【推荐1】A person's nose is important for breathing and smelling. The nose is also used in many popular expressions. Some people are able to "lead other people by the nose". For example, if a wife "leads her husband by the nose", she makes him do whatever she wants him to do. Some people are said to be "hard-nosed". They will not change their opinions or positions on anything. If someone is "hard-nosed", chances are that he will never "pay through the nose", or pay too much money, for an object or service.

It is always helpful when people "keep their noses out of other people's business"—they do not interfere. The opposite of this is someone who "noses around all the time". This kind of person is interested in other people's private matters. He is considered "nosey". Someone who "keeps his nose to the grindstone "works very hard. This can help a worker "keep his nose clean" or stay out of trouble.

One unusual expression is "it is no skin off my nose". This means that a situation does not affect or concern me. We also say that sometimes a person "cuts off his nose to spite his face". That is, he makes a situation worse for himself by doing something foolish because he is angry. More problems can develop if a person "looks down his nose" at someone or something. The person acts like something is unimportant or worthless. This person might also "turn his nose up" at something that he considers not good enough. This person thinks he is better than everyone else. He is "with his nose in the air".

In school, some students "thumb their noses" at their teacher—they refuse to obey orders or do any work. Maybe these students do not know the correct answers. My mother always told me, if you study hard, the answers should be "right under your nose" or easily seen.

【推荐2】The meaning of silence varies among cultural groups. Silences may be thoughtful, or they may be empty when a person has nothing to say. A silence in a conversation may also show stubbornness, or worry. Silence may be viewed by some cultural groups as extremely uncomfortable; therefore attempts may be made to fill every gap(间隙) with conversation. Persons in other cultural groups value silence and view it as necessary for understanding a person's needs.

Many Native Americans value silence and feel it is a basic part of communicating among people, just as some traditional Chinese and Thai persons do. Therefore, when a person from one of these cultures is speaking and suddenly stops, what maybe implied(暗示) is that the person wants the listener to consider what has been said before continuing. In these cultures, silence is a call for reflection.

Other cultures may use silence in other ways, particularly when dealing with conflicts among people or in relationships of people with different amounts of power. For example, Russian, French, and Spanish persons may use silence to show agreement between parties about the topic under discussion. However, Mexicans may use silence when instructions are given by a person in authority rather than be rude to that person by arguing with him or her. In still another use, persons in Asian cultures may view silence as a sign of respect, particularly to an elder or a person in authority.

Nurses and other care-givers need to be aware of the possible meanings of silence when they come across the personal anxiety their patients may be experiencing. Nurses should recognize their own personal and cultural construction of silence so that a patient’s silence is not interrupted too early or allowed to go on unnecessarily. A nurse who understands the healing(治愈) value of silence can use this understanding to assist in the care of patients from their own and from other cultures.

【推荐2】Before the exams began, God told me in my mind several times, ''Don't cheat. '' But I did not listen because I knew it was not easy for me to get good marks in exams. Taking out my notebook, I copied the answers from it and passed the exams with very good marks.

I felt guilty and ashamed and asked God to forgive me, which I thought was all I needed to do to give me peace. Using my good exam results I went on further with my education. Studying in Kwara State College of Education, I could not have peace in my mind, thinking, ''You have done wrong. The result is not yours. ''

At last I went to the leaders of my church to ask for help, who told me that it is not enough to say sorry to God. I must show that I am sorry by putting right what I did wrong. For me, that meant telling the principal(校长)of the college that I cheated in the exams and that I should not have got into the college. I wrote a letter to him, telling him what I had done and took the letter to the principal's office and gave it to his secretary, who read it first. '' If this gets to the principal you will go to prison," she said. ''Go away and think about it. ''

I went back to the church leaders and told them what the secretary said and they said I must still go to the principal. So the next day, I went back to the secretary, who took me to see the principal this time. To my surprise, he told me not to be afraid but to go to the person who was in charge of the exams. I did as required and that person let me take the exams again. I passed! Now I am back at the college, but, more importantly, God has taken away the feelings of guilt and I have peace in my mind.

【推荐3】Is there a strange something high up in the world’s tallest mountains? If so, is it a big bear? Is it a monkey? Or is it a kind of man? No one knows. This mystery has puzzled the world for years.

