The rising costs of health care have become a problem for many countries in the world. To deal with this problem, it is recommended that a big part of the government's health budget（预算)be used for health education and disease prevention instead of treatment. Actually, many kinds of diseases are preventable in many ways and preventing a disease is usually much cheaper than treating it. For example, people could avoid catching a cold if they dressed warmly when the weather starts getting cold. But many people get sick because they fail to do so, and have to spend money seeing a doctor.

    Daily habits like eating more healthy food would have kept millions of families from becoming bankrupt if the patients had taken measures for early prevention. For example, keeping a balanced diet, such as not consuming too much animal fat and insuring a steady intake of vegetables and fruits, seems to be quite important.

One very effective and costless way of prevention is regular exercise, which is necessary for a healthy mind and body. Regular exercise, such as running, walking, and playing sports is a good way to make people feel better or reduce stress.

In addition, health education plays a key role in improving people's health. By giving people more information about health, countries could help people understand the importance of disease prevention and ways to achieve it. For example, knowing one's family medical history is an effective way to help keep healthy. Information about health problems among close relatives will make them aware of what they should do to prevent certain diseases through lifestyle changes, which will work before it is too late.

    Hinderer, stressing disease prevention does not mean medical treatment is unimportant. After all, prevention and treatment are just two different means toward the same effect. In conclusion, we could save money on health care and treat patients more successfully if our country spends more money on health prevention and education.

    You may think that light pollution isn't something extraordinarily important. You may believe that every other type of pollution has a larger impact on the environment that light pollution does. But light pollution is serious.

    Light pollution, or “sky glow”, is the glow you can see at night above cities and towns. Light pollution is a problem that has been accompanying man ever since he started his first fire some 15,000 years ago. Light pollution is the light that comes from streetlights, buildings, parking lots and any other source of light that is reflected or directed into the atmosphere.

    Urban light pollution means that one-fifth of the world's population can no longer see the Milky Way(银河) with the naked eye(肉眼). Many city kids, even if they did look through the orange smog above their heads, would probably see only a handful of stars. We have lost our view of the stars, and we have mucked up our  night-time environment as well. Astronomers are calling for the dark places on Earth to be preserved as national parks.

    Lots of people find the ever-brightening night annoying, and animals that are programmed to prefer the dark may avoid a brightened habitat. Sea turtles can get lost searching for a beach to lay eggs, and their hatchlings(孵化的幼仔)may confuse over-lit beachfront resorts(度假胜地) for the ocean horizon, wasting precious energy needed to find the sea and escape predators(食肉动物). Because their necks aren't yet long enough to see things far away, baby turtles rely on the mirror image of the moon to guide them to the sea, to begin their new life. A car may even hit a particular turtle, which was thinking the light from a nearby city was moonlight reflecting off the ocean waves. Birds that live in and around cities can die because of sky glow, too. The bright lights can blind them, leading to countless collisions with buildings and other tall structures.

    On an individual level, people can help reduce much sky glow by using lighting only when necessary. The stars above us are priceless heritage— for not only for astronomers but for all humans. More of our children should be able to look up at night and see the Milk Way.

    Elephants on the coast of Thailand are acting strange.They stamp their feet and motion toward the hills.The sea draws back from the beaches.Fish fall heavily in the mud.Suddenly,a huge wave appears.This is no ordinary wave.It is tsunami!

    Tsunami waves are larger and faster than normal surface waves.A tsunami wave can travel as fast as a jet plane and can be as tall as a ten-story building.Imagine dropping a stone into a pond.The water on the surface ripples（起涟漪）.A tsunami is like a very powerful ripple.Tsunamis begin when the ocean rises or falls very suddenly.Large amounts of seawater are displaced.This movement caused huge waves.

    For a tsunami to occur,there must be some kind of force that causes the ocean water to become displaced.Most tsunamis are caused by underwater earthquakes.However,volcanoes ,landslides（塌方）,large icebergs,and even meteorites（陨石）are capable of causing one of these mighty waves.

    Tsunamis are extremely powerful.Ordinary waves lose power when they break.Tsunami waves can remain powerful for several days.Because tsunami waves are so strong,they can kill people,damage property,and completely ruin an ecosystem in just one hour.

    Scientists have no way of predicting when a tsunami will hit.However,if a powerful enough earthquake occurs, scientists can send out a warning or a watch.A warning means that a tsunami will very likely hit soon.A watch means that conditions are favorable for a tsunami.When people are informed of a watch or a warning,they have more time to prepare.It is best not to get caught unaware when a tsunami is on the way.

