The Blue Light From Digital Device
More devices like the iPhone, iPad and Kindle produce a blue light that causes our sleep to be restless and disturbed, according to a new study.
The study was led by Dr Paul Gringras, a sleep disorder specialist at a children's hospital in London. Together with her colleagues, Gringras found that manufacturers have started making bigger, brighter, bluer screens in an effort to increase the efficiency of our screens during daytime.But, as an unwanted byproduct, this light is affecting our sleep and productivity.
The study said that this type of light is likely to cause the most disturbance to sleep, as it most effectively overpowers melatonin (褪黑素). a hormone①that reminds us to sleep every night. Besides, using our devices before bedtime could even affect our performance during the day, because exposure to this blue light changes our body's natural rhythms.
“The development of light-producing devices means that for many people, a 'book at bedtime'is now often an‘e-book’,” Gringras pointed out.“Reading a traditional paper book by the light of your bedside lamp doesn't affect your sleep, because bulbs produce a yellow-red light. In comparison, the same book read in electronic arrangement will provide a very different light signal with biological effects.”
The researchers called on all device manufacturers to adjust screen lighting for the sake of the users’sleep quality and overall health.“All hardware devices should have an automatic “bedtime mode”that shifts blue and green light production to yellow and red as well as reduces backlight/light intensity,” Gringras said.
“And, we hope that as technology improves, more and more people will realize that‘brighter’will not always be equal to‘better’,”the researchers concluded.
① hormone: a chemical in your body that stimulates certain organs of your body
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Why Socks Help You Sleep Better
If you’re one of those people who has trouble falling asleep, listen up. You might fall asleep 15 minutes earlier and wake up far less during the night if you put on a pair of socks at bedtime.
To understand why you first need to grasp the relationship between core body temperature and sleep. During daylight hours, the human body hums along at an average temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). But at night, your core body temperature dips as much as 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) over the course of six or seven hours of sleep.
This gradual decrease in core body temperature, as it turns out, is a key part of the complicated neurobiological (神经生物学) dance of falling asleep and staying asleep. And the faster you can lower the core body temperature, the faster you will fall asleep. Researchers have show that warming the feet before going to sleep using a warm feet bath or by wearing socks promotes vasodilation (血管扩张), which in turn lowers the body’s core temperature faster than going to sleep with cold, bare feet.
Scientists suppose that socked feet have a neurological effect as well. Inside the brain’s “thermostat (恒湿器)” is a type of neuron called a warm-sensitive neuron (WSN) that increases its firing rate when there’s a temperature difference between the body’s core temperature and extremities like the feet. Research has shown that WSN firing rates go way up on the beginning or slow wave or deep sleep and gradually decrease prior to waking up. So WSNs may play a role in generating the sensation of sleepiness that helps us fall asleep and stay asleep. And if that is the case, warming up the feet before bed time gives WSNs an extra power.
In a small study, researchers found that wearing a pair of special sleeping socks not only sped up the beginning of sleep, but increased overall sleep time by an average of 30 minutes and cut nighttime waking periods in half.
If you are worried about becoming too warm while wearing socks in bed, look for ones made of natural breathable fibers.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Ways to Stay Motivated
Many distance learners agree that the most difficult part of studying online is staying motivated. Because students must take the initiative to complete their courses completely on their own, without the physical presence of teachers and other peers, many students find it easy to become distracted and discouraged in their work. Don’t let this happen to you-plan ways for yourself to stay motivated before you’re tempted to stray from your books. Use the following motivational tips to stay on task.
Find a friend or relative who has similar interests or who would enjoy hearing about your studies and let them know what’s going on in your classes. You’ll understand the material better when you have a chance to explain it out loud and will be motivated to stay on task in order to keep up with the conversation.
Don’t rely on campus consultant; design your own map of completed classes and post it somewhere that is visible daily. There’s a certain satisfaction that comes with watching your goals be accomplished. When times get hard, you can always turn to your chart and see how far you’ve come.
You get rewarded for good credit and safe driving. Why shouldn’t you reward yourself for doing well in your coursework? Whether it be a night on the town, a new dress, or even a new car, setting up a reward system just may be the extra push you need to succeed. If you stick to your system, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Science of Chocolate
Chocolate is a complex chemical delight containing over 500 individual flavour components together with stimulants and a host of substances beneficial to health. With that many ingredients, it’s no surprise that crafting chocolate is a science in itself, requiring careful temperature control. For starters, cocoa butter has six different forms of crystals, all of which have different melting points. And the fat crystals in the final product have to be exactly the right type, size and shape for the flavour to be correct. This is achieved through tempering, a crucial stage of chocolate production that involves cooling so that crystals form before raising the temperature slightly to melt unstable crystals.
While we tend to think of chocolate as junk food, some of its components may actually be good for us, Cocoa beans are rich organic chemicals called flavonoids (类黄酮). One particular flavonoid called epicatechin (表儿茶酸) increases blood flow in the brain and prevents the grouping together of the proteins that characterise conditions such as Alzheimer’s. Research published in March 2014 also found that dark chocolate is used by bacteria in the stomach to produce anti- inflammatory (消炎的) compounds that are good for your heart. But so far, most studies suggesting health benefits for chocolate have been carried out on mice, so further research would be required to see whether there are the same benefits in humans.
