【推荐1】At one time no one could travel on an English road faster than four miles an hour. That was the law until 1896. A man had to walk in front of a car which could not go faster than the man. At night the man had to carry a red lamp.

Once Charles Rolls brought a car from France to England, but he wanted to drive faster than four miles an hour. In order to have no trouble with the police, he had a talk with some of the police officers, who ordered their policemen to look the other way when the car came along the road. This was a good plan in the country, but not so easy to follow in the busy streets of London.

One night Rolls and some friends started from London on their journey to Cambridge. One of the men walked in front with the red lamp, but he walked as fast as he could. The police became very interested in walls and shop-fronts when they heard the car and not one of them saw it.

They reached a hill, but what a waste of time it was to drive down the hill at four miles an hour! Rolls was getting ready to jump into the car, but then he noticed a policeman who was not looking the other way. The slow car reached him.

“Good evening,” said the policeman, looking at the car.

“Good evening,” said Rolls, holding the lamp.

“One of these horseless things,” said the policeman, looking at it with interest.

“Yes,” said Rolls, and waited.

“I’ve often wanted a ride in one, but of course policemen can’t buy things like that.” He turned and looked hopefully in Rolls’s face.

“Jump in,” said Rolls.

“Thanks,” said the policeman, and did so. “Now,” he said, sitting down, “You can let it go just as you like down this hill. There isn’t another policeman on this road for a mile and a half.”

【推荐3】When Lina was awoken by the sound of thunder, she was alone on the island. The air was cool and bullfrogs croaked. It was that brief moment when the summer sun had set but the stars hadn’t yet appeared. Lina rubbed her eyes and looked around. “Hello?” she called. “Celia? Marie?” There was no response.

The moon was rising now, shedding light on the island. They had always called it “Forgotten Island “because no one but they seemed to remember its existence. It wasn't on any of the maps they could find, and even the forest rangers didn’t know about it. Lina loved that the island, hidden in a heavily-wooded side stream of the river, was a secret between the three friends-her, Celia, and Marie. But now Lina was here alone, and it was night. Worse still, it was her own fault.

“Come on, Lina,let Marie row the boat.” Celia had said. Marie was two years older than Lina, but she was a hopeless rower. That’s why Lina refused and rowed the boat to the island. The argument that followed the refusal took the usual form. Celia took Marie’s side, as she always did. Lina exploded and yelled at them to just leave. So they got back in the boat and left.

A bolt of lightning crossed the darkened sky, accompanied by a deafening thunder clap. The storm was here. As the first cold raindrop slid down her neck, Lina’s mind returned to her current problem. She was stuck here by herself. She just hoped she didn’t become as forgotten as the island. The thought of it sent a chill down her back.

Suddenly, Lina spotted something in the water. It was a boat, and inside it were Marie, Celia, and Marie’s dad, who was steering through the fast flowing waters. As the boat approached, they saw Lina waving and the worried expressions on their faces turned to relief.

In her excitement Lina jumped into the river. Only once she was in the icy water did she remember how fast the water was moving. Luckily a strong arm reached into the water and pulled her out. She smiled weakly at Marie’s dad and, without a word, hugged Celia and Marie. They didn’t seem to mind becoming wet.

【推荐2】Over the past few decades, children have been taking part less in free play and more in organized sports. While doing organized sports has both social and physical benefits for young children, worries about safety and benefits increase.

Though most children are naturally likely to be physically active, not all kids are willing to get up and move. Soccer coach Joseph Luxbacher says, “Every kid has the possibility of being a good sportsman in different kinds of sports. Participating (参加) in organized sports such as the school soccer team introduces direction to children’s physical activities. Following a team schedule gives kids a set time and place to exercise. As a result, kids can be safe from accidents and be protected against physical harm.”

What’s more, participating in organized sports gives children time to communicate with others and shows good sportsmanship. For young children who may still be very self-centered, participating in team, sports teach them to think about the group and encourages them to be glad about the success of their teammates. Kids can also benefit from spending time with their coach and having a chance to develop a positive (良好的) relationship with an adult other than their parents, especially if the coach is both skilled and devoted (全心全意的) to being a positive instructor.

Playing organized sports requires a lot of time for practice and games, so it would seem that this could influence students’ study. Actually it can ameliorate students’ test performance. That’s because to play organized sports well, players have to memorize information, do repetitive actions, and learn from teammates. All these types of learning skills can make students score higher.

Since stress can come from many different sources — parents, coaches, teammates or themselves — many children who participate in organized sports feel pressured to succeed. While a little stress can be helpful in leading children to perform with increased focus and strength, too much stress will leave young kids feeling very tired. Organized sports are more likely to put the right amount of pressure on them.

