Plenty of people dream of traveling to other planets. But “Star Wars” fans can actually visit locations where many of the films' most famous scenes were shot. Here are some of the places where “Star Wars” comes to life.

Hotel Sidi Driss, Matmata, Tunisia

    Perhaps the most famous "Star Wars" landmark in the world, this is where the interiors of Luke Skywalker's childhood home on planet Tatooine were filmed. Centuries ago, Berbers built the underground structure as a real home. Eventually it became a hotel, which George Lucas used to film the first "Star Wars" film. The set decorations came down when the crew left, but were rebuilt in 2000 for "Attack of the Clones." Since then, they've remained, so guests can eat at the table where young master Luke did.

La Grande Dune, outside Nefta, Tunisia

    The igloo(冰屋) outside of Luke's house was filmed about 300 kilometers away on the dried-up salt lake of Chott El Jerid. The igloo is still there, reachable with a decent car at the GPS coordinates 33"50'34. 42"N, 7"46'44.48"E.

    The surrounding hotels are man-made, to create the illusion (幻觉)that the underground house is next to it. The igloo from the 1977 movie was taken apart, but again rebuilt for "Attack of the Clones," and later restored by a fan. Nearby is La Grande Dune, site of the Dune Sea. About 30 minutes from the igloo is the set of Mos Espa, the spaceport town where Anakin was discovered as a young slave.

Redwood National and State parks, California

    Endor, the forest moon home of the furry Ewoks, was filmed among California's giant redwoods. Most of the well-known scenes were shot on private land owned by a lumber company. Since the cast and crew worked on "Return of the Jedi" in 1982, heavy logging has left most of the landscape unrecognizable. But driving through the parks still gives a feel for the set, especially along the Avenue of the Giants highway.

    In Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park and the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, plates were filmed for some chase scenes.

    Do you often feel lonely? What do you do when you feel that way? Hide yourself away and spend your time reading, watching TV or walking around?

    You might think that feeling lonely is just like feeling happy, sad or scared — that it's just one of your various moods. That is true. However, if you let yourself be lonely for too long without dealing with it, you could be making a serious mistake.

    Doctors have known for some time that feeling lonely is bad for the mind. It can lead to mental health problems such as depression, stress and reduce confidence. "Being lonely means not feeling connected or cared for, but it's not about being mentally alone," Lisa Jaremka, scientist from Ohio State University, US, told Live Science in January. And there's growing evidence that not having friends is connected with physical illness as well.

    In 2006, for example, scientists studied 2,800 women who had cancer. They found that those who had few friends or family were five times more likely to die of their disease than women with many social contacts. Also, even healthy people had a better chance of falling ill if they felt left out by others, according to the BBC.

    The results have scientists thinking that loneliness might hurt the immune system（免疫系统）, which protects the body from diseases.

    Hoping to prove this theory, Jaremka and her research team put volunteers（志愿者） through a stress test. During the test, volunteers were asked to make an unprepared speech in front of a group of stony-faced people. The researchers found that volunteers who said they were lonely in their daily lives felt more stress during the test. And their blood samples showed that all the stress had managed to cause harmful changes to their immune system.

     "Loneliness has been thought of in many ways as a chronic stressor（慢性增压器） — a socially painful situation that can last for quite a long time," explained Jaremka, who led the study.

    The number of people suffering from loneliness is increasing all over the world. However, solving the problem is easier said than done. It won't work to just "tell anyone to go out and find someone to love you", said Jaremka. "We need to create support networks."

    Life gets noisier every day and very few people can free from noise of some sort or another.It doesn't matter where you live—in the middle of modern city，or a faraway village—the chances that you will be disturbed by jet aeroplanes，transistor radios，oilpowered engines，etc.，are almost everywhere. We seem to be getting used to noise，too. Some people feel quite lonely without background music while they are working.

    Scientific tests have shown that total silence can be a very frightening experience for human beings. However，some people enjoy listening to pop music which is very loud，and this can do harm to their eardrums (耳鼓)．The noise level in some disco is far above the usual safety level for heavy industrial areas.

    One recent report about noise and concentration suggested that although a lot of people say that any noise disturbs their concentration，what really affects their ability to concentrate is a change in the level of noise. It goes on to say that a background noise，which doesn't change too much (music，for example) may even help people to concentrate.