At the University of Bath, scientists have been studying mouse brain cells grown in the lab. “Our research has shown that epicatechin and related flavonoids have promising protective actions in brain cells, explains Dr Robert Williams, a neuroscientist at the university. “But whether we could achieve the levels required to reproduce these effects in humans by eating chocolate is uncertain.” The jury is still out on whether we can consider chocolate a health food. But since the positive ingredients are all found in cocoa itself, there’s one rule of thumb — the darker, the better.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . 请在以下对话中提取相关信息，参考已给的例子将其整理好一篇小短文，内容包括大学录取方式、大学和专业的选择。
Liu Ming: Hi,Susan! Hi, Olivia! I have been thinking a lot recently about university. Have you guys made any plans yet?
Susan: Hi, Liu Ming! I guess I’ve thought about it, but I haven’t made any firm plans yet. How about you, Olivia?
Olivia: The same. My parents said that my future career might depend on what university I end up getting into.
Liu Ming: If I had a chance, I’d love to go to a top Chinese university. But it’s so hard. I need a really high score to pass the National College Entrance Exam.
Susan: Oh, in the UK, we don’t have a university entrance exam. We take a separate exam for each subject that we study. Then we use our grades to apply to a university. We also have to give a long essay to the university saying why we want to study our chosen subject.
Olivia: Well, in the US, we need to get really high grades and we need to take a college entrance exam. Plus we have to write an admission essay.
Liu Ming: So, we must all study extra hard, then. I really want to major in computer game design. I'd like to design fun games for children to learn with.
Susan: That’s a great idea! I’d like to study international business. According to the school’s careers advisor, it could help me find work overseas. It would be great to see more of the world!
Olivia: Hmm ... I’m not sure what I want to study as my major yet. But right now I’m thinking about robotics. I’m really interested in futuristic things.
Liu Ming: How about cybersecurity or data science? I read that they’re really fascinating subjects you’re good at computer programming. But I’m hopeless at programming!
Susan: That’s a good point. I was told that there’s no point choosing a subject that you like you’re not very good at.
Olivia: Yes, and don’t forget that where you study is also important, too. I’m planning on taking few campus tours to see what the atmosphere and facilities are like.
Liu Ming: Good idea! I really hope that we can all find good universities.
Susan: Me, too. I hope we are all lucky and find great universities.
Olivia: Luck? Ha-ha! I think we all need to start studying even harder, too!
短文样例：
Liu Ming has been thinking a lot recently about university, which Liu considers to be a top Chinese university. It’s so hard to be admitted to a top university with a high score to pass the National College Entrance Exam. For success, Liu has to study extra hard, hoping to major in computer game design out of love for fun game design for children to learn with.
Susan
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Olivia
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Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the most extraordinary athletes of all time. She achieved particular success in basketball, track and field, and golf. She also competed in baseball, boxing, diving and many other sports. In 1950, the Associated Press declared Babe Zaharias to be the “Woman Athlete of the Half-Century”.
From a young age, her goal was to be “the greatest athlete to ever live”. As a teenager, she acquired the nickname “Babe” in reference to Babe Ruth, a professional baseball player. She never passed up a chance to play ball. One day, when she was a little girl, her mother sent her to the grocery store to buy some beef for dinner. On the way home, Babe spotted some boys playing baseball. She dropped her purchases and joined the game. An hour later, her angry mother showed up, looking for the groceries. Babe pointed to where she’d left it. A dog was happily enjoying the last piece.
Zaharias gained fame at the 1932 Olympic Games. She won gold medals in the javelin (标枪) throw and the 80-metre hurdles (跨栏), but she was deprived of a third gold medal in the high jump because she had used the unorthodox (不正规的) Western roll to achieve the highest jump. Her Olympic success brought her national attention.
In 1932, Zaharias began playing golf and was soon winning important championships in the sport. In 1950, Zaharias helped found the Ladies Professional Golf Association, and she became the LPGA’s star competitor. Not only did she attract interest in the women’s game, she revolutionized the sport and was known for her powerful drives.
Zaharias died of cancer in 1956, at the age of 45.
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On the morning of July 14, 1960, the young woman Jane Goodall arrived at the Gombe National Park. She had brought a tent, a cup, a pair of binoculars and her mother. A group of local men met the strange pair of women and helped carry their camping equipment. Then, around 5 pm, somebody reported that they had seen a chimpanzee. Straight away, Jane set off into the forest to find her first chimpanzee.
After many months of difficult work she made three important discoveries: chimpanzees ate meat, they used tools to get food and they also made tools, Jane wrote her findings in diaries and she began to publish articles in journals such as National Geographic magazine. After a while, scientists and experts started reading her studies and Jane was offered a place at a university. After more years of research she became Doctor Jane Goodall in 1966.
