Will you be playing some music at work?

    Music is particularly popular in the medical profession, especially among surgeons（外科医生）. A recent survey shows that 90% of surgeons in the UK put music on the sound system in the theatre during operations. Plastic surgeons（整形外科医生）play the most music; it appears that ear, nose, and throat specialists the least.

    But it isn't only in surgeries(外科手术) where music is popular. In another recent survey, one-third of the 1,613 people said they listen to music while working. And 79% of them said that humming（哼歌）along improves their job satisfaction or productivity.

    Is listening to music at work a good idea? Yes, say the experts. Many surgeons say that music helps to create a “calm atmosphere”, and a third of them added that it avoids getting bored! Also, listening to music raises the levels of a brain chemical that can help people focus. Office workers say it improves job satisfaction. Several studies suggest that it's also good for hospital patients. Those listening to music through headphones during surgery require less anesthetic（麻醉剂）, up to 50% less in some cases, and recover more quickly afterwards. “Sure, music reduces anxiety before surgery,” says Zeev Kain, an anesthetist at Yale University.

    So, what type of music should we be listening to? Surgeons from the previous survey preferred rock, pop music and classical. And hip-hop is popular too. However, whatever the kind, it appears that self-selected music is the best choice. Pennsylvania State University research showed that when people chose their own music there was more stress reduction(下降). And other researchers found that when listening to self-selected music, surgeons did the maths faster and more accurately than when they were listening to music chosen for them.

    The behaviour of a building's users may be at least as important as its design when it comes to energy use, according to new research from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). The UK promises to reduce its carbon emissions (排放）by 80 percent by 2050, part of which will be achieved by all new homes being zero-carbon by 2016. But this report shows that sustainable building design on its own — though extremely important- is not enough to achieve such reductions: the behaviour of the people using the building has to change too.

    The study suggests that the ways that people use and live in their homes have been largely ignored by existing efforts to improve energy efficiency (效率)，whichinstead focus on architectural and technological developments.

     ‘Technology is going to assist but it is not going to do everything,'explains Katy Janda, a UKERC senior researcher，‘consumption patterns of building users can defeat the most careful design. 'In other words，old habits die hard, even in the best-designed eco-home.

    Another part of the problem is information. Households and bill-payers don't have the knowledge they need to change their energy-use habits. Without specific information，it's hard to estimate the costs and benefits of making different choices. Feedback (反馈） facilities, like smart meters and energy monitors，could help bridge this information gap by helping people see how changing their behaviour directly affects their energy use; some studies have shown that households can achieve up to 15 percent energy savings using smart meters.

    Social science research has added a further dimension (方面），suggesting that individuals'behaviour in the home can be personal and cannot be predicted 一 whether people throw open their windows rather than turn down the thermostat (恒温器) , for example. Janda argues that education is the key. She calls for a focused programme to teach people about buildings and their own behaviour in them.

A Language Programme for Teenagers

    Welcome to Teenagers Abroad! We invite you to join us on an amazing journey of language learning.

    Our Courses

    Regardless of your choice of course, you'll develop your language ability both quickly and effectively.

    Our Standard Course guarantees a significant increase in your confidence in a foreign language, with focused teaching in all 4 skill areas—speaking, listening, reading and writing.

    Our Intensive Course builds on our Standard Course, with 10 additional lessons per week, guaranteeing the fastest possible language learning (see table below).

    Evaluation

    Students are placed into classes according to their current language skills. The majority of them take an online language test before starting their programme. However, if this is not available, students sit the exam on the first Monday of their course.

    Learning materials are provided to students throughout their course, and there will never be more than 15 participants in each class.

Arrivals and Transfer

    Our programme offers the full package—students are taken good care of from the start through to the very end. They are collected from the airport upon arrival and brought to their accommodation in comfort. We require the student's full flight details at least 4 weeks in advance.

