New York Time—A gunman killed eight people at a mall in Omaha this afternoon and then killed himself, setting off panic among holiday shoppers, the police said.

    "The person who we believe to be the shooter has died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds," Sergeant Teresa Negron of the Omaha Police Department said at televised news." We have been able to clear the mall," she said." We don't believe we have any other shooters." The police said that at least five other people had been injured in the shootings.

    She did not give the shooter's identity." We are still conducting the investigation," Sergeant Negron said, adding that the city's mayor, who was out of town, was on his way back to Omaha.

    She said the police received a 911 call from someone inside the Westroads Mall on the west side of Omaha, and shots could be heard in the background. The first police officers arrived at the mall six minutes after the first call, she said but by then the shootings were over.

    It is reported that the gunman left a suicide note that was found at his home by relatives. A law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity（匿名）said the note indicated that the gunman wanted to "go out in style."

    The shootings broke the usually ordinary routine of holiday shopping. The gunman was said by some witnesses to have fired about 20 shots into a crowd. Some customers and workers ran screaming from the mall, while others dived into dressing rooms to hide from the shooter.

    Shoppers and store workers were trapped inside the mall, which has roughly 135 stores. Others streamed out of mall exits with their hands raised. President Bush was in Omaha this morning to deliver a speech, but he had left the city by the time the shootings took place.

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    Laziness is a state of inaction. It is something that you do, not something that you are. Being lazy means you have no motivation to do anything. Many people make the mistake that they view themselves as lazy.

    Lazy people are often seen as useless. They are the ones who don't do anything. They can be seen as underachievers or even bums（废物）. This can be a child or an adult. You can view a student who never studies as lazy. You can see an employee who doesn't do his work as lazy. In all of these cases, what the lazy person is doing is being lazy. But are they really being lazy or are they acting lazy?

    There is a huge different between saying you act lazy sometimes and you are a lazy person. One is suggesting that your laziness is temporary while the other suggests that it's permanent. This is the myth of laziness. People who are lazy aren't; they simply are people who are temporarily acting that way.

    So that causes a person to be inactive? The answer is a lack of goals. If you give someone a good enough reason to do something, they will do it. People who don't seem to do anything just haven't found a good enough reason to do something. Lazy students don't study because they don't see the point in studying. If you give them a reason, a strong enough reason, they will take action.

    For example, if you are too lazy to go to the gym, would you go if someone offered you a million dollars to go? If you are too lazy to go to clean out the garage, would someone pointing a gun to your head help you take action? The reason can be positive or negative as long as it's strong enough to induce（引起）action.

    To motivate someone who is lazy, what you need to do is to help them find purpose and enough reasons to work towards a certain goal.

    Once upon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

    One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought that someone would dance on the beach. So he began to walk faster to catch up.

    As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

    As he got closer, he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?" The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean." "I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"

    "The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in, they'll die."

    "But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

    The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked another starfish, and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

    There is something very special in each and every one of us. We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can know that gift, we will gain through the strength of our visions the power to shape the future.

    We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our starfish wisely and well, the world will be better.

    Ten minutes of gentle exercise can immediately change how certain parts of the brain communicate and coordinate (协调) with one another and improve memory function, according to an encouraging new study.

    The scientists invited 36 people of different ages to the lab and had them sit quietly on a fixed bicycle for 10 minutes or, on a separate visit, pedal the bicycle at a pace so gentle that it barely raised their heart rates. It also was short, lasting for only 10 minutes. Immediately after each session of the sitting or slow pedaling, the people completed a computerized memory test during which they would see a brief picture of, for instance, a tree, followed by a variety of other images and then a new image of either the same tree or a similar one. The people would press buttons to show whether they thought each image was new or the same as an earlier shot. The test is difficult, since many of the images closely resemble one another. It requires rapid, skillful scanning recent memories to decide whether a picture is new or known. Next, the scientists had each people repeat this process--riding or sitting on the bike for 10 minutes and then completing memory testing--but the testing now took place inside an M. R. I. machine(磁共振成像仪)that scanned the people's brains while they responded to the images.

