Life is full of funny moments, and not just for humans.

    Over the years, studies by various groups have suggested that monkeys, dogs and even rats love a good laugh. People, meanwhile, have been laughing since before they could talk.

    Jaak Panksepp, a professor at Bowling Green State University, US, said he would not be surprised if positive feelings could be produced in some animals. Dolphins, for example, have long attracted animal researchers because of the complex (复杂的) ways in which they communicate: a rich variety of sounds of different rhythms. A decade ago, researchers studying dolphins at the Kolmarden Wildlife Park in Sweden noticed a set of sounds the dolphins made during play-fighting. They concluded that the purpose of the sound was to suggest that the situation was pleasant and to prevent it from a real fight.

    Panksepp has even seen evidence of joy in crayfish (小龙虾). When given small amounts of drugs such as cocaine (可卡因) in a certain place, they appear to connect that location with pleasure. “Given the chance, they will always return to that place, perhaps in the hope of getting more,” he says. Panksepp wasn't sure it equals the same happiness that humans get from cocaine, but said it “could be in the same evolutionary category”.

    More studies are needed to really understand animals' laughter. Strangely enough, the answers may help with our own desires for cures for mental illnesses. Panksepp's experiments may soon lead to a new antidepressant (抗抑郁) drug that works by using the pathways in the brain behind positive feelings and joy. Perhaps pleasure and laughter in the animal world will help solve the depression in our own species one day.

    During the period from 1660 through 1800, Great Britain became the world's leader. Language itself became submitted to rules during this period. This need to fix the English language is best illustrated (描述) in the making of The Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson. Guides to the English language had been in existence before Johnson began his project in 1746. These, however, were often little more than lists of hard words. When definitions of common words were supplied, they were often unhelpful. For example, a "horse" was defined in an early dictionary as "a beast well known".

    Johnson changed all that, but the task was not an easy one. Renting a house at 17 Gough Square, Johnson began working in the worst of conditions. Supported only by his publisher, Johnson worked on the Dictionary with five assistants. Compared to the French Academy's dictionary, which took forty workers fifty-five years to complete (1639-1694), Johnson's dictionary was completed by very few people very quickly.

Balanced on a chair with only three legs, Johnson sat against a wall in a room filled with books. Johnson would read widely from these books, mark passages illustrating the use of a particular word, and give the books to his assistants so that they could copy the passages on slips of paper. These slips were then stuck to eighty large notebooks under the key words that Johnson had selected. Fixing the word by this method, Johnson could record a word，s usage and its definition.

    How many passages were used? According to Johnson's modern biographer Walter Jackson Bate, the original total number could have been over 240,000. How many words were defined by the lexicographer? Over 40,000 words appeared in two large books in April of 1755. Did Johnson fully understand the huge task he was undertaking when he began? As he told his contemporary biographer James Boswell, "I knew very well what I was undertaking and very well how to do it — and have done it very well."

    Bedtime on the Orient Express. We stood in the corridor while a woman pulled our bunk beds (双层铺) into place-- there wasn't room in the carriage for all three of us. Barking the news that she would be waking us at 7 a.m. with a cup of instant coffee and a piece of cheese, the woman left and we retired for the night.

    'Bunk beds?' you may be thinking. Small carriage? Instant coffee? This can't be the real Orient Express! Oh, but it is. This is a very real Orient Express indeed. In search of a long weekend in Vienna, there seemed no more attractive way for my friend and me to get there.

    The original Orient Express service was started in 1863. Luxury carriages ran the route from Paris, France to Giugiu, Romania. In 1934, Agatha Christie sent Hercule Poirot on just such a journey in her novel Murder on the Orient Express. However, there was a rise in air travel which was quicker and cheaper and eventually the whole operation was brought to a halt in 1977. The name was reused in 1982, when the Venice Simplon-Orient-Expresss took its first voyage between London and Venice.

    Admittedly I would have loved to take the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, with its on-board shop and piano in the bar, but at around £1,700 per person for a four-night one-way journey, it was too expensive for us. So we chose this excellent way of buying into the romance for a small amount of the cost.

    But we loved it. Ours was no luxury bedroom, but it had its own rough charm-- not to mention the magic of travelling across international borders overnight. I haven't slept in a bunk bed since I was seven, and climbing up into it took 25 years off me. For one night only, it was comfortably appealing. Naturally, I took a copy of Murder on the Orient Express to read on the train. I smiled at the descriptions of airy dining cars and fresh coffee.

    My weekend in Vienna was wonderful and reunited with the cut-price Orient Express at the end of the holiday, we were rather delighted to see our little carriage again. Good old bunk beds. Terrifying old attendant. And best of all, nobody got murdered.

