【推荐2】Some parents will buy any high-tech toy if they think it will help their child, but researchers said puzzles help children with math-related skills.

Psychologist Susan Levine, an expert on mathematics development in young children at the University of Chicago, found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills. Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of cognition(认知) after controlling for differences in parents’ income, education and the amount of parent talk, Levine said.

The researchers analyzed video recordings of 53 child-parent pairs during everyday activities at home and found children who play with puzzles between 26 and 46 months of age have better spatial skills when assessed at 54 months of age.

“The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not, on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate(旋转)and translate shapes,” Levine said in a statement.

The parents were asked to interact with their children as they normally would, and about half of children in the study played with puzzles at one time. Higher-income parents tended to have children play with puzzles more frequently, and both boys and girls who played with puzzles had better spatial skills. However, boys tended to play with more complex puzzles than girls, and the parents of boys provided more spatial language and were more active during puzzle play than parents of girls.

The findings were published in the journal Developmental Science.

【推荐3】At some time in your life, have you ever said “I have butterflies in my stomach”? Maybe you haven’t because you don’t use that idiom but for sure you have already experienced being shy, avoiding eye contact, sweaty palms (手掌), a racing heart and a red face.

Being shy is indeed one of the feelings that you don’t want to constantly (经常地) feel. Shyness is normal and it isn’t considered as a mental problem. All people have been shy at one time or another. Studies show that around 20% of people in the whole world are shy. And this number continues to increase. Therefore, if you’re feeling shy, don’t worry, because you are not alone. However, if your shyness has become too much to deal with and it is affecting your life, then maybe there is really something wrong.

You probably are wondering why you are shy. It may be because of the environment you were used to or the way you were brought up. Certain events in the past may also contribute to your shyness now. But in most cases, shyness proves to be hereditary. If one person has shy parents and relatives, then it isn’t surprising that he has become a shy person.

One of the negative (负面的) sides of being shy is having the tendency to be passive (消极的). Most of the time shy people can’t stand up for what they believe is right; thus they just sit in a corner and let everything happen even if it is against their will.

Shy people are also too shy to have the confidence to let themselves shine and show other people what they can do. Shy people have a tendency to avoid crowds and stay away from social communications. This negatively influences their social life, work, family and other aspects of their life.

While shyness has negative aspects, it also has a positive side. Shy people are naturally good observers and don’t get themselves into too much trouble because they try to observe and examine their situation before taking some actions. They are not impulsive (冲动的) and think twice before making any decision.

Shy people can be great friends. Because they have difficulty in the social scene and making friends seems to be quite a task for them, they value their friends wholeheartedly and will try hard to build up the relationship.

Although shyness is hereditary, it can be improved over time. Some shy people who have shy parents have successfully overcome their shyness by developing their self-respect and trying to expose (暴露) themselves to new environments. Overcoming shyness isn’t about suddenly thinking you’re great. It’s more about forgetting yourself and focusing on the outside world. The point here is that by focusing on putting other people at their ease, you’ll find that you feel much more comfortable. In addition, notice who seems a little more shy or anxious and work to help them, and you will feel more relaxed.

【推荐3】I love charity(慈善) shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street. The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won’t find in the shops anymore. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.

The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam. The famous charity’s appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful that it had been flooded with donations(捐赠物). They decided do set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal. Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK. My favorite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children’s books, all 10 or 20 pence each.

Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don’t encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.

The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than ￡100 million a year, funding(帮助) medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. What better place to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense. You provide funds to a good cause and tread lightly on the environment.

【推荐1】I often hear some of you saying, "I don't care what other people think! I do whatever I want!" There is a strong wish for independence in adolescence (青春期)and you say you only care about your own opinion. But be honest - don't you care about what certain people think? Most teenagers have a circle of people who can influence them.They care very much about what this circle of people think, especially about them.

Most teenagers want to be independent, but they don't want to be alone. They don't want to stand out, away from the crowd. They want to have connection to other people, especially other teenagers.

During adolescence, friendships with other teens become very important. They care about what other teenagers think because they want to be accepted and they are afraid of what other people think. Fear makes them care.

Some teenagers are leaders and some are followers. You might think that teenage leaders don't care what other people think, but that is not true. After all, a leader really isn't a leader unless other people follow. If leaders don't care about what followers think, those followers may leave and follow someone else. Followers care about what the leader thinks because they want to be part of the group.

There is a famous playwright named William Shakespeare. In one of his plays, Hamlet, the character Hamlet said, "To thine own self be true." In other words, whatever you do, always be true to yourself. Sure, teenagers can care about what other people think of them, but the most important thing is what they think of themselves. This is one of the most important tasks that teenagers should have.

【推荐2】This activity will melt away the pounds, build your body and leave you on an emotional high. Yet the form of exercise, the fitness trend of the year, does not require gym membership or a personal trainer. All you need to do is walk.

"Walking is a refreshing alternative to complicated aerobic （氧）routines and overpriced gym membership," says personal trainer Lucy Knight, author of a new book on the exercise. “It is free, enjoyable and already a part of everyday life. All you need to do is correct your technique, walk faster and for longer and you will lose weight?"

There is much evidence of the benefits of walking. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh recently discovered that overweight people who walked briskly （快）for 30 to 60 minutes a day lost weight even if they didn't change any other lifestyle habits. Another American study found that people who walked for at least four hours a week gained less weight than couch potatoes as they got older. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts medical school found that people who walked every day had 25 percent fewer colds than those who sat a lot. Best of all, walking makes you feel good about yourself "For people suffering from depression, walking three to four times a week for 30 minutes has been shown to lift their mood,” says Knight.

But how to walk your way to weight loss and wellness? Health experts recommend that we should walk 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy. Actually, you would probably need to walk at least 16,000 steps a day to lose weight. "Your workout plans depend on your level of fitness. You should aim to progress by increasing your walking time by five minutes every two weeks, and walk a bit faster. In just three months, the results should speak for themselves," says Knight.