【推荐3】Exercise seems to be good for the human brain, with many recent studies suggesting that regular exercise improves memory and thinking skills. But an interesting new study asks whether the apparent cognitive benefits from exercise are real or just a placebo effect — that is, if we think we will be “smarter” after exercise, do our brains respond accordingly? The answer has significant implications for any of us hoping to use exercise to keep our minds sharp throughout our lives.

While many studies suggest that exercise may have cognitive benefits, recently some scientists have begun to question whether the apparently beneficial effects of exercise on thinking might be a placebo effect. So researchers at Florida State University in Tallahassee and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign decided to focus on expectations, on what people anticipate that exercise will do for thinking. If people’s expectations jibe (吻合) closely with the actual benefits, then at least some of those improvements are probably a result of the placebo effect and not of exercise.

For the new study, which was published last month in PLOS One, the researchers recruited 171 people through an online survey system, they asked half of these volunteers to estimate by how much a stretching and toning regimens (拉伸运动) performed three times a week might improve various measures of thinking. The other volunteers were asked the same questions, but about a regular walking program.

In actual experiments, stretching and toning program generally have little if any impact on people’s cognitive skills. Walking, on the other hand, seems to substantially improve thinking ability.

But the survey respondents believed the opposite, estimating that the stretching and toning program would be more beneficial for the mind than walking. The estimates of benefits from walking were lower.

These data, while they do not involve any actual exercise, are good news for people who do exercise. “The results from our study suggest that the benefits of aerobic exercise are not a placebo effect,” said Cary Stothart, a graduate student in cognitive psychology at Florida State University, who led the study.

If expectations had been driving the improvements in cognition seen in studies after exercise, Mr. Stothart said, then people should have expected walking to be more beneficial for thinking than stretching. They didn’t, implying that the changes in the brain and thinking after exercise are physiologically genuine.

The findings are strong enough to suggest that exercise really does change the brain and may, in the process, improve thinking, Mr. Stothart said. That conclusion should encourage scientists to look even more closely into how, at a molecular level, exercise remodels the human brain, he said. It also should encourage the rest of us to move, since the benefits are, it seems, not imaginary, even if they are in our head.

【推荐1】My six-year-old granddaughter stared at me as if she were seeing me for the first time. “Grandma, you are an antique(古董),” she said. “You are old. Antiques are old. You are my antique.”

I was not satisfied to let the matter rest there. I took out the Webster’s Dictionary and read the definition to Jenny. I explained, “An antique is not only old, it’s an object existing since or belonging to earlier times...a work of art... a piece of furniture. Antiques are treasured,” I told Jenny as I put away the dictionary. “They have to be handled carefully because they sometimes are very valuable. In order to qualify as an antique, the object has to be at least 100 years old.”

“I’m only 67,” I reminded Jenny.

We looked around the house for other antiques, besides me. There was a desk that was handed down from Rone aunt to another and finally to our family. “It’s very old,” I told Jenny. “I try to keep it polished and I show it off whenever I can. You do that with antiques.”

There was a picture on the wall bought at a garage sale. It was dated 1867. “Now that’s an antique,” I said with pride. “Over 100 years old.” Of course it was marked up and scratched (刮坏) and not in very good condition. “Sometimes age does that, but the marks are good marks. They show living, or being around. In fact, sometimes, the more an object shows age, the more valuable it can become.”

Our tour of antiques continued. There was a vase on the floor. It had been in my house for a long time. I was not certain where it came from but I didn’t buy it new. One thing about antiques, I explained to Jenny, was that they usually had a story. They’d been in one home and then another, handed down from one family to another. They’d lasted through years. They could have been thrown away, or ignored, or destroyed, or lost. But instead, they survived.

For a moment, Jenny looked thoughtful. “l don’t have any antiques but you,” she said. Then her face brightened, “Could I take you to school for show and tell?”

“Only if I fit into your backpack,” I answered. And then Jenny’s antique lifted her up and embraced her in a hug that would last through the years.

【推荐2】Vijay Gupta is known to classical music lovers across the United States. He serves as the first violinist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In that job, he often plays to large crowds, including many very rich people. When he is not performing, he organizes concerts for homeless people. “They have reminded me why I became a musician.” He said.

Last week, Gupta was recognized for being a founder and the artistic director of Street Symphony. The group has performed at homeless shelters, jails and halfway houses for about eight years. Gupta is among the 25 winners of the 2018 MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the “Genius Grant”. Each winner will receive $ 625,000 over five years to use as they wish. The money is coming from a private group, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. It awards grants (补助金) to people whose work it considers exceptional and whose work “inspires hope in us all”. Gupta said he got the idea for Street Symphony while teaching Nathaniel Ayers, a trained musician whose mental illness led to his homelessness.

The 31-year-old winner said he did not know yet how he would spend the money. He has been a performer since the age of seven and the award will give him “space to breathe, plan and look ahead”.

