The Asian elephant has been respected for centuries and is still used today for ceremonies and religious purposes. It is respected, not only because it plays a role in Asian culture and religion, but also because it is a key biological species in the tropical forests of Asia.

    The Asian elephant is the largest land mammal in Asian. It is smaller than the African elephant, with relatively smaller ears. Asian elephants have a single “finger” on the upper lip of the long trunk, while African elephants have a second on the lower tip. A number of adult male Asian elephants have no tooth, and the percentage of males carrying ivory(象牙）is different from only about 5% in Sri Lanka to 90% in south India. Asian elephants keep their ears in constant motion in order to free the heat they produce. The species is reported to have well-developed hearing, vision, and smell , and they are also fine swimmers.

    Asian elephants prefer to convey something to form groups surrounding 6 to 7 related females that are led by the oldest female. Like African elephants, these groups occasionally join others to form herds, although these associations are relatively temporary.

    More than two thirds of the day may be spent feeding on grasses, but large amounts of tree bark, roots, leaves and small stems are also eaten. Crops such as bananas, rice and sugar plants are favored foods. Besides, they need to drink at least twice a day so the source of water is quite important.

    The Asian elephant used to live from modern Irap and Syria to the Yellow River in China at first, but it is now found only from India to Vietnam, with a tiny population in the extreme southwest of China's Yunnan Province. More than 100,000 Asian elephants may have existed at the start of the 20^th century. The population is estimated to have fallen by at least 50% over the last 60-75 years.

    In the early times,the music industry was terrified of taping,thinking that customers would just copy music,or record from the radio.But that never really happened,at least not enough to cause any real hardship to anyone in the music business.

    The same argument arose over technologies like miniDisc and recordable CDs.But the thing that terrified the music industry more than anything else was the arrival of services like Napster,which allowed people to share music over the Internet without costing them anything.The music industry was shocked: it saw people exchanging digital copies that didn't degrade（降级）with each transfer,something that kept tapes from being a huge threat.

    But it wasn't the Internet that killed the music industry.In fact,everything is still looking optimistic for many musicians.Taylor Swift has had a good year,and her latest album is likely to be making her very wealthy indeed.And that won't change in all likelihood,not for Swift,and not for those who come after her.There is always going to be public demand for music.

    However,the technology will simply destroy the record company.The reason is simple.Record companies are a man in the middle that simply doesn't need to exist anymore.The same way we buy our flights directly did get our shopping online and have things delivered from Amazon instead of going to a local shop.We have always been willing to enjoy cost reductions at the expense of the middleman and the record companies are that kind of middleman.

    What does the record industry offer?Well,surprisingly little these days.It used to be the case that record companies would go and find new talents.Of course this still happens,but more likely is that an artist will be discovered by the public through YouTube,or even from friends on Facebook or Twitter.Record companies also used to have an important role in producing the music.But countless artists are making their own way through software or any of the other amazing music development apps,without any help from the record companies.

How to Survive Exam Stress

    Exam time is one of the most stressful in school, whether it is high school, college or graduate school. Even the best students feel the pressure. The first sign of a problem while preparing for an exam is worry{#blank#}1{#/blank#} If we can get rid of worries, or at least control them, then we're in a much better position to do well on our tests. Take the following steps to survive exam stress and increase your overall performance as a result.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}What causes you anxiety when you are studying? Too much noise? Then move to a quieter place. Delayed work? Catch up with your studies a couple nights before. That way you can save the final night before the exam to review and get a good night of sleep.

    The second way to deal with worry is to displace thoughts. Suppose you wake up at three in the morning and you're worried about an exam. What do you do?{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Doing something productive might allow you to sleep better when you finally do go back to bed.

    Another way to displace negative thoughts is to do something physically active. Work out. Take a quick walk or a nice run{#blank#}4{#/blank#}For example, I might worry about the exam having surprise questions that I'm not prepared to answer. But I can shove those thoughts aside by reminding myself that I've taken many exams and I've handled surprise questions before.

    The third option is to treat the symptoms. Keep things in perspective. Think of one final exam that causes you the most anxiety. Now think of the worst thing that could happen. If you've prepared, then likely the worst grade you could get is a C. And, if you've been applying what we've been talking about, then you'll likely to do no worse than a B. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. How bad is that really?

B. The first is to delete the causes.

C. Another idea is to think positive thoughts.

D. Worry robs us of energy, focus and motivation.

E. How about getting up and studying for an hour?

F. What we should do is to think positively and get rid of it.

G. So just face the result bravely and make an effort to improve your grade.

    A survey has shown that what you do on a plane can be determined by which nationality is listed on your passport.