    Then the researchers compared results. The effects of the exercise were clear. The people were better at remembering images after they had ridden the bike, especially when the images most closely resembled one another. In other words, the harder their memories had to do their best, the better they performed after the exercise. The M. R. I. scans showed that memory parts of each people's brain lit up at the same time with parts of the brain associated with learning, indicating that these physically separate parts of the brain were better connected now than when the people had not first exercised.

Gift Guide

    Chocolates

    The weather outside may be frightful but the smiles and smells inside are abundant! For all those special people on our Christmas girl list, send the sweat treats to help spread the joyous holiday cheer. What is the perfect gift for any occasion? Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate!

    La Place Collection

    Location: Suite 3, 41 Xinyuanjie, near Beijing Chateau

    Tel: 010-64668090

    Comptoirs de France Bakery

    Location: Rm 102, 1/F, Building 15, China Central Place, 89 Jianguolu.

    Tel: 010-65305480

    Awfully Chocolate

    Location: 108, Building 2, Beijing Wanda Plaza, 87 Jianguolu.

    Tel: 010-58205826

    Recipe books

    A recipe book from a different culture provides a chance to change up a Christmas dinner. Think about sitting down to a table of Mexican wedding cookies, Norwegian lefse, Chilean salmon, cream cheese lart and Chinese dishes. If you can't find the right one in time, search online, print the page and bind them into a book yourself. Nothing says, "I really care!" more than making an effort.

    Wine

    Get to the nearest Carrefour, and seize a bottle of good wine from among the 600 choices available there from Italy, Spain, the United States, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Switzerland. 150-3, 000 yuan a bottle.

    Location: Wine section on 2/F, Carrefour Shuangjing Branch, 31 Guangqu Lu, Chaoyang District.

    Opening hours: 9 a. m.- 10p. m.

    Tel: 010-51909508/09

    Pearls

    The top level of Hongqiao Market has strand upon strand of pearls in every shape and color imaginable. Pearls never go out of style and make for a good gift for women with classic tastes.

    Hongqiao Market

    Location: Tian Tan East Road, east of the Temple of Heaven

    Opening hours: 8: 30 a. m.-9 p. m., open daily

    Tel: 010-67133354

    Here are some great people and their achievements.

    Mary Anderson ­ windscreen wiper.

    Back on a freezing winter's day in 1902, Mary Anderson was travelling by train through New York City. Snow was falling, forcing the driver to stop repeatedly and get out to clear it. Each time the door opened, Mary suffered a gust of sub-zero air. She had an idea: why not make some kind of a rubber blade that could be operated from inside the vehicle? And that's exactly what she did.

    Josephine Cochrane ­ dishwasher

    The dishwasher dates back even earlier to the 19th century, and to the dinner parties thrown by a lady called Josephine Cochrane. As a frequent host, she wanted a machine that could wash dishes faster than people. Her response was to develop what was to become the first commercially successful dishwasher. Interestingly, innovation was in her blood: her grandfather had invented the steamboat.

    Stephanie Kwolek ­ Kevlar

    Kevlar is the lightweight fibre used in bulletproof vests. The material is used by millions every day and has saved countless lives. The super tough fabric is also used in objects ranging from gloves to airplanes. Incredibly, its strength-to-weight ratio(比强度) is five times higher than steel. Again, it was invented by a woman, the American chemist Stephanie Kwolek, in 1964.

    Grace Hopper ­ first compiler(编译程序)

    One of the most important inventions of the 20th century must surely be the computer programme. The world of programming is unbalanced in terms of gender. Men vastly outnumber women, and take home around 30% more pay than their female counterparts on average. But back in the 1940s and 1950s, women were at the forefront of this new field. Grace Hopper is credited with inventing the first compiler in 1952, which serves as the bridge between code and the binary(二进制的) ones and zeros understood by computers.