The Enigma（谜）of Beauty

    The search for beauty spans centuries and continents. Paintings of Egyptians dating back over 4,000 years show both men and women painting their nails and wearing makeup. In 18th-century France, wealthy noblemen wore large wigs (假发) of long, white hair to make themselves attractive. Today, people continue to devote a lot of time and money to their appearance.

    There is at least one good reason for the desire to be attractive: beauty is power. Studies suggest that good-looking people make more money, get called on more often in class, and are regarded as friendlier.

    But what exactly is beauty? It's difficult to describe it clearly, and yet we know it when we see it. And our awareness of it may start at a very early age. In one set of studies, six-month-old babies were shown a series of photographs. The faces on the pictures had been rated for attractiveness by a group of college students. In the studies, the babies spent more time looking at the attractive faces than the unattractive ones.

    The idea that even babies can judge appearance makes perfect sense to many researchers. In studies by psychologists, men consistently showed a preference for women with larger eyes, fuller lips, and a smaller nose and chin while women prefer men with large shoulders and a narrow waist. According to scientists, the mind unconsciously tells men and women that these traits——the full lips, clear skin, strong shoulders―equal health and genetic well-being.

    Not everyone thinks the same way, however. “Our hardwiredness can be changed by all sorts of expectations—mostly cultural,” says C. Loring Brace, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan. What is considered attractive in one culture might not be in another. Look at most Western fashion magazines: the women on the pages are thin. But is this “perfect” body type for women worldwide? Scientists' answer is no; what is considered beautiful is subjective and varies around the world. They found native peoples in southeast Peru preferred shapes regarded overweight in Western cultures.

    For better or worse, beauty plays a role in our lives. But it is extremely difficult to describe exactly what makes one person attractive to another. Although there do seem to be certain physical traits considered universally appealing, it is also true that beauty does not always keep to a single, uniform standard. Beauty really is, as the saying goes, in the eye of the beholder.

    It was five years since I had become a mother, and I felt like I had slowly been losing more and more of myself. I looked in the mirror one morning and saw a tired, crazy woman, and I just wanted to cry. And just like that my new journey into becoming a “do less” mom began. I remember the first time I tried it. I had rushed to get my kids from school after work, arriving home completely shattered(散架了).

    I made myself a lovely cup of hot tea and headed to the sofa, I lay down and closed my eyes. At this point, all three of my kids stopped speaking and just stared. My eldest broke the silence and asked, “What are you doing mommy?” I replied: “I'm resting.” It took the kids a few more minutes to realize I wasn't going anywhere and they did eventually leave me alone. They even figured out that they should probably take their coats off. I did not cook dinner that night--we ordered in. I did not put on a wash; instead, I told the kids they had better not get their clothes dirty during dinner because they are wearing them again tomorrow. We skipped the bath and watched a movie all on the sofa.

    To my amazement--no one died. The house did not fall apart. The kids were happy and fed but most importantly, when I looked into the mirror that night, I could see that woman I remember. The fun, silly woman who truly thinks she is still 25 years old, who loves ice cream and traveling and music and drinking wine. And I went to bed a bit happier that night knowing that although the road is still long, I am finally on the right track.

    While the U.S. is still debating about getting rid of the penny, Sweden is rapidly moving towards abolishing (to end) currency altogether. Though this may sound radical (过激的), it is a natural evolution in this digital society.

    Sweden, which was the first European country to introduce banknotes in 1661, has just been working harder to convince its residents that digital payments are a safer alternative to carrying cash.

    Over the years, the idea has gained popularity with residents, especially the younger generation that is much more comfortable with technology. Today many banks don't even have ATMs and some have stopped handling cash altogether!

    Tickets to ride public buses in most Swedish cities can only be bought via cell phones. Numerous businesses are also moving towards accepting only digital payments. Even the homeless that sell street paper to make ends meet have to start accepting this mode of payment!

    But despite its growing popularity, some people don't like this radical idea. They include the homeless, elderly people as well as those living in rural areas who are still uncomfortable with mobile phones and computers. But the officials are confident that in the very near future, they will be able to convince everyone to move this safe and more cost-effective payment system.

