Before I studied psychology, I used to think that people would laugh when funny things occurred. While I was right about that, I discovered there are lots of other psychological factors that make people laugh other than the funny part of a joke. When someone laughs at a joke, there will usually bemore than one reason that makes him laugh—and the more reasons there are, the more powerful the joke will be.

    I was attending a stand-up comedy show in Egypt, and when the man started to make fun of pedestrians crossing streets, everyone laughed their hearts out. The main reason those people strongly laughed was that almost allof them felt angry towards pedestrians who crossed streets carelessly. The joke wasn't only funny, it also made the audience feel that they were right about being angry at those pedestrians. That is, people were laughing both because ofthe funny joke and because of the happiness experienced as a result of the psychological support they got.

    The better a joke makes a person feel, and the more it includes other psychological factors, the more the person will like it. For example, if you envy one of your friends, and someone tells a joke that is funny and, at the same time, makes your friend seem stupid, then you will probably laugh atit louder than if you weren't jealous of him.

    In short, we don't laugh only when we hear something funny; we also laugh when we experience some kind of happiness that results from the other psychological factors involved in the joke. I strongly discourage making fun of anyone or belittling someone to make someone else laugh. All Iwant to explain is that if your joke supports a person's emotions, he will certainly like it a lot.

    Sparrow is a fast-food chain with 200 restaurants. Some years ago, the group to which Sparrow belonged was taken over by another company. Although Sparrow showed no sign of declining, the chain was generally in an unhealthy state. With more and more fast-food concepts reaching the market, the Sparrow menu had to struggle for attention. And to make matters worse, its new owner had no plans to give it the funds it required.

    Sparrow failed to grow for another two years. Until a new CEO, Carl Pearson, decided to build up its market share. He did a survey, which showed that consumers who already used Sparrow restaurants were extremely positive about the chain, while customers of other fast-food chains were unwilling to turn away from them. Sparrow had to develop a new promotional campaign.

Pearson faced a battle over the future of the Sparrow brand. The chain's owner now favored rebranding Sparrow as Marcy's restaurants. Pearson resisted, arguing for an advertising campaign designed to convince customers that visits to Sparrow restaurants were fun. Such an attempt to establish a positive relationship between a company and the general public was unusual for that time. Pearson strongly believed that numbers were the key to success, rather than customers' speeding power. Finally, the owner accepted his idea.

The campaign itself changed the traditional advertising style of the fast-food industry. The TV ads of Sparrow focused on entertainment and featured original songs performed by a variety of stars. Instead of showing the superiority of a specific product, the intention was to put Sparrow in the hearts of potential customers.

    Pearson also made other decisions which he believed would contribute to the new Sparrow image. For example, he offered to lower the rent of any restaurants which achieved a certain increase in their turnover (营业额) .

    These efforts paid off, and Sparrow soon became one of the most successful fast-food chains in the regions where it operated.

    I found the last outdoor table at my favourite cafe. Reading as I ate my breakfast slowly, I was enjoying the feeling of the cool wind and the warm sun when a table next to me opened up. A woman, who had been standing nearby, clearly waiting for a seat, stepped towards the table. But from the other direction, straight from the parking lot, came a man who got to the table first.

    The woman, with a smile on her face, explained that she'd been keeping her eye on that table for several minutes and had been on her way over. The man, also smiling but determined, told her she was out of luck.

    She stood off the side, clearly disappointed, and greeted her friend with the disappointing news. I sat at my table, taking in the scene, and suddenly I realized that I had an opportunity to be kind.

    I stood up and asked her to come to my table. Quietly, I told her I had seen what had happened, and I was happy to give her my table. I was only going to be there a few more minutes anyway, so I was happy for her and her friend to have the seat.

    "But where will you sit?" she asked. I was almost done eating, I said, and I would find a seat at the counter (柜台) inside. She thanked me and beamed with delight as she invited her friend to sit down.

    Thinking about it as I finished up, I realized that whether or not the woman had acceptable demand for the table was unimportant. The feeling of the situation -- the look of hurt on her face -- had struck me, and I had the ability to do something about it.I just hope that woman's morning at the cafe was great. I know mine was.

    Thirteen can be a challenging age. Not only did I have to adapt to my changing body, I also had to deal with my parents' bitter divorce, a new family and the upsetting move from my country home to a crowded town.

    When we moved, my beloved companion, a small brown pony had to be sold. I was heartbroken and terribly lonely. I couldn't eat or sleep and cried all the time. Finally, realizing how much I missed my pony, my father bought me another horse, Cowboy.

    Cowboy was without doubt the ugliest horse in the world. But I didn't care. I loved him beyond all reasons.

    I joined a riding club. When Cowboy and I entered the events where the horse was judged by appearance, we were quickly "shown the gate". I knew nothing could turn Cowboy into a beauty. My only chance to compete would be in the timed speed events. I chose the jumping race.

    For the whole next month we practiced running and jumping for hours in the hot sun and then I would walk Cowboy home, totally exhausted.

    All of our hard work didn't make me feel confident by the time the show came. One girl named Becky rode a big brown horse in the race events. She always won the blue ribbons. I sat at the gate and sweated all out while I watched Becky and her horse charge through the court and finish in first place.

    My turn finally came. At the signal, we dashed toward the first fence, jumped over it without trouble and raced on to the next one. Cowboy then flew over the second, third and fourth fences like a bird and I turned him toward the finish line.

    No cheers filled the air. The end of our run was met with surprised silence. Cowboy and I had beaten Becky and her fancy horse by two seconds.

    I gained much more than a blue ribbon that day. At thirteen, I realized that no matter what the odds, I'd always come out a winner if I wanted something badly enough to work for it. I can be the owner of my fate.

    All over the world people enjoy sports. Sports help to keep people healthy, happy and help them to live longer.

    Sports change with the season. People play different games in winter and summer.

    Games and sports often grow out of people's work and everyday activities. The Arabs use horses or camels in much of their everyday life; they use them in their sports, too.

    Some sports are so interesting that people everywhere go in for them. Football, for example, has spread around the world. Swimming is popular in all countries near the sea or in those with many rivers.

    Some sports or games go back to thousands of years, like running or jumping. Chinese boxing, for example, has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are rather new. Neither one is a hundred years old yet. People are inventing new sports or games all the time.

    People from different countries may not be able to understand each other, but after a game they often become good friends. Sports help to train a person's character(性格). One learns to fight hard but fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace(体面).

    It is increasingly popular for Chinese young people to share their experiences on Social media, such as the “moments” (朋友圈) on popular instant messaging service WeChat.

    “I have been reading 'Jane Eyre' for 40 days with 48,000 words finished,” Li Anqi said. Li has been sharing her reading experience on WeChat moments every day since January. Working in Yinchuan, capital of Northwest China's Ningxia, Li wants to learn English very much, but cannot bare (摆脱) the daily grind (日常工作) of school lessons.

    “I found many of my WeChat friends had been reading books or learning English on mobile reading apps, and I did not want to fall behind,” Li said.

    In January, she spent more than 100 yuan purchasing an online reading class at the Bohe Reading app, which tells customers they can: “Finish reading your first English book here.” At the reading class, teachers assign reading homework and give instructions to 430 class members every day.

    A survey report released (发布) on Thursday said 70.9 percent of primary and middle students in China use the Wechat instant messaging App. At the same time, 75.9 percent of Chinese children have their own mobile phones, according to China National Children's Center.

    The figures were based on a survey of nearly 9,000 children across China. However, 28.8 percent of them never read news online and 43.2 percent have never touched newspapers.

    The Center called for efforts to address the digital divide between urban and rural education and protect children's privacy as Internet users.