    "I feel unlikable, lonely and hopeless," said Lisa, a bright teenager from a loving home. "It seems that nobody wants to become my friend. What's wrong with me?"

    Like Lisa, many of us experience loneliness. The truth is that all people, no matter what their age or character — even the most outgoing, wealthy and popular — experience loneliness at least sometimes. It's healthy and natural to want to be around people who care. After all, we've all heard "No man is an island." That's true. We all need others in our lives.

    Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, explains that if we want friends, we must be friendly and reach out to others. But it has risk. Because we are often afraid of rejection (拒绝), many of us are unwilling to reach out to others. We take a safer way and wait for others to make friends with us. But if we want friends, we've got to get beyond this.

If making friends is your goal as well, you need to consider taking some measures (措施).

    Be willing to take the initiative (主动权). If you see someone whom you would like to know, don't wait for her to make the first move. Get close to her and begin a conversation. Let her know in a non­aggressive (无攻击性的) way that you are interested in being friends with her.

    Reach out to those who are lonely. When you see someone at school sitting alone, go over and talk to her. And don't let popularity decide whom you reach out to. You'll often be surprised at the beautiful qualities behind a shy appearance.

    Ask questions. Start your first conversation by asking this possible friend what she likes to do or asking about her family. Be sure to ask questions that cannot be replied with "yes" or "no". For example, don't ask "Do you have a dog?" Instead, say "So, tell me about your pets." Avoiding asking "yes" or "no" questions makes your possible friend not end your communication with a one­word answer.

In early February 2019, 51-year-old Rainer Schimpf and his team set out to film South Africa's famous Sardine Run off the coast of Port Elizabeth. The migration of billions of South African sardines, is a big draw for hunters, especially seabirds and dolphins. The two species work together to herd the large group of fish into smaller shoals (浅滩), which are then eaten by not just the birds and the dolphins, but also sharks and Bryde's whales.

In an attempt to find the best scene of the amazing natural phenomenon, which has been the subject of many films, Rainer got into the middle of a swirling ball of fish. Suddenly the sea churned (翻腾), and the experienced diver and his photographer Heinz Toperczer, who was filming from the boat, instantly realized something strange was going on.

Toperczer later said, "As Rainer moved towards the shoals, suddenly the water churned widely up, dolphins shot out of the water and then a whale appeared and caught him!"

Rainer, who was swallowed in darkness inside the whale's mouth, was trying to survive. "I held my breath because I thought he was going to dive down and release me much deeper in the ocean," the diver said.

Fortunately for Rainer, the whale quickly realized he was no sardine! "I felt huge pressure around my waist (腰部) which is when I guess the whale realized his mistake," he said. "As the whale turned sideways, he opened his mouth slightly to release me, and I was washed out, together with tons of water, of his mouth." Though the entire event lasted just 1. 8 seconds, it felt like a century to Rainer.

Still holding his underwater camera, the diver swam to his boat, where he was quickly rescued by the members of the team. The terrifying adventure did not worry Rainer for too long. After checking to ensure he had no injuries, the diver returned to the water. Fortunately, the rest of the adventure went peacefully.

How much of your monthly grocery list ends up in the garbage? A new study reveals the average American spends nearly $1,500 per year on food they'll never eat.

A recent survey of 2,000 Americans reveals the average shopper wastes $1,493.93 on food per year. That's almost a fifth of their grocery bill after every shopping trip. One tenth of respondents claim they "never" purchase food they don't end up eating, while three in 10 say this is something they "always" do.

Half of respondents prefer to head to the grocery store alone, and when they do, half are more likely to stick to their list and 36% are less likely to buy food they don't want or need.

Keeping the list in mind is important, as 38 percent are more likely to let food be wasted if it wasn't originally on their shopping list. Seven in 10 add that when they go to the store on an empty stomach, they're more likely to buy foods they won't eat. So they don't do that that way. Some respondents appear to be in a wasteful cycle when it comes to food waste. Nearly half usually buy and end up wasting the same food every month because they think they'll get around to eating it.

"We can all do better to limit food waste by sticking to grocery lists and, when we get home, prioritizing eating our foods that are_perishable, like fruits, vegetables, and dairy products" says Avocado Co-Founder and CMO Mark Abrials in a statement.

Three-quarters feel guilty about throwing away uneaten food because it's a waste of money — and 48 percent feel the same, due to the harm food waste causes to the environment. "When it comes to food waste, nobody is perfect," Abrials adds. "But in order to consider our environmental impact, not to mention wasted money, we think it's essential to be thoughtful about everything we purchase — whether that's food, mattresses or other goods."