I was playing in my kitchen. My mom stood in front of me, hardly keeping the tears from spilling over. She told me that my little cousin had cancer. Hearing this, I went completely numb. How could this be happening? I had just seen her, and she was fine.
These things didn't happen to our family, that's what my uncle said. It seemed like the world turned upside down; just last week my grandmother had passed away. I felt like I couldn't get my feet on solid ground.
That's when my sister, Ella, came down the stairs with her long brown hair freshly washed. She sat next to me and smiled. Despite what was happening, everything would work out, her smile seemed to say.
“Mom, do you think I could get my hair cut tomorrow?” Ella asked.
“Sure,” Mom said, starting to wash the dishes.
“I want to donate it to Locks of Love” Ella smiled.
My mom stopped washing and turned to look at her. “Are you sure?” I noticed that Mom was holding back tears. This was a sacrifice(牺牲) for Ella. Her long hair was an important part of her.
“Yeah, it's just hair. Eventually it will grow back.” She said.
“All right,” Mom said quietly, smiling again.
Ella gave up a part of herself for a while. She let a piece of herself go to someone else, someone she didn't know. That day she became my hero too.
Most teens can't wait to learn to drive. Not so with me. Driving made me nervous. I didn't get a license until I turned 24 years old. As a result, when I first married, we only had one car and car pooled to work. My husband's hours were different from mine by one hour. I worked earlier. So he dropped me off and went to the diner to drink coffee until work time.
Then, in the afternoons, I leisurely walked the three miles to his work place where I waited in his car, reading a book.
One day while waiting for him, I noticed the most beautiful Cadillac pull in the lot. It was powder blue and sleek looking. The kind of car you dream about. I was busily admiring the car, when I noticed the driver. Honestly, she was probably the prettiest woman I had ever seen off the movie screen.
She pulled into the spot beside our car and it was all I could do not to stare. There was a striking resemblance to Liz Taylor. Jet black hair and alabaster skin. Our eyes made contact and she smiled at me. Her eyes were as blue as the sea, and teeth like an even row of pearls. She was wearing a light blue shirt that just matched her car. Peeking through her long, softly curled hair I could see gold hoop earrings. They had to be gold to shine like that. A couple of minutes later, a nice looking man came out of the building, entered her car, leaned over and kissed her and she drove away.
Sitting there in my jeans, shirt and hair in a pony tail, I wanted to cry. How could some people have it all?
Maybe I would have forgotten about her, but the following week, I saw her again. Then it became almost routine to see her about once a week. She seemed friendly and always waved, flashing a big smile. My envy lingered long after she drove away.
Many nights when sleep evaded me, I would think about the beautiful lady. I wondered if she and her husband ate out, and where they dined, and what she was wearing. I wanted her to get out of the car and let me see her full length. Did she wear really high heeled shoes and pants, or a skirt.
I would get my answers in a couple of weeks.
Sitting in our usual parking lot, I was holding my book, watching her over the top of it. She was waiting and when her husband came to the car, she called to him. They spoke a few words and he opened the car door for her to step out. He took her arm and helped her out of the car. I could see very well as she moved to get out. She was wearing a skirt.
She haltingly walked around to the passenger side very slowly, leaning on a walking cane. Sitting sideways in the car, she lifted one leg with her hands and then the other one. The beautiful lady had a prosthesis on the left leg and a brace on the right leg. I couldn't watch them drive away as the tears were blinding me. For weeks I had envied this woman and her way of life, while I had been able to walk three miles to our car!
When my husband arrived and found me crying, he immediately asked what was wrong. Through my tears, I told him about the beautiful lady. He said he knew her husband and also knew the story. The beautiful lady and her parents were in a car that either stalled or got caught on the railroad tracks and was hit by a train. Both parents were killed and she was severely injured. She was only 12 years old. The railroad made a large settlement with her because the crossing had no signals. He explained her car was specially built for her needs as well as the home.
I prayed for forgiveness all the way home. The lady I thought had everything I didn't. I realized how lucky I was to have my parents, the ability to walk, run or dance through life and many wonderful things money can't buy. I would not have traded places with the beautiful lady for anything.
