Want to add some hours to your day? Ok,you probably can't change the fabric of time. But a new study suggests that theway you feel about your goal can change your concept of time and that somesimple strategies could make you feel less rushed.

In a series of experiments, JordanEtkin, a professor of marketing at Duke, and her co-authors, LoannisEvangelidis and Jennifer Aaker, looked at what happens when people see theirgoals as conflicting with one another. In one, they asked some participants tolist two of their goals that they felt were in conflict, and others simply tolist two of their goals. Those who were forced to think about conflicting aimsfelt more time pressure than those who weren't. In another experiment, the researchersgave participants a similar prompt regarding goal conflict, but this timemeasured their anxiety levels as well as their attitudes toward time. Theyfound that participants who thought about conflicting goals had more anxietythan those who didn't, and that this, in turn, led to feelings of being shorton time.

"Stress and anxiety and timepressure are closely linked concepts," D. Etkin explained. "When wefeel more stress and anxiety in relation to our personal goals, that manifestsas a sense of having less time."

Technological advances that allow peopleto do lots of things at once may increase the fe'eling of goal conflict, shesaid."I think the easier it is for us to try to deal with a lot of thesethings at the same time," She said"the more opportunity there is for us to feel this conflictbetween our goals."She isn't the first to suggest that actual busynessisn't the only thing that can make us feel busy At the Atlantic, Derek Thompson wrote that "as a country, we'reworking less than we did in the 1960s and 1980s." He offered a number ofpossible reasons some Americans still feel so overworked, including "thefluidness ffl±) of work and leisure." As he put it:"The idea thatwork begins and ends at the office is wrong. On the one hand, flexibility isnice, On the other, mixing work and leisure together creates an always-onexpectation that makes it hard for white-collar workers to escape the shadow ofwork responsibilities."

And Brigid Schulte writes in her 2014book Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time thatsome researchers believe "time has no sharp edges. What often matters morethan the activity we're doing at a moment in time, they have found, is how wefeel about it.Our concept of time is indeed,our reality.”

Fortunately, Dr. Etkin and her team didfind ways of making us feel better about time—or, at least, of reducing thenegative influence of goal conflict. When participants performed a breathingexercise that reduced their anxiety, the impact of such conflict on theirperception of time was less pronounced. Reframing anxiety as excitement (byreading the phrase "I am excited!" aloud several times) had a similareffect.

Breathing and reframing may not solveeveryone's time problems—Ms. Schulte writes that some Americans are indeedworking more than they used to. She cites the work of the sociologists MichaelHout and Caroline Hanley, who have "found that working parents combinedput in 13 more hours a week on the job in 2000 than they did in 1970. That's676 hours of additionally paid work a year for a family. And that's on top ofall the unpaid hours spent caring for children and keeping the housetogether." Sometimes, we may feel short on time because we actually are.However, Dr. Etkin believes her findings suggest we may "have the abilityto influence our experience of time more than we think we do."

"We're all going to have times inour lives when our goals seem to be in more conflict than others," shesaid. But with techniques like the ones her team tested, "we really canhelp ourselves feel like we have more time."

    When US musician Bob Dylan was announced as the winner of this year's Nobel Prize for literature last month, many people took to social media to suggest that Leonard Cohen was the only other living songwriter who deserved(值得)the honor.

    Sadly, on Nov 7, the deep-voiced Canadian artist died at the age of 82.

    Many tributes(称赞)were written for Cohen, who had just released his 14th album, You Want It Darker, on Oct 21st. “Leonard Cohen is as important today as he was in the 1960s,” Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on in a statement. “ His ability to describe human emotion made him one of the most influential and lasting musicians ever.”

    Cohen's most famous song, Hallenlujah, in which he compared physical love to a need for spiritual connection, has been recorded hundreds of times by different musician since it was first released in 1984.

    And Cohen's song Bird on a Wire(1969) could be considered a perfect epitaph(墓志铭)that he wrote for himself. As the song's first line goes, “Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in midnight choir(合唱团), I have tired in my way to be free.”

    “Cohen writes words that explain what it means to be human. I've read poetry that has as much beauty as Cohen's work, but in the world of music, Cohen is a rarity,” US singer Jennifer Warnes told Austin American-Statesman newspaper. ‘He describes things that go on inside a heart and what it feels like to be here.”

    Along with his spirituality, Cohen's dry, deep voice also helped his popularity. In 2006 he spoke with the NPR radio station about how he got his interesting voice—apparently it was “500 tons of whiskey and a million cigarettes.”

    But he never forgot to work on the instruments that made up his songs, even though he was most famous for his lyrics (歌词)and voice.

    “There is no difference between a poem and a song,” Cohen said in 1969 interview with the New York Times newspaper. “Some were songs first and some were poems first and some were written at the same time. All of my writing has guitars behind it, even the novels.”

    “When people talk about Cohen, they fail to mention the melodies(旋律), which to me, along with his lyrics, are his greatest genius,” Bob Dylan told the New York magazine.” They give a lift to every one of his songs. As far a I know, no one comes close to this in modern music.”

    You're riding in the car on this family vacation. Suddenly your dad slows down. And you may see the following：

1). Bubblegum Alley

San Luis Obispo, California

    Some call it art; others call it just plain gross. Bubblegum Alley is covered from top to bottom with wads of chewed gum, a tradition that was started mysteriously by locals in the 1950s. Some artists even created images of funny faces and the American flag.