Another winner is Rebecca Sandefur, an associate professor (副教授) of sociology and law in the University of Illinois. The Associated Press says her research actively supports new ways to involve poor communities in the U. S. justice system.

47-year-old Sandefur created the first national mapping of civil legal aid providers. It shows which states have the financial(金融的)resources to provide such aid and which don’t. She also found that the cost of legal services was only one of the things preventing poor people from getting lawyers. Among the others were fears of unfairness(不公平)in the legal system. Sandefur noted that a lot of attention had been paid to problems with the criminal justice system, but more attention must be paid to the civil side of the law, which also affected millions of people.

【推荐1】Many students give up sleep to get good grades: but research shows that students should do the opposite.

It's no secret that college students tend to reduce sleep to squeeze the most out of 24 hours. But this generation is different, and researchers are increasingly focusing on college students because they are one of the most populations lack of sleep. College students go to bed one to two hours later and sleep less per night on average compared to previous generations. As a result, 75% of undergraduates did not sleep enough to feel rested on five or more days per week, and 19% reported that sleep difficulties had an influence on academic（学业） performance in the past year.

The amount of sleep that a college student gets is one of the strongest predictors of academic success. Sleep plays a key role in helping students fix and Improve memories. while preventing drops in memory. Without sleep, people work harder but don't do as well.

Members of the Student Health Advisory Council(SHAC)consulted famous sleep researchers and gave suggestions to University Health Service（UHS） clinicians（临床医师） on how to address sleep with student patient. Here are some suggestions for UHS clinicians to consider in their work with students.

Encourage students to adjust(调整)wake-up time, as it may be easier to adjust than bedtime.

Emphasize( 强调)behavioral changes to improve sleep. Medicine is rarely. Students can practice relaxation techniques before bed to increase quality of sleep, avoid doing homework immediately before(or in)bed, and avoid TV and computer use before bed.

Encourage napping, Most students don’t get a full night sleep every night, and naps help them make up the difference. Research shows that napping for 10-45 minutes(before entering REM sleep)can increase performance.

Advise students to avoid caffeine, especially later in the afternoon or night.

【推荐2】In March 2008, I told my friends: I was going to shut down my law practice and travel around the world in a year. What's more, I'd do it without taking any flights or making a single advance (预先的) reservation. Some friends offered support and encouragement, while others were doubtful. Once I'd said the words, there was no turning back. It took months to shut down my law practice and get things in order.

There really wasn't any great reason why I wanted to circle the world. I simply wanted to do something fun and different. When I had this plan, I didn't plan for it to lead to a life on the road forever. I was planning to come back, open a new law practice and write a hugely successful book about my travels. Before I left, I started a travel blog, which served as a way to take notes for the book.

Once I set off on my trip in December 2008, I found that travelling without using planes was not easy. It took seven days and nights on trains to get from Moscow to Beijing. Sometimes, I wouldn't see a village or a human being for 10 hours. I had a whole cabin to myself from the second day of that journey.

It turned out that travelling with no reservations was far less difficult than I had imagined. Pulling into a city on a bus with a bag, looking in a guidebook for a few suggestions of accommodations (住宿), and then finding an empty room was never a problem.

Soon after I started this adventure, I realized that my return to the US would be temporary (暂时的). About three months into my journey, I realized that I didn't want to go back to my old life. The world is so wonderful and I wanted to see as much of it as I could.

【推荐3】New York is an overwhelming city to visit with children. What follows is carefully collected advice from New Yorkers on how to cover the city right.

The Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side offers a fantastic glimpse into urban family life. Guided tours reveal the daily routines of generations of Irish, Jewish and Italian immigrants who made their mark then quickly moved up and out. Pick up a copy of “All-of-a-Kind Family”or a vintage toy in the museum shop, one of the city’s best.

MoMA Museum does an excellent job making modern and contemporary art accessible to children as young as 4. On weekend mornings, guided tours are divided into age-appropriate groups in which children can observe a number of works and draw; later they gain free admittance to the entire museum. The cafeteria is both grown-up and child-friendly, and there’s an art laboratory with hands-on activities and even an audio guide for young people.

The most significant in the museum is the Space Shuttle Pavilion, which is scheduled to reopen in July, showcasing the Enterprise, NASA’s first space shuttle, which arrived last year. The U.S.S. Intrepid, a World War II-era aircraft carrier, is worthwhile in itself. While the complex suffered damage during Hurricane Sandy, most of its facilities are once again shipshape. Families may want to consider Operation Slumber, which allows for overnight visits with special activities for children 6 and older.

All the artwork here is made by children, and visitors can make their own （bonus: you don’t have to clean up）. An area for younger children includes sand, Play-Doh and guided music activities. Children go berserk for the Ball Pond, a closed-in area of oversize balls. Is it experiential art? An installation? Children need not bother with such imponderables.