Children have their own rules in playing games. They seldom need a referee(裁判) and rarely trouble to keep scores. They don't care much about who wins or loses, and it doesn't seem to worry them if the game is not finished. Yet, they like games that depend a lot on luck, so that their personal abilities cannot be directly compared. They also enjoy games that move in stages, in which each stage, the choosing of leaders, the picking-up of sides, or the determining of which side shall start, is almost a game in itself.

    Grown-ups can hardly find children's games exciting, and they often feel puzzled（迷惑的）at why their kids play such simple games again and again. However, it is found that a child plays games for very important reasons. He can be a good player without having to think whether he is a popular person, and he can find himself being a useful partner to someone of whom he is ordinarily afraid. He becomes a leader when it comes to his turn. He can be confident, too, in particular games, that it is his place to give orders, to pretend to be dead, to throw a ball actually at someone, or to kiss someone he has caught.

    It appears to us that when children play a game they imagine a situation under their control. Everyone knows the rules, and more importantly, everyone plays according to the rules. Those rules may be childish, but they make sure that every child has a chance to win.

    Keeping a busy social life among lots of friends may keep people thinner than spending hours doing some exercises, according to scientists. They say that socializing and meeting with friends help increase levels of brown fat in the body which burns calories to produce heat.

    Living in an exciting social environment was found to reduce fat in mice's belly by half over four weeks, even if they ate more.US researchers say that social excitement aids weight loss by turning white fat into brown fat. White fat stores calories and makes us fatter, while brown fat burns energy to produce heat. Turning white fat into brown fat is extremely difficult, normally requiring long-term stay in cold conditions or exciting part of the body's nervous system.

    However, scientists from Ohio State University now think that having a busy social life is an even more effective way of changing white fat into brown fat. The team came up with their theory by studying the effects of various living environments on mice. Those, who lived alongside a greater number of mice, had more space and toys to excite themselves and they lost far more weight over the course of the study than their “couch potato” fellows.

    Study's author, Dr Mattew During whose team's findings appear in the journal Cell Metabolism, said,“I'm still amazed at the degree of fat loss that occurs.” Explaining how new technology had threatened face-to-face socializing, he added,“It's not just a sedentary (久坐的)lifestyle and high calorie foods, but an increasing lack of social activities.” Co-author Dr Lei Cao said,“Loneliness is a potential factor for cancer and death; it's equal to cigarette smoking to a certain extent. Social activities are very vital.”

A BIG DAY OUT

    Home to Scotland's national maritime (海事的) collection, the award winning Scottish Maritime Museum makes a great day out, with so much to do:

    ● Explore tools and tales across the big Linthouse, a former shipyard (造船厂) building.

    ● See historic ships such as Garnock & Carola, a steam boat built in 1898.

    ● Test a model boat on our indoor boating pond or sail your own on our outdoor boating pond.

    ● Learn about Scotland's importance to maritime history, and about the people that built and sailed Scottish ships around the world.

    Irvine public tours

    Leaving the Linthouse three times a day and lasting about 75 minutes, you will visit the 1920s Tenement Flat and take a step back in time in a typical (典型的) shipyard worker's home. Then, weather permitting, you can experience life at sea onboard MV Kyles, the oldest Clyde-built boat still in service in the UK.

    Getting here:

    By rail: five minutes' walk from Irvine Railway Station

    By road: From the A77, take the A71 and follow the brown signs to the Harbourside and the Maritime Museum. (FREE PARKING)

    By bus: No 11 from Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenson, Kilwinning, Irvine and Kilmarnock;

    No 585 from Ayr, Irvine and Greenock;

    X34 from Irvine, Beith and Glasgow;

    14A Service from Troon all have convenient bus stops nearby.

    By sea: We have our own spot in Irvine harbour that visitors can use. Pre-booking is needed by emailing visitorservices@scotmaritime.org.uk.

    By bike: We have cycle spaces within our boat shop. We are located on Route 7 of the National Cycle Network.

    Opening times and admission:

    Open daily: 10 am – 5 pm Monday to Sunday

    Adults: ￡7.50 (age 17+)

    Concessions (优惠): ￡5.50 (Visitors aged 60+, registered disabled (已注册的残疾人士), or full time students aged 17+)

    Children: Three go FREE (age 16 and under) with any paying adult or concession

    EXTRA CHILD PRICE IS ￡2.

