How to Create a Mind Map

    Most of us think visually but we write textually. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It also makes the information we list more difficult to process, remember, and share.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It combines the brain's visual nature with our tendency to write down words. We end up with a diagram that combines logic and order in a less structured manner. This promotes clearer thinking and better comprehension.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

    So, how do you create a mind map? The most basic method is to just use a pen and paper, or a marker and whiteboard. It begins with a central topic or idea, then flows outward.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} The next level of topics is represented by branches extending from it.

    There aren't really any rules for creating mind maps. While most flow outwardly from the central topic, some users prefer to build mind maps in one direction.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} This can make groups of ideas easier to identify and remember. It also makes a mind map more enjoyable to create and use.

    Mind maps are extremely effective for taking notes, planning a project, brainstorming an idea, presenting information to others, and many other uses. Take out your pen and have a try.

A. They help to clarify thinking.

B. This goes against how our minds actually work.

C. They help us save time by focusing on key issues.

D. A mind map is the perfect answer to this dilemma.

E. Think of it as a tree, where the central point is the trunk.

F. It's also a lot more enjoyable than simply writing down lists.

G. Others like to add colors, pictures, or symbols in their mind maps.

     “Oh, my god. Are you serious?”

    That's a reaction I often get when people hear the tale of my childhood.

    It's a story I don't often share. Growing up in a bad home, I learned to protect myself by not speaking up. I've seldom said anything about how badly I was treated and hurt as a child.

    I don't talk about how my name was changed at least three times, what it was like to live in my van (箱式货车), or how I've struggled with anxiety, depression and wanting to kill myself.

    But I learnt to start speaking up for myself. I went on to earn two graduate degrees and I will complete my doctorate (博士学位) this year. I've also become a widely published author. So, how did I get to where I am today?

     What's helped me is surrounding myself with caring, loving people. I've learned day-to-day skills through research, trial and error, and with the help of skilled professionals.

    They've taught me how to slow down, to breathe, to be thankful for what I've got. They're the ones who make my goals possible. They have also taught me to turn my past experiences into strength—to make the negatives into positives.

    My hope is that sharing my story might help others to see what is possible even in the darkest of times and help others to speak out.

    I don't think I'm in any way special or unique. I'm a common man, no more deserving than anyone else. But for far too long, I've been afraid that others think I'm damaged goods. I've worried about how I might be treated differently.

    Pain and fear teach us to be silent. It's time for that to change.

    I don't know what tomorrow might bring. But one thing I've learned is that if we can hold on and find help, if we find ways to get through the day and speak up, we'll not only survive, but become stronger than before.

    Our very survival can be an inspiration all on its own. And with love of my friends, I look forward to so much more than completing my education – I look forward to the future.

    For anyone still doubting the belief that our emotions influence our physical health, a new study from New Zealand should be able to settle the matter. It reports that the physical wounds of healthy seniors healed more quickly if they wrote about their most upsetting experiences.

    This confirms the results of a 2010 study, and extends those findings to cover older adults—a group that is likely to suffer wounds (as from surgery), and one with less access to other ways of lowering tension (such as exercise).

    Reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, a research team led by the University of Auckland's Elizabeth Broadbent made a study featuring 50 healthy adults ranging in age from 64 to 97. They were asked to write for 20 minutes per day for three consecutive (连续的) days.

    Half were asked to write about the most upsetting experience in their life, describing their deepest thoughts, feelings, and emotions about the events, ideally not previously shared with others. The others were asked to write about their daily activities without mentioning emotions, opinions or beliefs.

    Two weeks after the third day of writing, all participants received a standard 4mm skin biopsy (皮下活体组织检查) on their inner arm. The very tiny wounds caused by the biopsy were photographed regularly over the following days to determine the rate at which they healed.

    On the 11th day after the biopsy, the wounds completely healed on 76.2 percent of those who had done the expressive writing. That was true of only 42.1 percent of those who had written about everyday activities.

    “The biological and psychological mechanisms (机体) behind this effect remain unclear,” the researchers wrote, noting that those who had done the expressive writing did not report lower stress levels or fewer depressive symptoms than the others in the control group. Even if they weren't consciously aware of feeling more relaxed or positive, the expressive writing appeared to have caused some sort of bodily reaction—probably involving their immune systems—that hastened their recovery.

     Stephen Hawking is perhaps the world's most famous living physicist. To the public, he's best known as an author of bestsellers such as The Universe in a Nutshell and A Brief History of Time, which have brought an appreciation of theoretical (理论上的)  physics to millions. He is regarded as having one of the brightest minds on the planet. But outstanding astrophysicist (天体物理学家) Stephen Hawking has admitted that he did not learn to read until he was eight years old.

    In a public lecture at the Royal Albert Hall, Professor Hawking also admitted that he was not active in studying while at Oxford University, where he studied physics, and that only the news that he might die young from motor neurone (运动神经元) disease made him focus on his work.

    Professor Hawking said, “My sister Philippa could read by the age of 4 but then she was brighter than me.” He said that he was common at school and was never further than halfway up his class. “My classwork was very untidy, and my handwriting was very bad in the teachers' eyes,” he said. “But my classmates gave me the name Einstein, so probably they saw signs of something better.”

    But he said that it was when doctors told him that he probably only had a few years to live at the age of 21 that he began to focus on his work, which resulted in some of his early achievements. He said, “When you are faced with the possibility of an early death, it makes you realize that life is worth living and there are lots of things you want to do.” Hawking serves as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, where he continues to contribute to both high-level physics and the popular understanding of our universe.

    No one is sure how many Americans belong to reading groups called book clubs. Yet{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (publisher) and bookstores report that more and more people throughout the United States are joining{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (they).

    Most of the clubs work the same way. Members read the same book at the same time. Then they meet to talk about the book. Members may be friends or people{#blank#}3{#/blank#} live near each other. Some Americans belong to reading groups on{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Internet. These groups include people around the world who communicate about books they read. They send electronic mails instead of gathering{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (discuss) books.

    Most reading groups study books by{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (variety) writers. However, some groups read the work of a single writer,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (usual) one that has been famous for a while. Other groups may{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (name) for an important person in the work of the writer,{#blank#}9{#/blank#} a Sherlock Holmes Club. Members of these book clubs often are experts about their{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (choose) reading materials. One member of a Holmes reading group, for example, can identify almost every person in every Sherlock Holmes story.

    Salvador Dali (1904—1989) was one of the most popular of modern artists. The Pompidou Centre in Paris is showing its respect and admiration for the artist and his powerful personality with an exhibition bringing together over 200 paintings, sculptures, drawings and more. Among the works and masterworks on exhibition the visitor will find the best pieces, most importantly The Persistence of Memory. There is also L'Enigme sans Fin from 1938, works on paper, objects, and projects for stage and screen and selected parts from television programmes reflecting the artist's showman qualities.

    The visitor will enter the World of Dali through an egg and is met with the beginning, the world of birth. The exhibition follows a path of time and subject with the visitor exiting through the brain.

    The exhibition shows how Dali draws the viewer between two infinities (无限). "From the infinity small to the infinity large, contraction and expansion coming in and out of focus: amazing Flemish accuracy and the showy Baroque of old painting that he used in his museum-theatre in Figueras," explains the Pompidou Centre.

    The fine selection of the major works was done in close collaboration (合作) with the Museo Nacional Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain, and with contributions from other institutions like the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.