【推荐1】A Way Out of Social Anxiety: Volunteering and Acts of Kindness

As a socially anxious introvert (内向的人), I can prove the benefits of serving others through volunteering in my community.

A volunteer job doesn’t need to require stepping into a busy room full of 100 people at a school or hospital.     1     This kind of work is much more suitable and agreeable for introverts.

    2     When I help elders or people with disabilities who are more isolated and lonelier than I am, I feel my nervousness and self-consciousness disappear. My social awkwardness loses its grip on me when I’m focused on helping someone else rather than myself or my social performance. Unlike showing up at a job interview, business meeting, or speaking engagement, working as a volunteer with people in need takes the spotlight away from being measured or judged.     3    

Social scientists have an suitable name   for stressful social situations where we need to perform and would likely be judged or evaluated. Any time we are in evaluative situations where we are judged by others, we face this social-evaluative threat and endure a sudden rush of stress hormones that increase anxiety. When we are in situations where we offer acts of kindness or help others, however, we tend to feel less judged by others.     4     Neuroscientists have studied the warm glow of doing good that makes us feel good.

“Kindness may help socially anxious people,” says Dr. Lynn Alden, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia.     5     She found that acts of kindness may help to count er the socially anxious person s fear of negative evaluation by promoting more positive perceptions and expectations of how other people will respond.

A few years ago, I read about an eight­year­old girl who studied elephant poaching (偷猎) in school and made a poster for her local grocery store. The slogan read, “Save the elephants. Don’t buy Ivory Soap, or they will die out.”What the girl had done taught me a lesson. Since then, I have looked at eight­year­olds in a different way. As an environmental educator, I used to teach eight­year­olds about the harm of elephant poaching, rainforest destruction, and global warming. I had a degree in natural science — but not in child development. What did I think I was accomplishing by putting my environmental concerns on the shoulders of kids who still believe in fairy tales (童话故事)?

Kids develop the fear of nature when their primary contact with the natural world is hearing bad news about the environment. If I wanted to inspire conservation action, I needed to change my ways, but how? I came across some research by psychologist Louise Chawla. She wanted to know what had gone on in the childhoods of adults who are good environmental citizens. She found two things most common.They had free time to explore the rivers or woods down the street, and they had an adult in their lives who was enthusiastic about the natural world. I understand now that what turned me into a good person today was a childhood spent playing in the field and having a Dad who knew that finding a lobster (龙虾) under a rock was better than finding treasure.

So that’s what I was doing when I was eight years old — looking under rocks, climbing trees, and picking wild flowers. I didn’t know a thing about the Clean Air Act that was being debated in congress at that time. I didn’t hear a lot of environmental problems. But I built a relationship with nature and I grew up to care. Now I treat my own kids like the child I was. My kids turn off the water when they brush their teeth and turn off the lights when they leave a room.

【推荐3】A new study of 8,000 young people in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily, it is a bad thing for young people. Puppy love (早恋) may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression. The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys, and younger girls are the worst of all.

The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is “loss of self”. According to the study, even though boys would say “lose themselves in a romantic relationship”, this “loss of self” is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions. They won’t tell that to their parents.

Dr Marian Kaufman, an expert on young people problems, says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression. She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up, it is important for young people to build strong friendships and a strong sense of self. She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends, attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.

Parents should watch for signs of depression — eating or mood changes — and if they see signs from their daughters or sons, they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age. Love will always make us feel young, but only maturity (成熟) gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects.

【推荐2】Obviously, much has been written about the wonders of the Internet, which has made our lives more convenient. However, people, particularly many older people around the world have at least one common concern: How to get younger people, addicted to their electronic devices, interested in classic literature through advanced and updated technologies. Take the Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, as an example. The main character in the 16th-century classic novel, Journey to the West, is a symbol of bravery and adventure that impressed millions of readers before the appearance of online attractions.

Havoc in Heaven, a new Peking Opera film, attracted the wider public to the beauty of the traditional Chinese performance art, featuring one of the best-known chapters from Journey to the West. This film, expected to create a new way to promote Peking Opera, includes nearly all the key ingredients (成分) of Peking Opera. It covers all the basic techniques, and makeup for dozens of facial representations of different figures’ characteristics.

It’s actually a big challenge to combine Peking Opera and film, each of which has its own characteristic. One challenge that Cheng and his production team faced is how to balance the new approach with keeping the basic performance skills in Peking Opera.

Some background images on stage remain, and a live band was on the set to provide sound for the film, rather than employing the prerecorded music. “If we change traditions to satisfy people’s taste and preference for a regular film, it will no longer be a Peking Opera piece of art,” Cheng said.

On the other hand, some creativity was needed because Cheng and his team did not just want to record a stage performance. Computer technology is also applied to achieve some visual effects and to present impossible scenes.

Peking Opera films played a powerful role in the 1960s and 70s, but they gave way to more various entertainment. In recent years, there has been a recovery in the popularity of Peking Opera films. However, the overuse of special effects in many film adaptations of Peking Opera plays has weakened the original charm of the stage performances.

【推荐3】In summer, millions of people will head for the beach. And while the ocean can be a great place to swim and play, it may also be useful in another way. Some scientists think that waves could help make electricity.

“Have you ever been on a surfboard or boat and felt yourself being lifted up by a wave? Or have you jumped in the water and felt the energy as waves crashed over you?” asked Jamie Taylor of the Wave Energy Group at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. “There is certainly a lot of energy in waves.”

Scientists are working on using that energy to make electricity．

Most waves are created when winds blow across the ocean. “The winds start out by making little ripples (波纹) in the water, but if they keep on blowing, those ripples get bigger and bigger and turn into waves,” Taylor said. “Waves are one of nature’s ways of picking up energy and then sending it off on a journey.”

When waves come towards the shore, people can set up dams or other facilities to block the water and send it through a large wheel called a turbine (涡轮). The turbine can then power an electrical generator (发电机).

The United States and a few other countries have started doing research on wave energy, and it is already being used in Scotland.

The resource is huge. We will never run out of wave power, besides, wave energy does not create the same pollution as other energy sources, such as oil and coal.

Oceans cover three quarters of the earth’s surface. That would make wave power seem perfect for creating energy around the world. There are some drawbacks, however.

Jamie Taylor said that wave power still cost too much money. He said that its effects on animals in the sea were still unknown. Plus, wave power would get in the way of fishing and boat traffic.

With more research, however, “many of these problems might be overcome,” Taylor said. “Demand for energy to power our TVs and computers, drive our cars, and heat and cool our homes is growing quickly throughout the world．Finding more energy sources is very important, for traditional sources of energy like oil and gas may run out some day.”

In the future, when you turn on a light switch, an ocean wave could be providing the electricity!