Our spiritual intelligence quotient(精神智商), or SQ, helps us understand ourselves, and live fuller, happier lives.

    Though we're all born with SQ, most of us don't even realize that we have it. Fortunately, you don't have to sign up for classes to learn how to improve your SQ. Here are some simple steps that can lead you to this new level of understanding.

    Sit Quietly. The process of developing spiritual intelligence begins with solitude(独处) and silence. To tune in to your spirit, you have to turn down the volume(强度) in your busy, noisy, complicated life and force yourself to do nothing at all. Start small by creating islands for silence in your day. In the car, instead of listening to the music, use the time to think. At work, shut the door to your office between meetings, take a few breaths and let them out very, very slowly. Enjoy the stillness in your home after the kids are finally in bed.

    Step Outside. For many people, nature sets their spirit free. Go outside to watch a beautiful sunset. If you are walking with the dog, take the time to admire flowers in bloom; follow the flight of a bird and watch clouds float overhead.

    Ask Questions of Yourself. Ask open-ended questions, such as ‘What am I Feeling? What are my choices? Where am I heading?'

    But don't expect an answer to arrive through some supernatural forms of e-mail. ‘Rarely do I get an immediate answer to my question,' says Reverend Joan Carter, a Presbyterian minister in Sausalito, California. ‘But later that day I suddenly find myself thinking about a problem in a perspective(角度) I never considered before.'

    Trust Your Spirit. While most of us rely on gut(本能的) feeling to realize danger, spiritual intelligence pushes us, not away from, but towards some action that will lead to a greater good.

    Games have already become a good companion for people. Whether kids or adults, they prefer to spend their spare time in playing games. Why are games so popular? Firstly, they can attract people easily and secondly, they are east to upgrade(升级). Each day, thousands of games come out. And no matter which kind of game you like, there is always a game that suits you. Now when people meet, they would like to talk about the newest games.

    Here are the hottest new games for girls. They are Didi games. 80 percent of girls like dressing-up games. There are varieties of dressing-up games in Didi. The leading roles of them also vary from common girls to princesses. If you are lucky enough, you can be dressed up as the famous stars you admire. At the same time, wedding dressing-up games can also be found. Whether you admit it or not, all girls like things related to wedding, so most girls like to be dressed up as brides.

    In order to attract kids' attention, many games choose fairies(精灵) as the leading roles, for fairies are really alluring to girls. Maybe the magic wands(魔杖) of the fairies really have supernatural powers(超自然力量). There are various kinds of Didi fairy games, such as Fairy of Water, Catching Flowers Contest, Winter Garden Fairy, etc.

    Cooking games are also girls' favorite games. Making a cake, soup or other delicious food is a category of simple games. There are also complicated ones, for example, preparing a dinner. It is more challenging but most girls like challenges. Another category of games which attracts people must be the games related to farms. Why are they so popular? Because the games can let people enjoy the fun as farmers. There are also farm animals that kids like very much. Here you can build your own farms. Also you can experience the life of farmers.

    The latest study by the University of Florida has found that eating from smaller, less beautiful, and even paper plates will help prevent overeating. Eating with a fork instead of a spoon can help you lose weight, the researchers say. Much to their surprise, they find that putting mirrors in the dining room will also help reduce weight.

    The researchers asked 185 college students to choose a chocolate cake or a fruit salad, and evaluated the taste. Those who ate in a room with a mirror scored the taste of junk food much lower than those in a room without a mirror. But the taste of fruit salad remained the same in any case.

    Lead scientist, Dr. Ata Jami, says that a glance in the mirror tells people more than just about their physical appearance. It enables them to view themselves objectively (客观地) and helps them to judge themselves and their behavior in the same way that they judge other people.

    The mirrors were found to push people to compare and match their own behavior with accepted social standards. The researchers believe it proves that people don't want to look in the mirror when they feel they are following the social standards. When they look in the mirror with mouths full of junk food, feelings of discomfort and failure can be increased. Therefore, the presence of the mirror lowers the taste of unhealthy food.

    However, researchers say this is only the case if people select the food they are eating, because they are responsible for that choice. The researchers suggest that mirrors be placed in dining rooms and other eating spaces, so that people will start eating more healthily.

    Being crazy about perfection(完美) among young people has risen by more than 30 per-cent over the last three decades, a study has found.

    Many of them believe that their environment is very demanding and that others judge them strictly, according to analysis of data from more than 40,000 British, Canadian and American university students from 1989 t0 2018.

