Spend your holiday break on the slopes！Head up to Alpine Valley to enjoy all that winter snow sports have to offer.Cost includes lift，ski lessons，ski/snowboard rental，transportation and supervision.Make sure to bring extra money for lunch and quarters for locker rental.Helmet rental is an additional $10.Please print off a release of liability and rental agreement from www. alpinevalleyresort. com which must be signed by a parent/guardian and turned in at time of registration.This form is required for all teens to participate.

Date：Thursday，January 3(Winter Break—No

School)

Time：9 am to 7 pm

Cost：$ 100( Ski/Snowboard Rental)，$ 75(No

Rental)

Min/Max：4/12

Registration Deadline：Thursday，December 27

All Night Ski/Snowboard Trip at Chestnut Mountain

It’s back and better than ever...the AllNight Ski Trip 2013.We will travel with other park districts to Chestnut Mountain in Galena，IL.The resort has 19 ski runs，a snowboard park，bonfire area and game room.Fees include transportation and all night supervision.This trip is recommended for teens that have previous experience snow skiing or snowboarding.Departure may be from a location other than the Teen Center.

Date：Friday，Feb.8 to Saturday，Feb.9

Time：7 pm to 8 am

Fees：$80 lift and lesson (No Rental)

$105 Ski Rental，Lift and Lesson

$105 Snowboard Rental，Lift and Lesson

Registration Deadline：Thursday，January 10

Kalahari Indoor Waterpark—President’s Day Trip

Stand up surf or boogie board on your day off school！It’s cold outside so travel with us to Kalahari Indoor Waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells.It’s an indoor waterpark with a surfer ride—the FloRider，the Master Blaster，Victoria Falls raft ride，indoor wave pool and a lazy river！An 8­inch personal pizza and pop will be provided for lunch.Bring extra money for dinner，snacks and a locker.Trip may depart from location other than the Niles Teen Center.

Date：Monday，February 18(President’s Day—No

School)

Time：7：30 am to 8 pm

Cost：$55 per person

Registration Deadline：Wednesday，February 13

【推荐1】“Being a sports fan is a very psychologically healthy activity,” says Daniel Wann, professor at Murray State University whose research program centers on the psychology of sport fandom (运动迷). Fandom connects us with other like-minded people, which satisfies our human need for belonging, he says.

“These relationships are significant: People who identify as sports fans have higher levels of self-esteem (自尊), lower levels of loneliness and tend to be more satisfied with their lives compared to those who aren’t interested in sports,” Wann says. Fans tend to have more access to social support, help and resources as well. Research suggests that when people have support from their communities, they have better health. Of course, teams sometimes lose. Prior to a sporting event, there’s at least a 50-50 chance that you’re going to be disappointed in your outcome.

So, why do people continue to put their faith behind teams that tend to lose? People who feel a strong psychological connection with a team are more likely to root for a team when they’re having a losing season. For example, if a pizza restaurant continually got your order wrong, you’d likely switch to a more reliable restaurant. But because being a fan is so central to people’s identities, people are willing to accept defeat and continue to be loyal to a team.

Being part of a fan community can also help people cope with losses. A 2019 study found that watching a football game with other fans helps to relieve the negative psychological effects of losing. For fans of the losing team, sharing the pain may have protected them from losing self-esteem.

“There are other things that brings with it above and beyond the ability to enjoy the team’s successes. Watching sports can be a way to relieve stress, or spend time with family,” Wann says. Any sort of fandom can be distracting, but Wann says that talking about sports at work and spending time with people who share a common interest can make people more excited to go to work.

【推荐2】Why You Shouldn’t Exercise to Lose Weight

Many of us are starting (or restarting) exercise in hopes of losing unwanted pounds.     1    . But if the main idea is to lose weight, your New Year’s resolution could be very well backfire.

Sometimes exercise fails to meet our weight-loss expectations.     2    . In a study of 30 overweight people who participated in a 12-week exercise program and were interviewed afterward, this response was typical: “It was quite disappointing that I didn’t lose a single pound.”

