TEEN ZONE

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    At the Newton Public Library

    REGISTER FOR A SUMMER OF STORIES

    Sign up and receive your reading log at the Circulation Desk. Record books you read over the summer and have a parent sign next to each title. The top five readers will receive prizes such as gift cards, magazine subscriptions, and movie tickets.

    TEEN ZONE RESOURCES

Look to the Teen Zone's “Ready Reference” comer for all the help you need to locate information on the Internet. Ms. Frye, the librarian, will share tips on keyword searches to find interesting information about certain books. You must have a signed parent permission slip before using the computers. Access is limited to 30 minutes and is on a first-come, first-served basis.

    EVENTS

    Poetry Session                Monday, June 16                6:00-8:00 P.M.

    Teen poets can be literary celebrities for a night by reading their original work at this special event. Friends and family members are encouraged to attend and show their support. A few original poems may be selected for publication in the next library newsletter. Food and drinks will be provided

Learn Origami                Wednesday, June 4                3:00-4:00 P.M.

    This class provides books and instruction in the ancient Japanese art of folding colourful squares of paper into shapes, such as birds, insects, or flowers.

Eco Crafts with Jasleen        Wednesday, June 11            3:00-4:00 P.M.

    Make earth-friendly crafts from recyclable materials. With guidance from a talented teacher and books, you will make new creations from everyday items. Start recycling today, and bring items to share with the group.

Magazine and Book Art        Wednesday, June 18            3:00-4:00 P.M.

    The library needs to beautify the walls of the Teen Zone. We will be transforming artwork from old books and magazines into unique masterpieces to frame and hang on the walls. Put your creative spin on some photographs, and help ensure that the Teen Zone remains the highlight of the library.

    Note: Registration is required for all the events. Register at the Circulation Desk or by calling 1-800-290-5992. Space is limited, so reserve your spot soon!

    Traffic Light Reading is one of students' favorites! And it's so simple. Here's what to do: Take three pens in different colors, most suitably red, orange and green. But it's not too important as long as teachers and students are both clear on the colour code they're going to use.

    Students read a text, not worrying too much about how much they understand. Teachers can ask them to re-read when students are paying attention to vocabulary. Start by underlining the words that they understand completely (including names, numbers etc) in green.

    Then students re-read the text and underline the words that look familiar-they maybe know them but aren't too sure about them. You guessed it: in orange.

    Finally, students read the text a third time underlining the words they clearly don't understand in red. Sometimes teachers might want to set students a limit for how many red words they underline, telling them only to underline the words that they believe are seriously blocking their understanding of the text as a whole. Generally, however, students are pleasantly surprised by how few words are red and how many are green. Seeing their ability laid out in a visual way really helps to increase confidence.

    Once the whole text is underlined, teachers can give students a limit of 5, 10 or 15 words, depending on the length of the text, and tell them they're only allowed to look these words up in a dictionary. This helps them to recognize words that are actually getting in the way of their understanding of the text and words that they don't know but actually don't impact their whole understanding of the text.

    This is a useful activity that can be done with a printed text, in a Google Doc, on RealtimeBoard, or set as a homework task for some independent study.

    Parents and kids today dress alike, listen to the same music, and are friends. Is this a good thing? Sometimes, when Mr. Ballmer and his 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, listen to rock music together and talk about interests both enjoy, such as pop culture, he remembers his more distant relationship with his parents when he was a teenager.

    “I would never have said to my mom, 'Hey, the new Weezer album is really great. How do you like it?''' says Ballmer. “There was just a complete gap in taste.”

    Music was not the only gulf. From clothing and hairstyles to activities and expectations, earlier generations of parents and children often appeared to move in separate orbits.

    Today, the generation gap has not disappeared, but it is getting narrow in many families. Conversations on subjects such as sex and drugs would not have taken place a generation ago. Now they are comfortable and common. And parent-child activities, from shopping to sports, involve a feeling of trust and friendship that can continue into adulthood.

    No wonder greeting cards today carry the message, “To my mother, my best friend.”

    But family experts warn that the new equality can also result in less respect for parents. “There's still a lot of strictness and authority on the part of parents out there, but there is a change happening,” says Kerrie, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College. “In the middle of that change, there is a lot of confusion among parents.”

    Family researchers offer a variety of reasons for these evolving roles and attitudes. They see the 1960s as a turning point. Great cultural changes led to more open communication and a more democratic process that encourages everyone to have a say.

    “My parents were on the 'before' side of that change, but today's parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the 'after' side,” explains Mr. Ballmer, “It's not something easily accomplished by parents these days, because life is more difficult to understand or deal with, but sharing interests does make it more fun to be a parent now.”

    Zero gravity looks cool. But what about the thing no one likes to talk about? Yes, that is right: going to the bathroom. Zero gravity makes this everyday task quite a challenge. Astronauts have to be toilet-trained all over again.

    The Apollo astronauts raised themselves off the seat of their chairs and stuck a clear plastic bag to their back sides with sticky strips. A second astronaut watched closely to be sure no waste matter escaped the seal. (You would not want that stuff floating around the cabin!) When the deed was done, the astronaut cleaned up with a piece of plastic attached to the inside of the bag, removed the bag, dropped a disinfectant(消毒剂) pill in with the waste matter, and put the whole thing, sealed, into a special container.

    Donald W. Rethke, an engineer for Hamilton Standard Space Systems, developed a more private way to answer nature's call: the space toilet. It is somewhat like the kind of toilet one would find on commercial airplanes--with unique adaptations for zero gravity, of course. For instance, it has thigh bars that keep the astronaut from floating off the seat.

    The astronaut (male or female) defecates (排便) in a bag and urinates (排尿) in a hose. Solid and liquid wastes are kept separated because at least 85% of the urine is recycled and, yes, after careful filtration(过滤), used for drinking and other purposes. (Water is always in demand in space.) A vacuum sucks the waste materials into the toilet, where the waste is compacted into hamburger-like patties for easy storage. Although not exactly like an earthbound visit to the toilet, it is at the very least much more private than in the early days of space travel.

    Nowadays, especially in China, everything seems to favor social intercourse, such as gatherings of friends, KTV, group travel, dining togethter, playing cards and Mahjong, plus the Chinese-style “street-crossing group.” Back home, discussions can still be boisterously carried on within the “circle of friends” of WeChat.

      However, these scenes cannot always ease a sense of loneliness. Zhu Ziqing, a well-known professor of Tsinghua University, signed with emotion: “My loneliness increases as scene becomes much busier.” One popular song today is also called “A lonely man in crowds.” Actually, engaging in social intercourse requires ability, while being alone involves the whole character.

    These days, it is not easy to calm down totally and return to one's true self. Willpower, intellect and discipline are required. Einstein said: “It is not your working time but your spare time that determines the possibility of whether you will be successful or not.” The “spare time” he referred to could be taken as “spending time by yourself.”

    Lonely life could be either dull, boring and tasteless or abundant, interesting and colorful, depending on one's quality, ambition and inspiration.

    Just as the body constantly requires energy, the mind and soul also demand unceasing inputs. However, information, to processed and integrated(融入)into knowledge, thoughts and feelings, instead of bustle(忙碌)seems to be the right condition. Successful careers in all walks of life worldwide have proved that “the soul grows in peace and talent is nurtured in loneliness”. In a sense, it may be reasonable to say that “Happiness tends to be shallow while loneliness involves profundity”.

    Man, in fact, needs loneliness more than happy time, and only abundant loneliness can produce quality happiness.