【推荐1】Did you know that some people don’t do their reading tasks? It’s shocking, but it’s true. Some students don’t even read short texts they are given in class. There are many reasons for this. They may be distracted or bored. They may not want to focus. They may be not confident readers.     1     Here’s why.

    2     When people get old, their muscles begin to worsen. They get weaker and their strength leaves them. Exercise can prevent this loss. The same thing happens to people’s brains when they get older.

Even a “boring” text can teach you new words.     3     You will be able to speak, write, and think more wisely. What’s boring about that? Do not just discount (低估) a text because it is unfamiliar to you. Each time you read, you are exposed (接触) to new ideas.

It can help you see things in a different light. It can make you know about the world better. You can learn how people live in faraway places. You can learn about cultures different from your own.

It has a calming effect. It can lower your stress levels and help you relax. You can take a break from your troubles for a moment when you read, and it’s a positive break.

The benefits of reading far outweigh those of acting like a stupid person. So keep in mind:     5    , take as much as you can from it.

【推荐3】Want a book? Head to a Rocket Ship in Boulder, Colorado, United States, a cottage (小屋) near Ghen, Belgium, or a tree in Coeurd’ Alene, Idaho, United States. These are just three of the more than 80,000 Little Free Libraries in more than 90 countries. Unlike traditional libraries, these small structures aren't buildings where people check out books from a librarian.

“A Little Free Library is a box full of books from which, when you find one, you can take a book home with you,” explains Margret Aldrich, Little Free Library spokes-woman. “Or if you have a book to share, you can leave it for someone else to read.”

Little Free Libraries are everywhere: outside homes or beside coffee shops.

The first was set on a post in front of Todd Bol’s home in Hudson, Wisconsin, United States, 10 years ago. The little schoolhouse Bol built held free books anyone could enjoy.

It became a local hit.

A year after setting up his library, Bol and Rick Brooks, a friend and business partner, launched Little Free Library as a nonprofit organization in 2012. Their goal was to make books more widely available while building connections within communities.

They inspired a book-sharing revolution.

Little Free Libraries began to spread all over the place-from Salvador, Brazil, to Grand Marais, Minnesota, United States.

Today, those who want to build one can get free instructions from the Little Free Library website.

“There weren't many public places like libraries where I live” says 10-year-old Umayr Ansari, who put a Little Free Library outside his home in Doha, Qatar. “I had a lot of extra books, and I wanted to share them so people who didn't have their own books could have a chance to read.”

“I liked to build the libraries and get the feeling of, ‘Wow I helped make that,’” says 11-year-old Ava Jelliek, “That gave me confidence.”

【推荐1】A Whale of a Time

The annual whale festival in Hermanus, South Africa, kicks off today. The coastal town, located on the Western Cape about 1.5 hours from Cape Town, is well-known for whale watching. It is one of the best locations in the world to witness the migration of southern fight whales. The festival, which is the only eco-arts festival in South Africa, attracts upward of 130, 000 visitors.

Hermanus also takes pride in the world’s only “Whale Crier”. His job is to go around and herald the whereabouts of whales to everyone—with his horn. Fortunately, the timing of the festival almost guarantees a whale sighting—as close as a few meters from shore!

The whales are, of course, the main attraction of the festival, but many more terrific activities are available. The seaside environment, with the mountains as a backdrop, makes an ideal setting to enjoy the festival’s musical performances and fantastic seafood. For those who desire more adventure, there’s open water swimming, a night run and sports challenges. And there are other festivities and entertainment for kids. With something for everyone, what more could ask for?

【推荐2】Taktak tabulaba?

You probably don’t know how to answer that question — unless you happen to be one of the about 430 people in the world who speak a language called Matukar Panau. Then you would know it means “What are we doing?” Matukar Panau is one of the world’s rarest languages. It is spoken in just two small coastal villages in Papua New Guinea.

Several years ago, David Harrison, a language expert, didn’t know much about Matukar Panau either. No one had ever recorded or even studied its words and rules. With so few speakers, the language risked disappearing soon. It was endangered.

Harrison didn’t want that to happen to Matukar Panau. So in 2009, he set out for Papua New Guinea. His goal: use modern technology to help the remaining speakers preserve their native tongue.

But Matukar Panau is far from the only language facing loss. Studies suggest that by the end of this century, nearly half of the 7,000 languages now spoken worldwide could disappear. They’re in danger partly because the only people left speaking them are elderly adults. When those individuals die, their language will die with them. In addition, children may discard a native language and instead use more common global languages, such as Chinese, English or Spanish.

In the United States alone, 134 native American languages are endangered. “Language hotspots” exist all over the world. These are places with endangered languages that haven’t been recorded. They include the state of Oklahoma, pockets of central and eastern Siberia, parts of northern Australia and communities in South America.

【推荐3】Many people think that listening is a passive(被动的) business. It is just the opposite. Listening well is an active exercise of our attention and hard work. It is because they do not realize this, or because they are not willing to do the work, that most people do not listen well.

Listening well also requires total concentration upon someone else. An essential part of listening well is the rule known as “bracketing”. Bracketing includes the temporary giving up or setting aside of your own prejudices and desires, to experience as far as possible someone else’s world from the inside, stepping into his or her shoes. Moreover, since listening well involves bracketing, it also involves a temporary acceptance of the other person. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will seem quite willing to open up the inner part of his or her mind to the listener. True communication is under way and the energy required for listening well is so great that it can be accomplished only by the will to extend oneself for mutual growth.

Most of the time we lack this energy. Even though we may feel in our business dealings or social relationships that we are listening well, what we are usually doing is listening selectively. Often, we have a prepared list in mind and wonder, as we listen, how we can achieve certain desired results to get the conversation over as quickly as possible or redirected in ways more satisfactory to us. Many of us are far more interested in talking than in listening, or we simply refuse to listen to what we don’t want to hear.

It wasn’t until toward the end of my doctor career that I have found the knowledge that one is being truly listened to is frequently therapeutic. In about a quarter of the patients I saw, surprising improvement was shown during the first few months of psychotherapy, before any of the roots of problems had been uncovered or explained. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but chief among them, I believe, was the patient’s sense that he or she was being truly listened to, often for the first time in years, and for some, perhaps for the first time ever.