I was very disappointed not to be able to go to the concert last Friday. The advertisement in the paper said you could buy tickets at the theatre box any day between 10:00 and 4:00. Since I work from 9:00 to 5:30, the only time I could go to the theatre was during my 45-minute lunch break. Unfortunately, the theatre is on the other side of the town, and the bus service between my office and the theatre is not good. But if you are lucky, you can make the round trip in 45 minutes. Last Monday, I stood at the bus stop for 15 minutes. By the time I saw one come, there was not enough time left to make the trip. So I gave up and went back to the office. The same thing happened on Tuesday, and again next day. On Thursday, my luck changed. I got on a bus right away and arrived at the theatre in 20 minutes. When I got there, however, I found a long line at the box office, and I heard one man say he had been waiting for over an hour. Realizing I would not have enough time to wait in line, I caught the next bus and headed back. By Friday I realized my only hope was to make the trip by taxi. It was expensive, but it would be worth it to hear the concert. The trip by taxi only took 10 minutes, but felt like an hour to me. When I got to the theatre, I was relieved to see that nobody was waiting in line. The reason, however, I quickly discovered, was that they had already sold all the tickets.

    Here's an interesting fact: Every teenager American seems to have, at some point, appeared drunk or rude online. This generation didn't invent stupidity, of course; it's just the first to post the picture online the entire world to see. And that's the rub: Employers are getting clever at looking you up online. They look at what people post and wonder. Is that new salesperson, the one who made a strange face on collegehumor.com,likely to do the same at a conference?”

    Anything that you put online is public information. This should seem pretty obvious to the generation who grew up on these sites, right? But it's not. When it comes to the Net, young people tend to fell for two traps. One:“ Many of them believe it's truly private, and they'll determine who gets to sec what, and it will stop there.” Wrong! And two: “Their sense of what things will be like in the next stage of their life is not realistic.”

    So what do you do about that picture? Take it down! But what if it is now on other sites? After all, a friend can post your photo elsewhere, and from there, it can be posted on another site. This problem is so common that a new industry has appeared: identity management, which helps people remove embarrassing material.

    The new industry serves to remind us that we've got to be careful out there. Most of us have got drunk or done something we regret. But putting it online is another matter. And for some, it's even become an addiction, one with a nickname: Crackspace. Young or old, students and managers alike turn into exhibitions, putting every aspect of their lives on public display(展示).

    Yes, it can be great fun. But should those of us posting pictures of ourselves dancing in our underwear be given a good comment? In a forgiving, kindly environment, yes. But what about in a business environment? Well, you decide.

A

    Four Must-See Route 66 (66号公路) Attractions

    The United States is full of odd roadside attractions. Route 66 is home to some of the oldest and most known attractions of them all. Here are four attractions you should see along the Mother Road:

    ⒈Paul Bunyan and a Hot Dog

    Route 66 travelers pass by many fiberglass giants（巨人）right along the road. These giants were a popular form of advertising in the 1960s.Many of them stood in front of service stations. They held car parts, such as mufflers. The collection of Route 66 giants became known as “Muffler Men”. Businesses hoped the strange statues would get travelers' attention.

    The first fiberglass giant was a “Paul Bunyan” figure, built in the early 1960s. It's said that Paul Bunyan is a famous wood worker.

    ⒉Crown Candy Kitchen and Jamaica Ray

    Crown Candy Kitchen has been serving Route 66 travelers from the very beginning. It is just a few short blocks from the 66 path through St. Louis, Missouri. The family-run soda fountain shop opened more than 100 years ago, and has been making candies and meals ever since.

    On weekends, people sometimes wait in line for a table at Crown Candy for over an hour. Luckily there is free entertainment right outside. Jamaica Ray, a local folk artist, creates unusual sculptures.

    ⒊The World's Largest Rocking Chair

    Fanning, Missouri, is home to one of the strangest Route 66 attractions. Just off the road sits an almost 13-meter-tall rocking chair.

    The structure was completed in 2008 on the first of April, or April Fool's Day. At one time the chair actually rocked. But officials decided it had to be still to be safe for ever. People are not permitted to climb the chair. We think, however, that it probably happens once in a while, when no one is watching.

    ⒋Big Texan's Steak Challenge

    Few places better represent the common expression “Everything's Bigger in Texas” than the Big Texan Steak Ranch. Since 1960.it has appealed to travelers with big appetites and a big love of beef.

