Movie

Pete's Dragon

    Pete, played by Oakes Fegley, ventured into the water with his dragon pal, Elliot, in the new movie Pete's Dragon. The film brought an animated dragon, Elliot, and his human best friend, Pete, together. Shooing it took a lot of imagination for Oakes Fegley, the 11-year-old actor who played Pete, and Oona Laurence, the 13-year-old actress who played Natalie. She discovered Pete and Elliot in the woods.

    Kubo's Great Quest(寻找)

    The movie was about a young boy named Kubo, who live with his mother in a quite village in ancient Japan. After accidentally calling for a vengeful spirit from the past, Kubo set off on a heroic quest to find a magical suit of armor(盔甲) once worn by his father. Along the way, he gained two animal companions, Monkey and Beetle. Their journey was filled with magic, music, and the telling of many stories.

    Ice Age: Collision Course

    When the original Ice Age film was released in 2002, an animated herd of prehistoric animals took the world by storm. Fast-forward 14 years and the fifth movie in the Ice Age franchise(获特许经营权的企业)was hitting theaters. Ice Age: Collision Course followed those same beloved mammals that moviegoers have watched grow up. This time around, it isn't global warming that threatened the herd, but a big planet that's headed toward Earth.

    Finding Dory

    In Finding Dory, the forgetful blue tang, Dory, suffered from short-term memory loss. On Dory's journey to reconnect with her mom and dad, she made some new friends.

    Growing up in one of the poorest communities with most crimes in Los Angeles, US, being raised by a poorly-educated single mother and attending the worst-quality public school, not many people expected much of me, so I chose to expect something of myself.

    On my 12th birthday, I bought a poster of Harvard University to hang in my room. Being at Harvard became my dream: I saw myself attending class in Sanders Theater, studying in Widener Library and eating in Annenberg Hall. Driven by this dream, I kept studying hard. I'd begin my day by asking myself these two questions: “What do I want in my life?” and “Are the things I am doing today going to get me closer to that life?”

    Asking myself the questions gave me the courage to ask over 50 Harvard, students for advice on my application essays; it gave me the energy to study just one more hour on my SATs when others were asleep; and it gave me the determination to apply for just one more scholarship when already refused many times. Moreover, reminding myself of my goal each day made it easy to say no to the same choices my friends made, because they would never get me closer to my goal. I found that even being poor could not take away my power to decide what I choose to do with my life.

    Every day I could feel myself getting closer and closer to my goal as my writing got better, my SAT score increased, and my scholarship offers started coming in. On March 31st, 2011, an email arrived from Harvard. The first word was “Congratulations!”. Tears of joy filled my eyes.

    Who you are today is the result of the decisions you made yesterday, and who you will be tomorrow will be the result of the choices you make today. Who do you want to be tomorrow?

    Researchers say current exercise guidelines are unrealistic and argue that doctors should sometimes advise small increases in activity instead. They warn the 150-minute weekly target is beyond the reach of some people - particularly older individuals. And striving to reach these goals could mean the benefits of lighter exercise are overlooked. But public health officials say current recommendations have proven benefits in lowering the risk of heart disease.

    There is increasing evidence that inactivity is linked to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes (糖尿病) and some types of cancer. UK guidelines for adults recommend at least two-and-a-half hours of moderate activity a week, in short periods of 10 minutes or more.

    But in two separate articles in the BMJ, experts argue the message needs to change, with greater emphasis on making inactive people move more. Prof Philipe de Souto Barreto at the University Hospital of Toulouse, advises people who sit too much to make small increases in their activity levels - rather than pushing to achieve current goals. He points to previous studies which show even short periods of walking or just 20 minutes of vigorous activity a few times a month can reduce the risk of death, compared to people who do no exercise.

In the second article, Prof Phillip Sparking of the Georgia Institute of Technology, says doctors should tailor their advice — particularly for older patients. He suggests using GP visits for people over 60 to discuss “realistic options” to increase activity — such as getting people to stand up and move during TV commercial breaks.

