My mom takes pride in the fact that I was talking in three and four word sentences before I was ten months old. Some say it's a gift while others simply think I talk too much.

    As my thirties came to a close, I found myself reflecting on my life. I'm very happy and have no significant regrets. However, when I looked back on those times of difficulty, I saw a clear common denominator(特征); I didn't seem to know when to stop talking. Whether it was hurting someone's feelings, or having carelessly told a secret, the incident could have been avoided had I closed my mouth sooner. So I decided to practice the power of quiet.

    To take this step, I needed to understand how people could sit comfortably in a group and not talk. Why does my husband feel completely content to say nothing in a conversation? He's highly intelligent and has wonderful opinions but he'll sit quietly and just listen. Even when he's asked a pointed question, he'll answer with few words while still communicating effectively. What a talent!

    Can you imagine being happy just listening? In surveying those I know who talk less than I do, I got two answers—they either didn't feel confident enough to speak up, or they just didn't feel the need to participate in the conversation. Of course there were other reasons for not talking, but these were the two most popular answers.

    The first one didn't work for me. I'm just fine letting people know what I think about them, and hopefully it will make the conversation much more interesting. The second one didn't work either. I do feel the need to participate. I feel it physically like an electrical pulse through my body; sometimes it's so strong that it causes me to behave badly in the form of interrupting or speaking in an unusually loud voice. I had to look further.

    An interesting thing happened on this journey to the power of quiet. During my weekly yoga class, it came to me like an answer so clear that the words rang in my head like soft, heavenly bells.

    I talked too much so people would know I cared about them. It was my way of taking care of those I love. I decided before my fortieth birthday, that from that day forward, those around me would know I loved them, and cared what they thought and felt, but I was going to practice the power of quiet.

    As my forty-second birthday approaches, I can say that deciding to talk less has been more about focusing on quality rather than quantity. I've found that listening more shows those who I care about that I really do care how they feel. Now when I break in, it means more to them. Oh, sure, I still have my short periods of talking too much, but for the most part this has been one resolution that I can call a success.

    Last year, I was on a plane with my friend, waiting for it to take off. The pilot's voice was heard throughout the plane: “Sorry for the delay, ladies and gentlemen. Our engines don't work. We are going to jump-start them. Once we get them going, we'll get up in the air and see what happens.”

    That was all he said. “See what happens? Shouldn't we have had a better plan than that?” At that point, I could only laugh nervously. One woman started crying: “Oh, no! We are going to crash!” There are sighs of desperation and anxiety, and we hadn't even taken off yet.

    The pilot even seemed unhappy. He told us one engine was working double time, and his plan was to get up in the air and see what happens! Then we did. We got up in the air, and what happened? Nothing. We arrived in Norfolk, and no sooner had the wheels touched down than applause burst out as everyone on the airplane breathed a sigh of relief.

    All too often, people stop achieving their goals just because they don't have a guaranteed result. But success will never be guaranteed. The best thing that you can do is to just get up in the air, and see what happens.

    If your aim is to build a business, then get up in the air and see what happens! Don't give yourself all the reasons why you can't. Do not wait until you have everything you need. You never will.

    If your goal is to start a friendship, say “Hello”, get up in the air and see what happens! The results could be very rewarding. If your goal is to learn a new skill, get up in the air and see what happens! It might not be as difficult as you think. It could be fun!

    American researchers found females are the more talkative sex because of a special “language protein” in the brain.

    The study, conducted by neuroscientists (神经学家) and psychologist from the University of Maryland, concluded that women talked more because they had more of the Foxp2 protein. The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that higher levels were found among humans that were women but in rats that were males. Their findings came after it was previously claimed that ladies speak about 20,000 words a day — over 13,000 more than men. “This study is one of the first to report a sex difference in the expression of a language-associated protein in humans or animals,” said Prof Margaret McCarthy, who led the study. In their study, the researchers attempted to determine what might make male rats more vocal than their female friends.

    They separated four-day-old rats from their mothers and then counted the number of times they cried out in the “ultrasonic (超声波的) range”, the frequencies higher than humans can hear, over five minutes. While both sexes called out hundreds of cries, the males called out twice as often, they found. But when the pups were returned to their mother's cage, she fussed over her sons first. Tests conducted on the parts of the brain known to be associated with vocal calls showed the male pups have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females. The researchers then increased the production in the brains of female pups and reduced it in males. This led to the female rats crying out more often and their mothers showing more interest in them. In contrast, males became less “talkative”.