Meals/Allergies(过敏)/Special Dietary Requirements

    Students are provided with breakfast, dinner and either a cooked or packed lunch (which consists of a sandwich, a drink and a dessert). Snacks outside of mealtimes may be purchased by the student individually.

    We ask that you let us know of any allergies or dietary requirements as well as information about any medicines you take. Depending on the type of allergies and/or dietary requirements, an extra charge may be made for providing special food.

What is a boy?

    Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a "boy". Boys come in different sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the belief: to enjoy every second of every minute every hour of every day and to fill the air with noise until the adult males pack them off to bed at night.

    Boys are found everywhere—on top of, under, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to this and that! Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them. A boy is TRUTH with dirt on its face. BEAUTY with a cut on its finger, WISDOM with chocolate in its hair, and HOPE of the future with a snake in its pocket.

    When you are busy, a boy is a trouble­maker and a noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly, or else he becomes a wild creature bent on destroying the world and himself with it.

    A boy is a mixture—he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion of stones and sand, the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker, but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs (拇指) on each hand.

    He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday schools, companies, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.

    Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes. Nobody else can put into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, a three­foot rope, six cents and some unknown things.

    A boy is a magical creature—he is your headache but when you come home at night with only shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, "Hi, Dad!"

All students are expected to read and learn the School Rules. These rules aim to make each student aware of the value of self-control, orderliness and the need to develop a sense of responsibility for their own behavior and for the larger community of which they are a part.

Dress Regulations

The School expects its students to wear their full school uniform correctly and with pride. It is our expectation that uniform and shoes will be clean and in good repair. Boys' hair should be combed and of an acceptable length (not over the collar, ears or eyes), with no artificial coloring. Girls' hair should be of a natural color. Shoulder-length hair must be tied back.

Absence, Illness and Punctuality

All students must be at school on time. If late, the student must sign in the late book in the General Office. Parents are asked to inform the school if their child is absent by 8:30 am on the day of absence. A written note from a parent explaining the absence MUST be provided to the General Office the day after return.

Should a student be ill during school hours he is to go straight to the School Medical Center. The sister will then take appropriate action.

Safety

◆ Proper behavior is expected within and around buildings and on the sporting field at all times.

◆ Students are not to enter laboratories, language rooms, the Technics and music rooms until invited to do so by teachers.

◆ The riding of bicycles or skateboards is prohibited along the front drive. Students riding bicycles must wear an approved bicycle helmet.

◆ No knives, explosives or dangerous materials may be brought into the school or boarding houses.

◆ Students are forbidden to interfere with fire safety equipment. An automatic fine will be imposed if this occurs.

A researching team analyzed data from long-running studies conducted in Brazil and South Africa to assess whether children exposed to early adversities (逆境), such as extreme poverty, low birth weight, and pre-term birth, could reach their full learning potential by experiencing responsive caregiving and opportunities to learn in their home. They found that early life adversities matter throughout life. Teenagers who had been exposed to multiple adversities early in life had lower IQ scores, were more likely to have difficulties adjusting socially and psychologically, and achieved a lower physical height compared to teenagers exposed to fewer adversities. They also found that being raised in a nurturing (培育) environment could significantly counteract the negative effect of early adversities on IQ and help children achieve their full potential of intelligence.

Globally, more than 250 million children younger than 5 years are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential because of adversities that co-occur early in life and worsen with age. In the US, almost one in five children are raised in poverty and 15 percent do not complete high school. Exposing these children to a nurturing environment, whether at home or in daycare or pre-school settings, can lead to cognitive (认知的) benefits that last into teenage and beyond.

Parents should provide nurturing environments, which include interacting with young children in a positive way such as reading children's books from the library, singing songs together, and playing games with numbers and letters. Children who join in age-matched housework like picking up toys and clearing the table gain skills and feel good about helping. Get children involved in friendly activities as much as possible rather than park them in front of a screen. Children love to learn and in a nurturing environment, they can grow into teenagers and adults with the abilities to care for themselves, their families, and their communities.