The latest study by the University of Florida has found that eating from smaller, less beautiful, and even paper plates will help prevent overeating. Eating with a fork instead of a spoon can help you lose weight, the researchers say. Much to their surprise, they find that putting mirrors in the dining room will also help reduce weight.

    The researchers asked 185 college students to choose a chocolate cake or a fruit salad, and evaluated the taste. Those who ate in a room with a mirror scored the taste of junk food much lower than those in a room without a mirror. But the taste of fruit salad remained the same in any case.

    Lead scientist, Dr. Ata Jami, says that a glance in the mirror tells people more than just about their physical appearance. It enables them to view themselves objectively (客观地) and helps them to judge themselves and their behavior in the same way that they judge other people.

    The mirrors were found to push people to compare and match their own behavior with accepted social standards. The researchers believe it proves that people don't want to look in the mirror when they feel they are following the social standards. When they look in the mirror with mouths full of junk food, feelings of discomfort and failure can be increased. Therefore, the presence of the mirror lowers the taste of unhealthy food.

    However, researchers say this is only the case if people select the food they are eating, because they are responsible for that choice. The researchers suggest that mirrors be placed in dining rooms and other eating spaces, so that people will start eating more healthily.

    If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

    Dreaming about whether you would want to read minds, see through walls, or have superhuman strength may sound silly, but it actually gets to the heart of what really matters in your life.

    Every day in our work, we are inspired by the people we meet doing extraordinary things to improve the world.

    They have a different kind of superpower that all of us possess: the power to make a difference in the lives of others.

    We're not saying that everyone needs to contribute their lives to the poor. Your lives are busy enough doing homework, playing sports, making friends, seeking after your dreams. But we do think that you can live a more powerful life when you devote some of your time and energy to something much larger than yourself. Find an issue you are interested in and learn more. Volunteer or, if you can, contribute a little money to a cause. Whatever you do, don't be a bystander. Get involved. You may have the opportunity to make your biggest difference when you're older. But why not start now?

    Our own experience working together on health, development, and energy the last twenty years has been one of the most rewarding parts of our lives. It has changed who we are and continues to fuel our optimism about how much the lives of the poorest people will improve in the years ahead.

    I was now in my twenty-third year of residence in this island and was so naturalized to the place and to the manner of living that I finally enjoyed the certainty that no savagesc(野人) would come to the place to disturb me, and that I could have been content to spend the rest of my time there, even to the last moment, till I had laid me down and died, like the old goat in the cave.

    I had also arrived to some little recreations and amusements, which made the time pass more pleasantly with me a great deal than it did before.

    At first, I had taught my Poll to speak. And he did it so familiarly and talked so clearly and plainly that it was very pleasant to me. And he lived with me no less than six years. How long he might live afterwards, I don't know; though I know people have an idea in Brazil that they live a hundred years. Perhaps poor Poll may be alive there still, calling Poor Robin Crusoe to this day. I wish no other English man the ill luck to come there and hear him. But if he did, he would certainly believe it was the devil.

    My dog was a very pleasant and loving companion to me, for no less than sixteen years of my time, and then died of mere old age.

    As for my cats, they multiplied to that degree that I had to shoot several of them at first to keep them from eating up all I had.

    Besides these, I had two more parrots which talked pretty well and would all call Robin Crusoe, but neither like my first. Nor indeed did I take the pains with any of them that I had done with him. I had also several tame sea-fowls, whose names I don't know, who I caught upon the shore and cut their wings and the little stakes which I had planted before my castle wall being now grown up to a good thick bush; these fowls all lived among these low trees and bred there, which was very agreeable to me; so that as I said above, I began to be very well contented with the life I led, if it might have been secured from the threat of the savages.

    After attending another parent meeting about my 7-year-old child's behavior, I didn't know what to do. It was the second school we had tried for Nathan and, as always, everything was being done for my child's needs. It was also having bad influence on Nathan. He would come home and say, "Mom, I hate my life. I do not want to live any more." I was afraid that my son was beginning to suffer from depression(抑郁) and that I was losing him. We needed help.