When you meet a person who seems to be much better off than you, don't be fooled.
A group of graduates, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. They talked about the present-day hot topic—Happiness, but conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and different kinds of cups-porcelain（陶瓷的）, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some extremely beautiful—telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.”
“Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup. But you consciously went for the best cups…And then you began coveting each other's cups.”
“Now consider this: life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us. God brews（酿造）the coffee, not the cups…Enjoy your coffee! The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.”
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
A typical lion tamer (驯兽师) in people's mind is an entertainer holding a whip (鞭子)and a chair .The whip get all of the attention , but it's mostly for show .In reality , it's the chair that does the important work .When a lion tamer holds a chair in front of the lion's face , the lion tries to focus on all four legs of the chair at the same time .With its focus divided , the lion becomes confused and is unsure about what to do next .When faced with so many options , the lion chooses to freeze and wait instead of attacking the man holding the chair.
How often do you find yourself in the same position as the lion ? How often do you have something you want to achiever (e,g. lose weight , start a business , travel more ) –only to end up confused by all of the options in front of you and never make progress ?
This upsets me to no end because while all the experts are busy debating about which option is best , the people who want to improve their lives are left confused by all of the conflicting information .The end result is that we feel like we can't focus or that we're focused on the wrong things , and so we take less action , make less progress , and stay the same when we could be improving .
It doesn't have to be that way .Anytime you find the world waving a chair in your face , remember this :All you need to do is focus on one thing .You just need to get started .Starting before you feel ready is one of the habits of successful people .If you have somewhere you want to go , something you want to accomplish , someone you want to become ….take immediate action .If you're clear about where you want to go , the rest of the world will either help you get there or get out the way .
America is well known for being a melting pot of different ethnic groups and cultures, but nowhere is this diversity more pronounced than in Queens, New York.
Here, second-generation Puerto Ricans live alongside third-generation Greeks and first-generation Koreans, all united by a common feeling of pride in their American identity. However, they are also proud and curious about their ancestral roots. National Geographic's Genographic Project, also known as the Human Family Tree, set out to trace the origins by examining their genetic makeup using a simple DNA test. What interested them more was something that intrigues us all: the history of our recent ancestry. One recurring theme among immigrants seems to be the hard work and sacrifices that went into building a new life, and how their descendants now feel a duty to honor that effort by working hard too. Here is one Queens resident's story.
Richard, 38
My great-grandfather Tomas came to America from Poland when he was fifteen. His mother had died, and his father remarried. Tomas didn't like his stepmother, so he ran away to Belgium, where he boarded a ship to America—without a ticket. Arriving in America with nothing, he got a job on the railroads in California. Then one day he saw an announcement in a newspaper that was read by immigrants. It was from his brother in New York who was also seeking his fortune in America and was looking for him. Tomas got in touch and they had an emotional reunion in New York, where Tomas subsequently settled. This is the story that my grandmother has passed down to us, to my parents, and all my aunts and uncles. She is an amazing woman and I suppose: the one who holds us all together. She's actually quite forgetful now, but she never forgets family details. What that has meant is that all of us have a strong family bond and a strong sense of belonging to a group that has struggled and fought together to steered here.
I was born in Fiji and I know firsthand what it is like having an extremely poor background. My only "luck" was having an opportunity to go to school, and I loved it so much. Even when I was sick, I never missed a day. I often compared with my friends who lived near the school to see who could be the first to arrive. It so happened that I lived the furthest, but I always won.
I'll never forget the days when I waited by the school gate for my mother to bring me the $5 school administration fee I needed for each school term. I watched the road for the bus and with each bus that went by without my mother getting off, my heart would sink because I didn't want to be sent home.
Since then, I've never stopped believing how far $5 can go in a poor girl's life. My parents couldn't afford to send all my siblings (兄弟姐妹) to school. I was the youngest, so that $5 fee needed to stay in school came last to me. That $5 represented my dreams, my happiness and my future. We could never afford milk, but my mother always managed to feed us a diet that was basic and filling while saving every penny she could.
