【推荐2】For the most part, you are probably only exposed to the music that is played on your favorite radio stations, TV shows, and music websites, or the music that your friends and family members enjoy. While you probably know a lot about your favorite type of music, it can be a rewarding experience to enlarge your horizons( 眼界 )if you are trying to discover artists and types of music that you’re not familiar with. You might discover you like certain types of music you never even considered.

Have you ever wondered about the history and influences of your favorite types of music? For example, do you know that rock and roll originated ( 起源 )from blues, and that blues began as a form of musical expression for African Americans during slavery? Do you know that most hip-hop is heavily influenced by early rhythm of blues and jazz?

There are many fun ways to learn about different musical styles and their historical roots. For example, if you like hip-hop, listen to some of your favorite CDs and take notes of the samples the performers used to create the songs. There is a possibility that the artists used parts of older songs to create the music. You can go to the library or online to learn more about the artists and listen to more of their music by checking out CDs from the library or downloading songs online.

You can learn so much about culture and history just by paying attention to different types of music and what is being expressed in the songs . There are so many different styles of music to learn about, and you owe it to yourself to make an effort to listen to and learn about them.

【推荐3】Throughout all the events in my life, one in particular sticks out more than the others. As I reflect on this significant event, a smile spreads across my face. As I think of Shanda, I feel loved and grateful.

It was my twelfth year of dancing, I thought it would end up like any other year: stuck in emptiness, forgotten and without the belief of any teacher or friend that I really had the potential to achieve greatness.

However, I met Shanda, a young, talented choreographer (编舞者,舞蹈指导). She influenced me to work to the best of my ability, pushed me to keep going when I wanted to give up, encouraged me and showed me the real importance of dancing. Throughout our hard work, not only did my ability to dance grow, but my friendship with Shanda grew as well.

With the end of the year came our show time. As I walked to a backstage filled with other dancers, I hoped for a good performance that would prove my improvement. I waited anxiously for my turn. Finally, after what seemed like days, the loudspeaker announced my name. Butterflies filled my stomach as I took trembling steps onto the big lighted stage. But, with the determination to succeed and eagerness to live up to Shanda’s expectations for me, I began to dance. All my troubles and nerves went away as I danced my whole heart out.

As I walked up to the judge to receive my first place shining, gold trophy (奖杯), I realized that dance is not about becoming the best. It was about loving dance for dance itself, a getaway from all my problems in the world. Shanda showed me that you could let everything go and just dance what you feel at that moment. After all the doubts that people had in me, I believed in myself and did not care what others thought. Thanks to Shanda, dance became more than a love of mine, but a passion.

【推荐2】Sohrab's gaze bounced from the kite to me. Back to the sky.

I took off running, my sneakers splashing rainwater from puddles, the hand clutching the kite end of the string held high above my head. It had been so long, so many years since I'd done this, and I wondered if I'd make a spectacle of myself. I let the spool roll in my left hand as I ran, felt the string cut my right hand again as it fed through. The kite was lifting behind my shoulder now, lifting, wheeling, and I ran harder. The spool spun faster and the glass string tore another gash in my right palm. I hadn't flown a kite in a quarter of a century, but suddenly I was twelve again and all the old instincts came rushing back.

I felt a presence next to me and looked down. It was Sohrab. Hands dug deep in the pockets of his raincoat. He had followed me.My heart quickened as I spun the spool to gather the loose string.

Then I saw we had company. A green kite was closing in.

His gaze flitted between our kite and the green one. His face was a little flushed, his eyes suddenly alert. Awake. Alive. I wondered when I had forgotten that, despite everything, he was still just a child.The green kite drew closer yet, now rising a little above us, unaware of the trap I'd set for it. "Watch, Sohrab. I'm going to show you one of your father's favorite tricks, the old lift-and-dive.The park shimmered with snow so fresh, so dazzling white, it burned my eyes. It sprinkled soundlessly from the branches of white-clad trees.

The green kite hovered directly above us now. "He's going for it. Anytime now,?I said, my eyes flicking from Sohrab to our kite.The green kite hesitated. Held position. Then shot down. "Here he comes!?I said.

I did it perfectly. After all these years. The old lift-and-dive trap.   I'd already slipped him Hassan's trick. I pulled hard and our kite plummeted. I could almost feel our string sawing his. Almost heard the snap.

Behind us, people cheered. Whistles and applause broke out. I was panting. The last time I had felt a rush like this was that day in the winter of 1975, just after I had cut the last kite, when I spotted Baba on our rooftop, clapping, beaming.

I looked down at Sohrab. One corner of his mouth had curled up just so.

A smile.   Lopsided.   Hardly there.   But there.

