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    Many of us listen to music while we work, thinking that it will help us to concentrate on the task at hand. And in fact, recent research has found that music can have beneficial effects on creativity. When it comes to other areas of performance, however, the impact of background music is more complicated.

    The idea that listening to music when working is beneficial to output probably has its roots in the so-called “Mozart effect”. Put simply, this is the finding that spatial rotation performance(空间旋转能力) is increased immediately after listening to the music of Mozart, compared to no sound at all.

    How sound affects performance has been the topic of research for over 40 years, and is observed through a phenomenon called the irrelevant sound effect. To study irrelevant sound effect, participants in the research are asked to complete a simple task which requires them to recall a series of numbers or letters in the exact order in which they saw them. The tricky thing is being able to do this while ignoring any background noise.

    Two key characteristics of the irrelevant sound effect are required for its observation. First, the task must require the person to use their rehearsal abilities(复述能力), and second, the sound must contain acoustical variation(声学变化). Where the sound does not vary much acoustically, the performance of the task is much closer to that observed in quiet conditions.

    The irrelevant sound effect itself comes from attempting to process two sources of ordered information at the same time—one from the task and one from the sound. Unfortunately, only the former is required to successfully perform the  recall task, and the effort in ensuring that irrelevant order information from the sound is not processed actually hinders(阻碍) this ability.

    A similar conflict is also seen when reading while in the presence of lyrical music. In this situation, the two sources of words—from the task and the sound—are in conflict. The cost is poorer performance of the task in the presence of music with lyrics.

    What this all means is that whether having music playing in the background helps or hinders performance depends on the task and on the type of music, and only understanding this relationship will help people maximize their productivity levels.

    Elephants might be the most well-known and well-loved animal in African wildlife. But conservation (保护) of the African elephant faces special difficulties. While the elephant population is half of what it was 40 years ago, some areas of Africa have more elephants than populated areas can support. That's why AWF scientists are studying elephant behavior, protecting habitats and finding ways for humans to live peacefully with elephants in Africa.

    Years ago, overhunting and the ivory trade were the biggest threats to elephants' survival. Luckily, ivory bans (禁令), hunting rules and protected areas protect elephants from these dangers today.

    The 21st century brings a different challenge to elephant conservation — land-use. Elephants walk across borders and outside parks and other protected areas. So they often destroy crops, causing conflicts (冲突) between local farmers and these big animals.

    Successful conservation strategies (策略) must allow elephants to walk freely in their natural habitats while reducing conflicts between elephants and local people.

    AWF researchers are searching for a way to give both elephants and people the space they need. The AWF is collecting information on elephant habitats and behavior. The information they gather will help to develop the widest possible space for elephants.

    The AWF is helping elephants by protecting their habitats. And they also work with local famers to improve their life in order to encourage them to protect rather than destroy elephants.

    I must have looked deep in thought, or as deep in thought as an 11-year-old man can, when my grandmother glanced up from her weeding to ask, “You have something on your mind, don't you?”

    “Yes, I was thinking that someday I want to be an Olympic speed skating champion like my hero, Eric Haiden, I want to be a doctor like my parents and I want to help children in Africa.”

    I immediately knew I had confided in the right person when a knowing smile broke across her face. “Johann, of course! You can do anything you want to do!” she said simply. And with my grandmother's support, I set out to pursue my passions.

    14 years later, I was well ready to take hold of my first dream: becoming an Olympic champion. The Olympics in 1994 were in my home country, Norway. As I entered the Olympic stadium, I wasn't the best athlete, and many had doubts about my ability to perform well. But I had something special working for me. I had a woman in the first row who believed in me following my passions just as much as I did. For the first time ever, my grandmother was going to see me skate.

    It happened. Breaking a world record, I won the gold.

    As I stood on the podium(领奖台) that I had dreamed about my entire life, a curious question popped into my head. Why me? Why did I win, given all the other incredible competitors out there? The reason had to be more than a grandmother who shared a belief in her grandson's dream. The question led me to only one answer: because I wanted to make a difference in the world, and with all the media attention on my success, I could.

    I immediately knew what that difference had to be: hope in the lives of the children in Africa. Six months earlier, I'd been invited to Eritrea as an ambassador for Olympic Aid.

    To improve Chinese on our campus, several programs will be organized. Here is some information.

    Language Partner Program

    The aim of this program is to promote Chinese language study for American students, through this program, native speakers of Chinese can help our Chinese language students, who can help students or scholars from China with their English in exchange. If interested, please contact Yuan Lu, yuan-lu-2@uiowa.edu

    The Chinese Corner

    The Chinese Corner is a non-threatening, pleasant place for faculty and students who want to practice their oral Chinese. Learners of all levels are welcome to join, since we have topics suitable for each level. At the Chinese Corner, you can make friends with Chinese students and exchange opinions on cultural issues. You will surely learn something new every time you come! We welcome whoever wants to speak Chinese.

    Contact person: Bo Sun, bo-sun@uiowa.edu

    The Chinese Host Family Program

    The purpose of this program is to help our American students to gain first-hand experience of Chinese culture, lifestyle, customs, and conventions through establishing friendship relations with Chinese families. Students who join this program will be invited by their Chinese host family to join their family activities on a regular basis. Please sign up for this program.

    Cross-University Chinese Language Performance Competition

    This competition gives students in and outside of Iowa a great opportunity to show their oral Chinese proficiency as well as their talent in performing. As many as four universities have participated in the competition, including The University of Iowa. Each university presents a set of programs, and then participants are awarded prizes at an awards ceremony.

    Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration

    The Chinese Program hosts an annual celebration for the Mid-Autumn Festival. We invite all students and faculty members to join our party. You will meet Chang'e, the goddess of the Moon, learn a beautiful Chinese legendary story and taste moon cakes as well as other Chinese food. If you know some Chinese characters, you may win a prize! Come and join us!

    For more, please see the Flyer.

    Chinese high school students who want to enter the University of Cambridge may find that their scores on the national college entrance examination, or gaokao, will help their applications in the future.

    The University of Cambridge said in March that it has been using scores on gaokao as part of its admission criteria (标准) for Chinese students for several years, according to its official Weibo account. In addition to top scores on gaokao, Chinese applicants also need to meet English language requirements, participate in an interview and take a subject-specific wrillcn admission assessment (评估).

    The gaokao has been crillcized by some as a one shot exam that focuses on rote learning (死记硬背) rather than creativity. However, more and more people believe that there's no perfect predictor (侦测指标) of academic performance, and gaokao has the advantage of being what educational experts call a criterion-referenced (标准参照) exam—tests when her students are able to master a given body of knowledge , as well as their ability to work hard and consistently. Recent years have seen more and more foreign universities begin to accept gaokao scores as part of the application process.

    Despite the gaokao's growing acceptance among US universities, "There is a long way to go before the US education circle fully recognizes the gaokao, as there are still many US universities that don't accept it as part of their application process," Chu Zhaohui, a researcher from the National Institute of Education Sciences, told the Global Times.