If you've not heard that the decade-old princess-culture is causing problems—especially if you're a parent—you must be actively working to avoid it.

    The latest study adding fuel to the fire comes out of Brigham Young University and finds that the Disney princess obsession can be harmful to girls.

"I think parents think that the Disney princess culture is safe. That's the word I hear time and time again—it's safe." Lead study author Sarah M. Coyne of the Mormon institution in Utah noted in a press release. "But if we're fully jumping in here and really embracing (accepting) it, parents should really consider the long-term impact of the princess culture."

    So, what's the problem this time around? Same as always, confirmed the study, published in the journal Child Development, which involved the assessment of 198 preschoolers: Lots of engagement with princess culture (whether through moves or toys) can lead to gender-stereotypical(性别定性) behavior as well as self-critical body image.

The strict gender stereotypes can hold girls back. "They feel like they can't do some things," Coyne said, "They're not as confident that they can do well in math and science. They don't like getting dirty, so they're less likely to try and experiment with things."

On the other hand, "Disney princesses represent some of the first examples of exposure to the thin ideal," Coyne said. "As women, we get it our whole lives, and it really does start at the Disney princess level, at age 3 and 4."

So, what should a parent do? Try his or her best to avoid all princesses for the entire of a girl's childhood? I'd say, have moderation in all things, have your kids involved in all sorts of activities, and just have princesses be one of many, many things that they like to do and engage with." Coyne suggested. "This study has changed the way I talk to my daughter, the things I focus on, and it's been really good for me as a parent to learn from this study," Coyne said. "I usually can't say that my research findings have such a personal impact on my life."

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

(Q = Question; A = Answer)

    Situation I

    Q: If someone sits right next to me in an empty movie theater, is it rude to move?

    A: Maybe, but nobody will fault you for it. Chances are that close sitter doesn't realize he disturbs you, so he may miss your annoyance. You undoubtedly aren't the first person he's met who needs enough room. Forgive his bad judgment, move quietly and enjoy the show.

    Situation II

    Q: If I use the bathroom at a store, do I need to buy something?

    A: Consider frequency and urgency. Is this a one-time or an emergency? If so, you don't have to buy anything, but it would be kind if you did. However, if you regularly use the bathroom at this place, then you are a customer, and you should act like one.

    Situation III

    Q: If someone is talking loudly on the bus, is there a nice way to ask him to keep it down?

    A: No. Try other means.1) Stare at him until he gets aware of it and quiets down. 2) Lift your finger in a silence motion(动作)and smile. 3) Put on earphones and ignore him.

    Situation IV

    Q: If I remember my friend's birthday a day late, should I apologize or just wish her a happy birthday like nothing happened?

    A: This is the reason why the word belated was invented. "Happy belated birthday!" is short for: "Well, I know I forgot, but then I remembered. Forgive me and happy birthday."

    Situation V

    Q: Can I lie about seeing a text because I was too busy or lazy to respond(回复) to it?

    A: Don't lie. Receiving a text does not mean you need to respond to it. Why waste a perfectly good lie when the truth will serve? "Yes," you can say if ever asked, "I saw it." No explanation is needed as to why you don't respond.

    There might be as many as 10 million species of complex life on this planet today —— a huge number. But add up all of the complex species that ever lived and some biologists think the grand total would be about five billion. The estimate leads to an astonishing conclusion: a staggering 99% of species are not around any more. They have been driven to extinction.

    More species are joining the ranks of the extinct every year. Many scientists believe we are living through an episode of remarkably rapid extinction, on a scale that has been seen only five times in the last half a billion years.

    They call this current episode the sixth mass extinction —— a large, global decline in a wide variety of species over a relatively short period of time. And they tend to agree that humans are the main cause.

    Over-hunting, overfishing, and human-driven habitat loss are pushing many species to the brink. In fact, we have changed the planet so much that some geologists are now suggesting that we have entered a new phase in Earth's history; an epoch they call the ＂Anthropocene＂. By 2100, it is expected that humans will have caused the extinction of up to half of the world's current species.

    Because we are living through this extinction, it is relatively easy for us to study the driving forces behind it. But how do we determine what caused other mass die-offs that happened long ago? To do so we have to look at what archaeologists, palaeontologists, geologists and other scientists have concluded from the evidence they have gathered.

    The trouble is, those scientists do not always agree with one another —— even about the most recent extinction event. As well as the five-or six- mass extinctions, there have also been many smaller extinctions.

    One of these mini extinction events happened towards the end of the Pleistocene, a few tens of thousands of years ago. It is sometimes called the ＂megafaunal＂ extinction because many of the species it claimed were particularly large animals, weighing more than 97lb (44kg). However, its cause remains a debate amongst scientists.

    Failure is probably the most exhausting experience a person ever has. There is nothing more tiring than not succeeding.

