2 . Creative ways to change your workouts

Most people know working out is good for your health, both physical and mental.     1     Sure, you may get excited about training for a 5 K or 10 K, but once the race is over, only to become tired of it after a few weeks.

Create a word or image with your exercise route

Runners often map routes through city streets that create a word or image, then use a GPS device to “draw” it as they run.     2     Not sure what image or message to create? You can always follow artistic routes others have created and shared in the apps.Some are impressively complex and may take several excursions to complete.But that’s part of the fun.

Join a free fitness group

Exercising can be more fun with others, so look for group fitness opportunities. Many communities offer free exercise opportunities. Fitness in the Park is a summer-long activity that has been operating in New York state for a decade. Everyone is welcome to head to one of 18 different parks.     3     “The best part is grabbing a partner that you don’t know, or getting together with one that you do,” Frion said. “It’s always so much fun.”

    4    

Sure, you can run a 5 K. But why not try orienteering (定向越野赛)? This timed navigational sport requires you to use detailed maps to find orange-and-white flags that are hidden in parks or remote areas. Races involve difficult running routes

Dance

Whether you take a class or practice at home, dancing is a great way to get your body moving. Dancing doesn’t seem like exercise to a lot of people, which is why it’s always a popular choice.     5     “The workout allows for a creative aspect and meditation at the same time,” she said. “Many people come because it is an opportunity to try something different, as well as to dance in a nonjudgmental space.”

4 . The Nobel economics prize was awarded on Monday to Harvard University professor Claudia Goldin for research that has advanced the understanding of the gender (性别) gap in the labor market.

The announcement went a tiny step to closing the Nobel committee’s own gender gap: Goldin is just the third woman to win the prize out of 93 economics laureates (获奖者). She has studied 200 years of women’s participation in the workplace, showing that despite continued economic growth, women’s pay did not continuously catch up to men’s and a divide still exists despite women gaining higher levels of education than men. “I’ve always been an optimist. But when I looked at the numbers, I found in the 1990s, our labor force participation rate for women was the highest in the world, and now it isn’t the highest in the world,” Goldin told The Associated Press.

“Although Goldin’s research does not offer solutions, it allows policymakers to deal with the problem,” said Randi Hjalmarsson, a member of the Nobel committee. “She explains the source of the gap, and how it’s changed over time and how it changes with the stage of development. By finally understanding the problem and calling it by the right name, we will find a solution.”

Goldin, 77, told AP that what happens in people’s homes reflects what happens in the workplace. Women often have to take jobs that allow them to be on call at home—work that often pays less.

“Goldin tried to fill in missing data for her research,” Hjalmarsson said. For parts of history, systematic labor market records did not exist, and, if they did, information about women was missing. “So Goldin had to be a detective to find novel data sources and creative ways to use them to measure these unknowns.”

7 . In 1867, Caroline Shawk Brooks and her husband, Samuel, had a farm in Arkansas. Life on the farm was not easy. From sunrise to sunset, Caroline and Samuel milked cows, gardened, and picked cotton. This left Caroline no time for her dream of becoming an artist.

Time was not the only problem. Money was a worry too. The cotton crops were failing. What could Caroline and Samuel do?

Caroline decided to make butter (黄油) from their cows’milk and sell it at market. But other farms also made and sold butter. How would Caroline set her butter apart from the rest? This is where Caroline’s artistic talent came in. To draw attention to her butter, she began making small butter sculptures (雕塑). She used many different tools, such as butter paddles (搅拌器的浆叶), broom straws, and tree sticks. She also put the butter in a shallow tin pan, which sat in a larger tin pan filled with ice to stop the butter sculpture from melting.

Caroline’s butter sculptures were a hit. Before long, she was displaying them at fairs and exhibitions. One of her largest butter sculptures was a life-size statue called A Study in Butter. It was transported all the way to Paris for the 1878 world’s fair.

Caroline also made sculptures using marble (大理石). She eventually opened a studio in New York City where she created many marble sculptures, some of which were shown at the 1893 world’s fair in Chicago.

But Caroline never stopped making butter art. She considered butter a superior material to work with. At the 1893 fair, she also displayed her butter techniques with a sculpture of Christopher Columbus.

Caroline Shawk Brooks died in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1913. She is remembered as the first known American butter sculptor.

8 . It’s 1: 45 a.m, and 21-year-old Thomas Murphy is studying for an important exam. To stay awake, he’s had two cups of coffee in the last three hours and is now downing a popular energy drink which also has caffeine.

Caffeine is present in many of the foods and drinks we consume (消耗), but is it good for us? Charles Czeisler, a scientist and sleep expert at Harvard Medical School, believes that caffeine causes us to lose sleep. “Without enough sleep — the typical eight hours -the human body will not work at its best, physically, mentally, or emotionally.” Too often, Czeisler says, we consume caffeine to stay awake, which later makes it impossible for us to get the rest we need.

A number of scientists believe that regular caffeine use causes physical dependence. Heavy caffeine users show similar behaviors. For example, they get mild to severe headaches, or they feel tired or sad when they can’t have a caffeinated drink. To reduce or stop these feelings, users must consume caffeine, which is characteristic of drug addiction.

Despite these concerns, the general opinion in the scientific field is that caffeine is not dangerous when one or two small cups of coffee per day are consumed. Furthermore, a lot of current research goes against long-held negative beliefs about caffeine, and suggests that it may, in fact, have health benefits. For example, studies have shown that caffeine can help ease pain and help improve one’s mood. Research has also shown that some caffeinated drinks can help the body fight a number of illnesses, including certain types of cancer.

Caffeine’s behavioral effects are real, but most often mild. Getting that burst of energy, of course, is why many of the world’s most popular drinks contain caffeine. Whether it’s a student drinking coffee before class or a businessperson enjoying tea with lunch, humankind’s favorite stimulant (兴奋剂) is at work every day, all over the world.

9 . Home workout

As long as there is a space at home, we can move. It will take time if we go outside as time is precious, especially in this fast- paced age. So many people like to exercise at home. However, without trainers, getting good exercises at home can be difficult.     1    

Avoid over-training. Nowadays, a lot of people prefer to do some popular programs they see on social media. But a lot of these programs are high-in-tensity (高强度的) and designed to make you feel tired.     2     Training beyond your power can result in injury. “You might develop tendonitis (肌腱炎) in the knees; you might hurt an ankle,” said Clifton Hempstead, a well-known personal trainer.

    3     A lot of home workout programs that don’t need equipment include exercises such as planks (平板支撑),squats (深蹲) and sit-ups.     4     “When doing squats, your knees and toes should be pointed in the same direction so that, long term, your knees don’t suffer. If you can’t do an exercise, find a way to reduces its tensity so that you have less pain,” he said.

Do yoga in a suitable way.     5     But if you’d rather learn yoga through videos, it’s important to take it slow. Many video classes don’t offer any changes of poses that might make them work for different bodies. “If something doesn’t feel right, and you’re taking a video class, please quit,” he said. “Don’t go as far.”