Many of us still tend to think that emotions can affect reasonable thought，and sometimes land us in trouble. But in recent years psychologists have taken quite a different view. Keith Oatley，Professor of Psychology at Glasgow University，is involved in the research which shows the fundamental importance of emotions.

    He believes we are very ambivalent about them：we think of our emotions as being unreasonable，but we also consider them as essential to being human. For example，Mr. Spock，a character in the television series Star Trek，is super­intelligent and he has no emotions at all. However，he is never made captain of the spaceship. Maybe，this is because Mr Spock is not the kind of person you can share your feelings with—a person who shows his emotions.

    As Professor Oatley points out，our emotions have very important functions，for example，fear. If we cross the road and a car approaches，we usually stop moving or step back. We stop what we are doing，check what we have done and pay very careful attention to the environment. The emotion of fear makes us take this small series of actions which,on average, help protect our safety.

    On the other hand，if things are going well and small problems come up，we find we can solve them with the resources we have to hand. As a consequence, we tend to feel happy and usually continue doing the job.

    Anger is an emotion that tends to occur when someone is preventing us from doing something. Then this small “kit” of reactions enables us to prepare ourselves to be quite aggressive to that person，or to try harder，and so on.

    Professor Oatley believes emotions generally occur at these important moments in actions. With fear and anger our emotions make us decide to start doing something else, while with happiness they “suggest” we continue what we are already doing.

    If you want to visit only the sights that you think are most interesting, you should definitely book one of the many private tours in NYC.

    Landmark Private New York Tours: The best way to make the most of your visit to the top NYC landmarks is to use one of the private tours in NYC.

    NY See It All: From traveling through Manhattan to getting onto a boat to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, this private NYC tour delivers superior service. Customize(定制) your stops and see why this tour is one of the best private tours in NYC.

    NY Limo Tour: After choosing what you want to see, this private tour in NYC lets you write the route of your day. Whether you want to see historical NYC sights, movie sights, or cultural sights, it will help make your visit memorable.

    Aerial Landmark Tour: This is a fun and exciting way to explore New York City. On this 20-minute helicopter tour, you'll see the very best landmarks in Manhattan and the Bronx.

    Family-Friendly Private New York Tours: NYC isn't just a playground of adults; these family-friendly private New York City tours are ideal for people traveling with kids.

    Revolutionary Era Walking Tour: When you book this informative NYC walking tour, you and your kids will wander around Manhattan's Financial District and hear all about the American Revolution.With knowledgeable guides, your kids will love the tour too.

    Kids Greenwich Village Tour: This fun NYC walking tour is specifically created for children. You and your kids will visit some famous Greenwich Village sights, while the children, led by friendly guides,play games that relate to math, science, foreign language, and the arts.

    I remember the day when I first learned to ride a bike. It was a frightening, yet fun experience. My granddad was the one who taught me, and he helped me when I got hurt. The first time I got on a bike, I had no idea what I was doing, and just about everything went wrong. My granddad told me to just put my feet on the pedals and start, pedaling(骑自行车). He also told me he would hold onto the back of the bike the whole time, yet he didn't.

    As soon as I started trying to balance myself, he let go. I happened to look back just then.  I was scared to death that I was going to fall and hurt myself. When I was scared, my mind went blank from pedaling, and I just wanted off. I forgot how to use the brakes(车闸) and fell right off the bike. My granddad kept encouraging me to get up and try again, and after about 15 minutes, I finally stopped crying, got up and tried again.

    As soon as I started pedaling again, my pants got caught in the chain, and I fell flat on my face and hit my nose. Since that happened, my granddad decided to call it a day and try again the next morning. The next morning I woke up bright and early, and was very eager to try to ride my bike. My nose felt better, so I wasn't that afraid of falling anymore.

    Though I knew there were a lot of difficulties on the way to mastering the skills in riding a bike, l believed I could do well with my granddad's help. After all, riding a bike was what I wanted to do eagerly.

    Have you ever complained, "I remember reading it, but I can't remember what it said? " then you should try the SQ4R reading method.

    S = Survey. The first step is to take a few minutes skimming the chapter. Don't read it yet, just look at topic headings, key words, and read the summary.

