We considered a list of the best American books — but we'd need a whole issue to do them justice. Here are 5 that helped define the national character. Most from a century or so ago, they still entertain, teach and inspire American people.

    Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

    First published in 1851, the book tells the adventure stories of Captain Ahab and his continuous hunting for the white whale and draws us into a universe full of fascinating characters and stories.

    The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

    Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1918, the book provides insight into Adams' family, including his experience as a private secretary to his father, minister to England during the American Civil War.

    Leaves of Grass by Walt Whiteman

    When Whiteman published Leaves of Grass in 1855, he wanted to define the American experience— sing for the new country in a new voice, reflecting the great changes in the American literary world that had taken place during his lifetime.

    Poems by Emily Dickinson

    An enthusiastic poet whose works have had a considerable influence on modern poetry, Dickinson's frequent use of dashes(破折号)，sporadic(零星的)capitalization of nouns, and unusual metaphors(隐喻) has contributed to her reputation as one of the most innovative poets of the 19^th-century American literature.

    The song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    First published in 1855, this is Longfellow's most popular and most recognized poem, showing the heroic life and death of a magic American Indian sent by the Great Spirit to guide the nations in the ways of peace.

My First Day of School

    Fear started taking over, I was walking into my first school in America. I had traveled a long distance from India in order to join my parents, who had been for three years, hoping America would help my future. My father decided that I would be better off going to school here, so I enrolled(登记)in the local high school in my new town.

    I was afraid how I would do. On the first day, I went to my second period class after I had missed my first. With anxiety, I reached for the door, opening it slowly. Without paying attention to my classmates, I went straight to the teacher and asked if this was the right class. With a soft voice he answered. "Yes." His voice comforted me a little. He gave me a sheet called Course Requirements, which I would never get in India because we didn't have anything like that. Then he asked me to choose where I would sit. I didn't actually want to pick a seat. In India we had fixed seats, so I never needed to worry about that. I spent the rest of the class taking notes from the image produced by the overhead projector. In Indian schools, we didn't use the technology we had. We had to take notes as the teacher spoke.

    It was noon. I was very confused about when I would have lunch. I went to my next class and the bell rang as I entered. I went through the regular process of asking the teacher if I was in the right class. She said, "It's still fourth period."

    "But the bell just rang," I said.

    Changing from a gentle tone to a harsher(刺耳的)one, she said, "That is the lunch bell, young man."

    I apologized. Without another word I headed for the cafeteria. I felt lucky because we didn't have this in India. Every confusion seemed like a barrier I had to get through to reach my goal. At the end of the day, I was on my way to the bus which we didn't have in India either. I spotted my bus and sat down inside happily. I was thinking, today wasn't so bad.

    For the business traveler who's all about efficiency: check out these hotels that will get you in and out with a minimum trouble.

    When you're pressed for time on a business trip, nothing can annoy you more than a slow hotel check-in process. On your next trip, try these hotels that offer a speedier check-in process.

    ◆Marriott Detroit Airport

    Another option for business travelers in a hurry: Marriott is rolling out its mobile check-in app to 325 hotels this year, including the Marriott Detroit Airport hotel. (I've tested the app itself but not for a real visit quite yet.) here is the basic idea: you download the iPhone or Android app. The night before, you can "check-in" virtually. When you arrive, you get an alert that the room is ready and your key, which is already tied to your reservation, is waiting for you at the desk.

    ◆Hyatt Regency Minneapolis

    I happened to stay at this hotel recently and liked how fast the kiosk check-in works. The kiosk asks you to insert your credit card, similar to an airport terminal. The whole process took about 3 minutes. When I left, I was equally impressed with the fast check-out: An agent meets you in the lobby with, an iPad and asks for an email to use for a receipt. The big advantage: you never have to wait in line.

    ◆Radisson LaCrosse

    The Radisson is trying to make the kiosk process even faster. At a few select hotels like the Radisson Lacrosse in Wisconsin, you use a mobile app to register and then receive a barcode by email or text. When you get to the kiosk, you can scan the barcode to get your key without any other steps required. It's super fast. You can find this new check-in system at the Radisson hotels in Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Phoenix as well.

