【推荐3】We all love scenic views of the ocean, lakes, streams and even ponds. There just seems to be something calming about water, and people everywhere stop to look when they see even a painting where water is featured. Beachfront vacations are the most popular around the world because we associate water with relaxation. It is certain that water is good for the soul.

Then, what is it about water that gives it the power to improve mental health? Well, it could be the ocean air. A couple of hundred years ago, ocean air was prescribed by doctors when patients were not doing well. Sometimes the only remedy they could suggest was to take the patient to the ocean for an extended period of time. There were times when this did not work, but for some people, the ocean air was what they needed to get well.

Tides(潮水) could also help improve mental health. No matter what’s going on in your life, or in the world, the ocean never stops. Tides come in and out every day, right on time，regardless of what is happening. Waves continually come crashing to the shore, no matter what is going on inside or outside of the water. When we hear the crashing of waves by the ocean, the sound of waves can change the brain’s wave patterns and contribute to a relaxed state of mind. Even simply observing the movements of water can lead to a lowering of depression, a lowering of stress levels and anxiety, and can promote better mental health. When your brain is in this relaxed state, it is more open to creative thoughts.

So, if you’re looking to clear your head, then look for some blue space. Actually, there are still things you can do if it is impossible for you to live near water. You can invest in some pictures or paintings of the ocean and display them in your home. And then you can put ocean sounds on and spend a few minutes each day looking at these scenes. This way you still get the sights and sounds of the ocean, even though you can’t physically be there. You can also rent a cottage for a few days in summer. Spend a few days at a nearby lake as often as possible. If your cottage is close enough to a lake, you can even go for walks along the beach in any season. When you have the opportunity to be near water, take it. You’ll be amazed at what it’ll do to improve mental health.

【推荐1】As a kid,I wanted to be a naturalist. When I got to college, I chose what I thought was a more practical path, studying physics along with public policy. That combination led me to atmospheric sciences. Now I'm studying low clouds.

But I didn't really notice low clouds until I started my study at the University of Washington, in Seattle. That city had a lot of low clouds. I suddenly realized how important their reflection of heat back into space was for Earth's climate. I continued studying how clouds at the University of Colorado in Boulder. There I earned my PhD.

Seattle's skies may be home to plenty of low clouds, but there are even better places to spot these little clouds. The greatest gatherings tend to occur off the coasts of places like Namibia, in Africa, and northern Chile. These places are home to some of Earth's driest deserts. And I like visiting such places.

The more I learned about these little clouds, the more fascinating I found them. I'm really interested in the various ways these low clouds respond to their environment. Because there are so many low clouds and they help keep Earth cool by reflecting(反射) heat, anything that affects them can also affect overall climate. It feeds back to the whole energy balance of the planet.

Lately I've been exploring how smoke that drifts(漂浮 )over clouds might change the way that these clouds absorb or reflect sunlight. Such smoke -from burning trees and grasses-can drift thousands of kilometers. If that smoke affects clouds, it might also affect climate. Last year, I spent a month on distant Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean setting up instruments to track the interaction(相互作用) between low clouds there and smoke from southern Africa.

I appreciate the diversity in my work. Besides the occasional trip to distant islands, I also teach and work with other scientists to better understand Earth's climate system. Along the way, I'm helping bring one type of low clouds to the attention it deserves.

【推荐3】Modern medicine and the latest technology can save many lives. If you live in a country where healthcare is readily available and accessible, then your chances of recovering from illnesses or accidents are very good. But for many people in the US who are uninsured (无保险的), they can’t afford these new medical treatments. That’s why Doctor Demetrio Aguila in Norfolk lets poor patients pay for surgery (外科手术) through volunteer work.

“For years I had been doing surgery for patients and taking care of their health problems. Then I would find out months later, sometimes years later, that I had caused their financial ruin,” Aguila said. Serious illnesses can completely deplete a family’s savings, leaving them no choice but to go bankrupt (破产).

Then he formed Healing Hands M25 as a way to give poor patients the medical fees they need by donating their time to community service. The process is pretty simple. They practice partners with local charitable organizations. The patient picks the charity and donates his time and sweat; Aguila determines the amount of volunteer hours the patient has to complete. “We’ve lowered the cost of healthcare. We’ve made it fair for everybody involved,” Aguila said.

The first patient to participate in the program was Jeffrey Jenson who worked for 560 hours to pay for surgery on his leg. Jenson asked his friends and family to help him complete the hours. Jenson said that his volunteer work greatly affected his life as much as the surgery. “The M25 program is not about money — it’s about if people come together to help other people, then the community becomes better,” said Jenson.

This program is a big win for the patients, the local community, and Dr Aguila who knows he has done everything he could to help his patients.

【推荐1】Oh my God, the robots are taking over! We’re doomed! Doomed! Now that I’ve got that out of my system, it’s become clear that though we may or may not be doomed, the robots are taking over. The latest example is the government’s new guidelines for self-driving cars.

