What to say to a rude person
As Lord Winston took a train from London to Manchester, he found himself becoming steadily annoyed. A woman had picked up her phone and began a loud conversation, would last an unbelievable hour. Angry, Winston began to take her picture and sent it to his more than 40,000 followers on tweeter.
the train arrived at its destination, Winston got off and left quickly. But the press were waiting for the woman. When showed the Lord' s messages, she used one word to describe Winston' s actions: rude.
Winston' s tale is something of a microcosm of our age of increasing rudeness, (fuel) by social media (and, often politics). What can we do to fix this?
Studies have shown that rudeness spreads quickly. Just witnessing rudeness makes it far more likely we, in turn, will be rude later on. Once infected, we are more aggressive, (creative) and worse at our jobs. The only way to end a conflict is to call it out, face to face. We must say, " Just stop. " For Winston, that would have meant (approach) the woman, telling her that her conversation was frustrating other passengers and politely asking her to speak more quietly or make a call at another time. (改天)
The rage and injustice we feel at the rude behavior of a stranger can drive us (do) odd things. The acts of revenge people had taken (range) from the ridiculous to the disturbing. But we can do it with grace, by handling it without a trace of aggression and without being rude . Because once rude people can see their actions the eyes of others, they are far more likely to end that conflict themselves. As this tide of rudeness rises, civilization needs civility. (礼貌)
|
A. species B. labelled C. expanding D. informed E. underestimate F. sustainable G. brief H. rare I. involves J. valuable K. endangered |
Eating Jellyfish Could Come to the Rescue
According to the IUCN Red List 32,000 species are threatened with extinction—everything from birds and mammals. Despite national and international efforts being gathered to protect species, we actively fish for many of them. For those seafood lovers, the news is sad, but the researchers have come up with an unusual way we can help—and it eating jellyfish.
Between 2006 and 2014,92 vulnerable or threatened were being caught, recorded, and sold. When they are sold, it is that fish and invertebrate (无脊椎的) species are required to be according to species, so consumers have no way of knowing what they' re eating.
It is stressed that only a/an view of the real problem is shown. " A lot of the ‘seafood records' are listed in groups like ‘marine fish' . Here we didn' t look at those vague records, we only looked at records where the actual species was listed — so we' ve made a huge of the actual catch.
There are some ways to untie the mess we' re creating in the world' s oceans, including our idea of seafood to include jellyfish. That might sound a little off the theme, but it' s not the first time scientists have suggested it as a food source.
There are other ways to help keep the lovely marine lives off the menu. " We need to improve the labelling of seafood so that consumers can have all the information to make a/an choice," conservation scientist Carissa Klein told Science Alert.
And these choices, at least in some places, are easier than you might imagine. In Australia, where the researchers are based, there' s even official guides providing the future both on your table and at sea.
The colourful chalkboards and baskets of fruit that greet customers at the entrances of Whole Foods Market' s shops paint a rosy picture. Yet shares in the American seller of organic and natural food have fallen by more than 40% since hitting a 1 last October, in a period when stock markets have been strong.
It is not that the retailer is in 2 crisis: its latest quarterly figures, on July 30th, showed sales and profits both up a bit. And it is not that people are 3 the idea of paying more for food produced without chemical fertilizers, pesticides or additives. The problem is that at Whole Foods, shoppers have been paying way over the cost of regular produce, and its success in getting them to do so has now attracted a lot of 4 , from rival organics chains like Sprouts and Trader Joe' s to mass-market retailers like Walmart and Costco. 5 the price premium (价格溢价) for organic produce is crashing down. On a recent shopping trip, a pound of organic apples cost 2. 99 at Whole Foods but just 1. 99 at Sprouts and even less at Costco.
The firm has been cutting costs to keep its margins up, but the slump (骤降) in its share price reflects investors' expectation that this cannot continue, that profits will 6 and that Whole Foods' 7 of the market is coming to an end.
That the company has had to recall a number of products — in late July it and other grocers recalled plums and peaches suspected of contamination with Listeria bacteria—has made it 8 to maintain an air of superiority over its competitors. Organic foods' claim to superiority is 9 anyway. Both Britain' s Food Standards Agency and the Annals of Internal Medicine, a journal, concluded after 10 the extensive studies on the issue that there is no substantial difference in the nutritiousness of organics and non-organics. In some respects organics may be bad for the environment, because growing them uses land less efficiently than non-organics.