Perhaps the biggest problem with exercising to drop pounds is that it turns physical activity into punishment—a price we have to pay for a slimmer body. How many times have you heard someone say (or said yourself) “I’ll do extra exercise” after eating too much during the holidays or at a celebratory dinner? We treat exercise as a form of self-punishment for being “bad” in the past.     3    .

The takeaway is that we see exercise positively and actually do it when we focus on our well-being rather than our weight.     4    . Others may find exercise makes them feel physically and mentally stronger. The benefits of physical activity are well beyond these aspects. It can help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, colds, etc. It can also improve sleep, make. you energetic, and prevent aging. What’s more, exercise can prevent weight gain and improve your appearance.

    5    . It’s perhaps the most important thing you can do for your health. But to improve the chances of success, focus on how movement helps you feel better physically and emotionally—and forget about how it moves the needle on the scale.

【推荐3】FIVE UNUSUAL SPORTS

What sports are you into? Football? Tennis? Swimming? If you’re looking for a change, you might like to try one of these.

Octopush

Octopush (or underwater hockey as it’s also known) is a form of hockey that’s played in a swimming pool. Participants wear a mask and snorkel and try to move a puck (水球) across the bottom of a pool. The sport has become popular in countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. An ability to hold your breath for long periods of time is a definite plus.

Zoobombing

Zoobombing involves riding a children’s bike down a steep hill. The sport originated in the US city of Portland in Oregon in 2002. Participants carry their bikes on the MAX Light Rail and go to the Washington Park station next to Oregon Zoo (which is why it’s called “zoobombing”). From there, they take a lift to the surface, and then ride the mini-bikes down the hills in the area.

Office Chair Racing

Office Chair Racing consists of racing down a hill in office chairs that can reach speeds of up to 30kph. Strict rules are in place for competitors: they’re allowed to fit in-line skate wheels and handles to their chairs, but no motors. “We check each chair carefully in advance,”one of the organizers explained. The participants race in pairs wearing protective padding as they launch themselves from a ramp (坡道). Prizes are given to the fastest competitors and also for the best-designed chairs.

Fit 4 Drums

Fit 4 Drums is a new form of cardio-rhythmic exercise. Led by an instructor, the class involves beating a specially-designed drum with two sticks while dancing at the same time. It’s the first group fitness activity where you get to play a drum while getting an intense workout. A sense of rhythm is a definite advantage!

Horse Boarding

Horse Boarding involves being towed behind a horse at 35mph on an off-road skateboard. Professional stuntman Daniel Fowler Prime invented the sport after he strung a rope between his off-road “mountain board” and a horse. Participants stand on a board while holding onto a rope, attempting to maintain their balance as the horse gallops (疾驰) ahead. “The horse rider and the horse have to work together because if they don’t, the horse goes flying,”Daniel explained.

So, which sport would you like to try?

【推荐1】A new device works like a solar panel, except it doesn't harvest energy from the sun. It captures energy from the cold night sky.

A prototype （雏形）of the device produced enough electricity at night to power a small light bulb. A bigger version might one day light rooms or charge phones. It could also power electronics in remote or low-resource areas that lack electricity.

The device makes use of the temperature difference between the earth and outer space to create electricity. As long as one side of it is cooler than the other, the generator can produce electricity. The cooler side faces the sky and is attached to an aluminum plate. That plate is sealed beneath a transparent cover and surrounded with insulation （隔热材料）to keep out heat. The bottom of the generator is attached to an exposed aluminum （铝）plate. That plate is warmed by the local air. At night, the top plate can get a couple of degrees Celsius cooler than the bottom of the generator.

Researchers tested a 20-centimeter prototype one clear December night in Stanford University, California. The generator produced up to 25 milliwatts of power per square meter of the device. That was enough power to light a small light emitting diode （发光二极管），or a LED bulb. Further improvements might increase its production to at least 500 milliwatts per square meter. The system might need more insulation around the cool, top plate to do that.

“The device could also help power remote weather stations or other environmental devices, " says Aaswath Raman. He is a material scientist who works on the device at the University of California, Los Angeles. " This may be useful in polar regions where people can't see sunlight for months, “ Raman says. "If you have some low-power devices and you need to power them through three months of darkness, this might be a way. ”