More than a decade ago, cognitive scientists John Bransfgord and Daniel Schwartz, both then at Vanderbilt University, found that knowledge was not the ability to retain facts or apply previous knowledge to a new situation but a quality they called "preparation for future learning." The researches asked fifth graders and college students to create a recovery plan to protect bald eagles from extinction. Shockingly, the two groups came up with plans of similar quality (though the college students had better spelling skills). From the standpoint of a traditional educator, this outcome indicated that schooling had failed to help students think about ecosystems and extinction, major scientific ideas.

    The researches decided to go deeper, however. They asked both groups to generate questions about important issues needed to create recovery plans. On this task, they found large differences. College students focused on critical issues. The college students had cultivated the ability to ask questions, the foundation of critical thinking. They had learned how to learn.

    Museums and other institutions of informal learning may be more suitable to teach this skill than elementary and secondly schools. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, we recently studied how learning to ask good questions can affect the quality of people's scientific inquiry. We found that when we taught participants to ask "What if?" and "How can?" questions that nobody present would know the answer to and that would spark exploration, they engaged in better inquiry at the next exhibit—asking more questions, performing more experiments and making better interpretations of their results. Specially, their questions became more comprehensive at the new exhibit.

    This type of learning is not limited to museums of institutional settings. Informal learning environment tolerate failure better than schools. Perhaps many teachers have too little time to allow students to form and pursue their own questions and too much ground to cover in the curriculum. But people must acquire this skill somewhere. Our society depend on them being able to make critical decisions about their own medical treatment, says, or what we must do about global energy needs and demands. For that, we have a robust informal system that gives no grades, takes all comers, and is available even on holidays and weekends.

The Pathfinder

    When we found him, he was a sorry sight. His clothes were torn, his hands bleeding. Before we reached him, we saw him fall. He lay a moment. Then he pulled himself to his feet, walked unsteadily a few yards through the woods and fell again.

    After we got him out, we went back to find the gun that he had thrown down. His tracks showed that for two days he had circled in the forest, within 200 yards of the road. His senses were so dulled by fear and tiredness that he did not hear the cars going by or see the lights at night.

    We found him just in time.

    This man, like others before him, had simply been frightened when he knew he was lost. What had been a near disaster might have turned out as only a pleasant walk, had he made a few preparations before he stepped from the highway or off a known path.

    Whatever sense of direction that a man may have, it's still largely a question of observation. A skilled woodsman always keeps an eye on his surroundings. He notes that the shape of a mountain, the direction water flows through a swamp, and the way a tree leans across a path. With these in mind, he may be turned around many times, but he is seldom lost.

    There are exceptions, of course, and once in a while a man does come across some strange problem that puts him into the “lost” situation. A rainstorm or sudden blizzard may catch him without a compass (指南针) in his pocket. Darkness may find him in a rough area, where travel is dangerous without a light.

    When this happens, the normal first reaction (反应) is the fear of being laughed at as a result of his poor knowledge in the woods. He may also be concerned about the inconvenience that he will cause his friends when he doesn't show up. This false pride may lead him to keep on the move in a false effort to find his way against all difficulties.

    The person who thinks ahead is seldom in great danger. He'll be safe if he observes carefully, thinks ahead, and remains calm.

    Mary went out at night. She never forgot the night when she met a robber many years ago. That evening, she was invited to a birthday party which lasted until two o'clock in the morning. Without company Mary walked along the quiet street.

    Suddenly from the shadow of a dark building a tall man with a sharp knife in his right hand ran out at her. "Good evening, lady," the man said in a low voice, "I don't think you wish to die here."

    "What do you want?" Mary asked.

    "Your earrings（耳环）. Take them off!"Slowly Mary's eyes looked down. She tried to cover her necklace with the collar（领子）of her overcoat while she used the other hand to take off both of her earrings, and then she quickly threw them on the ground.

    "Take them and let me go." She said. The robber looked at her only feeling uncertain. He saw the girl didn't care for the earrings at all, only trying to protect the necklace. He realized the necklace would cost more. So he said, "Give me your necklace."

    "Oh, sir. It's not worth much. Please let me keep it."

    "Stop rubbish. Quick!"