    Q = Question. As you prepare to read the chapter, turn the first topic into a question or two. As you read, seach for the answer. This will help you organize your reading-find the parts that answer your question, give an example, consist of related information or that may answer a later question. Most importantly, this gives you a reason to read the next paragraph.

    R = Read. Read in short "bites" (部分), then determine how that answers question(s) you originally posed (提出). Often as you read other questions will arise.

    R = Recite. Now can you answer your question(s) in your own words? If you can't, reread the material to find the answers or determine if you need to change the question. You are rehearsing (重复，默诵) for the time when you will need o know the answer. A good technique for rehearsing answers is to briefly jot down (草草记下) the key words that remind you of the essence of the answer without writing down every detail.

    R = Relate. Most of us try to relate what we are reading to what we already know. It is always easier and more satisfying to remember information that is personally meaningful. Everything has a context. Some information may take more reflection before you are able to grasp its relationship with what you already know while other information may simply require more research, to understand how it fits with other data.

    R = Review. One way to minimize memory decay (衰退) and to store the material you have studied firmly in your mind is by reviewing it. After you finish reading the entire chapter, skim back over it and any note you made.

    Effective studying requires effective reading. Rather than getting "intellectual indigestion" while reading straight through a chapter, instead you should stop to survey, question, read, recite, relate, and review so as to improve your reading comprehension.

    Vinegar is great. It makes salad, fries and dumplings taste better, and you can even clean your windows with it. And now, according to scientists, it may even help the planet's population survive climate change.

    Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have found that growing plants in vinegar makes them more resistant to droughts. This could mean that in the future, worries about climate change affecting the world's supply of food will be much lower.

    The discovery was made after the researchers studied the Arabidopsis, a plant known for its ability to survive in dry weather. It was found that when the plant was placed in drought-like conditions, it produced a chemical called acetate(醋酸盐)—the main component of vinegar.

    After discovering this, the scientists experimented further by adding acetate to the soil of other plants, and they stopped giving them water completely. After leaving the plants for 14 days, they found that the ones treated with acetate had survived, while the untreated plants had dried up and died. It's hoped that this simple method of survival could soon be used to help farmers in dry countries keep their crops alive.

    Jong Myong Kim, co-author of the study, tells Popular Science magazine that he's already been in touch with people all over the world who are interested in trying this simple and cost-effective method out for themselves from flower growing companies to amateur gardeners. Although at this point keeping thirsty plants alive isn't as easy as just pouring vinegar over them, Kim says he and his team are working on making the process as simple as possible. "Now we are trying to cooperate with some farmers, and also some companies, to make a method to apply this system," he says.

    And for those of us who always forget to ask our neighbors to water our plants when we go away, hopefully this means the end of returning home from a trip to find our favorite flowers have died.

    People think of cats as cute. But research published in a psychology journal calls them neurotic (神经质的) and unstable. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the Bronx Zoo in New York compared the personalities of domestic house cats with those of four different types of wildcats.

    To better understand their personalities, the researchers rated a number of animals behaviors on what psychologists call the Big Five human personality traits (特征).

    Domestic house cats have similar personality structures to African lions. "It's what cats do pretty much on a daily basis, things like being anxious, being timid, being excitable, being aggressive toward humans, being aggressive toward each other, "said Max Wachtel, a Denver psychologist who didn't participate in the study. "All of those are characteristics you see in those cute little house cats, and you also see them in lions."

    If you ever thought your cat was anxious, insecure, tense, suspicious or aggressive toward you, you aren't making it up, he said. If they were bigger, they probably would consider killing you.

    But the news isn't all bad: Just like lions, house cats are also playful, excitable and impulsively funny. They just aren't very predictable. One moment cats will be enjoying bell scratches, and the next they will be biting you to make you stop.

    "It is good to understand the personality characteristics of our pets," Wachtel said "Different cats have different personalities, but as a species, there are a lot of commonalities."

    The researchers also studied personality traits of Scottish wildcats and some other animals “Across the five species we assessed, personality structure was strikingly similar and also seemed to be related to other studies' findings, such as in tigers, "the researchers wrote in their study in the November 2014 issue of the Journal of Comparative Psychology. But house cats were most like lions, potentially because they live in semi-social surroundings and lions are the most social of cats.

    “They're cute and furry, but we need to remember when we have cats as pets, we are inviting little predators into our house," Wachtel said. "Cats can be fantastic, sweet companions -until they turn on you.”