A new study has discovered that meditation（冥想）and oxygen sport together reduce depression. The Rutgers University study found that this mind and body combination, done twice a week for only two months, reduced the symptoms for a group of students by 40 percent.

    “We are excited by the findings because we saw such a meaningful improvement in both clinically depressed and non-depressed students,” said lead author Dr. Brandon Alderman. “It is the first time that both of these two behavioral ways have been looked at together for dealing with depression.”

    Researchers believe the two activities have an interactive effect in combating depression. Alderman and Dr. Tracey Shors discovered that a combination of mental and physical training (MAP) enabled students with major depressive disorder not to let problems or negative thoughts defeat them.

    Rutgers researchers say those who participated in the study began with 30 minutes of focused attention meditation followed by 30 minutes of oxygen sport. They were told that if their thoughts drifted to the past or the future they should refocus on their breathing, enabling those with depression to accept moment-to-moment changes in attention.

    Shors, who studies the production of new brain cells in the hippocampus—part of the brain involved in memory and learning—says scientists have shown in animal models that oxygen sport exercise keeps a large number of certain cells alive.

    The idea for the human intervention（干预）came from her laboratory studies, she says, with the main goal of helping individuals acquire new skills so that they can learn to recover from stressful life events.

    By learning to focus their attention and exercise, people who are fighting depression can acquire new learning skills that can help them process information and reduce the overwhelming recollection of memories from the past, Shors says.

    “We know these treatments can be practiced over a lifetime and that they will be effective in improving mental health.” said Alderman. “The good news is that this intervention can be practiced by anyone at any time and at no cost.”

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} When a starving man gets a meal, he begins to think about an overcoat; when a manager gets a new sports car, visions of country clubs dance into view.

    The many wants of mankind might be regarded as making up several levels. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    The first and most basic level of wants is food. Once this want is satisfied, a second level of wants appears: clothing and some sort of shelter. By the end of World War II these wants were satisfied for a great majority of Americans. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It included such items as cars and new houses.

    By 1957 or 1958 this third level of wants was fairly well satisfied. Then, in the late 1950s a fourth level of wants appeared: the “life-enriching” level. While the other levels mean physical satisfaction－the feeding, comfort, safety, and transportation of the human body－this level stresses mental needs for recognition, achievement and happiness. It includes a variety of goods and services, many of which could be called “luxury” items(奢侈品). Among them are vacation trips, the best medical care, and entertainment. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    On this level, a greater percentage of consumer spending goes to services, while on the first three levels more is spent on goods. Will consumers raise their sights to a fifth level of wants as their income increases, or will they continue to demand luxuries and personal services on the fourth level?

    A fifth level probably would be wants that can be achieved best by community action. Consumers may be spending more on taxes to pay for government action against disease, ignorance, crime and prejudice. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} In this way, we can enjoy more fully the good things on the first four levels.

 A．Then a third level appeared.

 B．Human wants seem endless.

 C．When there is money enough to satisfy one level of wants, another level appears.

 D．There are several levels of wants in one's life.

 E．At this stage, we now may seek to ensure the health, safety, and leisure.

 F．Also included here are fancy foods and the latest styles in clothing.

 G．Different people have different wants on each level 

    A city child's summer is spent in the street in front of his home, and all through the long summer vacations I sat on the edge of the street and watched enviously the other boys on the block play baseball. I was never asked to take part even when one team had a member missing—not out of special cruelty, but because they took it for granted I would be no good at it. They were right, of course.

    I would never forget the wonderful evening when something changed. The baseball ended about eight or eight thirty when it grew dark. Then it was the custom of the boys to retire to a little stoop(门廊) that stuck out from the candy store on the corner and that somehow had become theirs. No grownup ever sat there or attempted to. There the boys would sit, mostly talking about the games played during the day and of the game to be played tomorrow. Then long silences would fall and the boys would wander off one by one. It was just after one of those long silences that my life as an outsider changed. I can no longer remember which boy it was that summer evening who broke the silence with a question: but whoever he was, I nod to him gratefully now. “What's in those books you're always reading?” he asked casually. “Stories,” I answered. “What kind?” asked somebody else without much interest.

    Nor do I know what drove me to behave as I did,for usually I just sat there in silence, glad enough to be allowed to reain among them; but instead of answering his question, I told them for two hours the story I was reading at the moment. The book was Sister Carrie. They listened bug-eyed and breathless. I must have told it well, but I think there was another and deeper reason that made them to keep an audience. Listening to a tale being told in the dark is one of the most ancient of man's entertainments, but I was offering them as well, without being aware of doing it, a new and exciting experience.

