Silence is unnatural to man.He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness.In between he does all he can to make a noise in the world,and he fears silence more than anything else.Even his conversation is an attempt to prevent a fearful silence.If he is introduced to another person,and a number of pauses occur in the conversation,he regards himself as a failure,a worthless person,and is full of envy of the emptiest-headed chatterbox（喋喋不休的人）. He knows that ninety nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly,but he is anxious to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a waxwork figure（蜡塑人像）.

    The aim of conversation is not,for the most part,to communicate ideas;it is to keep up the buzzing sound.There are,it must be admitted,different qualities of buzz;there is even a buzz that is as annoying as the continuous noise made by a mosquito.But at a dinner party one would rather be a mosquito than a quiet person.Most buzzing, fortunately,is pleasant to the ear,and some of it is pleasant even to the mind.He would be a foolish man if he waited until he had a wise thought to take part in the buzzing with his neighbors.

    Those who hate to pick up the weather as a conversational opening seem to me not to know the reason why human beings wish to talk.Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new.Some of them are content if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people's ears,though they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen two or three new plays or that they had food in a Swiss hotel.At the end of an evening,during which they have said nothing meaningful for a long time.They just prove themselves to be successful conservationists.

    What Theresa Loe is doing proves that a large farm isn't a prerequisite for a modern grow-your-own lifestyle. On a mere 1/10 of an acre in Los Angeles, Loe and her family grow, can(装罐)and preserve much of the food they consume.

    Loe is a master food preserver, gardener and canning expert. She also operates a website, where she shares her tips and recipes, with the goal of demonstrating that everyone has the ability to control what's on their plate.

Loe initially went to school to become an engineer, but she quickly learned that her enthusiasm was mainly about growing and preparing her own food. “I got into cooking my own food and started growing my own herbs (香草) and foods for that fresh flavor,” she said. Engineer by day, Loe learned cooking at night school. She ultimately purchased a small piece of land with her husband and began growing their own foods.

     “I teach people how to live farm-fresh without a farm,” Loe said. Through her website Loe emphasizes that “anybody can do this anywhere.” Got an apartment with a balcony （阳台）? Plant some herbs. A window? Perfect spot for growing. Start with herbs, she recommends, because “they're very forgiving.” Just a little of the herbs “can take your regular cooking to a whole new level,” she added. “I think it's a great place to start.” “Then? Try growing something from a seed, she said, like a tomato or some tea.”

    Canning is a natural extension of the planting she does. With every planted food. Loe noted, there's a moment when it's bursting with its absolute peak flavor. “I try and keep it in a time capsule in a canning jar,” Loe said. “Canning for me is about knowing what's in your food, knowing where it comes from.”

    In addition to being more in touch with the food she's eating, another joy comes from passing this knowledge and this desire for good food to her children: “Influencing them and telling them your opinion on not only being careful what we eat but understanding the bigger picture,” she said, “that if we don't take care of the earth, no one will.”

    There is a popular saying in the English language: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Well, that is not true. Unkind words, name-calling or even the so-called “the silent treatment” can hurt children as much as being physically hit, sometimes even more so.

    A recent study of middle school children showed that verbal (言语的) abuse by other children can harm development in the brain. The study was a project of researchers at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. Researcher Martin Teicher and his team studied young adults, aged 18 to 25. These young men and women had not ever been treated in a cruel or violent way by their parents.  The researchers asked the young people to rate their childhood exposure to verbal abuse from both parents and other children. Then the researchers performed imaging tests on the brains of the subjects.

    The images showed that the people who reported suffering verbal abuse from peers in middle school had underdeveloped connections between the left and right side of the brain.  The two sides of the brain are connected by a large bundle of connecting fibers called the corpus callosum. This was the area that was underdeveloped.

    The middle school years are a time when these brain connections are developing. So, unkind, hurtful comments from children or adults during this period have the greatest effect. The researchers tested the mental and emotional condition of all the young people in the study.  The tests showed that this same group of people had higher levels of fear, depression, anger and drug abuse than others in the study.

    The researchers published their findings online on the AmericanJournalofPsychiatry's website.

    Parents cannot control what other people say to their children, but they can prepare their children.

