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　　The most common complaint about cellphones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them．But more damaging may be the cellphone's interruption of our thoughts．

　　We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our cellphones, and this is in generally a healthy, protective development．“I didn't hear it ring” or “I didn't realize my phone had shut off” are among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we're beyond reach．

　　The concept of being unreachable is not new – we have “Do Not Disturb” signs on the doors of hotel rooms．So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cellphones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?

　　The problem is that we come from a long-established tradition of difficulty with distance communication．Until the recent mass use of cellphones, it was easy to communicate with someone next to us or a few feet away, but difficult with someone across town, the country or the globe．We came to take it for granted．

　　But cellphones make long-distance communication common, and endanger our time by ourselves．Now time alone, or a conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished．Even cellphone devotees, myself usually included, can't help at times wanting to throw their phones away, or curse this invention．

　　But we don't and won't, and there really is no need．That we have the right to take back our private time is a general social recognition．

　　In other words, we don't have to pay too much attention to the rings of our own phones．Given the ease of making and receiving cellphone calls, if we don't talk to the caller right now, we surely will shortly later．

　　A cellphone call deserves no more importance than a word from the person next to us．Though the call on my cellphone may be the one-in-a-million from Steven Spielberg－who has finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie．But most likely it is not, and I'm better off, thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the slice of pizza I'll eat for lunch．

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　　Do you ever wonder how some things came about? For instance, who figured out that there was something worth eating inside a banana peel? Or how astonishing do you have to be to discover that an artichoke has edible parts? Well, we may not know how either of those foods was discovered, but we do know how potato chips were invented．

　　Potato chips originated in New England as one man's variation on the French-fried potatoes, and their production was the result not of a sudden inspiration of cooking invention but of a fit of annoyance．

　　It was the summer of 1853 and Commodore Vanderbilt, a wealthy railroad magnate, was vacationing at a hotel named Moon Lake Lodge in New York．On the restaurant menu were French-fried potatoes, prepared in the thick-cut French style that was popularized in France in the 1700s and enjoyed by Thomas Jefferson as ambassador to that country．

　　At dinner one night, Vanderbilt complained that his French-fried potatoes were cut too thick and sent them back to the kitchen．Offended by his snobby guest, chef George Crum decided he would give Mr．Vanderbilt exactly what he asked for! He decided to annoy the guest by producing French fries too thin and crisp．The chef angrily gathered up some potatoes and sliced them paper-thin．He threw the slices into hot oil to fry, drained and salted them and then personally served the new dish to Mr．Vanderbilt．

　　Surprised to see the chef in the dining room, the other diners fell into silence and everyone held their breath, waiting for Vanderbilt's reaction．

　　Vanderbilt immediately popped a crisp potato slice into his mouth and the loud “Crunch” broke the silence．He continued to crunch away, delighted with his new dish．The plan backfired．Vanderbilt was interested in the browned, paper-thin potatoes．Clapping a surprised Chef Crum on the back, Vanderbilt praised him on the impressive potatoes．And other diners requested Crum's potato chips, which began to appear on the menu as “Saratoga Chips”, a house specialty．Soon they were packaged and sold, first locally, then throughout the New England area．Crum eventually opened his own restaurant, featuring chips．At that time, potatoes were peeled and sliced by hand．It was the invention of the mechanical potato peeler in the 1920s that paved the way for potato chips to rise quickly from a small specialty item to a top-selling snack food．

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　　I was shopping in the supermarket when I heard a young voice．

　　“Mom, come here! There's this lady here my size!”

　　The mother rushed to her son; then she turned to me to apologize．

　　I smiled and told her, “It's okay．” Then I talked to the boy, “Hi, I'm Darryl Kramer．How are you?”

　　He studied me from head to toe, and asked, “Are you a little mommy?”

　　“Yes, I have a son,” I answered．

　　“Why are you so little?” he asked．

　　“It's the way I was born,” I said．“Some people are little．Some are tall．I'm just not going to grow any bigger．” After I answered his other questions, I shook the boy's hand, and left．

　　My life as a little person is filled with stories like that．I enjoy talking to children and explaining why I look different from their parents．

　　It takes only one glance to see my uniqueness．I stand three feet nine inches tall．I was born an achondroplasia dwarf．Despite this, I did all the things other kids did when I was growing up．

　　I didn't realize how short I was until I started school．Some kids picked on me, calling me names．Then I knew．I began to hate the first day of school each year．New students would always stare at me as I struggled to climb the school bus stairs．

　　But I learned to smile and accept the fact that I was going to be noticed my whole life．I decided to make my uniqueness an advantage rather than a disadvantage．What I lacked in height, I made up for in personality．

