It was very late and everyone had left the cafe except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light. In the day time the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference. The two waiters inside the cafe knew that the old man was a little drunk, and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept watch on him.

     “Last week he tried to commit suicide,” one waiter said. “Why?” “He was in despair.” “What about?” “Nothing.” “How do you know it was nothing?” “He has plenty of money.”

    They sat together at a table that was close against the wall near the door of the cafe and looked at the terrace where the tables were all empty except where the old man sat in the shadow of the leaves of the tree that moved slightly in the wind. A girl and a soldier went by in the street. The street light shone on the brass number on his collar. The girl wore no head covering and hurried beside him.

     “The guard will pick him up,” one waiter said. “What does it matter if he gets what he's after?” “He had better get off the street now. The guard will get him. They went by five minutes ago.”

    The old man sitting in the shadow rapped on his saucer with his glass. The younger waiter went over to him.

     “What do you want?” The old man looked at him. “Another brandy,” he said.

     “You'll be drunk,” the waiter said. The old man looked at him. The waiter went away.

     “He'll stay all night,” he said to his colleague. “I'm sleepy now. I never get into bed before three o'clock. He should have killed himself last week.”

    The waiter took the brandy bottle and another saucer from the counter inside the cafe and marched out to the old man's table. He put down the saucer and poured the glass full of brandy.

     “You should have killed yourself last week,” he said to the deaf man. The old man motioned with his finger. “A little more,” he said. The waiter poured on into the glass so that the brandy slopped over and ran down the stem into the top saucer of the pile. “Thank you,” the old man said. The waiter took the bottle back inside the cafe.He sat down at the table with his colleague again.

     “He's drunk now,” he said. “He's drunk every night.” “What did he want to kill himself for?” “How should I know.” “How did he do it?” “He hung himself with a rope.” “Who cut him down?” “His niece.” “Why did they do it?” “Fear for his soul.” “How much money has he got?” “He's got plenty.” “He must be eighty years old.” “Anyway I should say he was eighty.” “I wish he would go home.I never get to bed before three o'clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?” “He stays up because he likes it.” “He's lonely. I'm not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.” “He had a wife once too.” “A wife would be no good to him now.” “You can't tell. He might be better with a wife.” “His niece looks after him.You said she cut him down.” “I know.” “I wouldn't want to be that old.An old man is a nasty thing.” “Not always.This old man is clean.He drinks without spilling.Even now, drunk.Look at him.” “I don't want to look at him.I wish he would go home.He has no regard for those who must work.”

    The old man looked from his glass across the square, then over at the waiters.

     “Another brandy,” he said, pointing to his glass.The waiter who was in a hurry came over.

     “Finished,” he said, speaking with that omission of syntax stupid people employ when talking to drunken people or foreigners. “No more tonight. Close now.”

     “Another,” said the old man.

     “No. Finished.” The waiter wiped the edge of the table with a towel and shook his head.

    The old man stood up, slowly counted the saucers, took a leather coin purse from his pocket and paid for the drinks, leaving half a peseta tip. The waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity.

     “Why didn't you let him stay and drink?” the unhurried waiter asked. They were putting up the shutters. “It is not half past two.” “I want to go home to bed.” “What is an hour?” “More to me than to him.” “An hour is the same.” “You talk like an old man yourself.He can buy a bottle and drink at home.” “It's not the same.” “No, it is not,” agreed the waiter with a wife. He did not wish to be unjust. He was only in a hurry. “And you? You have no fear of going home before your usual hour?” “Are you trying to insult me?” “No, hombre, only to make a joke.”

     “No,” the waiter who was in a hurry said, rising from pulling down the metal shutters.“I have confidence.I am all confidence.” “You have youth, confidence, and a job,” the older waiter said.“You have everything.” “And what do you lack?” “Everything but work.” “You have everything I have.” “No.I have never had confidence and I am not young.” “Come on. Stop talking nonsense and lock up.” “I am of those who like to stay late at the cafe,” the older waiter said.“With all those who do not want to go to bed.With all those who need a light for the night.” “I want to go home and into bed.” “We are of two different kinds,” the older waiter said.He was now dressed to go home.“It is not only a question of youth and confidence although those things are very beautiful. Each night I am reluctant to close up because there may be someone who needs the cafe.” “Hombre, there are bodegas open all night long.” “You do not understand.This is a clean and pleasant cafe.It is well lighted. The light is very good and also, now, there are shadows of the leaves.”

