【推荐1】A year ago, Marian Wilson was just-a university student looking for a quiet and peaceful place to study, but it seems she wasn’t the only one. Her once quiet study room became a busy eating and meeting place. Now she has turned it into a book cafe. Helen Sheldon talked to Marian just before the opening of the cafe. Her study room has been one of the most popular meeting places for university students. It all started a year ago when she was preparing for graduation, she was looking for a place to study and write her final project. She couldn’t stand the dark unfriendly feeling of the library. She preferred a comfortable, sunny study room so she rented the top floor of an old house near the university and spent her afternoons reading books and working on her project. Then word spread and her friends started turning up. It was a great place to relax, talk and compare ideas. They even started leaving their books behind and leaving some money for the things they used, like coffee and pens etc. She also doesn’t want a stressful nine-to-five job. She’s trying to find a lifestyle that suits her.

She knows she’ll enjoy it. It’s going to be a challenge but, hopefully, she’ll also have time to write. Actually, She wants to be a writer but she knows it’s difficult to make a living doing that. There’s a need for relaxing places like this for people - especially students - to eat, talk and have fun without spending too much money. If the feeling of the place is right, people are going to come to the cafe. Anyway, it’s more than just a business decision. It’s also a decision about the lifestyle she wants to have and about trying to create something new and different. It opens tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. so she can come by for something to eat, drink or just to have a chat.

【推荐2】A five-year-old dog named Kelsey has been praised as a hero for helping to save the life of her owner who slipped in the snow and broke his neck.

The man, Bob, was alone when he left his Michigan farmhouse on New Year’s Eve to collect firewood. Expecting a journey of only several meters, Bob was wearing just long johns(衬裤), a shirt and slippers when he went outside, although the temperature was around -4℃.

After the accident, he was unable to move in the snow. Fortunately, Kelsey came to his assistance.

“I was shouting for help, but my nearest neighbor is about 400 meters away, and it was10:30 pm,” Bob explained. “But my Kelsey came. By the next morning, my voice was gone and I couldn’t yell for help, but Kelsey didn’t stop barking.”

Kelsey’s companion kept him warm by lying on top of him. She licked his face and hands to keep him awake. “Kelsey kept barking but never left my side,” Bob recalled. “She kept me warm. I knew I couldn’t give up and that it was my choice to stay alive.”

Bob spent 20 hours in the freezing cold. When he finally lost consciousness, his dog kept barking. Finally, hearing the barking, Bob’s neighbor discovered him at 6: 30 pm on New Year’s Day and called the emergency services at once. When Bob arrived in hospital, his body temperature was below 21℃. However, doctors were surprised to find that he didn’t have any frostbite(冻疮). They believed it was because of Kelsey’s determination to keep him warm. Dr. Chaim Colen, the doctor who treated Bob, said, “Animals can help and his dog really saved him… He was very fortunate. Bob said he was “enormously” grateful to both Dr. Colen and his Kelsey. “They saved my life. They are truly heroes!”

【推荐3】Acting is such an over-crowded profession that the only advice that should be given to a young person thinking of going on the stage is “Don’t!”. But it is useless to try to discourage someone who feels that he must act, though the chances of his becoming famous are slim. The normal way to begin is to go to a drama school. Usually only students who show promise and talent are accepted, and the course lasts two years. Then the young actor or actress takes up work with a repertory company, usually as an assistant stage manager. This means doing everything that there is to do in the theatre: painting scenery, looking after the furniture, taking care of the costumes, and even acting in very small parts. It is very hard work indeed. The hours are long and the salary is tiny. But young actors with the stage in their blood are happy, waiting for the chances of working with a better company, or perhaps in films or television.

Of course, some people have unusual chances which lead to fame and success without this long and dull training. Connie Pratt, for example, was just an ordinary girl working in a bicycle factory. A film producer happened to catch sight of her one morning waiting at a bus stop, as he drove past in his big car. He told the driver to stop, and he got out to speak to the girl. He asked her if she would like to go to the film studio to do a test, and at first she thought he was joking. Then she got angry and said she would call the police. It took the producer twenty minutes to tell Connie that he was serious. Then an appointment was made for her to go to the studio the next day. The test was successful. They gave her some necessary lessons and within a few weeks she was playing the leading part opposite one of the most famous actors of the day. Of Course, she was given a more dramatic name, which is now world-famous. But chances like this happen once in a blue moon!

【推荐1】In ancient Greece, Socrates was a widely-recognized wise man. One day one fellow met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”

“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”. “Triple filter?”. “That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test.

The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?” “No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”. “All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t know if it’s true or not.

Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?” . “No, on the contrary…”. “So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true.

You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?” “No, not really.”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

Well we can always participate in loose talks to curb our boredom. But when it comes to your friends its not worth it. Always avoid talking behind the back about your near and dear friends.

【推荐2】A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.