    The research, carried out by the University of Bath and York St John University, found that the extent to which young people attach an irrational importance on being perfect, hold unrealistic expectations of themselves and are highly self-critical has increased by 10 percent when compared to previous generations. The authors suggested their findings point to the impact of three decades of neoliberalism (新自由主义) forcing young people to compete against one another.

    Lead author Dr Thomas Curran from the University of Bath's Department for Health said he hoped organizations responsible for guarding the welfare of young people, such as schools, universities, and policymakers who shape the environments in which these organizations operate, would resist the promotion of competitiveness at the expense of young people's psycho-logical health.

    He said, "Rising rates of perfectionism highlighted in this study correspond to three decades of neoliberalism, which has forced young people to compete against each other in an in-creasingly demanding social and economic environment." The study also found the extent to which young people impose (迫使) unrealistic standards on those around them and evaluate others critically has increased by 16 percent.

    The researches defined perfectionism as a combination of extremely high personal standards and overly harsh self-criticism, leading to psychological difficulties.

    Co-author Dr Andrew Hill of York St John University added, "The increase in mental health difficulties among young people makes for a setting for our findings. The higher level of perfectionism may be a key contributing factor to such difficulties. Young people are trying to find ways to cope with increasing demands being placed on them and they are responding by becoming more perfect towards themselves and others."

    The University of Birmingham is the first excellent UK Russell Group university to announce that it will accept the "Gaokao" exam for high­flying Chinese students wishing to join its undergraduate courses in 2019. High school students who complete the "National Higher Education Entrance Examination", or Gaokao, with top grades will be able to apply for direct entry onto Birmingham degree programmes without first completing a foundation year which is a routine for the freshman.

    Gaokao is usually taken by students in their last year of senior high school and, every year, each province in China sets the grades required to gain admission to its universities. It is usually held across China in early June. Students are tested in Chinese, Mathematics, a Foreign Language and social sciences or natural sciences.

    University of Birmingham Vice­Chancellor Professor Sir David Eastwood said: "The University of Birmingham has been challenging and developing great minds for more than a century. We welcome people from around the globe to study at Birmingham and Chinese students form an integral part of our education and research community. We are further opening access to Birmigham's wealth of education opportunities for the brightest and most dedicated Chinese students by accepting this strict and important qualification. I look forward to welcoming these high­flying students to the University of Birmingham."

    Gaokao is increasingly accepted by universities in Australia, the USA, Canada and mainland Europe. Birmingham will only be considering high quality students who achieve a minimum 80% Gaokao score and meet additional academic and English language requirements.

    Professor J on Frampton, Director of the University of Birmingham's China Institute said: "The University of Birmingham has a long history of educating students from China and one of our most famous graduates is Li Siguang­the founding father of Chinese geology. I am delighted that the University is now accepting the Gaokao. This gives the brightest and best Chinese students an opportunity to move straight into the first year of our undergraduate programmes and experience the benefits of studying at a global Top 100 university, such as Birmingham."

    Women may have good reason to drink coffee as much as they like. According to recent research, women who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were 30 percent less likely to have memory decline at age 65 than whose who drank one cup or less daily. And the benefit increased with age. Women over age 80 who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were about 70 percent less likely to have memory decline than those who drank one cup or less, the researchers said.

    Caffeinated tea had the same effect in the women, the study found, although more was needed to get the same caffeine boost. "Count roughly two cups of tea for a cup of coffee," said study leader Karen Ritchie of INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research.

    But the researchers didn't find a similarly protective effect in men, although other studies have found a benefit to males.

    How might caffeine help ward off cognitive decline? "It is a cognitive stimulant." said Ritchie. "It also helps to reduce levels of the protein called beta amyloid in the brain" she said, "whose accumulation is responsible for Alzheimer's disease but which also occurs in normal aging."

    Ritchie said she wasn't sure why men in the study didn't benefit from caffeine. "Our hypothesis is that either women metabolize caffeine differently than men, or there may be an interaction of the caffeine with the sex hormones," she said.

    The French study confirms previous research, said William Scott, professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who has researched caffeine's beneficial effects against Parkinson's disease, also a neurodegenerative disorder.

    As for caffeine only protecting women, Scott noted that just 2,800 of the 7,000 study participants were men, and the results might have differed if more men were included.

    A study published in February in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at 676 healthy men and found that regular coffee drinkers had a lower rate of cognitive decline over a 10-year follow-up than those who didn't drink coffee. Those who drank three cups daily had the least signs of decline.

    Both Scott and Ritchie agreed that more study is needed. Ritchie's research will next look at the relationship between caffeine and Alzheimer's.