Tesla, Google and Uber are already testing driverless cars in cities across America. Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick is among those predicting that by 2021, self-driving cars will play a big part in urban settings.

Nearly 40,000 people died last year in this nation in automobile-related accidents, and we believe driverless cars can save tens of thousands of lives annually.

Makes sense. Robot drivers are less likely to get drunk, drive without a license, text while driving or feel anxious at the scene of a pileup. But I wonder how these highly sensitive cars will react, with walkers constantly dashing into the street. Will they jam on the brakes (紧急刹车) every 10 seconds?

But there’s a bigger picture. Not only are robots replacing humans behind the wheel, but behind the work desk, in warehouses, senior homes, you name it. Robots aren’t just taking over in the workplace.

The question is, where can’t a robot function better than a human? How about writing songs? A robot can go through every combination of notes in record time and come up with a pleasing melody. The lyrics might be a different story. Is a Grammy-winning song co-written by Hank Human and R-3071 in our future?

Finally, it’s only a matter of time until we have robot politicians and presidential candidates. Why not? They can be programmed to be experts in world and domestic affairs and come up with the best solutions without corruption and bad humors.

Hopefully, such technology will be available in the near future. Pretty sure the robot would win in a landslide.

【推荐2】Let me explain a bit by telling you where the challenge came from. I have many things in common with my dad, like music taste and sense of humour, but sadly reading isn't one of them. I can happily spend a whole day curled up with a book but my dad can't read a book for longer than about 5 minutes. He reads emails, websites and documents for work, but not books. I think that sitting down to read for just 15 minutes a day is a good, way to relax. Giving yourself a goal or a challenge is a good way to change a habit or achieve something, so why not try to create a new habit of reading?

I know lots of people would rather relax on their computers or in front of the TV. Everyone is different and has their own interests, but I think there are lots of benefits from reading, which screen-based activities (games, films, TV) don't have.

One thing I personally love about reading, is being transported to another world. I often forget the time or thing that are going on around me! Reading is a great way to switch off before you go to bed, so you can truly relax. I know you can be transported to a different world in a film or a TV show, but I think books do it better. While watching a film, I often talk to my flatmates, send texts, or paint my nails. A book, on the other hand commands your full attention.

Reading gives you the chance to get to know hundreds of new people! It also teaches you to see things from other people's point of view, and understand other people's decisions or opinions. With a book, you can hear everything a character is thinking or feeling—you really can be inside someone else's head!

So give it a go! Take 15 minutes when you're waking up, going to bed, eating lunch, or having a coffee. If you read a lot, why not try 15 minutes of an English book, or pass the challenge on to someone else? Good luck, and happy reading.

【推荐3】PARIS-A scaffolding(脚手架) firm that has worked on the roof of Notre Dame said some of its workers had smoked on the site, but ruled out that a cigarette butt(烟蒂) might have started the fire that destroyed the cathedral’s oak-framed roof last week.

A spokesman for family-owned Le Bras Freres, confirming a report in French weekly Le Canard Emchaine, told Reuters that some workers of its Europe Echafaudage scaffolding unit had informed police that they had "sometimes “smoked the scaffolding, despite a smoking ban on the site.

“We blame it. But the fire started inside the building... so for company Le Bras Freres this is not a hypothesis(假设 )， it was not a cigarette butt that set Notre Dame de Paris on fire, "Le Bras Freres spokesman Mare Eskenazi said. The Canard Enchaine reported that police had found the remains of seven cigarette butts in the burnt-out cathedral. “This is not wrong, "said a source close to the investigation, who declined all other comment. Eskemazi said it was impossible to set a log on fire with a cigarette butt and questioned how cigarette butts could have been found on the site. " If cigarette butts have survived the fire, I do not know what material they were made of, "he said

Europe Echaffaudage also ruled out the possibility that the fire might have been started by an electricity incident at one of the two lifts on the site. " The lifts' electricity was perfectly within specifications and well maintained. "he said. He added that the two lifts were on the outside of the building, situated at 45 and 65 meters from the base of the spire( 尖顶), where the first smoke and flames had been spotted and that the workers had cut the power to the lifts at 17: 50 when they had left the site for the day.

The Canard Enchaine also reported that electrical wiring ran through the roof of the cathedral, but the church administration denied that safety norms had not been respected.   “Nothing was ever done without the approval of the state.....There were no wires dangling everything was properly installed, "Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot said. In 2012,electrical engines had been installed to sound the bells in the spire.

【推荐1】Can you be too beautiful? It is hardly problem that most of us have to bother — as much as we might like to dream that it were the case.

Yet the blessings and curses of beauty have been a long-standing interest in psychology. Do those blessed with shiny faces and an attractive body live in a cloud of appreciation — or does it sometimes pay to be ordinary?

At the most basic level, beauty might be thought to carry a kind of halo(光环) around it; we see that someone has one good quality, and by association, our deep mind may assume that they have other good ones too.

