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    Challenging work that requires lots of analytical thinking, planning and other managerial skills might help your brain stay sharp as you age, a study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology suggests.

    Researchers from the University of Leipzig in Germany gathered more than 1, 000 retired workers who were over age 75 and assessed the volunteers' memory and thinking skills through a battery of tests. Then, for eight years, the scientists asked the same group to come back to the lab every 18 months to take the same sorts of tests.

    Those who had held mentally stimulating(刺激), demanding jobs before retirement tended to do the best on the tests. And they tended to lose cognitive(认知) function at a much slower rate than those with the least mentally challenging jobs. The results held true even after the scientists accounted for the participants' overall health status.

    "This works just like physical exercise," says Francisca Then, who led the study. "After a long run, you may feel like you're in pain, you may feel tired. But it makes you fit. After a long day at work-sure, you will feel tired, but it can help your brain stay healthy. "

    It's not just corporate jobs, or even paid work that can help keep your brain fit, Then points out. A waiter's job, for example, that requires multitasking, teamwork and decision-making could be just as stimulating as any high-level office work. And "running a family household requires high-level planning and coordinating(协调), " she says. "You have to organize the activities of the children and take care of the bills and groceries."

    Of course, our brains can decline as we grow older for lots of reasons-including other environmental influences or genetic factors. Still, continuing to challenge yourself mentally and keeping your mind busy can only help.

    Have you ever heard someone say, "you totally look like you're a Jessica" or something similar? People seem to think that they know what kind of person a "Jessica" or a "Michael" looks like. Why is this?

    According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, humans tend to associate people's names with their appearance, and can even guess someone's name based on how they look.

    Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, collected thousands of photos of people's faces. They labeled each photo with four names. Then, they asked volunteers to guess which of the four names was correct.

    The volunteers were able to guess the right name 38 percent of the time. It seems that certain characteristics of faces give them clues about someone's name  Reader's Digest reported.

    However, this only worked when the volunteers looked at names from their own culture. In addition, the volunteers were not as good at guessing the real names of people who used nicknames more often than their real names. This may show that a person's appearance is affected by their name only if they use it often.

    This kind of face-name matching happens "because of a process of self-fulfilling prophecy (自我实现预言), as we become what other people expect us to become." Ruth Mayo from the university told science news website EurekAlert.

    Earlier studies have shown that gender and race stereotypes (刻板印象) can affect a person's appearance. The researchers believe there are also similar stereotypes about names. For example, people tend to think that men named Bob should have rounder faces because the word itself looks round. People may think that women named Rose are beautiful. They expect them to be "delicate" and "feminine(女性的)", just like the flower they are named for.

Schedule an Appointment at the Center for Women's Health

Please call your doctor's office or the clinic as far in advance as possible to schedule your appointments. This will make it easier to choose times that are most convenient for you.

Be sure to register after you have scheduled your first appointment. Registration helps each clinic correctly identify you and your medical information.

If your health plan restricts the clinics you can use, be sure your plan has approved the healthcare you are requesting. This will help you avoid unexpected fees.

Checklist of information you will need when making an appointment

We will ask you for the following information:

Your name

Your date of birth or Social Security number (this helps ensure that your medical information is not confused with someone who has a similar name)

Reasons for the appointment (be as specific as possible so that we can reserve the right amount of time for your visit)

Whether you want a particular doctor or the first available appointment

Canceling an appointment

If you cannot keep your appointment, please call your doctor's office or clinic as soon as possible or no later than the day before. We realize that sometimes emergencies come up and your plans may change. However, giving us as much notice as possible helps us better serve you and our other patients. When you call, we will help you reschedule for another day and time.

Runners who encounter visual and auditory distractions (干扰)may be more likely to suffer leg injuries, according to research by the Association of Academic Physiatrists in Las Vegas. Runners often seek distraction from the task at hand. Whether it is music, texting, daydreaming, taking in the sights, or propping a book up on the treadmill(跑步机), more often than not a distraction is welcome. But, researchers from the University of Florida have recently discovered those distractions may lead to injury.

Daniel Herman, MD, assistant professor at University of Florida, and his team conducted research on the effects of visual and auditory distractions on 14 runners to determine what effect these distractions would have on things such as heart rate, how many times a runner breathes per minute and how much oxygen is consumed by the body.

The runners were all injury­free at the time of the study and ran 31 miles each week. Dr. Herman's team had each participant run on a treadmill three separate times. The first time was without any distractions. The second time added a visual distraction, during which the runners concentrated on a screen displaying different letters in different colors with the runner having to note when a specific letter­color combination appeared. The third time added an auditory distraction similar to the visual distraction, with the runner having to note when a certain word was spoken by a certain voice.

