To whom it may concern,

    My husband Jim and I got married in 1965. For the first ten years of our marriage, I was very happy to stay home and raise our three children. Then about four years ago, our youngest child went to school, and I thought I might go back to work.

    Jim was very supportive and helped me to make my decision. He started to do all the things I used to do around the house, and said he thought I could be a great success in business.

After several weeks of job hunting, I found my present job, which is working for a small public relation firm. At first, my husband was proud of me and would tell his friends, "My clever little wife can run that company she's working for."

    But, as his joking words were becoming reality, Jim stopped talking to me about my job. I have received several promotions and pay increases, and I am now making more money than he is. I can buy my own clothes and a new car. Because of our combined incomes, Jim can do things that we had always dreamed of doing, but we don't do these things because he is unhappy.

    We fought about little things, and Jim is very critical of me in front of our friends. For the first time in our marriage, I think there is a possibility that our marriage may come to an end.

    I love Jim very much, and I don't want him to feel inferior(较差的), but I also love my job. I think I can be a good wife and a working woman, but I don't know how. Can you give me some advice? Will I have to choose one or the other or can I keep both my husband and my new career?

    Please help.

Yours,

Mary

When I was nine years old, I loved to go fishing with my dad. But the only thing that wasn't very fun about it was that he could catch many fish while I couldn't catch anything. I usually got pretty upset and kept asking him why. He always answered, "Son, if you want to catch a fish, you have to think like a fish." I remember being even more upset then because, "I'm not a fish!" I didn't know how to think like a fish. Besides, I reasoned, how could what I think influence what a fish does?

    As I got a little older I began to understand what my dad really meant. So, I read some books on fish. And I even joined the local fishing club and started attending the monthly meetings. I learned that a fish is a cold-blooded animal and therefore is very sensitive to water temperature. That is why fish prefer shallow water to deep water because the former is warmer. Besides, water is usually warmer in direct sunlight than in the shade. Yet, fish don't have any eyelids(眼皮) and the sun hurts their eyes…The more I understood fish, the more I became effective at finding and catching them.

When I grew up and entered the business world, I remember hearing my first boss say, "We all need to think like salespeople." But it didn't completely make sense. My dad never once said, "If you want to catch a fish you need to think like a fisherman." What he said was, "You need to think like a fish." Years later, with great efforts to promote long-term services to people much older and richer than me, I gradually learned what we all need is to think more like customers. It is not an easy job. I will show you how in the following chapters.

    Many businesses today use conferences as a means of discussing new plans of the company. As people are paying more attention to the environment and green problems, more businesses are looking for ways to reduce their negative effect on the environment. Many businesses do this by using Web conferencing.

    Web conferencing is a technology that allows people to communicate more effectively over the Internet. It's an easy way of hosting and attending conferences without having to leave the office. Each of the people involved in a web conference will be posted an invitation to the conference with the time and date of the Web conference on it. When the conference is ready to begin, all participants must sit at their computers and they will be connected over the Internet.

    With Web conferencing all participants attend conference from the comfort of their own desks. Obviously, in doing this no fuel is used in traveling to and from a conference, and less work is taken up in attending a conference.

    Any material to be used during Web conference is simply e-mailed to all the participants before the conference. Participants can then either choose to print material or read it on screen.

This not only saves paper but also greatly reduces mailing costs for the business.

    As a conference hall or business center isn't being used, it means that the only power that is used is the power that is used by the participants' personal computers. Similarly, conference organizers don't have to arrange for food or overnight accommodation. All this means that less energy is used.

    Often in business some companies actively choose to do business with other companies that do many things to reduce their negative impact on the environment. And Web conferencing helps you show other businesses that you are willing to work hard for the green cause.

    So Web conferencing is much cheaper and greener and more people are willing to host and attend a web conference.

    I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighboring town of Venice. As we enjoyed our coffee, a man called the waiter and placed his order, “Two cups of coffee, one on the wall.” We got interested and observed that he was served with one cup of coffee but he paid for two. As soon as he left, the waiter attached a piece of paper to the wall saying “A Cup of Coffee.” Similar occasions took place twice while we were there. It seemed that this gesture was quite normal at this place. However, it was something unique and confusing for us.

