In colonies (群体) that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear division of labor. Even more amazing is how they achievethis level of organization. Where we use sound and sight to communicate, ants dependprimarily on pheromone (外激素), chemicals sent out by individuals and smelled or tastedby fellow members of their colony. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an individual ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the colony to prepare for a conflict as a defense unit.

         In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will readily take on a creature much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and overcoming their target. Such is their devotion to the common good of the colony that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.

         Behaving in this selfless and devoted manner, these little creatures have survived on Earth, for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a collective (集体的) intelligence greater than you would expect from itsindividual parts.

    Over 40 years ago, a country music DJ convention (大会) was held every year in Nashville, Tennessee. Many country performers used to attend (参加) the convention to give their performances. Fans would go to Nashville hoping to see their favorite performers. In the end, so many fans began showing up in Nashville that a festival named Fan Fair was born.

    The first Fan Fair was held in April 1972, in Nashville for four days. Some of country music's biggest stars attended. There were about fifty thousand fans. The first Fan Fair was so successful that planning began almost immediately for 1973. The date was changed to June, when the weather would be better. Over one hundred thousand fans attended the second Fan Fair.

    Every year brought so many performers and fans to Fan Fair that, in 1982, it was moved to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. Fan Fair stayed at the fairgrounds for another nineteen years.

    There was always the unexpected during the festival. In 1974, former Beatle Paul McCartney attended. In 1992, more than six hundred reporters from Europe, Asia, and South America went to cover the appearance of a popular star, Billy Ray Cyrus, who had introduced a new country line dance. In 1996, Garth Brooks, who made a surprise appearance, signed autographs (签名) for 23 hours.

    In 2001, Fan Fair returned to downtown Nashville as the world's biggest country music festival. Now, over one hundred and twenty-five thousand country music fans go to Nashville every June. As you can imagine, those who want to attend Fan Fair must plan ahead. For example, they need to buy a ticket several months ahead of time. Of course, there's much more to prepare.

    You have probably heard the saying,"When life gives you lemons,make lemonade."Since lemons are considered bitter and lemonade is considered sweet,the saying tells you to make the best out of a bad situation.

    Unfortunately,when something bad happens,it's not uncommon for most people to talk about it to anyone who'll listen,and complain about life,"Why me?"That's like getting a bag of lemons,putting them down,and thinking, "Lemons taste bad!I'd rather have chocolate!"If you don't make anything with the lemons,they will go bad.But what if you did something with them?What if you made lemonade?Isn't it possible to do something similar with a bad situation?

    Here's an example.Let's say you're about to go to the movies,but you discover you have a flat tire（瘪胎）.You consider this a terrible thing. After all,you are really looking forward to spending some time with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.Now you're all stressed out,hating the tire,the car,and your life.But what if you called AAA,got your tire fixed or got caught up on things that you'd been meaning to do?What if you did some reading,or had coffee with a friend instead?A negative experience can be turned into something positive.Almost anything can work itself out into something better.You can't change what has happened,right?So make the best of it.I'm not saying it will be easy. The easy thing to do is complain about your bad situation and not consider what it could be turned into.

    Next time when some unfortunate things happen,stop and think,"How can I turn this around?How can I make it a positive experience?You needn't fear difficulties.As long as you keep on changing it,you will see the benefits（好处）at last.

    One second-grade student wanted to help erase school lunch debt for her fellow students, so she decided to create lemonade stands to raise funds（资金）.

    Amiah Van Hill was inspired to raise funds to help pay off her classmates' lunch debt back in May after reading about Jeffery Lew. The father of three crowd-funded to cover the cost of unpaid lunches in the Seattle School District, where his 8-year-old son took part. “She's a really strong reader, so she read the story and said, 'Wow, this is great! I wonder if there's any kids at my school that need help paying their lunches,'” said her mother, Rachel Van Hill.

    Amiah, 6, and Aria, 4, discovered that at Hayden Meadows Elementary School in Idaho, the unpaid lunch debt was $40.55. They set up a lemonade stand last month to raise the money, with a sign reading, “Lemonade 4 Lunch.” During their first set-up, the two met their goal within an hour.

    The school was very much appreciative. Principal Lisa Pica said “Our school believes in giving back to the community and we are excited that Amiah has got that value at such a young age and we are so proud that she has found a way to help those in need. She is a very special little lady.”

    After discovering it was “easy” to pay off one school's debt, they set up another lemonade stand a week later to raise money for two more local schools. The girls then decided to set their sights higher and raise funds for the entire Coeur d'Alene Public School district. In 22 days, they've raised more than $2,700. The school district is excited to recognize her for her good deed.

    Do women make BETTER astronauts? Russia locks an all-female crew in space simulator (太空模拟器) for eight days to find out. Six Russian women have been sent into a spaceship to begin a unique experiment testing how an all- female crew would relate to others on a trip to the Moon and back.

    "It's interesting for us to see what is special about the way a female crew communicates," said Sergei Ponomaryov, the experiment's leader." it will be particularly interesting in terms of psychology," said the institute's director Igor Ushakov. "I'd like to wish you a lack of conflicts, even though they say that in one kitchen, two housewives find it hard to live together," he added.

    The volunteers include scientific researchers, a doctor and a psychologist. The test period simulates (模仿) a flight to the Moon and back, with the women carrying out 10 experiments covering psychology and human biology. Russia sent the first woman into space, Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963 but has fallen behind since. Last year, it sent its fourth female astronaut into space, Yelena Serova. Serava complained of a great deal of media interest in how she would wash her hair aboard the International Space Station, pointing out that male astronauts did not face the same line of questioning.

    The women found themselves fielding questions at a press conference about how they would act without men or makeup for eight days, "We are very beautiful without makeup," said participant Darya Komissarova. Her colleague Anna Kussmaul was more direct: "We are doing work. When you're doing your work, you don't think about men and women." They plan to spend their 11/2 hours per day of free time watching films, reading and playing board games. Team leader Yelena Luchnitskaya said she expected the women to deal with any conflict.

    Throughout history scientists have risked their health and their lives in their search for the truth.

    Sir Isaac Newton, the seventeenth century scientist, was very smart, but that didn't stop him from doing some pretty stupid things. In his laboratory in Cambridge he often did the strangest experiments. Once, while testing how light passes through lenses (晶状体), he put a long needle into his eye, pushed it to the back, and then moved it around just to see what would happen. Luckily, nothing long-lasting did. On another occasion he stared at the sun for as long as he could bear, to discover what effect this would have on his sight. Again he escaped suffering permanent damage, though he had to spend some days in a darkened room before his eyes recovered.

    In the 1750s the Swedish chemist Karl Scheele was the first person to find a way to produce phosphorus (磷). He in fact discovered eight more chemical elements including chlorine (氯), though he didn't get any praise for them. He was a very clever scientist, but his one failing was a curious habit of tasting a little of every substance he worked with. This risky practice finally caught up with him, and in 1786 he was found dead in his laboratory surrounded by a large number of dangerous chemicals, any of which might have been responsible for his death.

    Eugene Shoemaker was a respected geologist. He spent a large part of his life studying craters (火山口) on the moon, and how they were formed, and later did research into the comets of the planet Jupiter. In 1997 he and his wife were in the Australian desert where they went every year to search for places where comets might have hit the earth. While driving in the Tanami desert, normally one of the emptiest places in the world, another vehicle crashed into them and Shoemaker was killed on the spot. Some of his ashes (骨灰) were sent to the moon aboard the Lunar Prospector spacecraft and left there — he is the only person who has had this honor.