“Good night,” said the younger waiter.

     “Good night,” the other said. Turning off the electric light he continued the conversation with himself. It was the light of course but it is necessary that the place be clean and pleasant. You do not want music.Certainly you do not want music.Nor can you stand before a bar with dignity although that is all that is provided for these hours. What did he fear? It was not a fear or dread. It was a nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was a nothing too. It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada.

    He smiled and stood before a bar with a shining steam pressure coffee machine.

     “What's yours?” asked the barman.

     “Nada.” “Otro loco mas,” said the barman and turned away.

     “A little cup,” said the waiter.

    The barman poured it for him.

     “The light is very bright and pleasant but the bar is unpolished,” the waiter said.

    The barman looked at him but did not answer.It was too late at night for conversation.

     “You want another copita?” the barman asked.

     “No, thank you,” said the waiter and went out.He disliked bars and bodegas.A clean, well-lighted cafe was a very different thing.Now, without thinking further, he would go home to his room.He would lie in the bed and finally, with daylight, he would go to sleep.After all, he said to himself, it's probably only insomnia. Many must have it.

    We often just use our sense of sight, touch, smell, and taste to eat food. But what about our sense of hearing? Does sound also affect our dining experience?

    A new report answers, “yes, it does.”

    That answer comes from researchers at Brigham Young University and Colorado State University in the United States. They found that hearing is important in the eating experience.

    Hearing is often called “the forgotten food sense”, says Ryan Elder. Elder is an assistant professor of marketing at Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management. He says that if people notice the sound the food makes as they eat it, they might eat less. On the other hand, watching loud television or listening to loud music while eating can hide such noises. And this could lead to overeating.

    For the study, the researchers wanted to test whether the sounds of eating—chewing, chomping and crunching—had any effect on how much a person ate. During the experiments, the test subjects wore headphones and listened to noise at either a high or low audio level. Then researchers gave them a crunchy snack: pretzels. The study found that subjects who listened to the higher volume noise ate more pretzels than those with the low audio levels.

    Elder says that when hiding I heard sounds of eating, like when you watch television or listen to loud music while eating, we take away the sense of hearing. And this may cause you to eat more than you would normally. The researchers are calling this, the “crunch effect”.

    The researchers admit that the effects may not seem like much at one meal. But over a week, a month or a year, all that food can really add up.

    Despite what so many people would love to believe，NASA hasn't discovered any evidence of past or present intelligent life on Mars. Therefore, when the Curiosity rover  (好奇号探测器)found something suspicious on the Red Planet's surface, they were not only surprised but also a little bit worried.

    The thin fragment (碎片)was suspicious enough to guarantee its own name, with NASA's Curiosity rover team calling it the “Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris，” named for where it was discovered. With no idea what it was or where it came from, the rover's handlers began to worry that it might actually be a piece of the rover itself，suggesting some unseen damage or other issue with the robot. Thankfully，those concerns seem to have been unfound.

    In a new update from NASA the object has now been identified as a natural piece of rock rather than a piece of any man-made craft or vehicle. The team analyzed the unusual object with a tool called the Chem Cam RMI. The instrument uses a laser (激光器)to sniff out the makeup of anything that is pointed at, and the results for this particular piece of debris revealed that it's actually just a very thin piece of rock.

    NASA describes the inspection: The planning day began with an interesting result from the previous plan's Chem Cam RMI analysis of a target that was referred to as “Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris”(PPFOD)，and supposed to be a piece of spacecraft debris fact. In fact it was found to be a very thin slice of rock, so we can all rest easy tonight. Curiosity has not begun to shed its skin!

    How this particularly thin sliver of rock got to where it is—and why it seems to be a different colour than the surrounding sand and debris—remains unexplained, but at least the rover isn't falling apart.