2). Blue Whale

Catoosa, Oklahoma

    Not ready to dive the depths of the ocean to see a blue whale? No problem. Just visit this 80-foot-long cement beast, which even has a slide and diving board so visitors can take a dip in the pond. When the artist died, the whale fell into disrepair. Neighbors couldn't stand to see the grinning whale fall apart, so they fixed it and now keep it bright with gallons of blue paint.

3). Lonesome Legs

Amarillo, Texas

    Just what are these large legs doing in a cow pasture? According to artist Lightnin' McDuff,  they  represent a poem  about a traveler who finds a bodiless statue of an Egyptian pharaoh (法老) called Ozymandias. Using concrete over a steel frame, McDuff constructed the legs to appear as if they were  made of weathered sandstone. And the socks? A prankster (恶作剧的人) keeps adding them—even though McDuff always removes  the unwanted addition.

4). Giant Penguin

Cut Bank, Montana

    Bundle up (使……穿暖)when you visit  this statue, because temperatures here can get  as low as 47 degrees below zero. As a nod to the frosty conditions, a local businessman built the 27-foot-tall penguin out of 10,000 pounds of concrete. The creator left for warmer weather, but the statue—7 times the height of a real emperor penguin—still stands, welcoming visitors to its chilly home.

    Everybody hates it, but everybody does it. A recent report said that 40%of Americans hate tipping. In America alone, tipping is a $ 16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting politely ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The common opinion in the past was that tips both rewarded the efforts of good service and reduced uncomfortable feelings of inequality. And also, tipping makes for closer relations. It went without saying that the better the service, the bigger the tip.

    But according to a new research from Cornell University, tips no longer serve any useful function. The paper analyzes numbers they got from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The connection between larger tips and better service was very weak. Only a tiny part of the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service.

    Tipping is better explained, by culture than by the money people spend. In America, the custom came into being a long time ago. It is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In New York restaurants, failing to tip at least 15% could well mean dissatisfaction from the customers. Hairdressers can expect to get l5%-20%, and the man who delivers your fast food $ 2. In Europe, tipping is less common. In many restaurants the amount of tip is decided by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all. Only a few have really taken to tipping. According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell papers' author, countries in which people are more social or outgoing tend to tip more. Tipping may reduce anxiety about being served by strangers. And Mr. Lynn says, “In America, where people are expressive and eager to mix up with others, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off.”

    London's newest skyscraper(摩天大楼)is called the Shard and it cost about 430 million pounds to build. At a height of almost 310 meters, it is the tallest building in Europe. The Shard has completely changed the appearance of London. However, not everyone thinks that it is a change for the better.

    The Shard was designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano. When he began designing the Shard for London, Piano wanted a very tall building that looked like a spire(尖顶). The sides of the building aren't regular. So the building has an unusual shape. And that is how the building got the name：the Shard. Piano says that the spire shape of the Shard is part of a great London tradition. The shape reminds him of the spires of the churches of London or the tall masts(桅杆)of the ships that were once on the river Thames.

    The Shard has 87 floors. At the moment the building is empty, but finally there will be a five-star hotel. There will also be top quality restaurants, apartments and offices.

    Before building work began, a lot of people didn't want the Shard though the plans were approved. Now they are still unhappy about the Shard. Some critics say that such a tall skyscraper might be good in a city like New York, but not in London. They say that the best thing about the Shard is its shape. But that is the only thing. There is no decoration, only flat surfaces. The Egyptians(埃及人)did that 4, 500 years ago.

    Other critics don't like what the Shard seems to represent. They say that the Shard shows how London is becoming more unequal. Only very rich people can afford to buy the expensive apartments and stay in the hotel. But the people living near the Shard are among the poorest in London. So the Shard seems a symbol of the division(分化)in society between the very rich and the poor.

    The Shard now dominates the London skyline. It is not certain, however, that ordinary London citizens will ever accept it as a valuable addition to the city.

    An “adulting conference” (AC)this week allowed Kentucky high school seniors the chance to learn how to change a tire, how to cook and other basic life skills—things that they may not have learned at home or in classes. A series of photos posted by Bullitt Central High School on social media shows students taking “adulting conference” are learning about personal finances, resumes and other essential skills at the event, which has been widely reported on the local and national news outlets.

    “I saw a Facebook post that parents passed around saying they needed a class in high school on taxes and cooking,” AC organizer Hardin told Louisville's WAVE 3 News. Those skills are taught at school theoretically, she said, but the event gave students a chance to fill in gaps in their knowledge.

    Students could choose to attend three workshops out of 11 total options, the school says. The workshops were held in cooperation with numerous community partners.

    Some young people have left home and graduated school without having those gaps filled, according to a report this week from CBS New York, which documented a trend of young people seeking outclasses to learn basic life skills.

    While attending a cooking class, 29-year-old Elena Toumaras told the station she's struggling with “simple things.”

    “I was so used to, when living at home, my mom always cooking,” she told the station.

    An“Adulting School” in Portland, Maine, aims to use a new online format to teach the youths skills like conflict resolution, sewing and appreciation for all, the station says.

    Students' financial literacy has been of particular concern to some experts, as financial education in schools has stagnated(停滞)in the U.S., with only 17 states requiring students to take classes in personal finance—a number that hasn't risen in years.

    “The majority of U.S. states are failing our students by declining to offer these fundamental courses which are critical to their financial stability and security later in life. And this will be changed.” Nan J. Morrison, president and CEO of the Council for Economic Education, told CNBC.