　　I'm 47 now, and the stares have not diminished as I've grown older．People are amazed when they see me driving．I try to keep a good attitude．When people are rude, I remind myself, “Look what else I have － a great family, nice friends．”

　　It's the children's questions that make my life special．I enjoy answering their questions．My hope is that I will encourage them to accept their peers(a person of the same age, class, position, etc．), whatever size and shape they come in, and treat them with respect．

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　　The new iPhone 3G should please everyone．Its look and feel are only slightly improved, but a faster network loads Web pages more quickly, true GPS functionality allows it to easily

　　find places nearby, and the new ＄199 price(down from ＄400)makes it an affordable luxury．

　　Before deciding whether to buy, however, make sure you can actually take advantage of the iPhone 3G's high-speed data network．3G stands for third-generation, which in non-geek speak translates to Web pages and mail messages that, ideally, load about three times faster than on the original iPhone．Even better, 3G coverage enables you to make a phone call and surf the Web at the same time．That's great, if you live or work in a place where the 3G network of AT&T(美国电话电报公司)(the sole wireless carrier of the iPhone)is active．That's not so great in cities like New York where AT&T's cellular coverage is awful．As one of my colleagues in New York City, who bought the original iPhone, commented, "It's just a toy．You can't make phone calls on it, so I carry my Verizon phone with me all the time．"

　　The real fun begins when you tap on the icon called "App Store" and start browsing the hundreds of add-on applications that have been developed just for the iPhone．You'll find tons of games(I like JirboBreak, a free game inspired by the Atari classic Breakout)and mobile versions of popular websites like Pandora, Facebook, MySpace and the New York Times．Most apps will cost you, but the vast majority are ＄9.99 or less．The apps work on the old iPhones too, but you'll enjoy them a lot more on the iPhone 3G because many of the programs, including Yelp(local business reviews), Whrrl(mobile social networking)and UrbanSpoon(restaurant reviews), use your exact location - provided by the iPhone 3G's GPS chip - to make recommendations．The apps also load much faster over the 3G network．

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　　It is difficult to imagine what life will be like without memory．The meanings of thousands of everyday perceptions(感觉、知觉), the bases for the decisions we make, and the roots of our habits and skills are to be found in our past experiences, which are brought into the present by memory．

　　Memory can be defined as the capacity to keep information available for later use．It includes not only “remembering” things like arithmetic or historical facts, but also involves any change in the way an animal typically behaves．Memory is involved when a rat gives up eating grain because he has sniffed something suspicious in the grain pile．Memory is also involved when a six-year-old child learns to swing a baseball bat．

　　Memory exists not only in humans and animals but also in some physical objects and machines．Computers, for example, contain devices from storing data for later use．It is interesting to compare the memory-storage capacity of a computer with that of a human being．The instant-access memory of a large computer may hold up to 100,000 “words”－ready for instant use．An average U．S．teenager probably recognizes the meaning of about 100,000 words of English．However, this is but a fraction(部分、片断)of the total amount of information which the teenager has stored．Consider, for example, the number of faces and places that the teenager can recognize on sight．

　　The use of words is the advanced problem-solving intelligence of human beings．A large part of a person's memory is in terms of words and combinations of words．

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　　People all over the world today are beginning to hear and learn more and more about the problem of pollution．Pollution is caused either by man's release of completely new and often artificial substances into the environment, or by releasing greatly increased amounts of a natural substance, such as oil tankers into the sea．

　　The whole industrial process which makes many of the goods and machines we need and use in our daily lives, is bound to create a number of waste products which upset the environmental balance, or the ecological balance as it is also known．Many of these waste products can be prevented or disposed of sensibly, but clearly while more and more new and complex goods are produce there will be new, dangerous wastes to be disposed of, for example, the waste products from nuclear power stations．Many people, therefore, see pollution as only part of a larger and more complex problem, that is, the whole process of industrial production and consumption of goods．Others again see the problem mainly in connection with agriculture, where new methods are helping farmers grow more and more on their land to feed our ever-increasing populations．However, the land itself is gradually becoming worn out as it is being used in some cases, too heavily, and artificial fertilizer cannot restore the balance．

　　Whatever its underlying reasons, there is no doubt that much of the pollution caused could be controlled if only companies, individuals and governments would make more efforts．In the home there is an obvious need to control litter and waste．Food comes wrapped up three or four times in packages that all have to be disposed of; drinks are increasingly sold in bottles or tins which cannot be reused．This not only causes a litter problem, but also is a great waste of resources, in term of glass, metals and paper．Advertising has helped this process by persuading many of us not only to buy things we neither want nor need, but also to throw away much of what we do buy．Pollution and waste combine to be a problem everyone can help to solve by cutting out unnecessary buying ,excess consumption and careless disposal of the products we use in our daily lives．

