“A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with asmart phone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website” is the definitionof “selfie” in the Oxford English Dictionary. In fact, it wasn't even in thedictionary until August of last year. It earned its place there because peopleare now so obsessed with (对……痴迷) selfies ─ wetake them when we try on a new hat, play with our pets or when we meet a friendwhom we haven't seen in a while.

But is there any scientific explanation for this obsession?Well, you should probably ask James Kilner, a neuroscientist(神经系统科学家) atUniversity College London.

Through our lifetime we become experts at recognizing andinterpreting other people's faces and facial expressions. In contrast,according to Kilner, we have a very poor understanding of our own faces sincewe have little experience of looking at them ─ we just feel them most of thetime.

This has been proved in previous studies, according to the BBC.

Kilner found that most people chose the more attractive picture.This suggests that we tend to think of ourselves as better-looking than weactually are. To further test how we actually perceive our own faces,Kilner carried out another study. He showed people different versions of theirown portrait ─ the original, one that had been edited to look less attractiveand one that was made more attractive ─ and asked them to pick the versionwhich they thought looked most like them. They chose the more attractiveversion.

But what does it say about selfies? Well, isn't that obvious?Selfies give us the power to create a photograph ─ by taking it from variousangles, with different poses, using filters (滤色镜) and so on ─that better matches our expectations with our actual faces.

“You suddenly have control in a way that you don't have innon-virtual(非虚拟的)interactions," Kilner told the Canada-based CTV News. Selfies allow you“to keep taking pictures until you manage to take one you're happy with”, heexplained.

    The mobile phone has become a problem for high schools. Some high-school students in Australia are not allowed to carry mobile phones during school hours.

    The mobile phone used among children has become a problem for the school years. Several children have got mobile phones as Christmas presents, and more students want them. Marry Brown, a headmaster, said that the mobile phone was a distraction to students during school hours and it also gave teachers so much trouble in their classrooms. Teachers also say that sometimes students might use phone messages to cheat during exams.

    She said some schools had tried to ban mobile phones.  Some parents felt unhappy because they couldn't get in touch with their children.

    Many teachers said students should not have mobile phones at school, if there was a good reason, they could leave their phones at school office. They also said phones were easily lost and were a distraction for studies.

    Many people say that they understand why parents would want their children to have phones, but they think schools should let students know when they can use their mobile phones.

    Michael Jackson (1958-2009) spent many of his later years alone in a mansion called Neverland.The name “Neverland” is taken from the children's story Peter Pan.It's about boy who never grows up.Cruel critics of Jackson thought he was like Peter Pan,but that he was childish rather than childlike.They laughed at his taste,his clothes and his pet chimpanzee,Bubbles.

    But perhaps Jackson acted like a child because he hadn't had a proper childhood.He began to work as a professional singer at the age of 9, performing with a group made up of his brothers.Besides working with this group. The Jackson Five,be also had a solo career.He didn't choose to make music like this;he was under a lot of pressure from his father and the music business.He started young and began to sell lots of records while he was still young. With this kind of pressure,who can blame him for living in his own way once he'd become an adult and gotten rich enough lo do what he liked?

    His great originality came from the fact that he wrote,performed and recorded music that appealed to different communities.Before there had been “white” music and “black” music.But Jackson made “crossover” music,songs that had parts of funk,rock ‘n' roll and disco in them.He broke down a lot of barriers with this approach.A great example of this “crossover” style is the song Beat It.It has guitars like rock music,but it also has a beat like disco music.

    If you look up the Beat It video on the Internet,you'll understand another reason for his fame.He made imaginative music that went well with equally imaginative videos.Beat It is,in part,about a war between young gangs. Jackson and his team made a great job of showing the rival gangs facing each other.You also see great dancing,and Jackson shows off his strong sense of fashion.Jackson was as much a video artist as a music artist.

    This is why he was such a hit not just in the United States,but also globally.People loved his music and videos everywhere.He had a great effect on so many household names.Britney Spears,Justin Bieber and many others.In all of them you can find the combination of catchy danceable music and great videos that Jackson started.His music videos were must-see TV,and young would-be artists learned that it took more than just holding a microphone if they really wanted to make it big.

It's almost camp season!

    Summer is wonderful. Summer at one of the following awesome camps? Even more wonderful.

