It is very common for you to find yourself in an unfamiliar situation. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Yes, everyone tells you to stand on your own two feet and take responsibility for your action, but if you haven't experienced a situation before, how can you know what to do?

    We usually try our best to do everything on our own and not to rely on others, but at certain times calling for help is the best way forward. You can picture the scene of the man-it is usually a man-driving blindly around an unfamiliar town looking for an address he doesn't know. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}And he could get to his appointment on time. It is obvious to everybody in such a case that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but rather the sensible thing to do.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} For example, you are looking for a new job and need to write your resume（简历）. If your pride prevents you from getting help and you just do the writing yourself, it may well cost the opportunity you are seeking. Similarly, when you just started a new job, you often don't want to admit that you haven't got the knowledge to finish a particular task, so you keep going and eventually make things worse than they were. This may lead to a diminishing(贬低) of you in the eyes of the boss. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Now you can see that asking for help is not a sign of weakness but is the sensible and mature thing to do.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Making your life easier by asking for and using knowledgeable help is not a sign of weakness, but is actually quite a clever thing to do.

How to write a business apology letter?

    Drafting a good business apology letter is one of the basic tasks a businessman has to complete{#blank#}1{#/blank#} It can also retain(保留) the customer, and even strengthen your relationship with the customer.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Then a business apology letter can be drafted and sent to the customer without delay. However, if you doubt that there are legal issues, it's better to delay sending a formal reply until you receive legal advice.

    Before drafting a letter of apology, you should first consider the reason for the apology{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Then thoroughly investigate the issue to determine exactly what went wrong. Decide who you need to apologize to, how you should apologize, and when would be the best time to send the apology letter.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} 1) Get comprehensive(综合的) details about how the situation unfolded; 2) Stick to the facts of the immediate situation; 3) Acknowledge any pain or damage suffered by the customer; 4) Outline the company's role in the incident; 5) State that the company regrets the situation; 6) Apologize to the customer sincerely, etc.

    Include all of the above elements to produce a concise and appropriate business apology letter. Keep the letter as brief as possible and be mindful of the tone of the letter{#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

A. Find out if the problem has affected anyone else.

B. A well drafted apology can limit the damage done.

C. Tell the customer that the situation will not occur again.

D. A letter of complaint should be investigated as soon as possible.

E. A good sample letter would take account of the following issues.

F. A respectful and considerate tone will go a long way towards rebuilding a damaged customer relationship.

G. It is better to make an apology, even though the company is not at fault, than to risk losing a valuable customer.

    Asthma(哮喘) is a long-lasting breathing disease that affects millions of Americans, many of whom are children. People who get asthma will suffer from lack of breath, difficulty in breathing or coughing--which are caused by the tightening of the muscles in airways. Untreated asthma can lead to poor lung function and death, but asthma can also be effectively controlled with proper treatments.

    Research is discovering genes that contribute to the development of asthma. This development has pointed researchers to the role of indoor and outdoor pollution as environmental factors that contribute to the increased occurrence of asthma.

    The Indoor Pollution

    Indoor pollution has increased with the developments in building materials and in heating and air conditioning systems. In addition to poisonous gases that come from paint, other materials like dust and perfumes used in household products such as washing powder are recycled continuously through the house, winter and summer.

    Unlike the days before central heating or before whole-house air conditioning, these materials and chemicals cannot get out of modern homes. Most often, they cause breathing problems in the members of the family with the least-developed autoimmune(自身免疫的) systems. Proper venting (通风) and use of environmentally-friendly building materials and carpeting can help reduce the presence of these chemicals.

    The Out door pollution

    Researchers have also established outdoor pollution's role as a probable cause of asthma. Asthma has been proven to result from some fuel products. Smog and the small matters carried by it have been recognized as a factor which leads to asthma since the 19th century when London saw more and more diseases in the industrial population. Industrial pollutants and other chemicals which are produced in water treatment and open treated water like that found in the swimming pools also contribute to increased cases of asthma as well as other illnesses.

    Those most affected by the increase of industrial and environmental pollution are children. Although much has been done to control the levels of pollution in the US, there still remains much to do as it is a worldwide phenomenon. Until an international effort can be made to limit carbon emissions, the occurrence of environmental asthma will probably continue to increase.

    Robert F. Kennedy once said that a country's GDP measures "everything except that which makes life worthwhile. "With Britain voting to leave the European Union, and GDP already predicted to slow as a result, it is now a timely moment to assess what he was referring to.

