Here are four pieces of news from China Daily:

    SHANGHAI—The Huachen Group, which has put 83 million yuan in the development of the commerce market since its official registration late last year, recently held a meeting in Shanghai to show the use of its newly opened tourism business payment network. The network aims to serve tourists from all over the world, but especially from Europe and the United States where credit cards are popularly used. After opening the www.ehinaeonet.com website, netizens can get information about hotels and tourism services on tourism page. Hotels and services can be reserved and payment made through credit cards. The network opened in February in Beijing.

        SYDNEY—The Sydney Olympic flame will travel underwater on Australia's Great Barrier Reef during the torch relay following a successful test.

        Scuba diver Wendy Craig, a marine biologist, will carry the torch on three-to-four-minute underwater journey at Agincourt Reef on June 27, creating Olympic history, organizers said yesterday.

        Burning at 2,000 degrees, the torch is expected to remain alight three meters underwater because of a special kind of technology which creates a “fierce flame”— too powerful to be drowned out by water. Charles Tegner, managing director of torch creator, said the flame would burn like a flame from oxygen-producing chemicals.

        BEIJING—The election of a new leader in Taiwan cannot change the fact that Taiwan is part of China. “Taiwan Independence” in whatever form will never be allowed, according to a statesman of China's central government.

        “We should listen to what the new leader in Taiwan says and watch what he does. We will observe where he will lead Cross-Straits relations. We are willing to exchange views on Cross-Straits relations and peaceful reunification(统一) with all parties, organizations and people in Taiwan who favor the one-China principle,” says the statesman, from Taiwan Affairs Office of the CPC Central Committee.

        HAIKOU—Customs officers in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan Province, recently stopped a boat loaded with 781 cases of foreign-brand cigarettes being smuggling into China. The cigarettes are estimated to be worth more than 1.8 million yuan, said a customs officer. They discovered the smuggling boat as they were going around the northern sea area of Yangpu Port.

        The smuggled cigarettes cases, packed into two containers, were disguised to avoid being examined. The boat was registered in the coastal city Xiamen in East China's Fujian Province. All eight suspects aboard the boat were kept by the police in Haikou.

    At 2:30 on December 5,1945, five US Navy training planes took off in clear weather from the base Lauderdale, Florida. The planes flew cast over the coast...and disappeared. The group was Flight 19, on a run between Florida and Bahamas. Tailor was the group leader. At about 3:40, Tailor reported that his compasses were not reading properly. The other planes followed their leaders aimlessly, first east, then west, then northeast over the ocean, as Tailor tried to make sure of the direction by radio. Then, suddenly Tailor was heard to give orders to dive...

    Quickly, two giant Martin seaplanes were sent up to search for Flight 19. Several hours later, the wind became strong and visibility (能见度) dropped. A return to base was ordered. But only one of the Martin seaplanes landed. Four days later, the Navy and Coast Guard combed a 100,000 square miles area with more than 100 planes and ships. No sign was ever shown of the missing planes.

Today, people have noted the disappearance of many ships and planes in the southwest part of the North Atlantic and began to call this area the Bermuda Triangle(百慕大三角区).

    The points of the triangle are Bermuda, Puerto Rico and a spot in the Gulf of Mexico, west of Florida. It is a two-faced water world of tiny islands, bright beaches and beautiful waters. Yet thick fogs, powerful currents(激流) and sudden storms are hidden behind this smiling surface.

    It seems that no one can live a happy life without friendship. While a great number of people expect others to be their friends, they don't give friendship back. That is why some friendships don't last long. To have a friend, you must learn to be one. You must learn to treat your friend the way you want your friend to treat you. Learning to be a good friend means learning three rules: be honest; be generous; be understanding.

    Honesty is where a good friendship starts. Friends must be able to trust one another. If you do not tell the truth, people usually find out. If a friend finds out that you haven't been honest, you may lose your friend's trust. Good friends always depend on one another to speak and act honestly.

    Generosity means sharing and sharing makes a friendship grow. You do not have to give your lunch money or your clothes. Naturally you will want to share your ideas and feelings. These can be very valuable to a friend. They tell your friend what is important to you. By sharing them, you help your friend know better.

