—The trees           well, but we didn't water them.

    I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows(誓约) mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.

    So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion(提升), the bigger paycheck, the larger house.

    Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure(空闲); it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.

    It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It_is_so_easy_to_exist_instead_of_to_live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.

    By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion(激情) as it ought to be lived.

    When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from China.

    When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans. Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now.

    Still, her answer surprised me, “Green tea.”

    As long as I can remember she didn't even drink Indian tea.

    I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story. My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses.

    At the turn of the century，China was not really familiar to the average Indians. It was a strange country.

    How things change! And how soon!

    Now every town of any size seems to have a “China Market”. And everyone is talking about China.

    The government of India has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done. A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investments(投资) and such a step would “work wonders as it did for China”．

    But it's a two way street. I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Bangalore to train in software. Meanwhile, all the Indian IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China.

    No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago，was expected to hit about $15 billion for last year and $20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments.

    No wonder，my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino－Indian(中印) century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino－Indian Friendship Year.

    But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea.

    Rome wasn't built in a day, and the Internet didn't come out of a golden egg. Many of today's creations were not born of people who had creative ideas, but who did not stop at simply having an idea. They took one brick of capital (资本), another brick of knowledge, perhaps a brick or two of family and friends, and built their empires (帝国) brick by brick.

    If you want to build an online empire, you cannot settle for simply having a website full of articles, or a website full of pictures—there are already thousands of sites like that, so you need to come up with something new and creative.

    So if you are starting to build something up, ask yourself: what do you really want to do, and what are you really good at? Believe it or not, you can make money at something that you are an expert in, and you need to know what that is.

    Remember, having an online empire does not mean that you have to do it alone. You can take your friends along with you. Having a friend advertise your services online is a good way to attract more visitors to your empire.

    Building an online empire, you will have to be prepared to not only come up with creative ideas, but to carry your ideas through. Talk to people who have already succeeded in building their own empires. Talk to people who are struggling. Join a mailing list that will help you get through your struggle to achieve your goal.

    As you move forward, you will find that you can help other people, and you will have a good many stories to tell—not to mention a lot of money in the bank.

    If you learn the real secrets of creating a long term stable (稳定的) online business then you will have enough money to retire on.

    Learning to speak English well may be the best thing you can do to improve your life. That's right. If you can communicate in English, you can do the following things:

    Contact (联系) people from all over the world. Talk about your ideas and opinions on Internet discussion groups. Send e-mails to interesting people. Learn about their life and culture.

    Travel more easily. Communicate with people wherever you go—English is spoken in more than 100 countries. Ask directions, have a conversation, or ask for help. Maybe English will save your life some day!

    Push your career forward. If you want a good job in business, technology, or science, get out of that armchair and start learning English now! If you already have a good job, start learning before you lose it! Knowing English will let you do the following things:

    Put “excellent knowledge of English” on your CV (履历). Get your dream job, and earn more money.

    Gain technical knowledge. English is the language of technology, especially high technology like computer science, and medicine. If you're going to read about technology, you'll probably have to do it in English.

    Be a world-class businessman or woman. It's simple. International business is done in English. And all business today is international. So if you want to play, you have to know English—to contact other business people, go to conferences, and read international business newspapers and magazines, ect.

    Become a better scientist. Contact scientists from other countries, go to international conferences, and visit research centers abroad. Learn about new scientific discoveries by reading papers, books, and magazines.

    Use your computer more effectively. Most computer applications are in English, so you will understand them better—and become a better employee.

阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

    Several countries in Asia celebrate the Lunar New Year in their own way. But dragon and lion dances in Chinatowns all over the world have helped to make China's New Year the most famous. These days growing (number) of people who are not of Chinese origin are joining in. In Tokyo window cleaners dress up like the animals of the Chinese Shengxiao. America, Canada and New Zealand have published memorial stamps for the year of the rooster. Last year New York City made the Lunar New Year school holiday for the first time.

    The spread of the Spring Festival is (part) due to recent immigration from China: 9.5 million Chinese people (move) abroad since 1978, many of are far richer than earlier waves of immigrants.

    Aware China's growing economic and political influence, foreign leaders have noticed the occasion. Britain's prime minister, Theresa May, has given a video address, a tradition (start) in 2014 by her predecessor (前任) . This year's World Economic Forum in Davos was held a week earlier than usual (avoid) conflicting with China's New Year.

    China hopes the festival will promote  (it) cultural “soft power” abroad. It may give the Chinese people (satisfy) to see foreigners enjoy such festivities.