"Do you want me to run that kite for you??

His Adam's apple rose and fell as he swallowed. The wind lifted his hair. I thought I saw him nod.

"For you, a thousand times over,?I heard myself say.

Then I turned and ran.

It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn't make everything all right. It didn't make anything all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing. A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird's flight.

But I'll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting.

I ran. A grown man running with a swarm of screaming children. But I didn't care. I ran with the wind blowing in my face, and a smile as wide as the Valley of Panjsher on my lips.

I ran.

【推荐3】As a child, there was nothing I liked better than Sunday afternoons at my grandfather’s farm in western Pennsylvania. Surrounded by miles of stone walls, the house and field provided endless hours of fun for a city kid like me.

Since my first visit to the farm, I had wanted more than anything to be allowed to climb the stone walls surrounding the houses. My parents would never agree because the walls were so old that some stones were loose and falling. However, my idea to climb across those walls grew so strong that finally I had all my courage to enter the living room, where the adults had gathered after Sunday dinner.

“I want to climb the stone walls.” I said. “Heavens, no! You’ll hurt yourself !” The response was just as I’d expected. But before I left the room, I was stopped by my grandfather’s loud voice. “Now hold on just a minute.” I heard him say. “Let the boy climb the stone walls. He has to learn to do things for himself.”

“Go,” he said to me, “and come and see me when you get back.” For the next two and a half hours I climbed those old walls — and had the time of my life. Later I met with my grandfather to tell him about my adventures. I’ll never forget what he said. “Fred,” he said, smiling, “you made this day a special day just by being yourself. Always remember, there’s only one person in this whole world like you, and I like you exactly as you are.”

Many years have passed since then, and today I host the television program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, seen by millions of children throughout America. There have been changes over the years, but one thing remains the same: my message to children at the end of almost every visit. “There’s only one person in this whole world like you,” the kids will hear me say, “ and people can like you exactly as you are.”

【推荐1】A study of 3,884 students from primary schools to colleges found that examinations made 83.1 percent of primary students anxious, and more than 40 percent of high school children were out of sorts （身体不适）because of stress and anxiety.

Moreover, 75 percent of the high school respondents admitted that they had problems talking to their parents and more than 55 percent of them found it hard to associate with other people, according to the study.

It is not difficult to conclude that our children are not happy.

Today's kids are coming home from school weighed down with backpacks full of books and worksheets. They are spending hours at desk at night, seldom going outside to play and getting to bed late.

How can this be a good thing?

Homework is eating away children's time to play freely with neighborhood kids - and more importantly, their time to sleep.

Homework can enrich the education process. But like all things, too much of it may dampen （减 少）a student's enthusiasm for learning. To raise cheerful, contented and well-mannered children, parents need to put in a lot of time and effort. Their eyes should go beyond their children's preparations for tests. Children need a break too. So let them be in control of parts of the day.

【推荐3】Plastic is the workhorse material of the modern economy (经济). Lightweight and durable, it’s been used to make a vast number of products since its introduction over 100 years ago.

However, a study carried out by the World Economic Forum, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey Company showed the status of the breakdown in the global plastic system. A full 32% of the 78 million tons of plastic packaging produced annually is left to flow into our oceans.

The Ocean Cleanup, a start-up founded in 2013, is the brainchild of Boyan Slat, who came up with the idea for the company when he was just 17 years old. Since then, it’s received more than $2 million in funding(基金). The company plans to use a large array (列阵) that will be fixed to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. This will have arms that spread out over 100 km, getting all of the plastic garbage pushed into its nets. This is then collected by a 10,000-metre-cube container that will be emptied monthly.

Most recently, the Ocean Cleanup launched a team of explorers aboard a specially refitted C-130 Hercules aircraft heavily loaded with specialized sensor equipment. It discovered that the problem was worse than expected with an abundance of plastics measuring up to 1.5 m across and at a higher density than previously thought. The organization will continue to pilot the array and will start cleaning the pile before the end of the decade.

Once the plastic is out, what should we do with it? The foundation (基金会) hopes that the plastic from the ocean will have a commercial value which can help to fund the project. Ocean plastic is not easy to use, it’s mixed by nature consisting of everything from intact PET bottles to micro plastics. However, some of the world's biggest companies also see the chance to market oceans plastic products.

Transforming today’s plastics economy from its present form (take-make-waste) to a zero waste circular economy (take-make-take-make) is a difficult challenge. However, with cooperative action from producers, recyclers, governments and consumers alike and continuing innovation (革新) it can be done.

