Paying a higher price than usual for a ticket to see a film in 3D is the annoyance of many a cinema-goer's life.

    But there may be a benefit to doing so, as a study has found that 3D films exercise the brain and improve short-term functioning in a similar way to brain-training tests.

    The research found that people who watched a movie in 3D improved cognitive (认知) skills, compared to those who watched it in 2D.

    The research was led by neuroscientist(神经学家) Dr Patrick Fagan from Goldsmiths University in London. More than 100 people took part in the experiment, where participants watched Disney film Big Hero 6 in either standard format or RealD 3D.

    They also carried out a brain-training-style test before and after seeing a section from the film. The test covered memory, reaction times and cognitive function and the results were compared later.

    According to the research, which was carried out in partnership with science group Thrill Laboratory, participants experienced a 23 percent increase in cognitive processing, as well as an 11 percent increase in reaction times.

     Fagan said that the results showed enough of an improvement in brain function to suggest that 3D could play a part in improving brain power in the future.

    “These findings are more significant than you might think,” he said. “It is a fact that people are living longer and there is a noticeable decline in cognitive brain function in old age which can worsen future quality of life. There has never been a better time to look at ways to improve brain function. The initial results of this study show that 3D films may potentially play a role in slowing this decline.”

    A second part of the experiment involved those watching the film being fitted with headsets that scanned brain activity and this too showed heightened (加强的) activity when watching 3D. According to the results, participants were seven percent more engaged with what they were watching, adding to argument that 3D movies are more like watching real-life—something Professor Brendan Walker from Thrill Laboratory agreed with.

    “As Professor Brendan Walker's test concluded, 3D films are more attractive and heighten the senses — this, in turn, makes the brain run at quicker speeds,” Dr Fagan said.

Fitting in fitness

    Do you find excuses not to exercise? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are a few ways to get you going.

Do what you love.

    The easiest way to fall into the habit of doing exercise is to choose an activity you enjoy — one that doesn't feel like exercise, even though it is. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} If you play to your strengths, you'll find fitness activities you can enjoy for years.

Choose your hour.

    Studies have shown that people who work out in the morning are most likely to stick with a routine. By doing exercise before the day starts, they can avoid the last-minute scheduling conflicts. But if you' re not a morning person, choose whatever time works best for you. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

Call it by another name.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If it's something you have to do anyway — like washing the car or planting some bushes in the yard — you'll achieve two goals at once.

Partner up.

    Exercise is more fun when you do it with others. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} On days when your motivation is low, you' re more likely to stick with the programme to avoid disappointing your exercise partners. You can also train with an expert. A personal trainer will help you set goals, design a personalized fitness programme, and vary your routine to keep it challenging.

    While dog keepers realize their dogs can read their moods accurately,scientists have always been a little doubtful.Now thanks to some researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna,Austria,we finally have some convincing evidence.

    For their study,biologist Corson Miller and his team exposed eleven selected dogs to digital images of women that were either angry or happy.Half the dogs were rewarded for touching the screen when shown a happy face,while the other half got their treat for selecting those that appeared angry.

    Interestingly,the dogs were not provided with the entire face.Some dogs were shown only upper halves while the others observed lower halves.That's because the scientists believe humans show their emotions on their entire face.

    After some training like how to recognize small differences like the wrinkles between the eyes or the changes in their shape that accompany the happy or angry expressions,the dogs were mostly able to identify the correct expression not only on a familiar face but on a strange face.The researchers concluded the dogs were smart enough to read human emotions.

    They also found those being trained to read angry expressions took a longer time to learn.They guess it may be because dogs find angry faces disgusting,causing them to withdraw quickly.However,once the smart dogs realized they were getting rewarded,the trepidation seemed to disappear.In fact,the dogs had such a good time playing the computer "game" that scientists had a hard time keeping them away from the touch screens after the study was completed.

    The researchers also noticed only dogs with a male owner had a harder time understanding the expressions correctl. Since the touchscreen models were all females, this confirmed what has been observed in previous studies-dogs are more efficient at reading facial expressions of people that are the same gender as their owner.

