选择知识点

Suppose you’re in a rush, feeling tired, not paying attention to your screen, and you send an email that could get you in trouble.

Realization will probably set in seconds after you’ve clicked “send”. You freeze in horrors and burn with shame.

What to do? Here are four common email accidents, and how to recover.

Clicking “send” too soon

Don’t waste your time trying to find out if the receivers have read it yet. Write another email as swiftly as you can and send it with a brief explaining that this is the correct version and the previous version should be ignored.

Writing the wrong time

The sooner you notice, the better. Respond quickly and briefly, apologizing for your mistake. Keep the tone measured: don’t handle it too lightly, as people can be offended(冒犯), especially if your error suggests a misunderstanding of their culture(I.e. incorrect ordering of Chinese names).

Clicking “reply all” unintentionally(无意)

You accidentally reveal(透露)to the entire company what menu choices you would prefer at the staff Christmas dinner, or what holiday you’d like to take. In this case, the best solution is to send a quick, light-hearted apology to explain your awkwardness. But it can quickly rise to something worse, when everyone starts hitting “reply all” to join in a long and unpleasant conversation. In this instance, step away from your keyboard to allow everyone to calm down.

Sending an offensive(冒犯的) message to its subject

The most awkward email mistake is usually committed(犯) in anger. You write an unkind message about someone, intending to send it to a friend, but accidentally send it to the person you’re discussing. In that case, ask to speak in person as soon as possible and say sorry. Explain your frustrations calmly and sensibly—see it as an opportunity to clear up any difficulties you may have with this person.

A sense of humor is the ability to be amused. Most people have one, and are able to laugh at jokes and humorous situations. In humans, it is often considered to be an important part of human development.

Why is it that several students in a class will fall out of their chairs laughing after I tell a joke, while the rest of the students look as if I’ve just read the weather report? Obviously, some people are more sensitive to humor than others. And, we recognize that some people tell jokes very well while others struggle to say something funny. Some people have a better sense of humor than others just as some people have more musical talent than others.

    Humor, as a form of entertainment, can be analyzed in order to discover what makes a funny story or joke seem funny. Here, for example, are some of the most common types of humor. They range from the most obvious humor to the more subtle(微妙含蓄的) types, that is, “Slapstick”, “Crosstalk” and “A play on words”.

“Slapstick” is the most obvious humor. Its language is simple and direct, and often makes fun of another person or group. It appeals to (引起……的兴趣) all ages and all cultures. Nearly every English-speaking comedian in this century has used the following joke in one form or another. One man asks another, “Who was that lady I saw you were with last night?” The other replies, “That was no lady; that was my wife.” The humor lies in the fact that the second man is saying that his wife is not a lady. In other words, she is not a refined (优雅的) woman. The joke is no less funny because it is so often used. The audience knows in advance what will be said, because it is classic humor, and any audience values it even more because of its familiarity.

The most important determining factor of success or failure – at work and in life – is self-awareness, the ability to understand who we are, how others see us, and how we fit into the world.

For millions of years, the ancestors of humans evolved painfully slowly. However, about 150,000 years ago there was an explosive development in the human brain where, among other things, we gained the ability to examine our own thoughts, feelings and behaviours, as well as to see things from another’s point of view. Not only did this transformation create the foundation for art, spiritual practices and language, but it came with a survival advantage for our ancestors, who had to work together in order to survive.

Though we may not face the same day-to-day threats to our existence, self-awareness is no less critical. There is strong scientific evidence that people who know themselves and how others see them are happier. They are smarter, superior students. They raise more mature children. They also tend to be more creative, confident and less aggressive.

But for most people it is easier to choose self-delusion（自我欺瞒）rather than the cold hard truth. Our increasingly “me” focused society makes it easier to fall into this trap. Recent generations have grown up in a world obsessed with self-esteem（自负）, constantly being reminded of their special qualities. Not only are our assessments often flawed（有缺陷）, but we are usually terrible judges of our own performance and abilities – from leadership skills to achievements at school and work. What’s scary is that the least competent people are usually the most confident in their abilities.

How can we avoid this fate? We must work on two specific types of insight. Internal self-awareness is an inward understanding of our passions and aspirations, strengths and weaknesses and so on. And external self-awareness, knowing how others see you, means understanding yourself from the outside in.

It would be easy to assume that someone with internal self-awareness would also be externally aware – that being in touch with our feelings and emotions helps us tune into how we’re seen. Strangely, research has often shown no relationship between the two–some studies have even revealed an inverse（相反的）one.

