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Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit Although she was never an ardent follower of any formal religion, my mother’s own faith endured throughout her life: her faith in love, her faith in the miracle of nature, and her faith in the goodness of life. She honored this second chance at life at every opportunity that presented itself and most of all at the end of her life, through her work for UNICEF.Sometimes a near-death experience can free us of the shackles that life slowly trains us to wear. We come to realize what’s worth the sweat and what isn’t. Although she had no memory of her childhood near-death experience, the knowledge of it, coupled with the fertile ground of an already self-effacing nature, were the roots of the humility that graced her entire life.I never heard her say, “I did this,” or “I’ve done that.” Toward the end of her life, throughout the UNICEF years, I would hear her say regularly, as the world listened to her, “I can do very little.” I never heard her say that she liked any of her performances. When people complimented her, she would always shy away and ultimately explain how those who surrounded her were the reason for her success. Bessie Anderson Stanley wrote, “To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.” By Ms. Stanley’s standards, my mother’s life was a success: She was graced with good choices. The first choice she made was her career. Then she chose her family. And when we, her children, were grown and had started our lives, she chose the less fortunate children of the world. She chose to give back. In that important choice lay the key to healing and understanding something that had affected her throughout her entire life: the sadness that had always been there.Her choices healed the sadness of a little girl who didn’t know her father for most of her life and yet who yearned and longed for that warm embrace, that reassurance that you are loved and that you matter. When I look back, that is just what she gave to Luca and me: the reassurance that we were loved and that we mattered. This was the most valuable essence, the roots that live and grow forever inside you. She truly was a wonderful mother and friend.Dream machinesIn China's bigger cities, the rivers of bicycles—once one of the most vivid images of urban China—have been replaced with streets jammed with cars, most of them, terrifyingly, in the hands of novice drivers. By banning or severely restricting motorcycle use in these cities, China has leapfrogged the development pattern of its Asian neighbours, where the motorbike has usually provided the newly affluent with their first taste of effortless mobility. Shanghai, home to about 9m ordinary bikes, aroused a flurry of media criticism last year by banning them from main roads in the centre. But they are less and less used these days.To some extent, China's embrace of the car has been a predictable result of growing urban affluence. But several other factors caused demand in China, at least until a year ago, to soar beyond expectations. A huge boost came when China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, which required a considerable easing of barriers on car imports. The prices of domestically-produced cars fell rapidly in anticipation of tariff reductions, and have continued to do so by 10% or more a year.Price cuts, and the introduction by foreign car companies of cheaper models (made at their factories in China), also helped put car ownership suddenly within reach of a fast-growing new middle class.“There is some similarity between the Chinese and American approach,” says Jean-Claude Germain, the chief representative in China for Peugeot Citroën. “When somebody doesn't have the cash to buy a car he will dream and will do everything to be one day in the position to have this product.”Another crucial engine of demand was a dramatic transformation in the social and economic structure of Chinese cities. Ten years ago, most urban residents were employed by state-owned factories or other entities with links to government. They lived in housing assigned by their employers, virtually rent-free and usually close to where they worked. A bicycle, or public transport, was usually adequate to take them farther afield. The banks, too, did not lend to individuals.Since the late 1990s, however, housing has been largely privatised. Many state-owned factories have closed down or been shifted to suburban areas to reduce pollution in the cities and make way for new development. Close-knit communities have been scattered, often to the suburbs, to places ill-served by public transport and far from places of work..Most people in the countryside—where 60% of the population live—will never get beyond dreaming of having a car. But the psychological impact on many urban residents of the car's sudden affordability has been considerable.Health and Wealth, Which to Prefer?