Tahosa High Adventure Base

    Location: Ward, Colorado

    People puzzle: Tahosa's ropes courses are some of the nation's best. Use your hands, feet and brains to take up high-flying challenges and overcome your fears. Fly fishing at 9,000 feet? Yes. Fishing licenses or experience needed? No, sir!

    Choose your adventure: Go all-inclusive, where the staff prepares meals and runs the program, or take control and plan your perfect week. The choice is yours.

Camp Raymond

    Location: Parks, Arizona

    Don't look down: When looking up at the stars, light pollution is your enemy. But Camp Raymond's location and elevation (海拔) of 6,700 feet offer perfect conditions for seeing otherwise invisible stars.

    That's cool: Don't forget your camera and a jacket. During the day, you could spot bears and deer. At night, temperatures can fall sharply. Hot cocoa at summer camp? Cool.

Pamlico Sea Base

    Location: Blounts Creek, North Carolina.

    Go coastal: Explore the Carolina coast by boat. You choose the route, and Pamlico provides the equipment. Keep an eye out for wild horses, lighthouses and boatloads of fish.

    Set sail: Even if you don't know the difference between starboard and star-lord, Pamlico's sailing journey will make you a first-rate sailor in no time. You'll even practice finding your way using the stars.

Base Camp

    Location: St. Paul, Minnesota

    Big upgrade: What happens when you change a 1907 cavalry drill hall (骑兵训练场) into an adventure destination in the heart of the city? You get Base Camp for overnight lock-ins, weekend retreats (隐居处) and summer camp.

    Inside out: Most of Base Camp is indoors, meaning the activities like climbing walls can be undertaken on winter's coldest days.

    A recent study led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found a clear link between the color of a taxi and its accident rate. An analysis of 36 months of detailed taxi, driver and accident data from two fleets of yellow and blue taxis in Singapore suggested that yellow taxis have fewer accidents than blue taxis. The higher visibility (能见度)of yellow makes it easier for drivers to avoid getting into accidents with yellow taxis, leading to a lower accident rate.

    The study was led by Prof Ho. To test whether there was a causal relationship between the color of a taxi and the number of accidents the taxi had, the research team analysed data collected by the largest taxi company in Singapore. The researchers found that yellow taxis have about 6.1 fewer accidents per 1,000 taxis per month.

    The researchers also studied the economic effect of changing the color of the entire fleet of taxis to yellow. The Singapore taxi company involved in the study owns about 16,700 taxis in a ratio(比例) of one yellow to three blue taxis. If a commercial decision is made to switch from blue to yellow taxis, 76.6 fewer accidents would occur per month or 917 fewer accidents per year. Assuming an average repair cost of $1,000 per car and a downtime of six days, switching the color of all taxis to yellow could produce an annual savings of $2 million.

    "We are eager to continue to validate(证实) the findings of our study by looking at the use of yellow in other types of public transport, such as school buses. For instance, we hope to compare the accident rates of yellow school buses against other colors to find out if yellow is indeed a safer color for school buses. Besides, we are also interested to look at private-hire vehicles and do a comparison of the accident rates of vehicles that are of different colors," explained Prof Ho.

Dear Bobby Brune,

    Children learn best when they're having fun. “Jungle Gym Jimmy” is an article for parents and children that teaches playground safety and shows how simply playing can promote good health and fitness. The tips are given through the funny voice of the “tour guide” on the playground, seven—year-old Jimmy. By listening to Jimmy, children learn how to use the equipment safely and how to get the most fun out of a day on the playground.

    As a Kid Talk subscriber for the last seven years. I am very familiar with your publication, and feel this article would be a positive addition to the “I Can Do It” section of the magazine. The article is 2, 114 words, and has been divided into categories in a way that holds children's interest. Being a mother of four children and using our home as a meeting place for most of the neighborhood, I've had the opportunity to test and confirm that the fun and easy “exercises” offered here are not only effective but are lots of fun for kids.

    I've been writing children's stories and articles for several years, and have had many of my stories published in Kids Know Best, a small newspaper that the Cinder Primary School publishes each month. I'm also a founding member of the “Right On Baby” editorial group which publishes a monthly e—zine for parents with newborns, and I'm a contributing editor to “Write Now,” an online site that teaches creative writing.

    Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Claudia Parker