    "Smile!" I shouted, holding a yellow sign up on a busy street in Seattle. We were three thousand miles away from home on a Random Acts of Kindness and Volunteerism Road Trip. We had two aims. One was to try out our new "Smile!" signs and see how much kindness and joy we could spread in Pike Place Market. The other was to raise $80 by doing street performances, enough for gas to Portland and a small hotel room.

    We weren't sure how people would react (回应) to our signs. I nervously raised up our signs and shouted, "Hi, there!" to a young couple. They looked over and felt confused. Then they read our signs and broke into a smile. Before long, some tourists wanted to take a photo with us and some strangers stopped to ask us about our signs.

    In fact, we paid so close attention to our "Smile!" project that we forgot the other aim. Before we knew it, the sun was setting, and we had no money for our trip to Portland. We sat down to watch a blind musician play the guitar while thinking about what to do. He was packing up when a passing crowd kicked down his change bowl. He stumbled (绊倒) into the crowd. We rushed to help him, but another man moved more quickly to help him.

    Once the musician had his money safely returned, we ran over to meet the strange helper and said, "We just wanted to praise you for your good deed." He smiled, looking at our signs. "Your trip reminds me of something similar I once did when I was youn," he said. "Look! I'd like to donate (捐赠)." We told him, "No, thanks! We are fine. We've collected plenty of money." We lied. "Please let me donate. It will make me feel like I'm a part of this adventure," he insisted. And then the stranger opened his wallet and pulled out four $20 bills. The money was exactly what we had intended to raise that day. We were astonished. It seemed as if he had known somehow.

Two women going on a journey to green their city is the best way to describe the founders of Utility, Portland's low-waste and reuse company. It started in January 2019 and opened its first retail shop in April. Its founders, Rebecca Rottman and Nadine Appenbrink, are deeply committed to sustainability and supporters of zero waste.

They started Utility as a second job for both and as a personal journey, looking for clean products that didn't come in plastic. Their goal is to reduce the amount of single-use plastics by allowing people to bring their own reusable containers when they buy environmental friendly home and personal care items.

Every week the women teamed up with local stores to sell their goods and to refill products for returning customers. Now they are operating only online for pickup or local delivery in the Portland area. It is really easy, the company said. Just shop online and choose a container. Then select pickup or delivery. The products include all-natural dish bar soap and a wide variety of plastic-free kitchen tools.

While not completely zero waste, Utility is striving to get extremely close. Appenbrink said, "We are all on a journey. And we want to be as approachable as possible. Utility is to raise awareness about this lifestyle." They are focused on careful growth because Utility will never ship products because of the carbon footprint involved in shipping.

There are zero waste stores in other communities, like Clean Kilo in Birmingham UK, but they are real brick and mortar (实体的) buildings. Utility's concept is so simple that it can be followed almost anywhere. Zero waste markets are the way to the circular economy that is needed to stop plastic waste, reduce our carbon footprint and have a sustainable future.

Teenagers who spend more than six hours online on school days are more likely to be lonely and skip school,according to an international study.

The study examined the home Internet use,well-being(幸福) and behaviour of 296,000 15-year-olds in 41 countries.More than one in four spent more than four hours per day online outside of school.The study found lower levels of well-being among students who spent more than six hours per day online.They were twice as likely as teenagers spending one and two hours per day online to report that they felt lonely at school.These extreme Internet users were also especially at risk of "behaving in problematic ways at school,such as arriving late or skipping class".

The report said,"Lower levels of engagement(密切关系) with school may be connected to less sense of belonging at school.It is also possible that skipping class and arriving late for school are the consequence of lack of sleep among extreme Internet users."It adds,"Parents,schools and health professionals can work together to watch and plan children's use of new media."

The study also found that countries that invest(投资) heavily in Information and Communication Technology(ICT) in schools have seen no considerable difference in 15-year-olds' achievement in reading,maths or science tests.The study results suggest limited use of computers at school may be better than not using them at all.However,students who use computers very frequently at school do a lot worse in most learning outcomes.The report says,"In the end,technology can strengthen great teaching,but great technology cannot replace poor teaching."