Too Far Away from It All?

A TV series in England, Away from It All, has surprised everyone by becoming a huge success with young people.

Its success is surprising because its main character is a shepherd (牧羊人), and the series is about the relaxing lifestyles of people who live in the country. There is none of the action that we usually see on TV. There are also no stressful moments, busy offices, or crowded cities. Away From It All is set in the peaceful English countryside and tells simple stories of people’s kindness

The director of the series says its success is a sign of teenagers suffering from stress. He says that watching Away from It All helps teenagers forget about the pressures of exams and homework, and the troubles that fill the world. He also claims that it’s a good sign that today’s youth are switching to happier TV series, as it shows they would like a happier and healthier life.

Although the series’ success might have a good side, many teachers and parents are worried. They say that some of their students and children are becoming couch potatoes (电视迷) and are using Away from It All as an excuse for not completing homework. Some students have even refused to study for exams because they say that they can only achieve happiness by avoiding stressful situations completely.

One mother, Lucy Linney, said of her son Patrick, “Before he started watching Away from it All, he loved challenges and volunteered every afternoon. But now he has become a couch potato. His grades have dropped and he no longer volunteers. He says it doesn’t matter as he just wants to ‘get away from it all’.”

And what do the experts say? Paula Ray, a doctor, says that TV can influence young people’s lifestyles. But she says that if a young person reacts as strongly as Patrick, it’s likely that there are other reasons for his change in the behaviour.

2 . When you hear “I have a dream…”, one of the most famous speeches in human history, you’ll never have the idea how the audience on the scene were fueled by emotional intelligence. When Martin Luther King. Jr. presented his dream, he chose language that would stir the hearts of his audience. Delivering this electrifying(震撼性的) message required emotional intelligence—the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions.

Emotional intelligence has been highly recommended by leaders, policymakers, and educators as the solution to a wide range of social problems. Emotional intelligence is important, but the uncontrolled enthusiasm has obscured (掩盖)a dark side. New evidence shows that when people sharpen their emotional skills, they become better at controlling others. When you’re good at controlling your own emotions, you can hide your true feelings. When you know what others are feeling, you can motivate them to act against their own best interests.

Social scientists have begun to document this dark side of emotional intelligence. In a research led by University of Toronto professor Jochen Menges, when a leader gave an inspiring speech filled with emotion, the audience was less likely to scrutinize (细察) the message and remembered the content. Ironically(讽刺 的是), audience members were so moved by the speech that they claimed to recall more of it.

The authors call this the awestruck effect, but it might just as easily be described as the dumbstruck effect. One observer reflected that Hitler’s persuasive impact came from his ability to strategically express emotions—he would “tear open his heart”—and these emotions affected his followers to the point that they would “stop thinking critically and just emote.”

Leaders who master emotions can rob us of our abilities to reason. If their values are out of step with our own, the results can be destructive. New evidence suggests that when people have self-serving motives, emotional intelligence becomes a weapon for controlling others.

Throwing light on this dark side of emotional intelligence is one mission of a research team led by University College London professor Martin Kilduff. According to these experts, emotional intelligence helps people disguise (伪装) one set of emotions while expressing another for personal gain. Professor Kilduff’s team writes, “The strategic disguise of one’s own emotions and the controlling of others’ emotions for strategic ends are behaviors evident not only on Shakespeare’s stage but also in the offices and corridors where power and influence are traded.”

Of course, people aren’t always using emotional intelligence for   nefarious ends. More often than not, high EQ is helpful in most aspects of our life. Emotional intelligence—like any skill—can be used for good or evil. So whether it is a gift or a curse lies in your hand.

3 . Last night I was driving from Harrisburg to Lewisburg, a ________ of about eighty miles. It was late and I was in a hurry. However, if anyone asked me how fast I was ________, I’d say I was not over-speeding. Several times I got________ behind a slow- moving truck on a narrow road, and I was holding my fists tightly with________.