    It is hard to miss the huge yellow restaurant or the giant cow statue that sits out front. The cow advertises Big Texan's special deal, and what has made this steak ranch famous: a “free” 72-ounce（英两）or 2-kilogram steak. There is one trick: the steak is only free if you can eat the entire thing in one hour.

    A special table is in the middle of the restaurant for the daring diners who accept the challenge. Since 1990, more than 9,000 diners have eaten the entire 2-kilogram steak.

    A new study by Chinese researchers has found differences in the brain activity of men and women addicted(上瘾的)to Internet gaming.

    The study says addicted men have lower impulse control compared with women, indicating that men are more likely to become addicted to internet gaming.

    Researchers from Renji Hospital, which is connected with Shanghai Jiaotong University, recruited 105 Chinese participants for the study, which had two groups - one with 32 men and 23 women addicted to gaming, and the other with 30 men and 22 women who were not addicted.

    They completed a questionnaire for gaming addiction, and reported their gaming history and number of hours playing per week. Researchers also talked with their families to collect the information.

    Through FMRI (磁共振扫描), researchers found that men addicted to gaming had lower brain activity in the brain region associated with impulse control, than nonaddicted men. The lower the activity levels, the poorer the impulse control. Addicted women, however, showed no differences compared with the healthy female group.

    Researchers also studied the functional connectivity between brain regions, which were lower in men with addiction than in nonaddicted men, but showed no differences in the female groups.

    Although there are some limitations, the findings suggest that activity levels displayed in the brain region could be biomarkers to evaluate the behavioral inhibitions of gaming-addicted men, they said.

    Gaming disorder was listed as a mental disorder by the World Health Organization earlier this year. People with the disorder have impaired control over gaming and give it increased priority in their lives－to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities.

    The idea behind Facebook is to make us feel connected all the time. But in my research, I've found that the truth is quiet different.

    Technology, it turns out, has made being alone seem like a problem that needs soling. When young people are alone, even for a minute or two, they feel the need to connect to get on Facebook or some other social networks and chat. But in connecting, they often end up feeling more isolated. Why? Because by being in constant (不断的) connection, they lose the ability to feel satisfied with their own company (独处).

    Facebook can help us keep in touch with our friends, but we too often use it instead of spending face to face time with them. And since we feel the need to keep up with them online, we don't have moments of loneliness where we can collect our thoughts and learn how to be comfortable being alone.

——Sherry Turkle, Profescer

    Facebook connects more of us to more of our friends and family in more places than we have ever been connected before. Yes. Facebook is a huge time sink -maybe the biggest ever. Many people post useless stuff. And seeing too much of your friends lives can make you jealous (嫉妒的), but it won't make you lonely.

    Jane, a former student of mine, who is back in New York after living abroad for ten years told me that Facebook helps her a lot. The first time she moved back to New York from abroad, she felt disconnected from her family and friends. now because of lots of photos and information updates (更新), she knows what is happening with her friends all the time.

    In fact, if you are lonely in real life, you will be lonely online as well.

——Sree Steniveasan, Chief Digital office

    Scientists dug up human remains from the Stonehenge dating back to about 5,000 years ago. To our surprise, people journeyed far to get to the Wessex site. These men and women potentially played a huge role in the construction of Stonehenge.

    The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, reveals that a number of people buried at the Wessex monument originated from West Wales, which is also the source of the bluestones used in Stonehenge's early construction.

    According to a report from the University College London, scientists from Oxford and Belgium came together to analyze 25 of the burials dug in 2008. Many of them were buried around 3,000 BC, which is around the time when the bluestones were put up to form the Aubrey holes around Stonehenge. The famous stones weren't built until 500 years later. The team used chemical isotope (同位素) analysis and radiocarbon dating (放射性碳年代测定法) the study and found out that at least 10 of the 25 individuals analyzed didn't live near the Stonehenge site but in western Britain. This region includes West Wales, where the bluestones were sourced. Furthermore, the wood that was used to burn the bodies was also found to have come from different trees. Some of the pieces of trees come from trees in dense woodland, many of which are found in West Wales. Some of the individuals may have been cremated elsewhere before being buried in Stonehenge.

    The researchers suggest that these prehistoric people may have been part of the sacred site's early construction crew. They may have been the ones to transport the bluestone materials from the Preseli Mountains in West Wales. The findings are an interesting revelation, particularly since it means that there were significant interregional connections that existed as far back as 5,000 years ago. Even back then, in the Neolithic Period (新石器时代), human civilization had wide contacts and exchanges.