My mom takes pride in the fact that I was talking in three and four word sentences before I was ten months old. Some say it's a gift while others simply think I talk too much.

    As my thirties came to a close, I found myself reflecting on my life. I'm very happy and have no significant regrets. However, when I looked back on those times of difficulty, I saw a clear common denominator(特征); I didn't seem to know when to stop talking. Whether it was hurting someone's feelings, or having carelessly told a secret, the incident could have been avoided had I closed my mouth sooner. So I decided to practice the power of quiet.

    To take this step, I needed to understand how people could sit comfortably in a group and not talk. Why does my husband feel completely content to say nothing in a conversation? He's highly intelligent and has wonderful opinions but he'll sit quietly and just listen. Even when he's asked a pointed question, he'll answer with few words while still communicating effectively. What a talent!

    Can you imagine being happy just listening? In surveying those I know who talk less than I do, I got two answers—they either didn't feel confident enough to speak up, or they just didn't feel the need to participate in the conversation. Of course there were other reasons for not talking, but these were the two most popular answers.

    The first one didn't work for me. I'm just fine letting people know what I think about them, and hopefully it will make the conversation much more interesting. The second one didn't work either. I do feel the need to participate. I feel it physically like an electrical pulse through my body; sometimes it's so strong that it causes me to behave badly in the form of interrupting or speaking in an unusually loud voice. I had to look further.

    An interesting thing happened on this journey to the power of quiet. During my weekly yoga class, it came to me like an answer so clear that the words rang in my head like soft, heavenly bells.

    I talked too much so people would know I cared about them. It was my way of taking care of those I love. I decided before my fortieth birthday, that from that day forward, those around me would know I loved them, and cared what they thought and felt, but I was going to practice the power of quiet.

    As my forty-second birthday approaches, I can say that deciding to talk less has been more about focusing on quality rather than quantity. I've found that listening more shows those who I care about that I really do care how they feel. Now when I break in, it means more to them. Oh, sure, I still have my short periods of talking too much, but for the most part this has been one resolution that I can call a success.

    There was once a captain who loved money so much that he cheated his sailors at the end of every voyage and took their wages.

    On the last day of one voyage, the ship was in a small port. It was winter time, and the sea was very cold, so the captain said to his sailors, "If one of you stays in the water during the whole night, I will give him my ship. But if he comes out before the sun appears, I shall get his wages."

    The sailors had heard about the captain's cheating, so they didn't trust him. But then one of them, who thought that he was cleverer than the captain, said that he would do it. He got into the water, and, though it was very cold, he stayed in it. When it was nearly morning, some fishermen lit a fire on the shore about half a mile away.

    "You are cheating," the captain said to the sailor. "The fire's warming you."

    "But it's half a mile away!" said the sailor.

    "A fire's fire," answered the captain. "I have won."

    The sailor came out of the water, and said, "Perhaps you think that you are clever because you have won my wages, but you can't cook a chicken."

    "I can," answered the captain.

    "If you cook this chicken," said the sailor, "I shall work for you without wages for seven years, but if you can't, you will give me your ship."

    The captain agreed, took the chicken and said, "Where's the fire?"

    "There it is," answered the sailor. "On the shore."

    "But it's half a mile away," said the captain angrily.

    " A fire's fire, you said," answered the sailor. "If it is enough to warm me in the water, it is enough to cook your chicken."

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    The TED speaker series features “ideas worth spreading.” With over 1,400 to choose from, we've selected a few that are perfect for students.

    Larry Smith: Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career

    We humans have an excellent ability to make excuses for ourselves. Larry Smith, a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, tells us why most of us will fail to have a great career. But there is a way out— if you try to pursue your passion.  

    Andy Puddicombe: All It takes Is 10 Mindful Minutes

    Between dance team, volunteering and—oh, right—lectures, your life's crazy factor is about to go way up. In this entertaining and informative talk, mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe teaches us how to be “healthier, more mindful and less distracted” by taking just 10 minutes out of the day to be more present.

    Shane Koyczan: To This DAY for the Bullied and Beautiful

    This talk is sure to stay with you. Shane Koyczan's “To this DAY” is an affecting spoken-word poem about bullying and being different that gained over 10 million views on YouTube. In this talk, Koyczan gives a live reading of the poem, along with some stories about his background.

