When I was about 6, I really wanted a new bike! I told my parents my birthday wish but I knew there was little hope, for my family could hardly afford one.

    On my birthday my parents told me they had my gift outside in the backyard. Immediately I rushed out to the yard. There was my bike, but it wasn't the bike that I thought it would be. This one was pink, old and worn with age. I was so disappointed. I thought I hurt my parents because I could see the disappointment on their faces when they noticed my expression. I got on the old bike and rode it, feeling bad because I had made my parents feel that way. So I put on a smile, rode as fast as I could and didn't look back.

    My parents gave me much more than just a rusty (生锈的) old bike. They gave me a life lesson about love. When you give something out of love, it doesn't matter what it actually is. What matters is the love in it. I like to remember this story because giving a gift is not about money or something else. It's about how much love you can feel from it. Do remember, a gift that costs $2 isn't necessarily any less valuable than one that costs $100 or even more.

    At your next meeting, wait for a pause in conversation and try to measure how long it lasts.

    Among English speakers, chances are that it will be a second or two at most. But while this pattern may be universal, our awareness of silence differs dramatically across cultures.

    What one culture considers a confusing or awkward pause may be seen by others as a valuable moment of reflection and sign of respect for what the last speaker has said. Research in Dutch and also in English found that when a silence in conversation stretches to four seconds, people start to feel uneasy. In contrast, a separate study of business meetings found that Japanese people are happy with silences of 8.2 seconds — nearly twice as long as in Americans' meetings.

    In Japan, it is recognized that the best communication is when you don't speak at all. It's already a failure to understand each other by speaking because you're repairing that failure by using words.

    In the US, it may originate from the history of colonial (殖民地) America as a crossroads of many different races. When you have a complex of difference, it's hard to establish common understanding unless you talk and there's understandably a kind of anxiety unless people are verbally engaged to establish a common life. This applies also to some extent to London.

    In contrast, when there's more homogeneity, perhaps it's easier for some kinds of silence to appear. For example, among your closest friends and family it's easier to sit in silence than with people you're less well acquainted with.

    Bill Gates and the president of General Motors have met for lunch, and Gates is going on and on about computer technology. "If automotive technology had kept pace with computer technology over the past few decades, you would now be driving a V-32 instead of a V-8, and it would have a top speed of 10, 000 miles per hour," says Gates. "Or, you could have an economy car that weighs 30 pounds and gets a thousand miles to a gallon of gas. In either case, the sticker price of a new car would be less than $50.Why haven't you guys kept up?"

    The president of GM smiles and says, "Because the federal government won't let us build cars that crash four times a day."

    Why is that funny (or not funny, as the case may be)? Human beings love to laugh, and the average adult laughs 17 times a day. Humans love to laugh so much that there are actually industries built around laughter. Jokes, sitcoms and comedians are all designed to get us laughing, because laughing feels good. For us it seems so natural, but the funny thing is that humans are one of the only species that laughs. Laughter is actually a complex response that involves many of the same skills used in solving problems.

    Laughter is a great thing—that's why we've all heard the saying, "Laughter is the best medicine." There is strong evidence that laughter can actually improve health and help fight disease. In this article, we'll look at laughter—what it is, what happens in our brains when we laugh, what makes us laugh and how it can make us healthier and happier. You'll also learn that there's a tremendous amount that no one understands yet.

    Six months after a Chinese scientist was widely condemned for helping to make the world's first gene­edited babies, he remains out of public view, and new information suggests that others may be interested in undertaking the same kind of work outside the United States.

    A clinic in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai emailed scientist He Jiankui to seek training in gene editing, Stanford University bioethicist Dr. William Hurlbut said ahead of a speech Tuesday at the World Science Festival in New York.

    Hurlbut, whose advice He often sought, said He told him that scientists from multiple countries and families with inherited health problems had messaged support and interest in altering the genes of embryos(胚胎)to prevent or treat disease. Hurlbut gave The Associated Press the email the Dubai clinic sent to He in December but decided to hide the clinic's name.

    "It reveals what eagerness there is out there to use this technology" and the need "for some sort of practical governance" of it, Hurlbut said.

    Jennifer Doudna, a University of California, Berkeley, co­inventor of the CRISPR gene­editing tool that He used, said that she also has heard of others who want to edit embryos.

    "I think they're entirely credible," she said of such reports. Doudna, who was also a speaker at the New York festival, said the field needs to focus on setting specific principles for how and when such work should proceed.

    "The technology is frankly just not ready for clinical use in human embryos," although research should continue, she said. Doudna is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports AP's Health and Science Department.

    Scientists and policy leaders have been debating how to set international standards or controls since He claimed in November that he had altered the genes of twin girls at conception(怀孕)to try to help them resist possible future infection with the AIDS virus.

    Editing embryos is outlawed in many countries because it risks damaging other genes, and the DNA changes can be passed to future generations. Many scientists have condemned He's work, and attention has fallen on other scientists who knew or strongly suspected what He was doing.

    Imagine someone who has spent the majority of their life sitting with a sign on the side of the road and that very person giving someone their last 20 dollars. That's exactly what Marine Corps veteran (退伍军人) Johnny Bobbitt, 34, did in October in Philadelphia.

    Bobbitt served in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked as a paramedic (医务辅助人员) in Vance County, N. C. before he became homeless. Nobody knew how he got to where he was because he was discreet about that.

    One night in October, Bobbitt was sitting roadside with a sign in Philadelphia as usual, when Kate McClure of Florence Township, N. J. was driving home down Interstate 95 and ran out of gas. Scared and nervous, she got out of the car to head to the nearest gas station. As McClure was heading to the nearest gas station, she ran into Bobbitt and he told her to get back in the vehicle and lock the door. Minutes later, he appeared with a red gas can. He'd used his last $20 to buy her gas.

    After that unexpected meeting, McClure and her boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, who both live in New Jersey, visited Bobbitt several times to deliver gift cards, cash, snacks and toiletries. They then decided to create a fund raising page so he wouldn't have to spend the holidays sleeping on the street.

    McClure started the GoFundMe page on November 10. With the page, the couple hoped to raise $10,000, enough money for his rent, a reliable vehicle and up to six months' expenses. Bobbitt's story ran in a local paper. By November 15，more than 10,000 local people had made donations through the GoFundMe page and more than $300,000 had been raised.

    On Thanksgiving, Bobbitt was resting in a hotel, his feet up on the bed, drawing up a grand plan for his new life, thanks to several thousand dollars raised to repay him for a good deed.

Since ancient times, people {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(use) every tool imaginable to share information, do business, and keep records.

But as computers took over the job and the type-written word became more common, something {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(lose) in the process; namely, the charm and personal nature of a hand-written note or letter.

Now, letter writing is making a comeback in {#blank#}3{#/blank#} form of artificial intelligence-operated robots. These AI robots can write notes for humans in their own handwriting.

David Wachs is the head and founder of Handwrytten. He said businesses use his company's robots for handwritten letters and "thank-you" notes {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(create) a strong and personal connection with those who receive them.

Many non-profit {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(organization) also use handwritten letters to keep donations coming. It helps turn one-time donors {#blank#}6{#/blank#} yearly givers, Wachs explained.

Wachs added, "I think what's old is new again."

Wachs says such technology now includes 3D printing and laser cutting, among others. And if users need help thinking of {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(exact) what to write in their notes, they can choose AI to help them create a more {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(effect) message.

{#blank#}9{#/blank#} via the printing press, a computer or a robot, one thing is clear... humans will use whatever tool they have to express {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(they) through the printed word.