Last summer, Maria and her mother moved from their house in the countryside to a flat building in Chicago. Maria really liked some things about the city, but she missed her house and yard in the countryside.

One day, Maria was in her flat building when she noticed her neighbor, Mrs. Garcia, carrying a gardening tool and a bag of soil. Maria wondered how Mrs. Garcia was able to garden in the city.

“My mom used to grow the most delicious vegetables, and I know she misses her garden now that we don’t have a yard,” said Maria.

Mrs. Garcia laughed. “I’ll show you,” she said.

Maria thought that Mrs. Garcia would take her to the park, but she took her to the roof. When the door opened, Maria was surprised to see rows of flowers and vegetables on the roof.

“What a wonderful garden!” said Maria.

Mrs. Garcia told Maria that for a long time the roof was just an empty space. Then some of the people in the building asked the owners to turn it into a community garden. The building owners liked the idea because the plants not only helped to keep the air clean, but they also helped to keep the building cooler during warmer weather.

“I plant flowers in my own place,” Mrs. Garcia said, “but you would be surprised by how different the plants are up here. Some people grow vegetables just like your mom. You can do some of the same things in the city as in the countryside. You just have to be creative!”

Sharing could be giving somebody a gift, helping someone by donating some money, sharing your food with a poor and hungry person. It can simply mean giving some time to help others.

When you receive something from others, it makes you happy. On the other hand, when you give something to others, it makes both you and the receiver happy. From the outside, sharing seems to give away a part of your time, resource or space to others. But when you share something with others, you can get all kinds of positivities inside and outside yourself. It can enhance your mood, reduce your stress level, decrease your blood pressure, and have a long-term effect on your life and longevity (长寿).

Sharing makes you bigger inside and in your society as well. Take knowledge and love for example, the more you share, the more you get. If you make sharing a part of your life and practice it in your daily life, you will get more out of your life directly or indirectly, like help, support, love, cooperation, and a lot more from others even at a time when you are not expecting it. This is why it makes you bigger and happier when you share something with others.

We are living in a global village where each one of us is related to each other in some way or other. When you volunteer, you give away your time or wealth or knowledge to a person or a group of people. You will realize that you are not alone in the big world. As a result, you won’t feel left out in your society. Sharing advances cooperation and social connection. To live harmoniously, we should learn and practice sharing our life with others. Sharing could be one of the ways to build an ideal society.

So, what are you waiting for? Start giving a part of yourself to others and see how your life becomes more beautiful, positive, lovely and satisfying. Giving makes you better, bigger, and brighter inside you, in your society, and even in the entire global village.

Recently, a computer virus called “WannaCry” hit about 100 countries worldwide. With computer security agencies taking responsive measures, the attack has weakened. Actually, the virus is not totally new — it used the EternalBlue exploit developed by the United States’ National Security Agency that was stolen by hackers.

The incident teaches us at least two lessons. First, there is nothing absolutely safe in the Internet age. Even if developed by law enforcers, a powerful computer attack tool is at risk of being acquired by lawbreakers.

In early 2016, there was a debate between the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and some Internet companies over the question of whether electronic device producers should leave a “backdoor” for legal enforcers to better strike at terrorists. Now we have the answer — No.

No one can ensure that such a “backdoor” will never be used by lawbreakers and the best choice is not to open such a door in the first place.

Second, it is important for computer users to purchase and install genuine (正版) software. If a computer user updates his or her windows operating system regularly, he or she is relatively safe. A patch (补丁) released Microsoft in March had already filled in a security loophole in the Windows operating system that could be made use of by the new virus. However, only genuine software could be updated. Computers that use pirated (盗版) copies of the windows operating system have no choice; they will be exposed to the risk.

Fortunately, with the protection over copyrights (版权) strengthened, increasingly more people are acquiring the habit of using genuine products. Hopefully, next time the virus will not spread so rampantly (猖獗).