    By the age of seven, Nathan had already had three surgeries (外科手术) for his ears. He was in great pain, which made it difficult for him to learn or pay attention. Despite Nathan's bad condition, the staff at two former schools seemed as if they didn't care. They often forgot to deal with his medication(药剂). As a result of many times of ear infections (感染), Nathan had hearing loss. To make things worse, Nathan's speech was not very good. Children would make fun of him and Nathan began to fall behind in study.

    When I first set foot into Ripley House Charter School, I knew this was the school for my son. It felt positive from the moment I entered. From the start, Mrs. Elsen and her staff heard my concern over Nathan. Mrs. Elsen dealt with my concern, not with empty words but with action.

    That day, Nathan came home from his first day of school saying, "Mom, I love school!" By the end of the week he was saying, "Mom, I like my life. I have a good life." Ripley House Charter School gave me my son back and saved our lives. Thank you for giving me back what we had lost—HOPE.

Bogre Udell, who speaks four languages, met Frederico Andrade, who speaks five, at the Parsons New School in New York City.In 2014, they started a project to make the first public records of every language in the world.They've already recorded more than 350 languages, and plan to hit 1，000 in the coming years.

"When humans lose a language, we also lose greater diversity (多样化) in art and traditions，"said Bogre Udell.Between 1950 and 2010, 230 languages disappeared.Today, a third of the world's languages have fewer than 1，000 speakers left.Every two weeks a language dies with its last speaker, and 50 to 90 percent of them are said to disappear by the next century.

Wikitongues has asked for volunteers in 40 countries to film native speakers talking in the past, present，and future tenses of their mother languages.Native speakers are asked to recall childhood, share their stories, and discuss their hopes and goals.One volunteer in the South Pacific islands of Vanuatu recorded a language that had never been studied by language experts before.Another volunteer found a speaker of Ainu, a language in Japan that has no relation to any other known language, and he also recorded it.However, priceless recording opportunities disappear regularly.Not long ago, one of the last two speakers of a Saami language in the Russian steppes died right before his recording session with Wikitongues.

A lack of protection and globalization are responsible for diminishing language diversity.For much of the 20th century, governments across the world forced some local people to use official languages.More than 100 languages in Australia have disappeared since European settlers arrived.However, most languages die today because of other factors; climate change and urbanization contribute (是……的原因之一) greatly to the disappearance of languages.

Five Types of Friends to Make in High School

●The overachiever

One of the greatest types of friends you can make in high school is an overachiever. Overachiever friends can motivate you to be better every day!{#blank#}1{#/blank#}He makes the school sports team, gets elected class president, and does very well in all of the exams! With a friend like that influencing you, you'll never stop working hard!

●The wild one

A wild friend sees life as one big party! He's the socialite (社交名流) who makes sure you don't forget to tend to your social life in high school.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

●The good listener

The good listener is the one you call after an impossible midterm! He'll listen to everything you have to say, and only offer advice when it's absolutely necessary.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}The conversation with such friends will actually help you get to know yourself better!

●The bookworm

With your friend the bookworm, you'll never have a boring con conversation.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}A bookworm is most definitely going places (有望成功), because he's always exercising his brain! Read every book they lend you. This will bring you to a deeper level and d give you great conversation topics!

●The wise one

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Somehow, this friend has great understanding, and he can deal with nearly all of life's questions! If he wants to, he can help you out of almost any difficult situation you find yourself in.

A. In choosing a friend, one should be very careful.

B. He is the one who never settles for the second place.

C. He'll always have something to say about his latest reading.

D. This kind of friend is the one you can turn to in any life crisis.

E. Talking to this friend will remind you that everything you say is valuable.

F. He'll teach you how to really have fun and make the most of your youth!

G. Friends are warm, warm enough to encourage you to walk out of your little dark shell.