Anxiety has now surpassed depression as the most common mental health disease among college students, though depression, too, is on the rise. More than half of students visiting campus clinics cite anxiety as a health concern, according to a recent study of more than 100,000 students nationwide by the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State. Nearly one in six college students has been diagnosed with or treated for anxiety within the last 12 months, according to the annual national survey by the American College Health Association.

    The causes range widely, experts say, from mounting academic pressure at earlier ages to overprotective parents to engagement with social media. Anxiety has always played a role in the development of a student's life, but now more students experience anxiety so acute that they are seeking professional help. Like many college clinics, the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Central Florida (UCF)— one of the country's largest and fastest-growing universities, has seen sharp increases in the number of clients: 15.2 percent over last year alone.

    Anxiety has become characteristic of the current generation of college students, said Dan Jones, the director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Appalachian State University in Boone, N. C. Because of increasingly pressures during high school, he and other experts say, students arrive at college preloaded with stress. Accustomed to extreme parental oversight, many seem unable to govern themselves. And with parents so accessible, students have had less incentive to develop life skills. “They can't tolerate discomfort or having to struggle,” Dr Jones said.

    More often, anxiety is mild and temporary, the indication of a student under the control of a normal developmental issue-learning time management, for example, or how to handle rejection from a sorority. Mild anxiety is often treatable with early, modest interventions. But to care for rising numbers of severely troubled students, many counseling centers have moved to triage protocols (分诊措施). That means that students with less urgent needs may wait several weeks for first appointments.

    Like many college counseling centers, UCF has designed a variety of daily workshops and therapy groups that implicitly and explicitly address anxiety, depression and their triggers. Next fall the center will test a new app for treating anxiety with a seven-module cognitive behavioral program, accessible through a student's phone and augmented with brief videoconferences with a therapist. It also offers semester-long, 90-minute weekly therapy groups, such as “Keeping Calm and in Control”, “Mindfulness for Depression” and “Building Social Confidence” -for students struggling with social anxiety.

    Scientists from the University of East Anglia have identified four new man-made gases that are contributing to the damage to the ozone(臭氧) layer. Two of the gases are accumulating at a rate that is causing concern among researchers.

    Worries over the growing ozone hole have seen the production of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases restricted since the mid 1980s. But the precise origin of these new, similar substances remains a mystery.

    Lying in the atmosphere, the ozone layer plays a critical role in blocking harmful UV rays, which cause cancers in humans and reproductive problems in animals.

    Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey were the first to discover a huge “hole” in the ozone over Antarctica in 1985. The evidence quickly pointed to CFC gases, which were invented in the 1920s, and were widely used in refrigeration. Extraordinarily, global action was rapidly agreed to deal with CFCs and the Montreal Protocol to limit these substances came into being in 1987. A total global ban on production came into force in 2010.

    Now, the newly discovered four new gases can destroy ozone and are getting into the atmosphere from as yet unidentified sources. Three of the gases are CFCs and one is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC), which can also damage ozone.

    The research has shown that four gases were not around in the atmosphere at all until the 1960s, which suggests they are man-made. The scientists discovered the gases by analyzing polar snow pack. Air from this snow is a natural archive of what was in the atmosphere up to 100 years ago. There searchers also looked at modern air samples, collected at remote Cape Grim in Tasmania.

    They estimate that about 74,000 tonnes of these gases have been released into the atmosphere. Two of the gases are accumulating at significant rates. However, they don't know where the new gases are being released from and this should be investigated. Possible sources include chemicals for insecticide (杀虫剂)production and solvents (溶液) for cleaning electronic components. The three CFCs are being destroyed very slowly in :the atmosphere—so even if emissions (散发)were to stop immediately, they will still be around for many decades to come.

    Of the four species identified, CFC-113a seems the most worrying as there is a very small but growing emission source somewhere, maybe from agricultural insecticides. We should find it and take it out of production.

    These days, it seems that almost all of us are too serious. My older daughter often says to me, "Daddy, you've got that serious look again." Even those of us who are committed to non-seriousness are probably too serious. People are frustrated and anxious about almost everything—being five minutes late, witnessing someone look at us wrong or say the wrong thing, paying bills, waiting in line, overcooking a meal, making an honest mistake -- you name it, and we all lose perspective（理性判断）over it.

    The root of being anxious is our unwillingness to accept life as being different, in any way, from our expectation. Very simply, we want things to be a certain way but they're not a certain way. Life is simply as it is. Perhaps Benjamin Franklin said it best: "Our limited perspective, our hopes and fears become our measure of life, and when circumstances don't fit our ideas, they become our difficulties." We spend our lives wanting things, people, and events to be just as we want them to be—and when they're not, we fight and we suffer.

