I had the honor of being elected chief of my tribe(部落). With the title came great responsibility. It was my job to make peace with the Maori Tamaki tribe, whose village we visited. Their warriors leapt from a canoe and faced us down with fierce growls, bulging eyes and much swishing of sticks. They laid a palm frond on the ground and, as head honcho, I was compelled to accept this peace offering by picking it up, then touching noses with their chief. “Kia ora”, he said, welcoming us into the woodland home of his people.

    My “tribe” was my New Zealand tour group, who had forced me into being their leader. We'd been warned that the ceremony was a serious occasion and that to laugh or even smile would be considered rude to the Tamaki. After that it was non-stop fun as they showed their ancient customs and I received instruction in performing the haka, the war dance by the All Blacks rugby team.

    Then they pulled our dinner of lamb, beef and vegetables out of the ground. It had been slow-cooked in the heat that simmers just below the surface in the geothermal(地热的) area of North Island, a Maori tradition known as a hangi that goes back an extremely long period of time.

    Obviously, this form of it is put on for tourists but it was hugely enjoyable. The journey back to the hotel was alone worth the effort, our hilarious Maori elder driver being deserving of his own television show. “The wheels on the bus go round and round,” he got us singing, while he circuited(绕……环行) a roundabout three times.

    A couple of days from the end of my trip, there was still something missing, a New Zealand icon I yearned to see to make my grand tour complete. Riding over a hill, there it was – Aotearoa. The Maori name for New Zealand translates as “Land of the long white cloud”. Can I say “Kia ora, Aotearoa?” You bet I can.

    I visited Copenhagen for the first time last Easter. As a student，I'm always strapped for cash，so I assumed I could only afford to breathe the air — but luckily everything about Copenhagen is breathtaking.

I was staying in an Airbnb, and rented a bike so I could cover more ground. One of the first places I visited was the Rundetaarn, or "round tower" built in the 17th century as an astronomical observatory. It has an equestrian staircase (a wide set of stairs big enough for horses to use) that went on and on. As I was going up, I stopped to visit the tower's library hall. At the top, there's a glass platform that gives a view 80-foot straight down, as well as a bell loft. Luckily, the views over Copenhagen from the top were well worth the climb.

    After coming down, I hiked up to the Kastellet Fortress to see the famous Little Mermaid statue. Taking a photo with her was almost impossible with all the tourists crowding around—but sitting there and hearing the lapping waves of the deep blue Baltic Sea, waiting for the sun to set, was an unforgettable and calming experience.

    The next day, I visited the Glyptotek art museum, exploring the grand exhibits. I looked into the marble eyes of many Roman gods，and walked down dimly lit staircases to see mummies from Egypt.

    Before I unwillingly boarded the train back to the airport, I told myself that I must visit again—to experience the thrills of Tivoli Gardens, try more of the street food and everything else from this amazing city.

    If your dog looks pleased to see you—it is probably because it loves the particular way you smell.

    The scent (气味)of a familiar human apparently lingers like perfumein the animal's brain—where it causes an instinctive emotional response, research reveals.

    Our scent acts on a part of the canine (犬科的) brain associated with reward and the strongest reactions are produced by humans that pets know best, say scientists in America.

    Gregory Bern, of Emory University in Atlanta, said, “While we might expect that dogs should be highly tuned to the smell of other dogs, it seems that the 'reward response' is reserved for their humans. When humans smell the perfume of someone they love, they may have an immediate, emotional reaction that's not necessarily cognitive (认识的). So is it in dogs. But since dogs have a more sensitive smell than humans, their responses would likely be even more powerful than the ones we might have. In our experiment, however, the owners of the dog were not physically present. The canine brain responses were being caused by something distant in space and time. It shows that dogs' brains have these mental representations of us that persist when we're not there.”

    The experiment involved 12 dogs of various kinds by brain scans while five different scents were placed in front of them. The scent samples (样本)came from the subject (接受试险者) itself, a dog the subject had never met, a dog living in the subject's household. The familiar human scent samples were taken from someone else from the house other than the handlers during the experiment, so that none of the scent donors were physically present.

    The results showed all five scents gained a similar response in parts of the dogs brains involved in detecting smells. Responses were significantly stronger for the scent of familiar humans, followed by that of familiar dogs. The findings showed dogs reacted strongest to the scent of familiar humans even when they were not there. Pets trained as help or therapy dogs showed greater brain activity than the other dogs in the test.

