【推荐1】It is difficult for a teacher to decide whether to allow students to listen to music in the classroom. Every time students need to write an essay or work on a problem, they say, “Can I put my headphones on? I think better that way.” But is that really true? Does music help concentrate?

Research offers little to back up the idea that listening to music improves concentration. In one small study, 133 students performed reading tasks while listening to either light music, hip hop, or no music at all. Students who performed the reading tasks in silence scored the highest. Music with a higher intensity (强度) like hip hop was more distracting and had a bad effect on task performance.

Volume (音量) plays a more important role than the type of music. The study found that the louder the music, the worse the performance in concentration. The type of music didn’t matter. Data from the study showed once again that silence was the best environment to improve concentration.

However, music has a positive effect on work performance. Studies have showed that listening to music leads to positive changes in mood, as well as creativity. In fact, in music-listening cultures, which students are certainly part of, there’s actually a change in mood when the music is taken away.

It’s hard to convince my students that music doesn’t help with their concentration. Taj, a senior told me, “I wouldn’t be able to concentrate if I were listening to music and trying to read. However, when I write, I feel like music helps me concentrate deeply. I don’t have writer’s block. It’s easy for me to put my words on paper.”

“Maybe not with reading, but when it comes to math, listening to music certainly helps,” Danela told me. “You could actually be singing along with what you’re listening to and doing well in math.”

【推荐1】● Peppa Pig movie adaptation, composed of live action and animation, is scheduled to hit Chinese theatres on Feb. 5th.

The movie " Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year " shrouds (裹) the main characters in a Spring Festival atmosphere, including having a New Year's Dinner Party with her family and friends, a big part of Chinese New Year traditions.

Peppa Pig, which has taken kids by storm all around the world, was first introduced to China in 2015. Now the movie adaptation will celebrate the coming of 2019, which is the Year of the Pig according to the Chinese Zodiac (生肖)。

● This year was a landmark year for movie fans, but next year will also be full of blockbusters and future classics.

"I think there're two massive cinema moments we know about in 2019, of which is "Avengers 4".I think we're going to see more kinds of issues of representation and diversity actually dealt with in a really positive way. "

"Avengers: Endgame" will hit theaters worldwide in April.

● White says there are two more Disney blockbusters to look forward to next year.

"I think realistically, Disney owns so many hugely successful franchises(专营权). You know, they're got the big things like ' The Lion King' and ' Toy Story 4' , which are already getting so much buzz(口碑)."

"The lion King" will be released in July.

Eight years since their last adventure, Buzz, Woody and the rest of the "Toy Story" gang return in the long-awaited fourth film in the series, to be released in June.

● A film called " Chinese Captain" based on a true story of the Chinese pilots will be produced by Bona Film Group in 2019, reports ynet .cn.

At an altitude of 9,000 meters on its way from Chongqing to Lhasa, the cockpit window in front of the co-pilot burst. Co-pilot Xu Ruichen was pulled halfway out of the window due to the sudden cabin decompression, and the control panel was badly damaged. In the face of this extreme situation, Pilot Liu Chuanjian remained calm and brought the plane to a safe emergency landing in Chengdu with no loss of life.

【推荐2】When we think about giving help to developing countries, we often think about giving money so that these countries can build schools and hospitals, buy food and medicine, or find clean water supplies. These seem to be the most important basic needs of the people we are trying to help. However, it's far from enough. Nowadays, we’ve got to come up with better ideas to help them.

A man called Nicholas Negroponte invented a cheap laptop computer that can run without electricity. The laptop is a little different from the normal laptop computers. One difference is that it is covered in rubber so that it is very strong and won't be damaged easily. As an electricity supply can be a problem in developing countries, the computer also has a special handle so that children can wind the computer up to give it extra power when needed.

These special laptop computers will cost less than 100 dollars and Mr. Negroponte wants to build as many as 15 million machines in the first year of production. The idea is that these computers will help the children's education as they will be able to access the Internet. These computers might not help the people in developing counties immediately, but by improving children’s education, they should help people to find their own solutions to their problems in the long term.

Another idea to help children in developing countries is to recycle old mobile phones so that they can be used again. In the UK and many other countries, millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year. The waste created by throwing away these old phones is very bad for the environment, so it seems like an excellent idea to recycle them. In this way we will be able to achieve two important goals at the same time. We will reduce the waste we produce and help others. In other words, we will be able to “kill two birds with one stone”, and that is always a good thing.

【推荐3】Stephen Hawking was regarded as one of the most brilliant physicists in history. His work on the origins and structure of the universe, from the Big Bang to black holes, changed the field greatly. His best-selling books also appealed to a number of readers.

Stephen Hawking had a challenging life. He was born in England on Jan.8, 1942-300years to the day after the death of the astronomer Galileo Galilei. He attended University College, Oxford, where he studied physics, despite his father’s urging to focus on medicine. Hawking went on to Cambridge to research cosmology.