    We experience this tiredness in two ways: as start-up fatigue (疲惫) and performance fatigue. In the former case, we keep putting off a task because it has either too boring or too difficult. And the longer we delay it, the more tired we feel. Such start-up fatigue is very real, even if not actually physical, not something in our muscles and bones. The solution is obvious though perhaps not easy to apply: always handle the most difficult job first.

    Years ago, I was asked to write 102 essays on the great ideas of some famous authors. Applying my own rule, I determined to write them in alphabetical (按字母顺序), never letting myself leave out a tough idea. And I always started the day's work with the difficult task of essay-writing. Experience proved that the rule works.

    Performance fatigue is more difficult to handle. Though willing to get started, we cannot seem to do the job right. Its difficulties appear so great that, however hard we work, we fail again and again. In such a situation, I work as hard as I can — then let the unconscious take over.

    When planning Encyclopaedia Britannica (《大英百科全书》), I had to create a table of contents based on the topics of its articles. Nothing like this had ever been done before, and day after day I kept coming up with solutions, but none of them worked. My fatigue became almost unbearable.

    One day, mentally exhausted, I wrote down all the reasons why this problem could not be solved. I tried to convince myself that the trouble was with the problem itself, not with me. Then, I sat back in an easy chair and fell asleep.

    An hour later, I woke up suddenly with the solution clearly in mind. In the weeks that followed, the solution which had come up in my unconscious mind provided correct at every step. Though I worked as hard as before, I felt no fatigue. Success was now as exciting as failure had been depressing.

    Human beings, I believe, must try to succeed. Success, then, means never feeling tired.

    In 1943, when I was 4, my parents moved from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to Fairbanks, Alaska, where adventure was never very far away.

    We arrived in the summer, just in time to enjoy the midnight sun. All that sunlight was fantastic for Mom's vegetable garden. Working in the garden at midnight tended to throw her timing off, so she didn't care much about my bedtime.

    Dad was a Railway Express agent and Mom was his clerk. That left me in a mess. I usually managed to find some trouble to get into. Once I had a little fire going in the dirt basement of a hotel. I had tried to light a barrel(桶) of paint but couldn't really get a good fire going. The smoke got pretty bad, though, and when 1 made my exit, a crowd and the police were there to greet me. The policemen took my matches and drove me home.

    Mom and Dad were occupied in the garden and Dad told the police to keep me, and they did! I had a tour of the prison before Mom rescued me. I hadn't turned 5 yet.

    As I entered kindergarten, the serious cold began to set in. Would it surprise you to know that I soon left part of my tongue on a metal handrail at school?

    As for Leonhard Seppala, famous as a dog sledder, I think I knew him well because I was taken for a ride with his white dog team one Sunday. At the time I didn't realize what a superstar he was, but I do remember the ride well. I was wrapped (包裹) heavily and well sheltered from the freezing and blowing weather.

    In 1950, we moved back to Coeur d'Alene, but we got one more Alaskan adventure when Leonhard invited us eight years later by paying a visit to Idaho to attend a gathering of former neighbors of Alaska.

    The goings-on in the consulting room have become more transparent(透明的）recently. Thank goodness. We know more than the lines supplied by the movies in which the therapist knows all and gives wisdom to those who, sitting on a couch, consult with them. Therapists are interested in how the individual, the couple or the family experiences and understands their difficulties. That has to be a starting place. We can be of value if our first port of call is to listen, to gradually feel ourselves into the shoes of the other, to absorb the feelings that are being conveyed and to think and then to say some words.

    The thinking and talking that I do inside the consulting room is at odds with many features of ordinary conversation. Not that it is mysterious, but it isn't concerned with traditional ways of sharing or identifying. The therapist makes patterns and theories, but they are also reflecting on the words that are spoken, how they are delivered and how the words, once spoken, affect the speaker and the therapist themselves.

    Words can give voice to previously unknown feelings and thoughts. That's why it's called the talking cure. But just as words reveal so, too, can they obscure, and this gets us to the listening and feeling part of the therapy. Whatever and however the words are delivered, they will have an impact on me as a therapist. I might feel hopeless, I might feel energized, I might feel pushed away, I might feel demanded of, I might feel pulled to find solutions.

    The influence of the other is what makes any relationship possible or impossible. A therapist is trained to reflect on how those who consult with them affect them. As I try to step into the shoes of the other and then out again, my effort is to hold both those experiences, plus an awareness of my ease or discomfort with what I encounter in the relationship.

    Feelings are the bread and butter of our work in the consulting room. They inform or modify our ideas and they enable us to find an emotional bridge to what can so hurt for the people we are working with. Along with the more commonly thought-about theories and ideas we have about the psyche, they are an essential part of the therapist's toolkit, certainly for me. The talking cure means talking, yes. It also means the therapist is listening, thinking and feeling.