    Sooner or later everyone needs understanding and help with each other. Something may go wrong at school. Talking about the problem can make it easier to solve. Turning to a friend can be a first step in solving the problem. So to be a friend you must listen and understand. You must try to put yourself in your friend's place so that you can understand the problem better.

    No two friendships are exactly alike. But all true friendships have three things in common. If you plan to keep your friends, you must practice honesty, generosity and understanding.

    Being a volunteer brings me happiness. I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick animals can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.

    I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl(猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2­ to 3­week­old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.

    I examined the chick(雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could find the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to build a nest and settle it in a tree.

    The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine（松树） branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.

    Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.

    A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had answered to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all—LUNCH！ The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.

    On a recent spring morning. Susan Alexander, a retired government intelligence analyst, left her Maryland home, climbed into her Volkswagen Passat and drove about three miles to pick up two strangers. She battled rush-hour traffic on the Capital Beltway and George Washington Memorial Parkway before dropping them off at Reagan National Airport. She didn't earn a cent for her trouble, and that was the point.

    Alexander is a member of the Silver Spring Time Bank-one of more than 100 such exchanges around the world trying to build community by exchanging time credits for services instead of dollars and cents. "I have time," she said. "I like giving the gift of time to other people."

    In Alexander's case, passengers Mary and Al Liepold were grateful for the ride, but it wasn't charity. Mary, a retired writer and editor for nonprofit organizations, used time credits she banked for editing work and baking. Senior citizens who don't drive, the Liepolds cashed in their credits to catch a flight to Montreal for a five-day vacation.

    Without money changing hands or shifting between virtual accounts, the airport drop-off was more like a coffee party than a taxi ride. Driver and passengers chatted about projects they've completed for the time bank, and no one raised an eyebrow when Mary said she likes "to avoid the conventional economy."

    "The beauty of this is that you make friends," Mary Liepold said. "You don't just get services."

    The Silver Spring Time Bank formed in 2015 and has about 300 members, said co-founder Mary Murphy. Last year, she said, l,000 hours were exchanged for basic home repairs, dog walking, cooking and tailoring, among other services, without the exchange of money. "You get to save that money that you would have spent," she said. "You get to meet somebody else in your community and get to know that person. That's a bonus that's part of an exchange."

    A deal performed partly to make friends would seem to go against classical economics and one of Benjamin Franklin's most memorable sayings: "Time is money." To those at the forefront of modem time-banking, that is the appeal.

The term "SMART goals" was coined by in 1954. Since then, SMART goals have become popular with business managers, educators and others because they work. The late management guru Peter F. Drucker developed the concept. Drucker shaped many top managers' career. Management by objectives was one of his primary business theories.

In 2002, Drucker received the highest civilian honor in the U.S.—the Medal of Freedom. He died in 2005 at age 95. Drucker's family decided to look forward instead of backward, and they gathered distinguished business people to form The Drucker Institute.

The institute's website states ""Their work is to transform the archival (档案) treasure into a social enterprise whose purpose is to strengthen society by encouraging effective, responsible and joyful management."

If you have been to a business management class, you may likely have learned how to write goals and objectives in Drucker's way: SMART. If you haven't heard about Drucker, you are in for a treat that will help you achieve what you want and be more successful, whether you are a teacher trying to teach well, an adult learner or a person who seeks to achieve your dreams.

SMART goals are: "s" stands for specific. Make your goal or objective as specific as possible Say exactly what you want to achieve in clear, concise words. "M" stands for measurable. Include a unit of measure in your goal. Be objective rather than subjective. When will your goal be achieved?

How will you know it has been achieved? "A" stands for achievable. Ensure that your goal is feasible in terms of the resources available to you. "R" stands for realistic. Focus on the end results you desire rather than the activities necessary to get there. You want to grow personally, so reach for your goal—but be reasonable or you'll set yourself up for disappointment. "T" stands for time-bound. Give yourself a deadline within a year. Include a timeframe such as a week, month or year, and include a specific date if possible.