As for " natural" foods, there is no official definition of this, in America at least; so the label, which Whole Foods also applies to many products, is close to 11 . Alan McHughen argues that the whole industry is " 99% marketing and public perception," reeling (迷惑) people in through a fabricated concept of a time when food, and life in general, was simple and 12 .
If true, the trick has worked nicely for Whole Foods. But its success has attracted so many imitators that it is losing its 13 . Even recent speculation about a takeover bid has failed to lift its 14 . It may insist its food is 15 . But it seems its prices are not.
Is there a magic cutoff period when children become responsible for their own actions? Is there a wonderful moment when parents can become spectators in the lives of their children and shrug, " It' s their life," and feel nothing?
When I was in my twenties, I stood in a hospital passage waiting for doctors to put a few stitches (缝线) in my son' s head. I asked, " When do you stop worry? " The nurse said, " When they get out of the accident stage. " My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my thirties, I sat on a little chair in a classroom and heard how one of my children talked continually and disrupted the class. As if to read my mind, a teacher said. " Don' t worry, they all go through this stage and then you can sit back, relax and enjoy them. " My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my forties, I spent a lifetime waiting for the phone to ring, the cars to come home, the front door to open. A friend said, " They' re trying to find themselves. Don' t worry, in a few years, you can stop worrying. They' ll adults. " My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
By the time I was 50, I was sick and tired of being weak. I was still worrying over my children, but there was a new wrinkle, there was nothing I could do about it. My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
I continued to suffer from their failures, and be absorbed in their disappointments. My friends said that when my kids got married, I could stop worrying and lead my own life. I wanted to believe that, but I was haunted by my mother' s warm smile and her occasional " You look pale. Are you all right? Call me the minute you get home. Are you depressed about something? " Can it be that parents are sentenced to a lifetime of worry?
One of my children telephoned me last month, saying, " Where were you? I' ve been calling for three days, and no one answered. I was worried. "
I smiled a warm smile.
Do you get nervous thinking about a coming math test? If yes, you are far from alone. Math anxiety has become a common condition among students around the world. Students in countries with higher levels of math anxiety tend to achieve lower math grades, according to a study published by the National Academy of Sciences on Feb 15.
Math anxiety-a negative emotional reaction to the core subject-causes fear, physical suffering and behavior problems among young pupils, according to a University of Cambridge study. Some people also experience physical symptoms such as sweaty palms or a racing heart. They may then try to avoid every situation involving numbers, meaning they are held back from pursuing careers related to this subject, such as technology or engineering, according to The Guardian.
Relief comes from the fact that those with math anxiety aren't destined (注定的) to be bad at math. "If a child has math anxiety, don't assume that they're not good at math. They may have had a really bad experience with math and there are ways to improve math achievement," Daniel Ansari, the senior author of the study told The London Free Press.
Also, there are ways to manage your stress related to math. If you're feeling stressed before a math exam, it may help to spend a few minutes exploring those feelings before the exam begins. "It's about making sure you're interpreting your feelings correctly, "Sian Beilock, a cognitive (认知的) scientist told the BBC. "Just because you have a fast heartbeat and sweaty palms, that does not necessarily mean you will fail."
Math doesn't come easy, no matter how clever you are. Leonardo da Vinci, the famous Italian artist, was a huge fan of mathematics. But his notebooks show that Da Vinci couldn't do fractions (分数). He could never grasp, for instance, that dividing a number by one-quarter is the same as multiplying by four, resulting in a higher number than the original.
Humans are fascinated by the source of their failings and virtues. This preoccupation inevitably leads to an old debate: whether nature or nurture (养育) shapes us more. A revolution in genetics has poised this as a modern political question about the character of our society: if personalities are hard-wired into our genes, what can governments do to help us? It feels morally questionable, yet claims of genetic selection by intelligence are making headlines.
This is down to " hereditarian" (遗传论的) science and a recent paper claimed " differences in exam performance between pupils attending extraordinary and ordinary schools mirror the genetic differences between them" . With such an assertion, the work was predictably greeted by a lot of absurd claims about " genetics determining academic success" . What the research revealed was the rather less surprising result: the educational benefits of extraordinary schools largely disappear once pupils' inborn ability and socio-economic background were taken into account. That is to say, there' s nothing to support strongly either a hereditary or environmental argument.