    Researchers say the findings could improve the way to select animals helping wounded old soldiers or disabled people.

    We have a strange obsession with the concept of perfection. “If I have the perfect parents and perfect grades, then I would be happy.” Under cultural influence, we seek what we can't have without remembering that we don't actually need to be perfect. Imperfection allows us to be human.

    Parents, teachers and other high-achieving peers will have us believe that we must be perfect if we wish to remain competitive. However, what job or school requires you to have a 2400 SAT, 4.0 GPA and develop a cure for some form of cancer by the age of 18? Although these would be great achievements, are they worth the cost of sleep? We feel like we need the perfect grades to get into the perfect college that will provide us with the perfect education necessary to obtain the perfect job. With this misconception, when writing our resumes(简历), we then seek out experiences that we think may help build a good name for ourselves. Feeding on our thirst for perfection, some college and career industries have been set up claiming to help us reach our goals.

    The truth is, you only need to be good enough. Don't worry about anything secondary to your passions. You won't become an expert at anything if you spend your time trying to succeed in everything you do. You only become an expert when you devote your time to the one or two projects that truly bring you joy.

    As members of this society, we have a responsibility to be excellent in what we do, not perfect. Although perfection can be a goal, it should not be the only goal. We only have 24 hours in a day. Thus, we need to prioritize(优先选择)what we want to do and cut out the activities we cannot do. If you enjoy debating, take a law class and see how it suits you. If you enjoy cooking, experiment in the kitchen and see what you can make!

    Try as hard as you can and let your future worry about itself. Worry about your task at hand and you will be successful in achieving your dreams. Above all, remember that you are going to be okay.

    Scientists in Britain have managed to teach bees to pull strings (线) to get to food and then pass on what they have learned to others in their colony (群体) — showing a high level of intelligence despite their tiny brains.

    Researchers at Queen Mary University of London said the experiments, often used to test the intelligence of apes (猿) and birds, showed for the first time that some insects are up to the task, and can also pass skills on through several generations.

    The findings add to the evidence suggesting the ability for "culture spread"— the ability to learn and pass on knowledge and skills — may not be exclusive to humans.

    In the research, published in the journal PLOS Biology on Tuesday, the scientists were able to train 23 out of a group of 40 bees to pull strings with their legs and feet.

    The strings were attached to discs — or artificial "flowers"— containing food at their center but placed under a transparent (透明的) screen. The bees, spotting the food beneath the screen, learned to pull the "flowers" out by pulling the string with their legs and feet to be able to get to it.

    From another group of bees given the chance to solve the task without any training, only two of 110 were successful.

    Another group of bees was then allowed to observe the trained bees pulling the strings, and 60 percent of them successfully learned the skill. Finally, trained bees were put in colonies, and the scientists found the technique spread successfully to a majority of the colony's worker bees.

    Lars Chittka, a Queen Mary University professor who guided the project, said the team is interested in figuring out the brain processes behind the bees' learning and teaching skills.

    Why is it that many people who have suffered a major shock, such as divorce or death of a family member, seem to be weaker against a variety of major and minor illness? One common idea among psychologists has been that people could deal with suffering more effectively if they were able to understand and accept it. Indeed, many experts stress the value of expressing thoughts and feelings connected with upsetting events.

    Recently, a team of medical researchers studied the links between describing psychologically painful events and long-term health. In one experiment healthy college students were asked to write about either personally disturbing experiences or ordinary topics over a period of four days. In the months afterwards, students who had chosen to show their inner thoughts and feelings in their writing visited the health center for illness much less often than those who had written about everyday topics.

    In an experiment that followed, another group of healthy students were given the four-day writing exercises. Some chose to write about highly personal and upsetting experiences (including loneliness, problems with family and friends, and health). When questioned immediately afterwards, they said that they did not feel any better. However, their blood samples(样本) taken before and after the experiment showed evidence of an improved resistance to illness. The white cells that fight off bacteria and viruses had increased their reaction and sensitivity to these "invaders". This trend continued over the following six weeks, when another blood sample was taken. Individuals who showed the best results were those who wrote about topics that they had actively kept from telling others about.

    The researchers suggested that failure to face up to painful experience can be a form of stress itself, and can increase the possibility of illness. It follows, then, that actively dealing with a major shock makes possible its understanding and acceptance. The answer is not to suffer in silence. It may not always be possible to talk about personal problems, but writing them down will help the body to fight disease in the long run.