The vast majority of people can buy pretty much anything they need. Not anything they want, necessarily, but anything they need to achieve a satisfactory degree of creature comfort: clothing, water, shoes and food.

    During my childhood, a Michael Pollan book would have been the prize of my year, were I to find it waiting under my Christmas tree or open it upon my birthday. I also used to be thrilled at receiving necessary things, like simple socks or gloves, as present. Nowadays I have too many gloves. I purchase leather gloves online that appear to be a good deal or just because I like their look.

    Prosperity (富足) is a good thing, right? Yes, of course. But for me, I find that the greater ease with which such a generous gift is purchased, the less significance it has when given. This is why I try harder at gifts.

    My first line of dealing with this problem is simply understanding the effect of a little time spent. Even writing out a thoughtful or funny card goes a lot further than a “cute top” purchased from a popular shopping website.

    Need help? Go to your printer. There's paper in there. Fold one sheet in half and draw a heart on the front. Open it up and fill the card with a poem or a few words of your own. Not only is it obvious that you took the time to select your words and write them down, but now you force the reader to stop for a short time and consider what you were trying to accomplish with them. The effort made by the two of you is the gift.

    No matter how you decide to spend a little more time on your giving, the point is just quite simply that you do. You don't have to give a person a handmade paper boat to get a reaction. But you won't be sorry if you do.

    Bad days happens to many of us. Something makes us sad, angry, frustrated or disappointed. But you still have to get up and go to work. Everything others say to you sounds stupid. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Luckily, you can do something about it. Here are some ways to turn around a bad day.

    Accept your bad mood

    Being in a bad mood is not that hard. If you're mad, be mad.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. This does not give you the right to be rude and unpleasant to others. It just means that you need to recognize and accept your bad mood to be able to do something.

    Tell others

    You can try to keep your bad mood a secret and put on your happy mask. Guess what, you're fooling nobody.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Simply tell them“ listen guys, I'm in a really sour mood today. I'm not sure why, but it's nothing to do with what you have done. If I bite your head off, I apologize in advance.”

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    Spend a few moments to try thinking of at least one or two things that are good: Something you look forward to, such as a person you like at work or something nice that happened recently.

    Take some quiet time

    And if you're having a really bad day, it may be a good idea to withdraw(撤离; 退出)a little if you can. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Sit and work somewhere quiet. Take a long bathroom break. Consider going home early or taking the day off.

A. Remember the good

B. It's important to get along well with others

C. Everyone seems to annoy you

D. The best thing to do is to tell the people you work closely with

E. If you're sad, be sad

F. Ask for advice

G. Take a walk in your lunch break

    For the first time, China's South Pole researchers can eat fresh vegetables grown regularly, according to Wang Zheng, the grower, who came home last month after a 400-day mission in Antarctica.

    "Growing vegetables in Antarctica reminded me of The Martian, a sci-fi movie about an astronaut who survives alone on Mars by eating potatoes he grows there," Wang said on Friday. "I totally understand the main character of the movie, I understand how he feels when he watches a small green plant grow in a fragile man-made environment,'' said the 40-year-old doctor. But he admitted that the conditions he faced in the Antarctic were much better than those in the film.

    Wang said the growth chamber(生长室) at the Zhongshan Station, had only a low yield when it was established in 2013. The amount was too small to make it possible for researchers to have vegetable dishes. To increase the yield, he reduced the number of vegetable varieties and focused on only some fast-growing ones, which makes the output stable. As a result, during much of his stay there, at least one vegetable dish, such as cucumbers, lettuce or cabbage, was served at every meal for a group of 18 researchers.

    Wang, an orthopedist, said he knew nothing about botany or farming before he arrived at the station in December, 2014. "I was given this job probably because my office is next to the growth chamber, and as a doctor, I had more spare time than others," Wang said. He considered many factors, such as light, temperature and humidity. Light music is played in the 16-square - meter greenhouse around the clock. "Mild music is good for vegetable growth," he said. "We also played Buddhist music, which has soft melody."

    "Growers before me did very good work. My job was to maintain the chamber and keep everything working." Before the  harvest, researchers had a very limited vegetable supply—mostly potatoes and cabbage, which taste awful after months of storage. "Because of our success in growing vegetables, we can have fresh vegetables every day," he said. "The Russian station is no more than one kilometer away from ours. We even had enough vegetables to invite our Russian colleagues for dinner."

