Most people who own iPhones use them as their alarm clocks―making it very easy to check emails one last time before falling asleep and hard to ever feel away from work and social networks.

    Several years ago, my boss fainted due to exhaustion after staying up late to catch up on work. She banged her head and ended up with five stitches (缝针) and became what she calls a "sleep evangelist (传教士)." Now she leaves her phone charging in another room when she goes to bed and encourages her friends to do the same.

    "I sent all my friends the same Christmas gift―a lovely alarm clock―so they could stop using the excuse that they needed their very attractive iPhones by their beds to wake them up in the morning." she said.

    If your phone wakes you up in the morning, it may also be keeping you up at night. A 2008 study showed that people exposed to mobile radiation took longer to fall asleep and spent less time in deep sleep. "The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals, components of sleep believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear are severely affected," the study concluded.

    A quarter of young people feel like they must be available by phone around the clock, according to a Swedish study that linked heavy cellphone use to sleeping problems, stress and depression. Unreturned messages carry more guilt when the technology to deal with them lies at our fingertips. Some teens even return text messages at midnight.

    Most of us choose not to set limits on our nighttime availability. Nearly three quarters of people from the age of 18 to 44 sleep with their phones within reach, according to a 2012 Time poll. That number falls off slightly in middle age, but only people aged 65 and older are leaving the phone in another room as common as sleeping right next to it.

    The elephant was lying heavily on its side, fast asleep. A few dogs started barking at it. The elephant woke up in a terrible anger: it chased the dogs into the village where they ran for safety. That didn't stop the elephant. It destroyed a dozen houses and injured several people. The villagers were scared and angry. Then someone suggested calling Parbati, the elephant princess.

    Parbati Barua's father was a hunter of tigers and an elephant tamer. He taught Parbati to ride an elephant before she could even walk. He also taught her the dangerous art of the elephant roundup-how to catch wild elephants.

    Parbati hasn't always lived in the jungle. After a happy childhood hunting with her father, she was sent to a boarding school in the city. But Parbati never got used to being there and many years later she went back to her old life. "Life in the city is too dull. Catching elephants is an adventure and the excitement lasts for days after the chase," she says.

    But Parbati doesn't catch elephants just for fun."My work," she says," is to rescue man from the elephants, and to keep the elephants safe from man." And this is exactly what Parbati has been doing for many years. Increasingly, the Indian elephant is angry: for many years, illegal hunters have attacked it and its home in the jungle has been reduced to small pieces of land. It is now fighting back. Whenever wild elephants enter a tea garden or a village, Parbati is called to guide the animals back to the jungle before they can kill.

    The work of an elephant tamer also involves love and devotion. A good elephant tamer will spend hours a day singing love songs to a newly captured elephant."Eventually they grow to love their tamers and never forget them. They are also more loyal than humans," she said, as she climbed up one of her elephants and sat on the giant, happy animal. An elephant princess indeed!

    When we see a person in trouble, the first idea that comes to our mind is to lend a hand. But what if we see an animal in trouble, does the same rule apply?

    This question was raised after a group of penguins were saved from an icy gully (峡谷) in Antarctica. It was filmed for the BBC wildlife series Dynasties. The film crew were anxious when they saw that a group of penguins had fallen into a gully and been trapped with their young. They built a slope (斜坡) so that a few of the penguins could save themselves.

    The case has taken the international media by storm. Viewers watching this film let out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad. I understand not taking action directly, but a helping hand isn't bothering, right?" viewer Kathryn Shaw said on her Facebook.

    However, others think human interference (干涉) is unnatural. "You can't have sunshine throughout your life. To have done anything else would only make matters worse," said the show's creator David Attenborough, according to The Times.

    In this case, however, Mike Gunton, the executive producer of the series, said that this was a one-off situation. "There were no animals going to suffer by interfering. You weren't touching the animals and it was just felt by doing this... they had the chance not to have to keep slipping down the slope," he told the BBC.

    Such cases are familiar to Paul Nicklen, wildlife photographer for National Geographic. He told Metro, "If it's ever a predator (捕食者) situation, no matter how gut-wrenching, you stay out of the way. Even when you're watching a male polar bear eat a baby bear."