When compared to running without distractions, the participants applied force faster to their left and right legs called loading rate, with auditory and visual distractions. They also experienced an increased amount of force from the ground on both legs, called ground reaction force, with auditory distractions. Finally, the runners tended to breathe heavier and have higher heart rates with visual and auditory distractions than without any distractions at all.

"Running in environments with different distractions may unfavorably affect running performance and increase injury risk," explains Dr. Herman. "Sometimes these things cannot be helped, but you may be able to minimize potentially cumulative(累积的) effects. For example, when running a new route in a chaotic environment such as during a destination of marathon, you may want to skip listening to something which may require more attention—like a new song playlist."

Dr. Herman's team will continue to investigate the potential relationship between distracted running and leg injuries, and any effect this relationship has on different training techniques that use auditory or visual cues.

Happy Birthday, Thorstein Veblen, who invented the expression "conspicuous( 炫耀性) consumption ".

Why do we buy? What drives us to get things we know we don't need and that we know are bad for the planet? Thorstein Veblen, born on July 30th, 1857, discussed this in his 1899 book The Theory of the Leisure Class, where he first wrote about conspicuous consumption.

According to a website named Conspicuous Consumption, the term refers to consumers who buy expensive items to show off their wealth and income rather than cover their real needs. Such a consumer shows such behavior to enjoy or achieve higher social status. The result, according to Veblen, is a society characterized by wasted time and money.

There is also a type of goods called "Veblen goods", which really exist only to show the status of the person buying them. Rolls-Royce or fancy supercars are a good example; a Lamborghini won't get you anywhere faster in a world with speed limits. A Patek-Philippe watch doesn't keep time as accurately as a Timex.

Conspicuous consumption can lead to conspicuous waste —the ability to just throw things away and buy replacements even when they work perfectly well. Through "conspicuous consumption" often came "conspicuous waste", which Veblen hated. Much of modern advertising is built upon a Veblenian idea of consumption and competition.

Veblen also explains why poor people won't fight against conspicuous consumption. The poor, and all those persons who concentrate on the struggle to make a living, are conservative because they cannot afford the effort of taking thought for the day after tomorrow.

Some of Veblen's theories wouldn't find a place in today's USA, but you must be impressed by his most famous saying: Invention is the mother of necessity.

Happy 163rd Birthday, Thorstein Veblen!

Anaya Elick was born without hands—she has stubs(残端)where most people's wrists begin.

To hold a pencil, she must balance it between her wrists, then use her arms to push it along the page. But that didn't stop her from winning a national handwriting contest when she was in first grade.

In the two years since, she has taken on greater challenges. Last week, she won another national handwriting contest, this one for cursive(草书). And by all accounts from her teachers at Greenbrier Christian Academy, she has become an accomplished artist.

Anaya isn't one to boast about her successes. She unwillingly says they make her proud but adds that they come from "lots of practice".

Her friends at school said, "She inspires everybody by what she does and how she does it". No one wants child to fail, and raising one who was born with a disability can heighten that protective instinct. Before Anaya was born, doctors knew about her condition, although not its cause. Other than having no hands, she is a regular 9­year­old girl.

"Anaya succeeds because she is not afraid to fail", Middleton said. The two began practicing cursive last year, when Anaya was in second grade. She struggled sometimes, because unlike traditional penmanship, which allows for breaks after each letter, cursive words are written straight through—and added effort for someone who must balance rather than hold the pencil.

Middleton could see her daughter thinking through the challenge, figuring out how she could do better. She'd get frustrated at times, but she never hesitated to do things as often as it took to get them right.

"I don't think I've ever heard Anaya say I can't do something," Middleton said.

That attitude carries over to her other interests.

Recently, Anaya and her classmates sat in Cheryl Leader's art room, working on an exercise. The goal was to get them thinking about different concepts, like color combinations and how an image can be formed by fully coloring inside straight and diagonal lines.

Of all nature's disasters, forest fires are often considered the most frightening. Moving at lightning speed, huge walls of flames can burn acres of land in just a few minutes. And although technology, including the use of fire­retardant chemicals, has greatly helped the fight against forest fires, they still take great damage.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the fire season last year was the worst on record in terms of the number of fires and acres(公顷) burned. There were 96, 385 fires and 9, 873, 429 acres affected by fire in a year that was 125% more destructive (毁灭性的)than the 10­year average(平均). These fires cost the federal government $1. 5 billion to fight, and this figure does not include the money spent by local and state governments as part of the effort.