    According to the results of an international passenger survey, Australians are the biggest drinkers on board with 36 percent choosing to down the hatch, compared to 35 percent of Americans and 33 percent of Brits.

    The Airline Passenger Experience Association(APEX) spoke to around 1,500 people, aged 18 and older, who have traveled by plane at least once during the last three months and were living in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, Singapore, Australia and Brazil.

The results found Chinese travelers are most likely to nod off once the seat-belt sign switches off. They are also the first to take out their credit card for some in-flight shopping and the biggest fans of gaming. Americans on the other hand like to use their time in the air more productively—- when not drinking—- choosing to work while flying at 35,000 feet.

Meanwhile, Brits and Germans are the best at making chat with random strangers—-spending 50 percent more time than any other nationality. Comparatively, Brazilians conduct their conversations online via email, messaging apps or social media.

    Despite plane food having a bad reputation, seven out of ten interviewees said they were happy to eat up on the selection of in-flight snacks and meals. In-flight magazines were also popular with four out of five passengers.

    The international flyers did however express their desire for better in-flight entertainment. “The industry has greatly improved the comfort, entertainment and onboard service, and passengers are accepting those improvements” said Russell Lemieux, APEX executive director. “At the same time, passengers are demanding more from their air travel experiences which will drive more improvements touching all aspects of the journey.” he added.

    It was a morning in January. The jet stream (急流)had dipped down, causing the Arctic cold to reach the mountains of my home. It was only 2 degrees outside, but the cold wind made it feel like it was 15 below zero. Still, I was kneeling in the snow alongside my house trying to open a tiny door, so I eoukl get in. 1 had forgotten to leave my water dripping the night before and now my water pipes were frozen and my faucets(水龙头)were dry.

    The wind cut into me like a knife while I struggled to get two electric heaters in place around the section of frozen pipes. The waterlines were buried except for a small piece that connected up to my house. I put a heater on each side of it, ran the extension cords(软线)into my house and plugged them in. Both heaters roared to life and started blowing hot air on the frozen water pipes. My fingers had already started to go numb, so I stayed inside to wait. I could only hope that this bit of warmth could get my water flowing again. Finally, after twenty minutes, the water started flowing through my faucets again. I went back outside into the biller cold and gathered my heaters up. I looked at the weak January sun shining on the frozen snow and smiled. Then I sent a joy filled with "Thank you" heavenward and returned inside to make myself a hot breakfast.

    Sometimes the coldness of this life can get to us as well. It can make our hearts feel icy and frozen. It can keep our kindness and love from flowing out to others. Sometimes, though, all we need is a bit of warnth to get us going again. It can be a simple smile, a kind word, a heart-felt hug, a morning sunrise, a bird's song or any gentle reminder of just how much God loves us. Let us all be grateful for those bits of warmth that gel us going again. And let us all try to be that bit of wannth for others every chance we get.

    There's a world of difference between a horror movie and a comedy—the former scares you half to death while the latter leaves you rolling on the floor with laughter. But try watching them without the background music and you just might decide they're not so different after all. Music and movies have been closely connected since the beginning of the film industry—even before the voices of actors were recorded. In movies, music helps to provide a sense of time and place, convey ideas about the characters and, most importantly, draw emotions out of the audience.

    Studies have long shown that our heart rates and anxiety levels rise and fall depending on the speed of the music we hear. Using this knowledge, composers use sudden changes in film music speed to create fear among audiences. Slowing the speed of the music will have the opposite effect, bringing about a sense of peace or a dreamlike quality. The use of dissonant (不和谐的) tones and noises is another technique that heightens tension. Humans naturally become unnerved when we hear dissonant sounds because such noises are usually associated with danger, like those that animals make to warn against predators (捕食者).

    As crucial as it is, the best film music is subtle. All that audiences are supposed to feel is a heightened sense of emotion—they shouldn't realize what's causing it. Only when the music is taken out of the film should audiences understand its effects.

    In keeping with this principle, some filmmakers are even using what's called "infrasound" (次声波) to arouse fear. While we may not be able to hear it because its frequency is below the range of the human ear, infrasound has been proven to cause anxiety, tremble and even sorrow. For example, infrasound was used in the soundtrack of the 2007 horror movie Paranormal Activity, and audiences reposed extremely high fear levels despite the 1ack of action throughout the movie. "It doesn't affect everyone equally," said British science writer Philip Ball, author of The Music Instinct, but he predicted that "we will see more of it used in movies in the future".