Once, Buddha was walking from one town to another with some of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his followers, “I am thirsty. Please get me some water from that lake there”.

The follower walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing the lake right at the edge of it. As a result, the water became very muddy, very dirty. The follower thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?!” So he came back and told the Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don't think it is fit to drink”.

    So, the Buddha said, let us take a little rest here by the tree. After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same follower to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The follower obediently (顺从地) went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to the Buddha.

The Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the follower and said, “See, you let the water be and the mud settled down on its own. You got clear water. It didn't require any effort”.

Our mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time and it will settle down on its own. You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down. We can judge and best decisions of our life when we stay calm.

    Researchers say getting a good night's sleep is probably the best tool for memory and learning. But short periods of sleep may help our brains work better, says a recent study on napping. And taking a nap  may also help old adults fight off age-related memory loss.

    CDC, an American scientific organization, found that 50 to 70 million Americans have chronic（长期的）sleep disorders. So, someone who naps as a way of paying off a sleep debt may not experience the same improvements from napping as a well-rested person would. Also, that only children, the very old, sick or  lazy people nap is not an uncommon opinion.

    Researchers recently looked at information provided by nearly 3,000 Chinese adults, aged 65 years or older, to learn if napping after a mid-day meal had any effect on the mental performance of the subjects.

    First, they asked the people if they napped and for how long. Then, based on their answers, researchers put them into four groups: non-nappers (0 min), short nappers (≦30 min), moderate nappers (30-90 min), and extended nappers (≧90 min).  Nearly 60% of the people said they did take a nap after lunch and that   their naps lasted anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes. Most of the subjects said they napped for about an hour.

    The study found that people who took an hour-long nap did much better on mental tests than those      who did not nap. The hour-long nappers also did better on the tests than those who napped for shorter and longer periods. In this study, it seemed that the most effective nap lasted for about an hour, but not much longer.

    Yet Doctor Michael Twery notes that an hour long nap may be too long for young, healthy adults. 30 minutes is enough to remove the pressure to sleep and will help us feel more awake.

    Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia (痴呆) in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones (荷尔蒙) , U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

    Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no offsprings, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer's (早老痴呆症). University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans.

“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy are protecting the brain, including estrogen(雌激素), which we know has many neuroprotective (保护神经的) effects,” Kinsley said.

    “It's rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview. “They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes.”

    Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer's and other forms of age-related brain decline.

    “When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida.

    “They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain. If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young. But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations to the brain.”

    Gus Wenner runs Rollingstone.com; his father gave him the job. But Jann Wenner, the magazine's co­founder and publisher, was quick to assure critics of the appointment process that his son is terribly talented and had to prove himself before being given the post. Apparently Gus worked his way up from more junior positions with the company, and demonstrated, according to his father, the “drive and discipline and charm, and all the things that show leadership.” Gus Wenner is 22 years old.

    He is certainly not the only kid out of college, or even out of high school, working at daddy's firm. Family contacts are a common way of finding both temporary internships and longtime careers. Opportunities for the children of top 1 percent are not the same as they are for the 99 percent.

    This is hardly a shock, but it is precisely the type of inequality that reveals the hard­ to­ define promise of the “Just Do It” version of the American dream and deepens our cynicism(愤世嫉俗) about how people get ahead. As a consequence, it weakens support for public policies that could address the lack of upward mobility among children born at the bottom, who ought to be given priority. A strong tie between adult outcomes and family background annoys Americans. When an organization conducted a nationally representative survey asking about the meaning of “the American dream”， some typical answers included: “Being free to say or do what you want” and “Being free to accomplish almost anything you want with hard work.” but also “Being able to succeed regardless of the economic circumctances in which you were born.”

    This is exactly the reason that “the American dream” is not only a defining metaphor for the country, but also why Americans have long been willing to tolerate a good deal more economic inequality than citizens of many other rich countries. A belief in the possibility of upward mobility not only morally justifies inequality as the expression of talents and energies, but also extends a promise to those with lower incomes. After all, why would you be a strong advocate for reducing inequality if you believe that you, or eventually your children, were likely to climb the income ladder?

    Hard work and perseverance(毅力) will always be ingredients for success, but higher inequality has made having successful parents, if not essential, certainly a central part of the recipe.

