The Boy Made It!  One Sunday, Nicholas,a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine．In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept into the area．Unable to see far,he accidentally turned off the path．Before he knew it,Nicholas was lost,all alone!He didn't have food,water,a phone,or other supplies．He was getting colder by the minute．

    Nicholas had no idea where he was．He tried not to panic．He thought about all of the survival shows he had watched on TV．It was time to put the tips he had learned to use．

    He decided to stop skiing．There was a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put．The first thing he did was to find shelter from the freezing wind and snow．If he didn't,his body temperature would get very low,which could quickly kill him．

    Using his skis,Nicholas built a snow cave．He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle．Then he piled branches on top of himself,like a blanket,to stay as warm as he could．

    By that evening,Nicholas was really hungry．He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn't lose too much water．Not knowing how much longer he could last,Nicholas did the only thing he could—he huddled(蜷缩)in his cave and slept．

    The next day,Nicholas went out to look for help,but he couldn't find anyone．He followed his tracks and returned to the snow cave,because without shelter,he could die that night．On Tuesday,Nicholas went out again to find help．He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him．After two days stuck in the snow,Nicholas was saved．

Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm had it not been for TV．He had often watched Grylls' survival show —-Man vs．Wild． That's where he learned the tips that saved his life．In each episode(一期节目) of Man vs．Wild, Grylls is abandoned in a wild area and has to find his way out．

    When Grylls heard about Nicholas' amazing deeds,he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive．

    Back about 20 months ago I started college and just struggled with everything, such as classes and friends. I quickly became depressed and angry at myself for not being about to do better in school, in addition to lack of friends due to poor social and communication skills.

    This went on for months until my 19th birthday. My parents sent me a cake, which was a great cake. But I remember having this large cake and absolutely no one to share it with. I ended throwing out the cake after having one piece, with about 90 % of it leftover . That night I was depressed that I decided to go outside to the freezing temperature of the winter and run. I put my earphones in, went outside and ran about 2 miles at 11 p.m. on my birthday.

    When I got back inside I was content. I was proud of what I was able to do. The next night did the same. I wasn't quick or fit but you know that I went outside and did something. The continued for about 2 months until I finally worked up the courage to go to the gym, where I started swimming again as I used to in high school. A month went by and I started lifting weights and continually running.

    Looking back I can see that exercise helped cure my depression but it didn't only do that. At the gym I met new friends and back at my dorm I grew confidence to go to the end of the hall seeing people playing Super Smash Brothers and ask if I could join.

    So go forward to present now. I exercise every day and look forward to that hour and a half I get daily to do what I love with people who love it as well. I hope this helps someone who may be or have been in a similar situation.

    My motivation for starting our family tradition of reading in the car was purely selfish: I could not bear listening to A Sesame Street Christmas for another 10 hours. My three children had been addicted to this cassette on our previous summer's road trip.

    As I began to prepare for our next 500-mile car trip, I came across a book Jim Trelease's The Read Aloud Handbook. This could be the answer to my problem. I thought. So I put Roald dahl's James and the Giant Peach into my bag. When I began to read aloud the tale of the boy who escapes the bad guys by hiding inside a giant peach, my three kids argued and wrestled in their seats. But after several lines, they were attracted into the rhythm of the words and began to listen.

    We soon learned that the simple pleasure of listening to a well-written book makes the long miles pass more quickly. Sometimes the books we read became highlights of the trip. I read Wilson Rawls's Summer of the Monkeys as we spent two days driving to the beach. We arrived just behind the power crews restoring (恢复) electricity after a tropical storm. The rain continued most of the week, and the beach was covered with oil washed up by the storm. When we returned home, I asked my son what he liked about the trip. He answered without hesitation, “The book you read in the car.”

    Road trips still offer challenges, even though my children now are teenagers. But we continue to read as we roll across the country. And I'm beginning to see that reading aloud has done more than help pass the time. For at least a little while, we are not shut in our own electronic worlds. And maybe we've started something that will pass on to the next generation.

    Many of us have had this experience: we lie down in a bed other than our own, perhaps at a friend's house or in a hotel room, and find it difficult or impossible to fall asleep. Is it because the bed is uncomfortable? Maybe, but perhaps there can be other reasons.

    According to a new study published in Current Biology, a significant reason is what the scientists call "first night effect". They believe that one side of the brain acts as a "night watch" to warn us about potential dangers. It forces us to stay awake on the first night in a new environments.

    For the study, 35 young volunteers were asked to sleep in a sleep lab for several days. Meanwhile, researchers watched their brain activities.

    According to the researchers, on their first night, the left brain was more active than the right brain and people had a hard time sleeping. However, left-brain activities decreased as days went by, falling even to the point of complete calm. In this process, the participants got an increasingly better sleep experience.

    The findings suggest that the different rhythms of the sides of the brain affect our sleep. When the two sides work differently, the balance between them is broken. Thus, the brain can't relax and is sensitive to anything strange in the surroundings, just as it is in the daytime.

    "At some level, the brain is continuing to analyze things, even though you are not aware of the analysis, " US professor Jerome Siegel told Smithsonian

    "If something unusual happens - if a door opens or you hear a key in a lock --you can be alert, even though the intensity of the stimulus (刺激强度) is quite low." More surprisingly, this phenomenon is similar to the way some animals sleep.

    The researchers think that it is the result of evolution (进化), and works to protect us in potentially dangerous environments.

    If you have ever had what you think is "first night effect", researchers suggest that you bring your own pillow or sleep in a room similar to your bedroom next time you sleep away from home.

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