    With shaky hands, Mary took off her necklace. As soon as the robber disappeared, she picked up her earrings and ran as fast as she could to one of her friends.

    The earrings cost 480 pounds and the necklace the robber had taken away cost only six pounds ten shillings.

    The British are known for their sense of humor. However, it is often difficult for foreigners to understand their jokes. The main point to remember is that the British often use understatement.

     Understatement means saying less than you think or feel. For example, if someone gets very wet in a shower of rain, he might say, “It's a little damp (潮湿的) outside.” Or, if someone is very impolite and shouts at another person, someone else might say, “She isn't exactly friendly.” Understatement is often used in unpleasant situation or to make another person look silly. Understatement plays an important part in British humor.

    Another key to understanding British humor is that the British like to make fun of themselves as well as others. They often laugh about the silly and unpleasant things that happen to our everyday life when someone accidently falls over in the street. They also like to make jokes about people from different classes of society. They like to make jokes about their accents, the way they dress and the way they behave. What's more, the British love to watch comedies (喜剧) about people who do not know how to behave in society. The comedies series Mr. Bean is a good example of this kind of humor.

    Mr. Bean is the character created by British actor Rowan Atkinson in 1990. Mr. Bean doesn't talk often, and instead he uses his body movement and facial expressions to make people laugh. Perhaps what makes Mr. Bean so funny is that he does things that adults in the real world cannot do. Mr. Bean is popular in many countries around the world because you do not have to speak English to understand the humor. Because of this, many people have become familiar with the British sense of humor.

    A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men aboard were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. Not knowing what else to do, the two survivors agreed that they had no alternative than to pray to God.

    However, to find out whose prayers were more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

    The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the island, and he was able to eat its fruit. But the other man's parcel of land remained barren.

    After a week, the first man became lonely and decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the island. But on the other side of the island, there was nothing.

    Soon thereafter the first man prayed for a house, clothes and more food. The next day, like magic, all of these things were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

    Finally, the first man prayed for a ship so that he and his wife could leave the island, and in the morning he found a ship docked at his side of the island.

    The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island, considering the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings since none of his prayers had been answered.

    As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"

    "My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he doesn't deserve anything."

    "You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings."

    "Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?"

    "He prayed that all your prayers would be answered."

    For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us. So what you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself.

    A tiny clue found in ancient deposits has unlocked big secrets about Greenland's past and future climate. Just beyond the northwest edge of the vast Greenland Ice Sheet, researchers have discovered lake mud that have survived the last ice age. The mud, and remains of common flies in it, record two interglacial periods(间冰期)in northwest Greenland.

    Although researchers have long known these two periods—the early Holocene and Last Interglacial—experienced warming in the Arctic, the mix of fly species shows that Greenland was even warmer than previously thought. "As far as we know, it has never been found in Greenland. We think this is the first time anyone has reported it in ancient deposits or modern lakes there," Axford said. "We were really surprised to see how far north it migrated (迁徙)."

    This new information could help researchers better measure Greenland's sensitivity to warming, by testing and improving models of climate and ice sheet behaviour. Those models could then improve predictions of how Greenland's ice sheet might respond to man-made global warming. After all, Greenland covers 80 per cent of the Arctic country and holds enough ice to equal 20 feet of global sea level. "Northwest Greenland might feel really remote, but what happens to that ice sheet is going to matter to everyone in every coastal city around the world," said Yarrow Axford, an associate professor in the team. "One of the big uncertainties in climate science is how fast the Earth changes when it gets warmer. Geology gives us an opportunity to see what happened when the Earth was warmer than today," said Axford.

    People might be surprised to see how today's Greenland looked during the last two interglacial periods. During the Last Interglacial, global sea levels increased by 15 to 30 feet, largely due to thinning of Greenland and Antarctica's ice sheets. However, now researchers believe northern Greenland's ice sheet experienced stronger warming than previously thought, which could mean that Greenland is more responsible for that sea-level rise.

    Finding lake deposits older than about 10,000 years, however, has been historically very difficult in Greenland. To measure these ancient temperatures, researchers look to ice cores (冰核) and lake deposits. Since ice and lake deposits form by a gradual buildup on annual layers of snow or mud, these cores contain history of the past. By looking through the layers, researchers can obtain climate clues from centuries ago.