【推荐3】Over the past ten months of pandemic life, cooking has become a shelter for me. New York Times food editor Sam Sifton referred to Korean fried rice and said it "improves moods, atmospheres and weeks alike".     1     I'd argue it improves physical health, finances and skills, and reduces stress. Really, cooking is a rewarding thing you should do these days.

Cooking food for yourself is beneficial to your physical health. When you cook your own food, you control exactly what goes into your body. It's the best possible way to “dial in” or clean up your diet.     2     A recent survey has found that twice as many Americans are cooking at home than a year ago, and that nearly a quarter are doing so in an effort to eat healthier.

    3       It's considerably cheaper than ordering from restaurants, or buying prepared food from supermarkets. It's found that ordering takeout is five times more expensive. The difference is more obvious if you’re cooking for a family.

In terms of improving cooking skill, you can't help but improve if you do it over and over again. With so many other outlets for hobbies shut down right now, why not view your kitchen as a mini universe to be explored? You've got the tools, not to mention the human requirement to eat. I can't think of another hobby where your body physically requires you to practice several times daily.     4    

How does cooking relieve stress, you might be wondering?     5     If you're organized enough to cook meals in advance, you end the weeknight dilemma of “what's for dinner?”. Furthermore, as you get better at cooking, you will spare the need to order food.

【推荐1】“Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water, the French writer Antoine de Rivarol wrote. This love letter to the cleansing beauty of a good cry is a comforting thought at a time when the continuing stress of the COVID-19 has added heaviness to each of our lives.

Scientifically, de Rivarol's poetic image doesn't, if you'll forgive the words used in the poem, hold water. There's limited research on crying, partly because of the difficulty of copying the behavior of real crying in a lab. But even within the previous studies, there's little evidence to suggest that crying provides a physiological cleansing of poisons in people's body.

Psychologists believe the relief of a good cry connects with a different emotional process. “It seems that crying occurs just after the peak of the emotional experience, and crying is associated with this return to homeostasis: the process of maintaining a stable psychological state,” said Lauren Bylsma. He also said holding back tears can have negative physical consequences, including headaches and muscle tension. Such restriction can also limit our experiences of joy, gratitude and other positive emotions if we avoid acknowledging our feelings.

For me crying has been easier said than done during the COVID-19. Psychologists say it's normal to feel stopped up by the stresses of the past year. We should find opportunities to release and process our emotions.

Watching a tear-jerking movie, having an emotional conversation with a close friend, and writing in a journal are healthy ways to elicit a cry. Physical activity like light-footed walking or even dancing can also signal our bodies to release some emotional tightness. We can then open up to the flow of feelings that leave us feeling lighter and refreshed—like a clear                                               sky after a soaking rain.

【推荐2】People have long watched moths (飞蛾) and other flying insects flock to streetlamps, lights and flames. These insects appear attracted by the light. But a new study suggests they may just lose track of which way is up.

Previous theories say light probably blinds flying insects so that they get trapped by the light, or maybe they interpret light at night as a place to fly for a quick escape. Now the new study suggests flying insects instead turn their backs to the sky’s light to keep their feet pointing toward the ground. Insects naturally turn their backs toward light. But when that light is from an artificial source, it may affect their sense of direction, leading to them flying in circles or diving toward the ground.

At a field station in Costa Rica, Samuel Fabian, an entomologist from Imperial College London in England and his teammates set up hanging and standing lights, and then used high-speed cameras to track wild, flying insects including moths and flies. Some circled the lights endlessly, and others flew sharply upward, losing speed until they couldn’t fly any higher. When the light source pointed up, some insects turned around and headed for the ground. During the flight, the insects always kept the lights at their back even if they’d end up crashing. Crash landings were common when the team lit up a white sheet on the floor. But not when a white sheet — stretched into a height above the floor—was bathed in diffuse (漫射) light, much as the sky would be, insects flew through the area without getting trapped by the light.

The team also observed some species in a lab. Moths and dragonflies generally behaved like the wild insects, and they kept the light at their backs. However, in the lab, fruit flies, like oleander hawk moths — which can fly in the dark — could fly over LED lights without being thrown off course. In the wild, though, the moths still crashed. Maybe this is because, Fabian says, the insects can sometimes control their response to light, or over time, they might learn to avoid artificial light.

【推荐3】If someone offered you a marshmallow (棉花糖) now, but promised you two marshmallows if you waited for 15 minutes, what would you do? There’s always the chance you don’t like marshmallows.     1     Would you prefer to snack on one right away, or remain patient enough to double your treat?

The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, conducted over 20 years ago, presented this choice to a group of children between the ages of 3 and 6. At first, the experiment didn’t gain much attention. But about10 years later, the researchers followed up with the participants and discovered something interesting. Some of the kids who had chosen to wait for 15 minutes were doing better on tests.     2    

While some scientists believe there is no connection, others believe patience made the difference.     3     That extra patience helped students in other parts of their lives too, like studying and learning. Further experiments involving different snacks have yielded similar results

If, when you first started reading this, you thought you would rather eat your snack right away, that’s OK.     4     Experts emphasize that patience is a skill that can be developed and strengthened. Dr. Parker Huston, a psychologist, suggests individuals can cultivate patience by identifying the sources of frustration in their lives and preparing for those moments. When faced with frustrating situations, you can take deep breaths and count backwards from ten to one

    5     Regardless of whether you choose to eat the marshmallow immediately or wait the key is to maintain an open mind and learn to practice patience. No matter where your future takes you, patience can help you get there.

【推荐3】Natural Disasters Require Special Building Design

Natural disasters happen everywhere in the world. Many cause property damage and loss of life. But researchers say the severity (严重性) of their effects can be reduced if people take steps to prepare.

A new exhibit teaches what governments and individuals can do to lessen the effects. Chrysanthe Broikos organized the exhibit at the National Building Museum. She says large buildings and other structures can survive strong earthquakes if they are built with some level of flexibility. In other words, they need to be able to bend and move as the earth shakes.

“We need to let buildings move and we can actually understand where they might fail, and then go in and design buildings with that in mind.”

One building design is called a “special moment frame”. It enables movement at points where large load-bearing supports join each other. Rubber-based foundation blocks let buildings move, while huge shock absorbers (缓冲器) help to limit the shaking.

The museum exhibit has a model of a wind wall. The model shows how some roofs or tops of buildings are more likely to be destroyed than others because of the strong winds of hurricanes. Chrysanthe Broikos says tests show that a reasonable angled roof is best able to withstand wind storms. In areas with powerful winds, researchers have strongly urged the creation of at least one “safe room”. This is a place where building occupants can spend the most dangerous part of the storm.

Another concern is how to deal with storms and flooding. Some coastal communities in the U.S. have made artificial reefs from oysters (牡蛎) shells instead of rocks. The builders use shells collected from restaurants to create the barriers. Chrysanthe Broikos also suggests setting aside land along the coast for parks instead of housing. She says this is more natural and keeps valuable property away from danger.

As for forest fires, researchers now suggest clearing an area about 60 meters wide around a single-family house.

“What that means is trying to keep that area free of material that easily burns.”