In early 1963, just before his 21st birthday, Hawking suffered from a serious disease more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was not expected to live more than two years. Completing his doctor’s degree did not appear likely. Yet, Hawking had overcome the great difficulties, not only attaining his Ph. D. but also building new roads into the understanding of the universe in the decades since.

Hawking continued at Cambridge after his graduation, serving as a research fellow and later as a professional fellow. In 1974, he was inducted（正式就职）into the Royal Society, a worldwide fellowship of scientists. In 1979, he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, the most famous academic chair in the world.

As the disease spread，Hawking became less mobile and began using a wheelchair. Talking grew more challenging and, in 1985, an emergency tracheotomy（气管切开术）caused his total loss of speech. A speech-generating device was constructed at Cambridge, combined with a software program, serving as his electronic voice and allowing Hawking to select his words by moving the muscles in his cheek. Hawking died on March 14, 2018.

【推荐1】Want to choose a picture book to enjoy? Here are four popular books sold on the website of Amazon, Read and choose your favourite.

So many beautiful memories are collected when relatives come to visit. Join in the fun as a family gets together for a summer they will never forget. Warm and inviting language as well as wonderful pictures brings the story of this family’s summer get-together to life.

Available from Amazon. S11. 26

You know that feeling when you're as excited as you are scared to make a jump. That's how Jabari feels about his first jump off the diving board. He knows how to swim. He knows jumping off surely looks fun. But is he brave enough to make a jump? With some gentle encouragement from his loving father, Jabari jumps.

Available from Amazon. $5.56

Meet Suki. She's a small dog with a big fear of the beach. When a rescue is in order, Suki saves the day proving that there's nothing to fear but fear itself. It is a perfect picture book for kids who are afraid to try new experiences. It opens the door to calming dialogues and messages of bravery and victory.

Available from Amazon. $11.84

Dory's"Just keep swimming!" message of never giving up is perfect for anyone who has ever felt like they were drowning. Follow Dory to an unforgettable adventure as she finds her way in this beautiful adventure of friendship and survival.

Available from Amazon. $12.06

【推荐2】Just like humans, birds too rely on sound to communicate. However, they do not have a “language” in the true sense of the word and instead produce a variety of sounds to convey different emotions.

Often, birds recognize their mates(or young) by sound rather than sight. Hungry young birds use begging calls to let their mothers know it is feeding time. Alarm calls, flight calls and warning calls are other sounds made frequently by adults.

A new study shows that songbirds rehearse(排演) their songs even in their sleep. The activity in the brain of the birds when asleep is similar to the brain activity when the birds were awake and singing. The team used tiny recording devices to measure the activity of individual brain cells in four songbirds both when they were singing and when they were asleep.

Apparently the bird stores a song after hearing it, and then rehearses it later in its sleep. Scientists now believe the birds “dream of songs and tunes” to help them master the fine art of singing and that sleep plays a key role in the learning process!

Many songbirds learn to sing listening to adult birds of the same species. However, if separated from the adults, the young birds develop sounds which are hard to understand instead of normal song patterns. Researchers carried out an experiment in which a male bullfinch (灰雀) was raised by a female canary(金丝雀). The bullfinch soon learned the canary’s song and when it was later mated to a female bullfinch, Mr.Bullfinch taught his children the canary’s songs.

Last year, a British survey of London’s songbirds showed that the city’s birds are losing their tunes. Birds could hardly hear one another, over the traffic noise; as a result, instead of copying the sweet notes of the adults, young birds were copying the sounds they heard most often, namely car horns and beeping cellphones!

【推荐3】“When I think of England, I think of the queen taking her dogs for walk in the countryside,” says Carsten Haferkamp, a dog-owning German working in London. Data from Tractive, a firm that provides GPS tracking for pets, show that Britons walk their dogs more than their European neighbors do.

The British love for dog-walking may have more to do with the walking than the dogs. Britons are big walkers –they came fifth in the world in a study in 2017, the highest in Europe. Dogs provide walkers with company and a purpose, so it may be that walking encourages dog-ownership.

But Julien Dugnoille, an expert at Exeter University, suspects dog-walking has a deeper significance. Dogs, he suggests, are a useful aid to a socially awkward nation. “Britons tend to have a chat with strangers and exchange a few jokes and comments about the weather without putting themselves in danger.”

A tradition among the British nobles of owning and training dogs also leads Dr Dugnoille to assume that dog-walking is a way to keep ancient honor. “When people in the park say Max is very well-behaved,” says Dr Dugnoille, “that is a way to show their authority in the art of dog training compared to those dog owners who are not in control of their own dog.”