“ Health is wealth!” This is an old saying which the majority applaud. As a rule, the wealthier you are, the weaker is your health, but this cannot be applied to all.A person that has health can afford to challenge all hardship. For example, collies, who are usually stout and strong, though having only two stable meals a day or even one, are very energetic. With their energy, they earn their living., Although such occupation brings little reward as compared with the energy they have exerted, they enjoy life whatever things may be.Business is based on health. Surely, in good health a student can absorb knowledge more readily. And, being in good health, a scientist can achieve more success whereas, the weak learner loses his ability to tackle the complex technical problems.Frequently we find millionaires cling close to their doctors for they seldom have enough exercise to bring forth better health. Their lack of exercise slackens the readiness of growth of the antibodies to resistthe attack of diseases.We can take the famous wealthy film star, Elizabeth Taylor as an example. Does she find real happiness, having to frequent the hospitaland at the edge of death? So, what can we benefit from wealth if we don not have health?The Most Important Speech of the CenturyWe learned how far up he’s come on New Year’s Day when every Chinese newspaper heralded a 6,000- word speech in which Deng signaled the end of thousands of years of Chinese xenophobia.It may eventually come to be regarded as the most important speech of the century. For in it, the Maximum Leader of the nation that comprises one-fourth of mankind served notice that China is joining the rest of the world in the 20th century.“ No country can develop by closing its door,” said Deng, “ We suffered from this, and our forefathers suffered from this.” Reversing thousands of years of official hostility to the world outside the Great Wall, Deng said simply, “ Isolation landed china in poverty, backwardness and ignorance.”This startling admission contradicts thousands of years of Chinese policy, going back beyond the Ming Dynasty to the Chin Dynasty, when the wall was erected to keep barbarians on horseback out in the wilds where they belonged.Deng’s message: Do not renounce Marxism, but adopt capitalist ideas where they make sense—“it cannot harm us.” Economic reform, spearheaded by younger leaders, is the single most important bulwark for the nation’s security, for only with economic strength can bombs, missiles and planes by purchased.If China is trying to catch up to the rest of the world inthe20th century, may behe 21st will belong to them. They have people, brains and they can be impressively disciplined. And their industrial potential is awesome.It may come to be commonly accepted in the next century that the most significant speech ever given by a fellow with a cowboy hat came not from Ronald Reagan but from an 80-year –old Chinese man.YouthYouth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of easy. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.Whether 60or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.Tips for Buying Your First Digital CameraI. SpeedFirst-time digital camera buyers often do not think about whether the camera that they buy will take a photograph the instant that they depress the shutter. But in digital photography, “shutter lag” must be a consideration.In lower-priced cameras, there will often be a small, aggravating delay between the time when you press the shutter button and the time when the picture is actually taken. In other words, you may not actually get the picture that you thought you took.Some digital cameras also take a considerable amount of time to store the photographs that you on the memory card. This time can be anywhere from a few seconds up to a minute. With some cameras, you won’t be able to take an additional picture until the previous photo has been fully written to the camera’s memory card.If at all possible, try several camera models at your local store to find out whether their speed is adequate for your needs. Typically, higher-priced models are faster, but not always.II. ZoomThe zoom capability of digital cameras is typically another key selling point. With a decent-range zoom, you can snap a picture up close, and then zoom out to focus on a distant object.There are two types of zoom: optical and digital. It’s important to note that digital zoom words by cropping out the central portion of the image that you are taking and blowing it up digitally. For that reason, digital zoom is of lower quality than true optical zoom. Digital cameras generally offer 2x or 3x optical zoom ,and digital zoom kicks in after you bump into to the limit of the optical zoom capability.III. FocusAutofocus digital cameras are pretty much the norm these days. Not all cameras, however, are equally adept at focusing. Generally, one quality that separates the better cameras from the lesser cameras is how quickly the camera can focus—and how well the camera can focus on areas of low contrast. You should be able to get some idea of the focusing capability of a particular model by trying it out at the store.Another focusing feature which has become quite popular is a “macro ”mode. Macro focusing allows you to focus on a subject only a few inches away. With a good macro capability, you can take dramatic photographs in minute detail.。