The weather is getting hotter. You are thirsty playing basketball or riding home from school. A cold drink may be just the thing. But be careful what you are drinking. Something that looks cool may not be good for your health.

    There are plenty of “energy drinks” on the market. Most of them have beautiful colors and cool names. The lists on them tell you they are helpful to your health. Sounds great!

    But after a careful check you may find that most energy drinks have lots of caffeine(咖啡碱)in them. These drinks are especially aimed at young people, students, busy people and sports players. Makers sometimes say their drinks make you better at sports and can keep you awake. But be careful not to drink too much. Caffeine makes your heart beat fast. Because of this, the International Olympic Committee(IOC) has limited(限制) its use. Caffeine in most energy drinks is at least as strong as that in a cup of coffee or tea.

    Possible health dangers have something to do with energy drinks. Just one box of energy drink can make you nervous, have difficulty sleeping and can even cause heart problems. Scientists say that teenagers should be discouraged from taking drinks with a lot of caffeine in them.

    Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mum, you must come and see the daffodils(水仙花)before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Lake Arrowhead. "I will go next Tuesday," I promised, a little unwillingly, on her third call.

    The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible (看不见的) in the cloud and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see!"

    My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this weather all the time, Mum. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

    After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read "Daffodil Garden."

    We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up amazed. Before me lay the most beautiful sight. Flows of flowers of different colors seemed poured down the peak and slopes. There were five acres of flowers! A sea of daffodil! It was like a fairyland all beyond description.

    "But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn. "It's just one woman." Carolyn answered. "That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio (露台), we saw a poster." Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline.

    The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs (鳞茎)" it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

    I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than fifty years before, had begun one bulb at a time to bring the beauty and joy to the mountain top. Just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world where she lived and created something of magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

    When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small amounts of daily effort, we too can accomplish great things. Everyone can do something to change the world.

    The following is a father's advice to his son or daughter, who has just graduated from high school：

    First of all, congratulations on your graduation!Graduation from high school means that a new stage of life is ahead of you．At the beginning of this new stage, I have some advice for you．

    Clean your own room and do your own laundry(洗衣物的活). After you have messed up(弄乱)something, you should learn to clean it up yourself．Cleanliness is indeed close to godliness(信奉上帝)．

    Don't mistake knowledge for wisdom. No matter how much information or knowledge you have gained, you'll never make sound(正确的)judgments if you don't have wisdom. Wisdom comes from imagination and reflection(反省)．If you can imagine the possible future outcomes of your present decisions and actions, you can avoid mistakes．And if you can reflect on the mistakes you have made, you can avoid making the same mistakes again and again．Such is wisdom．

    Don't complain．When you take up a job, do your best to carry it out．Don't waste time complaining about it, no matter how difficult and boring it is．

    Finally, be an early bird．If you get up earlier than the sun, you can watch it rising up slowly into the sky．And the sight of the rising sun will warm your heart and give you energy for the day ahead．Besides, being an early bird, you have plenty of time to take exercise or do a lot of work．

    Many people find that music lifts their spirits. Now a new research shows that music therapy (疗法) can be a useful treatment for depression.

    The finding that music therapy offers a real medical benefit to depression sufferers comes from a review by the Cochrane Collaboration, a non-profit group that reviews health care issues. Some studies looked at the effects of providing music therapy to patients who were receiving drug treatment for depression. Others compared music therapy to traditional talk therapy. In four out of five of the trials, music therapy worked better at easing depression symptoms than therapies that did not employ music, the researchers found.

    “While the evidence came from a few small studies, it suggests that this is an area that is well worth further investigation.” said lead author Anna Maratos. Ms. Maratos notes that music therapy might be particularly useful for adolescents who may reject a traditional form of counseling. Some older patients also may not be comfortable talking about their feelings but do tend to express themselves through songs.

    There are two main types of music therapy. Sometimes, a therapist will listen to music with a patient and talk about the feelings or memories that it arouses. In another form, the therapist is a skilled musician and will improvise (即兴创作) music with the patient. If the patient doesn't play an instrument, he or she might be given a simple percussion (击打) instrument and the therapist will play along.

    Other studies have shown a benefit from music therapy in the treatment for dementia, learning disabilities, strokes and pain management during labor and birth. The problem is that there isn't very much high-quality research. "It doesn't easily attract serious research funding. It's difficult to do high-quality, large-scale trials." said Ms. Maratos.

    A new study suggests that patients with breast cancer who take additional vitamins during chemotherapy(化疗) treatment may face increased risks.

    Researchers said the use of dietary supplements(补充剂) that increase levels of antioxidants, iron, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids appeared to lower the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Researchers reported their findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

    Christine Ambrosone is the head of cancer prevention and control at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. She said, "From this study and others in the literature, it seems that it may not be wise to take supplements during chemotherapy."

    "It's thought that antioxidants might interfere with the ability of chemotherapy to kill cancer cells," Ambrosone said.

    Some doctors have been advising patients for a number of years not to take antioxidants during chemotherapy. "But there was no strong empirical data for that recommendation," Ambrosone said.

    So, Ambrosone and other researchers decided to study whether supplement use might affect chemotherapy's effectiveness. They looked for evidence in an earlier study on diet, exercise, lifestyle and cancer results.

    In the earlier research, people who took part were asked about their use of supplements at the beginning of and during treatment, and about their lifestyle, diet and exercise. The researchers studied 1,134 patients who filled out the surveys and followed them for a median of six years.

    The researchers searched for possibilities that might increase the risk of the disease reappearing or of death. They found that patients who took any supplements at the beginning of and during chemotherapy were 41 percent more likely to have their breast cancer return than those who did not. In addition, the supplement takers were 40 percent more likely to die later on compared to patients using no supplements. The supplements included vitamin A, C and E. Those taking vitamin B12 and iron supplements were at greater risk of cancer returning, the researchers said.

During a pandemic (流行病), for many reasons, there are lots of poor parents who are isolated (隔离) with their kids, or roommates who are stuck together in an apartment. But what about the people who have nobody to talk to?

It is common that people feel lonely. However, during the pandemic, this situation can be much worse for experiences like long-time hospital stays or being unable to move due to poor health, disability or age.

Recently, a friendly robot named Robin got a test run in the children's treatment center of the Wigmore Clinic in Yerevan. About as tall as an 8-year-old child, Robin's plastic body and square head may not put you in mind of a human partner, but its face screen containing two big eyes and expressive brows (眉毛) is attractive, which can help children forget their stress for a while.

A hospital can be very stressful for anybody. And the time of treatment and recovery might seem tiresomely long to an adult stuck in a hospital bed. For a child who can't play with his or her friends or sometimes even family, the long course and boring atmosphere seem unbearable. That's where Robin comes in. It can recognize (识别) facial expressions and use the mood of a talk to build personalized, natural conversations and dialogues with a lonely child in the way another child might use. Robin also plays games, tells stories, and makes children take part in various other activities.

According to Expper Technologies, the makers of Robin, during the program with Wigmore Clinic, Robin improved the experience of children in the hospital by 26 percent over those who did not have the chance to play with Robin, and reduced their stress levels by 34 percent during their hospital stay. Mary, whose son was one of those users, said, "Thanks to Robin, my son became happy every day during this pandemic." John Smith, a father of a five-year-old girl in the clinic, told a reporter, "Robin is a great partner. It brings big smiles to my daughter's face."