    Many people like traveling, but they cannot take their dogs wherever they go. Some people let their dogs stay alone at home while others ask someone else to take care of their pets. If you're leaving your beloved pet at home for a holiday, it can turn into a bad experience. Luckily, you don't have to worry about your dogs anymore because Rover can cover for you while you are on leave. Rover is the latest service to offer at home dog boarding. It's a good alternative (替代物) to boarding your dog at a dog boarding kennel (狗舍) or your neighbor's house.

    The way Rover works is sort of like Airbnb. Dog owners surf the Rover website or app for pet sitters (照看者), which can be organized by zip code (邮政编码) and available dates. Information of pet sitters is provided, complete with many reviews, specific services and rates. Now Rover has over 25,000 pet sitters in more than 5,000 US cities. And they're all experienced pet sitters.

    After finding someone that meets your needs, just send messages to the pet sitter to arrange a meeting. Then, like Rover says, all that is left to do is relax! Rover's pet sitters are encouraged to send text and picture information throughout the day, and if there's a medical emergency, the site will send a vet (兽医). Besides, don't worry about a pet sitter who fails to help you, because someone else will soon take his or her place.

    Happy doggie, happy travels—that sounds good to us. To learn more about Rover, click here.

    I didn't know how to say no, and was afraid to tell people what I wanted. Instead, I got myself tangled (纠结的) in a web of obligations, anxiety, and white lies.

    The worst thing was that I didn't even realize what I was doing. I thought I knew how to say "no"—but couldn't remember the last time I had. Like a lot of people, I just wanted to be accepted, appreciated, loved—and that the only way to get those things was to put everyone else's needs before my own.

    I never seemed to have time for things I really wanted to do. I'd like to learn Spanish, write more fiction, and travel. These aren't huge, unrealistic goals. And yet, my people-pleasing ways dramatically cut into my free time to pursue these desires.

    But recently, I decided I'd had enough. As an experiment, I began standing up for myself, even at the risk of alienating (使疏远) myself from everyone and having my entire life come crashing down around me. Several days ago, a good friend asked me to go for coffee at 5 p.m. I was planning to hit the gym and then binge—watch Mad Men for the millionth time. I said, "Sorry, I've got things I want to do tonight." She said, "That's fine. Maybe another time." It was all so painfully simple that I wanted to cry.

    Saying "no" is so much easier. If someone asks me to do something I have zero interest in, I'm polite but honest. "I'm sorry, I don't think that's really for me." The words slip out my mouth faster than some other lame excuses.

    Learning how to say "no" has added several extra hours to my days, days to my weeks, and what feels like months to my years. I no longer have to back-burner my plans to help friends with their job search, or set aside a weekend to read a book draft by someone I barely know. Saying "no" has set me free.

Teachers across America are struggling to decide whether to view artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT as friends or enemies in the classroom. Our study on whether AI affects student creativity shows that the answer isn't always simple. 

In the study, we asked college students to brainstorm — without technology — all the ways a paper clip can be used. A month later, we asked them to do the same, but using ChatGPT. We found that AI can be a useful brainstorming tool, quickly generating ideas that can spark creative exploration. But there are also potential negative effects on students' creative thinking skills and self-confidence. While students reported that it was helpful to "have another brain", they also felt that using AI was "the easy way out" and didn't allow them to think on their own. 

The results call for a thoughtful approach to using AI in classrooms and striking a balance that inspires students' creativity while utilizing AI's capabilities. The good news is that the students in our study generated more diverse and detailed ideas when using AI. They found that AI was useful for kick-starting brainstorming sessions. 

When it comes to brainstorming with AI, some students voiced concerns about over-reliance on the technology, fearing it might hurt their own thoughts and, consequently, confidence in their creative abilities. Some students reported a "fixation of the mind", meaning that once they saw the AI's ideas, they had a hard time coming up with their own. Some students also questioned the originality of ideas generated by AI. Our research noted that while using ChatGPT improved students' creative output individually, the AI's ideas tended to be repetitive overall. 

The study results indicate that allowing students to practice creativity independently first will strengthen their belief in themselves and their abilities. Once they complete this, AI can be useful in furthering their learning, much like teaching long division to students before introducing a calculator. That's to say, teaching students to be creative thinkers rather than rely on AI for answers is the key to answering the question mentioned above.