대리 결혼식
If you've been to a lot of weddings, you've heard these words. Or have you? Listen closely. "By the authority vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife--by proxy."

우연의 일치
Every so often, the Washington Post newspaper gives its readers a chance to tell personal stories. A recent one had to do with a coincidence--an unexpected convergence between two events or people.

호칭
In a recent Chicago Tribune newspaper column, Mary Schmich makes a provocative, politically correct point. She writes, "People are entitled to be called what they want to be called."

음식이 바닥에 떨어졌을 때
Not long ago, another colleague was chatting away at the coffee pot when a cookie slipped from his grasp. He calmly reached down, picked it up, gave it a quick brush with his hand, and devoured it.

잔디깍기
It wasn't so long ago, when someone was mowing the lawn with an old-style push mower, that you'd hear comments like, "I didn't know they still MADE those things."

중국 짝퉁
The Bush administration recently introduced legislation to strengthen intellectual property rights enforcement and impose stiffer prison sentences against those convicted of certain types of counterfeiting.

계층간 교육 장벽 무너뜨리기
American public schools and universities have always been engines for social mobility. But too often, those educational institutions help reinforce and even widen the gap between the rich and poor.

살빼기 모임
Carole Carson admits she had abused her body for more than 40 years by eating too much, dieting every now and then, and not exercising on a regular basis.

자동차 디자인의 중심지
Californians love their cars, as they have since the automobile was introduced more than a century ago. Today the region is home to more than a dozen design shops where new concepts are explored.

실리콘 밸리의 힘
Much of its wealth and dynamism is centered in Silicon Valley which, during the Internet technology boom of the 1990s, spawned more than 29,000 high-tech firms.