    The belief that talent is something you are born with, and that opportunities are open to anyone with ambition and energy, also has a dangerous consequence. When the public policy is focused on the difficult situation of the poor, this belief can help the concept resurface that the poor are “undeserving” and are the authors of their own situation. Yet we actually know a good deal about why children of the poor have a higher chance of being stuck on poverty as adults.

    The recipes for breaking this intergenerational trap are clear: a nurturing(培养) environment in the early years combined with accessible and high­quality health care and education promote the capacities of young children, heighten the development of their skills as they grow older, and eventually raise their chances of upward mobility.

    Talent is nurtured and developed, and even genes are expressed differently depending upon environmental influences.

    The 1 percent are the goal for these upper­middle­class families, who after all have also experienced significant growth in their relative standing. The graduate and other higher degrees that they hold, for which they put in considerable effort, have put them on the upside of the wave of globalization and technical change that has transformed the American job market.

    An age of higher inequality gives them both more resources to promote the capacities of their children, and more encouragement to make these investments since their children now have all the more to gain.

    For them, an American dream based on effort and talent still lives, and as a result they are less likely, with their considerable cultural and political influence, to support the reshaping of American public policy to meet its most pressing need: the future of those at the bottom.

    Teenagers who talk on the phone a lot and hold their cell phones up to their right ears score worse on one type of memory test. That's the finding of a new study. That memory damage might be one side-effect of the radiation that phones use to keep us connected while we're on the go.

    Nearly 700 Swiss teens took part in a test of figural memory. This type helps us recall abstract symbols and shapes, explains Milena Foerster. She's an epidemiologist(流行病学家). She worked on the study as part of a team while Foerster was at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland. Teens participated memory tests twjce, one year apart. Each time, they had one minute to memorize 13 pairs of abstract shapes. Then they were shown one item from each pair and asked to match it with one of five choices.

    The study volunteers also took a test of verbal memory. That's the ability to remember words. The two memory tests are parts of an intelligence test.

    The researchers also surveyed the teens on how they use mobile phones. And they got call records from phone companies. The researchers used those records to estimate how long the teens were using their phones. This allowed the researchers to calculate how big a radiation exposure each person could have gotten while talking.

    All cell phones give off energy in the form of radio frequency electromagnetic fields, or RF-EMFs. Radio and TV broadcasts also use this type of energy. So do microwave ovens and some other gadgets(配件).

    "For a phone, that energy carries information, in the form of calls or texts between phones and cell phone towers. That radiation also can travel into people's bodies as they use their phones. And some of its energy can be absorbed by the body. So far, scientists have not shown that radiation from phones causes harm," says the Federal

    Communications Commission. Research is ongoing, this agency notes.

    UK education is all about giving you inspiration to develop your knowledge and skills, freedom to be creative, and support to help you achieve your best.

    On a UK course you will benefit from excellent teaching and facilities. In order to accept students, UK education centres must meet strict quality standards set by the UK government and education bodies.

    With such a good reputation for research and education, universities and colleges in the UK attract some of the world's leading academics and professionals. You will be encouraged to express your own ideas and think for yourself.

    The attention to quality is reflected in the UK's excellent results:

    Four of the top six universities in the world are in the UK.

    The UK is a world-leading research nation. 54% of the research conducted by UK universities and colleges is classed as either "world-leading" or "internationally excellent".

    At the most recent inspection, 97% of further education colleges were judged satisfactory or better, for their overall effectiveness.

    In the recent BIS Tracking International Graduate Outcomes survey, more than 88% of international higher education graduates said they were satisfied with their UK learning experience.

    Likewise, in the Higher Education Academy Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey of UK postgraduate students, 93% rated the quality of teaching positively.

    For English language students, you'll find the UK has long been at the forefront of language teaching, and pioneered many of the techniques now used around the world. The emphasis is on learning the language through fun and participation: Instead of just listening to your teacher, your classes will involve games, problem-solving and discussions. You might also listen to songs, watch television or read magazines to practise your comprehension skills.

    The UK's boarding schools also offer excellent teaching, facilities and support. At UK independent schools (most boarding schools are independent), a teacher has just 9.4 pupils on average, so teachers have more time to give you individual support. This is reflected in the results: 91% of students from UK independent schools go on to higher education.