【推荐2】Finally, in March of 1703, the Adventure set sail for India. The winds were good until we got near Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa. Then a strong wind began to blow. We were trapped in the wind for twenty days. After many hours, the wind finally stopped and the sea became quieter. The storm had blown the Adventure hundreds of kilometers to the east.

“Where are we?” I asked the captain.

“I can’t tell for sure.” He said, “we are running out of water. We must reach land soon to fill our water barrels (桶).” Many days passed and we saw nothing but the sea. One morning, before everyone died of thirst, a sailor cried out, “Land!” Everyone on the ship was silent for a second. And quickly the ship sailed closer to the land. The sailors suddenly became turnultuous and all cheered.

“You men,” said the captain to the sailors, “take the rowboats and go. Fill the water barrels with fresh water.”

“Captain,” I said, “may I go with them to take a look at this place?”

“Of course,” he replied. “You can tell me later what it is like.”

When the rowboats reached the coast, one of the sailors said, “we will have to walk along the coast to look for fresh water.”

“I’m going to take a little walk,” I told them. “I will meet you back here in an hour.”

I walked about a kilometer, enjoying being on land again. Then I turned and walked back to meet the sailors.

When I arrived on the beach, the sailors were not there. They were in the rowboats, rowing as fast as they could toward the Adventure. I was going to shout out to them when I saw a very huge man walking through the sea. I was trying to catch up with the rowboats. The sailors were almost at the ship, and I could see that the huge man would not be able to catch them. Instead, it was coming towards me. Great fear went through my mind.

【推荐1】Consider what goes through your mind after you’ve taken your seat on an airplane. You’ve not seen the captain, but his or her voice comes over the air. “Hello, this is your captain speaking.” Are you about to fly the friendly skies? What you probably don’ realize is that you do make quick judgments (判断) based on very few factors the moment you hear “hello”.

Experts have discovered that “hello” carries enough information for listeners to draw judgments about the speakers personality, such as how reliable (可信赖的) he or she is. They recorded 64 students reading a telephone conversation. The word “hello” was then picked from each recording, and 320 different students listened to that word through a computer. The students were asked to score the voices according to personality, including attractiveness and warmth, giving them points from l to 10. Although every voice was played in one third a second, the students formed an opinion quickly.

It is amazing that from such short voices of speech they can get such an obvious impression of a person. And whether it is correct, their impressions are mostly the same as what the other listeners get. The research also suggests that people’ impressions are based on the tone (语调) of voice. Men and women who present the strength of their voices are regarded as more reliable.

The speed with which the students made their judgments makes much sense. Deciding who to trust can be important to your survival. There’s no point in listening to someone talk for 5 minutes to decide if they’re reliable or not — you could be dead already. The discovery may help improve computer-made voice technologies, experts say.

【推荐2】For many of us, asking for help is a difficult concept. We may feel as if we are admitting a weakness that world would not have known about, had we not asked for help.

However, people who are able to deliver well-positioned requests for help are often seen as very strong individuals. When they demonstrate the humility (谦卑) to ask for help, they earn the respect of others. People who receive a heartfelt request for help are usually honored by the request. In turn, we are strengthened by the very help that is provided.

One of my clients named Kira recently made a shift in how she was interacting with her boss. When asked to prepare presentations, she assumed that she was expected to develop the content, deliver it at the required meeting and then wait for feedback from her boss. However, Kira recognized that she had not yet made use of her boss’s support. She could learn far more about creating attractive presentations by walking through a draft with her boss and obtaining feedback earlier in the process rather than at the back end. So she made the request for his support.

The outcome? Her boss was delighted to coach Kira and was enthusiastic about teaching presentation skills to her. By taking the time to work together on presentation for a number of Kira’s key presentations, she benefited from her boss’s thought process and thus improved her own presentations. Kira’s presentations now have punch!

Some of us are uncomfortable asking for help because we believe that our request places burdens on the other person. However, we may miss an opportunity to show others how we value and respect them. People who know you and think well of you are often highly motivated to help. Furthermore, the more specific you can be about what you need from them, the easier it is for them to assist you.

【推荐3】Cultural exchanges and cooperation between Cambodia and China have been developing rapidly since the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative.

China has donated millions of dollars to help with the restoration of Angkor Wat（吴哥窟）, shouldering more responsibility for world heritage protection. Cambodia's Angkor Wat was listed as a World Heritage site in 1992 and China began the restoration in 2000. Most of the 98 temples were completed by 2013.

Liu Jiang is from the Chinese restoration team. He says the restoration work at the Chau Say Tevoda Temple has been praised by the Cambodian side. Cambodia hopes they can do more restoration work for other historic sites of Angkor Wat in the future. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Cambodian Council of Ministers, says the successful restoration of the Chau Say Tevoda Temple shows that China is not only influential in the economic and political field, but also in the cultural fields.

Now, the World Heritage Site is a popular destination for Chinese tourists. So far, China has overtaken Vietnam to become the largest source of tourists to Cambodia. Cambodia launched a "China Ready" strategy in 2016, with the aim of attracting more Chinese tourists. The country received about 1 million Chinese tourists last year, and it aims to double the number of Chinese tourists to 2 million by 2020. Many tourists say culture is their reason for visiting Cambodia.

A show called the "Smile of Angkor", which was created by both Chinese and Cambodian artists, has been on show since 2010 in Cambodia. It was sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Cambodian Ministry of Culture. So far, it has been performed more than 1,000 times, and seen by over a million audience members.