    We live in a world where new technologies and new methods are constantly being introduced. As humans, we are learning machines. We are most alive and functioning closest to our potential when we are learning, adapting, adjusting and finding new ways, approaches and techniques to improve our lives or the lives of others in some way.

    Learning does not finish when we leave school. Learning can become a way of life that helps us to achieve our greatest potential. We shall never stop learning, as there is always something new and interesting to discover.

    Lifelong learners never fail, because failure isn't in the vocabulary. Failure is just defined as "a failure to learn".

    When a project does not go according to the plan, lifelong learners ask themselves "What can I learn from this？" and follow up with" How can I do this differently and achieve my outcome？"They do not say, "I did not get to my goal, so I must be a failure."

    There is a wonderful saying: "The only way to fail is to quit！" Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, said, "The only reason I am standing up here and you aren't is that I have failed more often than you have."

    It is sad but true that our greatest lessons come from our greatest failures.The important thing is the lesson. There is no such thing as failure as long as there is a lesson to be learned.

    Learn something new every single day. Three very good reasons for becoming a lifelong learner include promoting your brain's health, giving your life a sense of purpose and promoting your financial security. Any one of these reasons should be enough, but all three combine to a powerful motivation to learn.

    If you ask most people what water tastes like, they'll probably tell you that water has no taste and they may give you a funny look. But if you were a fruit fly, asking another fruit fly, that question might have a different answer.

    To a fruit fly, water has a taste. Scientists want to know how the fruit fly knows water because this information may help in learning how other animals — or even individual cells — manage to use water in the right way. Water is vital to life, but too much or too little can be deadly to a living creature. So by understanding how the fruit fly tastes water, researchers may learn more about other living things.

    According to the new study, a protein(蛋白质) called PPK28 makes it possible for a fly to taste water. Proteins build cells and tissues, fight disease and carry messages between cells. It's not surprising that a protein is responsible for the fruit fly's ability to taste water.

    The PPK28 protein is part of a larger family of similar proteins. One of these related proteins is used by mammals (including humans) to taste salt. Scientists have not found a protein that enables humans to "taste" water.

    In the experiment, Cameron and his team compared normal fruit flies with fruit flies whose taste cells had been disabled. The fruit flies were given a special chemical that would glow(发光) when the fly used the PPK28 protein. Then the scientists led the flies to water. When the normal flies tasted the water, the PPK28 protein lit up — showing that it was in use.

    The fruit fly in particular is so interesting that some scientists are hard at work creating a complete map of the fruit fly brain. This map will show all of a fly's neurons and help scientists understand how the neurons work together.

    Many people think of guys as being carefree when it comes to their appearance. But in fact, a lot of guys spend plenty of time in front of the mirror. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Body image is a person's opinions and feelings about his or her own body and physical appearance. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You appreciate your body for its abilities and accept its imperfections.

    So, what can you do to develop a positive body image? Here are some ideas:

    Recognize your strengths. Different body types are good for different things. What does your body do well? Maybe your speed, strength, or coordination (协调) makes you better than others at a certain sport. That may be basketball, table tennis, mountain biking, dancing, or even running. Or perhaps you have skills, like drawing, singing, playing a musical instrument, writing, or acting. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Exercise regularly. Exercise can help you look good and feel good about yourself. Good physiques (体形) don't just happen. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}You can keep healthy by simply exercising 20 minutes to one hour three times a week. Taking exercise can also lift your spirits.

    Respect your body! Practising good habits- regular showering; taking care of your teeth, hair, and skin; wearing clean clothes, and so on-can help you build a positive body image.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Your body is just one part of who you are. Your talent for humor, a quick wit (智慧), and all the things make you special. So try not to let small imperfections affect you.

A. Use this as an opportunity to discover what you're good at.

B. Be yourself.

C. They care just as much as girls do about their body image.

D. Just explore talents that you feel good about.

E. They take hard work, regular workouts, and a healthy habit.

F. The good news is that self-image and body image can be changed.

G. Having a positive body image means feeling satisfied with the way you look.