Why play games? Because they are fun, and a lot more besides. Following the rules… planning your next move…acting as a team member…These are all “game” ideas that you will come across throughout your life.

    Think about some of the games you played as a young child, such as rope-jumping and hide-and-seek. Such games are entertaining and fun. But perhaps more importantly, they translate life into exciting dramas that teach children some of the basic rules they will be expected to follow the rest of their lives, such an taking turns and cooperating（合作）.

    Many children's games have a practical side. Children around the world play games that prepare them for work they will do as grown-ups. For instance, some Saudi Arabian children play a game called bones，which sharpens the hand-eye coordination（协调）needed in hunting.

    Many sports encourage national or local pride. The most famous games of all, the Olympic Games, bring athletes from around the world together to take part in friendly competition. People who watch the event wave flags, knowing that a gold medal is a win for an entire country, not just the athlete who earned it. For countries experiencing natural disasters or war, an Olympic win can mean so much.

    Sports are also an event that unites people. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. People on all continents play it—some for fun and some for a living. Nicolette Iribarne, a Californian soccer player, has discovered a way to spread hope through soccer. He created a foundation to provide poor children with not only soccer balls but also a promising future.

    Next time you play your favorite game or sport, think about why you enjoy it, what skills are needed, and whether these skills will help you in other aspects of your life.

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    Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can't make us tire. It sounds absurd. But a years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue (疲劳). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we would find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.

    So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired?

    Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional(情绪的) attitudes. One of England's most outstanding scientists, J.A. Hadfield, says, “The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares, “One hundred percent of the fatigue of sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”

What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated—those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.

The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place

    Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

    Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale(秤)instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.

    On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don't have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

    The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

    Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.

    Having a learning disability doesn't mean you can't learn, but you'll need some help and need to work extra hard. If you have a learning disability such as dyslexia or dyscalculia, remember that you are not slow or stupid.

    Learning disabilities can be genetic. That means they can be passed down in families through the genes. But kids today have an advantage over their parents. Learning experts now know a lot more about the brain and how learning works, and it's easier for kids to get the help they need.

    Dyslexia is a learning disability hat means a kid has a lot of trouble reading and writing. Kids who have trouble with math may have dyscalculia. Other kids may have language disorders, meaning they have trouble understanding language and understanding what they read.

    It can be confusing, though. What qualifies as “trouble" enough to be diagnosed as a learning disability? Reading, doing math, and writing letters may be tough for lots of kids at first. But when those troubles don't fade away and it's really difficult to make any progress, it's possible that the kid has a learning disability.

    Finding out you have a learning disability can be upsetting. You might feel different from everyone else. But the truth is that learning disabilities are pretty common. And if your learning specialist or psychologist has figured out which one you're facing, you're on the right track. Now, you can start getting the help you need to do better in school.

    But for this special help to really work, you'll need to practice the new skills you're leaning. It may take a lot of efforts every day. That can be a challenge, but you can do it Soon, you'll enjoy the results of all your hard work: more fun and success at school.

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    One warm summer morning, Elizabeth, the nanny（保姆）of the William's, went back from outside with the little boy, Josh. When she stepped into the house from the front door, she could tell that something was wrong, but she couldn't point a finger at exactly what it was. Just as she was about to dash out to find Josh, the little boy ran from behind her back, straight into the house for his toys.

    That's when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Her heart missed a beat. Knowing that Josh's parents were not home, she ran inside the house, caught the little boy swiftly and headed straight for the gate. She hit the neighbor's door heavily to seek help and called the police.

    When David William returned home and checked the monitor, what he saw scared the life out of him. A strongly built middle-aged stranger walked around the house and searched every corner, being careful not to miss any valuables（贵重物品）. And the most frightening for David was to see him even slipping into Josh's room. It was also terrifying to see that he was on his phone with someone guiding him on what to do. When Elizabeth opened the front door, he realized it was time to leave. He ran out just a few moments after Elizabeth and the boy left, getting away from the police.

    The Williams feel so grateful to Elizabeth for what she has done daily and saving their little boy when she could have easily run leaving the child behind. Elizabeth is called “supemanny” by the family. But Elizabeth said it was just her normal duty. “When his parents are away, they put their trust in me to keep him safe.” Although she is still terrified at the thought of what could have happened if she had come face to face with that man, she is willing to continue doing her work.

    Many people, both men and women in the world love drinking. The popular wisdom for years has been that drinking in moderation (适度) —that's one “standard” drink a day for women and two for men—is linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular (心血管的) disease. But recent studies are casting some doubt on that long-held learning. Science now says it depends on your age and drinking habits.

    A 2017 study of nearly 2 million British with no cardiovascular risk found that there was still a modest benefit in moderate drinking, especially for women over 55 who drank five drinks a week. Why that age? Alcohol can influence the substance in the blood in positive ways, experts say, and that's about the age when heart problems begin to occur.

    Also, a 2018 study found that drinking more than 100 grams of alcohol per week—equal to roughly seven standard drinks in the United States or five to six glasses of wine in the UK—surely increases your risk of death from all causes and in turn lowers your life expectancy. Links were found with different forms of cardiovascular disease, with people who drank more than 100 grams per week having a higher risk of stroke, heart failure.

    Another 2018 study found that consistently drinking moderately, within the recommended amount of alcohol, had a protective effect on the heart over time. Unstable drinking habits were associated with a higher risk of heart disease, which the authors reflected might indicate broader lifestyle changes, such as poor health or stress. Former drinkers were also at greater risk.

    Overall, however, the latest thinking is that any heart benefit may be outweighed by other health risks, such as high blood pressure, certain cancers and liver damage.

    Women who drink are at a higher risk for breast cancer; alcohol contributes about 6% of the overall risk, possibly because it raises certain dangerous hormones in the blood. Drinking can also increase the chance you might develop liver, mouth and oral cancers. One potential reason： Alcohol weakens our immune systems, making us more likely to inflame (发炎)—a driving force behind cancer.