【推荐1】Six Neanderthals who lived in what is now France were eaten by their fellow Neanderthals some 100,000 years ago, according to fearful evidence of the cannibalistic (食人的) event discovered by scientists in a cave in the 1990s. Now, researchers may have figured out why the Neanderthals , including two children , became victims of cannibalism   (食人):Global warming.

While previous studies have examined Neanderthal remains to find proof of cannibalistic behavior, this is the first study to offer clues as to what may have led Neanderthals to become cannibals. Scientists found that rapid changes in local ecosystems as the planet warmed may have wiped out the animal species that Neanderthals ate, forcing them to look elsewhere to fill their stomachs.

The researchers examined a layer of sediment (沉积物) in a cave known as Baume Moula-Guercy, in southeastern France. In that layer , charcoal (碳)and animal bones were so well-preserved that scientists could reconstruct an environmental picture representing 120,000 to 130,000 years ago. They discovered that the climate in the area was likely even warmer than it is today , and that the change from a cold ,dry climate to a warmer one happened quickly .Maybe within a few generations, “study co-author Emmanuel said. As the animals that once populated the landscape disappeared, some Neanderthals ate what they could find-their neighbors.

Cannibalism is by no means unique to Neanderthals, and has been practiced by humans and their relatives “from the early Palaeolithic   to the Bronze Age and beyond,” the study authors reported. The behavior adopted by the starving Neanderthals in the Baume Moula-Guercy should therefore not be viewed as “a mark of bestiality(兽性)or sub-humanity ”, but as an emergency adaptation to a period of severe environmental stress, according to the study. The findings were published in the April issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

【推荐2】We’ve all heard the same warning: looking at your phone or another screen before bed is very bad for you. It may make it harder for you to fall asleep and prevent you from getting a good night’s rest. Most sleep doctors suggest turning off screens an hour before bedtime. The reality is that, for the majority of us, cell phones, tablets, or TVs are the last things we look at before we close our eyes. Our smartphones can sometimes feel like an extension of our bodies because we’re so physically connected to them. Screens in general have become such a prominent part of our lives that it can feel completely unrealistic to put them away earlier in the evening. But according to sleep doctors, it’s a smart idea to at least give it a try.

At night, your brain starts to produce a hormone called melatonin(褪黑色素), which keeps your circadian rhythm on track and helps you fall asleep, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Being exposed to bright light suppresses melatonin production, says Philip Richard Gehrman, a behavioral sleep specialist and associate professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. “Blue light has the strongest impact,” he adds, “and the types of LED lights used in most electronic devices are strongest in the blue part of the spectrum.”

Why is blue light particularly bad? Dr. Gehrman explains that the very specialized cells in the eyes that feed into our sleep system and circadian rhythms, called retinal ganglion cells, respond strongly to blue light in comparison to other types of light.

“Beyond the light you’re exposing yourself to, there’s also the simple truth that it’s easy to get caught up in what you’re reading or watching, which leads to staying awake a lot later than you should,” says Shelby Harris, clinical psychologist in private practice in New York. “Even if you’ve got the self-control to switch off Netflix after a reasonable number of episodes, depending on what you just watched or read, you may be too mentally stimulated to fall asleep anyway.”

【推荐3】From service robots in virtual stands to 5G applications displayed in cloud booths (展 台), several innovations stood out at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services （CIFTIS）, which was held from Sept 4 to 9 in Beijing. Themed "Global Services, Shared Prosperity", the event has presented many cutting-edge technologies. Let's take a look.

Al-powered garbage-sorting robot

It can detect and sort the garbage on the conveyor belt and then throw it into different dustbins. For example, it will put plastic bottles and containers into recyclable dustbins. With advanced technologies such as cloud computing and robot automation, the robot can sort through garbage with an accuracy of 98 percent, which will significantly reduce operating costs and improve efficiency.

Bionic (仿生的)machine shark

A dark gray, life-size "shark", was also displayed at CIFTIS. This bionic shark can move forward by imitating the swinging motion of fish tails. It has a maximum speed of six knots （about 11 kilometers per hour）, which is much faster than the average speed of about two knots of other bionic submersible (潜水的)vehicles. It is equipped with lighting, a camera system and imaging sonar (声呐),which can be used for underwater searches, seafloor mapping and underwater shooting.

Driver fatigue (疲劳)warning system

A warning system to prevent people from falling asleep while driving was introduced at the fair. It can judge whether the driver is sleepy by monitoring how long the driver's eyes close or if his or her head drops. If the driver enters a state of fatigue, the system will immediately sound an alarm until the driver's eyes reopen and he or she starts to blink at a normal frequency. In the future, other dangerous driving behaviors, such as not wearing a seat belt and making phone calls while driving, might also be added into this warning system.