Astronauts on shorter shuttle missions often work very long days. Tasks are scheduled so tightly that break times are often used to finish the day's work. This type of schedule is far too demanding for long missions on the International Space Station(ISS). ISS crew members usually live in space for at least a quarter of a year. They work five days on and two days off to mimic the normal way they do things on Earth as much as possible. Weekends give the crew valuable time to rest and do a few hours of housework. They can communicate with family and friends by email, Internet phone and through private video conferences.

    While astronauts cannot go to a baseball game or a movie in orbit, there are many familiar activities that they can still enjoy.  Before a mission, the family and friends of each ISS crew member put together a collection of family photos, massages, videos and reading material for the astronauts to look at when they will be floating 370 kilometers above the Earth. During their mission, the crew also receives care packages with CDs, books, magazines,  photos and letters. And as from early 2010, the Internet became available on the ISS, giving astronauts the chance to do some “web surfing” in their personal time. Besides relaxing with these more common entertainments, astronauts can simply enjoy the experience of living in space.

    Many astronauts say that one of the most relaxing things to do in space is to look out of the window and stare at the universe and the Earth. Both the shuttle and the ISS circle the planet several times each day, and every moment offers a new view of the Earth's vast mass and oceans.

    The human athlete has a special trick that no other animal has. It is called self-talk. Athletes talk to themselves to warm up, to focus and to help themselves believe they will win. A few simple words like “I can do it!” and “It is now or never!” can make the difference between winning gold or not.

    Self-talk is also used by speakers, actors and other performers. Before a speech, politicians believe that their words will win votes. And, self-talk helps students stay calm even when stumped by hard exam questions. Self-talk is a life skill you can use wherever you are, whenever you need it.

    The whole idea of talking to themselves seems strange to many people. Imagine your teacher saying, “For homework, talk to yourself for half an hour tonight.” You might think he is playing a joke on your class. Instead, adults teach kids all about talking to other people. There are many books on why, when, what and how to communicate with the rest of the world. Thus, you can grow up knowing a lot more about people around you than about yourself.

    It is good to speak and listen to others. But there is great value in making time to listen to yourself. When you do, you get to know yourself better. Along the way, you may discover the power you have for using words well.

    Such ideas are so exciting to psychologists that they have been trying to learn more about self-talk. In the study, people found certain lost items at home more easily when they talked to themselves while searching for the things.

    Writing it down

    Unlike some other European languages, English is a little tricky when it comes to writing. How a word is pronounced and how it is actually spelt can be very different things.

    Same spelling, different meanings

Imagine, then, a situation where two words are spelt and pronounced exactly the same way, but have completely different meanings. Welcome to the world of homonyms（同形同音异义词）. Take, for example, the word "fair"—it can be a kind of festival, an adjective to describe the colour of your hair or how you should play a game. Or "leg", which can be attached to a person, or a table and can also be a distance you travel, or a part of a competition.

Don't take it literally（字面意思）

So how do you know which meaning someone is referring to? You don't, except by the context. Obviously, if someone asks you to "give them a hand", they don't want you to remove what is at the end of your arm.

What's in a name?

    Sometimes even the context doesn't help much—the result can be amusing. These sentences play with the double meaning of a noun:

    Sentence 1: I used to be a banker, but I lost interest.

Sentence 2: A small boy swallowed some coins and had to go to hospital. When his grandmother phoned to ask how he was, the nurse said: "No change yet".

    More ambiguity（歧义）

    Sentence 3 plays with the different meanings of a verb:

    Sentence 3: I wondered why the ball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Double trouble

    And sometimes a word can be a noun and a verb, but have different meanings. Can you work this one out?

    Sentence 4: Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

    If you like these homonyms, you will be pleased to know that English has plenty more!

    Bees may soon need to add protein shakes to their diet. Pollen (花粉) normally provides their protein (蛋白质). But rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the air have reduced the protein in pollen. That's what a new study finds.

    Scientists compared recently collected flowers from Canada goldenrod. Then they compared pollen in them to pollen in goldenrod reserved at a museum in Washington, DC. They found today's plants have less protein. Protein levels in pollen from the older flowers were 18 percent. Today's goldenrod pollen has only about 12 percent protein. That's about one-third less than 172 years ago. Over that same period, CO₂ levels have gone up by more than one-third. Back more than 170 years ago, they were about 280 parts per million in air. Today they are about 398 ppm.

    To test whether CO₂ changes had played a role in the falling protein levels, the researchers did some tests. They grew goldenrod for two years at CO₂ levels of up to 500 ppm. More CO₂ in the air led to lower levels of protein in the flowers' pollen.

    Joan Edwards, one of the researchers, says that this drop in pollen protein could affect a bee's diet and health. It would be like eating junk food, tasting good but offering less nutrition (营养).

    Honeybees need to eat lots of protein. They use it to feed their young. They also need it to keep their immune systems healthy, says Cédric Alaux, a bee biologist at the French agricultural research agency.

    Bee populations have been decreasing worldwide in recent years. A drop in their food quality might play a role, Edwards says. And that drop might affect crops too. "The health of the bee population is not just for the flowers and the bees and biodiversity." She worries it also could play a role in "human health and well-being."

    In a win for literary fiction amid declining sales, Sally Rooney's novel Normal People has been named Waterstones book of the year in 2018.

    Rooney's second novel, which follows two young people falling in love in Ireland, has sold 41, 000 copies in hardback in the UK since it was released in August-five times the hardback sales of her 2017 debut, Conversations With Friends. At 27, Rooney is now the youngest winner of the award, which is given by the UK's biggest bookshop chain, Waterstones.

    Normal People received almost universal applause upon its release. Longlisted for the Man Booker prize, the book won novel of the year at the An Post Irish book awards in November of 2018 and has also been shortlisted for the Costa novel of the year, announced in January of 2019.

    The reader response to Normal People had been astonishing. As well as the universal praise, it has been a huge word- of-mouth (口头的) hit. There're customers returning to buy multiple copies as gifts. Normal People strengthened Sally Rooney's reputation as the voice of her generation and one of the most exciting novelists around today. Its success is a testament to the health of literary fiction and indicates that there is still significant appetite for excellent storytelling.

    The award, established in 2012, tends to go to books that are already bestsellers near Christmas. It has previously been won by the late American author John Williams's Stoner, the cookbook Polpo by Russell Norman, and last year's choice, Philip Pullman's La Belle Sauvage.

    James Daunt, Waterstones' managing director, said Rooney's win was a sign of the healthy state of literary fiction, which has seen sales decrease over the last decade. "We are delighted to name it our book of the year," he said.