When I began to study flower arranging （插花）, I was slowly developing a deeper understanding of the 1 between all life.
In our first class, my teacher said that flowers can 2 talk and that they each have their own 3 of being beautiful. They have "prana" life force, so you have to pay full attention to them, rather than 4 your own ideas of beauty on them. So I began to ask the flowers how they wanted to be 5 and what positioning would make them 6 most beautiful. I waited and listened.
Even after the flowers had been 7 in the vase, I would discover sometimes that in the morning they had rearranged themselves during the night. Even if they were secured in the 8 , hey always seemed to b silently straining （尽力） t find their 9 place.
At the same time, they were not 10 independent; they needed loving care. They were dependent on me, or whomever their 11 was for the day, to water them. Watching other people spraying water on the arrangements sometimes, I would feel so 12 by the scene. Small drops of water on the flowers touched the source of life and nourished the heart of beauty.
This experience made me feel how 13 it could be, if our minds are set in the right way to water not only plants, but 14 , to treat all living creatures in a way that 15 them their right to be beautiful, in their own 16 and time.
What we came to notice was that flowers could also 17 . Our teacher urged us to always 18 the flowers when we passed how beautiful they were and to thank them for sharing that 19 with us.
When we made our arrangements with this kind of 20 , we found that the flowers remained beautiful and fresh for many more days than expected.
Planning a visit to the UK? Here we help with ways to cut your costs.
AVOID BIG EVENTS Big sporting events, concerts and exhibitions can increase the cost of accommodation and make it harder to find a room. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy Festival （19 Oct. ） cost £ 169. 15 at Booking. com. A week later, the same room cost £ 118. 15.
If you can be flexible and want to know dates to avoid or you're looking for a big event to pass your time-check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.
STAYAWAY FROM THE STATION If traveling to your destination by train, you -may want to find a good base close to the station, but you could end up paying more for the sake of convenience at the start of your holiday.
Don't be too choosy about the part of town you stay in. Booking two months in advance, the cheapest room at Travelodge's Central Euston hotel in London for Saturday 22 September was £ 95. 95. A room just a tube journey away at its Covent Garden hotel was £ 75. 75. And at Farringdon, a double room cost just £ 62. 95.
LOOK AFTER YOURSELF Really central hotels in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Cardiff can cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. As an alternative consider checking into a self-catering flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city centre buildings. A great example is the historic O'Neill Flat on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, available for £ 420 for five days in late September, with room for four adults.
GET ON A BIKE London's "Boris bikes' have attracted the most attention, but other cities also have similar programmes that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you. on public transport or car parking costs.
Among the smaller cities with their own programmes are Newcastle （casual members pay around £ 1. 50 for two hours） and Cardiff （free for up to 30 minutes, or £ 5 per day）.
About two weeks ago I saw a very sad, blue eyed, homeless man sitting outside my local coffee house. I said, "Hi! How are you doing today?"
He seemed shocked that I was talking to him. "Not very well, " he replied. He began to tell me how he had been hit by a car while riding his bike. He had been in the hospital for a month and s rest home for another month. During that time the person that paid for his SSI checks （社保费） died of a hear attack and his wallet was stolen with all his IDs. He had several checks waiting for him but had no ID and therefore no access to his money.
I decided that if this was all true I'd like to help him get a copy of his birth certificate and social security card. I asked him to meet me at the Department of Vital Statistics at 11: 00 p. m. The next morning I didn't see him so I started filling out the paperwork. I explained to the receptionist, "I'm trying to help a homeless friend get his ID hack. " "Bob?" she inquired. "Yes, Bob, " I responded, surprised that she knew his name. "He was here at 9: 30 and he just left, she said, "But he told us you were coming. " I paid the fee and walked out with Bob's Birth Certificate.
As I was driving home I saw Bob riding back on the old bike someone had given him. I pulled over and jumped out of my car shouting, "Bob! Bob! I got it!" He saw me and rode over. "I got it, Bob! Look, here it is!" He got tears in his eyes and told me I was his guardian angel.
A few days later I needed him to meet me at the Social Security Office. It took me a half hour to get there by car and at least two hours by bike. But there he was sitting on the sidewalk waiting for me! We were in the Social Security Office for two hours. We got everything straightened out and by next week he will have received his back pay, which is a substantial sum.