Even in the courts, a pleasing appearance can work its magic. Attractive criminals are likely to get less strict sentences, or to escape punishment entirely attractive plaintiffs(原告), meanwhile, are more likely to win their case and get bigger financial settlements. “It’s an effect seen everywhere,” says Walker.

But if beauty pays in most circumstances, there are still situations where it can have opposite results. While attractive men may be considered better leaders, for instance, hidden sexist prejudices(偏见) can work against attractive women, making them less likely to be hired for high-level jobs that require power. And as you might expect, good-looking people of both sexes run into envy — one study found that if you are interviewed by someone of the same sex, they may be less likely to employ you if they judge that you are more attractive than they are.

More worryingly, being beautiful or handsome could harm your medical care. We tend to link good looks to health, meaning that illnesses are often taken less seriously when they affect the good-looking. When treating people for pain, for instance, doctors tend to take less care over the more attractive people.

Ultimately, scientists point out that focusing too much on your appearance can itself be harmful if it creates stress and anxiety — even for those already blessed with good looks. “If you are crazy about attractiveness, it may affect your experience and interactions,” she says. It’s an outdated saying, but no amount of beauty can make up for a bad personality. As the writer Dorothy Parker put it so elegantly: “Beauty is only skin deep. but ugly goes clean to the bone.”

【推荐2】Russia’s security chief has blamed an act of terror for the Russian A321 airliner crash in Egypt last month which killed 224 people . Whatever happened , the tragedy raises sad memories of horrific airplane crashes that have cost thousands of lives in recent decades .

Some of the worst such incidents—like four crashes in frightening succession into New York’s World Trade Center , the Pentagon and rural Pennsylvania on September 11 , 2001 ; the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie , Scotland ; and a 1977 crash involving the apparent hijacking of a Malaysian Airlines jet that left 100 dead—involved terrorist activity . But there are many others that did not , with mechanical problems , pilot error or other reasons blamed for loss of life . Below are some examples of the latter : crashes that left at least 200 people dead in each incident .

March 27 , 1977 : A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747 beginning its takeoff crashed into Pan American World Airways Boeing 747 then still on the runway at the Los Rodeos Airport at Tenerife in the Canary Islands . A total of 574 people , aboard both planes , died .

July 11 , 1991 : The landing gear of a Nigeria Airways DC-8 catches fire shortly after takeoff Jeddah , Saudi Arabia . It doesn’t make it back to the airport , crashing nose-down less than 10,000 feet short of the runway and killing all 261 people aboard .

April 26 , 1994 : The pilot of a China Airlines’ Flight 140 alerts the control tower at Japan’s Nagoya Airport of his intention not to land and try another approach . But something goes wrong and , a short time later , the Airbus A300 crashes leading to 264 deaths—though a few passengers do survive .

September 2 , 1998 : A Swissair jetliner that had departed New York’s Kennedy airport on its way to Geneva , Switzerland , goes down off the coast of Nova Scotia , Canada ; none of the 229 people aboard Flight 111 make it . Investigators believe that the MD-11 lost all electrical power immediately before the crash .

June 1 , 2009 : Air France Flight 447 is on the way from Rio de Janiero to Paris when it and its 228 passengers and crew go missing somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean . It’s not until five days later that the first bodies are found about 600 miles off the northern coast of Brazil . Two years later , French authorities blame the crash on equipment breakdown .

【推荐3】Daniel Anderson, a famous psychologist, believes it’s important to distinguish television’s influences on children from those of the family. We tend to blame TV, he says, for problems it doesn’t really cause, overlooking our own roles in shaping children’s minds.

One traditional belief about television is that it reduces a child’s ability to think and to understand the world. While watching TV, children do not merely absorb words and images (影像). Instead, they learn both explicit and hidden meanings from what they see. Actually, children learn early the psychology of characters in TV shows. Furthermore, as many teachers agree, children understand far more when parents watch TV with them, explaining new words and ideas. Yet, most parents use an educational program as a chance to park their kids in front of the set and do something in another room.

Another argument against television is that it replaces reading as a form of entertainment. But according to Anderson, the amount of time spent watching television is not related to reading ability. TV doesn’t take the place of reading for most children; it takes the place of similar sorts of recreation, such as listening to the radio and playing sports. Things like parents’ educational background have a stronger influence on a child’s reading. “A child’s reading ability is best predicted by how much a parent reads.” Anderson says.

Traditional wisdom also has it that heavy television-watching lowers IQ (智商) scores and affects school performance. But here, too, Anderson notes that no studies have proved it. In fact, research suggests that it’s the other way around. “If you’re smart young, you’ll watch less TV when you’re older,” Anderson says. Yet, people of lower IQ tend to be lifelong television viewers.

For years researchers have attempted to show that television is dangerous to children. However, by showing that television promotes none of the dangerous effects as conventionally believed, Anderson suggests that television cannot be condemned without considering other influences.