Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why there are so many expressions that use the word cold. For centuries, the body's blood has been linked closely with the emotions. People who show no human emotions or feelings, for example, are said to be cold –blooded. Cold –blooded people act in merciless ways. They may do cruel things to others, and not by accident. For example, a newspaper says the police are searching for a cold-blooded killer. The killer murdered someone, not in self-defense. He seemed to kill with no emotion.

    Cold can affect other parts of the body, the feet, for example. Heavy socks can warm your feet, if your feet are really cold. But there is an expression—to get cold feet –that has nothing to do with cold or your feet. The expression means being afraid to do something you had decided to do. For example, you agree to be president of an organization. But then you learn that all the other officers have given up the position. All the work of the organization will be your responsibility. You are likely to get cold feet about being president when you understand the situation.

    Cold can also affect your shoulder. You give someone the cold shoulder when you refuse to speak to them. You treat them in a distant, cold way. The expression probably comes from the physical act of turning your back toward someone, instead of speaking to him face-to-face. You may give a cold shoulder to a friend who has not kept a promise he made to you. Or, to someone who has lied about you to others.

    A cold fish is not a fish. It is a person. But it is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and shows no love or warmth. A cold fish does not offer much of himself to anyone.

    Out in the cold is an expression often heard. It means not getting something that everybody else got. A person might say that everybody but him got a pay raise. He was left out in the cold. And it is not a pleasant place to be.

    A chip inserted in a young quadriplegic's (四肢麻痹患者) brain is already improving his quality of life. Soon the benefits may be more widespread.

    A 25-year-old man unable to move from the neck down recently did what many assumed impossible. After a knife attack that had left him paralyzed, all he could move was his head, which he used to push a switch and call for a nurse. And he could turn his wheelchair by blowing into a straw near his face. That was it.

    Then last June, a Foxborough (Mass.) company called Cyber Kinetics opened the man's skull and inserted a special chip no larger than a baby aspirin. That insert has given him a few additional and precious abilities. When connected to a special computer via a cable, the chip translates the young man's thoughts into commands that let him move a cursor across a PC screen and open e-mail. He can draw a circle with a computer painting program. And he can use a robotic hook(钩) to perform simple tasks like picking up a candy and sliding it across a table.

    All he has to do is to think.

    Several new studies have begun or been completed in the past year. In fact, more than half of the scientific papers in this field, called brain-to-computer interaction (BCI), have been published in the past two years, notes Jonathan Wolpaw, a research physician at Wadsworth Center, the New York State Health Dept.'s research laboratory.

    Brain surgeries (手术) are no longer rare: Thousands of Parkinson's disease patients have had special devices inserted in their brains to ease uncontrollable shaking and other symptoms. The inserts themselves have improved, so the body doesn't reject them as furiously(猛烈地). And significant development has been achieved in software used to interpret the brain's signals and change them into commands understood by computers.

    But increased demand for thought technology remains the biggest reason for the field's progress. Today, 4 million Americans live with paralysis according to the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.

    Scientists hope that thought technology will reduce the impact of such disabilities. People with spinal-cord injuries, for example, often lose their ability to walk because the communications network between their brain and their legs has been interrupted. The brain still commands the leg muscles to move, but they don't hear its orders.

    Thought technology, scientists hope, will bridge this communications gap. "Our goal is for you to see paralyzed people eating at a restaurant and for you not to know that they are paralyzed," says John Donoghue, founder and chief scientific officer at Cyber Kinetics.

The National Gallery

Description：

    The National Gallery is the British national art museum built on the north side of Trafalgar Square in London. It houses a diverse collection of more than 2,300 examples of European art ranging from 13th-century religious paintings to more modern ones by Renoir and Van Gogh. The older collections of the gallery are reached through the main entrance while the more modern works in the East Wing are most easily reached from Trafalgar Square by a ground floor entrance.

Layout：

    The modern Sainsbury Wing on the western side of the building houses 13th- to 15th-century paintings, and artists include Duccio, Uccello, Van Eyck, Lippi, Mantegna, Botticelli and Memling．

    The main West Wing houses 16th-century paintings, and artists include Leonardo da Vinci, Cranach, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bruegel, Bronzino, Titan and Veronese.

