Nowadays airfare isn't getting any cheaper with fuel costs rising every day. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to find the most affordable fares and also avoid paying as many extra charges as possible when you plan ahead.

    Every man wants his son to be somewhat of a clone, not in features but in footsteps. As he grows, you also age, and your ambitions become more unachievable. You begin to realize that your boy, in your footsteps, could probably achieve what you hoped for. But footsteps can be muddied and they can go off in different directions.

    My son Jody has hated school since day one in kindergarten. Science projects waited until the last moment. Book reports weren't written until the final threat.

    I've been a newspaperman all my adult life. My daughter is a university graduate working toward her master's degree in English. But Jody? When he entered the tenth grade, he became a “vo-tech(技校)” student. They're called “motorheads” by the rest of the student body.

    When a secretary in my office first called him “motorhead”, I was shocked. “Hey, he's a good kid,” I wanted to say. “And smart, really.”

    I learned later that motorheads are, indeed, different. They usually have dirty hands and wear dirty work clothes. And they don't often make school honor rolls(光荣榜).

    But being the parent of a motorhead is itself an experience in education. We, who work in clean shirts in offices, don't have the abilities that motorheads have. I began to learn this when I had my car crashed. The cost to repair it was estimated at $800. “Hey, I can fix it,” said Jody. I doubted it, but let him go ahead, for I had nothing to lose.

    My son, with other motorheads, fixed the car. They got parts(零件) from a junkyard, and ability from vo-tech classes. The cost was $25 instead of $800.

Since that first repair job, a broken air-conditioner, a non-functioning washer and a non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbors and co-workers trust their car repairs to him.

    These kids are happiest when doing repairs. They joke and laugh and are living in their own relaxed world. And their minds are bright in spite of their dirty hands and clothes.

    I have learned a lot from my motorhead: publishers need printers, engineers need mechanics, and architects need builders. Most importantly, I have learned that fathers don't need clones in footsteps or anywhere else.

My son may never make the school honor roll, but he made mine.

    Many English learners have difficulty deciding what kind of English accent they want to have. A US accent, perhaps imitates(模仿) a Hollywood star speaker? Or maybe you want to imitate the British accent of a BBC news reader?

    Young British people find the US accent attractive while young US people like a British accent. Especially when the person speaking is of the opposite sex(异性)! Let's listen to what they have to say.

    Stephen Yang, 17, from London, UK

    A US accent is cute, especially when a girl speaks it. Whether it's Jessia Alba speaking or the girl-next-door, the way US girls speak has a sweet tingle(感觉) that is really fashionable. A girl from Texas recently moved into our neighborhood. Her Texan twang(鼻音) had all the boys here on their knees within seconds of meeting her.

    To me, accents reflect the attitudes, characteristics(特征) and lifestyles of the people.

    Jennifer Sun, 16, from New Jersey, US

    From watching English actors like Daniel Radcliffe, my friends and I have developed a soft spot(好感) for British men. Some are attracted to the qualities of English males, while others admire their sense of style.

    Everyone, however, agrees that the most appealing aspect of an English man is his accent. For example, many American girls watch Harry Potter movies over and over again just to listen to the actors speak.

    The English accent seems almost like art.

    The best-known example of external( 外部的)influence causing language change is the "Americanization" of world culture, which has caused English words to appear in city streets all over the world. The effect is most noticeable in pop music. Foreign groups often record in English, and the words are picked up and repeated in the same language everywhere, even by children who otherwise have little or no command of the language. I once met a Brazilian child of about ten who could count 'one, two, three', but only by adding the words 'o'clock, four o'clock rock 'at the end.

Some people are often strongly critical of the influence of English on their language — especially when an English word replaces a traditional word. In 1977, France passed a law banning the use of English words in official situations if an equivalent( 意义相同的)French expression existed — but the law seemed to be honored more in the breaking than in the observing. Some other countries have considered introducing a similar law despite the evidence that such laws have very little effect, and that the arrival of loan words( 外来词) can greatly enrich a language (as indeed in the case of English itself, which has a long history of welcoming foreign words).

    However, not everyone is critical. In particular, commercial firms and advertisers are well aware of the potential selling power that the use of English vocabulary can bring. In Japan, English is even used in television commercials, despite the fact that the majority of viewers would not understand exactly what was being said: the excellence implied by the mere use of English is apparently enough to command the strategy to the advertisers.

    Most of the influence of English is upon the vocabulary of foreign languages, but surveys are slowly bringing to light several cases where word order or word structure has been affected. Sentences of the type “The book sells well”, using an active construction for a passive meaning, have begun to appear in Danish (Bogen soelger godt). Several languages keep the English plural ending when they make use of a loan word, and do not translate it into the native form, e.g. drinks. There are many other such cases.

    I'm a speaker and give hundreds of speeches every year. I spoke about appreciation (感激) last month and I used this quote by Albert Schweitzer "Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by meeting with another human being. Each of us should express the deepest thanks to those who have relighted this inner (内心的) light."

    I asked my audiences to shut their eyes and think about someone who, at some time in their lives, has relighted their inner light. Then I left the room in silence for several minutes. It was always a meaningful experience as they remembered the joy they felt from another person.

    One day, a gentleman came up to talk with me and thanked me for creating a new awareness (意识) in him. He said he thought of his eighth-grade history teacher because she was everyone's favorite teacher and had really made a difference in all of their lives. Several days later, the gentleman found his history teacher and he wrote to her. The following week he received this letter:

    Dear John,

    You will never know how much your letter meant to me. I am 83 years old, and I am living all alone in one room. My friends are all gone. My family's gone. I taught 50 years and yours is the first "thank you" letter I have ever gotten from a student. Sometimes I wonder what I did with my life. I will read and reread your letter until the day I die.

    The gentleman was sad, "She is always the one we talk about when we have a get-together. She is everyone's favorite teacher—we love her! But no one had ever told her until she received my letter…"

    Forget Cyclists, Pedestrians are Real Danger

    We are having a debate about this topic. Here are some letters from our readers.

    ■ Yes, many cyclists behave dangerously. Many drivers are disrespectful of cyclists. But pedestrians are probably the worse offenders.

    People of all ages happily walk along the pavement with eyes and hands glued to the mobile phone, quite unaware of what is going on around them. They may even do the same thing while crossing a road at a pedestrian crossing or elsewhere. The rest of us have to evade (避让) them or just stand still to wait for the unavoidable collision.

    The real problem is that some pedestrians seem to be, at least for the moment, in worlds of their own that are, to them, much more important than the welfare of others.

—Michael Horan

    ■ I loved the letter from Bob Brooks about cyclists (Viewpoints, May 29). I am afraid they seem to think they own the roads.

    I was walking across Altrincharn Road one morning when a cyclist went round me and on being asked what he was doing he shouted at me.

    The government built a cycle lane on the road but it is hardly used.

    The police do nothing. What a laugh they are!

    The cyclists should all have to be made to use the cycle lanes and wear helmets, fluorescent (发荧光的)jacket and tights at night and in the morning. They should pay some sort of tax and be fined for not wearing them.

—Carol Harvey

    ■ Cyclists jump on and off pavements (which are meant for pedestrians), ride at speed along the pavements, and think they have a special right to go through traffic lights when they are on red.

    I was almost knocked down recently by a cyclist riding on the pavement when there was a cycle lane right next to him.

    Other road users, including horse riders, manage to obey the rules so why not cyclists?

    It's about time they had to be registered and insured, so when they do hit a pedestrian or a vehicle, or cause an accident, at least they can be traced and there might be an opportunity to claim.

—JML

    Write to Viewpoints of the newspaper.