    Sweden is not the only country trying to abolish paper currency and coins. The movement is rapidly gaining ground in Denmark and Finland as well. In 2014，Israel announced a three-step plan to go cashless and just last week the vendors (小贩) of a popular street in Sydney declared they would stop accepting currency from customers. Whether this phenomenon spreads remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure-With increasingly advanced payment systems being introduced every day, pulling out cash is rapidly becoming “uncool”.

    TED is a non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Since then it has stepped into more and more fields. It includes two annual ( 年度的) conferences-the TED Conference on the North American West Coast each spring, and the TED Global Conference in Edinburgh UK each summer, which bring together the world's most excellent thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives ( in 18 minutes or less).

    On ted.com, we make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 1, 200 TED talks are now available,' with more added each week, which cover almost all topics from science to business to global issues- in more than 110 languages. They really help share ideas in communities around the world.

    We believe in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and eventually, the world. So we' re building here a clearinghouse (信息交流中心 ) that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. Have an idea? We want to hear from you.

    Today, TED is best thought of as a global community. It's a community welcoming people from every field and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world.

    Want to follow TED? Here are the ways to connect:

    Get TED news and conference coverage ( 新闻报道) on the TED Blog.

    Follow TED on Twitter:

    @TED News for all TED news and information

    @TED Talks for daily TED Talk release only

    See photos from TED events on Flicker.

    I never planned to be a teacher. I was headed for a law school, for a real career. Teaching was something to "get out of my system". I would teach a couple of years and then go to get a real job. After the first couple of years, I promised myself I would leave if I didn't love my job any more. Twenty-nine years later, that day still has not come.

    So, why do I stay? I stay because I laugh and learn every day. The children are funny, insightful, and honest. If my shoes don't match my outfit, they tell me. If my argument that Invisible Man is an important twentieth century classics doesn't convince them, they tell me.

    I stay because every single day is different. Some days, my lessons are great, and I have classes of students who are engaged in reading, writing and thinking. Some days, my lessons fall flat, and I realize that I need to start from scratch — even after 29 years.

    I stay because I love to see the children realize that they have learned something — whether it's how to craft an argumentative thesis sentence or how to understand the effect of repetition in The Declaration of Independence. I love to see the children write well; I love the feeling of reading a well-argued essay, and I love smiling as I write a final "Awesome job!" on a paper on which a student has worked hard.

    I stay because what I've learned in 29 years is that I do have a "real" job — the most real job there is. It's the one that leads to other jobs, that helps to create good thinkers who go on to be productive in our society, and that supports our community as it grows and times change. My job is among the ones that matter most.

    After a morning hike in the Saneum HealingForest, 46-year-old firefighter Kang Byoung-wook has tea made from the bark of an elm tree, practices yoga (瑜伽), and makes a picture with dried flowers. He is one of 40 firefighters taking part in a three-day program, the aim of which is to offer "forest healing" (森林治愈); the firefighters all have posttraumatic stress disorder (创伤后应激障碍).

    Saneum is one of three official healing forests in South Korea. Soon there will be 34 more. South Koreans-many of whom suffer from work stress, digital addiction, and great academic pressure have accepted the medicalization of nature with great enthusiasm.

    There is increasing evidence that being outside in a pleasant natural environment is good for us. But how many of us get to enjoy nature regularly? Fewer and fewer, it seems. According to Lisa Nisbet, a psychology professor at Canada s Trent University, evidence for the benefits of nature is pouring in at a time when we are most disconnected from it.

    "We don't think of being outdoors as a way to increase happiness," says Nisbet. "We think other things will, like shopping or TV." But South Korea is starting to challenge this opinion.

    So what are some of the benefits of nature that Nisbet refers to? Being surrounded by nature has one obvious effect: It calms us and reduces our stress levels. This has been shown to lower blood pressure and heart rates.

    Another experiment conducted by psychologist Stephen Kaplan found that people who took a 50-minute walk in a park had better attention and short-term memory than those who took a walk along a city street.

    Perhaps what's more surprising is that nature may also make us more creative. David Strayer, a psychologist at the University of Utah, showed as much with a group of participants, who performed 50 percent better on creative problem-solving tasks after three days of wilderness backpacking.

    In fact, we may never know exactly what nature does to the brain. Something mysterious will always remain, and maybe that's as it should be.