26-year-old Anna Cherdantseva, from the city of Ufa in Russia, is a full-time employee of a furniture company, spending up t0 10 hours every day trying out new sofas for comfort and safety.

    Last month, Russian furniture giant M25 Group announced that it was taking application for a new position. Although all new products are tested in a specialized laboratory, management decided that in order to better meet the needs of consumers it needed some feedback(反馈) on real-life use of its sofas.  In just a few days, M25 received over 5,000 job applications.

    "We selected candidates in several stages," M25 Group spokesperson Anastasia Russkih said.  "Initially we checked their CVs, and then we let them tell us why they wanted the job. " Eventually, the furniture company shortlisted just 7 candidates, out of which Anna Cherdantseva, a 26-year-old marketing expert, proved to be the most suitable for the job.  "It was a real fight for my dream job," Anna said after getting selected.

    Despite describing herself as an active person, Cherdantseva says that spending about l0 hours a day sitting on sofas doesn't sound bad at all.  "Of course I will spend a lot of time on new sofas.  The more time I spend on them, the better it will be for my work," she told reporters.

    Anna Cherdantseva is at present on a three-month probation(试用期) at M25, but the company claims that as long as she proves to be up to the task, they plan on offering her a permanent position The young woman will receive a monthly salary of 56,000 rubles( $l,000) for the first three months.  It's not so bad for sitting on the job.

    Have you ever heard of the Coral Sea? It is home to an amazing variety of turtles, sharks, whales, dolphins, large fish, birds, corals, plants, and many other species. Many of these species are endangered elsewhere in the world, but still survive in the healthy environment of the Coral Sea.

    The Coral Sea is a large series of coral reefs located off the northeast coast of Australia. This area is three times larger than Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef, which the Coral Sea borders.

    The Coral Sea is one of the few coral reef environments that have remained largely undamaged by over-fishing, oil and gas exploration and pollution. However, statistics show that coral reefs around the world are disappearing five times faster than rainforests. It is very likely that in the near future the Coral Sea will face the same threats to its existence.

    The Australian government is currently looking at options for protecting the Coral Sea but has made no decisions. Environmentalists are pushing for laws to declare the Coral Sea area a marine protected area, which will mean a large “no-take zone” for fishermen, a no-exploration zone for gas and oil companies and a no-dump zone for pollution, possibly making the Coral Sea a marine park larger than any other in the world.

    We can write letters to Australian leaders, Australian environmental protection agencies, and Australian friends, to let them know that people worldwide support this protection of the Coral Sea. To lose this last great marine wilderness world would be a loss for the whole world.

    Last summer I got a real taste of Swiss life when I spent six weeks with a host family in the Bernese Alps.

    On arriving in Erlenbach where my host family live,I knew I couldn't have asked for a better setting: it was such a beautiful mountain village.

    And I couldn't have asked for a better host family,either.They made me feel like part of their family,rather than a tourist—I joined in my host family's day-to-day activities,whether helping pick berries in the garden or going to friends' houses.I wasn't only traveling around Europe seeing the major sights,but I lost myself in a different culture.

    While many Swiss cultures are similar to America's,there are lots of differences,too.For example,most Swiss leave their windows open—without screens—all the time.At first I thought all the bugs（虫子）were going to get in and eat me alive,and wondered why they didn't close the windows and turn on the air conditioner.But then I realized there weren't many bugs and I really enjoyed the fresh air.

    Probably my biggest shock was the language.I expected the Swiss to speak German,but they spoke a dialect called Swiss German,which has hardly anything in common with German.At times I was very frustrated（受挫的）because my three years of German did not help,but my bad mood did not last.Anyhow,many people knew English and were extremely willing to speak it.

    Signing up for a cultural exchange was probably the biggest risk I ever took,but it was also the most rewarding. When I left,I promised I would return to Erlenbach.There is more to Switzerland than cheese and watches.

    As businesses and governments have struggled to understand the so-called millennials—born between roughly 1980 and 2000—one frequent conclusion has been that they have a unique love of cities. A deep-seated preference for night life and subways, the thinking goes, has driven the revitalization of urban cores across the U.S. over the last decade-plus.

    But there's mounting evidence that millennials' love of cities was a passing fling(放纵). Millennials don't love cities any more than previous generations.

    The latest argument comes from Dowell Myers, an urban planning professor at USC. As they age, says Myers, millennials' presence in cities, will "be evaporating(蒸发) through our fingers, if we don't make some plans now." That's because millennials' preference for cities will fade as they start families and become more established in their careers.