Yet the paper does say children are " unintentionally genetically selected" by the school system. Central to hereditarian science is a tall claim: that identifiable variations in genetic sequences can predict an individual' s ability to learn, reason and solve problems. This is problematic on many levels. A teacher could not seriously tell a parent their child has a low genetic tendency to study when external factors clearly exist. Unlike-minded academics say the inheritability of human traits is scientifically unsound. At best there is a weak statistical association and not a causal link between DNA and intelligence. Yet sophisticated statistics are used to create a frightening atmosphere of scientific certainty.
While there' s an undoubted genetic basis to individual difference, it is wrong to think that socially defined groups can be genetically accounted for. The fixation on genes as destiny is surely false too. Medical predictability can rarely be based on DNA alone; the environment matters too. Something as complex as intellect is likely to be affected by many factors beyond genes. If hereditarians want to advance their cause it will require more balanced interpretation and not just acts of advocacy. Genetic selection is a way of exerting influence over others, " the ultimate collective control of human destinies," as writer H. G. Wells put it. Knowledge becomes power and power requires a sense of responsibility. In understanding cognitive (认知的) ability, we must not elevate discrimination to a science: allowing people to climb the ladder of life only as far as their cells might suggest. This will need a more skeptical eye on the science. As technology progresses, we all have a duty to make sure that we shape a future that we would want to find ourselves in.
When we talk about intelligence, we do not mean the ability to get a good score on a certain kind of test, or even the ability to do well in school. The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do，but how we behave when we don' t know what to do.
The intelligent person, young or old, meeting a new situation or problem, opens himself up to it. He tries to take in with mind and senses everything he can about it. He thinks about it, instead of about himself or what it might cause to happen to him. If he fails to master it, he looks without fear or shame at his mistakes and learns what he can from them. This is intelligence. Just as clearly, unintelligence is not what most psychologists seem to suppose, the same thing as intelligence, only less of it. It is an entirely different style of behavior, out of entirely set of attitudes.
Years of watching and comparing bright children with the not-bright，or less bright, have shown that they are very different kinds of people. The bright child is curious about life and reality, eager to get in touch with it, unite himself with it. On the other hand, the dull child is far less curious, far less interested in what goes on and what is real. The bright child likes to experiment, to try things out. He lives by the maxim that there is more than one way to skin a cat. The dull child is usually afraid to try at all, It takes a great deal of urging to get him to try even once；if that try fails, he is through.
A．Clearly its roots lie in a certain feeling about life.
B．If he can' t do something one way, he' ll try another.
C．He takes it for granted that he is the most intelligent guy in the world.
D．He continues his pursuit until he finally succeeds.
E．By intelligence we mean a style of life, a way of behaving in various situations.
F．There is no wall between himself and life.
THE TEENAGE BRAIN
Parents, teachers, and anyone who regularly deals with teenagers knows how difficult the adolescent years can be. Adolescents have always been known to do wild — even dangerous — things. This was thought to be due to the foolishness of youth. Now, brain-imaging technology allows scientists to study the physical development of the brain in more detail than ever before. Their discoveries have led to a new theory of why teens act the way they do.
Recently, scientists discovered that though our brains are almost at their full size by the age of six, they are far from fully developed. Only during adolescence do our brains truly " grow up" . During this time, they go through great changes, like a computer system being upgraded. This " upgrade" was once thought to be finished by about age 12. Now, scientists have concluded that our brains continue to change until age 25. Such changes make us better at balancing our impulses with the need to follow rules. However, a still-developing brain does this clumsily. The result, scientists claim, is the unpredictable behavior seen in teenagers.
The studies confirm that teens are more likely to take risks and behave in extreme ways. Fortunately, the news isn' t all negative. As brain scientist B．J. Casey points out, the teen brain inspires such behavior in order to help teenagers prepare for adult life.
One way the brain does this is by changing the way teens measure risk and reward. Researchers found that when teens think about rewards, their brains release more of the chemicals that create pleasure than an adult brain would. Researchers believe this makes the rewards seem more important than the risks, and makes teens feel the excitement of new experiences more keenly than adults do.
Research into the structure of the teen brain also found that it makes social connections seem especially rewarding. As such, teens have an intense need to meet new people.
Scientists suggest this is because as teens, we begin to realize that our peers may one day control the world we live in. Because it is still developing, a teen brain can change to deal with new situations. It therefore connects social rewards with even more pleasure. In this way, the brain encourages teens to have a wide circle of friends, which is believed to make us more successful in life.
