“How's it going? ” I ask the barista(服务生). “How's your day been?”

    “Ah, not too busy. What are you up to?”

    “Not much. Just reading. ”

    This，small talk, is one of the key rituals(规矩）of American life. It has taken me only a decade to master.

    I immigrated to the United States in 2001, for college. I brought only my Indian experience in dealing with shopkeepers and tea sellers. In Delhi, where I grew up, when doing business, people don't ask each other how the other's day has been. They might not even smile. The customer doesn't tremble before complaining about how cold his food is. Each side believes the other will cheat him.

“God, Mahajan, you're so rude to waiters!” Tom, an American friend, said, laughing, after he watched me ordering food at a restaurant, in the West Village, years ago. Considering myself a mild and friendly person, I was surprised. Tom always asked servers how they were doing or praised their shirts or made jokes about the menu. At that time, this seemed dishonest to me. Did he really like what they were wearing?

American life is based on a principle that we like one another but won't violate one another's privacies. This makes it a land of small talk. Two people greet each other happily, with friendliness, but might know each other for years before asking basic questions about each other's backgrounds. The opposite is true of Indians. At least three people I've sat next to on planes to and from India have asked me, within minutes, how much I earn as a writer (only to turn away in disappointment when I tell them).

Living in Brooklyn and then in Austin, Texas. I made coffee shops the places of my movements. Meeting the same baristas day after day produced context, and I got practice. I was beginning to fit in. It felt good and didn't seem fake anymore.

                                       Cell phones：Is there a cancer link?

    Could your cell phone give you cancer? Whether it could or not, some people are worrying about the possibility that phones, power lines and Wi-Fi could be responsible for a range of illnesses, from rashes to brain tumors.

    Some say there is evidence to support the growing anxieties. David Carpenter, a professor of environmental health sciences at the university at Albany, in New York, thinks there's a greater than 95 percent chance that power lines can cause childhood leukemia (白血病). Also there's a greater than 90 percent chance that cell phones can cause brain tumors. “It's apparent now that there's a real risk, ”said Carpenter.

    But others believe these concerns are not justified. Dr Martha Linet, head of radiation epidemiology (流行病学) at the US National Cancer Institute, has looked at the same research as Carpenter but has reached a different conclusion. “I don't support warning labels for cell phones, ”said Linet. “We don't have the evidence that there's much danger.”

    Studies so far suggest a weak connection between EMFs (电磁场) and illness—so weak that it might not exist at all. A multinational investigation of cell phones and brain cancer, in 13 countries outside the US, has been underway for several years. It's funded in part by the European Union, in part by a cell phone industry group. The final report should come out later this year, but data so far don't suggest a strong link between cell phone use and cancer risk.

    I have many new teachers in high school, but Lori Runkle, my English Language and Composition teacher, is my favorite teacher.

    Ms. Runkle enjoys getting to know more about students, so I have many chances to talk with her after class. I have always wanted to become a journalist (新闻记者). Since Ms. Runkle used to be a journalist back in the United States, she has introduced many helpful journalistic writing skills to me.

    Although she is my teacher, Ms. Runkle and I are more like friends. She often invites my classmates and me to take part in different activities outside of school. For example, I went to listen to a journalist's speech, which helped me better understand current events (时事).

    Not only does Ms. Runkle talk with me outside of school, she is also a great teacher in the classroom. English Language and Composition is a really hard subject for a second language learner. We felt worried in the beginning, but Ms. Runkle really makes an effort to help us out. In class, Ms. Runkle always encourages students to question everything to keep us active. One part of class I love the most is when groups of students are required to give speeches on events that are happening in the world. It requires a lot of deep thinking and I really learn quite a lot from it.

I love Ms. Runkle very much. She not only helps me to get good scores, but also acts as a good friend and always gives me advice on life.

    Freelance writers Wanted

    Associated Content is an online publishing platform that enables anyone to earn money by writing articles on the Web.

Writing for AC is a great work opportunity for students, stay-at-home parents and freelance writers –you can work on your own time and submit papers, reviews, essays, etc. on any topic that you have interest in. This is a job you can do from anywhere—all you need is access to the Internet.

    Here's how you get started:

    1) Go to www. associatedcontent.com/join/hot jobs.

