Thousands of years ago, there lived a king. His people loved him. He would often invite some smart people to see 1 work and give him advice. As he grew old, he thought, "I will build a perfect palace to remember my whole life. It will be the best one 2 in my kingdom (王国), but also in neighboring states."
One day, the king worked out a perfect design for his palace. He 3 his advisers, as well as smart people 4 neighboring states, to get their ideas about the design.
"Unbelievable! It will be a perfect palace," all the advisers said, except for an old man standing in the 5 . The king turned to the old man and asked, "Why are you 6 ? Don't you think that my palace will be a perfect one?"
The old man 7 in a clam voice, "Dear king! Your palace will be strong and last forever. It will be beautiful—but not 8 . It may take thousands of workers a whole lifetime to build it, working day and night. Your palace will cost a lot of money. If people's lives become worse because of this building, 9 perfect can it be?" The king thought for a 10 and thanked the old man for his words. He decided to give up his plan.
Jane has been living in China for more than two years and she has come to know some of the differences between Western and Chinese culture. Here is what she has to say about this.
"In China people often try to avoid conflicts (争执). If somebody does something you don't like, you may be upset, but you should hide it, keep it inside, and act like nothing is wrong. If you must do something, you should not talk to the person directly, but talk to someone else. However, in western countries, things are different. If someone does something I don't like, I may say it nicely or I may get very angry, but at least I will do something. Also, I won't talk to other persons about it and instead I will talk to the person directly. In fact, in western countries, if you say something bad about a person to someone else, it is thought that you have a bad character."
She also told me another thing, "Every time I go out, people ask, 'Where are you going?' I am really tired of these." It's time for us to pay more attention to the culture difference.
Life sometimes plays jokes on us, especially when one has a bad day. Ryu is an unlucky one.
Ryu set the alarm clock at 8:00 a.m. the night before because he had a job interview at a company the next day. But the alarm clock didn't go off. How strange! So he got up late.
Then Ryu sat at the kitchen table where his breakfast usually was, but it wasn't there. Instead, he found a note left by his sister, "I am really busy today. Make breakfast yourself." So Ryu had a quick breakfast of bread and milk. Then he rode his bicycle to the company for the interview.
When Ryu arrived, he was five minutes late. But he still got the job after the interview. He was told to get to work at 9:00 a.m. the next day. That night Ryu went to bed earlier at 11:00 p.m., in order not to be late the next day.
The next morning, Ryu's sister woke him up at 8:00 a.m. But he wanted to stay in bed for five more minutes. He finally had to get up when the sunlight shone down his eyes. He did everything like any other normal day. When he finished his breakfast, he found it was already 9:05 a.m. He was late again.
One day, when a successful manager opened his car door, a dog sleeping under his car came out and bit his leg! He threw a stone at the dog, but he was unable to hit it. How angry he was!
On reaching his office, the manager called a meeting of the workers. He took out his anger on them. Then, the manager's anger spread all over the company, and no workers did their work well. The manager was still angry after seeing a doctor. When he returned home, his wife asked him, "Why are you so late today?"
The manager shouted, "I didn't go to the office to play soccer. I went to work. So don't ask such stupid questions!" His wife was troubled about being shouted for no reason. She hurried to the kitchen and broke a bowl. Then she turned her anger on their son who was watching TV. "This is all you do. It's clear that you have no interest in studying! Turn off the TV now!" she shouted loudly. The son became upset as well. He walked out of his house and wandered in the street.
Just then he saw a dog passing by. He picked up a stone and threw it at the dog angrily. The dog ran away, barking (吠叫) in pain.
Sometimes, when we are angry about something, we might take out our anger on others. Perhaps it may make a lot of trouble. So it is important for all of us to learn how to control our anger.
Different weather makes people feel different.
In August, it is very hot and wet in the southern part of the United Sates. In the Northern and the Middle West, it is very hot at some time and very cold at the other time. People in these states have more heart trouble after the weather changes in February or March.
For example, in a 1983 report by scientists, IQ (智商) of a group of students was very high when a very strong wind came, but after the strong wind, their IQ was 10% lower. The wind can help people have more intelligence. Students in many schools of the United States often get worse exams in the hot months of the year (July or August). The weather also has a strong influence on people's feelings. Winter may be a bad time for thin people. They usually feel cold during these months. But fat people may have hard time in hot summer. At about 18 ℃, people feel better.
Are you feeling sad, tired, or unhappy today? It may be the weather's problem.
A. Students feel happy in hot summer.
B. The weather can also influence intelligence.
C. They might feel unhappy during cold weather.
D. Very cold weather, on one hand, can make it higher.
E. Very hot weather, on the other hand, can make it lower.
F. It has an effect on health, intelligence (智力) and feelings.
G. People there often have heart trouble and other health problems.