Yes, one person can make a difference in this world. And the interesting thing is that I am getting as much, if not more, from this experience than Bob. I am deeply touched by Bob's sensitivity, his gratitude, his stories, his heart.
Home is where the heart is, even for the homeless!
Every year, thousands of teenagers participate in programs at their local art museums. But do any of them remember their time at museum events later in life? A new report suggests that the answer is yes--and finds that arts-based museum programs are credited with changing the course of alumni's（毕业生的） lives, even years after the fact.
The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles recently asked researchers to conduct à study to find out how effective their long-standing teen art programs really are. They involved over 300 former participants of four programs for teens that have been in existence since the 1990s. Alumni, whose current ages range from 18 to 36, were invited to find out how they viewed their participation years after the fact.
Among the alumni surveyed, 75 percent of them thought the teen art program experience had the most favorable impact on their own lives, beating the family, school and their neighborhoods. Nearly 55 percent thought that it was one of the most important experiences they had ever had, regardless of age. And two-thirds said that they were often in situations where their experience in museums affected their actions or thoughts.
It turns out that participating in art programs also helps keep teens keen about culture even after they reach adulthood: Ninety-six percent of participants had visited an art museum within the last two years, and 68 percent had visited an art museum five or more times within the last two years. Thirty-two percent of alumni work in the arts as adults.
Though the study is the first of its kind to explore the impact of teen-specific art programs in museums, it reflects other research on the important benefits of engaging with the arts. A decade of surveys by the National Endowment for the Arts found that the childhood experience with the arts is significantly associated with people's income and educational achievements as adults. Other studies have linked arts education to everything from lower dropout rates to improvement in critical thinking skills.
Kids and teens are often dismissive of praise from their parents. I am sure that parents out there can relate to this, as we all have been told at one time or another by one or several of our kids, "Stop it, Mom. " or even, "You're just saying that because you are my parents, and you have to say that. " I can assure you, though, that they are listening. They will probably not thank you for this praise until they are in their twenties, but don't let that stop you from praising them during their childhood and teen years. Just be careful how you praise them. A little praise may go a long way-especially if it is the right kind of praise.
It appears that the way to go is to praise their efforts according to a study by Brummelman of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and his colleagues. These researchers concluded that kids should be praised primarily for their efforts, rather than for their personal characteristics, because if they are praised for their efforts, then a poor performance is more likely to be seen as a glitch （小故障）, rather than a valid reflection of who they are as individuals.
Let's think about this together. If you are a teenager or a child of any age and are constantly told how brilliant you are, then when you do poorly on a test or a few tests, you may feel like you have suddenly lost your status as brilliant and may now feel ashamed that you are merely average or even dumb. If you are a girl who is constantly being told how beautiful you are, then on a day when you don't look or feel so good, you may decide that you are unattractive. This is the problem that develops when we are praising our kids for global personality characteristics that they can't always live up to.
"Someone once asked me, 'What's the tool you would want to give any student'? And I said, 'A mask and snorkel （潜水通气管） set, "' the ocean biologist Thys says in a video. And Thys explains, "Ninety-eight percent of the living space on this planet is the ocean. It's worth a view. "
Thys has devoted her career to seeing the ocean and to helping others watch the great diversity of the underwater world. A big part of what motivates her work is the chance to let people develop a sense of respect for the grandness of the ocean, and to get people to participate in efforts to protect endangered ocean ecosystems.
Since studying ocean biology, Thys has focused her research on how sea animals live. One animal she particularly studies is the ocean sunfish. "It's so different from any other fish, "says Thys. "It looks like a mistake. Where does the tail go?" Thys adds. "The sunfish provides an entry point to understanding more about the behavior of creatures in the ocean, and about how environmental changes impact underwater ecosystems. "
Thys's work also takes her above ground, where she's looking at ways to create new connections between human populations and natural environments to help address social and environmental challenges. For instance, she's working on nature's effects on mental well-being.
Thys's passion for her work is evident in every lecture, video, and public appearance she makes. Using the media, Thys encourages people to learn about the ocean and love it. Due to many ocean research projects and activities from the media, Thys is up to her neck in work every day. She could hardly spare plenty of time for a good rest. Thys's devotion to her work as an ocean scientist and ecological warrior is infectious. She's a role model and an inspiring guide to ocean life.
