Nowadays, parents worry a lot because their children spend hours and hours in front of the TV screen. Because this doesn't happen to only one specific family, many experts warn us that there can be some serious effects of children watching violence on television.

    Children who become addicted(上瘾的) to TV sit down and turn on the TV as soon as they get home. Although they have lots of homework, they become absorbed in TV programs.

    Since they spend tons of time watching TV, they have less time to enjoy real life activities such as playing with friends, playing outdoor sports, or enjoying other kinds of entertainment.

    There are too many violent scenes on TV. Some experts say there are 25 acts of violence per hour on TV. In addition, there are many experiments by psychologists which show how TV violence influences children. Finally, people worry that children tend to imitate what they watch on TV and may start to behave more violently.

    What should be done? First of all, the government should regulate TV violence. It should also encourage people to invent and develop new technology which can block violent scenes from the programs children watch. For example, with a rating system(分级制度) and the V-chip, unfit scenes of violence and sex can be blocked out. Second, parents should monitor what their children watch. At the same time, they should make their children interested in real life activities. Then when the children start to spend more time playing with friends or reading books, parents can stop their monitoring.

    It is a fact that there is more violence on TV today than there was ten years ago. Moreover, violent incidents occur more frequently in real life. It's time to realize how harmful watching TV violence is, and it's time to keep our children from watching violence.

    One silly question I simply can't stand is “How do you feel?” Usually the question is asked of a man in action—a man on the go, walking along the streets, or busily working at his desk. So what do you expect him to say? He'll probably say, “Fine, I'm all right,” but you have put a bug in his ear —maybe now he's not sure. If you are a good friend, you may have seen something in his face, or his walk that he overlooked that morning. It starts worrying him a little. First thing you know, he looks in a mirror to see if everything is all right, while you go merrily on your way asking someone else, “How do you feel?”

    Every question has its time and place. It's perfectly acceptable, for instance, to ask “How do you feel?” if you're visiting a close friend in the hospital. But if the fellow is walking on both legs, hurrying to make a train, or sitting at his desk working, it's no time to ask him that silly question.

    When George Bernard Shaw, the famous writer of plays was in his eighties, someone asked him “How do you feel?” Shaw put him in his place. “When you reach my age,” he said, “either you feel all right or you're dead.”

The surface of Venus has never seemed very hospitable. Temperatures change around 470℃(900°F), the result of a runway greenhouse effect, and the pressure of its atmosphere, thick with carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid(硫酸), is some 90 times that of Earth's. Lead(铅) would flow like water on Venus, and water cannot have existed in liquid form for perhaps a billion years.

    Now NASA'S Magellan spacecraft seems to have found one more horror in the nasty landscape: active volcanoes. Last week the space agency released the first detailed map of Venus and the most dramatic images ever made of its surface. The picture offer the best evidence to date that a planet once assumed dead is actually a lively pot of geological change.

    The most amazing image is of Venus's second tallest mountain, Maat Mons, which rises 8km(5 miles) . Most of the planet's many peaks, including 9.5-km-(6-mile-) high Maxwell Montes, look bright in the radar pictures Magellan takes from its orbit above the permanent could cover. That means they are strong reflectors of radar waves. But Maat Mons is dark; like the Stealth bomber, it absorbs much of the radar falling on it.

    This interesting fact, say project scientists, is a strong hint that the mountains has recently been covered with lava(熔岩). Rock that sits on the surface of mountaintops appears to weather quickly in the hot , chemically reactive atmosphere, creating a soil that is rich in iron sulfide(硫化铁). It is this mineral, the scientists believe, that can easily be seen on radar. If Maat Mons doesn't have any, it has probably been resurfaced, perhaps within the past few years.

    Such resurfacing has undoubtedly taken place in Venus lowlands: earlier images of the planet showed vast areas that are remarkably free of craters(火山坑). That would be easy to explain on a Planet like Earth, where cratering from meteor strikes is erased by steady erosion. But while there is some evidence of wind erosion on Venus, the best explanation for the lack of cratering is periodic lava flow. Magellan has found direct evidence of such flows, including domelike upwellings and hardened streamed of rock trailing down the sides of Venusian peaks. There are also signs of other geologic activities, including dramatic faulting and several distinct incidents of mountain building. But the evidence can't indicate whether they really occurred millions of years ago. The case for active Venusian volcanoes is not yet proved, but Magellan, which is now well into its second complete survey of the planet's surface, may eventually settle the issue.

    Anyone who cares about what schools and colleges teach and how their students learn will be interested in the memoir (回忆录) of Ralph W. Tyler, who is one of the most famous men in American education.

    Born in Chicago in 1902, brought up and schooled in Nebraska, the 19-year-old college graduate Ralph Tyler became hooked on teaching while teaching as a science teacher in South Dakota and changed his major from medicine to education.

    Graduate work at the University of Chicago found him connected with honorable educators Charles Judd and W. W. Charters, whose ideas of teaching and testing had an effect on his later work. In 1927, he became a teacher of Ohio State University where he further developed a new method of testing.

    Tyler became well-known nationally in 1938, when he carried his work with the Eight-Year Study from Ohio State University to the University of Chicago at the invitation of Robed Hutchins.

    Tyler was the first director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, a position he held for fourteen years. There, he firmly believed that researchers should be free to seek an independent spirit in their work.

    Although Tyler officially retired (退休) in 1967, he never actually retired. He served on a long list of educational organizations in the United States and abroad. Even in his 80s he traveled across the country to advise teachers and management people on how to set objectives (目标) that develop the best teaching and learning within their schools.

    "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.

    We all long for friendship, but how to make a friend? "The best time to make a friend is before you need one." Joy Steven said. The following are some tips for you.

    People equal friends

    Friends usually begin with strangers. Getting in touch with other people is the first step to make a friend. Friends can't be made in empty air. Best friends take time to make.

    Friends understand friends

    Friends understand each other when talking. Many unpleasant personal quarrels can be avoided if you will take the time to understand others' feelings and points of view.

    Friends touch friends

    Touching is a warm from of communication between friends. When you see best friends communicating, you will notice them stand close together, touch each other comfortably and listen to each other. Sometimes a friendly touch is more powerful than words.

    Friends praise friends

    Praise is a powerful tool to make a friend. Honest praise can affect (影响) your friends' lives. So try to praise your friends, including your general ones.

    Friends can loyal (忠诚的) and trustworthy

    Trust and loyalty go hand in hand for friends. Friends can share secrets with you, because good friends never break confidence (信心) and are loyal forever.