1 . On August 25, an American family’s vacation went terribly wrong. A man, his wife and their three children stopped at a shooting range (靶场) in the southwestern state of Arizona, where people pay to fire guns at targets. Charles Vacca worked for the business, called Bullets and Burgers. He helped the family’s nine-year-old girl shoot a submachine gun called an Uzi. But the girl lost control of the weapon. At least one bullet hit Mr. Vacca in the head. He fell to the ground. Later, he died of his injuries.

No one has been charged with a crime. In fact, the families of both Mr. Vacca and the girl have said they feel very bad for each other. But the event has made Americans talk once again about guns and children. In the United States, federal law bars anyone younger than 18 from owning a handgun. But, many state laws give young people the right to shoot all kinds of guns under certain conditions.

Some Americans say children (like adults) need to learn to shoot a weapon so they can protect themselves. Others say shooting guns is just part of the way they grow up. But “safety” is a word many people use when it comes to children and guns. Last year, the Pew Research Center reported that over one-third of American homes have a gun. So, the argument goes, children could easily see a gun at home, or in the home of a friend or neighbor, and decide to fire it. Indeed, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital says about 1,500 children die every year from a gun accident. Many more are injured.

Laura Cutilletta is a lawyer for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. She said most U. S. states have firm restrictions on keeping children away from guns in the home. But state laws about children hunting or shooting for fun, such as at a shooting range, are much looser.

In general, most states permit children to hunt or use a gun when an adult is with them. But, Laura Cutilletta notes that even a responsible adult cannot protect a child who is too young to shoot a gun safely. And, she says no one needs to shoot the most powerful guns just for fun.

2 . At your next meeting, wait for a pause in conversation and try to measure how long it lasts.

Among English speakers, chances are that it will be a second or two at most. But while this pattern may be universal, our awareness of silence differs dramatically across cultures.

What one culture considers a confusing or awkward pause may be seen by others as a valuable moment of reflection and sign of respect for what the last speaker has said. Research in Dutch (荷兰语) and also in English found that when a silence in conversation stretches to four seconds, people start to feel uneasy. In contrast, a separate study of business meetings found that Japanese people are happy with silences of 8.2 seconds---nearly twice as long as in Americans’ meetings.

In Japan, it is recognized that the best communication is when you don’t speak at all. It’s already a failure to understand each other by speaking because you’re repairing that failure by using words.

In the US, it may originate from the history of colonial (殖民地的) America as a crossroads of many different races. When you have a complex of difference, it’s hard to establish common understanding unless you talk and there’s understandably a kind of anxiety unless people are verbally engaged to establish a common life. this applies also to some extent to London.

In contract, when there’s more homogeneity, perhaps it’s easier for some kinds of silence to appear. For example, among your closest friends and family it’s easier to sit in silence than with people you’re less well acquainted with.