    2) Follow the instructions to register.

    3) Fill in your profile(简介),making note of your previous experience and your areas of experience (if any).

    4) Start submitting articles. You'll begin earning money as soon as your articles are published and the amount is based on the page views it receives.

    In addition to our own library of content, we have hundreds of partners (Partner Content Team) who work with AC to obtain high-quality. As such, there are lots of opportunities for our most talented and productive writers to accept "Partner Assignments" on an as-needed basis.

    If you're interested in accepting higher paying Partner Assignments, send us a link to your AC profile once you have submitted at least five articles. We will review all submissions and pass them along to our Partner Content Team. If selected, you will start receiving special paid assignments from us on a regular basis, which you are free to accept or ignore.

    NOTE: we pay our writers via PayPal daily.

    Any questions? Email me: dernel@asociatedcontent.com

    My husband and I had been married nearly twenty-two years when I acquired Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a disorder where my immune system (免疫系统) responded to a virus by producing painful blisters (水疱). Although my long-term evaluation was good, I, who had been so fiercely independent, rapidly became absolutely helpless.

    My husband, Scott, stepped up to the plate, taking care of kids and cooking dinners. He also became my personal caretaker, applying the medicine to all of my blisters because my hands couldn't do the job. Needless to say, I had negative emotions, bouncing from embarrassment to shame caused by total reliance on someone other than myself.

    At one point when I had mentally and physically hit bottoms I remember thinking that Scott must somehow love me more than I could ever love him. With my illness, he had become the stronger one, and I was the weaker one. And this disturbed me.

    I recovered from my illness, but I couldn't seem to recover from the thought that I loved my husband less than he loved me. This seeming distinction in our love continued to annoy me for the year following my illness.

    Then recently Scott and I went on a long bike ride. He's an experienced cyclist; I'm quite the green hand. At one point with a strong headwind and sharp pain building in my tired legs, I really thought I couldn't go any further. Seeing me struggle, Scott pulled in front of me and yelled over his shoulder, “Stay close behind me.” As I fell into the draft of his six-foot-three-inch frame and followed his steps, I discovered that my legs quit burning and I was able to catch my breath. My husband was pulling me along again. At this very moment I woke up to what I now believe: during these and other tough times, love has the opportunity to become stronger when one partner learns to lean on the other.

    I pray my husband will always be strong and healthy. But if he should ever become the struggling one, whether on a bike ride or with an illness, I trust I'll be ready to call out to him: stay close behind me — my turn to pull you along.

    TOKYO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2022 Olympic and Paralympics Winter Games held a promotion event in the Japanese capital, Tokyo on Saturday to introduce the latest developments in preparation for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

    The promotion event, which used an exhibition wall and the "Charming Beijing" photo exhibition to showcase the preparations of Beijing 2022, was part of "Beijing Week", a series of activities to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of sister-city relations between Beijing and Tokyo.

    On the exhibition wall with an area of 33 square meters, Beijing 2022 organizers show cased five aspects including the Beijing Winter Olympics vision, Beijing's winter sports tradition, emblem( 2 í) of Beijing 2022, competition planning and the National Speed Skating Oval.

    At the same time, old photos of the Chinese and Japanese ice hockey teams echoed the 40th anniversary of the establishment of sister-city relations between the two cities and the theme of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

    The promotion videos of the Beijing 2022 emblems, as well as other related video clips, drew great interest of the audience.

    The "Charming Beijing" photo exhibition displayed some of the Winter Olympic venues, showing the progress of the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

    Meanwhile, sand table, VR glasses and the "Beijing Winter Olympics Brochure" are also provided to let the audience visually experience the unique charm of the National Speed Skating Oval and the features of other competition venues.

    Chang Yu Director General of the Media and Communications Department of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, introduced the progress of the preparations 2022 and the vision of cooperation between Beijing 2022 and Tokyo 2020.

    Chang Yu said that the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee stays committed to with the aim of delivering a hosting the Games in a green, inclusive, open and clean manner, with an aim of delivering a fantastic, extraordinary and excellent Olympic event to the world.

    The Beijing Winter Olympics will open on February 4, 2022, which will feature sports, 15 disciplines and 109 events.