    It's about more than aging, though. Demographer William Frey has been arguing for years that millennials have become stuck in cities by the 2008 downturn and the following slow recovery, with poor job prospects and declining wages making it harder for them to afford to buy homes in suburbia.

    Myers, too, says observers have confused young people's presence in cities with a preference for cities. Survey data shows that more millennials would like to be living in the suburbs than actually are. But the normal career and family cycles moving young people from cities into suburban houses have become, in Myers' words, "a plugged up drain."

    But unemployment has finally returned to healthy lows (though participation rates and wages are still largely stagnant), which Myers says should finally increase mobility for millennials.

    Other trends among millennials, supposedly matters of lifestyle preference, have already turned out to have been driven mostly by economics. What was once deemed their broad preference for public transit may have always been a now-reversing inability to afford cars. Even decades-long trends towards marrying later have been accentuated as today's young people struggle for financial stability.

    Investors are already taking the idea that millennials will return to old behavior patterns seriously, putting more money into auto manufacturers and developers. But urban lifestyles, up to and including trendy bars, aren't just hip—they're a part of what powers a city's economic engines, bringing people together to explore new ideas, create companies, and build careers.

    From the 1960s to the 1990s, we saw that suburbanization(城市郊区化)also means an economic and social hollowing out for cities. Now that the economic shackles are coming off today's young city residents, cities that want to stay vibrant(充满生机的) have to figure out how to convince them—and their growing families—to stick around.

    More and more people in America are celebrating the Indian holiday Diwali. Diwali is Hindi for "row of lights". It is the most important holiday in India.

    Many people around the world are beginning to celebrate it as well. The United States is one of the places where the festival is becoming more common. Diwali celebrations can now be found at American landmarks like Disneyland in California and New York City's Times Square. They are also held in many parks and museums.

    Neeta Bhasin created the Times Square event. She said Indian immigrants have found great success in America. But, she said, many Americans still do not know much about India. So, she decided to act." I felt it's about time that we should take India to mainstream America and show India's rich culture, heritage, arts and variety to the world," she said, "and I couldn't find a better place than Times Square."

    Bhasin came to the United States from India 40 years ago. She is president of ASB Communications, the marketing firm behind Diwali at Times Square. Tens of thousands of people attend the event, now in its fourth year.

    In India, Diwali is a five-day harvest festival held just before the Hindu New Year. The exact dates change from year to year but Diwali is always in the fall. Celebrations include lighting oil lamps or candles called "diyas".

    A Diwali celebration will light up Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim this year. Visitors can watch performances of traditional Indian dances and take part in a Bollywood dance party. The event is part of a Festival of Holidays program at the theme park to show cultural traditions from around the world. The program takes place on November 10th through January 7th.

    San Antonio, Texas, also holds a Diwali celebration. And it is one of the nation's largest celebrations, with more than 15,000 people in attendance each year. Visitors can enjoy Indian dance，food and fireworks. Organizers also plan to float hundreds of lighted candles in the San Antonio River, along the city's famous River Walk.

When I grow up

    In kindergarten, my class was asked to draw pictures, showing what we wanted to be when we grew up. Our drawings were expected to display our dream occupations. I remember pictures of ballerinas dancing, firefighters putting out a blaze, and astronauts leaping across the moon.

    My picture showed a figure with brown hair holding a box of orange juice beside a counter. Underneath was my handwriting: "When I grow up, I want to work at Market Basket because it would be fun to swipe (刷) orange juice across the scanner." Out of everything, my five­year­old self wished to work at the local grocery store.

    When we are young, questions of what we want to be when we grow up are common. Yet we are not expected to respond with an answer that is likely to come true. However, when we become teens, we are asked the very same questions twice as often. The difference is, now we are supposed to answer with confidence.

    Teens are expected to know exactly what we want to be and how we are going to achieve that goal. However, not all of us can be so sure. Even though I am in high school, I cannot answer with certainty. But I don't consider that a bad thing. How am I supposed to know what I will want to spend my time doing at age 40?

    When I think about the future, I definitely don't see myself working at Market Basket, but in reality, if that was what would make me happy, I would do it. So, the next time someone asks me what I want to be when I grow up, I will simply say "happy".

    Happiness is a destination for everyone. We may want to walk different paths in life, but we all want to be happy wherever we end up. Choose your path, but don't worry too much about choosing wisely. Make a mistake or two and try new things. But always remember, if you're not happy, you're not at the end of your journey yet.