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    Some people learn a second language easily. Other people have trouble learning a new language. How can you help yourself learn a new language, such as English? There are several ways to make learning English a little easier and more interesting.

    The first step is to feel positive about learning English. If you believe that you can learn, you will learn. Be patient. You do not have to understand everything all at once. It is natural to make mistakes when you learn something new. We can learn from our mistakes. In other words, do not worry about taking risks.

    The second step is to practice your English. For example, write in a journal, or diary, every day. You will get used to writing in English, and you will feel comfortable expressing your ideas in English. After several weeks, you will see that your writing is improving. In addition, you must speak English every day. You can practice with your classmates outside class. You will all make mistakes, but gradually you will become comfortable communicating in English.

    The third step is to keep a record of your language learning. You can write this in your journal. After each class, think about what you did. Did you answer a question correctly? Did you understand something the teacher explained? Perhaps the lesson was difficult, but you tried to understand it. Write these accomplishments in your journal.

    You must be positive about, learning English and believe that you can do it. It is important to practice every day and make a record of your achievements. You will enjoy learning English, and you will have more confidence in yourself.

    “A good book might clarify something you knew little about, transform your world view, or move you in ways you didn't think possible. The Soul of an Octopus(章鱼)delivers on all three, ”the magazine New Scientist commented.

    After writing about birds, pigs and tigers, US naturalist Sy Montgomery decided to choose these many-footed animals as the subject of her latest book, The Soul of an Octopus: a surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness.

    “Here is animal with poisonous liquid like a snake，a beak(喙)like a parrot，and ink like an old-fashioned pen. It can weigh as much as a man and extend as long as a car, yet it can pour its baggy; boneless body through an opening the size of all orange. It can change color and shape. It has a tongue covered with teeth. It can taste with its skin.” Montgomery explained to the National Geographic on why octopuses inspired her.

    What Montgomery is able to show in The Soul of an Octopus is that octopuses are creatures who exhibit personality, intelligence and emotion, despite having nervous systems completely different from our own. She uses different experiments to show that they possess consciousness as well as individual personalities. For example, based on her research, she finds out that Octavia, an octopus caught in the wild, is friendly and good at multi-tasking. And Kali, another octopus，who has been living at the New England Aquarium, is playful and loves exploring.

    Montgomery is a good storyteller. Through her study of, and communication with, these extraordinary creatures she shares what she learns from both science and her experiences. Her skillful writing presents facts together with personal description, which makes the book very informative but easy to read.

    No one likes to make mistakes. But a new study says organizations learn more from their failures than from their successes, and keep that knowledge longer.

    One of the researchers was Vinit Desai, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. He worked with Peter Madsen from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University in Utah.

    They did not find much long-term "organizational learning" from success. It is possible, they say. But Professor Desai says they found that knowledge gained from failure lasts for years. He says organizations should treat failures as a learning opportunity and not try to ignore them.

    The study looked at companies and organizations that launch satellites and other space vehicles. Professor Desai compared two shuttle flights. In two thousand two, a piece of insulating (隔热的) material broke off during launch and damaged a rocket on the Atlantis. Still the flight was considered a success. Then in early two thousand three, a piece of insulation struck the Columbia during launch. This time, the shuttle broke apart on re-entry and the seven crew members died. NASA officials suspended all flights and an investigation led to suggested changes.

    Professor Desai says the search for solutions after a failure can make leaders more open-minded. He points to air-lines as an example of an industry that has learned from failures in the past. He advises organizations to look for useful information in small failures and failures they avoided. He also urges leaders to encourage the open sharing of information. The study appeared in the Academy of management Journal.

    The mistakes we learn from do not have to be our own. We recently asked people on our Facebook page to tell us a time they had done something really silly. Fabricio Cmino wrote: Not long ago I wanted to watch TV, but it wouldn't turn on, so I did everything I could to start it. Thirty minutes later my mum showed up and, passing by, said to me "Did you try plugging it?" "I'm just dusting, Mum!" So she wouldn't notice how dumb I am sometimes!

    Bruno Kanieski da Silva told about a time he looked everywhere for his key. It was in his pocket. He wrote: I always promise I will never do it again, but after a few weeks, where is my wallet? For sure it will be in a very logical place.

    Is any economist so dull as to criticize Christmas? At first glance, the holiday season in western economies seems a treat for those concerned with such vagaries(奇思遐想)as GDP growth. After all, everyone is spending; in America, retailers make 25% of their yearly sales and 60% of their profits between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even so, economists find something to worry about in the nature of the purchases being made.

    Much of the holiday spending is on gifts for others. At the simplest level, giving gifts involves the giver thinking of something that the recipient would like--he tries to guess her preferences, as economists say--and then buying the gift and delivering it. Yet this guessing of preferences is not easy; indeed, it is often done badly. Every year, ties go unworn and books unread. And even if a gift is enjoyed, it may not be what the recipient would have bought if they had spent the money themselves.

    Interested in this mismatch between wants and gifts, in 1993 Joel Waldfogel, then an economist at Yale University, sought to estimate the difference in dollar terms. In a study, he asked students two questions at the end of a holiday season: first, estimate the total amount paid(by the givers) for all the holiday gifts you received; second, apart from the sentimental value of the items, if you did not have them, how much would you be willing to pay to get them? His results were gloomy: on average, a gift was valued by the recipient well below the price paid by the giver.

    In addition, recipients may not know their own preferences very well. Some of the best gifts, after all, are unexpected items that you would never have thought of buying, but which turn out to be especially well picked. And preferences can change. So by giving a jazz CD, for example, the giver may be encouraging the recipient to enjoy something that was ignored before. This, a desire to build skills, is possibly the hope held by many parents who ignore their children's desires for video games and buy them books instead.

    Finally, there are items that a recipient would like to receive but not purchase. If someone else buys them, however, they can be enjoyed guilt-free. This might explain the volume of chocolate that changes over the holidays. Thus, the lesson for gift-givers is that you should try hard to guess the preference of each person on your list and then choose a gift that will have high sentimental value.

The last few days before Christmas passed quickly and it was soon Christmas Eve. That night when everyone went to bed, Bunny couldn't sleep. He still couldn't think of what he wanted his Christmas gift to be. He wondered how Father Christmas would know what to bring him if he didn't know himself.

As he was sitting up in bed, Bunny heard a big noise on the roof (屋顶) and a sound downstairs. It was Father Christmas, he realized. Bunny jumped out of bed and raced down the hall to the stairs hoping to have a look at the old man with his own eyes.

By the time Bunny reached the bottom of the stairs, though, everything was again silent. Beautiful gifts were piled (堆积) under the Christmas tree, but Father Christmas was gone. He looked for him for a few minutes, but it was already too late. Bunny turned to climb back upstairs when he heard a cry.

"Hello," said Bunny. "Is anybody there? "

He was answered by another cry. Bunny looked around the big pile of gifts to see what was making the noise. Right under the tree was a funny looking brown animal with big feet and sad eyes. Bunny might have mistaken it for a dog, if it hadn't been for the antlers (鹿角) on its head.

"Are you a reindeer (驯鹿)?" asked Bunny.

"Yes," replied the animal. "My name is Ralph."

"And you were pulling Father Christmas's sled (雪橇)?"

"I was until I got airsick (晕机), " replied Ralph. "I'm afraid I wasn't cut out for the job. Now I'm stuck here and I don't know how to get back to the North Pole."

"Well, if you like, yon can stay with us as a friend," said Bunny. As he made the offer, Bunny suddenly realized the gift he wanted from Father Christmas was a new friend!