    The North Wing houses 17th-century paintings, and artists include Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Claude and Vermeer．

    The East Wing houses 18th- to early 20th-century paintings, and artists include Canaletto, Goya, Turner, Constable, Renoir and Van Gogh.

Opening Hours：

    The Gallery is open every day from 10 am. to 6 pm. (Fridays 10 am. to 9 pm.) and is free, but charges apply to some special exhibitions.

Getting There：

    Nearest underground stations: Charing Cross (2-minute walk), Leicester Square (3-minute walk), Embankment (7-minute walk), and Piccadilly Circus (8-minute walk).

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    A scientist working at her lab bench and a six-old baby playing with his food might seem to have little in common. After all, the scientist is engaged in serious research to uncover the very nature of the physical world, and the baby is, well, just playing…right? Perhaps, but some developmental psychologists have argued that this "play" is more like a scientific investigation than one might think.

Take a closer look at the baby playing at the table. Each time the bowl of rice is pushed over the table edge, it falls in the ground—and, in the process, it belongs out important evidence about how physical objects interact; bowls of rice do not flood in mid-sit, but require support to remain stable. It is likely that babies are not born knowing the basic fact of the universe; nor are they ever clearly taught it. Instead, babies may form an understanding of object support through repeated experiments and then build on this knowledge to learn even more about how objects interact. Though their ranges and tools differ, the baby's investigation and the scientist's experiment appear to share the same aim(to learn about the natural world ), overall approach (gathering direct evidence from the world), and logic (are my observations what I expected?).

Some psychologists suggest that young children learn about more than just the physical world in this way—that they investigate human psychology and the rules of language using similar means. For example, it may only be through repeated experiments, evidence gathering, and finally overturning a theory, that a baby will come to accept the idea that other people can have different views and desires from what he or she has, for example, unlike the child, Mommy actually doesn't like Dove chocolate.

Viewing childhood development as a scientific investigation throws on how children learn, but it also offers an inspiring look at science and scientists. Why do young children and scientists seem to be so much alike? Psychologists have suggested that science as an effort —the desire to explore, explain, and understand our world—is simply something that comes from our babyhood. Perhaps evolution provided human babies with curiosity and a natural drive to explain their worlds, and adult scientists simply make use of the same drive that served them as children. The same cognitive systems that make young children feel good about feel good about figuring something out may have been adopted by adult scientists. As some psychologists put it, "It is not that children are little scientists but that scientists are big children."

    Do you have a place you've always wanted to visit? If the answer is yes, have you ever considered taking a trip alone there just for a few days?

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Although seeing the world on their own has always been a dream in their hearts since childhood, most people have repeatedly been told that the outside world is dangerous. The thought of going on a trip alone excites and terrifies them at the same time. Few end up stepping out of their comfort zone and going on meaningful adventures.

    It is normal to have some trouble traveling alone. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} For example, being alone on the road, you might have to ask strangers to take your photo wherever you go. If you join a tour halfway, you may be asked why you don't have friends or family around. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    First, traveling alone gives you a good opportunity to do everything you wish to do without worrying about others' needs and wants. If you want, you can read on a bench beside a river for the whole afternoon without being disturbed (打扰). You are free to walk around on different streets. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You can also remove that dull daily routine (常规) that always makes you feel tired.

If you make good use of it, traveling alone can also be a wonderful journey of self-discovery, as you'll finally have time to think about your life.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} All you need to do is pack your bags, take your passport, gather up your courage and go somewhere. Go out and enjoy being alone, explore the unknown, make some friends, read a book, and get to know more about yourself and the world.

A. Traveling by yourself is also quite easy.

B. You can go to shopping malls and explore the city.

C. For many people, traveling alone can be frightening.

D. There are also some unpleasant moments one might run into.

E. It is important to take some time off and think about the methods.

F. But anyhow, I still suggest that you travel alone at least once in your life.

G. Traveling alone helps us figure out what we really want to fight for in this big world.