Paris

Passengers carried per day: 4.4m

Cost of ticket: 80p flat fare

Length: 131 miles    Lines: 14   Stations: 297

    In Paris there are pleasures for those who use the Metro(地铁) — many of them artistic. The graceful Art Nouveau dragon-fly entrances are just the most noticeable on a Metro system which celebrated its 100^th anniversary by spending 30 million francs (£2.9million) on making its stations works of art. On my way home I pass Bonne Nouvelle station in the heart of Paris's cinema district. There, during the cinema festival this summer, special lighting effects dot the platforms and films are projected onto the large advertising boards.

    More than anything the metro is efficient. “When I worked on line 4”, says a retired driver, “we had exactly 30 minutes and 15 seconds to complete the journey. If it took any longer, they cut our pay.” But there are problems. Many Metro stations have too many stairs, and changing lines at big interchanges(交换) can be tiresome.

Moscow

Passengers carried per day: 9m

Cost of ticket: 12p

Length: 164 miles    Lines: 11   Stations: 162

    The first underground passage for the Moscow Metropolitan started in 1932. Three years later the trains started running. They haven't stopped since— every 90 seconds or two minutes during rush hour, every five minutes the rest of the time, from 6 a.m. till 1 a. m. There may be a crowd of people but there is seldom a wait.

    The trains take you through spacious and spotless stations. For tourists it's a major sightseeing attraction: from Russian Art Deco to neo-classical, the Metro stations are not to be missed.

Tokyo

Passengers carried per day: 7m

Cost of ticket: 90p ~ £1.68

Length: 177 miles    Lines: 12   Stations: 209

    Trains do not just arrive on time in Tokyo. They stop right on the platform mark so that passengers can line up knowing exactly where the doors will open. Train driving is a respectful job for life, for which the applicants must pass a strict screening of health checks, interviews and written exams before they can put on the enviable uniform, cap and white gloves.

    However, overcrowding means it is far from perfect. At rush hours, some stations employ part-time platform staff to push in passengers. Carriages can be filled to 184% of capacity(容量). The main reason for such conditions is that the Tokyo subway station system has only 15 miles of track for every 1 million people, compared to 36 on the London Underground. New lines are under construction, but at a cost of £500,000 per meter of rail. Progress has been slow.

Mexico City

Passengers carried per day: 4.2m

Cost of ticket: 11p flat fare

Length: 99 miles    Lines: 11   Stations: 175

    Fast, relatively safe, and very cheap, Mexico City's underground is an ideal place of order and efficiency compared to the disorders above. The Mexican capital's underground system is the biggest in the continent and one of the most subsidized (获得补助的) networks in the world.

    The first trains leave the station at 5 a.m. and the last after midnight as the crowd move from the outskirts of the 20 million-strong megacity (大城市). Mexico City's Metro also attracts a sizeable group of passengers who are unwilling to spend hours in traffic jams. There is a master plan to build new lines and extend existing one, but financial constraints (约束) complicated by the fact that the system runs through different jurisdicitons (管辖权) mean progress is slow.

    When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer as we get older.

    For kids, happiness has a magical quality: Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved (毫不掩饰的).

    In the teenage years, the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it's conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.

    In adulthood the things that bring deep joy－love, marriage, birth－also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated (复杂的).

    My definition of happiness is “the capacity for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It's easy to overlook(忽视) the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, and even good health.

    I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunchbox and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids and my husband came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

    Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I don't think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children，had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this is what satisfied her most.

    We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we've got to have. We're so self-conscious about our “right” to it that it's making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren't necessarily happier.

    Happiness isn't about what happens to us－it's about how we see what happens to us. It's the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It's not wishing for what we don't have, but enjoying what we do possess.

    There was a strange father, John Blake, from Michigan, who named his children after a computer software term. He told the local newspaper the US traditional way of adding “Junior” or “II” after a boy's name was too common. So, when his son was born last week, he decided on the name John Blake 2.0, as if he were a software programmer.

    Mr. Blake admitted that it took months to persuade his wife, Jamie, to accept the idea. Mrs. Blake said she asked several friends whether they could accept this name or not. “All the men,” she said, “felt the name was cool.” However，her women friends did not think so. “I think the women end up like it，”she said.

    Mr. Blake told the local newspaper he got the idea from a film called The Legend of 1900，in which an abandoned baby is given the name 1900 to remember the year of its birth. “I thought that if they can do it , why can't we?” he said. After little John version 2.0 was born, Mr. Blake even sent a celebratory e-mail to the family and friends, which was designed to look as if he and his wife had created a new software. “I wrote things like there are a lot of new features from Version 1.0 with additional features from Jamie,” he said. And he has already planned for his son's future. “If he has a child, he could name it 3.0,” he said.

    Tibetan people are friendly and easy to get along with. However, Tibetans have different ways of behavior in many aspects due to their unique culture and religion. Be sure to respect local customs and be polite.

