Reducing the amount of sleep affects students' performance at school. An American study asked schoolteachers to look at the effects of sleep restriction（限制） on children between six and twelve years of age. The teachers found that children who stayed up late had trouble thinking clearly and had more learning problems.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Doctor Fallone now works at the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri. He presented the results last month at a science reporter conference in Washington, D. C. The Publication Sleep also reported the findings.

    The teachers were asked to complete weekly performance reports on seventy-four schoolchildren. The study lasted three weeks. During that period, Doctor Fallone and his team controlled the amount of sleep the children received.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} During another week, every child was kept awake later than normal. Each night, the youngest boys and girls had less than eight hours of sleep. The older ones were limited to six and a half hours. During the final week of the study, each child received no less than ten hours of sleep a night.

    The teachers were not told about how much sleep the students received. The study found that students who received eight hours or less had the most difficulty remembering old information. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    The study did not find that sleep restriction caused hyperactivity(极度活跃) in the children. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Doctor Fall one said that the results provided experts and parents with a clear message: {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    People who have lost the ability to understand or use words due to brain damage are called aphasics（失语症患者）.Such patients can be extremely good at something else.From the changing expressions on speakers' faces and the tones of their voices,they can tell lies from truths.

    Doctors studying the human brain have given a number of examples of this amazing power of aphasics.Some have even compared this power to that of a dog with an ability to find out the drugs hidden in the baggage.

    Recently,scientists carried out tests to see if all that was said about aphasics was true.They studied a mixed group of people.Some were normal;others were aphasics.It was proved that the aphasics were far ahead of the normal people in recognizing false speeches—in most cases,the normal people were fooled by words,but the aphasics were not.

    Some years ago,Dr.Oliver Sacks wrote in his book about his experiences with aphasics.He mentioned a particular case in a hospital.Some aphasics were watching the president giving a speech on TV.Since the president had been an actor earlier,making a good speech was no problem for him.He was trying to put his feelings into every word of his speech.

    But his way of speaking had the opposite effect on the patients.They didn't seem to believe him.Instead,they burst into laughter.The aphasics knew that the president did not mean a word of what he was saying.He was lying!

    Many doctors see aphasics as people who are not completely normal because they lack the ability to understand words.However,according to Dr.Sacks,they are more gifted than normal people.Normal people may get carried away by words.Aphasics seem to understand human expressions better,though they cannot understand words.

    Once an old man rose early to read each morning. His grandson wanted to be just like his grandfather, so tried to emulate him every way he could.

    One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa, I try to read just like you do, but I don't understand most of it, and I forget whatever I do understand immediately I close the book. So what good is it for me to read?”

    The grandfather, who was putting coal on the fire, said, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.”

    The boy did as told to, but the water leaked out before he could get the basket home.

    The grandfather laughed, saying, “You'll have to move a little faster.” This time he ran faster, but again the basket emptied. Out of breath, he decided it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket（桶）. But the grandfather said, “I want a basket of water instead of a bucket of water. You're just not trying hard enough.”

    The boy knew what he was trying to accomplish was impossible. However, he decided to show his grandfather a third time.

    The boy dipped the basket into the river and ran as hard as he could. With the empty basket, he gasped（喘气说）, “See Grandpa? It's useless!”

    “So you think it useless?” the old man asked. “Then look at the basket.” To his surprise, the boy found it washed clean of the dirty coal stains and now clean inside and out.

    “My child, that's what happens when you read the book. You might not understand or remember everything, but the words will change you inside and out. That is the work of reading in our lives.”

    Welcome to Adventureland!

    Everyone loves Adventureland! The Parks and Exhibitions were built for you to explore (探索), enjoy, and admire their wonders. Every visit will be an unforgettable experience. You will go away enriched, longing to come back. What are you going to do this time?

    The Travel Pavillon

    Explore places you have never been to before, and experience different ways of life.

    Visit the Amazon jungle (丛林) village, the Turkish market, the Tai floating market, the Berber mountain house and others. Talk to the people there who will tell you about their lives, and things they make. You can try making a carpet, making nets, fishing…

    The Future Tower

    This exhibition shows how progress will touch our lives. It allows us to look into the future and explore the cities of the next century and the way we'll be living then. Spend some time in our space station and climb into our simulator (模拟装置) for the Journey to Mars!

