【推荐1】Astronauts on shorter shuttle mission(使命) often work very long days. Tasks are scheduled so tightly that break times are often used to finish the day’s work. This type of schedule is far too demanding for long missions on the International Space Station (ISS). ISS crewmembers usually live in space for at least a quarter of a year. They work five days on and two days off to mimic the normal way they do things on Earth as much as possible. Weekends give the crew valuable time to rest and do a few hours of housework. They can communicate with family and friends by email, internet phone and through private video conferences.

While astronauts cannot go to a baseball game or a movie in orbit, there are many familiar activities that they can still enjoy. Before a mission, the family and friends of each ISS crewmember put together a collection of family photos, messages, videos and reading material for the astronauts to look at when they will be floating 370 kilometres above the Earth. During their mission, the crew also receives care packages with CDs, books, magazines, photos and letters. And as from early 2010, the internet became available on the ISS, giving astronauts the chance to do some “web surfing(冲浪)” in their personal time. Besides relaxing with these more common entertainments, astronauts can simply enjoy the experience of living in space.

Many astronauts say that one of the most relaxing things to do in space is to look out the window and stare at the universe and the Earth. Both the shuttle and the ISS circle the planet several times each day, and every moment offers a new view of the Earth’s vast land mass and oceans.

【推荐3】Andean Condors(秃鹰），weighing up to 13 kilograms with a 10-foot wingspan, are one of the world's heaviest and largest flying birds. Spending their days circling the Andes mountains and nearby Pacific coasts in search of food, they manage to stay afloat (悬浮） for hours.

Though researchers have long suspected that the massive creatures conserved energy by using rising air currents to surf the skies, nobody had ever documented how infrequently the birds used their wings afloat. Now, a new study has found that the incredibly energy-efficient condors use their wings just 1 percent of their time - mostly during takeoff and landing.

The extensive research, conducted in Patagonia from 2013 to 2018, involved attaching high-tech flight recorders to the birds' 'wings. The collected information was too much to send back via the phone or satellite network. Hence, the researchers had to physically take back the devices, which were designed to fall off the birds after a week. While a GPS tracker allowed the scientists to confirm the recorders' exact locations, getting to them was no easy task given Patagonia's rough surface features.

After losing seven recorders for every one they took back,the team shifted their focus to younger condors, who tend to fly over gently rolling hills rather than the mountain tops frequented by adults. The 250 hours of collected flight data revealed that the birds flew for an average of three hours but flapped(拍打）their wings for less than two minutes of the time.

One efficient pilot managed to cover 172 kilometers over five hours without a single flap! The researchers say the large fliers consume the most energy during takeoff. However, once in the air, they can fly for long periods of time without turning on their “engines". The scientists suppose that adult condors may demonstrate an even more impressive flight record than the younger.

【推荐1】Owls(猫头鹰) are some of the world’s greatest hunters. From head to feet, owls’ bodies are built to hunt. Scientists are studying all the things that make owls such great hunters.

Most owls hunt at night. The birds have excellent hearing, which helps them find their next meal in the dark.

Owls have one ear that is larger and set higher than the other. When an owl hears a sound, it listens closely. Is the sound louder in its right ear or left ear? Does the upper or lower ear detect the sound first? The information helps the owl find the location of its prey(猎物) without even seeing it.

Owls don’t depend just on their hearing to hunt. After a sound draws an owl’s attention, it zeroes in with sight.

Many birds have eyes on either side of their heads. But an owl’s eyes face forward, like a person’s. Images from each eye combine to form a 3-D picture, similar to how we see. That helps owls better judge a prey’s size, distance, and speed.

An owl’s eyes are so large that they can gather lets of light. That helps the owl see better when hunting at night. An owl’s eyes are also fixed in their sockets(眼窝). It can’t roll them like we can. Instead, an owl keeps prey in its sight by turning its head.

Owls can move their heads nearly upside down and turn them 270 degrees around. Their necks have 14 vertebrae(椎骨). That’s twice as many neck bones as a person has.

Detecting prey is only the first step for owls. Next they must catch their meals. An owl can fly inches over your head and you can’t hear anything. The secret to owls’ silent flight is their feathers. Fine “hairs” cover the surface of an owl’s wing feathers. And the feathers’ edges have soft barbs(羽支). Together, they make the sound of air rushing over the owl’s wings quieter and less clear.

【推荐2】Do good stories really lead to good lives? Studies suggest they do. York University psychology professor Ian McGregor and Holmes found that if you provide students with an ambiguous (不明确的) story about a breakup and then ask them to tell a slanted (有偏见的) version that places the blame on just one of the parties, the students begin to believe their own stories. Two weeks later, even after re-reading the story script, the students still said the person they previously defended was relatively innocent. Forty weeks after the initial study, the participants had forgotten almost all the details, but they still knew who to blame.

“Stories shape memory so dramatically,” says Holmes. “Once you tell a story, it’s hard to get out of that story’s framework and they tend to get more dramatic over time.”

This tendency can either form a foundation for good marriages or separate couples. People who tell stories about partners that emphasize their negative qualities will tend to remember things that fit into that thesis (论点) and forget the positive traits they previously reported. Negative storytellers tended to get divorced while people who told stories about their partners’ strengths saw their relationships strengthen over time.

Taken together, psychologists’ research makes one point: We don’t just tell stories. Stories tell us. They shape our thoughts and memories and even change how we live our lives.

Storytelling isn’t just how we construct our identities. Stories are our identities. Every story is a gift, a little part of yourself that you share with the audience. Who doesn’t like gifts?

【推荐3】The play The Doctor’s Dilemma by George Bernard opens on the day when Ridgeon, a famous research doctor，is knighted (封爵)．His friends gather to congratulate him.The friends include Sir Patrick, a well­known old physician, Walpole, an aggressive surgeon, Sir Ralph Bloomfield Bonington, an attractive society doctor, and Blenkinsop, an honest government doctor.Each one has his favorite theory of illness and method of cure._One_man’s_cure_is_another_man’s_poison，but they all get along.

A young woman (Mrs Dubechat) desperately seeks help for her husband from Ridgeon, who has evidently found a way to cure her husband’s illness.Ridgeon initially refuses, but then he changes his mind for two reasons — Mr Dubechat is a fine artist and Ridgeon falls in love with his wife.

When the doctors meet Mr Dubechat, however, they find that he is a dishonest person.Ridgeon eventually decides to treat Blenkinsop，who has the same disease, and refers the artist to Bloomfield Bonington.As a result, he will die.In the end, Ridgeon justifies his behavior as a plan to let Mr Dubechat die before his wife finds out how dishonest he actually was.This, in fact, happens and Mr Dubechat’s artistic reputation grows.

At one level this play deals with allocation (分配) of rare medical resources.Which of the two men will Sir Ridgeon save? Blenkinsop is an honest doctor who works for the poor.Mr Dubechat is a charming sociopath (反社会者)，who happens to be an extraordinary artist.

Ridgeon solves this problem with an interesting moral twist — he explains that Mr Dubechat’s death will be a benefit because it will keep his reputation .It will also potentially benefit Ridgeon, who wants to get Mrs Dubechat.