1 . An important part of raising your children is teaching them good manners as it helps them be more successful in life.     1    Here are some “old-fashioned” but important manners for your modern kids.

Saying “thank you” to service workers

Saying “thank you” is the base of all good manners but these days many children overlook thanking the people that help them in many little ways each day, like wait staff, store clerks, and bus drivers. It’s not just about politeness but about teaching children to recognize and acknowledge others’ contributions as valuable.     2    

Taking turns talking

Teach your children to touch your arm and then wait patiently for you to acknowledge(理会)them before speaking. If they do interrupt, calmly tell them it’s rude to interrupt and let them know you’ll acknowledge them shortly.     3    Offer your children the same politeness and don’t interrupt them when it’s their turn to talk.

Using their indoor voices

    4     A parent should teach their children early on how to moderate(使适中)their volume and tone based on the situation. You can make it into a fun game for little ones, like seeing who can whisper the quietest at a cinema.

Covering a cough or sneeze

These days it’s more important than ever to teach children to cough or sneeze into a tissue or their elbow. It’s not just a matter of hygiene(卫生)——no one enjoys getting sprayed.     5     Don’t forget to teach them to say “excuse me” after.

4 . If the kids don’t fall, they don’t learn to get up. I still remember the day in high school that my mom forgot to pick me up from school. I’m the oldest of four children, and no doubt she’d had a long day with the other kids and it’d slipped her mind. After waiting at school for an hour, I walked the three miles home, and when I got to my house, I shut our front door with anger, stormed into the kitchen and screamed in my mom’s face that she’d forgotten me.

Later that night, my dad told me I no longer had a ride to school the next day. I figured my mom would still take me, but when the morning came, she refused. It was midterm, and as a straight A student ready to start college applications, being late wasn’t an option (选择). In my mind, missing these tests would have been the end of my academic career. I begged my mom. I told her she was ruining my future and everything I’d worked for. But she just held her ground, and that day, I walked to school. And I missed my tests.

My mom didn’t save me from failure. She let me suffer from it. She let me figure it out. She let me learn. Now, as a mom myself, I’ve realized that I want my kids to experience failure because failure is how we grow, learn and think outside of ourselves. It’s how we self -educate to learn what’s right and respectable, and what’s not. It’s how we become responsible and enthusiastic. Falling down makes us better because we learn how to get up.

8 . Two years ago I was very lonely and didn’t talk with anyone about my feelings. At the time I didn’t have many friends. I wanted someone to share my experiences and secrets with. I wanted someone to understand me. I started to imagine this friend and often imagined our conversations and what we would do.

Some weeks later we started a new project in school and I was working with one of my schoolmates. We had never worked together before but we got along well. After the project we started to spend some time together in school. One day we decided to take a walk. Ever since that walk we’ve been best friends. We listened and really understood each other.

I had wished for a best friend, but the universe gave me so much more. I have met one of my soul mates. We can sense each other, and it just takes one look and we know what the other is thinking. I didn’t think our friendship could grow much stronger. But now we have known each other for two years and our friendship is growing all the time.

It hasn’t only been easy. We have gone through both easy and hard times. But I’m thankful for the hard times, because they have forced me to grow and taught me a lot. My best friend has changed me. She has made me believe in myself. And I am now focusing on achieving one of my biggest dreams. Without her I wouldn’t even have realized what my biggest dream is.

I know there are soul mates out in the world for you. I am so thankful to have met one of mine. Believe in them, and your paths will cross!

Several years ago, I traveled by train to Stockholm. I was visiting two friends who were to meet me at the train station. I stood there waiting for my first friend to arrive and in the midst of   all the hurrying passengers that Friday afternoon, I heard a weak voice; it sounded like   a   question. I turned and saw a young man standing with a white cane ( 拐 杖 ) , his suitcase by his feet.   I   approached   and   asked,“Do   you   need   help?”“Yes,”he   replied,   nodding   his   head, appearing relieved.

He had been trying for some time, unsuccessfully, to get someone’s attention. He had   missed his train home. His cell phone battery was dead, and he needed to call his mother to tell   her of the circumstances.

This young man named Mustafa, I found out, had just completed his first week at a school   for the blind. He went to school on Mondays and returned home on Fridays. Of course I helped him call his mother. I did not understand what he spoke with her on my cell phone, but I could tell the language was Swedish. Of course the next problem was finding the right train home and telling his mother the new arrival time. Yet in   this disordered   train   station, I did   not want to   miss connecting with my friend Bogdan who was on his way to the spot where we were standing.

Before I could dial the number to call Bogdan, he was suddenly already there. I described the problem and Bogdan took the young man’s arm and we were off on our adventure to help get Mustafa home. While sorting out where his home was, what train, and what time, my second friend Marcello called and wondered where we were. Soon he joined us. It happened that   Marcello speaks 12 languages.

Marcello’s gift in language was a great advantage.

Now we were leading Mustafa to his train.

10 . A homeless man spent two days tracking down a woman after finding her handbag in the street．Daisy Owen，20，____ a bag containing her wallet，cash and her iPhone on a night out in Bolton．

Paul Calderbank found the handbag outside a pub and began a search for its ____ ．He walked around the streets for two days ____ people who looked about Ms Owen's age if they knew her．He _____who she was from her driving licence．Mr Calderbank，who has been _____for four years，attached a note to the bag explaining his mission （任务）_____ he feared people would think he had stolen it. He planned to walk to Ms Owen's house to______the bag but met some of her friends. They ___   her on Facebook and arranged for the two to meet ．

Ms Owen from Bolton was very thankful that Mr. Calderbank had returned the handbag to her．"There needs to be more kind people like this in the world，" she said．She has started to raise money ______to help Mr Calderbank pay for some clothes, food，and a home．The web page has raised more than ￡1,100 in two days. She said Mr Calderbank had gone hungry _____ buying food with the ￡10 cash in her bag. In the three-page _____ he attached to the bag, Mr Calderbank wrote, "I want to find the true owner and ______ hand all her belongings back to her．I want to do this because I am an honest person，and because to me it feels good to do it．Ms Owen is ______to raise ￡1，500 for Mr. Calderbank. She asked him what he wanted to do with the ______．He said that he really wanted to get a______ ．"I've decided to find this man a home,   "said Ms Owen．