In 1887, a mountain climber found large footsteps in the snow. They looked like the footsteps of a very large man. But men don’t walk without shoes in the snow!

In 1906, another climber saw more footsteps. He saw a very large animal standing on two legs. As he watched, it ran away very quickly. Fifteen years later, a newspaper had new stories about the “something”. A mountain climber said he had seen the “snowman” walk slowly in the snow. He said it looked like a very large man.

From then on, more and more people had stories to tell. But not until 1951 did a mountain climber bring back the pictures of large footsteps. The pictures showed clearly that the snowman walked on two legs. So it was not a bear or a monkey. Could it be an apeman (猿人)? And the mystery keeps growing. Some day, we may find out just what it is that makes the largest footsteps.

【推荐2】Earthworms were the beginning of a childhood dream for Jane Goodall. Her mother told a story of going to Goodall’s room when she was one and a half years old.

“She’d found I’d taken a whole handful of earthworms to bed with me,” Goodall said, “and instead of getting mad, she said very quietly, ‘They’ll die if you leave them here, they need dirt.’ So together we took them back into the garden.”

“I never went to university after school because we couldn’t afford it,” she said. Since college was impossible, she got a secretarial job with Louis Leakey, the famed biologist.

It was in the Serengeti plains that Leakey realized Goodall was capable of much more than a secretary. “He just saw that I was very passionate about being out in the wilderness and animals and that I was a good observer,” Goodall said. “Most important of all, he could see I had patience and that I knew how to behave out in the bush even though I hadn’t grown up there.”

Leakey sent Goodall to Tanzania to observe chimpanzees (黑猩猩) in the wild in hopes that their behavior could help explain his research on early humans. Goodall was met with challenges when she faced the chimpanzees. “My first encounters with the chimpanzees were disastrous because they ran away immediately at the sight of me,” Goodall said.

Goodall was surprised by the chimps’love for one another and the bonds between families. She also was surprised when she witnessed one chimpanzee removing the leaves from a small branch and using it as a tool to catch ants.

“At that time, we were defined as the only tool—making creature on the planet,” Goodall said. Goodall sent a telegram to Leakey, who famously replied, “Scientists are faced with two alternatives: Either accept chimpanzees as man, by definition, or else redefine man.” “There is no sharp line dividing us from the rest of the animal kingdom,” Goodall said. “It’s a very blurry (模糊的)line, and it teaches us so clearly that we are not separate from the rest of the animal kingdom, but part of it.”

At 86 years old, Goodall still is educating, discovering and working to bridge the gap between man and chimpanzee.

【推荐3】Many of China's ancient architectural treasures smashed（粉碎）to dust before Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng began documenting them in the 1930s. The husband and wife team were among the first preservationists to operate in China, and by far the best known. Their efforts have since inspired generations of people to speak out for architecture threatened by the rush toward development.

Becoming China's best architectural historians was no easy accomplishment. The buildings they wanted to save were centuries old located in distant parts of the country. In many cases, they had to journey through tough conditions in the Chinese countryside to reach them. Exploring China's remote areas during the 1930s meant traveling muddy, poorly maintained roads by mule（骡子）or on foot. Inns often provided food that could be polluted, and there was always risk from wild animals.

Their greatest discovery was the Temple of Buddha's Light, in Wutai County, Shanxi Province. The construction of the breathtaking wooden temple began in 471 AD, making it the oldest building known in China at the time.

Liang and Lin crawled into the temple's most forbidden, forgotten areas to determine its age, including one hideaway controlled by thousands of bats and millions of bedbugs（臭虫）, covered in dust and littered with dead bats. "In complete darkness and among the awful smell, hardly breathing, with thick masks covering our noses and mouths, we measured, drew, and photographed with flashlights for several hours. When at last we came out to take a breath of fresh air, we found hundreds of bedbugs in our bag. We ourselves had been badly bitten. Yet the importance and unexpectedness of our find made those the happiest hours of my years hunting for ancient architecture.” Liang wrote of the experience in an account included in Liang and Lin: Partners in Exploring China's Architectural Past.