A brain can also simply be a smartperson,  If a person is called brainy,she is smart and intelligent. If a family has many children but one ofthem is super smart, you could say, "She's the brains in the family. "And if you are the brains behind something you are responsible for developing or organizing something. For example, Bill Gates is the brains behind Microsoft Brain trust is a group of experts who give advice. Word experts say the phrase "brain trust" became popularwhen Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president in 1932, Several professors gave him advice on social and political issues facingthe U.S.

    These professors were called his "braintrust." These ways we use the word"brain" all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand. Forexample, to understand the next brain expression, you first need to know theword “drain." As a verb to drain means to, remove something by letting it flow away. So abrain drain may sound like a disease where the brain flows out the ears. But, brain drain is when a country's most educated people leave their countries to live in another. The brains are, sort of, draining out of the country.

    However, if people are responsible for agreat idea, you could say they brainstormed it. Here, brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic. Forexample, business leaders may use brainstorming to create new products, and government leaders may brainstorm to solve problems.

    If people are brainwashed, it does notmean their brains are nice and clean. To brainwash means to make someone accept new beliefs by using repeated pressure in a forceful or tricky way. Keep inmind that brainwash is never used in a positive way.

    One of the most successful singers of the twentieth century, Ella Fitzgerald has made several different styles of her own. She was born in Virginia but was brought up in an orphanage in Yonkers, New York. Chick Webb spotted her in an amateur competition when she was sixteen. He engaged her to sing with his band and when he died in 1939, she took over.

    Unlike Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald taught herself the sentimental music so popular in the 1930's — songs like “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”— and her recordings became best-sellers. During the 1940's she developed her own “scat singing” — a breathless, nonsense—syllable style—for songs like “Flying Home” and “Lady Be Good.”

    Ella Fitzgerald was the perfect musical partner for her friend, the trumpeter Louis Armstrong, matching him in warmth and artistry. “I just like music, period,” she said. “To me, it's a story. There's only one thing better than singing…. It's more singing.”

    A generation ago young people longed to become lawyers and doctors. Now they desire to be the next Oscar winner or famous pop star. But one university psychologist has pointed out that this is damaging our self-image and sense of self-worth. Over recent years people around the world have been suffering from an increasing fear of their own “insignificance”, according to Dr. Strenger of Tel Aviv University.

    He began a project on the phenomenon 10 years ago, after noticing an increase of fear in his own patients. His findings note hundreds of research projects that have recorded an unprecedented (前所未有) increase in levels of anxiety and depression. By using a wide-ranging framework Dr. Strenger thinks he has given the accurate cause. “The impact of the global entertainment network on the individual is to blame,” he said. “A new species—global man—is born and we are defined by our close connection to the global entertainment network, which has turned ranking and evaluating people according to wealth and fame into an obsession (狂热).”

    As humans we naturally measure ourselves by those around us, but now we live in a “global village” where we are comparing ourselves with the most “significant” people in the world - and finding ourselves not good enough. Today, even high achievers constantly fear that they are insignificant when they compare themselves to success stories in the media. “This creates highly unstable personality and an unstable society,” Dr. Strenger said.

    Dr. Strenger says people should stop measuring their achievement through the cultural fantasies of rich and famous people. The remedy (治疗方法) is a process that he calls “active self-acceptance” through a continuing search for self-knowledge through life. The fear of insignificance can only be overcome through strong individual and cultural identity over and above measurable achievement. “People should invest time and thought in their personal growth from different aspects in the same way they invest in medical studies and law school,” Dr. Strenger advises.

    Drive through any suburb in the U.S. Today, and it's hard to miss the recycling bins that have become companions to America's trash cans. Recycling has become common, as people recognize the need to care for the environment. Yet most people's recycling consciousness extends only as far as paper, bottles, and cans. People seldom find themselves facing the growing problem of e-waste.

    E-waste rapidly increases as the techno- fashionable frequently upgrade to the most advanced devices, and the majority of them end up in landfills (垃圾填埋地). Some people who track such waste say that users throw away nearly 2 million tons of TVs, VCRs, computers, cell phones, and other electronics every year. Unless we can find a safe replacement, this e-waste may get into the ground and poison the water with dangerous toxins (毒素), such as lead, mercury, and arsenic. Burning the waste also dangerously contaminates the air.

     However, e-waste often contains reusable silver, gold, and other electrical materials. Recycling these materials reduces environmental problems by reducing both landfill waste and the need to look for such metals, which can destroy ecosystems.

    A growing number of states have adopted laws to ban dumping e-waste. Still, less than a quarter of this waste will reach lawful recycling programs. Some companies advertising safe disposal in fact merely ship the waste to some developing countries, where it still ends up in landfills. These organizations prevent progress by unsafely disposing of waste in an out- of- sight, out- of- mind location.

    However, the small but growing number of cities and corporations that do handle e- waste responsibly represents progress toward making the world a cleaner, better place for us all.

    Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I'm not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don't come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that's just the reality of how life is.

    However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And, in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it'll require even more time, time that most people won't put in.

    This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don't enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.

    When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success, you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost. It's sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent, but thinking that way does you no good, and there's a huge chance that you're wrong anyway.

    Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you're not willing to put in the time and work, don't expect to receive any rewards. Consistent, hard work won't guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.