It was a hot, humid day, and my brother Walt and I had decided that the only way to survive it would be to go swimming in a deep swimming hole across Mr. Blickez's pasture(牧场) and through some woods.

    The only problem with our plan was that this pasture was guarded by a huge, mean Hereford bull. Mr. Blickez had told us that Elsie was them eanest bull in the township, maybe even the county, and we believed him. But the hotter it got, the more we thought there was something doubtful about his claim. For one thing, we remembered Mr. Blickez liked telling tall tales; for another, Elsie seemed like an odd name for a bull.

    Finally, I talked Mom into asking permission for us to walk through the pasture, but then another problem surfaced. Mom said she would talk to Mr. Blickez if we would take our cousin Joanie along with us. Joanie was almost two years older than me and a head taller. If her teasing ever got around my grade school, it would be all over for me. In fact, I still had a headache from a quarrel with her that morning. “I'm not going swimming with that dumb girl cousin.” I told my mom.

  “Either Joanie goes with, or you stay home alone,” Mom said inher serious tone. I gave in and we set out. On our way across the pasture, Walt yelled suddenly. Elsie had approached him quietly and was licking(舔) his back. Joanie and I dove under the wire fence, but while I was on the ground I looked up and saw that Elsie wasn't a big mean bull after all. She was going to keep licking my brother's back as long as he stood still.

    We had many good days growing up and visiting our secret swimming hole guarded by the so-called “big mean bull”. And as it turned out, fora girl cousin, Joanie hasn't been too bad. She's been one of my best friendsover the years.

    The Allendale Cultural Center has expanded its arts program to include classes for young adults. Director Leah Martin announced Monday that beginning in September, three new classes will be offered to the Allendale community. The course titles will be Yoga(瑜伽) for Teenagers; Hip Hop Dance: Learning the Latest Moves; and Creative Journaling for Teens: Discovering the Writer Within. The latter course will not be held at the Allendale Cultural Center but instead will meet at the Allendale Public Library.

    Staff member Tricia Cousins will teach the yoga and hip hop classes. Ms. Cousins is a skilled choreographer(舞蹈指导) as well as an experienced dance educator. She is a Master of Arts in dance education from Teachers College, Columbia University. The journaling class will be taught by Betsy Milford. Ms. Milford is the head librarian at the Allendale Public Library as well as a columnist(专栏作家) for the professional journal Library Focus.

    The courses are part of the Allendale Cultural Center's Project Teen, which was organized by Leah Martin, Director of the Cultural Center. According to Martin, this project is a direct result of her efforts to make the center a more necessary part of the Allendale community. Over the last several years, the number of people who have visited the cultural center for classes or events has steadily declined. Project Teen is primarily funded by the McGee Arts Foundation, an organization devoted to bringing arts programs to young adults. The other members of Project Teen are two students at Allendale's Brookdale High School and three adults with backgrounds in education and the arts.

    The creative journaling class will be cosponsored by Brookdale High School, and students who complete the class will be given the opportunity to publish one of their journal works in Pulse, Brookdale's student literary magazine. Students who complete the hip hop class will be qualified to participate in the Allendale Review, an annual concert sponsored by the cultural center that features local actors, musicians, and dancers.

    All classes are scheduled to begin immediately after school, and transportation will be available from Brookdale High School to the Allendale Cultural Center and the Allendale Public Library. For more information about Project Teen, contact the cultural center's programming office at 988­0099 or drop by the office after June 1 to pick up a fall course catalog. The office is located on the third floor of the Allendale Town Hall.

D

    We've all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.

    What's the problem? It's possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It's more likely that none of us start a conversation because it's awkward and challenging, or we think it's annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it's an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.

    Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can't forget that deep relationships wouldn't even exist if it weren't for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease (润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. "Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk," he explains. "The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them."

    In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. "It's not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband," says Dunn. "But interactions with peripheral(边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also."

    Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. "Small talk is the basis of good manners," he says.

Be careful on January 8^th — It's officially the most dangerous day of the year. The insurance company Hyperion has studied accident statistics(统计数字) and has found that there are more accidents on January 8^th than on any other day.

    Accidents are certainly more likely to happen at particular times of the year. One general rule is that more accidents happen in winter months, because risk increases in bad weather. In 2004 and 2005 Hyperion found that the worst day was January 8^th, with 298 accidents reported to them. March 3^rd was the safest day, with only 89 reports. Six of the ten worst days for driving were in January.

    It's clear that icy and snowy conditions are dangerous, but some other statistics are puzzling. A British Medical Journal report in 2001, for example, found that hospital admissions(住院) were always higher than usual on Friday the 13^th.

But it is not only when Friday falls on the 13^th that it is a dangerous day. Four of the top ten worst days for accidents last year were Fridays — perhaps because everyone is rushing home for the weekend — while Thursdays are the safest day of the week.

At what time of the day is an accident most likely to happen? The Health and Safety Authority found that people are most likely to have an accident at 11.00 a.m., while the safest time of day is between 4.00 and 5.00 a.m. — probably because most people are in bed!

    Finally, good news for Harry Potter fans. Doctors at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford noted that fewer children were in hospital on the weekend when Harry Potter books were available to the public. Casualties(伤亡人员) fell by over 50% when the last two books went on sale. So if you want to be really safe, you should read a Harry Potter book in bed, at around 5.00 on a Thursday morning, in summer.

    A few days ago I was sitting in a Thai restaurant enjoying a meal when I got a phone call from a friend I hadn't spoken to for a long time. Full of enthusiasm and excitement I talked slightly louder than usual and in Spanish, my mother tongue.

    A few minutes into the call the lady sitting beside me got up, seemingly upset, and asked the restaurant staff to relocate her to a table as far away as possible from “this man who won't get off his phone”.

    I sank in my seat out of embarrassment. I ended the call soon afterwards and felt the urge to go over and apologize. Before getting up I looked around to see where she was and I found she was, indeed, at the table furthest away from me. I noticed that the lady was alone and staring out of the window, looking a bit sad.

    Right then I quit my plan for a conventional apologetic gesture and decided to conduct an experiment. Seeing those funny smile cards in my wallet, I took one out. When signing my check I asked the waiter to secretly charge the lady's meal to my credit card instead of her bill.

    I left the restaurant, letting the waiter know I would be back in a few hours to pick up my credit card. I returned later as promised, excited to learn the result.

To my pleasant surprise, things turned out the best possible way. A group of restaurant staff approached me with joy, telling me that the lady had dined there many times, but they had never seen her smile and laugh like she did upon receiving the smile card and the $0 check.

    Three men traveling on a train began a conversation about the world's greatest wonders.

    "In my opinion, "the first man said, "the Egyptian pyramids are the world's greatest wonder. Although they were built thousands of years ago, they are still standing. And remember: the people who built them had only simple tools. They did not have the kind of machinery that builders and engineers have today."

    "I agree that the pyramids in Egypt are wonderful," the second man said, "but I do not think they are the greatest wonder. I believe computers are more wonderful than the pyramids. They have taken people to the moon and brought them back safely. In seconds, they carry out mathematical calculations that would take a person a hundred years to do."

    He turned to the third man and asked, "What do you think is the greatest wonder in the world?"

    The third man thought for a long time, and then he said, "Well, I agree that the pyramids are wonderful, and I agree that computers are wonderful, too. However, in my opinion, the most wonderful thing in the world is this thermos."

    And he took a thermos out of his bag and held it up.

    The other two men were very surprised. "A thermos?" they exclaimed. "But that's a simple thing."

    "Oh, no, it's not," the third man said. "In the winter you put in a hot drink and it stays hot. In the summer you put in a cold drink and it stays cold. How does the thermos know whether it's winter or summer?"