Make Up Your Mind to Succeed

    Kind-hearted parents have unknowingly left their children defenseless against failure. The generation born between 1980 and 2001 grew up playing sports where scores and performance were played down because “everyone's a winner.” And their report cards sounded more positive  than ever before. As a result, Stanford University professor Carol Dweck, PhD, calls them “the overpraised generation.”

    Dweck has been studying how people deal with failure for 40 years. Her research has led her to find out two clearly different mind-sets that have a great effect on how we react to it. Here's how they work:

    A fixed mind-set is grounded in the belief that talent is genetic – you're a born artist, point guard, or numbers person. The fixed mind-set believes it's sure to succeed without much effort and regards failure as personal shame. When things get difficult, it's quick to blame, lie, and even stay away from future difficulties.

    On the other hand, a growth mind-set believes that no talent is entirely heaven-sent and that effort and learning make everything possible. Because the ego (自尊) isn't on the line as much, the growth mind-set sees failure as a chance rather than shame. When faced with a difficulty, it's quick to rethink, change and try again. In fact, it enjoys this experience.

    We are all born with growth mind-sets. (Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to live in the world.) But parents, teachers, and instructors often push us into fixed mind-sets by encouraging certain actions and misdirecting praise. Dweck's book, Mind-set: The New Psychology of Success, and online instructional program explain this in depth. But she says there are many little things you can start doing today to make sure that your children, grandchildren and even you are never defeated by failure.

    A blog posted Dec 7, 2018 at 12:17 PM by Alanna Mallon

    Alanna Mallon is a Cambridge City Councilor.

    Each year in November, I receive a flurry of emails and texts from friends who want to volunteer with their families on Thanksgiving as a way to give back. I also field phone calls from organizations who want to donate to local programs that provide Thanksgiving meals.

    However, as an official who still works in the nonprofit sector, I also feel deeply anxious because I know the other 51 weeks of the year, these critical programs that provide food access to residents in need are starving for both volunteers and donations. Hunger is a year round problem, and each week volunteers are the necessary part to ensure that programs are able to serve the community.

    At Food For Free, we rely on about 100 volunteers per week, and each of those volunteers is extremely important to providing fresh, healthy food to people in the Greater Boston area who need it. School children who take backpacks of food home on Fridays, community college students who rely on our Family Meals program to thrive in class, elderly and disabled residents who receive twice monthly deliveries of food to their doors through our Home Delivery program, — they all rely on us ensuring enough volunteers show up to do the work.

    These volunteers don't show up in your social media feeds, they don't win awards and no one writes about them in the local newspapers. But they are heroes. And you can be too.

    If everyone made a promise to volunteer once a month, or even once a quarter, I know that we could reduce some of the anxiety these organizations feel, as a more reliable volunteer network allows them to focus on helping people, not filling volunteer slots.

    Here is a list of a few organizations who are doing critical work in Cambridge to address food insecurity. Offer your time to an organization, they will be deeply grateful—and I am going to bet that you will feel pretty good about yourself too.

Food For Free: http://foodforfree.org/volunteer.

    CEOC: http://ceoccambridge.org/food-pantry.

    Harvard Square Homeless Shelter: https://hshshelter.org/volunteer.

    Community Cooks: https://communitycooks.org/join-us.

    Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House: http://margaretfullerhouse.org

    Doctors say you had better use it before you lose it. The more you sit each day, the more chance you have of getting sick.

    Richard Rosenkranz of Kansas State University was among the researchers. He said people who sat for long periods were at great risk of diseases when compared with those who sat less. He said that was especially true for some chronic (慢性的) diseases.

    Richard Rosenkranz studied the relationship between sitting and chronic diseases in middle-aged Australian men. He worked with researchers from the University of Western Sydney. They examined the health records of more than 63,000 men from New South Wales. The men were between the ages of 45 and 65. The men reported about what diseases they had, or did not have. And they kept record of the amount of time each day that they sat.

    The study also showed that exercising every morning for 30minutes did not reduce the health risk if you spend the next eight hours sitting at the desk. Mr. Rosenkranz said it was important to make sure you exercise. But he said it was also important to find ways not to sit so much during the day.

    Many jobs today require sitting and working at the desk all day. James Levine works at the Mayo Clinic in the United Sates. He suggests working while standing at high table some of the time instead of sitting at a desk. Dr. Levine also suggests standing while using the telephone or eating. Or he advises walking with the people you work with for an on-foot meeting. And he notes that if you spend more time on your feet, you may have muscle activity that helps burn fats and sugars in your body.