Sometimes You Just Have to Cry

There are a lot of things about parenthood that could make one cry: sleepless nights, or diaper（尿布） messes and so on. _________, for me the worst had to be — immunization shots（防疫针）.

At about two months into _______, I learned the true meaning of the word "heartbreak". There could not have been anything worse than _______ helplessly as he receives his first round of immunization shots. I would rather have been run over by a truck than have to watch him _______ through that. I kept thinking that surely medical science could have come up with a better way of doing this by now while listening to his _______. As for comfort from the doctor, all he could say was, "Ah, look at those healthy tears." As we left the office, I whispered into my son’s ear, "It’s okay, Sam. Sometimes you just_______to cry."

In a way I guess it was only a matter of time before Sam was introduced to _______ in his life. I remembered losing my _________ to a sudden car accident a number of years ago. I tried to remain _______ through it all. One day, when a song came on the radio that ________ me of my father. It was the first time since the funeral that I just let go and cried. It felt ________ to not hold back any more.

The earliest ________ I have of my father is one of me as a young boy holding his hand by his two last ________ as we walked together. His hands seemed so ________ that his fingers were all I could actually grip. He always took me with him to basketball games even at my young age. I will never ________ that.

Larry Ellison came from the slums to co-found Oracle.

Larry Ellison was born on the Lower East Side of New York and that district was poor and filled with immigrants（移民）fighting to survive. At an early age, Ellison was ill and was sent to the South Side of Chicago to live with relatives. Though there were some difficulties, he was able to educate himself and join Software Development Laboratories, in 1977.

This was an important move, because in 1982 the company became Oracle. This is a company that brings in $38 billion every single year and along the way, Ellison managed to own over $46.2 billion. He stepped down as CEO in 2014.

Zdenek Bakala leaves Communist Czechoslovakia with $50.

Zdenek Bakala left Czechoslovakia for Lake Tahoe in the United States with just $50 in his pocket when he was just 19. Once there, he got a job washing dishes.

Bakala attended the famous University of California-Berkeley. That higher education let him into the banking world. And returning to his homeland, in 1994 he opened the Credit Suisse office in Prague.

Because of his wealth, Bakala has managed to gained huge shares（股份）in both coal and iron ore, which he still holds to this day.

Do Won Chang worked three jobs to survive.

Do Won Chang is the famous face behind Forever 21, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea, in 1981. Before he started Forever 21, he worked three jobs. That period lasted for three years before he founded the company and opened its first clothing store, in 1984.

This family business grew quickly and Forever 21 has 480 locations across the world. It has also managed to bring in $3 billion per year. And Chang has taken his two daughters into the company.

My friend named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a lovely boy was walking around the shining car. “Is this your car, sir?” he asked.

Paul answered, “Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised. “You mean your brother gave it to you and it did cost you nothing? Sir, I wish...” He hesitated(犹豫). Of course Paul knew what the boy wanted, but what the boy said surprised him greatly. “I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a brother like that.” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, and then he said, “Would you like to take a ride in my car?” “Oh yes, I'd love to.” the boy answered.

After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes shining, said, “Sir, would you mind stopping in front of my house？”

Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his neighbours that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two stairs are?” the boy asked.

He went up to the stairs. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled(残疾的)brother. He sat on the stair and pointed to the car.

“There he is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a dollar. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it...then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about.”

Paul got out and lifted Buddy to the front seat of his car. The shining­eyed elder brother climbed in behind him and the three began an unforgettable holiday ride.

 Artificial intelligence (AI, 人工智能) can help us make phone calls. It can guide us to where we want to go. It can play games. And now, AI can do even more things.

Researchers from Microsoft have created the first machine translation system that can translate news articles from Chinese to English, Business Standard reported.

According to Microsoft's official website, researchers tested the system by asking it to translate hundreds of sentences taken from news stories. Then, language experts compared the results to two translations that were done by humans. The experts concluded that the system's translations were as good as the human translations.

Machine translation is always challenging. This is partly because different words can be used to express the same meaning. It can be hard to say which word is more “correct”.

Experts used several methods to improve the system's translation abilities. “Much of our research is really inspired (得到启发) by how we humans do things,” lead researcher Liu Tieyan said.One method is called dual learning. In this method, the system translates every sentence from Chinese to English, as well as translates the sentences back from English into Chinese. This way, the system can improve itself and learn from its own mistakes. This is similar to what humans do to make sure their translations are accurate (准确的).

Another method makes use of deliberation networks. The researchers taught the system to repeat the process of translating the same sentence over and over. Gradually, the system can improve the quality of its translations. This is similar to how people revise their own writing by going through it again and again.