Fires in the southern states represented(代表)half of the national total last year with Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas being home to an usually high amount of activity. Wildfire have also taken place in Western states such as California, Colorado and Alaska throughout the past 10 years.

It is said that two­thirds of forest fires are started accidentally by people, almost one quarter are purposely set, while lighting causes 10%.

Forest fires can have advantageous effects. Charcoal(木炭) enriches soil, and some plant species(种类) grow well after. The cones of the jack pine tree, for example, will not spread their seeds unless there is heat. Douglas fir trees grow best in open sunlight areas after fire.

    Air pollution is the world's top killer, a new global air quality index revealed last year. According to the World Health Organization(WHO), 4. 2 million people die each year from outdoor air pollution, and 91 percent of the world's population lives in a place that exceeds the WHO's guideline limits. With that in mind, Imperial College London has teamed up with biochemical tech startup Arborea to test out its biosolar leaf technology, while also demonstrating how sustainable solutions can address the vital environmental and social issues of today in real-world conditions.

    So, what is a biosolar leaf and how does it work? The secret is algae(海藻). Arborea researchers developed a cultivation(培养)system that allows microscopic plants like microalgae to grow on large solar panel-like structures that can be installed on land, buildings, and anywhere with a roof in a built-up city to improve the surrounding air quality.
    Inspired by the natural process of photosynthesis(光合作用)，the biosolar panels allow the microorganisms to absorb CO2 from the surrounding area and generate breathable oxygen back out again. And they help produce a nutritious, sustainable plant protein with tiny environmental impact—— Arborea's other focus——at the same time. "When I founded Arborea? my goal was to cope with climate change while addressing the critical issues related to the food system," Arborea founder and CEO Julian Melchiorri said. "This pilot plant will produce sustainable healthy food additives while purifying the air, producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide from the surrounding environment.”

    Melchiorri has already had some success with his astonishing project, the world's first living bionic chandelier(仿生吊灯)，which uses the same technology. The light of the chandelier stimulates photosynthesis of the microorganisms on the leaf-shaped modules, absorbing the CO2 inside and releasing oxygen back into the room. The chandelier currently holds pride of place in London's Victoria and Albert Museum's permanent collection.

Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has spent much of his time seeking artistic solutions to solve our environmental problems. His past projects include "Bioluminescent(生物发光)Trees" to light streets, a "Smog-Free Tower" to clean Beijing's polluted air and "Gates of Light", which uses the headlamps of passing cars to light up the 60 floodgates of the Afsluitdijk, a major dam in the Netherlands. Now, he is hoping to use his skills to solve a pressing global problem—space junk!

Scientists guess that there are over 500, 000 bits of large rubbish. To deal with the problem, Roosegaarde intends to achieve his goal by educating the public about the need of the situation and coming up with possible solutions. The plan, called the Space Waste Lab, started in October 2018 with a laser(激光)show in the Netherlands. The unique outdoor artwork of LEDs used real-time tracking information to point at pieces of space junk floating at altitudes of 200 to 20, 000 kilometers. The experience was designed to make the public know more about how much space junk there are.

To find a solution, the designer has been thinking with experts. One of the projects being considered is "Shooting Stars", which attempts to reintroduce the trash to the atmosphere in a controlled way. Upon reentry the waste would burn in the atmosphere like a shooting star. Roosegaarde envisages that, if successful, burning space trash could someday replace fireworks at large public events!

In September 2018, the Remove DEBRIS satellite successfully sent a net to catch a target while orbiting at an altitude of about 300 kilometers (190 miles). Sometime this year, the capsule will set free a harpoon that has been designed to remove space trash. At the end of its task, Remove DEBRIS will let go for a sail to bring the satellite itself, and hopefully some trash, back into the atmosphere, where it will burn up.

Let me explain a bit by telling you where the challenge came from. I have many things in common with my dad, like music taste and sense of humour, but sadly reading isn't one of them. I can happily spend a whole day curled up with a book but my dad can't read a book for longer than about 5 minutes. He reads emails, websites and documents for work, but not books. I think that sitting down to read for just 15 minutes a day is a good way to relax. Giving yourself a goal or a challenge is a good way to change a habit or achieve something, so why not try to create a new habit of reading?

I know lots of people would rather relax on their computers or in front of the TV. Everyone is different and has their own interests, but I think there are lots of benefits from reading, which screen-based activities (games, films, TV) don't have.

