Probably no other musical instrument is as popular as the guitar around the world. Musicians use the guitar for almost all kinds of music. Country and western music would not be the same without a guitar. The traditional Spanish folk music called Flamenco could not exist without a guitar. The sound of American blues music would not be the same without the sad cry of the guitar. And rock and roll music would almost be impossible without this instrument.

    Music experts do not agree about where the guitar was first played. Most agree it is ancient. Some experts say an instrument very much like a guitar was played in Egypt more than 1,000 years ago. Most experts say that the ancestor of the modern guitar was brought to Spain from Persia sometime in the 12^th century. The guitar continued to develop in Spain. In the 1700s it became similar to the instrument we know today.

    Many famous musicians played the instrument. The famous Italian violins Niccole Paganism played and wrote music for the guitar in the early 1800s. Franz Schubert used the guitar to write some of his famous works. In modern times Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia helped make the instrument extremely popular.

    In the 1930s, Les Paul began experimenting to make an electric guitar. He invented the solid-bodied electric guitar in 1946. The Gibson Guitar Company began producing its famous Les Paul Guitar in 1952. It became a powerful influence on popular music. The instrument has the same shape and the same six strings (弦) as the traditional guitar, but it sounds very different. Les Paul produced a series of extremely popular recordings that introduced the public to this music. Listen to this Les Paul recording. It was the fifth most popular song in the United States in 1952. It is called “Meet Mister Callaghan.”

    Experts say moods are feelings that tend to become fixed, influencing one's outlook for hours, days or even weeks. That's great if your mood is a pleasant one, but a problem if you are sad, anxious, angry or simply lonely.

    Perhaps the best way to deal with such moods is to talk them out; sometimes, though, there is no one to listen. Modern pharmacology（药理学）offers a lot of tranquilizers（镇静剂）. What many people don't realize, however, is that scientists have discovered the effectiveness of several non – drug methods to set you loose from an unwanted mood. These can be just as useful as drugs, and have the added benefit of being nonpoisonous. So next time you feel out of sorts, don't head for the drug – store but try the following methods.

    Of all the mood – altering self – help techniques, aerobic exercise（有氧运动）seems to be the most efficient cure for a bad mood. "If you could keep up the exercise you'd be in high spirits," says Kathryn Lance, author of Running for Health and Beauty.

    Researchers have explained biochemical and various other changes that make exercise compare favorable to drugs as a mood raiser. Physical work such as housework, however, does little. The key is aerobic exercise —running, cycling, walking, swimming or other repetitive and sustained activities that increase the heart rate, increase blood circulation and improve the body's use of oxygen. Do some of the activities for at least 20 minutes a session three to five times a week.

    I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn't think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.

    I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.

    It takes confidence to make a new start — there's a dark period in-between where you're neither one thing nor the other. You're out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you're too ashamed to say, “Well, I'm writing a novel, but I'm not quite sure if I'm going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.

    Then I met an agent（代理商）who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.

    The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal - that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.

    It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck -of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there's no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract（合同）of the publisher -to be a published writer - is unbelievably rewarding（有回报的）.

    Women are friendly. But men are more competitive. Why? Researchers have found it's all down to the hormone oxytocin （荷尔蒙催生素）. Although known as the love hormone, it affects the sexes differently.

    "Women tend to be social in their behavior. They often share with others. But men lend to be competitive. They are trying to improve their social status," said Professor Ryan.

    Generally, people believe that the hormone oxytocin is let out in our body in various social situations and our body creates a large amount of it during positive social interactions （互动） such as falling in love or giving birth.

    But in a previous experiment Professor Ryan found that the hormone is also let out in our body during negative social interactions such as envy.

    Further researches showed that in men the hormone oxytocin improves the ability to recognize competitive relationships, but in women it raises the ability to recognize friendship.

    Professor Ryan's recent experiment used 62 men and women aged 20 to 37. Half of the participants（参与者）received oxytocin. The other half received placebo （安慰剂）.

    After a week, the two groups switched with participants. They went through the same procedure with the other material.

    Following each treatment, they were shown some video pictures with different social interactions. Then they were asked to analyze the relationships by answering some questions. The questions were about telling friendship from competition. And their answers should be based on gestures, body language and facial expressions.

    The results indicated that, after treatment with oxytocin, men's ability to correctly recognize competitive relationships improved, but in women it was the ability to correctly recognize friendship that got better.

    Professor Ryan thus concluded: "Our experiment proves that the hormone oxytocin can raise people's abilities to better distinguish different social interactions. And the behavior differences between men and women are caused by biological factors （因素） that are mainly hormonal. "

    Christmas is a time for eating great food, giving and receiving presents, and most importantly spending time with your family watching some classic Christmas movies.

    The Grinch (2000)

    This is a Christmas must­watch and one of Jim Carrey's best performances. It was also originally a nursery tale book written by Dr Seuss. It's the story of a green monster who wants to ruin Christmas but who in the end discovers the power of love and generosity. I promise it's a great film with plenty of laughs along the way.

    Love Actually (2003)

    While this is not a personal favourite of mine, people in the UK absolutely love this film. It has many featuring actors and actresses. It might be a little difficult to follow as there are complex plots, so I recommend watching a translated version or enabling subtitles (字幕) in your native language. However, the heart­warming elements of the film make it worth watching.

    Home Alone (1990)

    This amusing masterwork is one of my favourite films of all time. It tells the story of a boy, Kevin, who is left alone in his house when his large family forgets to take him on vacation with them. While the families are away, burglars try to rob the house and Kevin must protect his home by setting traps. The trips, falls and traps will have you laughing out loud as you watch a 10­year­old boy beat two grown men.

    Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

You can't have Christmas in an English­speaking country without watching this movie. It's not funny like Home Alone or The Grinch, but it is incredibly touching. It's about a man who claims to be Santa, but nobody believes him except a lawyer and a little girl. The story­line may seem a little childish but you can enjoy it at any age.

Emilia Dobek traces her interest in space and the universe back to third grade when she and her father watched a blood moon — a total lunar eclipse (月食) — on the roof of their house.

Now a seventh grader at East Prairie Elementary School, Dobek recently won the national Discovery Education Lockheed Martin Beyond Challenge by designing a space station for travelling to Mars.

She says that night watching the lunar eclipse started a strong desire in her that has yet to run out of fuel. So when her teacher Andrea Smeeton received information about the national challenge, Smeeton said she immediately had one student in mind.

"I knew she would love the challenge and that she would go way beyond in her search," Smeeton said. "She immediately started researching bone density (密度) of astronauts and how to have food on Mars. "

"My design will ensure the safety of the astronauts and make sure their comfort is out of this world," Dobek says.

Dobek's design calls for building the MSS or Mars Storage Station to put the supplies in. It also includes the SGF or Self-Growing Farm, and she details how it would work with the elements on Mars.

Then there is physical and leisure activity for the astronauts under Dobek's design. A simulator (模拟装置) allows astronauts to choose their exercise machine and virtual reality environment. Rooms have circular ceilings so astronauts will be able to watch downloaded shows and even see places on Earth, such as their homes.

"I want to tell other kids to follow their passions," Dobek said. "Whatever they want to do, they should push for it and always try their best."