    I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn't think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.

    I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.

    It takes confidence to make a new start — there's a dark period in-between where you're neither one thing nor the other. You're out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you're too ashamed to say, “Well, I'm writing a novel, but I'm not quite sure if I'm going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published ,

    I put it aside.

    Then I met an agent（代理商）who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.

    The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal — that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.

    It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck — of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there's no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding.

    Many years ago, there lived a poor fisherman. His only companion was his dog. They might be seen walking on the white sandy beach.

    The dog was always beside his master as the fisherman made his little boat ready to sail. When the man pulled out to sea each morning, the dog would run up on the high ridge (山岭). There he would sit and watch all day. The dog never moved until late afternoon when he saw the little boat return. Then he would race back to the shore to greet his master.

    As the years went by, the fisherman grew older. So did the faithful dog. The fisherman still went out to sea. The dog still watched for his return, sitting on the high ridge.

    One early morning in September, the fisherman was getting his little boat ready. All at once the dog began to bark. He circled around the fisherman and tugged at his trousers. The fisherman could not remember when he had seen his dog act so strangely. He patted the dog's back, thinking the dog wanted to play. But nothing made any difference. Then the man climbed into the boat and sailed away. The dog went to his watching place, still barking.

    There were other fishing boats out that morning. Suddenly the soft wind changed. It began to blow wildly. The fisherman's boat was seized by the wind and whirled around (随风旋转) .The sky darkened. Rain began to fall.

    "It's a hurricane!" said the fisherman." The man thought of his dog at once. Had the dog left the ridge and run home? Or was he still sitting there? The fisherman tried to drive his boat and turn it toward the shore. Suddenly a great wave swept over his head and tossed the boat away (卷走).

    The next morning, the hurricane was over. The families of the other fishermen ran to the shore. They watched for the return of the boats. They waited and waited, but no one returned. Then the people went slowly back to their homes and started a new life. As they rebuilt their village, no one gave a thought to the fisherman's dog.

    Several months later a group of villagers was out gathering sea grapes (海葡萄). They noticed what appeared to be the figure of a dog sitting high on the ridge.

    "Look" said one." Isn't that the old fisherman's dog?"

    "How could it be, after all this time?" said another.

    When the man reached the spot, he found only a rock—a rock shaped like a dog. But as soon as the people looked up again, they saw the stone dog. He just sat there on top of the ridge, waiting, waiting…

    There's a song by the great Jamaican singer Bob Marley called So Much Trouble In The World. Marley understood that part of the reason why there are so many problems in the world is the lack of tolerance between people. The UN understands this too—that's why it made Nov 16 "International Day for Tolerance".

    But first of all, what is tolerance? French philosopher Voltaire (1694—1778) can give us some help. According to him, tolerance "is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty (脆弱) and error; let us pardon each other's folly—that is the first law of nature."

    Nobody's perfect. When we're tempted to criticize another person, we should perhaps remember our own imperfections first.

    Very often, people don't realize that they're intolerant. This is because intolerance has a lot to do with ignorance. For example, the UN's campaign is in part about the treatment of females by males. But often, the behavior of men toward women is intolerant because men don't put themselves in the shoes of women.

    It's worth thinking a little about the words "tolerance" and "intolerance". Are they the best words to describe the evils of which we're speaking here? To agree to be "tolerant" of someone isn't necessarily a very respectful thing. When someone is tolerated, it implies that there's something wrong with them.

    But it seems wrong that people should agree to "tolerate" people with black skin, for example. And should women think they have received the respect they are due when men agree to "tolerate" them?

    Still, what Voltaire said stands: We humans are not perfect and this weakness is something that we all share. That's the reason we should be tolerant.

    It's a little like generosity. We can give things to another person, and we can also give our forgiveness. Bob Marley understood this. In the song mentioned above, he advised: "Write your love on a rock so it stays for eternity; write your hate in the sand so the waves will wash it away."