【推荐2】Every summer, for the last 32 years, the Sierra Storytelling Festival has gathered people together to hear the nation's top tellers share the great range of human experience through artfully told stories. This year's tellers include one Grammy-nominated (格莱美提名的)artist, a local favorite and more.

Grammy-nominated and internationally known storyteller, Diane Ferlatte, fondly remembers her childhood years of sitting on the passage of her grandparents' home in New Orleans, attracted by the oral stories of family generations past. She views storytelling as a traditional art form that can promote literacy, imagination and values in the young. While telling African American stories, she loves to tell stories that hold truths touching upon our common humanity(人性)，including personal and historical stories.

As a storyteller and early childhood educator, Muriel Johnson has shared traditional folktales and personal stories with thousands of children and adults across the United States, per-forming at schools, museums, libraries and festivals. Her voice, movements, expressions and loving spirit will resonate(共鸣)with anyone listening.

Johnny Moses is one of the most popular storytellers in North America. With beauty, wisdom and humor, he shares both traditional and contemporary stories in a wide variety of settings, including festivals, libraries, schools and private gatherings. His songs and stories make all children happy, whether wide-eyed preschoolers or tired high school students.

In addition to performances by these tellers, the Sierra Storytelling Festival has several special events including a Storytelling Workshop with Judith Black on Friday afternoon, the hugely popular Story Slam on Saturday afternoon. Gather your friends and family, pack a picnic and blanket and settle into a weekend. Magic and wonder fill the air, and the art of story is alive.

【推荐2】Would you rather be an impressive employee in an ordinary firm, or land a role at the most well-known company in your industry?

The answer to that question might seem highly personal, based on factors like whether or not you are a competitive person and how much you enjoy a challenge. In fact, there’s another strong factor at play: People from different cultures react very differently to that question. The psychologists from the University of Michigan asked people theoretical questions about the decisions they take. Specifically, the researchers compared people with East Asian backgrounds and European American backgrounds. They found that Americans are much more likely to favor being a big fish in a small pond. East Asians, and specifically Chinese people, are much more likely than Americans to lean towards being a smaller fish in a bigger pond.

Researchers first asked 270 students at a large American university whether they would rather be a “big fish in a small pond” or the opposite. Of the students with East Asian American backgrounds, three quarters said they’d rather be a small fish, compared with just under 60% of students with European American backgrounds who said the same.

The researchers then compared American and Chinese adults. They asked the participants whether they would rather attend a top university but perform below average, and whether they would rather work for a top global company but do less well in comparison to their peers. Over half the Chinese adults chose the famous university, compared with just a third of Americans. In the case of the firms, well over half of people from both groups chose to do better at a less well-known firm, but Chinese people were still more likely to choose being a “small fish” than were Americans.

The final experiment sought to discover how American and Chinese people made judgments about whether they were succeeding. They found that Chinese people were more likely to compare their performance to the performance of people in other groups. Americans, meanwhile, were more likely to compare themselves to people within the same group, to judge whether or not they were doing well.

In East Asian cultures, it’s “not enough that you know you’re doing well in your school,” said Kaidi Wu, a PhD student in psychology who led the research. “It is much more important that other people — an outsider, a family relative, a future employer who has five seconds to glance through your resume — also recognize your academic excellence.”

America is the opposite: “Think about how many times themes like ‘You are your own person’ or ‘Stop worrying about what other people think’ course through song lyrics and self-help books,” Wu said, concluding: “The choices we make are the products of our culture.”

【推荐1】I did return to college. But the pressure of a full-time job and college classes was hard to bear.

One Friday afternoon, a co-worker asked about my weekend plans. I tried to avoid these conversations because I had no money and schoolwork was demanding. To prevent any further conversation, I said, “Oh, I am taking a mini vacation, just a little weekend holiday.” There was surprise but no further conversation.

“What a cheat I am,” I thought. “And they will want details on Monday. It will just stress me more when they all find out that I lied.”

On the long drive home from work, I made a plan. I could pretend I was on vacation and never go anywhere. At home, I pulled down all the shades, checked my messages and shut off the phone. Then I jumped in the shower and put on sweats. With some snacks in my easy reach, I took out three books that I had been anxious to read for the past months. “Well, I am on vacation. This can be my imaginary holiday. I will check in with the world on Monday morning,” I said to myself. Then I cracked open the first book. By Sunday evening, I was well into the third book.

When the alarm went off on Monday morning, I dressed, had breakfast and went to work. I was busy when several co-workers came by. “Wow,” they said, “you must have had a great vacation. You look so rested.” It wasn’t until then that I realized I wasn't stressed anymore.

“Maybe,” I told them, “it was just an imaginary holiday.” They laughed and went off to their desks.

I did graduate from college eventually and got a job with some paid vacation. But I still take imaginary holidays where I turn off the phone and electronics, tell everyone that I will be “away” and spend a weekend reading.

I have decided that imaginary holidays are one way I can take care of myself. Perhaps that was part of my college education.

【推荐2】There are plenty of ways to have a lot of fun, relax, and do some good when you have time off and you can pay attention to things in and around your home. Having a little extra time can help you to make things better — not just for the immediate term but for the long term, too.     1    

Assess and review your home and garden. Having a vacation from work can be a good time to take a good look at where you live and assess   what about the situation works well for you. Reviewing and properly looking at your home and garden can help you relax and appreciate what you already have.     2     Gaining some clarity on your situation can actually give you some peace of mind.

Get to know your neighbors and neighborhood.     3     A little leisure time at home can give us the breathing space to look more closely and perhaps build new connections with either humans or other creatures — as in wildlife with whom we live together.     4     For example, kick off planning for a community garden, or organize a garden harvest exchange.

    5     You can have much fun learning new things about gardening or food production, cooking and preservation. You might also consider improving your skills in plant identification, wildlife recognition, etc. These ideas may inspire you to stay at home and use the time to set yourself up for a more sustainable future. You might be surprised by how refreshing it can be.

【推荐3】Summer vacation is coming. Attending a summer program is a good way to improve skills and make new friends. Teen Life has collected the best summer activities for you. For more information, please visit www.teenlife.com.

To Be An Artist

●At the Snow Farm Summer, you are not a student. You’re an artist!

●It offers small-group studios (工作室) led by professional artists.

●You can have drawing/painting classes in the studios.

●For 8th-12th graders from July 15 to July 20.

Enjoy the Power of Leadership (领导力)

●The National Teen Leadership Program includes leadership exercises and speech training. It will improve teens’ leadership skills.

●Open to 9th-12th graders. The program will be held at Chapman University, July 10 to July 12 and at Sacramento State University, July 31 to August 2.

The Dream of Engineering

●Have you ever wanted to build a bridge? Program a robot? Join us at the Engineering Experience for hands-on (实际操作的), week-long introduction to the world of engineering.

●Students will use their design skills and the scientific methods they learned at the physics class to solve real engineering problem.

●It is open to 7th-9th graders and will start on July 10.