Having that $5 each term to stay in school changed my life. I've worked in Australia, Europe and Africa, and now I live in New York. Education has enabled me to travel around the world. But above all, education has allowed me not to be just a bystander or an observer; it has given me the opportunity, confidence and platform to be part of decision-making and a voice for social change.
Growing up, I thought math class was something to be endured, not enjoyed. I disliked memorizing formulas (公式) and taking tests, all for the dull goal of getting a good grade. One of my teachers told my mother that I was "slow". But my problem wasn't with math itself. In fact, when a topic seemed particularly interesting, I would go to the library and read more about it.
By high school, no one told me that I could become a professional mathematician. What I wanted to do then was to play college football. My ambition was to get an athletic scholarship to attend a Big Ten school.
The chances of that happening were very low. But that didn't stop my coaches from encouraging me to believe I could reach my goal, and preparing and pushing me to work for it. They made video tapes of my performances and sent them to college coaches around the country. In the end, a Big Ten school, Penn State, did offer me a scholarship.
I wish math teachers were more like football coaches. Students are affected by more than just the quality of a lesson plan. They also respond to the passion of their teachers and the engagement of their peers, and they seek a sense of purpose. They benefit from specific instructions and constant feedback (反馈).
Until I got to college, I didn't really know what mathematics was. I still thought of it as laborious (耗时费力的) calculations. Then my professor handed me a book and suggested that I think about a particular problem. It wasn't easy, but it was fascinating. My professor kept giving me problems, and I kept pursuing them, even though I couldn't always solve them immediately. The mathematical research I was doing had little in common with what I did in my high school classrooms. Instead, it was closer to the math and logic puzzles I did on my own as a boy. It gave me that same sense of wonder and curiosity, and it rewarded creativity. I am now a Ph. D candidate in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
I have a degree in business. However, it was my father's decision for me to follow a business major (专业). He thought that having a business degree would make me more competitive and provide me with more available options in entering a global marketplace. I took his advice. However, even though my college experiences were fantastic, I still had no interest in any field of commerce, let alone having a long-term career (职业) as a businesswoman.
After I graduated, I worked as a marketing planner at a computer company. My pay and working environment were great; however, I still didn't feel happy doing something that I wasn't interested in. After two months of working there, I made up my mind to quit and decided to do what I love, namely teaching English. I have now been an English teacher for over twenty years. I love my job and love being with my students.
If you are in a place where you don't love what you are learning or doing, please ask yourself what you are really enthusiastic about, and what you truly want for your life. Don't rush to get yourself a quick answer. Take some time to think about what career could make you happy. The important thing is that you are happy and then you are able to bring happiness to people around you. Therefore, you will be a success. There is a quote(引语) that says, "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success." If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
Growing pains and gains
It's not easy to grow up. Actually it's far from easy. Growing up can be a real "pain" for some of us. We are always doing things that someone else makes us do and aren't allowed to do all the things we like. Sometimes we feel trapped, sometimes we are fearful, and sometimes we just don't understand why we can't stay young forever. When we look back on all the hardships in life with a positive attitude (态度), we realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains!
As a young girl my parents forced my sisters and me to do so many things that I never liked. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time I hated music, just because it was what they wanted me to do. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched my life in so many ways. I realize that my parents and teachers were always pushing me along, not because they wanted me to suffer but because they wanted me to succeed in life. They've always wanted me to have a better life than they did themselves.
Every moment of our lives we are either living or dying, so live life to its fullest! We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just small pains in life. They might seem so huge at the time but we must be strong. Think about how we would feel if we had no fear and live life like that. The future is ours! A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone! If we realize that these pains are just small bumps (凸块) on our road to success we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains!
Of course, she wasn't really my aunt and, out of fear, I never called her that to her face. I only referred to her as "My Aunt Fannie" because the name always made my father laugh quietly and gave my mother cause to look strictly at both of us—at me for being disrespectful of my elder and at my father for encouraging my bad behavior. I enjoyed both reactions, so I looked for every opportunity to work the name into as many conversations as possible.