    The books they themselves read were the Rover Boys or Tom Swift or G.A.Henty. I had read them too, but at thirteen I had long since left them behind. Since I was much alone I had become an enthusiastic reader and I had gone through the books-for-boys series. In those days there was no reading material between children's and grownups'books or I could find none. I had gone right fromTome Swift and His Flying Machine to Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie. Dreiser had hit my young mind, and they listened to me tell the story with some of the wonder that I had had in reading it.

    The next night and many nights thereafter, a kind of unspoken ritual (仪式) took place. As it grew dark, I would take my place in the center of the stoop and begin the evening's tale. Some nights, in order to taste my victory more completely, I cheated. I would stop at the most exciting part of a story by Jack London or Bret Harte, and without warning tell them that that was as far as I had gone in the book and it would have to be continued the following evening. It was not true, of course; but I had to make certain of my new-found power and position. I enjoyed the long summer evenings until school began in the fall. Other words of mine have been listened to by larger and more fashionable audiences, but for that tough and athletic one that sat close on the stoop outside the candy store, I have an unreasoning love that will last forever.

Hear the Wind Blow by Mary Downing Hahn

    On a cold, snowy night, 13-year-old Haswell Magruder makes an important decision. A wounded Confederate soldier appears at the family's farm, and Haswell convinces his mother to take the man in. Unfortunately, this sets off a horrific chain of events that leaves their house burned to the ground and their farm in ruins. With no home left, Haswell sets out in search of his older brother, a Confederate soldier.

    Ghosts of Greenglass House by Kate Milford

    Thirteen-year-old Milo is, once again, spending the winter holidays stuck in a house full of guests who are not what they seem. There are fresh clues to uncover as friends old and new join in his search for a mysterious map. The exciting ending to the beloved book is sure to thrill both fans and newcomers.

    Marge in Charge by Isla Fisher

    Jemima and Jake Button don't know what to make of their new babysitter, Marge. When she first arrives, she's dressed like a grandma and looks very serious. But as soon as Mommy and Dad are gone, Marge lets down her hair and the adventures begin. Jemima and Jake aren't supposed to shoot apple juice out of water guns, or throw impromptu (即兴的) concerts during music class—but with Marge here, everything's gone messy!

    Max Tilt: Fire the Depths by Peter Lerangis

    When 13 year old Max Tilt finds his great-great-grandfather Jules Verne's unfinished, unpublished manuscript (手稿), The Lost Treasures, he doesn't realize that he's found the answers to all his problems. He realizes that the book holds the key to something incredibly valuable. A treasure that can save his house — and maybe his entire family.

    You may know about “junk food” like French fries. But do you know about “junk sleep”?

    Recently, a British survey found that electronic(电子的) products in teenagers bedrooms are affecting(影响)their sleep.

    The survey was done among 1,000 British kids from 12 to 16. It found that 30 percent of them got just 4 to 7 hours sleep every day. But doctors say they need 8 to 9 hours.

    Almost a quarter of the kids said they fell asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music or using other electronic products.

    “This is very worrying.” said Dr Chris Idzikowski, a British expert, “We call it 'junk sleep', it means you don't get enough sleep and the quality of the sleep is bad, too. If you don't get good rest, you don't perform well in school the next day.”

    The survey found that 40 percent of the kids felt tired each day, with girls between 13 and 16 feeling the worst. Nearly all the teenagers have a phone, Mp4 or TV in their bedroom. And many of them have all three.

    The term "smiling depression" —appearing happy to others while actually suffering depressive symptoms—has become increasingly popular. In fact, many people who experience a low mood and a loss of pleasure in activities manage to hide their condition in this way. And these people might be particularly easy to suicide.

    While smiling depression is not a technical term that psychologists use，it is certain to be depressed and manage to successfully mask the symptoms. The closest technical term for this condition is "atypical depression: It can be very hard to spot people suffering depression because they may seem like they don't have a reason to be sad — they have a job, an apartment and maybe even children or a partner. They smile when you greet them and can carry pleasant conversations. In short, they often put on a mask to the outside world while leading seemingly normal and active lives. Inside, however, they often feel hopeless and down, sometimes even having thoughts about ending it all.

    People with smiling depression put on a happy face to the outside world, but they can experience a lift in their mood as a result of positive occurrences in their lives. Other symptoms of this condition include overeating, feeling a sense of heaviness in the arms and legs and being easily hurt by criticism or rejection. They are also more likely to feel depressed in the evening and feel the need to sleep longer than usual. With other forms of depression, however, your mood might be worse in the morning and you might feel the need for less sleep than you are normally used to.

    So how can they break this circle? A starting point needs to be known that this condition actually exists and that it's serious. Only when we stop ignoring our problems because we think they're not serious enough can we start making an actual difference. Then we can find purpose by taking the attention away from ourselves and placing it onto something else. Feeling that our lives matter is finally what gives us purpose and meaning — and this can make a significant difference for our mental health and well-being.