It is not only praise or punishment that determines a child's level of confidence. There are some other important ways we shape our kids—particularly by giving instructions and commands in a negative or positive choice of words. For example, we can say to a child “Don't run into traffic!” or “Stay on the footpath close to me.” In using the latter, you will be helping your kids to think and act positively, and to feel competent in a wide range of situations, because they know what to do, and aren't scaring themselves about what not to do.

    Why does such a small thing make a difference? It is all in the way the human mind works. What we think, we automatically rehearse. For example, if someone offered you a million dollars not to think of a blue monkey for two minutes, you wouldn't be able to do it. When a child is told “Don't fall off the tree,” he will think of two things: “don't” and “fall off the tree”. That is, he will automatically create the picture of falling off the tree in his mind. A child who is vividly imagining falling off the tree is much more likely to fall off. So it is far better to use “Hold on to the tree carefully.”

    Clear, positive instructions help kids to understand the right way to do things. Kids do not always know how to be safe, or how to react to the warning of the danger in negative words. So parents should make their commands positive. “Sam, hold on firm to the side of the boat” is much more useful than “Don't you dare to fall out of the boat?” or worse still “How do you think I'll feel if you drown?” The changes are small but difference is obvious.

    Children learn how to guide and organize themselves from the way we guide them with our words, so it pays to be positive.

    Recently I had a conversation in Beijing with an adult Chinese friend who was complaining how difficult it was to study English. No surprises there. It is a difficult language to master, just like Chinese. I made a few suggestions based on my experience. One involved a very valuable fact which I learned from my high school Latin and Greek teacher, Dr. Smith．He is a gifted linguist （语言学家），and has an amazing ability to remember things, like poetry, essays, speeches, etc．His advice to us students is that for memorization purposes, there is forty minutes each day in which our memory is more acceptable than it is during the other 23 hours and 20 minutes.

    This 40-minute "super memory" period is divided into two parts: the 20 minutes before we sleep, and the 20 minutes after we first awake. The theory supporting this is pretty simple. First, the last information we input into our brain before bed has a better chance of taking root than information gained during the noisy daytime; and second, our mind is free of disturbance(干扰) when we first awake in the morning一so more receptive to inputs, like a blank slate（石板）．

    I took the advice to heart and it served me well in my school years. In my university days, our Chinese teacher would assign us 200 new vocabulary words each day, on which we would be quizzed（测试）the following day. Without the "magic" 40-minute technique, there's no way I would have passed those daily quizzes.

    As far as language study goes, it's not only useful for memorizing vocabulary. It's also a very useful window of time to listen to the language we're studying even with background noise, and even if it's at a level we find difficult to understand. It might be audio（声音的）language study, aids, or just radio, TV or whatever.

    Beyond our years of formal(正式的) education, memory skills are hugely important in any career. How many times have we heard a speaker read their speech from a prepared text, or read the word-by-word content of a PowerPoint presentation as they present each slide（投影片）? These are annoying, boring, and less effective ways of communicating. They are almost guaranteed(保证) to lose the audience's close attention and interest, let alone persuade or inspire anyone to do anything. And yet lots of people still make this mistake.

    If we use the 40-minute technique, we may not succeed in memorizing our presentation content on a 100% word-by-word basis, but we'll be familiar enough so that we can spend much more time making eye contact with our audience. We will get them in the process, while looking at our text instead of staring at it. This will also free up our hands and arms to convey some extra messages through gesture．

    As you see, the technique really works, but like many things, it takes practice to perfect it. Therefore, we'd better find ways to use the language outside of the classroom, as regularly and frequently as possible. One basic rule of language learning is, "Use it, or lose it·”

Seize the forty-minute learning window and we'll bring in a rich harvest of language learning.

    Are you interested in students in other countries? Do they also have so much homework like you? What do they do in their spare time?

    On April 8, a report came out on the lives of high school students in China, Japan, South Korea and the US. It surveyed around 6200 students from the four countries last year. You will find the answers to many of your questions in this report.

    Who study hardest?

Chinese students spend the most time studying. Nearly half of Chinese students (48.65%) spend more than two hours on their homework every day. That's much more than students of the US (26.4%), Japan (8.2%) and South Korea (5.2%).

    Who sleep most often in class?

Japanese students fall asleep in class most often. About 45% of them said they sometimes sleep in class. In South Korea, it's 32%; in the US,21%; and 5% in China.

    Who are the most distracted?

    American students are the most active in class, but also the most distracted. 64.2% said they chat with friends in class; 46.9% said they eat snacks in class; and 38.9% said they send emails or read storybooks in class.