As a young woman, my mother worked in the kitchen of a large Victorian farmhouse. During those years, my mother helped Aunt Fannie make the best blueberry jam ever tasted by anyone in Glenfield. She was wellknown for her jam and for never sharing the recipe with others. Even though my mother knew the recipe by heart, as long as Aunt Fannie was alive, she never made the jam without Aunt Fannie in the kitchen.
Each August, my mother would prepare me for Aunt Fannie's visit. One year, after I had helped with the jam process, Aunt Fannie gave me a coin and then made me promise that I would never spend it. "Hold onto this coin，" she said, "and someday you will be rich. I still have my very first coin, given to me by my grandmother." So, I kept the coin in a small box and waited to become rich.
I now have the blueberry jam recipe and the coin from Aunt Fannie. In people's eyes Aunt Fannie's success resulted from that secret recipe. But to me, it was just a common recipe. Neither have made me become a rich person, but I keep them as reminders to hold onto the valuable things in life. Money can make you feel rich for a while, but it is the relationships and the memories of time spent with friends and family that truly leave you wealthy. And that is a fortune that anyone can build.
One rainy afternoon, I was on a cross-town bus when a young woman jumped on. She had a child with her who must have been about 3 or 4 years old.
The bus was full, bumpy, and it soon got noisy as her kid began crying because he couldn't sit next to his mother. There were a couple of open seats, but they weren't together. She was flustered and looked embarrassed.
Then another woman, a little older, stood up and moved so that the mother and child could sit together. The mom smiled as a thank-you. And then three words came out of the older woman's mouth that elevated the entire energy of that bus ride:" I've been there".
Simple, undramatic and honest. In that moment, it seemed to unite people. Why? Because almost all experiences are shared human experiences. We forget that, as we forge (前进) through life, focused on our own troubles and needs—which are actually less unique than we think. How can these three words create more connection in your life? Ask yourself: "Where am I holding back?"
One thing I know for sure is this: Healing others helps heal yourself. I noticed this recently with my friend, Tracy, who took a new friend who had suffered miscarriage under her wing. Tracy had three of them before having her daughter two years ago. Our intellect needs a doctor to explain the medical side of things, yes. But our souls need human connection to help us along. No one can do that better than someone who has been exactly where you are.
Can the essence of these three words help you make a small difference right now? It can be as simple as volunteering your seat, sharing some helpful advice or even lightening the mood with a joke when you notice that someone's uncomfortable -because we're all in this together.
I always had the preference to take on more than I should when I was young. At times, I wanted to prove to myself that I could handle it. At other times, my purpose was to please someone and gain recognition for my efforts. Sometimes this led to stress or frustration.
When I was an IT manager after college graduation I was assigned to work with a wealthy customer and be a go-between (中间人)for my company. I took on the assignment happily, thinking that this might be my time to shine. However, the customer's demands proved to be more than I could do with. And the company chose to stand by the customer and tried to meet his unreasonable requirements rather than stick to what we had originally offered in the contract. As you can imagine, this led to a lot of unexpected problems and arguing with some of the staff who refused to do anything outside their scope (范围) of work. I remember walking into my office one morning, opening my laptop and staring at the blank screen for long, thinking to myself: What should I do? That was a difficult time in my life and then I finally had to give up my first job and left that company sadly.
Perhaps, I thought then, I could find the job that didn't involve dealing with difficult people and difficult situations. But later I realized: Is this possible in our modern world? No, it is impossible. Now, I know, I shouldn't run away from the challenges I faced in life: I had to learn how to deal with them. I regret not persevering (坚持) in my job. We should train ourselves to look at things from a positive point of view, because that is far better than being trapped in the bad circle depression. I've come to see that when faced with difficulties, I should not give up, but persevere.
I felt like I had clicked my heels three and come to a country away from home every morning as I walked through the doors at the Embassy (大使馆) of Australia in Washington. Musical Aussie accents and Aboriginal art exhibits made me wonder if I had entered without a visa. In fact I was a temporary employee, a public affairs unpaid intern (实习生) for three months during the summer in order to engage myself in the culture of the country where I planned to study the next spring.
