Music for Humans and Humpback Whales   

    As researchers conclude in Science, the love of music is not only a universal feature of the human species, but is also deeply fixed in complex structures of the human brain, and is far more ancientthan previously suspected.

    In the articles that discuss the field of bio-musicology, the study of the biological basis for the creation and appreciation of music, researchers present various evidence to show that music-making is at once an original human "business", and an art form with skillful performers throughout the animal kingdom.

    The new reports stress that humans hold no copy right on sound wisdom, and that a number of nonhuman animals produce what can rightly be called music, rather than random sound. Recentin-depth analyses of the songs sung by humpback whales show that, even when their organ would allow them to do otherwise, the animals converge on the same choices relating to sounds and beauty, and accept the same laws ofsong composition as those preferred by human musicians, and human ears, everywhere.

    For example, male humpback whales, who spend six months of each year doing little else but singing, use rhythms (节奏) similar to those found in human music and musical phrases of similar length—a few seconds. Whales areable to make sounds over a range of at least seven octaves (八度音阶), yet they tend to move on through a song in beautiful musical intervals, rather than moving forwards madly. They mix thesounds like drums and pure tones in a ratio (比例) which agrees with that heard in much western music. They also usea favorite technique of human singers, the so-called A-B-A form, in which a theme is stated, then developed, and then returned to in slightly revised form.

    Perhaps most impressive, humpback songs contain tunes that rhyme. "This suggests that whales use rhyme in the same way we do: as a technique in poem tohelp them remember complex material," the researchers write.

    Do you want to have a nice place to spend your weekend？Here are some places for you ,which are probably a mere walk away from your college.

King's Art Centre

    A day at the Centre could mean a visit to an exhibition of the work of one of the most interesting contemporary artists on show anywhere. This weekend sees the opening of an exhibition of four local artists.

    You could attend a class teaching you how to 'learn from the masters' or get more creative with paint—free of charge.

    The Centre also runs two life drawing classes for which there is a small fee.

The Botanic Garden

    The Garden has over 8,000 plant species；it holds the research and teaching collection of living plants for Cambridge University.

    The multi­branched Torch Aloe here is impressive. The African plant produces red flowers above blue­green leaves，and is not one to miss.

    Get to the display house to see Dionaea muscipula，a plant more commonly known as the Venus Flytrap that feeds on insects and other small animals.

    The Garden is also a place for wildlife ­enthusiasts. Look for grass snakes in the lake. A snake called 'Hissing Sid' is regularly seen lying in the heat of the warm sun.

Byron's Pool

    Many stories surround Lord Byron's time as a student of Cambridge University. Arriving in 1805，he wrote a letter complaining that it was a place of “mess and drunkenness”．However，it seems as though Byron did manage to pass the time pleasantly enough. I'm not just talking about the pet bear he kept in his rooms.He spent a great deal of time walking in the village.

    It is also said that on occasion Byron swam naked by moonlight in the lake，which is now known as Byron's Pool. A couple of miles past Grantchester in the south Cambridgeshire countryside，the pool is surrounded by beautiful circular paths around the fields. The cries of invisible birds make the trip a lovely experience and on the way home you can drop into the village for afternoon tea. If you don't trust me，then perhaps you'll take it from Virginia Woolf—over a century after Byron，she reportedly took a trip to swim in the same pool.

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    Living near the beach may come with an extra perk (利益): better health. A new study analyzed information from more than 48 million people in England and found that the nearer they lived to the coast, the more likely people were to report good health within the past year.

    Living near the coast may be associated with better health because the seaside environment reduces stress, the researchers said. They pointed to another British study that found that people who took trips to the coast experienced more feelings of calmness and relaxation than those who visited urban parks or the countryside.

    The difference from living near the coast was relatively small. But a small effect, when applied to an entire population can have a substantial impact on public health ,said study researcher Ben Wheeler of Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in Exeter, England.

    However, it's too soon to advise people to hit the beach to improve health, Wheeler said. The study only found an association, not a cause-effect link, and it's possible that other factors could explain the results. For instance, it could be that people who are wealthier, and therefore healthier, are more able to move to desired locations such as the coast, Wheeler said, a phenomenon known as the migrant effect. But the study did find that the association between coastal living and better health was strongest for those living in the poorest areas, which perhaps indicates that wealth cannot explain the results, Wheeler said.

    Because the study looked at only England—an island country in which everyone lives within 72 miles of the coast—it's not clear whether the findings would apply to other populations. Far from England, a health expert not involved in the study said that while the British research certainly doesn't prove that people's health and the place they live are linked, it's possible that proximity to the seas does something for our bodies.

    If future studies confirm the results, the next step would be to find out it is what coastal environments that can benefit health. Wheeler said it may then be possible to bring those benefits to people living in other areas, through virtual environments, for instance.

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Summer Activities

    Students should read the list with their parents/carers, and select two activities they would like to do. Forms will be available in school and online for them to indicate their choices and return to school. Before choices are finalised, parents/carers will be asked to sign to confirm their child's choices.

    When I was five or six years old, I remember watching TV and seeing other children suffer in other parts of the world. I would say to myself," When I grow up, when I can get rich, I will save kids all over the world."

    At 17, I started my career here in America, and by the age of 18, I started my first charity( 慈善) organization. I went on to team up with other organizations in the following years, and met, helped, and even lost some of the most beautiful souls, from six-year-old Jasmina Anema who passed away in 2010 from leukemia(白血病), and whose story inspired thousands to volunteer as donors, to my grandmother, who lost her battle with cancer in 2012, and her death is the very reason and the driving force behind the Clara Lionel Foundation(CLF). We're all human. And we all just want a chance: a chance at life, a chance in education, a chance at a future, really. And at CLF, our mission is to impact as many lives as possible, but it starts with just one.

    People make it seem too hard to do charity work. The truth is, you don't have to be rich to help others. You don't need to be famous. You don't even have to be college educated. But it starts with your neighbor, the person right next to you, the person sitting next to you in class，the kid down the block in your neighborhood. You just do whatever you can to help in any way that you can. And today, I want to challenge each of you to make a decision to help one person, one organization, one situation that touches your heart. My grandmother always used to say. "If you've got a dollar, there's plenty to share."

    A university in southwest China's Chongqing City set up a reading room as part of a campaign (活动) that stops students from taking their mobile phones with them in case the device distracts (使分心) them from concentrating on their studies.

    Reportedly a student named Hu Xiaopeng participating in the campaign studied 530 minutes without using his mobile phone. Unlike Hu, another one picked up his mobile phone in less than 20 minutes. "Having seen many students use their mobile phones in the library, a habit that shortens their study time and negatively impacts their learning, we decided to open this reading room," said Zhang Shuran, the person responsible for the project at the university.

    Zhang added that students can keep their phones in appointed bags with numbers on them. The hags are placed on a desk near the door of the reading room. "Staff members at the reading room will check the phones when there's a call," said Zhang, adding that they will inform students when their parents or teachers call them, but will not tell students if an unknown person is calling or when there is a text message. Based on the time students hand in their phones when they come to the reading room and the time they get them back when they leave the room, Hu Xiaopeng from College of Animal Science and Technology of the university set a record of the longest time.Hu spent 530 minutes studying without using his phone. Though feeling somewhat surprised, Hu said, "It's bad to keep mobile phone with you when you are reading or studying."

    The campaign has attracted nearly 200 students since it was launched a week ago. Some Internet users praised the campaign. One user named Liu Jingchang said, "It's good. I don't bring my phone when going to the library in case I get distracted."