I remembered back to my 7th year in school. In my first P. E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and then hit a softball. I didn’t do either well. He later informed me that I was “not athletic”.

The idea that I was “not athletic” stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!

The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn’t even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.

Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces (鞋带) became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!

At mile 3, I passed a sign: “GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!”

By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt badly. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.

By mile 21, I was starving!

As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign She is my biggest fan.

She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a. m. or questioned my expenses on running.

I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. In fact, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.

Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels (世俗标签), I can now call myself a “marathon winner”.

【推荐3】On the night of June seventeenth, happily unaware that I was now less than forty-eight hours from my little “date” with Bryan Smith, I sat down at our dining room table and listed all the questions I wanted to answer, all the points I wanted to address in my book On Writing-A Memoir of the Craft. On the eighteenth, I wrote the first four pages of the “On Writing” section. That was where my writing still stood in late July, when I decided I'd better get back to work... or at least try.

My wife Tabby is the person in my life who's most likely to say I'm working too hard, it's time to slow down, stay away from that disgusting PowerBook for a little while. When I told her on that July morning that I thought I'd better go back to work, I expected a lecture. Instead, she asked me where I wanted to set up.

She thought about it, and said: "I can lay a table for you in the back hall. There are plenty of plugins so you can have your laptop, the little printer, and a fan. "A couple of hours later, she had made me a wonderful little nest there: laptop and printer, my notes, pens, and reference materials...Standing on the corner of the desk was a framed picture of our younger son, which she had taken earlier that summer.

“Is it all right?” she asked.

“It's wonderful,” I said, and hugged her. It was wonderful. So is she.

That first writing session lasted an hour and forty minutes, by far the longest period I'd spent sitting upright since being struck by Bryan Smith's car. When it was over, I was sweating and almost too tired to sit up straight in my wheelchair. And the first five hundred words were uniquely terrifying--it was as if I'd never written anything before them in my life. All my old tricks seemed to have deserted me. I stepped from one word to the next like a very old man finding his way across a stream on a winding line of wet stones. There was no inspiration that first afternoon, only a kind of stubborn determination and the hope that things would get better I kept at it.

There was no breakthrough that afternoon, unless it was the ordinary miracle that comes with any attempt to create something. All I know is that the words started coming a little faster after a while, then a little faster still. My back still hurt, my leg, too, but those hurts began to seem a little farther away. I started to get on top of them. There was no sense of excitement- not that day-but there was a sense of accomplishment that was almost as good.

After that,things can only get better.

【推荐1】We all know the saying, “Nobody is perfect.” It has been planted in our brains since we were children, and of course, it is the truth. So if nobody is perfect, why do we have such a hard time admitting when we are in trouble or need help?

Like many other young people trying to get through their first year of college. I felt anxiety, and it had its grips on me pretty tight. It began getting in the way of my life and I had to sit down and tell myself that my behavior was not healthy and there was a solution. Finally, I decided to turn to therapy.

Therapy. It has such a negative reputation, but why? Does going to therapy mean that you are failing as a person or that you cannot fix your problems on your own? No. Going to therapy means that you are strong enough to recognize that something inside your head is not working correctly, and you are brave enough to try to fix it.

After a couple of weeks, many parts of my life became so much clearer. I began to understand that I, myself, am my worst enemy, which was pretty frightening. But, although frightened. I knew that it was only I who could guide me towards feeling better, and that was extremely helpful.

I have been guided towards a healthier way of thinking，one that is positive and powerful. I have been able to understand that no matter what happens in my life. I will always be okay.

A lot of people do not understand that it is normal to have negative feelings and sometimes to feel like we have lost control over certain parts of our lives. Seeing a therapist can greatly change your way of thinking about something if you keep your mind open and I am so thankful that I decided to go and do something for myself.

If you are in need of help, you can go to therapy and then everything will be okay.

【推荐2】When there are some strangers in front of us, which of them will we trust?

According to a new study in the online PLOS One, people make their decisions to trust others largely based on their faces. Your appearance can do a lot for you, especially if you are in the financial industry. The more trustworthy you look, the more likely people will buy what you're selling.

Researchers from Britain's University of Warwick Business School, University College London, and Dartmouth College, US, did a number of experiments.

The research team used computer software to make 40 faces from the least to the most trustworthy-looking.The study said that the difference between a trustworthy face and one that isn't as trustworthy comes from features that look slightly angry or slightly happy, even when the face is at rest. However, a slightly happy face is more likely to be trusted.

Researchers gave participants some money and asked them which face they trusted to invest the money for them. Then researchers gave some good and bad information about the people with these faces, and asked the participants again whom they trusted. The results showed that even if they got different information, the participants didn't change their choices. They were still more likely to invest their money with the more trustworthy-looking faces.

Chris Olivola, one of the study's authors, said in the University of Warwick's press release: "It seems we are still willing to go with our own instincts about whether we think someone looks like we can trust them."