During the summer I read the Australian news every day. Working at the embassy allowed me to escape the U. S. for six hours per day and learn about what was going on across the planet. After reading the daily Australian and U. S. news I usually helped prepare a PowerPoint presentation for school kids who visited the embassy as part of a school activity. Depending on whether an embassy event was going on, I would attend weekly meetings to listen to planning and see what I could do to help. Usually there were smaller tasks to be done such as creating visitors guides.
The most fantastic event in which I participated was the visit of the Australian Prime Minister. As the only American among countless Australian media and staff, I felt comfortable and was kept busy taking pictures and recording door-stop interviews at famous sites such as the Capitol. As an intern, you will not be exposed to top-secret information, but you are on the inside when it comes to special events.
Government work is a useful addition to one's experience. As an embassy employee you will gain invaluable knowledge while spending your summer in a culturally diverse workplace.
When I grow up
In kindergarten, my class was asked to draw pictures, showing what we wanted to be when we grew up. Our drawings were expected to display our dream occupations. I remember pictures of ballerinas dancing, firefighters putting out a blaze, and astronauts leaping across the moon.
My picture showed a figure with brown hair holding a box of orange juice beside a counter. Underneath was my handwriting: "When I grow up, I want to work at Market Basket because it would be fun to swipe (刷) orange juice across the scanner. " Out of everything, my five-year-old self wished to work at the local grocery store.
When we are young, questions of what we want to be when we grow up are common. Yet we are not expected to respond with an answer that is likely to come true. However, when we become teens, we are asked the very same questions twice as often. The difference is, now we are supposed to answer with confidence.
Teens are expected to know exactly what we want to be and how we will favor that goal. However, not all of us can be so sure. Even though I am in high school, I cannot answer with supportive ideas. But I don't consider that a bad thing. How am I supposed to know what I will want to spend my time doing at age 40?
When I think about the future, I definitely don't see myself working at Market Basket, but in reality, if that was what would make me happy, I would do it. So, the next time someone asks me what I want to be when I grow up, I will simply say "happy"。
Happiness is a destination for everyone. We may want to walk different paths in life, but we all want to be happy wherever we end up. Choose your path, but don't worry too much about choosing wisely. Make a mistake or two and try new things. But always remember, if you're not happy, you're not at the end of your journey yet.
I became interested in writing at an early age. So when my fourth-grade teacher told me about a famous writers' conference where students of my age could meet published writers, I decided to go. I began thinking about the writers whose stories I loved—July Blume, Beverly Cleary, Shell Silverstein and wondered if they would be at this conference.
Well, I went to the conference, but I was a little disappointed. None of them were there. But the conference was well organized, and every half hour we would move on to hear a new writer speak. Soon the last period of the day came. A man introduced himself and gave the same little speech we had heard since that morning. Then, he threw in a twist (转折).
"Stories are more than just words thrown together," he said. "Words are more than just letters thrown together. You must also notice the mood or the tone of your ideas. "
He left that idea sink in and then asked us about the difference between a house and a home. We all thought that was a difficult question, and made some wild guesses at it.
"Class," he explained, "the difference between a house and a home is in the mood or the tone. A house is the building—the wood, the bricks, the lighting, the refrigerator. A home is the love and warmth and comfort you feel as you walk through the house. "
I've kept that statement in my memory ever since that day. Writing is more than just filling up a blank page with words; it's about expressing your ideas with clarity(清晰) and the mood. And that's why I like it.
It was a weeknight and one of my twin daughters marched into the room, waving a book she'd finished. "Dad, why are books with science in them always about boys?" she asked.
I told her that simply wasn't true; there were loads of great science fictions with girls in them. She agreed, but argued that in those stories it was the boys who were doing science, and the girls were just along for the ride. My other daughter took her sister's side and challenged me to give an example.
This left me in a difficult position. I could either go through our library to point out some wonderful examples of female-led science fictions, or just admit they were right and remain in my comfortable chair.
I've been asked several times how I came up with the idea for A Problematic Paradox and my answer is always the same: it came to me in a moment of inspiration. I like that answer because it's simple and makes me seem very creative. The fact that this explanation is not true bothers me from time to time. Here's the truth: the story wasn't my idea. It was my daughters who suggested I write something for them that had a girl doing science.