    The researchers then tested samples from ten children, aged between three and five, which showed that females had up to 30 per cent more of the Foxp2 protein than males, in a brain area key to language in humans.

    “Based on our observations, we assume higher levels of Foxp2 in girls and higher levels of Foxp2 in male rats is an indication that Foxp2 protein levels are associated with the more communicative sex,” said Prof McCarthy.

    “Our results imply Foxp2 as a component (成分) of the neurobiological basis of sex differences in vocal communication in mammals.”

The Penguins

    Skipper and his fellow penguins were originally just supporting roles in animated film Madagascar (2005). But in 2008 they took leading roles in their own TV series, and in 2014 starred in the film Penguins of Madagascar. The penguins' wisdom and humor not only appeal to kids, but also serve adult audiences well. So, it's not surprising that they get their own movie.

Scrat

    A small and furry squirrel with a long tail from animated movie Ice Age (2002), Scrat played a supporting role but has won the hearts of both children and grown-ups with his persistence(毅力). In the film, his chasing after his prized acorn(橡子) causes an Earth-shattering geological event. Scrat is a big part in the lasting attraction of the movie series Ice Age. Today, Scrat has his own animated mini-movies.

    For most city people, the elevator is an unremarkable machine that inspires none of the enthusiasm or interest that Americans afford trains, jets，and even bicycles. Dr. Christopher Wilk is a member of a small group of elevator experts who consider this a misunderstanding. Without the elevator, they point out, there could be no downtown skyscrapers or tall buildings, and city life as we know it would be impossible. In that sense, they argue，the elevator's role in American history has been no less significant than that of cars. In fact, according to Wilk_? the car and the elevator have been locked in a “secret war” for over a century, with cars making it possible for people to spread horizontally (水平地)，and elevators pushing them toward life in close groups of towering vertical (垂直的)columns.

    If we tend to ignore the significance of elevators, it might be because riding in them tends to be such a brief, boring, and even awkward experience^one that can involve unexpectedly meeting people with whom we have nothing in common, and an unpleasant awareness of the fact that we're hanging from a cable in a long passage.

    In a new book, Lifted, German journalist and cultural studies professor Andreas Bernard directed all his attention to this experience, studying the origins of elevator and its relationship to humankind and finding that riding in an elevator has never been a totally comfortable experience. “After 150 years, we are still not used to it”， Bernard said. “We still have not exactly learned to cope with the mixture of closeness and displeasure.” That mixture, according to Bernard, sets the elevator ride apart from just about every other situation we find ourselves in as we go about our lives.

    Today，as the world's urban population explodes，and cities become more crowded, taller, and more crowded, America's total number of elevators—900,000 at last count, according to Elevator World magazine's “2012 Vertical Transportation Industry”一are a force that's becoming more important than ever. And for the people who really, really love them, it seems like high time that we looked seriously at just what kind of force they are.

    It was May 23, 2016. Arnot, the 32-year-old mountain guide, reached the top of Everest without the use of oxygen (O2) equipment. It was achieved after seven years, three previous attempts, and fourteen straight hours of climbing.

After 15 minutes at the top, Arnot began her descent (下坡). Eight hours later, she reached the camp at 7, 600 meters and became the first American woman-and only the seventh woman ever—to successfully reach Mount Everest without oxygen equipment.

    "There are so many reasons for her impressive achievement, especially the physical and emotional efforts that she has put forth over the years to make this happen," says the professional climber and photographer Richards, "The mental courage that it requires is something very few people have."

    Arnot didn't start climbing until she was 19 years old. Money was tight in her family, and climbing mountains never occurred in her mind. After graduating from college, Arnot was invited by her friend to climb a mountain. "It totally changed my life," says Arnot. I always know that if you want something, you can achieve it, but knowing what you want is a whole different thing," she says. "I am athletic but not competitive. After my first climbing, I knew immediately that mountains are what I want—as that is where I felt home for the first time in my life."

    After that first climb, she devoted herself to learning how to climb and move through mountain. It was during her second trip to Everest in 2009 that she first set her sights on a no-oxygen attempt. However, while hiking into Everest Base Camp that year, she hurt her leg and wasn't able to climb without oxygen. In 2013 she nearly made it to the top, but was forced to take oxygen at 8,504 meters while helping another climber.

    When Arnot finally stood at the top Everest, she called her best friend, "I reached the top and I'm not using any oxygen." Then, tears began to stream down from her eyes. So much of Arnot's life has been about pushing the limits of her abilities, and in this case, she's also pushed up against the outer limits of the human spirit.