1 . Blind Olympic Athletes Show the Universal Nature

Tune into any sports coverage on TV, and you will see many athletes proudly raise their arms and heads in victory, while a much larger number hang their shoulders and necks in defeat. Studies have revealed why—they are universal behaviours, performed by humans in response to success and failure.

The discovery came from Jessica Tracy from the University of British Columbia and David Matsumoto from San Francisco State University, who wanted to see how people showed feelings of pride and shame.     1     They tried to find a large group of people, and it was critically important that some of these subjects had never seen other people reacting to success or failure before.

The answer was Athens, during the 2004 Olympic Games. Its sister competition—the Paralympics—included many athletes who were born blind.     2     Working with a professional photographer, Tracy and Matsumoto compared the body language of 108 competitors, 41 of whom had lost their sight, and 12 of whom were blind from birth. The photographer repeatedly took pictures of these athletes after their competitions, and the researchers carefully recorded the positions of their heads, arms and bodies.     3     The winners tilted their heads up, smiled, lifted their arms and puffed out their chests, while shoulders bent forward and narrowed chests were the marks of losers.

    4     Men and women who have never seen other people behave in these ways still make exactly the same movements. And while it’s possible that parents may have taught their blind children some of these actions, it’s very unlikely that they could have taught them all—particularly the expansion or narrowing of the chest.

These actions were also remarkably consistent between contestants from every part of the world. Tracy and Matsumoto argue that pride and shame deserve a place alongside other primary emotions like happiness, fear and surprise.     5    

Shared Services Need More Imagination

Suppose you need to drill a hole in the wall to hang an item but do not own a power drill. You may regard it as expensive to buy a power drill and consider renting one. Sharing is the solution. The sharing industry is an emerging. highly flexible economic network that allows people to share resources, either free or for a fee.

The important idea of the sharing industry is that people might only need an item for a relatively short period. The private part of shared services has been moving towards this area since the beginning of the 1980s, and then the public part has taken note of the benefits and continued for best practice. The United States and Australia among others have had shared services in government since the late 1990s.

With the rise of the sharing industry, the best-known shared bikes and shared cars have got a lot of public attention. This kind of transportation is so environmentally-friendly that it is increasingly popular among people in many cities.

Of course shared services don’t need to be limited to machines. The real pay-off in shared services probably lies in renting out smaller, less heavy items. For example, in today’s casual environment, you don’t need a tie unless you’re going to a wedding or a job interview. So some companies, would let you pick up a tie when you needed it and only when you needed it. Another example is an umbrella-sharing service. Since visitors don’t want to be carrying umbrellas all the way, it would be cheaper and easier to simply borrow an umbrella on one street corner and drop it off on another.

Recently organizations that have centralized their IT functions have begun to take a close look at the technology services that their IT departments provide for customers, evaluating where it makes sense to provide technology components. E-mall and scanning (归描) operations were obvious early candidates. Many organizations are now oftering their document-intensive operations is a shared service, There is no doubt that people are calling for the expansion of shared services to more and more treas.

Coming from the Bronx, Jennifer Lopez knew from an early age it would be tough to achieve her dream. In an interview in 2002 she remembered, “I had such a will in me. I had such a passion in me. I could overcome my situation. But a lot of people will get beaten down and be held back by that.” Lopez was not beaten down by her situation. She worked hard dancing, singing, and acting in theaters and her hard work paid off with small roles in television and films.

Lopez’s big breakthrough came in 1996 when she played the main role in the movie Selena. For this movie, Lopez got paid $1 million and became the highest paid Latin actress of all time. Since then, she has had starring roles in several successful movies, including Out of Sight with George Clooney.

Then, Lopez turned her attention toward music. In 1999, she released her first album, On the 6. Two songs from the album, “If You Had My Love” and “Waiting for Tonight”, both reached number one on the Billboard music charts. The album sold more than three million copies around the world.

After starring in The Cell (2000), Lopez released her second album, J. Lo, in 2001. The album went straight to the top of the billboard chart. At the same time when her album came out, Lopez’s new movie, The Wedding Planner, opened in theaters. It became the number one movie at the box office. This meant that Lopez was the first entertainer to ever have a number one album and a number one movie at the same time!

But her entertainment career was not the only thing Lopez focused on that year. 2001 was also the year Lopez started her own line of clothing, called J. Lo, and she married Cris Judd, a dancer who performed in her videos. The marriage did not last long, and Lopez and Judd divorced nine months later.

In 2002, Lopez starred in the films Enough and Maid in Manhattan, which became Lopez’s biggest movie yet, earning $19 million.

5 . Back to School

I had always longed to get a degree, but raising a family had come first. Now with my last child in middle school, I thought, why not try to ________ something while I still had the opportunity. When I told my husband Bob my idea, a broad smile lit up his face. “If that’s what you ________, we’ll make it work.”

When we asked the kids for advice, they had mixed ________. Our daughter, already in college, thought it a great idea while John, in high school, was ________ that we might be in college at the same time. James, our youngest, wanted to know who would take him to football practice. I ________ that things would be a little different, but if everyone contributed, it wouldn’t be difficult.

The next day we drove to the community college and after a careful research, I chose to ________ in occupational therapy (康复理疗).

Days passed in excitement, enrolling (注册) in classes, shopping for ________ and attending orientation (入学指导). I felt like a kid again, but as the first day of classes drew near, I became ________. I was simply too old. People would laugh at me. Finally, with encouragement from my family and friends, I stuck with my ________.

As I entered my classroom that first morning, I chose a seat in the back, hoping to ________ attention. For the rest of that day, I did what I saw the other students do, and gradually, my embarrassment disappeared. I found the classes and assignments interesting, and I left that day feeling I might survive. By the end of the first week, I had made a few friends.

Studying and keeping up with my duties at home was ________. No sooner would I begin to study than it was time to drive the kids to their activities. Math and science were never my strong subjects, so I devoted more time to those. When the first semester ________, I had a 4.0 GPA and was placed on the Honor Roll.

By the second year, Bob and the kids were all doing their ________, and I had learned how to comfortably ________ my school and home life. My hard work paid off and I got the bachelor’s degree.

As I drove away on the last day of school, I thought about what a difference returning to school had made in my life. I looked much younger and I had more ________ and enthusiasm for life. I even became a therapist. It’s never too late to try again.