My daughters were at an age when many young women turn away from STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), believing those areas of study unfriendly or out-of-the-norm for girls. I also read about how important role models can be to young people. It's one thing to tell a person they can do something, but seeing someone like them doing that thing can be more powerful.
So, I kept two guidelines for the book in mind: First, the story had to be fun for anyone, because it's as important for boys to understand that science is for everyone. Second, I wanted the main character, Nikola, to be imperfect. She should be someone with shortcomings as we all have. I think this not only makes a story more interesting to read, but also helps make it clear that the most extraordinary things can be done by ordinary people.
Last week was Sports Day at my daughter's school. She was part of the Yellow House. She had to wear yellow and race for points. The Yellow House won. I was really pleased for my daughter because last year the Green House won. In fact，when the winning house was announced last year, many little faces turned sour. There were many tears and children were bitter because they had lost.
Losing is never fun. From a young age children know that winning is the best result. As parents, we can talk to children about the importance of everyone having a chance to win; we can teach our children to be happy for their friends when a friend wins.
As children grow older they will be exposed to more and more competition. It is important that we teach our children to learn to "bounce back" from losses, to experience loss in a positive way and to keep on going even when they don't achieve the desired outcome.
By teaching children how to be resilient(适应性强的), we can prepare them for adult life in the future. Our children can learn to compete for fun and learn how to bounce back from life's failures and disappointments.
We can talk to our children about competition. We can teach by examples and show our kids that losing a game or failing a test is not the end. Losing is simply a chance to try again and a chance to become more successful.
Raising emotionally healthy children is very important for the future generation and by teaching our children the above principles we can help them to overcome the difficulties of life and they will learn to compete in healthy ways throughout their lives.
North Americans value independence, and Europeans value togetherness. I never fully understood that stereotype until two months ago, when I left Canada for a 4-month period in a lab in France. On my first day, Pierre, a Ph.D. student, tapped me on my shoulder and asked: "Coffee?" I nodded and followed him to the common room, where other grad students were filing in. I sat there, cautiously sipping the bitter liquid and trying hard not to reveal my uncultured tastes, while lab chatter filled the air.
Coffee breaks are a ceremonial part of lab culture here. The chatter sometimes turns to serious scientific topics. But mostly, the meet-ups offer a chance to wind down, to share stories about life inside and outside the lab and to sympathize with people who understand what you're going through.
The lighthearted atmosphere and sense of community is a welcome contrast to my life in Canada, where I spent most of my workdays in isolation. I went into the lab each morning with set goals for my day. At lunch, I'd keep my eyes glued to my computer while I fed forkfuls of salad into my mouth, trying to power through my to-do list. For 9 months, I struggled to figure out why I couldn't exactly copy the results of another study. I didn't want to trouble my advisor too much. I was also hesitant to ask my labmates for help.
How much we were missing! Researchers need community because good ideas don't just come from reading literature and thinking deep thoughts. It's helpful to bounce ideas off others, and, to have a venue to share the day-to-day ups and downs of life.
Would coffee breaks have solved all my problems? Probably not. But I think sharing ideas with my peers would have helped solve my research dilemma. My time in France has taught me that it's important to create space for organic conversations about lab life. A scientist's life can feel isolating, but it's not necessarily so when you're connected to a supportive community.
When we do not understand each other's language，we can talk with the help of body language.
A Frenchman was once traveling in England. He couldn't speak English at all. One day he went into a restaurant and sat down at a table. When the waiter came，he opened his mouth, put his fingers in it and took them out again. He wanted to say, "Bring me something to eat." The waiter soon brought him a cup of tea. The man moved his head from side to side. The waiter understood him and took the tea away. In a moment he came again with a cup of coffee and put it on the table. The man again refused his offer. He shook his head whenever the waiter brought him something to drink, because drinks are not food. When the man was going away, another man came in. This man saw the waiter, and he put his hands on his stomach. That was enough. In a few minutes there was a large plate of meat and vegetables on the table in front of him.
So you see, we can understand the language of signs as well as we can understand the language of words.