    The Nature Park

    This is not really one park but several.

    In the Safari Park you can drive among African animals in one of our Range Cruisers: see lions, giraffes, elephants in the wild. Move on to the Ocean Park to watch the dolphins and whales. And then there is still the Aviary to see…

    The Pyramid

    This is the center of Adventureland. Run out of film, need some postcards and stamps? For all these things and many more, visit our underground shopping center. Come here for information and ideas too.

    The Bermuda Triangle is an area in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, near Florida in the USA, where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared mysteriously.

    ①The earliest suggestion of unusual disappearances in the Bermuda area appeared in a September 17, 1950 article. Two years later, published "Sea Mystery at Our Back Door", covering the loss of several planes and ships, including the loss of Flight 19. Flight 19 alone would be covered again in the April 1962 issue of American Legion magazine. In it, author Allan W. Eckert wrote that the flight leader had been heard saying, "We are entering white water. Nothing seems right. We don't know where we are." In the February 1964, the article "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle" argued that Flight 19 and other disappearances were just part of strange events in the area.

    ②Triangle writers have used a number of supernatural ideas to explain the events. One explanation refers to leftover technology from the mysterious lost continent of Atlantis. Some of the Triangle writers related the events to UFOs. This idea was used by Steven Spielberg for his science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in which the lost Flight 19 aircrews were taken by aliens.

    ③But there are also some explanation relating to nature. For example, laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles containing natural gas can sink a large ship by decreasing the density(密度) of the water. Because it has been assumed that the eruption of volcanoes(火山)may produce much natural gas, making large areas of bubbles under sea so that water is no longer able to provide enough supporting power for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without any warning.

    ④Violent weather is likely to be another reason. Powerful storms forming in tropical(热带的)waters have caused thousands of deaths and caused billions of dollars in damage. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.

Humans' overconsumption(过度消费) of resources is a leading contributor to global climate change, says University of Arizona researcher Sabrina Helm. Therefore, it's increasingly important to understand the choices consumers make and how those decisions affect the health of a planet with limited resources. In a new study, published in the journal Young Consumers, Helm and her colleagues explore how materialistic values influence pro-environmental behaviors in millennials(千禧一代), who are now the nation's most influential group of consumers. 

The researchers focused on two main categories of pro-environmental behaviors: reduced consumption, which includes actions like repairing instead of replacing older items; and "green buying," or purchasing products designed to limit environmental impacts. The researchers also looked at how engaging in pro-environmental behaviors affects consumer well-being.

More materialistic participants, the researchers found, were unlikely to engage in reduced consumption. However, materialism did not seem to have an effect on their likelihood of practicing "green buying." That's probably because "green buying," unlike reduced consumption, still offers a way for materialists to fulfill their desire to get new items, Helm said.

Study participants who reported having fewer materialistic values were much more likely to engage in reduced consumption. Consuming less was, in turn, linked to higher personal well-being and lower psychological suffering. Green buying—which may have some positive environmental effects, although to a smaller degree than reduced consumption—was not found to improve consumer well-being, Helm said.

The take-home message for consumers: "The key is to reduce consumption and not just buy green stuff. Having less and buying less can actually make us more satisfied and happier," Helm said. "If you have a lot of stuff, you have a lot on your mind," she said. "For example, it requires maintenance and there's a lot of burdens of ownership, and if you relieve yourself of that burden of ownership, most people report feeling a lot better and freer."

Helm and her colleagues additionally looked at how materialism affects millennial consumers' proactive financial behaviors, such as budgeting and saving. Examining financial behaviors alongside pro-environmental behaviors provides a picture of how young adults proactively deal with resource limitations in two contexts: environmental and financial, Helm said.

As expected, Helm and her colleagues found that those who reported having more materialistic values engaged in fewer proactive financial behaviors than their less materialistic counterparts(对应的人). The researchers also found that, consistent with previous studies, proactive financial behaviors were associated with better personal well-being, life satisfaction and financial satisfaction, as well as lower psychological suffering.

Understanding how materialistic values impact consumer behaviors, and how those behaviors in turn affect personal and environmental well-being, is important, Helm said. However, she acknowledges that for many consumers, shifting behaviors to be more financially proactive and consume less will be challenging.