    "There's no rule book in those situations. You can only respond to the facts that are right there in front of you," Will Lawson, the show's director, told Daily Mail.

    There's a world of difference between a horror movie and a comedy—the former scares you half to death while the latter leaves you rolling on the floor with laughter. But try watching them without the background music and you just might decide they're not so different after all. Music and movies have been closely connected since the beginning of the film industry—even before the voices of actors were recorded. In movies, music helps to provide a sense of time and place, convey ideas about the characters and, most importantly, draw emotions out of the audience.

    Studies have long shown that our heart rates and anxiety levels rise and fall depending on the speed of the music we hear. Using this knowledge, composers use sudden changes in film music speed to create fear among audiences. Slowing the speed of the music will have the opposite effect, bringing about a sense of peace or a dreamlike quality. The use of dissonant (不和谐的) tones and noises is another technique that heightens tension. Humans naturally become unnerved when we hear dissonant sounds because such noises are usually associated with danger, like those that animals make to warn against predators (捕食者).

    As crucial as it is, the best film music is subtle. All that audiences are supposed to feel is a heightened sense of emotion—they shouldn't realize what's causing it. Only when the music is taken out of the film should audiences understand its effects.

    In keeping with this principle, some filmmakers are even using what's called "infrasound" (次声波) to arouse fear. While we may not be able to hear it because its frequency is below the range of the human ear, infrasound has been proven to cause anxiety, tremble and even sorrow. For example, infrasound was used in the soundtrack of the 2007 horror movie Paranormal Activity, and audiences reposed extremely high fear levels despite the 1ack of action throughout the movie. "It doesn't affect everyone equally," said British science writer Philip Ball, author of The Music Instinct, but he predicted that "we will see more of it used in movies in the future".

    When an earthquake hit a small town, many houses fell down. After the earthquake, all the newspapers reported many stories about some of the families who were in trouble.

    One Sunday, when I was reading a newspaper, a special picture touched me. It gave the clothing sizes of each family member. I thought that this would be a good chance to teach my children to help those who were less lucky than themselves. I said to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and three-year-old Meghan, "We have so much, and these poor people now have nothing. We'll share what we have with them."

    I filled a box with foods and clothes. While I was doing this, I encouraged the boys to choose their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys took out their old toys and games and put them together. Then she walked away. A few minutes later, she came back with Lucy, her much-loved doll. She put the doll on top of the other toys. "Oh, dear," I said. "You don't have to give Lucy. You love her so much." Meghan said, "Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she'll make another little girl happy, too."

    I looked at Meghan for a long moment. She taught me a lesson. It's easy to give something that we don't want any more, but hard to give what we cherish(珍爱), isn't it?

Land of fire and ice: Iceland

    Join an unforgettable tour of Iceland's splendid landscapes, timed to arrange four days filled with volcanic and geological adventure, and evening opportunities to see the Aurora Borealis.

    Day 1: Vatnajokull Glacier (冰川)

    Today you'll take a walk on Europe's biggest ice cap-Vatnajokull-which has around 30 glaciers flowing out from it. No experience is necessary to take part in the hike. It's discouraging to think that the glacier is retreating due to rising world temperatures, and in future years the glacier may be gone. If you prefer a relaxing morning you can explore the surroundings of the farm stay and head to the Thorbergur Centre.

    Day 2: Secret lagoon (泻湖) and Reykjavik

    This morning we make our way to the Lava Centre which is an interactive, high-tech educational exhibition describing volcanic activity, earthquakes and the creation of Iceland over millions of years. After our visit, we will continue to the Secret Lagoon natural hot springs, located in the small village called Fludir, giving you the opportunity to relax in the warm waters before travelling to Reykjavik.

    Day 3: Reykjanes peninsula (半岛)

    Head out to the Reykjanes Peninsula. It is a land-born highly volcanic counterpart of the Mid-Atlantic Spreading Ridge where two tectonic plates part at an average rate of 2.0-2.5 cm/yr. Four volcanic systems and fissure (裂缝) groups line the peninsula from SW to NE. They contain open fissures, normal faults, high-temperature fields and volcanic fissures.

    Day 4: Depart Reykjavik

    Today is departure day and time to say "sjaumst". Your group departure transfer will take you to the airport for your flight home.