One thing I personally love about reading is being transported to another world. I often forget the time or things that are going on around me! Reading is a great way to switch off before you go to bed, so you can truly relax. I know you can be transported to a different world in a film or a TV show, but I think books do it better. While watching a film, I often talk to my flatmates, send texts, or paint my nails. A book, on the other hand, commands your full attention.

Reading gives you the chance to get to know hundreds of new people! It also teaches you to see things from other people's point of view, and understand other people's decisions or opinions, With a book, you can hear everything a character is thinking or feeling—you really can be inside someone else's head!

So give it a go! Take 15 minutes when you're waking up, going to bed, eating lunch, or having a coffee. If you read a lot, why not try 15 minutes of an English book, or pass the challenge on to someone else? Good luck, and happy reading.

Every day we experiencc one of the wonders of the world around us without even realizing it . It is not the amazing complexity of television, nor the impressive tcchnology of transport. The universal wonder we share and experience is our ability to make noises with our mouths, and so transmit ideas and thoughts to each other's minds. This ability comes so naturally that we tend to forget what a miracle (奇迹）it is.

Obviously, the ability to talk is something that marks humans off from animals. Of course, some animals have powers just as amazing. Birds can fly thousands of miles by observing positions of the stars in the sky in relation to the time of day and year. In Nature's talent show, humans are a species of animal that have developed their own special act. If we reduce it to basic terms, it's an ability for communicating information to others by varying sounds we make as we breathe out.

Not that we don't have other powers of communication. Our facial expressions convey our emotions, such as anger, or joy, or disappointment. The way we hold our heads can indicate to others whether we are happy or sad. This is so-called "body language". Bristling (直立的) fur is an unmistakable warning of attack among many animals. Similarly, the bowed head or drooping tail shows a readiness to take second place in any animal gathering.

Such a means of communication is a basic mechanism that animals, including human beings, instinctively acquire and display. Is the ability to speak just another sort of instinct? If so, how did human beings acquire this amazing skill? Biologists can readily indicate that particular area of our brain where speech mechanisms function, but this doesn't tell us how that part of our bodies originated in our biological history.

Every superhero, no matter how small, needs a cape(披风). That was Robyn Rosenberger's motivation when she started sewing superhero caps for kids with cancer, heart defects, and other serious diseases.

It all began when she was making a cape as a birthday present for her nephew. Rosenberger heard of a girl named Brenna who was battling a potentially deadly skin condition called harlequin ichthyosis (鱼鳞病). Anyone going through what she was going through had to be tough. "I had a happy moment," Rosenberger says. "Brenna was a superhero! She needed a cape."

So, Rosenberger sent her one, and Brenna's mother was delighted. Rosenberger found ten more kids online and sent out ten more capes. Before long, she quit her job at a software company to devote herself to tinysuperheroes.com, a website where people can buy handmade capes for brave kids facing illness and disability.

Since 2013, Rosenberger and her small paid staff have sent more than 12,000 handmade capes to kids in all 500 states and 15 other countries. The capes come in pink, blue, purple, or red and can be decorated with the child's initials(姓氏首字母) or specialized patches, including a heart, a rocket, or a lightning bolt. One receiver was eight-month-old Gabe, who was born with a cleft palate(腭裂) and Coffin-Siris Syndrome, which causes distinct (特有的) facial features. Rosenberger sent him a red cape with a bright yellow G in the center. It was a hit. Gabe is now a fixture on the company's social media posts. "The TinySuperhero community has been a wonderful connection to have," says Gabe's mom, Kate Glocke. "In fact, two years later, we still bring Gabe's cape with us to every hospital appointment."

Mini Book Excerpts (节选)

Biography

When Salinger learned that a car park was to be built on the land, the middle-aged writer was shocked and quickly bought the neighboring area to protect it… The townspeople never forgot the rescue and came to help their most famous neighbor.

J. D. Salinger：A Life by Kenneth Slawenski (Random House,$27) Mystery (疑案小说)

"You're a smart boy. Benny's death was no accident, and you're the only who saw it happen. Do you think the murderer should get away with it?" The boy was starting stubbornly at his lap again.

A thought suddenly occurred to Annika," Did you …You recognized the man in the car, didn't you?"

The boy hesitated, twisting his fingers," Maybe,"he said quietly.