    If you ask people to name the one person who had the greatest effect on the English language, you will get answers like "Shakespeare," "Samuel Johnson," and "Webster," but none of these men had any effect at all compared to a man who didn't even speak English-William the Conqueror.

    Before 1066, in the land we now call Great Britain lived peoples belonging to two major language groups. In the west-central region lived the Welsh, who spoke a Celtic language, and in the north lived the Scots, whose language, though not the same as Welsh, was also Celtic. In the rest of the country lived the Saxons, actually a mixture of Anglos, Saxons, and other Germanic and Nordic peoples, who spoke what we now call Anglo-Saxon (or Old English), a Germanic language. If this state of affairs had lasted, English today would be close to German.

    But this state of affairs did not last. In 1066 the Normans led by William defeated the Saxons and began their rule over England. For about a century, French became the official language of England while Old English became the language of peasants. As a result, English words of politics and the law come from French rather than German. In some cases, modem English even shows a distinction(区别)between upper-class French and lower-class Anglo-Saxon in its words. We even have different words for some foods, meat in particular, depending on whether it is still out in the fields or at home ready to be cooked, which shows the fact that the Saxon peasants were doing the farming, while the upper-class Normans were doing most of the eating.

    When Americans visit Europe for the first time, they usually find Germany more "foreign" than France because the German they see on signs and advertisements seems much more different from English than French does. Few realize that the English language is actually Germanic in its beginning and that the French influences are all the result of one man's ambition.

    Can you imagine a world without music? Studies show that public schools across the country are cutting back on music classes to save money. Worse, some schools have never had music classes to begin with. But without them, students' academic growth and emotional health could suffer. In fact, music classes are necessary for all students in schools.

    Recent studies by Brown University have shown that students who received music education classes were better in math and reading skills than those without music classes. Another study by The College Board found that students taking music and art classes got higher points. Students' academic success seems to depend on their taking part in music education.

    Music programs in public schools also help to add to a student's sense of pride and self­confidence. Teens today have too many learning tasks. Besides, they have family problems, self­confidence problems, relationship troubles, and choices about drugs and alcohol. All of these can stop academic success, but music education can help. A study by The Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse found that students who took part in school music programs were less likely to turn to drugs. Music programs encourage students to work together to produce an excellent performance.

    Music crosses language, class, cultural and political boundaries (界限). Music allows students from different countries to connect. For example, at a school talent show, a new Japanese student played a piano duet (二重奏) with an American classmate. Although they could not communicate verbally (口头上), they were able to read the music in order to play the duet. Two students from different cultures worked as a team with self­confidence and common purpose through music.

    The gift of music is priceless. We need to be sure to have necessary music classes for all students. The world is losing its music, and putting music into schools is the first step to get it back.

    Have you ever wondered what wild animals do when no one is watching? Scientists have been able to record the "private" moments of wildlife with leading-edge technology. Low-cost, dependable and small modern cameras are of big help.

    Cameras placed in hard-to-reach places have taken videos of everything from small desert cats to later snow loving felines (猫科) in the northern Rocky Mountains. These cameras are important tools to learn new information on wildlife.

    Some videos help scientists see the effects of climate change. For example, the desert animal javelin and the tree-loving coatimundi have been caught on cameras north of their normal home. This could mean global warming is enlarging their living area northward.

    Researchers use cameras along with global positioning systems, or GPS. They attach GPS devices (设备) to mule deer and antelope in and around Yellowstone National Park. Then they can record their movements, or migrations (迁移) . These cameras can be left in very rural (荒野的) areas for days, weeks or even month. They can provide information on how many animals are moving over a given period of time.

    Rural video can show details about animal behavior, such as the calls made by migrating. Also some cameras record animal life and show everything from bison in Saskatchewan, Canada, to the underwater weed forest off California's Channel Islands.

    However, rural cameras have their problems too. Animals such as wolverines and bears sometimes attack them. Scientists do not know if the attacks are the result of anger or interest. Also, the devices have become popular tools to help hunters look for animals. Some people argue that it is unfair to use the cameras that way. Even with such problems, rural cameras are clearly an important scientific tool in researching wild animals.