Surfing the Internet for fun will make you a better employee, according to an Australian study.

    The University of Melbourne study shows that people who use the Internet for their own reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive(具有创造性的) than those who do not. Study author Brent Coker said, “Surfing the Internet at times helps increase workers' attention.”

    “People need to relax for a bit to get back their attention,” Coker said on the university's website. “Having a short break, such as a quick surfing of the Internet, helps the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total Internet attention for a day's work, and as a result, increases productivity (生产效率),” he said.

    According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work surf the Internet for their own reasons during office hours. Among the most popular surfing activities are searching for information about products, reading online news, playing online games and watching videos. “Firms spend a lot of money on software to block their workers from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online,” said Coker. “That's not always a good idea.”

    However, Coker said the study looked at people who surfed the Internet in moderation(适度), or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office. “Those who spend too much time surfing the Internet will have a lower productivity than those without.” he said.

    March 8 marks the annual International Women's Day. Around the world, women usually played a not well-known role in history. They were often buried with their unknown talents and amazing tales. Yet there are still some lucky ones whose stories have been recorded. Here are six talented ancient Chinese women who once impressed in their time, and still affect us in our time.

    Praised as the “No.1 talented woman”, Li Qingzhao, a poet from the Song Dynasty, was born in Shandong province. She excelled at poetry and in ink painting and calligraphy (书法). Li was most well-known for her poems, which were divided into two contrasting styles reflecting her life as a married woman and a widow. Before her husband's death, her poems were mainly about a carefree and happy life. The keynote turned into a sad tune after her husband passed away. However, Li was not a narrow-minded woman. Apart from expressing feminine (女性的) feelings and experiences, she also wrote poems praising war heroes and criticizing the corrupted emperor. As an example of female patriot, Li has a great effect on modern women's literature.

    Cai Wenji was good not only at poetry and calligraphy, but also mathematics, astronomy, debate and music. Her masterpieces were Hu Jia Shi Ba Pai. As the daughter of literatus Cai Yi of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai had a very unusual life. After her first husband died, she was forced to marry Xiongnu tribe's king. Living in a totally different environment, Cai was very homesick. Twelve years later, Cao Cao, a student of Cai Yi, rescued Cai from the Xiongnu tribe. At the age of 35, Cai got married for a third time in a union arranged by Cao to a man named Dong Si.

    Ban Zhao was the first female historian in China. She was also good at writing poems, yet only seven of her works have survived. Ban was often invited by the emperor to teach the queen mathematics, astronomy and poetry. She was honored as Da Gu, a title for knowledgeable and noble women. At the age of 40, Ban finished Han Shu, based on her brother's writings. A total of four people wrote the book, and Ban, as the last writer, faithfully kept the style of the first three. Ban Zhao also wrote Nv Jie, a book to teach women how to deal with relationships with their husbands and husbands' relatives and how to properly behave.

    Shangguan Wan'er was famous for being given an important position by the only female emperor, Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty. Despite Shangguan's grandfather being killed for offending Wu, she was highly praised by the female emperor for her literary talent. She served as a key secretary to Wu and was called “a female prime minister” at the time. Shangguan changed court poetry so that it used more meaningful expressions than empty praise, and further developed her style based on her grandfather's poems.

    Su Hui was known for a handkerchief she made. It was embroidered (刺绣) with 841 characters that could form 7,958 poems. Named Xuan Ji Tu, the handkerchief was originally made by Su to send to her husband, Dou Tao. Su waited for her husband to come back after Dou's exile (流放), yet Dou had an affair with another woman. Sad and angry, Su created the poems on a handkerchief in red, yellow, blue, white, black and purple silk thread and sent it to her husband. Dou was deeply moved by the poems, felt guilty for his behavior and reunited with Su.

    When Xue Tao's name was mentioned, people would think of the famous Xue Tao Jian, a sort of small-size colorful writing paper. It is recorded that Xue Tao created this colored paper to write poems. During her time, writing paper was yellow, yet Xue changed the simple color into different shades of red or green. Later, people made similar colorful paper and named them “Xue Tao Jian”. Xue had talent for poetry and music. Her poems were not limited to those private feminine feelings and emotions; she also expressed her empathy (共鸣) to soldiers on the frontier.

    The Poetry Foundation, recently named American poet Jack Prelutsky as the nation's first children's poet laureate (桂冠诗人). The group created the award as a way to increase children's love of poetry.

    As children's poet laureate, Jack Prelutsky will give two public readings in the next two years. He will also advise the Poetry Foundation about children's literature and take part in projects concerning children and poetry.

    Jack Prelutsky has been writing poetry for children for over forty years. He has written more than thirty five books of poems. His first book was called A Gopher in the Garden. It was published in 1967. His latest is called Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems.