Languages have been coming and going for thousands of years, but in recent times there has been less coming and a lot more going. When the population of the world was hunter-gatherers, small, closely connected groups developed their own speech different from each other. Some language experts believe that 10,000 years ago, when the world had just five to ten million people, they spoke perhaps 12,000 languages between them.

Soon afterwards, many of those people started settling down to become farmers, and their languages also became more settled and fewer in number. In recent centuries, trade, industrialization, the development of the nation-state and the spread of education, especially globalization and better communications in the past few years, all have caused many languages to disappear, and dominant languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over.

At present, the world has about 6,800 languages. The distribution(分布) of these languages is hugely unbalanced. The general rule is that warm, pleasant areas have relatively few languages, often spoken by many people, while hot, wet areas have lots, often spoken by small numbers. Europe has only around 200 languages; the Americas about 1,000; Africa 2,400; and Asia and the Pacific perhaps 3,200, of which Papua New Guinea alone has well over 800. The median number (中位数) of speakers is only 6,000, which means that half the world’s languages are spoken by fewer people than that.

Already over 400 of the total of 6,800 languages are close to extinction (消亡), with only a few elderly speakers left. For example, Busuu in Cameroon (eight remaining speakers), Chiapaneco in Mexico (150), Lipan Apache in the United States (two or three) or Wadjigu in Australia (one, with a question-mark): none of these seems to have much chance of survival.

Each different part of China has its own special forms of traditional art. These usually try to represent the things that are important in life such as love, beauty and family. The most common things, from paper to clay to bamboo, are turned into o    66     of beauty.

According to Chinese history, sky lanterns were f    67     used by Zhuge Kongming. He sent them out to ask for help when in trouble. Today, sky lanterns are used at festivals and other celebrations. They are m    68     of bamboo and covered with paper. When the lanterns are lit, they slowly rise into the air like small hot-air balloons for all to see. They are seen as bright symbols of happiness and good w    69    .

Paper cutting has been around for more than 1,500 years. Paper cutting sounds very easy but it can be d    70     to do. The paper, usually red, is folded before it is cut with s    71    . The most common pictures are flowers, fish, animals, and things about Chinese history. D    72     the Spring Festival, they are put on windows, doors and walls as symbols of wishes for good luck and a happy new year.

Chinese clay art is famous because the clay pieces are so small but they look very real. The pieces are carefully shaped by h    73     from a very special kind of clay and then allowed to air-dry. After drying, they are fired at a very high heat. They are then polished and painted. F    74    , materials such as wood or paper are added to make different things. It takes several weeks to c    75     everything. These small pieces of clay art show the love that all Chinese people have for life and beauty.

The way we spend our time can be divided into three groups or jars (罐子). These would be the necessary tasks jar, the voluntary tasks jar and the happiness jar.

Every day, we spend time filling the necessary tasks jar. We fill this jar with useful things, like making money, doing housework, buying food and paying bills. We then fill another jar with voluntary tasks. These are things that we do for others, but we may not enjoy them. This jar is filled with tasks like taking children to activities and cooking family meals. Those jars are very important. If we don’t fill them each day, our family won’t run properly.

However, we often forget to fill the third jar− the happiness jar. This is the jar that we fill with activities that make us happy. Is your happiness jar sometimes empty at the end of the day? We all have days like that. Between doing all the necessary and voluntary tasks, time flies by on some days, and before we know it, it is time for bed.

That is why each day we try to fill our happiness jar. Most days, I fill mine by going to the ballroom dance (社交舞) class. Between the music, the dancing and the friendship among the students, I always leave classes happier than when I entered. Playing music is another way that I fill my happiness jar. This week, I was happy to take part in an orchestra (管弦乐队) practice at my church (教堂). A small group of us met to practice Christmas music for a church service. It was a time of fun, friendship and music making. At the end of the evening, my happiness jar was full.

Consider how your time is spent. Try to find ways to achieve a balance. At the end of the day, hopefully we’ve done all we can to make sure that our happiness jar is filled.

81. 亚洲文明对话大会近期在北京召开，你的印度朋友Danny收看了大会相关报道，对华夏文明产生了浓厚的兴趣，来信向你了解中国文化。假设你是李华，请根据以下内容提示用英语写一封回信给Danny。

I’m glad to receive your letter. Since you are interested in civilization(文明) of China, I would like to share something with you.

I hope you can come to China someday to experience the ancient culture of China. Look forward to hear from you soon.