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　　It is often necessary to release a fish, that is, set it free after catching, because it is too small, or you just don't want to take it home to eat．In some cases, releasing fish is a good measure that will help keep fish variety and build their population size．The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries(DGIF)encourages fishermen who practice catch-and-release fishing to use a few simple skills when doing so．The advice provided below will help make sure that the fish you release will survive to bite again another day．

　　－When catching a fish, play it quickly and keep the fish in the water as much as possible．Don't' use a net in landing the fish and release it quickly to prevent it from dying．

　　－Hold the fish gently．Do not put your fingers in its eyes．Don't wipe the scales(鱼鳞)off the fish because it might cause it to develop a disease and reduce its chance of survival．

　　－Remove your hook quickly．If the hook is too deep or hooked in the stomach, cut the line and leave the hook in．The hook left inside will cause no serious problem to the fish．

　　－Take good care of the fish by moving it gently in water．Release the fish when it begins to struggle and is able to swim．

　　－Do not hold fish in a bucket or some other containers and later decide to release it．If you are going to release a fish, do so right away．

　　With a little care and by following the suggestions given above, you can give the released fish a better chance of survival．

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　　Psychiatrists (精神病专家) who work with older parents say that maturity can be an asset in child raising－older parents are more thoughtful, use less physical discipline and spend more time with their children．But raising kids takes money and energy．Many older parents find themselves balancing their limited financial resources, declining energy and failing health against the growing demands of an active child．Dying and leaving young children is probably the older parents' biggest, and often unspoken, fear．Having late-life children, says an economics professor, often means parents, particularly fathers, “end up retiring much later．” For many, retirement becomes an unobtainable dream．

　　Henry Metcalf a 54-year-old journalist, knows it takes money to raise kids．But he's also worried that his energy will give out first．Sure, he can still ride bikes with his athletic fifth grader, but he's learned that young at heart doesn't mean young．Lately he's been taking afternoon naps(午睡)to keep up his energy．“My body is aging,” says Metcalf．“You can't get away from that．”

　　Often, older parents hear the ticking of another kind of biological clock．Therapists who work with middle-aged and older parents say fears about aging are nothing to laugh at．“They worry they'll be mistaken for grandparents, or that they'll need help getting up out of those little chairs in nursery school,” says Joann Galst, a New York psychologist．But at the core of those little fears there is often a much bigger one：“that they won't be alive long enough to support and protect their child,” she says．

　　Many late-life parents, though, say their children came at just the right time．After marrying late and undergoing years of fertilily (受孕) treatment, Marilyn Nolen and her husband, Randy, had twins．“We both wanted children,” says Marilyn, who was 55 when she gave birth．The twins have given the couple what they desired for years, “a sense of family．” Kids of older dads are often smarter, happier and more sociable because their fathers are more involved in their lives．“The dads are older, more mature,” says Dr．Silber, “and more ready to focus on parenting．”

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　　Interest in pursuing international careers has risen in recent years, as a result of chronic (长久的) personnel shortages that are causing companies to search beyond their home borders for talent．

　　Professionals seek career experience outside of their home countries for a variety of reasons．They may feel the need to recharge their batteries with a new challenge．They may want a position with more responsibility that encourages creativity and initiative．Or they may wish to expose their children to another culture, and the opportunity to learn a second language．

　　When applying for a job, one usually has to submit a resume or curriculum vitae (CV)．The two terms generally mean the same thing：a one- or two-page document describing one's educational qualifications and professional experience．However, guidelines for preparing a resume are constantly changing．The best advice is to find out what is appropriate regarding the corporate (公司) culture, the country culture, and the culture of the person making the hiring decision．The challenge will be to embrace two or more cultures in one document．The following list is a good place to start．

　　● Educational requirements differ from country to country．In almost every case of “cross-border” job hunting, just stating the title of your degree will not be an adequate description．Provide the reader with details about your studies and any related experience．

　　● Pay attention to the resume format you use chronological or reverse-chronological order．Chronological order means listing your “oldest” work experience first．Reverse-chronological order means listing your current or most recent experience first．Most countries have preferences about which format is most acceptable．If you find no specific guidelines, the general preference is for the reverse-chronological format．

　　● If you are submitting your resume in English, find out if the recipient (收件人) uses British English or American English because there are variations between the two versions．For example, university education is often referred to as “tertiary education” in the United Kingdom, but this term is almost never used in the United States．A reader who is unfamiliar with these variations may assume that your resume contains errors．

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