An American friend has invited you to visit his family. You’ve never been to an American’s home before, and you’re not sure what to do. Should you take a gift? What should you dress? When should you arrive? Glad you asked. When you’re the guest, you should just make yourself at home.

The question of whether or not to bring a gift often troubles guests. In American culture, a guest is not obligated (强迫) to bring a present. Of course, some people do bring some small gifts to their hosts. Proper gifts generally might be flowers, candy or—if the family has small children—toys. If you choose not to bring a gift, don’t worry. No one will even notice that.

For most informal (非正式的) dinners, you should wear everyday clothes. Plan to arrive on time, or call to tell your hosts about the delay (延迟). During the dinner conversation, it’s customary to compliment (称赞) the hosts about the wonderful meal. Of course, the biggest compliment is to eat lots of food! When you’ve had plenty, you might offer to clear the table or wash the dishes. But since you’re the guest, your hosts may not let you do that. Instead, they may invite you to move to the living room for dessert with tea or coffee. After an hour or so of general talking, it’s probably time to head for the door.

Americans usually like to have advance notice (提前通知) when people come to see them. Only very close friends drop by without any notice. This is especially true if the guests want to stay for a few days. Even relatives don’t usually stay for several weeks at a time. Here’s some good advice for house guests: Short stays are the best. While you’re staying with an American family, try to keep your living area clean and tidy. Your host family will be thankful for your consideration. And they may even invite you back!

2 . A jobless man wanted very much to have the position（位置）of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager asked him questions and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test. “You have passed the test,” he said. “Give your e-mail address and I’ll tell you the date when you may start by email.” The man replied, neither an e-mail. “I’m sorry,” said the HR manager. “If you don’t have an e-mail, and anyone who isn’t living cannot have the job.”

The man left with no hope at all. He didn’t know what to do with only 10 dollars left. He thought and thought. Then he went to the supermarket and bought 10 kilos of tomatoes. He sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he had 20 dollars. He started to go early every day and returned home late, doing business like this. Five years later, he was one of the biggest food retailers（零售商） in the USA.

One day, one of his friends asked him for his e-mail. He said, “I haven’t got one.” His friend couldn’t believe his ears. “Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?” The man thought for a while and replied, “I’d be an office boy at Microsoft!”

3 . A bird went to look for its happiness in a faraway place. It flew and flew when it suddenly saw a little dying flower, whose face was full of smile. Not knowing why, the bird asked the little flower, happiness is a hope in the heart.

The bird continued flying and saw a lame（跛足的）duck help a little duck find the way back home. Although it was disabled, it had a smiling face. “I’m happy because I can help others.” said the lame duck. So the bird saw it: happiness is a love in the heart.

The bird kept flying and suddenly saw a spider climbing up a wall. The spider fell off the wall halfway, but it kept climbing again and fell off again. Even so, the spider didn’t give up. The little bird asked the spider in surprise, “You failed again and again. Why don’t you have pain but happiness on your face?”

“As long as I keep making my efforts, I can climb up it. Because of this, I’m so happy.” said the spider. The little bird saw it: happiness is a faith（信念）in the heart.

So the little bird no longer looked for happiness because it had seen the truth: happiness is not in the faraway place but in your own heart.

When I was a baby, I jumped and ran around you and made you laugh. Whenever I was “bad”, you’d shake your finger at me and ask “How could you? ”—but then you'd give up, and played with me and I thought that life could not be any more perfect.

My house training was a long process, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. We went for long walks, runs in the park and car rides. We stopped for ice cream. I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.

Gradually, you began spending more time at work, and more time searching for your human friend. Later, you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a dog person, but I still welcomed her into our home. I was happy because you were happy. Then your babies came along and I shared your excitement, I was excited by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to look after them, too. Your wife was afraid I would bite them. However, as they began to grow, I became their friend.

Now, you have a new job in another city and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not let pets in. You’ve made the right decision for your “family”, although I wish I could be your family all the time.

I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the dog house. There were many fearing and hopeless cats and dogs in the cage. You filled out the paper and said to the staffs there, “I know you will find a good home for her.” They said nothing. The children were in tears as they waved me goodbye. And “How could you?” were the only three words in my mind.

Is it better to live with hope or without hope? At first, whenever anyone passed my dog house, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you, hoping you had changed your mind and hoping this was all a bad dream.

My owner, I will think of you and wait for you forever. I hope you receive more faithfulness from your family than you showed to me.

6 . Kumquat is a funny name for a fruit. But the fruit doesn’t taste funny. It’s delicious! Kumquats are small fruits that look like little oranges. The Chinese name for this fruit means golden oranges!

The peel of other fruits like oranges and lemons taste sour. But the peel of the kumquat is sweet, and you can eat it. The inside of the kumquat is sour. So when you eat a kumquat, it tastes both sweet and sour.

The Daming Kumquat Factory has been making delicious kumquat products for 60 years. You can come to the factory to learn about the delicious fruit and taste the products! The fruit can be dried and used in candy. It can also be used in baked goods. You can also walk around the factory. The owners of the Daming Kumquat Factory think nature and the environment are very important. They try to keep the factory area as natural as they can. Most of the roads are dirty roads. And they don’t use any chemicals (化学物质) on their plants.

The Daming Kumquat Factory makes a lot of kumquat jam (酱). You can even make your own. To make the jam, first remove and throw away all the kumquat seeds. Then boil the kumquats. After the kumquats are cooked, they are mixed together with juice. Then everything is cooked in a pot with some sugar. After cooking, pour the jam into bottles, and let it cool. Then enjoy your kumquat jam!

7 . Does owning the latest iPhone, designer dress or expensive shoes really make you happy? It’s an age-old question, but one psychologist (心理学家) thinks he might have the answer.