    The question of GDP and its usefulness has annoyed policymakers for over half a century. Many argue that it is a flawed(有缺陷的) concept. It measures things that do not matter and misses things that do. By most recent measures, the UK's GDP has been the envy of the Western world, with record low unemployment and high growth figures. If everything was going so well, then why did over 17 million people vote for Brexit, despite the warnings about what it could do to their country's economic prospects.

    A recent annual study of countries and their ability to convert growth into well-being sheds some light on that question. Across the 163 countries measured, the UK is one of the poorest performers in ensuring that economic growth is translated into meaningful improvements for its citizens. Rather than just focusing on GDP, over 40 different sets of criteria from health, education and civil society engagement have been measured to get a more rounded assessment of how countries are performing.

    While all of these countries face their own challenges, there are a number of consistent themes. Yes, there has been a budding economic recovery since the 2008 global crash, but in key indicators in areas such as health and education, major economies have continued to decline. Yet this isn't the case with all countries. Some relatively poor European countries have seen huge improvements across measures including civil society, income equality and the environment.

    This is a lesson that rich countries can learn: When GDP is no longer regarded as the sole measure of a country's success, the world looks very different.

    So, what Kennedy was referring to was that while GDP has been the most common method for measuring the economic activity of nations, as a measure, it is no longer enough. It does not include important factors such as environmental quality or education outcomes all things that contribute to a person's sense of well-being.

    The sharp hit to growth predicted around the world and in the UK could lead to a decline in the everyday services we depend on for our well-being and for growth. But policymakers who refocus efforts on improving well-being instead of simply worrying about GDP figures could avoid the forecasted doom and may even see progress.

Dear Mum,

    Today I went to a conference. In the conference, ⑴两个学生就因特网的优缺点进行了辩论。They made diverse points about the Internet that I had never thought about before. For example, some experts think that⑵花过多的时间上网的后果就是很难建立社会联系。 They were also quite explicit about how heavy Internet users spend more time with their Internet friends than with their real­life friends from school and work. ⑶This is another drawback of the Internet that alarms me. They addressed good points of the Internet, as well. For example, with the Internet, up­to­date information is only a click away. ⑷We can also correspond with people in distant places. This is very important for disabled people who can't always leave their homes.

    ⑸Both sides presented lots of statistics to support their arguments. My own judgement is that the Internet is beneficial. Otherwise, I would unable to write this e­mail to you!

Love from your son,

Xiaokun

⑴{#blank#}1{#/blank#}⑵{#blank#}2{#/blank#}⑶{#blank#}3{#/blank#}⑷{#blank#}4{#/blank#}⑸{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

"Assume you are wrong." The advice came from Brian Nosek, a psychology professor, who was offering a strategy for pursuing better science.

To understand the context for Nosek's advice, we need to take a step back to the nature of science itself. You see despite what many of us learned in elementary school, there is no single scientific method. Just as scientific theories become elaborated and change, so do scientific methods.

But methodological reform hasn't come without some fretting and friction. Nasty things have been said by and about methodological reformers. Few people like having the value of their life's work called into question. On the other side, few people are good at voicing criticisms in kind and constructive ways. So, part of the challenge is figuring out how to bake critical self-reflection into the culture of science itself, so it unfolds as a welcome and integrated part of the process, and not an embarrassing sideshow.

What Nosek recommended was a strategy for changing the way we offer and respond to critique. Assuming you are right might be a motivating force, sustaining the enormous effort that conducting scientific work requires. But it also makes it easy to interpret criticisms as personal attacks. Beginning, instead, from the assumption you are wrong, a criticism is easier to interpret as a constructive suggestion for how to be less wrong—a goal that your critic presumably shares.

One worry about this approach is that it could be demoralizing for scientists. Striving to be less wrong might be a less effective motivation than the promise of being right. Another concern is that a strategy that works well within science could backfire when it comes to communicating science with the public. Without an appreciation for how science works, it's easy to take uncertainty or disagreements as marks against science, when in fact they reflect some of the very features of science that make it our best approach to reaching reliable conclusions about the world. Science is reliable because it responds to evidence: as the quantity and quality of our evidence improves, our theories can and should change, too.

Despite these worries, I like Nosek's suggestion because it builds in cognitive humility along with a sense that we can do better. It also builds in a sense of community—we're all in the same boat when it comes to falling short of getting things right.

Unfortunately, this still leaves us with an untested hypothesis （假说）: that assuming one is wrong can change community norms for the better, and ultimately support better science and even, perhaps, better decisions in life. I don't know if that's true. In fact, I should probably assume that it's wrong. But with the benefit of the scientific community and our best methodological tools, I hope we can get it less wrong, together.