when someone accidentally falls over in the street. They also like to make jokes about people from different classes of society. They like to make jokes about their accents, the way they dress and the way they behave. What's more, the British love to watch comedies about people who do not know how to behave in society. The comedy series Mr. Bean is a good example of this kind of humour. Mr. Bean is the character created by British actor Rowan Atkinson in 1990.

    Mr. Bean doesn't talk often, and instead he uses his body movements and facial expressions to make people laugh. Perhaps what makes Mr. Bean so funny is that he does things that adults in the real world cannot do. Mr. Bean is popular in many countries around the world because you do not have to speak English to understand the humour. Because of this, many people have become familiar with the British sense of humour.

    The Huaqing Palace Heritage Site

    Address: At the foot of Lishan Mountain in Lintong, 30 kilometers east of Xi'an.

    Opening hours: From March to November: 7:00-18:00;

    From December to February: 7:30-18:30.

    Bus routes: 914, 915, U5, and 306.

It takes just four minutes for brain cells to be permanently damaged due to a severe lack of oxygen in cases of sudden cardiac arrest (心搏停止). If medical workers do not arrive at the scene of such emergencies within 10 minutes, the chances of a victim surviving are minimal.

In September, a 45-year-old man fell unconscious at Huoying station on Line 13 of the Beijing Subway. He died later in the hospital, despite attempts by two passengers to revive him by using cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. However, if an automated external defibrillator, or AED, had been a vailable at the scene, the man's chances of survival would have been greatly improved.

An AED can recognize an abnormal lheart rhythm and quickly correct it through an electric shock. The devices are viewed in medical circles as a more efficient and effective method of saving lives in emergencies than using CPR. After a brief training period, people with no medical knowledge can master the basic skills needed to use an AED.

In May last year, a student at Tsinghua University in Beijing fainted in a dormitory after experiencing head sweats. Several students began to perform CPR and also used a newly installed AED to help the stricken freshman. After two electric shocks were administered, the student's heart beat was restored and he was sent to the hospital for further treatment. An emergency doctor from the hospital who attended the scene said it was highly likely the student would have died, had not a series of the correct first aid measures been applied, along with the AED.  

PeiZheng, a staff member from Tsinghua University's Policy Research Office, said it was "really cool" that AEDs were available at the institution. "It's so good that we have these life-saving machines on campus, otherwise we would have heard tragic news," she said. The devices have been installed around the campus in stages.