2 . A job is more than just a job, especially to the older generation. “It’s not the money that matters, but the sense of self­worth,” 56­year­old Cheng Wonlan said. So, every day Ms Cheng carries a bag of parcels, letters and documents of all shapes and sizes and does her rounds in North Point. She’s a courier (快递人员).

Five years ago, Ms Cheng was a nurse at a private clinic. She had worked there for almost 30 years but was made jobless when the doctor migrated. It was extremely difficult for her to find another job. “People do not trust my ability when they learn how old I am,” she said. After two years of searching, the mother of two eventually found another nursing job. But then after two years, she quit. Why?

“My colleagues were young and they didn’t understand me because of my age. They often asked me, ‘You are so old; what are you working for?’ I was very unhappy.” she said. So while the rest of her family left for work, she was left to lonely boredom at home. The urge to work drove her to suffering. Then, one of Ms Cheng’s neighbours told her about Employee’s Retraining Board (ERB) offering retraining courses for older people on specific occupations, such as convenience store assistants, junior clerks and so on.

“I was interested in courier work. I didn’t think my age was a barrier because I was fit and healthy. So I thought why not give it a try.” she said. Upon graduation from the ERB, Ms Cheng was offered a job by the Speeding Shuttle Courier Service Company Limited. But then Ms Cheng was faced with a conflict: she was caught between honour and employment. It took Ms Cheng 24 hours to make up her mind and eventually came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong or embarrassing about doing the job. So she took heart and went off to work as a courier.

Ms Cheng’s employer is delighted with her, “Ms Cheng has been working with us for two months and has shown a good responsible attitude to work.” Anthony Chong, who runs the company, said. Currently, Mr. Chong has 60 couriers working for his company: five of them are over fifty, four of whom have been through the ERB plan. Mr. Chong said he hired older people because they were able and reliable. “Age is not an important factor but attitude is. Many old people are more capable than the youngsters. They will not run from difficulties but the young ones will.” he said. “It is not easy to recruit young people since they shy away from hardship and challenges.”

3 . There has been a substantial decline in the number of children who read for pleasure in the last few years. According to the annual Kids and Family Report, in just the last four years, the number of kids that read for fun has dropped by nearly 10%. Today, barely half of the children in the United States report liking to read for enjoyment.

When it comes to reading, kids can come up with a million excuses as to why they don’t like it. It can be frustrating trying to get your child to read, and it’s easy to rely on unsuccessful methods for encouraging reading. Sometimes you tend to nag (唠叨) your child to read, or perhaps bribe(贿赂) him to read by offering him a reward. Unfortunately, these methods often do more harm than good. Nagging can lead your child to feel that he is being forced to read. And while rewarding your child for reading isn’t bad in itself, it shouldn’t be relied upon to get him to read.

It’s similarly important to reserve judgment regarding what your child chooses to read. While it might be your goal for your child to read To Kill a Mockingbird, reading about his favorite band in a teen magazine will also do. Reading is reading, and the more your child does it, the more he will enjoy it. And with increased enjoyment comes more frequent reading.

The first step in getting your child to read more is to help him enjoy doing it. The best way to accomplish this is by providing him with something that he wants to read. Besides, what you do will highly influence what your child does. If you read for pleasure, it establishes the notion (观念) that reading is fun. Research shows that children who are surrounded by readers – their parents, siblings, friends, or teachers - are more likely to become readers themselves.

The Lomax family needed a dog. Though their house was already full with seven people, they knew a dog would truly make the house a home. So they settled on a dog whom they named Jack. It turned out to be the best decision they ever made.

It was Jack’s protective instinct(本能) that would save the lives of the Lomax family. If it wasn’t for him, the family may never have survived the terrible accident that would eventually befall one cold January day in 2020.

It was a night like many others. Autumn, the family’s youngest child and her mother Ashley had settled into bed in one of the bedrooms on the second floor. Jack, who rarely left Autumn’s side, had settled in there as well. Little did they know that something terrible was about to happen that night. While the family was fast asleep, a fire had started in one of the other second floor bedrooms. Jack had picked up a whiff (些微的气味) of smoke in the next room. In an instant, the brave dog jumped into action.

The four-legged family member knew something was wrong but had no way of telling his owners. He jumped up Ashley’s bed and began touching her face. She pushed him off her bed and tried to roll over but he began again, until she was up.

As soon as she could, Ashley took hold of Autumn and began to move away from the door. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran from the room, alerting the rest of the family to the disaster that was taking place. Jack did his part again too, barking loudly. Ashley’s screams woke the four other adults and two more children. All of them headed out into the cold January night. In no time, the fire had engulfed (吞没) nearly the entire home, but luckily, all of them had made it out alive, with Jack leading the way.

10 . A self-service flower shop operated by a college student in Beijing is attracting many young customers,Chinese media reported.

Different from traditional shops in the capital, the young storekeeper surnamed Wang opened the first self-service flower shop where people can select flowers and pay via mobile payment systems including WeChat and Alipay.

Born after 1995 and a lover of fiction,the young man said he began the startup because it will not take up his time."People go to flower shops at any time,"he said."I cannot focus on reading when I have to serve customers," So Wang opened the self-service flower shop after doing market research.

Most young customers like shopping in a free environment,and hate promotion from clerks,he explained,adding that customers can have their questions answered about categories and names of flowers through mobile apps.

Even though there is no shopkeeper the operation has attracted many young customers and proved to be a success,at least for now.

Although he does not sell flowers in the shop in person,Wang said he would call at it at odd intervals every day.

"It is a business with small investment,and it can not cause a huge loss if a burglary（偷盗）occurs,"he said,adding that he trusts people.