    Steven Stein likes to follow garbage trucks. His strange habit makes sense when you consider that he's an environmental scientist who studies how to reduce litter, including things that fall off garbage trucks as they drive down the road. What is even more interesting is that one of Stein's jobs is defending an industry behind the plastic shopping bags.

    Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags every year. So many end up in tree branches or along highways that a growing number of cities do not allow them at checkouts(收银台) . The bags are prohibited in some 90 cities in California, including Los Angeles. Eyeing these headwinds, plastic-bag makers are hiring scientists like Stein to make the case that their products are not as bad for the planet as most people assume.

    Among the bag makers' argument: many cities with bans still allow shoppers to purchase paper bags, which are easily recycled but require more energy to produce and transport. And while plastic bags may be ugly to look at, they represent a small percentage of all garbage on the ground today

    The industry has also taken aim at the product that has appeared as its replacement: reusable shopping bags. The stronger a reusable bag is, the longer its life and the more plastic-bag use it cancels out. However, longer-lasting reusable bags often require more energy to make. One study found that a cotton bag must be used at least 131 times to be better for the planet than plastic.

    Environmentalists don't dispute(质疑) these points. They hope paper bags will be banned someday too and want shoppers to use the same reusable bags for years.

    Millions of Americans sit behind a computer screen, chained to their desk all day because the vast majority of stable, high-paying professions(职业) are "office jobs". However, having a successful career does not require you to sit behind a desk and plug away at a computer all day.

    In fact, there are a large number of non-desk jobs in a variety of industries that are growing and offering workers a direct path to the middle class, according to a new analysis of labor market information from CareerBuilder. While most of the highest-paying non-desk jobs are medical professions that require a doctoral or professional degree, there are 170 non-desk professions that pay $15 per hour or more, do not require a bachelor's degree(学士学位) for a typical entry-level position, and have seen at least 6 percent job growth over the last four years.

    "The US workforce has gradually changed to office-based work because of the rise of the professional service economy and productivity gains associated with information technology," Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources Officer at CareerBuilder, said in a statement. "But some of the healthiest areas of job growth year after year are in middle-skill professions that don't require workers to sit in front of computer monitors and phones for 40 hours a weel."

    Here are the top-paying jobs that don't require you to work at a desk in various kinds — none of which require a four-year college degree — and their hourly salary(工资) and growth rate since 2010: professional assistants(助理) : $26.57, 14 percent; elevator repairers: $37.81, 6 percent; mechanical engineering technicians: $25.19, 10 percent; and electromechanical(电动机械的) technicians: $24.68, 8 percent.

    While they tend to pay less than traditional office jobs, non-desk professions provide a variety of benefits. Haefner points to a 2014 CareerBuilder survey that discovered workers who don't work at a desk all day are less likely to complain about their work environment and less likely to report being overweight.

    I came to the United States ten years ago. I would always say that I was trying to study, but there were always things like work and my kids that would not allow me to start.

    Now I realized that those were only excuses. What stopped me was that I was afraid to start studying again. I always believed I would learn by myself.

    One day, however, my son told me that he was sad because his friends would come over and I didn't understand them because I didn't speak English. He was also sad because I could never help him with his homework. That same day, I told myself, "Rocio, you have to start believing in yourself and you will see you can make it."

    The next day, I went downtown to look for a big banner (横幅) in front of the school which said that they offered classes for adults. I came in to see if I could join, but the classes were closed already. That night I took the kids to the movies, and on the way back, I told them we would take a new route. I ended up getting lost. That's the way I found Chaffey College. The following Monday, I went to ask for information. They told me that summer school was starting that week.

    That's how I started studying English last summer. It is difficult, but I have had great rewards. My daughter had written a story for school. It was about the female they most admired and why. She wrote that I was the person she most admired because I had started going to college. I will never forget this.