    Susan Cain: The power of Introverts (性格内向者)

    Does a cup of tea and a good book sound like a perfect Friday night? In this personal talk, Susan Cain argues that introverts have important talents and abilities. Our culture may value being social and outgoing, but the world needs all kinds.

    Eighteen years ago, Terry Grahl, was pregnant with her fourth child. “Money was very tight,” Terry recalls. So when her mom called to ask if she'd like to go shopping at the local fabric(布料) store for the coming Christmas, she couldn't say no because she knew she badly needed some fabrics to make new clothes for her children. “I remember walking around, gazing at all this beautiful fabric, wondering whether there is anything cheap that I could afford. And I could still get some money left to buy Christmas gifts for my family.

    Well, Terry's mom must have known what Terry was thinking. Smiling kindly, she whispered to Terry, “You pick any fabrics you like. It's your Christmas gift from me.” Terry's eyes were filed with tears as the cart began to overflow with many fabrics, but not because Terry was planning on making herself a pretty dress or a pair of curtains for the kitchen. Rather, Terry's mom's kindness had inspired some holiday gift ideas in Terry, and it didn't take long for Terry to figure out what she was going to do with all that fabric.

    “I was going to make my first quilt,” she explains. “Every night I would work on this queen-size quilt. With every stitch(一针), I thought about all that my mom had done for me over the course of my childhood, during which we were always battling homelessness, but Mom somehow managed to fill our lives with love and make everything okay.”

    On Christmas Day, five days after her baby girl was born, Terry handed her mom a gift box. Inside was the quilt she had sewn, from the fabric her mother had given her as a gift.

Boston City View Bike Tour

    Boston City View Bike Tour offers an environmentally friendly and exciting bicycle tour of Boston—from historic places to strange neighborhood streets. The Boston City View Bicycle Tour is the classic tour for those looking to get a great introduction to Boston.

    Boston City View Bike Tour highlights（最精彩的部分）:

    Tour includes comfortable bikes, helmet and water

    Friendly tour guides

    One guide for every 6 riders for safety and the quality of the experience

    Comfortable pace

    All levels and ages are welcome

    Child seats are offered if asked

    This tour covers all of Boston's best sites:

    Historic Fenway Park

    The Christian Science Center

    The Freedom Trail

    The beautiful brownstones in Back Bay and the South End

    The Rose Kennedy Greenway—Boston's newest public park

    The Charles River Esplanade

    The North End—Boston's oldest Italian neighborhood

    Copley square, where you'll see the Boston Public Library & Trinity Church

    Please note:

    You don't need to be Lance Armstrong to enjoy the Boston City View Bike Tour—all levels of riders are welcome. About 70% of riding is done on city streets, mixed with cars. The remaining 30% of the tour covers the bike path on the quiet streets.

    The tour is 2.5-3.5 hours long and covers 10-12 miles. It is a great way to entertain guests and get a little exercise.

    Make your book today and get your e-tickets for the Boston City View Bike Tour online.

    This tour is seasonal and runs daily from April 1st through Nov. 30th.

    More than 40 percent of the species that help with pollination (植物传粉) are under threat due to the polluted environment. So some researchers have been searching for ways to protect the bees and other crucial pollinators while some engineers have thought perhaps an army of robotic pollinators could keep humans well-supplied in these foods. A team of researchers has recently designed a small drone capable of pollinating flowers. They tested their device on the large, pink flowers of lilies. And it worked.

    Exciting as this success was, it is only the first step. The team has yet to figure out how to apply the concept on the massive scale. Could a fleet of robo-pollinators replace the bees?

    “Although the answer isn't a straightforward no, it would be a challenging leap to go from this one little drone pollinating one large flower to an army of drones spreading across fields of crops,” says Scott Swinton, an agricultural economist at Michigan State University.

    “The successful pollination was fascinating,” Scott Swinton says, “but the device itself might damage the flowers. I wonder how you make sure you're not doing more harm than good to flowers when you have a drone.”

    “Furthermore,” he points out, “a lily is a particularly easy flower for a drone to pollinate. To make this more broadly applicable for smaller and more complex flower structures, the drones would need to be particularly agile.”

    Still, Joshua Campbell, an expert at the University of Florida, says “Pollination systems are extremely complex and will always require insects. There is no substitute for bees.”

    “As for the technology itself, it is a promising new development in existing drone technology,” he added. Yet he still sees some hurdles ahead before drones can be applied on a large scale.