    What do they do after school?

    In their spare time, most Chinese students study or surf the Internet. Most American students go out to play with their friends. Most Japanese students do physical exercise. Most Korean students watch TV.

    The best bikes for the beginners

    When it comes to purchasing your first bike, the choice is endless, making it tough to know what to go for. Here are the the best buys on the market right now.

⒈Boardman Cx Comp

    This is a cross country bike, and it's so multifunctional that you can handle any terrain(地势) on it , making it a great choice for those wanting to try various cycling subjects. If you leave on the thick tires it comes with, it can ride on various paths and can even handle some less demanding mountain bike routes. Alternatively, put on thin, smooth tires and treat it asa road bike. It has a basket and comes with Shimano Sora gears (变速器), which are outstanding for its price.

£650, Halfords

⒉Planet X RT-58 v2

    Planet X is based in Yorkshire, which means you'd probably have to buy this bike without seeing it. But it's worth it，because this is an excellent machine at a lower price, Planet X is a highly rated manufacturer and this model comes with Shimano Sora gearing.

£585, Planet X

⒊Specialized Allez E5

    Specialized is one of the biggest and most popular brands in cycling, and this is its hugely popular primary road bike. It comes with solid components from front to back and you'll look great out on the road.

£ 75, Evans Cycles

⒋Boardman Road Team Carbon

    If you can push your budget further still, this bike is worth the extra investment. The frame is made entirely from carbon, which is lighter, faster and more comfortable than the composition metal models above and gives you an all round and more enjoyable ride. It also means that if you get really serious about cycling, you don't have to upgrade as quickly as you would with a cheaper bike.

£800, Halfords

    The "Give It Up for Earth Day" encourages people to commit to giving up actions that are harmful to the environment, such as using poisonous cleaners.

    Throughout the month of April, Canadians are being asked to "Give It Up for Earth Day!" Earth Day has been celebrated every year on April 22 since 1970. Earth Day Canada president Jed Goldberg says that as people become more environmentally aware, they want to find ways to reduce their environmental influence, not just celebrate one special event.

    "Earth Day is a great launching pad for thinking about environmental action every day," said Goldberg. "Choosing healthier options, even for the short term, can lead to thinking about the influence of our decisions for a lifetime."

    That's the reason behind the "Give It Up for Earth Day" campaign. It's designed to encourage healthy habits that benefit people and the planet. It challenges everyone to help create a healthier world by making changes in their daily routine.

    "We wanted to plan an action—targeted campaign that will give people a chance to act on their concern for the environment in a positive way," said Goldberg.

    The campaign has identified four daily actions that can add up to huge environmental savings. They include pledging (保证) to turn off the TV, give up the use of poisonous cleaners, reduce consumption of consumer products and cut out meat.

    At the end of April, all of the pledges will be recorded and converted (转化) into the number of TV hours not watched, dollars not spent on unnecessary items, electricity saved, greenhouse gas emissions (排放) avoided by cutting out meat, and poisonous chemicals produced from homes and landfills.

    "What we're trying to achieve this year for Earth Day is to give people a chance to do something that is meaningful and measurable," said Goldberg.

    Debby Harris says she would never have started going to the Glastonbury Festival if her friend who runs a food stand hadn't needed a hand a few years ago. "I thought it would just be all noise, and I never liked rock music.^" Now she says she would pay her friend to allow her to work at her stand!^" The tickets sell like hot cakes, so it's the best way of making sure I can get to the five-day festival in June." she points out.

    Nick Hendon likes going to the Cambridge Folk Festival, which takes place over a long weekend in summer at Cherry Hinton Hall. His favourite festival area is the Club Tent where members of the audience, as well as the invited artists, can get up and perform. "My wife usually takes part. She has a beautiful voice," he says proudly.

    Joan Mitchell does her best to get to the International Eisteddfod, a dance and music festival which takes place every year during the second week of July in Wales. The festival is also famous for the final Sunday Evening Gala concert which usually has some of the biggest names in opera as guest performers.

    ^“I've seen Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, James Galway and Montserrat Caballe, but no one could ever match Luciano Pavarotti. He was truly breathtaking!''

    Graham Crosby tries to get to as many concerts as possible during the eight-week summer season of the Proms festival every year. The Proms is the largest classical music festival in the world." The atmosphere (氛围)is much more relaxing than that at other classical concerts. In fact, the audience sometimes behave more like rock fans, jumping up and down to the music, which is really exciting."