Dr. Thomas Gilovich, psychology professor at Cornell University, has studied the topic for over 20 years. According to Dr. Gilovich, “We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed, but only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them.” In other words, once the excitement of our newest buying wears off, we begin looking for something else to buy to make us happy.

Dr. Gilovich found that our satisfaction with possessions (物品) fades over time. Yet our happiness over things we've experienced increases. For that reason, he noted that we are spending our money on the wrong things.

A study out of San Francisco State University agrees. The research showed that those people who spent money on experiences instead of possessions were happier. They also thought their money was better invested (投资).

Why experiences are the better investment? “A trip, adventure, or hobby is more likely to bring people closer together and unite them over a shared interest,” According to Gilovich. As a result, these experiences typically create a positive link and good feelings toward the other person or people.

Also, your experiences become a part of you. You might be someone who loves taking cooking lessons. More than likely, you’ll become known by friends and family as a great cook. They won't know you as someone who owns the latest kitchen equipment.

Moreover, experiences provide lasting memories. Planned experiences are always something we expect. Then when the moment arrives, if we enjoy ourselves in the activity, we’re left with beautiful memories. These memories will often last a lifetime. Even our worst trips, on many occasions, are later remembered with laughter.

Most of us have limited resources. Why not spend them on things that will make the greatest influence on our lives—meaningful experiences?

8 . In 1845, a deadly disease struck Ireland, killing all the Lumper potato plants. In another place or time, the death of single crop species might not have been so important. But in Ireland, in 1845, people depended almost solely on the potato for food. The death of one species caused a terrible famine(饥荒). Now, some scientists are worried that such a famine could happen again, but on a much wider area.

Over the centuries, farmers have discovered thousands of different species of food crops. However, you won’t find many of these species in your local supermarket. To feed the seven billion people on Earth, most farmers today are growing only species of plants and farming only species of animals that are easy to produce in large numbers.

In the Philippines, there were once thousands of varieties of rice: now fewer than 100 are grown there. In China, 90% of the wheat varieties grown just a century ago have disappeared. Scientists believe that over the past century, more than half of the world’s food varieties disappeared.

One solution to this problem is to collect and store the seeds as many different plant varieties as we can before they disappear. The idea was first suggested by Russian scientist Nikolay Vavilov. In the 1920s and 1930s, he collected around 400,000 seeds from five continents. More recently, others are continuing the work he began.

In the US state of Iowa, Diane Ott Whealy wanted to protect historic plant varieties, like the seeds her great grandfather brought to the US from Germany more than a hundred years ago. She and her husband started a place called Heritage Farm, where people can store and trade seeds.

More importantly, people at Heritage Farm don’t just store the seeds, they plant them. By doing this, they are reintroducing foods into the marketplace that haven’t been grown for years. These food species are not just special in terms of appearance or taste. They also offer farmers food solutions for the future, from the past.

9 . Five years ago, I worked for a few weeks as a doctor in a new dental clinic (牙医诊所) at Victor Harbour, to the south of Adelaide and an hour further away than my usual workplace. My first day there was a rush-driving to a new clinic and getting used to the clinical environment.

As it was all new to me, I took off my rings: my wedding ring, and one that was a gift from my husband. I put them in tissue (纸巾) and placed them beside my computer.

During my lunch break, I noticed the tissue and thought that it did not look very clean and threw it into the rubbish bin. I went about my work and my day went well; I met new patients and felt that I had been doing well at work.

Driving home at the end of the day, just moments before I reached my house, I noticed that my rings were missing. I felt heat in my body rise, my face burning red. I felt sick to my stomach.

I spent an hour or so making calls, trying to find my rings. The first people I called were my manager and clinical leader and they gave me a few phone numbers for cleaners. I got in touch with a lady who managed the cleaning service for the clinic, and she told me that the bins had already been collected.

I knew nothing could be done now. I had lost my rings. But after two hours or so, I received the most amazing phone call. The cleaner had gone through the bins and found my rings! I was so thankful to her who had taken the trouble to go through the bins—which is not a pleasant task—to find my priceless rings.

I worked at that clinic the following day, so I bought chocolates to thank this wonderful person. Unluckily, I did not get to meet her as she was not at work that day.

10 . Looking at art should be like walking in the countryside. You may not know exactly where you are, what bird is making that strange sound, or what the hill ahead of you is called, but that’s part of the fun of it. You don’t need to know these things to feel the beauty of nature.

Of course, if you do know your birds, trees and local history, a walk can be more attractive. Yet such knowledge comes slowly. It is picked up through experience. A true knowledge of nature cannot just be given to you through an app on your phone. Imagine pointing your phone at the hill and getting plenty of information on screen. Would that enrich your dreamy walk or ruin it?

Braggarts (吹嘘者) enjoy an app that allows them to show off their knowledge, for example, about baroque (巴洛克风格的) paintings. In fact, apps in museums try to provide on-screen art history at once just to encourage people to read their phones instead of looking at paintings.

It is a mistaken idea that you need to be spoon-fed (灌输) amazing facts about a work of art in order to appreciate it. Our first experience of a work of art should be raw (自然状态的), unguided, and a bit puzzling, like following a path in the woods. Later, you might choose to do some personal research into the work. It can further increase your enjoyment and appreciation for it. Yet it is best done when you’re away from the art itself, so that even when you return, the work still feels fresh.

Anyone who thinks knowing some dates and details makes you better understand a work of art is wrong. We all need to put aside our screens and our supposed knowledge when we look at art. Let the paintings flow in; let your intuitions (直觉) fly off. Art is a journey in the wilderness or it is nothing at all.