    After a few days, when we again enjoyed coffee there, a man entered. The way this man was dressed did not match the standard or the atmosphere of this coffee shop. Poverty was evident from his looks. As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, “One cup of coffee from the wall.” The waiter served coffee to this man with respect and dignity. The man had his coffee and left without paying. We were amazed to watch all this when the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the dustbin.

    Now it was no surprise for us; the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown by people in this town moved us to tears.

    Coffee is not a necessity. However, the point is that when we take pleasure in any blessing, maybe we also need to think about those people who also appreciate that specific blessing but cannot afford.

    Note the waiter, who gets the communication going between the affording and the needy with a smile on his face. Think about the man in need: he enters the coffee shop without having to lower his self-dignity; he has a free cup of coffee without asking or knowing about who has given this cup of coffee to him; he only looked at the wall, placed an order for himself, enjoyed his coffee and left. Besides, we need to remember the role played by the wall that reflects the generosity and care of people in this town.

    People say money doesn't buy happiness, but how much money you make can affect the way you experience it?

    While it's true that money can't buy happiness, having money has certain benefits. For example, money can buy you time to do things that make you happier, and giving away some of your money can make you happier as well. Now scientists from the University of California at Irvine have found that how much money you make may impact (影响) how you experience happiness; higher earners are more likely to experience positive emotions focused on themselves, while lower earners are more likely to experience positive emotions focused on connecting with other people.

    Scientists used data from an existing survey of 1,519 U.S. adults between the ages of 24 to 93, to be representative of the entire U.S. population. From the survey, scientist collected the household income of each person and analyzed how each person experienced the seven emotions that are believed to cause happiness: amusement, admiration, compassion, satisfaction, enthusiasm, love, and pride.

    What they found was that higher earners were associated with the happiness-related emotions of satisfaction, pride, and amusement, all of which are self-focused in nature. Lower earners were associated with more other-oriented (他人指向) happiness-related emotions: compassion, love, and admiration. There were no differences observed with enthusiasm.

    As to reasons for the difference, the researchers suppose that while pride and satisfaction may reflect upper class individuals' (个人) desire for independence, increased love and compassion may help lower class individuals form more harmonious (和谐的), interdependent bonds to help deal with their more threatening environments. In other words, the researchers are not saying that one way of getting happiness is better than another, but rather that the way one obtains happiness may be a product of existing and coping within one's particular circumstances.

Education in 2080 is distinctive from education in the 2020s. Until about 2035, the main function of education systems was to supply the economy with the next generation of workers. In 2080, the purpose of education is the well-being of society and all its members. To make this a bit more tangible(可感知的;有形的) for you, I would like to give an example of what a child's education looks like in 2080. Her name is Shemsy. Shemsy is 13, and she is confident and loves learning. 

Shemsy does not go to school in the morning because schools as you know them no longer exist. The institution was abolished as it was widely thought of as more like a prison or a factory than a creative learning environment. Schools have been replaced with "Learning Hubs" that are not restricted to certain ages. They are where intergenerational learning happens, in line with the belief that learning is a lifelong pursuit. 

Every year, Shemsy designs her learning journey for the year with a highly attentive "teacher-citizen". Shemsy is actively engaged in designing her education and has to propose projects she would like to be involved in to contribute to and serve her community. She also spends lots of time playing as the role of play in learning has finally been recognized as essential and core to our humanity. Shemsy works a lot collaboratively. Access to education is universal, and higher education institutions no longer differentiate themselves by how many people they reject yearly. Variability between students is expected and leveraged （利用） as young people teach one another and use their differences as a source of strength. Shemsy naturally explores what she is curious about at a pace she sets. She still has some classes to take that are mandatory for children globally: Being Human and the History of Humanity. 

We invite you to think about your vision for education in the year 2080, what does it look like, who does it serve, and how does it transform our societies?