【推荐1】During ancient times, children didn’t have smartphones, IPads or computers. Instead, they came up with interesting games to play in the childhood. Let’s take a look.

Hide-and-seek

Hide- and- seek is a traditional game for children, popular around the nation.

There are two ways to play: covering a child’s eyes while other kids run around to tease（戏弄）him or more commonly, players hide and one child must try to find them.

Firecrackers

Firecrackers have a history of more than 2000 years. It is said that there was a beast named Nian in ancient China, and to scare of the beast, people burnt bamboo joints to make them blast. After gunpowder, which is one of the four ancient Chinese inventions, was invented. It gradually replaced bamboo joints. Nowadays, firecrackers are still set off during spring festival.

Playing diabolo

Diabolo is always made of wood or bamboo. And is hollow and in the center. By juggling Diabolo on ropes, the highspeed rotating double diabolo will make a sound. Playing diabolo is a very interesting folk game, especially popular in North China. It also has a long history.

Stone balls

During the Qing Dynasty（1644-1911）, kicking a stone ball around was a popular sport in the northern part of China, and it was often played in the winter to keep warm. Stones were carved into small balls and cake along with feet. In 1999, the sport was included in the competition in the 6th National Ethnic Group（少数民族） Traditional Sports Meeting held in Beijing.

【推荐3】People are playing video games everywhere these days, whether they’re riding a bus or sitting in a restaurant.    1    

But is this a healthy habit? The World Health Organization (WHO) doesn’t think so. In June, it thought “gaming disorder (障碍)” as a mental (心理的) disorder, CNN reported.

“Gaming disorder” means always or often playing video games.     2     It has three main characteristics (特征).

The first sign is when the player loses control over his or her gaming habits. The second is when playing games becomes more important than other activities for the player.     3    

Many experts (专家) have welcomed the decision, saying that it puts the condition on the map as something to take seriously, the BBC noted. It is believed that new services to treat (治疗) this disorder will come out following the WHO research.

    4     South Korea has introduced a law banning (禁止) children under 16 from playing online games between midnight and 6 am, USA Today reported. Chinese tech company Tencent is also setting limits (限制) on the time that teenagers can play its games. Children between 12 and 18 years old can only play two hours per day.

In the park, you see a group of people, all looking up at the sky. Without thinking about it, you look upwards, too. Why? In the theater, someone begins to clap hands and suddenly the whole room joins in. You do, too. Why?

Sometimes we feel we are acting correctly when we do the same as others. The more people follow an idea, the better or truer we think the idea is. It’s the social proof（社会认同感）that works.

The scientist Asch carried out an experiment（实验）. It shows how social proof can influence us. In a room, a man sees Line 1, and next to it are three lines (A, B, C). A is longer, C is shorter and B is as long as Line 1. He must tell which of the three lines is as long as Line 1. When the man is alone, he gives the correct answer B. Then, five other men go into the room, and each of them gives the answer C as they were told to. Now the man changes（改变）his idea and gives the answer C. Asch got the same result many times among different people.

Why do we act like this? Well, in the past, following others was a way to keep away from danger. Suppose that 5,000 years ago you were hunting（打猎）with friends. Suddenly, they all ran away. What would you have done? Would you have stayed? No, you would have run, too. We are descendants（后代）of those who copied others’ action. It is so deeply planted in our mind that we still use it now.

Social proof has special power. For example, people often make use of it in their ads. So be careful when someone says his product（产品）is “the most popular”.

【推荐2】People spend almost one third of their lives doing one thing: sleeping. Every year, there is a day for people around the world to celebrate the importance of good and healthy sleep—World Sleep Day. It is on March 16th. Sleep is like food for the brain（大脑）. Enough sleep helps the body and brain grow.

People of different ages need different amounts（数量） of sleep. People older than 17 need seven to nine hours of sleep every night. For students between 10 to 17 years old, a healthy amount is about eight to nine hours every night, but many students only sleep for about six to seven hours a night because of early school start times and too much homework. About 80% middle school students don’t get enough sleep.

Not enough of sleep is bad for a person’s life. Students without enough sleep may get poor grades. They feel sleepy in class or do badly in sports.

Scientists think students should get less schoolwork and more time to sleep. There are some other ways to help people get enough sleep, such as taking a 20-minute nap during the day. Good sleep habits are also helpful. For example, try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends and during holidays.