    Prof Kevin Fenton at Public Health England, says: “Everyone needs to be active every day — short periods of 10 or more minutes of physical activity have proven health benefits, but getting 150 minutes or more of moderate activity every week is the amount we need to positively impact on a wide range of health conditions.” This includes reducing the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.”

    In general, people talk about two groups of colors: warm colors and cool colors. Researchers in psychology think that there are also two groups of people: people who prefer warm colors and people who prefer cool colors.

    The warm colors are red, orange and yellow. Where there are warm colors and a lot of light, people usually want to be active. People think that red, for example, is exciting. Sociable people, those who like to be with others, like red. The cool colors are green, blue and violet. These colors, unlike warm colors, are relaxing. Where there are cool colors, people are usually quiet. People who like to spend time alone often prefer blue.

    Red may be exciting, but one researcher says that time seems to pass more slowly in a room with warm colors than in a room with cool colors. He suggests that a warm color, such as red or orange is a good color for a living room or restaurant. People who are talking or eating do not want time to pass quickly. Cool colors are better for offices or factories if the people who are working there want time to pass quickly.

    Researchers do not know why people think some colors are warm and other colors are cool. However, almost everyone agrees that red, orange, and yellow are warm and that green, blue, and violet are cool. Perhaps warm colors remind people of warm days and the cool colors remind them of cool days. Because in the north the sun is higher during summer, the hot summer sunlight appears yellow.

    People say money doesn't buy happiness, but how much money you make can affect the way you experience it?

    While it's true that money can't buy happiness, having money has certain benefits. For example, money can buy you time to do things that make you happier, and giving away some of your money can make you happier as well. Now scientists from the University of California at Irvine have found that how much money you make may impact (影响) how you experience happiness; higher earners are more likely to experience positive emotions focused on themselves, while lower earners are more likely to experience positive emotions focused on connecting with other people.

    Scientists used data from an existing survey of 1,519 U.S. adults between the ages of 24 to 93, to be representative of the entire U.S. population. From the survey, scientist collected the household income of each person and analyzed how each person experienced the seven emotions that are believed to cause happiness: amusement, admiration, compassion, satisfaction, enthusiasm, love, and pride.

    What they found was that higher earners were associated with the happiness-related emotions of satisfaction, pride, and amusement, all of which are self-focused in nature. Lower earners were associated with more other-oriented (他人指向) happiness-related emotions: compassion, love, and admiration. There were no differences observed with enthusiasm.

    As to reasons for the difference, the researchers suppose that while pride and satisfaction may reflect upper class individuals' (个人) desire for independence, increased love and compassion may help lower class individuals form more harmonious (和谐的), interdependent bonds to help deal with their more threatening environments. In other words, the researchers are not saying that one way of getting happiness is better than another, but rather that the way one obtains happiness may be a product of existing and coping within one's particular circumstances.

    Arriving in Sydney on his own from India, my husband, Rashid, stayed in a hotel for a short time while looking for a house for me and our children.

    During the first week of his stay, he went out one day to do some shopping. He came back in the late afternoon to discover that his suitcase was gone. He was extremely worried as the suitcase had all his important papers, including his passport.

    He reported the case to the police and then sat there, lost and lonely in strange city, thinking of the terrible troubles of getting all the paperwork organized again from a distant country while trying to settle down in a new one.

    Late in the evening, the phone rang. It was a stranger. He was trying to pronounce my husband's name and was asking him a lot of questions. Then he said they had found a pile of papers in their trash can(垃圾桶)that had been left out on the footpath.

    My husband rushed to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers and documents. Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of unfamiliar papers. Her parents had carefully sorted them out, although they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents. At last they had seen a half-written letter in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend.

    That family not only restored the important documents to us that day but also restored our faith and trust in people. We still remember their kindness and often send a warm wish their way.