Red Wolf by Liza Marklund (Atria Books, $25. 99)

Short Stories

She wants to say to him what she has learned, none of it in class. Some women are born stupid, and some women are too smart for their own good. Some women are born to give, and some women only know how to take. Some women learn who they want to be from their mothers, some who they don't want to be. Some mothers suffer so their daughters won't. Some mothers love so their daughters won't.

You Are Free by Danzy Senna (Riverhead Books,$15)

Humor

Do your kids like to have fun? Come to Fun Times! Do you like to watch your kids having fun? Bring them to Fun Times! Fun Times! "amusement cycling" is the most fun you can have, legally, in the United States right now. Why spend thousands of dollars flying to Disney World when you can spend less than half to that within a day's drive lf most cities?

Happy And Other Bad Thoughts by Larry Doyle (Ecco,$14. 99)

If I could give today's young people three wishes, they would be: More hugs. More time outside in nature. More belief in their own power to change the world. While most people understand the importance of the first two wishes, the third one leaves some folks wondering why young people's belief in their own power is so essential.

Let's start with the idea that all of us-especially young people-need heroes. We need them to be our guides on the difficult trail(足迹)we call life and to show us just how far we can go. And we need heroes today more than ever. Our modern society is terribly confused about the difference between a celebrity and a hero. And the difference: is vital. A celebrity is all about fame(名望)-temporary, superficial fame, usually for qualities that are easy to see: a pretty face, a great dance move. A hero，by contrast, is about character-qualities under the surface that aren't visible until they take action.

Heroes are all around us. They truly hold our world together, through their unselfish devotion to helping others, teaching children, and protecting the environment. They don't want fame, or glory; they just want to help. In so many ways, these unsung heroes pilot the boat in which all of us sail.

Yet, young people hear a lot more about celebrities than about heroes in the media. The hidden message they get from all this is that their self-worth comes from what they buy-which shoes, which cell phone--not who they are down inside. What gets lost in this? Young people's sense of their own potential for heroic qualities--their own power to make a positive difference in the world. Truth is, there is a potential hero, a future difference maker, in every young person. Each of them, from whatever background, is a positive force who can do something. All it takes for that to be true is belief.

How do we help young people believe in their own power? The best way is simply to share examples, of other young people who have made a difference.

Ryan, age 11, has worked tirelessly to raise money to provide clean drinking water to African villages. When he first heard about the plight(困苦)of African children who died from impure water, Ryan was only six years old. In the next five years, he raised over $500, 000-enough to build over 70 water wells.

Barbara, age 17, grew up on a farm in Texas. When she realized that local farmers were pouring their used motor oil into rivers, causing pollution, she organized the creation of a recycling center for crude(未加提炼的)oil. Her project has grown to include 18 recycling centers in Texas.

The list could continue. These are but a few examples of young people who have discovered that they can build on their own energy to do something great.

Bornholm is a Danish island in the southern part of the Baltic Sea. At only 588 square kilometers, the island is home to about 40, 000 people and welcomes around 600, 000 visitors each year. The island is known for its sunny weather, round churches and rocky sea cliffs. But soon it hopes to make history for its lack of trash (垃圾).

Bornholm's only waste incineration (焚烧) plant is on its last legs, so instead of replacing it, the island has come up with another plan. "In 2032 there'll be no more waste on Bornholm, " the island's waste management company announced. "All unwanted items are resources that can be recycled to the benefit of the entire community. "

The government doesn't yet know all the specifics of how the plan will work, but officials have laid out a basic outline. For example, they fancy citizens sorting waste into easily recyclable items such as metal, plastic, glass, paper and cardboard, and then plan to add new items such as fishing nets, insulation materials and more plastics to the recycling system. Organic waste, as well as garden and park waste, will be changed into energy, and the nutrient-rich waste from energy recovery will be used as fertilizer in fields, gardens and parks on the island.

Residents will be encouraged to make use of the sharing economy, lending and borrowing goods and services. They'll reuse everything from furniture to children's clothing, and businesses will repair a large number of items from bicycles to kitchen appliances. And elementary school students will be educated as "resource heroes" with practical, hands-on lessons about waste, resources, the environment and nature.

"Yet, in the waste area we were falling behind, so it was important for us to move ahead, " Anne Thomas, the deputy mayor of Bornholm, tells National Geographic.

Welcome to Skiing Lessons

Skiing is a great way for your children to develop their skiing skills, meet new friends and explore the mountains. Our awesome instructors provide a safe, fun and exciting learning environment that help progress your child to the next stage in their skiing development.