During the seventies, Jane found that chimpanzees can also be violent. She wrote in one diary,“ I thought the chimps were nicer than we are. But it is proved that they are not. They can be just as awful”
A different problem developed in Gombe in the 1980s. Because of the progress of clearing forests, there were only about a hundred chimpanzees living in Gombe by the end of ten years. Jane realized that something had to be done so that chimpanzees and humans could live together, so she set about helping the local community to grow more trees in the region.
After 1989, Jane left her career in Gombe. Firstly, she started travelling and giving lectures. She protested (反对) about the cruelty to chimpanzees used in medical research laboratories. She also set up reserves for chimps which survived.
Nowadays, she spends about 300 days a year giving interviews, talks and lectures, meeting with government officials and raising money for the Jane Goodall Institute, which continues her research. She has very little spare time left but she still spends part of every year in the forest in Gombe, watching her chimpanzees.
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DJ: Hello. A lot of you have probably just got your A-levels and you’re looking forward to going to university. But more and more young people are deciding to take a gap year before they start their degrees. Today I’m talking to a group of young people who’ve all decided to take a year out before they go to university. What are they going to do? Rosie? What are your plans?
Rosie: I’m going to work in a department store.
DJ: Why do you want to do that?
Rosie: Two reasons really. I’m going to study Management at university and this will give me the chance to find out what it’s like to work in a big organization. And I’ll also be able to earn some money.
DJ: What about you, Christopher?
Christopher: I’m going to do community work with a conservation group. I think it’ll be good to do something really useful. And I’ll meet a lot of interesting people, I’m sure.
DJ: Will you get paid for it?
Christopher: Well, we won’t get rich doing it, but we’ll be all right. We’ll get about £20 a week plus food and accommodation.
DJ: Helen, what are you going to do?
Helen: I’m going to travel around Europe.
DJ: Are you going to work there?
Helen: I hope so, or I’ll have to come home again. I might try and get a job—you know—in a hotel or something like that.
DJ: Why do you want to do it?
Helen: Well, mainly because it’ll be a change. After all, I’ve been at school for 13 years. I just want to do something different. It’ll give me new experiences and I’ll need to be more independent.
Note: A-levels英国普通中等教育证书考试高级水平课程, 也是英国学生的大学入学考试。
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Green is an important colour in nature. It is the colour of grass and the leaves on trees, the colour of most growing plants.
Sometimes the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished.
Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a “green thumb”. The expression and a similar one, “green fingers”, come from the 1990s. A person with “green thumb” seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grown quickly and well. You could say that the woman next door has a “green thumb” when her garden continues to produce long after your plants have died.
You may wish to have a “green thumb”, but you surely do not wish to be a “greenhorn”. A “greenhorn” is a person who has no experience, who is new to a situation.
In the 15th century, a “greenhorn” was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in a battle. By the 18th century a greenhorn had the meaning it has today—a person who is new in a job.
Green is also the colour used to describe the powerful emotion, jealousy. The “green-eyed monster” is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is the name given by Shakespeare in his play Othello to jealousy.
When someone talks about the “green-eyed monster”, he is talking about the unpleasant feeling a person has when he thinks he has lost the person he loves to someone else. You could say that a person has been suffering from the “green-eyed monster” ever since his girlfriend began going out with someone else.
In most places in the world, a green light is a signal to go ahead. A green light traffic signal means your vehicle may continue on.
In everyday speech a “green light” means approval to continue with a program or action. A government agency may be given the “green light” to go ahead with a project after the government approves it.
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Great Adventurers to Mt Qomolangma
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the impossible possible.They have been on top of the world.They climbed Mount Qomolangma!Tenzing Norgay is among the world’s famous mountain climbers;he was one of the first two individuals who reached the summit of Mount Qomolangma with Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29,1953.
In 1935, he got an opportunity to join in the Mount Qomolangma expedition. He was employed by Eric Shipton. In 1953 he took part in the seventh expedition to Mt Qomolangma.A member of the team, Edmund Hillary was also there. This expedition took 400 people, of which 362 were porters. The expedition set up base camp in March,1953.Working slowly it set up its final camp at the South Col at 7,890m.On May 26 Bourdillon and Evans attempted the climb but turned back when Evans’ oxygen system failed.The pair had reached the South Summit,coming within 91m of the summit.Hunt then directed Norgay and Hillary to go for the summit.Snow and wind held the pair up at the South Col for two days.They set out on May 28 with a support trio of Alfred Gregory,Ang Nyima and a member called Lowe.The two pitched a tent at 8,500m on May 28 while their support group returned down the mountain.
On the following morning Hillary discovered that his boots had frozen solid outside the tent.He spent two hours warming them before he and Norgay attempted the final ascent wearing 14kg packs.They finally reached the summit but only spent fifteen minutes there.Hillary took the famous photo of Norgay posing with his ice-axe, but since Norgay had never used a camera,Hillary’s ascent went unrecorded.Additional photos were taken looking down the mountain in order to reassure that they had made it to the top and that the ascent was not faked.
The two had to take care on the descent after discovering that drifting snow had covered their tracks,complicating the task of retracing their steps.The first person they met was Lowe,who had climbed up to meet them with hot soup.Then they climbed on down the mountain.
After a lot of struggles they stood on the top of Mount Qomolangma.They have been on top of the world!
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