    Jack Prelutsky is well known for creating new words by combining two words to create a new kind of creature. For example, he combined "radish" with "shark" to get "radishark". "Lion" and "broccoli" became "broccolion". He also created "umbrellaphant"， a mixture of the words "umbrella" and "elephant".

    Jack Prelutsky says that children like his poems because he writes about things they care about. Poetry researchers say that Jack Prelutsky's poems recognize children's feelings. An example of this is the poem My Sister Is a Werewolf which is about how it feels to be different.

    Jack Prelutsky also writes poems about American holidays. His poem It's Halloween is a very famous one about the holiday celebrated at the end of October.

    In one of the old buildings near our school, one could see an old man sitting by a large window on the first floor. His name was James. During the three years at school, I had hardly ever found him missing from his usual position.

    He was a high-ranking government official and lived happily with his wife. Once there was a bus accident, in which a number of passengers were seriously injured and were taken to the hospital for treatment. James was responsible for the rescue operation. It was a big hospital, but James was shocked to notice how ill-equipped it was. There were no enough life-saving drugs and life—supporting equipment.  The injured and their companions had to struggle there. James attempted to help. However, though he emptied his pockets, many of them died that day.

    That was a turning point in his life. He made a decision to devote his life to helping others, particularly the poor and needy patients and their companions. He began spending much of his income on these people. Since this required a lot of time and energy, he found it difficult to fulfill(履行) his official duties and therefore chose to retire, which, in turn, reduced his income considerably.

    His wife was deeply worried. Most of the time, James was out and paid least attention to home affairs. Meanwhile, as he was spending a lot helping others, she had to struggle even to meet the household expenses. Though she was not opposed to his helping the poor, she urged him not to overlook his own life and home, but it had no effect on him. One day they had a heated argument and in the end she left him, never to return. Though he continued with his work, this was a great blow and did serious harm to his health and enthusiasm and was soon forced to stay indoors. That was when he took his position by the window, spending his time looking outside.

    A few weeks after my graduation, I returned to school, only to find the buildings gone. I heard that they were torn down. All the people left except James. He refused to go and the next morning, he was found at his usual place by the window, dead.

    A T-shirt a day has kept unemployment away for an American man who is making about $85,000 a year by selling advertising space on his shirt.

    Jason Sadler, 26, was once a former marketing expert from Florida. In 2008, he founded his own company, "I wear your shirt", with the idea to wear a T-shirt supplied by any company and then use social media tools to develop the company. Sadler charges the "face value" of the day for his human billboard (广告牌) service. So January 1 costs $1, while December 31 costs $365. He said this may not sound like a lot, but it adds up to $66,795 a year if he sells out every day, which he did this year. He also sells monthly sponsorships(赞助) for $1,500, adding another $18,000 to his income.

    "I walk around, take photos, wear the shirt all day … I blog about those photos, I put them up on Twitter, I change my Facebook introduction…and then I do a YouTube video. I made about $83,000 this year," he told Reuters Television. The average U.S income is about $615 a week or about $32,000 a year, according to the U.S government.

    Sadler has already begun to plan for his year 2010. He is making services larger by hiring another person to wear a shirt a day on the west coast of the United States.

    So you're thinking about breaking up with me. But before doing that, make sure you have examined its short-term and long-term environmental effects.

    Let's start simple: consider the great number of gallons of clean, drinkable water that would be wasted by my crying in the shower. Scientists don't have a precise estimate of how much water might be lost, but, considering the length of my listening to the recent two sad albums during the shower, the amount is sure to be catastrophic.

    Make no mistake: running from my sweet hug leaves a set of carbon footprints. Your leaving me will start a swift chain of events that results in me at a bar, drunkenly cursing at you with my friends.

    At the end of the night, I will be forced to take a taxi home instead of the subway. Those extra carbon dioxide releases are a breakup by-product, as are the single-use plastic bottles of Glacier Freeze-flavor Gatorade I'll surely buy the next morning.

    Some effects are more hidden. Should you kick me to the roadside, you must anticipate that I am going to sit there eating ice cream. I will eat ice cream a lot every day, because I have seen sad women do this in movies. This, of course, causes ecological disaster. Not only do dairy cows produce greenhouse gas, but industrial dairy farming can cause the destruction of prairies (北美草原) forests, and other ecosystems. You might meet other interesting women in your life, but good luck is replacing North America's wetlands!

    Breaking up with me is a very personal choice, and no one can make it for you. I only hope that you have gained a helpful new way of thinking, one broad enough to deal with the world that waits for you in your single-hood. There might be "other fish in the sea," but will there be actual fish in the real sea? It doesn't look good. Alternatively, we could stay together and preserve this beautiful blue sea for our grandchildren. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and I eagerly wait for your decision.