Details

Teaching children, in particular, is a challenging, rewarding and satisfying experience: Children are complex in how they develop, both physically and cognitively: This requires a variety of teaching approaches to meet the needs of all students, all while keeping it safe and fun. Our instructors turn learning objectives into games or tasks that are appropriate to the age and skills of their students.

What to expect

* Learn, explore and have fun YOUR way.

* Enjoy one - to - one lessons that best suit YOUR individual skill levels and styles.

* Explore the mountain with YOUR personal instructor.

Please not

* We accept kids between 3 and 12 years of age (Must be toilet trained)

* Children tend to have very different learning styles from adults, requiring a different lesson structure and approach.

* For safety reasons, children under the age of 8 are allowed only 1:1 or 2:1 lessons.

* Lesson cannot be mixed between skiers and snowboarders.

* We agreed that students participating in a lesson together be similar age and ability.

* Participants must have a suitable travel insurance.

2020-21 SKI LESSONS PRICE

[Early booking Promotion]

For bookings made by November 15th, a 10% discount will be applied!

China Science Daily announced Thursday that it has used software to automatically generate news stories about the latest discoveries from the world's leading science journals.The robot science reporter，called "Xiaoke"，was co-created by the newspaper and researchers from Peking University in about half a year.

It is the latest case of Chinese news organizations using computer technology to create the content.According to its inventors，Xiaoke has generated over 200 stories based on the English abstract of papers published in journals such as Science ， Nature ， Cell and The New England Journal of Medicine.

Before publication，the automatically generated articles will go through a review process.A group of scientists and the newspaper's editors will check the content or give supplementary(补充的) information.

Zhang Mingwei，head of the program and vice editor-in-chief of the newspaper，said inventors would make Xiaoke a "cross-linguistic(跨语言的) academic secretary" to help Chinese scientists overcome language barriers and have easy and quick access to the latest scientific advances in English-language publications.Lead researcher Wan Xiaojun of Peking University，in charge of the system's design and technology，stressed that the content generation tool could do far more than translation.According to Wan，Xiaoke is good at selecting complex words and sentences，which can help turn articles full of confusing technical terms into easy and readable news reports.

The readers of the robot reporter are not limited to professionals and they also include the general public，the inventors said.Science reporting is important in spreading information about discoveries and in popularizing knowledge to people.

In many cultures, it is considered unlucky to spill salt. Fortunately, many cultures also have a solution to the problem, which usually involves throwing a pinch of salt over your shoulder. It may seem confusing to modern humans, but knowing that salt was once incredibly valuable can change this perspective.

For thousands of years, salt was an extremely rare commodity. It was difficult to obtain so that the price was very high. Many trading routes were set up to carry salt, people were paid in salt, and salt was sometimes worth more than its weight in gold. Therefore, spilling salt was considered wasteful.

Because of its high value, salt was also associated with friendship and good fortune. Offerings of salt were included in many religious ceremonies, and people might bring salt to a new home for good luck. These associations would have suggested that it would be bad luck to spill salt, since it would seem to violate salt's fortunate properties.

Salt is also an excellent preservative. It prevents food from going bad. As such, it came to be linked with health and longevity. In some cultures, spilling salt was thought to reduce one's well-being. In Britain, for example, each spilled grain was said to represent a tear, while in Germany spilled salt awakened the devil, bringing misfortune.

The fear of spilling salt was also adopted into the Christian faith. It is said that Judas spilled salt at the Last Supper, and since he later turned out to be the betrayer of Christ, spilled salt is considered unlucky by many Christians.

Should you be unfortunate enough to spill salt, you might throw a pinch over your left shoulder to blind the Devil.

You may not realize it, but you are doing much more than just studying when you are at school. School is also the place where you learn to get on well with people. But this is not always easy. What can you do if you just don't like one of your classmates？

If you discover that you have problems getting on with your classmates or friends, the most important thing to learn is tolerance. Tolerance is the ability to realize and respect the differences in others. We cannot change the way that other people do, so it is important to learn to live happily with them.

Tolerance will make everyone get on better with each other. Getting to know someone may help you understand why he does things differently. Something different does not exactly mean that it is bad. Tolerance teaches us to keep a temperate and open mind.

You need to remember an old saying, "Treat others how you want to be treated. " If you tolerate something, it does not mean that you have to like it. No one is asking you to change who you are or what you believe in. Tolerance just means that you should respect the differences in others and not try to make them change.

It is important to practice tolerance, because it will make everyone's life easier. Learn to accept people for their different abilities and interests. The world is very different, and practicing tolerance in your own school and city can help make a difference.