At one point along an open highway, I________ crossroads with a traffic light. I was alone on the road by now, but as I ________ the light, it turned red and I braked to a stop. I looked left, right and behind me. Nothing. No cars, no suggestion of headlights, but there I sat, waiting for the light to ________, the only human being for at least a mile in any________.

I started________ why I refused to run the light. I was not afraid of being________, because there was obviously no police-man around, and there certainly would have been no________ in going through it.

Much later that night, after I________ a group of my friends in Lewisburg and climbed into bed near midnight, the question of why I’d stopped for that light________ me. I think I stopped because it’s part of a contract we all have with each other. It’s not only the________ but it’s an arrangement we have, and we trust each other to ________ it: we don’t go through red lights. Like most of us, I’m more likely to be________ from doing something bad by the social convention that________ it than by any law against it.

It’s amazing that we ever________ each other to do the right thing, isn’t it? And we do, too! Trust is our________ preference.

I was so ________ of myself for stopping for the red light that night.

7 . If you’re a runner who secretly hates running, here’s some good news: settling into a leisurely jog rather than an all-out run may actually be better for your health in the long term.

A team from Denmark followed over 5, 000 people taking part in the Copenhagen City Heart Study, and tracked whether they were non-joggers, or joggers who kept a slow, moderate (中等的), or fast pace. The participants’ health was tracked over the next 12 years, and so was their mortality (死亡率): 28 of the joggers and 128 of the non-joggers died.

The connection was this: Joggers of mild and moderate intensity had a lower risk of death than the fast joggers. In fact, the lowest mortality risk was that of the mild intensity joggers. The fast-paced joggers had about the same mortality rate as sedentary (久坐的) people. This suggests that there may be an upper limit to hard exercise, after which the benefits fall off.

“The U-shaped association between jogging and mortality suggests there may be an upper limit for exercise amount that is best for health benefits,” said study author Peter Schnohr. “Anything more is not just unnecessary; it may be harmful.” From the current study, jogging just three times per week, for less than 2.5 hours per week was associated with the lowest overall mortality risk.

There have been a lot of mixed messages about the “right” amount of exercise and what intensity is best. The World Health Organization has suggested that the current 150 minutes per week recommendations are strenuous for most people to tackle, and that expectations should be lowered, since, after all, anything is better than nothing. Everyone probably has a level of activity that feels best to him or her. But at least the growing consensus seems to be that more — if you’re pushing yourself very hard— is not necessarily better. And it may even be worse.

9 . When Kevin Durant gave his tearful MVP speech in 2014, the NBA star made sure to thank one person who had been there with him from the very beginning: his mother. His heartfelt words about the sacrifices she made for Durant and his brother led to a lifetime movie about her journey as a single parent, The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story.

Today, the NBA superstar’s mom travels the country as a motivational speaker and philanthropist (慈善家). On Monday, she spoke at Thomson Reuters’ in New York about her personal struggles to achieve financial stability and shared the financial advice she gave her son when he entered the league with CNBC.

“I wanted him to realize he has worked hard,” she says, “And it is OK for him to enjoy himself because of his hard work. But it is also imperative that he prepares for his future.” While she advised him to enjoy the rewards of his labor, she also wanted to make sure that her son knew the importance of financial planning.

She told the audience that when she found herself a single parent to two children at 21, she couldn’t follow the financial principles. Rather than planning for the future, she focused only on how her money could make ends meet for that moment.

Recently, Durant has teamed up with Laurene Powell Jobs for a new philanthropic program called College Track which is aimed at helping disadvantaged kids attend college. As part of the program, Durant has committed to donating $10 million to his hometown’s public school system.

Durant’s mom says that in addition to his financial decisions, she is proud of his philanthropic work and his desire to help the community. “I thought giving back was always very important, and so we talked about that and he had seen that from us as a family and it’s one of the things that I taught him,” she says.