    Registered carers: One free when accompanying (陪同) a paid disabled person

    Group visits: Pre-booked groups of 10 or more receive special rates from ￡4 for a self-tour

    When the weather's hot, do you enjoy a glass of Brad's Drink while watching your TV made by Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, and surfing the web using a search engine called BackRub? No? Neither do I. That's because all these companies have changed their names.

    Brad's Drink is now Pepsi. The mouthful that was Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering has become, simply, Sony. And BackRub is now known as Google. Though I must admit, the idea of a back massage does sound good right now!

    Joking aside, choosing the right name for your start-up is a serious matter. Think of the case of a small Canadian company called Research in Motion, who in 1998 had just developed a high-tech mobile phone that could send emails.

    They were torn between names like MegaMail and ProMail. Then they sought the help of consulting firm Lexicon, who specialize in brand names. They had other ideas. They brainstormed words connected to enjoyment and freshness. Someone said.

    Lexicon's boss added two capital letters, and there you have it: BlackBerry was born. Since then it has sold over 33 million handsets to customers around the world. Would it have sold as well if it was called MegaMail? Who knows?

    Recently, BlackBerry sales have been overtaken by Android phones and Apple's iPhone. Lexicon's founder David Placek is a big fan of simple brand names like those Apple chooses: the iPhone. They l0ok a household word and by putting one letter in front of it, it ends up being game changing.

    So, for all you entrepreneurs(企业家)out there, make sure you allow time to develop a catchy and memorable name. Think about what makes your company different. What's your USP (独特的销售主张)? Maybe you can reflect that in your name.

    What about you? What would you call a company if you had one?

Narayana Peesapaty was sitting on a flight when he noticed a passenger trying to reach food with a biscuit after breaking his spoon. At that moment, the researcher's mind gave birth to a simple yet revolutionary concept — edible spoons.

How do you like your spoon?

Peesapaty's company, Bakeys, makes edible spoons mainly out of sorghum(高粱）though rice, wheat and water are also ingredients. They combine to form a dry eating tool that remains hard even when used in moist or hot foods. Bakeys also makes ginger and garlic flavored(风味) spoons to meet specific requests. All spoons are completely natural and acceptable for nearly all diets.

A rice replacement

An environmentally-minded water researcher, Peesapaty, designed his spoons to be eco-friendly in several ways. Sorghum was chosen as the main ingredient of the spoons instead of rice, which requires 60 times as much water. Sorghum was also chosen for the strength it would lend eating tool, and the grain requires little water, low energy and no chemicals to grow.

In place of plastic

The goal that Peesapaty hopes to attain through Bakeys is to prevent plastic from any contact with food. Plastic products can contain cancer-causing substances that come into food, and average plastic bottles take 450 years to break down. In contrast, a Bakeys' spoon is nutritious and break down in 10 days or less if thrown away. Peesapaty admits that using plastic is cheaper, but he also says that his spoons will be equally inexpensive when mass-produced.

Animals are humans' best friends. Here we will know about some of those interesting friends.
       Gouldian Finch

Native to Australia, the Gouldian finch has special green, yellow, red and black markings. For the males (雄性), the part between the neck and the stomach is bright purple, while for females, this part is pale purple. We all Have to agree that nature has created some really great animals with the smallest of details.

Keel-Billed Toucan

It is the very same crazy bird from the movie Rio, also known to be the "rainbow billed toucan". The bird has a black body and a yellow face. The color of its bill (喙) is a combination of green, yellow, orange and red, and that's how the name rainbow billed toucan came from. It is rarely seen alone. It travels in small groups of about six to twelve individuals.

The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

It is a great tiny bird commonly found in South Asia. This bird is the most brightly colored and the smallest kingfisher species. Its special feature is the orange with bluish-purple head, which can be easily recognized. The throat is white with bright orange colored lines at the bottom. It is a pretty and small bird.

Poison (毒) Dart Frog

It is a kind of very beautiful creature. The bright colors of the poison dart frog send a warning to its natural enemies about its poison. Found in South America, with some of the brightest shades of yellow, copper, red, green and blue, this frog is among those very animals that you have to watch out in the Amazon Rainforest.