New research shows sheep are clever

    People often make jokes about how dull sheep are, but new research shows they may be cleverer than we think. Researchers at the University of Cambridge discovered that Welsh mountain sheep have brainpower that equals rodents (啮齿动物). Tests found that the sheep can map the area they live in, and some may even be able to plan ahead.

    Young fish prefer noisy neighbors

    A new study has shown that young fish like to live on reefs (暗礁) with noisy neighbors! Researchers from the universities of Auckland and Bristol found that young fish looking for a home choose areas where other noisy fish live. The scientists produced all kinds of sounds which had been recorded in different natural environments. The young fish seemed to prefer the sounds of natural reefs, compared with noisy animals! The scientists compared the choice to a music fan wandering around at a music festival, choosing to set up a tent closest to the music they like best!

    Butterflies are disappearing

    A new study has shown that 17 species (物种) of butterfly found in Europe have dropped by 70% in the last 20 years. The information collected from 3,000 sites across 15 countries shows it may be caused by the loss (减少) of grasslands covered with flowers. You can encourage butterflies to come into your garden by planting flowers.

    Many years ago, when we first went to Canada, we were driving through Montana to Colorado with our two children. We thought we would find a motel（汽车旅馆）on the way and had not made a booking. As it was getting late, we started looking for a motel, only to find that all were booked.

    Finally, around 9 p.m., we stopped at a gas station to fill up on gas. My husband asked for a phone book and told the woman at the counter that we were trying to find a motel. He tried for 15 minutes. When he was unsuccessful, the woman, Linda, said she and her family lived nearby and would be happy if we spent the night at her home.

    My husband was stunned at her offer. She called her son to direct us, since she had to stay at the gas station till midnight.

    When we reached their home, her husband greeted us. He took out two sleeping bags for the children. He invited us to have coffee and chat while we waited for his wife. When she came back, we asked if we could slip away in the morning so as not to disturb them. They said we were now guests and we would have to have breakfast with them.

    We woke up to a table set for breakfast. They'd made a mountain of pancakes and bacon. We ate breakfast, and when we were leaving, my husband asked if he could offer some payment.

    They insisted we were their guests. We left moved by their spirit of hospitality(好客). We were amazed that they would take in a family of total strangers from a different country. We kept in touch for many years. Over the years, we lost touch, but have never forgotten their kindness.

    When it comes to generation gap (代沟), we usually think of different tastes in music, or pastimes. But now the generation gap is handwriting. After one teacher in Tennessee discovered that she had students who couldn't read what she was writing on the board, she posted it on the Internet saying that handwriting should be taught in schools.

    Others who are against it claim that handwriting has become out of time in our modern world. Typed words have become a main form of communication. Once a practical skill, handwriting is no longer used by most of Americans. It is no longer taught in schools, and some claim that the time that it would take to teach it could be put to better use, for example, by teaching the technical skills.

    But even in today's world there are still plenty of reasons to pick up a pen and write on the paper. In America, signatures (签字) by hand are still often required, for example, signing for a registered letter and buying a house. And original signatures are much more difficult to fake (伪造).

    There is also strong evidence that writing by hand is good for the mind. It makes a different part of the brain active and improves fine moving skills in young children. People are also more likely to remember what they write by hand than what they type, and the process of writing by hand has been shown to stimulate ideas. Not only those, studies have shown that kids who write by hand learn to read and spell earlier than those who don't.

    Yes, we live in a modern world, but we live in a modern world of basic and important values.

    Your local grocery store is a psychological minefield (布雷区), where even the bananas are ripe with mystery.

    ⒈Southpaws (左撇子) have an invisible advantage

    You've probably seen that stores keep go-to items produce, meats, dairy on the outer edge. But did you notice that most of them are set up to make you run counterclockwise (逆时针)? Ninety percent of us are right-handed, so we buy more when it's counterclockwise. You'll also often find the dairy section in the back-left corner: Because dairy is likely on your list, stores make sure you take the longest route to get there. In fairness, it's also a more convenient place to put a fridge.

    ⒉Everything is in its place

    It's safe to say that nothing you see on a shelf is there by chance. The cookies on sale at the end of a passage are likely the result of smart product placement. More expensive items are usually placed at an adult's eye level, while colorful treats and other products for kids are positioned lower to catch the attention of children.

    ⒊Time goes by so slowly

    Stores rarely have windows or clocks. With no reference to the outside world, customers can easily lose track of how long they've been there so that they can buy more. Grocery stores may use another trick to control your sense of time: small floor tiles (瓷砖).

    While Black Friday and Cyber Monday help start the holiday shopping season, Giving Tuesday, which will be observed on November 28, attempts to inspire the season of giving. Now in its sixth year, the charitable(慈善的)day uses the power of social media to encourage organizations and individuals to donate funds or resources to worthy causes. Its mission is to bring positive change to communities through giving.

    Though devoting just one day to a worthy cause may not seem much, Giving Tuesday makes a surprisingly significant impact. In 2015,ORGANIZE,an online organ donor program asked people to “Give with your Heart”,by becoming registered donors. Thousands of Americans listen to the cry for help, resulting in one of the largest digital donor drives in US history.

    That same year, the Cleveland Library and the Pratt Library in Baltimore competed to see who could encourage more donations. While the Pratt Library won with a $41,000 acquisition, the Cleveland Library was able to raise a fairly large amount for its programs as well. In 2016, the University of Michigan encouraged students and friends to donate to hourly challenges. They raised an amazing $5.5 million! The university hopes to recreate the magic this year, with a virtual celebration to mark the institution's 200th anniversary.

    Giving Tuesday is not just a US phenomenon, but a global movement. In 2016, 98 countries participated in the event, raising $177 million, a 44% increase over 2015, when 71 nations collected $116.7 million. These numbers can only increase as the day gains further recognition.

    Though donating funds is a great way to help, there are numerous other ways to support your local community. You can give back by volunteering at a nearby nonprofit or food bank. Social media experts can do their share by spreading the information and inspiring their colleagues to get involved. Another great way to celebrate Giving Tuesday is by helping those closest to you, whether that's assisting a family member with chores or helping a neighbor with yard work.

    Since many of you are planning to study at a college or university in the future, you may be curious to know what your future study will be like. This is the question I want to discuss with you today.

    First, let's talk about what your weekly timetable will look like. No matter what your major may be, you can expect to spend between four and six hours a week for each class attending lecture. Lectures are usually in very large rooms because some courses such as Introduction to Sociology or Economics often have as many as two or three hundred students, especially at large universities. In lectures, it's very important for you to take notes on what the professor says because the information in a lecture is often different from that in your textbooks. Also, you can expect to have exam questions based on the lectures. So it isn't enough to just read your textbooks; you have to attend lectures as well. In a typical week, you will also have a couple of hours of discussion for every class you take. The discussion part is a small group meeting usually with fewer than thirty students where you can ask questions about the lectures, the reading, and the homework. In large universities, graduate students called teaching assistants, usually direct discussion parts

    If your major is chemistry, or physics, or another science, you'll also have to spend several hours a week in the lab doing experiments. This means that science majors spend more time in the classroom than non-science majors do. On the other hand, people who major in subjects like literature or history usually have to read and write more than science majors do.