For those looking to gain true insight, remember that other people often see us more objectively than we see ourselves and that self-examination can have hidden pitfalls（陷阱）that make insight actually impossible.

Getting caught in a traffic jam can be one of the most depressing things about traveling around a busy city. Now engineers in China have come up with a solution that could reduce traffic.

“Batie”, an elevated bus that is 4.8 meters high and 7.8 meters wide, allowing it to travel over vehicles (such as cars, buses, or trucks) with a height of less than 2 meters. holds passengers on its upper level and lets traffic pass under it, made its first test run on Aug 2 in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province.

 It can cut down on traffic greatly and therefore reduce the country’s increasingly worrying air pollution, the developers of the TEB told The Week.

 It is also expected to save costs compared with other public transportation (交通运输) like the subway. “Able to carry 1,200 people at a time, the TEB has the same functions as the subway while its cost of construction is less than one fifth that of a subway” Bai Zhiming, the engineer in charge of the TEB project, said in a video interview with CCTV News.

 While it has been said that the bus could be a solution to world’s traffic problems, it has also caused criticism (批评) and doubt.

Yao Tao, head of the Nanjing Institute of City and Transport Planning, listed some other possible problems, including the fact that present traffic facilities (设施) and rules would have to be changed.

“Safety is the most important thing,” Liu Daizong, China transport program director at the World Resources Institute, told CNN. “How would cars drive and turn under the bus? If there were an accident, how would you move passengers and vehicles out from underneath?”

 Increasing numbers of airports, especially in Europe, are promoting a "silent airport" idea. It is to reduce noise pollution, such as airport-wide announcements, without sacrificing timely and helpful updates of information.

   International airports were once characterized by their high voices, competing gate announcements and so on.

   This is all changing.

   Angela Gittens, director general of Airports Council International (ACI), says there is a growing desire among airports and airlines they serve to "create a calm, relaxed atmosphere" without being disturbed by announcements.

   "Passengers can relax while they wait for their flight to board in the common airside lounges(休闲区), and food and drink areas," she says.

   In June, Helsinki Airport in Finland—a country where the tourism slogan is "Silence, Please" —became the most recent airport to adopt the silent concept.

   As part of its commitment to quieting things down, announcements for flights are made only in boarding gate areas.

   Lost track of time in the shop?

   Too bad.

   Nobody's going to call you to your flight, as announcements in all terminals will be made only in exceptional emergency circumstances.

   Heikki Koski, vice president of Helsinki Airport, says that improved flight information display systems and interactive kiosks(交互式自助服务机), together with advances in mobile technology, are changing the way airports communicate with passengers.

   At Munich Airport, InfoGate kiosks allow for video-based, face-to-face conversation with a live customer service representative in the traveler's language of choice. Interactive signs, on the other hand, give directions at the touch of finger. Passengers can tap a "you are here" display to get directions and approximate walking times to their destinations.

   Of course, an airport will never be as silent as a temple.

   There will continue to be a need for airport-wide emergency announcements, along with boarding calls.

   But at silent airports, the latter can be restricted to specific gates, as has been adopted in Helsinki.

People who possess high self-esteem are able to commit better and produce a greater bond in relationships with others. Dr. Douglas feels that most people do not value themselves, but with love and self-respect anyone can be above normality and grasp success with the family, the office, or others.

    We have become too reliant on intelligence, beauty, and money for our own self-esteem. The loss of esteem reduces the will and ability to set and reach goals. In a series of readings Douglas teaches how to avoid negative statements, how to change them into self-facing behavior, and how to take charge of your mental attitude. Where other motivational and self-help works stop with the theoretical plan for success, Douglas takes everyday examples and puts them into his books. From raising children who believe in themselves to using self-esteem to help bridge gaps in the workplace, he gives readers concrete solutions to the problems that might ruin their interpersonal relations.

    Self-esteem building comes from filling your thoghts with positive affirmations（肯定）and learning to react to failures with motivation instead of self-destruction. These lessons are valuable for anyone who feels that life is even slightly out of control. People who feel they have adequate esteem can learn to use it to make their success grander, faster, and more beneficial for others. Douglas approaches this process of self-development as a means of more than creating good things for the individual but also for setting up keys for influencing good things for others.

    For more than thirty years, Dr. Douglas has addressed more than two million people on topics from time management to speaking effectively to raising drug-free children. He is the author of fifteen books, including How to Make a Habit of Succeeding.