【推荐1】We see hundreds of logos on signs, vehicles, websites, and even on the clothes we are dressed in. All these logos are intended to attract our attention.     1     However, recent research supports the idea that remembering what a logo looks like is a very difficult task.

Researchers gave 85 students a simple assignment to draw the logo of a famous company from memory. Surprisingly, only one student could make it.     2     Researchers have developed a theory that they think might help explain this blind spot in our memories.

Logos are typically designed to be simple and easy to recognize with a quick glance. Yet the frequent exposure to these logos can actually make our brains overlook them. This process is known as attention saturation (注意力饱和)     3    

    4     we become familiar with them. This constant exposure leads to the situation where our brains remember the basic idea without all of the details. This general sense of memory has its own benefits. In fact, being familiar with a popular logo can even make people feel more comfortable about buying or using certain products.

Nowadays, logos are everywhere. A fancy design or a thoughtful (体贴的) colour combination may be a good start for a logo concept , but there are some other things to consider.     5     Maybe a clever design is well worth trying.

【推荐2】In the subway station, I notice a black teenage boy waiting for the train, sitting on a railing(栏杆) just in front of a moving escalator(扶梯). It’s a hot evening; there is no air in the station. This black kid is just sitting there, settled on the railing, and I’m just standing there about 10 feet away looking for the faraway lights of the oncoming train. Then suddenly a white police officer is asking the kid for identification. The kid turns a little annoyed and asks what he’s been bothering about. The officer doesn’t explain. The kid pulls out some I.D. and hands it to the officer who looks at it and then barks out a demand for something with an address on it, a driver’s license.

Unwillingly, the kid pulls out a second piece of identification. The officer looks at it and tells the kid to come with him. Nothing I have seen or heard explains the officer’s strict approach or why the kid is being led away.

I get up to the officer and politely ask what this guy did and where he is taking him. He looks at me like I’m armed and crazy and tells me that it’s none of my business and to stay out of this.

“Could I please take down your badge(警徽) number, sir, as I’d like to report all this,” I say.

“Take down my badge number and then you show me a piece of identification. What are you, some lawyer?”

I copy down his badge number and then show him my driver’s license, asking, “Could you please tell me what this is all for?”

Looking at me over and again asking if I’m a lawyer, he tells me he’s taking the kid in for blocking the escalator and me in for “obstructing a police action.” Another black man hearing all this asks what’s going on and the officer gets very nervous. So I decide to go with him to his office. Then the officer gives his version of what happened and I politely interrupt to explain that the kid was in no way blocking the escalator traffic and that I was in no way “obstructing a police action”, not adding that I thought the way the officer handling the situation was racist and unnecessarily strict.

After this experience in the police station, I’m still wondering whether a well-dressed white man will be faced with a sharp command for identification for sitting on an escalator railing waiting for a train? If a bystander does want to get involved and inquire about an apparently unfair arrest, is a policeman’s only response a second arrest? Will our police officers always be seen by black kids as evils? Is my charge with racism too strong?

【推荐3】In my class in high school, there was a girl who was considered the most unpopular. No one actually knows how this exclusion came from, but we all followed it for no reason at all. One day after lunch, we girls sat on the track field, talking about things that happened in our lives. Someone brought her up, and soon the topic transformed to laughing at the funny hairstyle of her, the stupid way she walked and....I felt extremely uncomfortable but kept silent, because I didn't want to be the one “supporting” the common enemy. After all, it's just a short gossip time among a trusted group of friends; why should I bring unnecessary tension?

Suddenly, one of my friends pointed her finger towards somewhere behind me. All of us turned around and saw that exact girl, hand still in the air, with a twisted (扭曲的) look on her face. She lowered her hand in slow movement, then turned around and ran off. For a second, I wanted to stand up and chase her down to tell her that no one meant what they said, and that she is an amazing person being who she is. But my legs felt so heavy, I didn't want to make a fool out of myself - why bother taking care of the class clown (小丑)? People would think that I was crazy as well!

A few weeks later, the teacher told us that a classmate dropped out of school - it was that girl. Her parents told the school that it was the peer pressure that made her want to leave. The teacher wanted to know who the bully (霸凌) was. Again, no one spoke a word. Perhaps it was exactly this cold, hard silence that drove her away. I certainly did not raise my hand. I had never even said anything bad about her; it was my friends who loved to make fun of her every day. Surely, I didn't bully her physically or with my language, but I kept silent when others did. By failing to stand up for her and offering her support, I was giving agreement, which made others think that it was okay to mistreat her. Perhaps if I had realized I was wrong earlier - instead of convincing myself that I had nothing to do with her leaving, I wouldn't have to bear the burden of heavy shame on my shoulders.