But it’s not just about showing off, in his view. He believes walking with one’s best friend creates a time and space where dogs and humans meet as species and connect as individuals.

Still, Britons should not congratulate themselves too much on their behavior towards their dog companions. According to Dr Carri Westgarth of Liverpool University, “People say that a dog needs a walk every day, but they will find reasons why their dog doesn’t need a walk. They’ll say: he’s got company indoors, he’s nervous or he doesn’t like the rain.”

【推荐1】The moment I was born, I seemed to be part of a set, as if my twin brother David and I were a package deal. We faced constant comparisons in our physical appearance. People were always comparing our personalities and academic performances as well! These constant comparisons made me decide not to go to the same university as my twin brother.

That is not to say we didn’t have good academic experiences in the past or didn’t get along. In eleventh grade, we were placed in the same class. I recall arriving early to the first class and being a bit disappointed when I saw David already seated at his desk. It was hard to avoid comparisons when we were in the same class. However, we found that we actually worked well together, in our own way. We would argue about the best way to solve a problem and debate its answer. As the year went on, I noticed that our teacher kept moving us closer and closer together. Our argument was actually productive.

However, we were two very different individuals. I was very involved in after-school activities, while David had better test scores than I did. I’m fond of writing while David enjoys playing computer games. I am currently studying English and French at McGill University, while David is studying computer science at Union College.

Besides escaping comparisons, there have been other benefits to going to different universities. The first one is that we are forced to talk to each other, as we no longer see each other every day. This is healthier for our relationship. The second, also the more important one, is that after having so many similar experiences together we can have our own experiences separate from one another. Going to a different university has benefited me thus far. It allows for more personal growth, and I’m not attached to the label of being a twin.

【推荐2】Throughout history scientists have risked their health and their lives in their search for the truth.

Sir Isaac Newton, the seventeenth century scientist, was very smart, but that didn't stop him from doing   some pretty stupid things. In his laboratory in Cambridge he often did the strangest experiments. Once, while testing how light passes through lenses, he put a long needle into his eye, pushed it to the back, and then moved it around just to see what would happen. Luckily, nothing long-lasting did. On another occasion he stared at the sun for as long as he could bear, to discover what effect this would have on his sight. Again he escaped suffering permanent damage, though he had to spend some days in a darkened room before his eyes recovered.

In the 1750s the Swedish chemist Karl Scheele was the first person to find a way to produce phosphorus. He in fact discovered eight more chemical elements including chlorine , though he didn't get any praise for them. He was a very clever scientist, but his one failing was a curious habit of tasting a little of every substance he worked with. This risky practice finally caught up with him, and in 1786 he was found dead in his laboratory surrounded by a large number of dangerous chemicals, any of which might have been responsible for his death.

Eugene Shoemaker was a respected geologist. He spent a large part of his life studying craters on the moon, and how they were formed, and later did research into the comets of the planet Jupiter. In 1997 he and his wife were in the Australian desert where they went every year to search for places where comets might have hit the earth. While driving in the Tanami desert, normally one of the emptiest places in the world, another vehicle crashed into them and Shoemaker was killed on the spot. Some of his ashes were sent to the moon aboard the Lunar Prospector spacecraft and left there — he is the only person who has had this honor.

【推荐3】Google’s AlphaGo defeated the South Korean Go grandmaster Lee Sedol four games to one Artificial intelligence had suddenly reached a new and unexpected height.

But AlphaGo is no longer the best Go “player” in the world Google’s artificial intelligence group, DeepMind. has created the next generation of its Go-playing program, called AlphaGo Zero The new A1 program is unique in the way it learned to play Go Instead of learning from human matches, as its predecessor (前任) did, AlphaGo Zero mastered Go in just two days without any human knowledge of the game and defeated AlphaGo by day three, reported The Guardian It then went on to defeat AlphaGo 100 games to zero.

To learn how to play Go, AlphaGo Zero played millions of matches against itself using only the basic rules of the game to rapidly create its own knowledge of it tike the previous version, it used “reinforcement (增强) learning to become its own teacher, ”ccording to DeepMind’s website.

“It’s more powerful than previous approaches. ’’ David Silver,   AlphaGo’s lead researcher, told The Guardian, “because by not using human data, or human expertise in any fashion, we’ve removed the constraints (约束) of human knowledge and it is able to create knowledge itself . ”

AlphaGo Zero’s approach to selt-learning is a significant advancement in AI could be applied to help solve some of the world s biggest problems, according a recent research report published in the journal Nature. For example, DeepMind co-founder DemisHassabis argues that AlphaGo Zero could probably find cures for a number of serious diseases within weeks, according to The Telegraph Indeed, the AI is now being used to study protein folding, which is connected to diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

So now that AI has surpassed human beings in some ways, perhaps the question is not about what AI can learn from humans, but what humans can learn from AI We can only wait and see.