    Don't enter a monastery without permission. Don't smoke in monasteries. Don't touch Buddha statues, religious objects or prayer flags. Walk around monasteries (寺院), temples, dagobas, Mongolian cairns (Mani piles) and other religious structures in clockwise order with the exception of the Bon sites.

    Don t step on the threshold when entering a tent, house, or monastery. Don't touch the head of a Tibetan. The head is considered as a sacred part of the body. Remember to cross your legs when you are asked to have a seat. Don't stretch your legs with feet pointing to others.

    Don't drive away or hurt eagles. Eagles are considered holy birds in the hearts of Tibetan people. Don't disturb or injure cows or sheep with red, green or yellow ribbons because they are Tibetan sacrifice to worship gods.

    Don't take photos without permission. You'd better ask for permission before taking pictures of Tibetan people. Most Tibetan monasteries are not allowed to take pictures or you need to pay.

    Tibetan people are getting more used to habits of foreigners and being more tolerant due to rapidly developing tourism in Tibet. However, we still hope you can show respect to Tibetan traditions and behave well since their unique lifestyle is part of the charm of Tibet.

    Below is a web page from http://www.parents.com/ .

    Kid of the Year Photo Contest

    Enter your kid's photo today and win! We're giving away 52 weekly $250 prizes from Readers' Choice votes. PLUS our editors will select one entry (参赛作品) to win our grand prize of $7,000.

    Official Contest Rules

    No purchase necessary to enter or win. The Kid of the Year Photo Contest entry period begins at 12:00 a.m. March 23, 2019, and ends on January 21, 2020 (the “Entry Period”). Entries must be received by 9:00 p.m. on January 21, 2020 (“Entry Deadline”). Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.

    SPONSOR: Meredith Corporation, 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa.

    ENTRY: There will be two methods of entry.

    Share My Entry:

    Visit http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-1/kid-of-the-year/ and click the button to enter. Then complete the registration form and follow the instructions to upload one album of up to six photos of your child aged three months to eight years. Photos must be taken by entrant, non-professional, unpublished and may not have won any prize or award. Photos must be .jpeg or .bmp image formats (格式) and cannot exceed 3 MB.

    Facebook Entry:

    Visit Facebook.com/ParentsMagazine and click the Kid of 2019 tab. Fill out the registration form and upload one album of up to six photos of your child aged three months to eight years. You may provide one description and one album title that will be applied to all photos. Photos must be taken by entrant, non-professional, unpublished and may not have won any prize or award. Photos must be .jpeg or .bmp image formats and cannot exceed 3 MB.

    This promotion is in no way sponsored, supported or run by, or associated with Facebook. You are providing your information to Parents Magazine and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used to run the promotion and register for Parents.com.

    Photos must not contain material that infringes the rights of another, including but not limited to privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright violation. Photos must not contain brand names or trademarks.

    LIMIT: One entry per household, per eligible (有资格的) child, per week. One weekly prize per child. For entries of more than one eligible child in the household, the entry process must be completed separately for each child. No group entries.

Flying High

    Barrington Irving made his historic flight and founded an educational non-profit-making organization. His message for kids: "The only thing that separates you from scientists is determination, hard work and a strong liking for what you want to achieve." The secret, he believes, is having a dream in the first place, and that starts with learning experiences that inspire kids to build careers.

    The moment of inspiration for Irving came at the age of 15 in his parents' bookstore. One customer, a professional pilot, asked Irving if he'd thought about becoming a pilot. "I told him I didn't think I was smart enough; but the next day he took me to the cockpit (驾驶舱) of the commercial airplane he flew, and just like that I was hooked."

    To follow his dream, Irving turned down a football scholarship to the University of Florida. He washed airplanes to earn money for a flight school and increased his flying skills by practising at home on a $40 flight simulator (模拟) video game. Then another dream took hold: flying alone around the world. He faced more than 50 rejections for sponsorship before convincing some companies to donate aircraft components. He took off with no weather radar, no de-icing system, and just $30 in his pocket. "I like to do things people say I can't do."

    After 97 days, 26 stops and dozens of thunderstorms, he touched down to a cheering crowd in Miami. "It was seeing so many young people watching and listening that pushed me into giving back with my knowledge and experience." Irving has been doing it ever since. He set up his non-profit-making organization, Experience Aviation (航空), aiming to increase the numbers of youth in aviation and science-related careers. Kids attend programmes dealing with hands-on robotics projects and flight simulator challenges.

    "We want to create chances for students to accomplish something amazing," he notes. Perhaps Irving's most powerful educational tool is the example his own life provides. After landing his record-breaking flight at age 23, he said, "Everyone told me I was too young, that I didn't have enough experience, strength, or knowledge. They told me it would take forever and I'd never come home. Well… guess what?"