    The first step in recovering from over-seriousness is to admit that you have a problem. You have to want to change, to become more easygoing. You have to see that your own anxiety is largely of your own creation—it's made up of the way you have set up your life and the way you react to it.

    The next step is to understand the link between your expectations and your frustration level. Whenever you expect something to be a certain way and it isn't, you're upset and you suffer. On the other hand, when you let go of your expectations, when you accept life as it is, you're free.

    A good exercise is to try to approach a single day without expectation. Don't expect people to be friendly. When they're not, you won't be surprised or bothered; if they are, you'll be delighted. Don't expect your day to be problem-free. Instead, as problems come up, say to yourself, "Ah, another barrier to overcome." As you approach your day in this manner you'll notice how elegant life can be. Rather than fighting against life, you'll be dancing with it. Pretty soon, with practice, you'll lighten up your entire life. And when you lighten up, life is a lot more fun.

    As my dad unwrapped（打开）the new bicycle helmet（头盔）that I got him for his birthday, I realized that a number of people ride their bicycles every day without the protection of a helmet.

      Due to cold winters across the country, riding has become increasingly dangerous as many roads have holes and are torn-up（磨损的）. Not everyone realizes that there are laws requiring the wearing of helmets in many places.

    Where I live, there has been a law in place since October 1, 1992 stating that cyclists of all ages are required to wear helmets. Unfortunately, accidents can happen to the best of riders. My dad has been a cyclist for many years, and he often rides around my county and to Rockland Lake State Park.

    One afternoon, as he was just entering the park, he lost control of his bicycle and flew off and landed on a nearby patch of grass, breaking his helmet into pieces and losing consciousness（知觉）. When he was just awakening, a lovely couple found him and brought him back to our house, where he attempted to recall the events leading up to his fall. Later that day, a CAT scan showed that he had a concussion (脑震荡). That evening, while my dad was showing me the pieces of his broken helmet, we both came to a shocking realization.

    If he had not worn his helmet, he probably would have cracked his skull and perhaps died. Today, when my dad and I go out cycling, the wearing of our helmets is not even a question. Regardless of age, everyone should wear a helmet whenever they get on a bicycle.

    One afternoon I toured an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting. I was looking forward to a quiet view of the art works.

    A young couple viewing the paintings ahead of me chatted nonstop between themselves. I watched them a moment and decided the wife was doing all the talking. I admired his patience for putting up with her continuous talk. Distracted by their noise, I moved on.

    I met with them several times as I moved through the different rooms of art. Each time I heard her constant burst of words, I moved away quickly.

    I was standing at the counter of the museum gift shop making a purchase when the couple came near to the exit. Before they left, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a white object. He extended it into a long stick and then tapped his way into the coatroom to get his wife's jacket.

    "He's a brave man.," the clerk at the counter said, "Most of us would give up if we were blinded at such a young age. During his recovery, he made a promise that his life wouldn't change. So, as before, he and his wife come in whenever there's a new art show."

    "But what does he get out of the art?" I asked. "He can't see."

    "Can't see? You're wrong. He sees a lot. More than you or I do," the clerk said. "His wife describes each painting so he can see it in his head."

    I learned something about patience, courage and love that day. I saw the patience of a young wife describing paintings to a person without sight and the courage of a husband who would not allow blindness to change his life. And I saw the love shared by two people as I watched this couple walk away.

    When we see cute babies, or adorable baby animals, many of us feel a strong urge to squeeze or pinch them or even bite them. Scientists call this strange response "cute aggression".

    Stavropoulos's team gathered 54 people to look at 32 pictures of four sets. One set contained photos of cute baby animals. Another set contained pictures of less-cute, fully grown animals. The other two sets were photos of human babies which were digitally edited. One set was changed to emphasize features we find cute, such as big eyes and full cheeks. The other was edited to reduce those features.

    The scientists found that the participants had much more feelings of cute aggression towards images of baby animals than those of adult animals. Surprisingly, this difference was not seen from the two sets of human baby pictures in comparison.

    To assess cute aggression, the participants were asked questions about the degree of wanting to aggress the subjects of the photos, and of wanting to care for them. Scientists suspect these responses are associated with not only the brain's emotional systems, but also its reward systems, which adjust motivation, pleasure and feelings of "wanting".

    Cute aggression may give humans the highly adaptive ability to control emotional response. To limit the motivation of positive feelings, the brain gives commands of the aggression. In other words, the brain throws in a bit of aggression to keep the good feelings from becoming uncontrolled. "If you find yourself fascinated by how cute a baby is, —so much so that you simply can't control it—that baby is going to starve." It stops us from investing too much energy into cute things. So, there is no need to feel bad for the desire to pinch them at the sight of cute babies. It's not because we're mean people. The "unfriendly" movement of our fingers is just our brain's way of making sure nothing gets too cute to handle.