One fine afternoon I was walking along Fifth Avenue when I remembered that it was necessary to buy a pair of socks. I turned into the first sock shop that caught my eye, and a boy clerk who could not have been more than 17 years old came forward.

    “What can I do for you, sir?”

    “I wish to buy a pair of socks.”

    His eyes glowed. “Did you know that you had come into the best place in the world to buy socks?” I had not been aware of that.

    “Come with me,” said the boy happily. He began to haul (用力拖) down from the shelves box after box.

    “Hold on, boy, I am going to buy only one pair!”

    “I know that,” said he, “but I want you to see how beautiful these are. Aren't they wonderful?” There was on his face an expression of joy, as if he were showing to me the mysteries of his religion.

    “My friend,” said I, “if this is not just the enthusiasm (热情) that comes from novelty (新鲜), if you can keep up this day after day, in ten years you will own every sock in the United States.”

    In many shops the customer has to wait for someone to serve him. And when finally some clerk does notice you, you are made to feel as if you were disturbing him. He displays no interest either in you or in the goods he is paid to sell.

    Yet possibly that very clerk who is now so cold began his career with enthusiasm. As time goes by, the enthusiasm is gradually gone; his only pleasures were found outside of working hours. He became a mechanical (机械的), not inspired, salesman.

    I have observed such change in the lives of so many people in so many occupations that I have come to the conclusion that the fastest road to failure is to do things mechanically.

    NOT all memories are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences. Violence and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and emotional scars. Often they relive(再体验)these experiences in nightmares.

    Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill, which will help people forget bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it might reduce, or possibly erase(抹去), the effect of painful memories.

    In November, experts tested a drug on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body releasing(释放)chemicals that fix memories in the brain. So far the research has suggested that only the emotional effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are erased.

    The research has caused a great deal of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, while others support it.

    Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers' troubling memories after war. They say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories.

    "Some memories can ruin people's lives. They come back to you when you don't want to have them in a daydream or nightmare. They usually come with very painful emotions," said Roger Pitman, a professor at Harvard Medical School. "This could reduce lot of that suffering."

    But those who are against the research say that changing memories is very dangerous because memories give us our identity(特质). They also help us all avoid the mistakes of the past.

    " All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were horrible at the time but make us who we are. I'm not sure we want to wipe those memories out," said Rebecca Dresser, a medical expert.

    Mary Krupa became friends with the grey squirrels during her first week at Penn State,after spotting them running around and idly（漫不经地）wondering what they would look like with tiny hats on their heads.Today, everyone at the university knows her as the "Squirrel Girl".

    Mary started bringing them food,and gradually they began to trust her.She managed to put a hat on a squirrel and take a picture.Thinking that her colleagues could do with something to lift up their spirits,she started posting similar Photos on Facebook.The response Was greatly positive,and before long Mary and her squirrels became an Internet sensation.

    Growing up in a neighborhood outside State College,Mary was always fond of birds and animals around her home,but she didn't interact with people very much.She was later diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome,but the squirrels changed that.The squirrels are actually a good way to break the ice,because I'll be sitting here patting a squirrel and other people will come over and well just start like feeding the squirrels together and chatting about them,"she said."I am a lot more outgoing.

    And in case you're wondering how Mary is able to get the squirrels to do what she wants for her photos,it has a lot to do with food.For example,whenever she wants them to hold or play with something,she puts peanut butter on the prop（道具）,and they'll grab it.But getting to that part took a while.In the beginning,she would throw peanuts up the trees on campus and invite the squirrels to come down and get them,but they hesitated to approach her.She had the patience to earn their trust,though.

    This year,Mary is graduating with a degree in English and wildlife sciences.She wants to be a science writer and educate people on how to preserve the environment.As for her furry friends,Mary plans to stay in the area and visit them as often as she can.

    Mary Anning was an English fossil(化石)collector，dealer and paleontologist(古生物学家).Her fossil-hunting helped change the way people thought about the world.

    Mary was born into a poor family in England on May 21, 1799. She lived in the seaside town of Lyme Regis, in Dorset. The family had nine children. Only Mary and her brother Joseph grew up. Mary's father took his children along the beach. They picked up shells and stones to sell to visitors. Mary did not go to school much. Her family was too poor. And schools did not teach children about fossils. Mary could read and write. She taught herself. She learned about rocks and how bodies are made.

    In 1811 when Mary and Joseph were fossil hunting, Joseph saw a bone sticking out of the rock. Mary had a hammer to chip away at the rock. Very carefully she uncovered it. She found the first complete fossil of the ichthyosaur(鱼龙).

    Since then, Mary became crazy about fossil hunting. She liked to hunt on the beach after a storm. The wind, rain and waves made the rocks crumble. It was easy to spot fossils. Most days Mary went fossil hunting with her dog, Tray.

    Rich friends helped Mary by selling fossils for her. They sent her money. Scientists wrote letters and came to see her. One good friend was William Buckland, a professor at Oxford University. Mary also opened a shop to sell fossils, stones and shells. She chatted with visitors.

    Mary Anning died in1847. How evolution(进化)works was explained by Charles Darwin not long after Mary died. Her fossils had helped scientists understand how things began.

    Some kinds of mental skills naturally decrease as people get older. Yet research seems to show that some training can improve such skills. A recently published study also appears to attest that the good effects of training can last for many years after that training has ended.

    Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland wanted to learn how long memory and thinking skills would last in older people who were trained to keep them. The people were part of the ten-year research project. They were taught methods meant to improve their memory, thinking and ability to perform everyday tasks.

    More than 2,800 volunteered for the study called ACTIVE ­ short for Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly. Most were studied when they were more than 70 years old.

    The volunteers took one of several short training classes meant to help them keep their mental abilities. One class trained participants in skills including how to remember word lists. Another group trained in reasoning. A third group received help with speed-of-processing ­ speed of receiving and understanding information. A fourth group ­ the control group did not get any training.

    Earlier results had established that the training helped the participants for up to five years. Now, leading study writer George Rebok says, the research showed most of the training remained effective a full ten years later.

    Professor Rebok and his team found that the people trained in reasoning and speed-of- processing did better on tests than the control group.

    "We are wondering whether those effects which endured over time would still be there ten years following the training, and in fact, that's exactly what we found.

    The effect on memory, however, seemed not to last as long. Still, the old people in any of the three classes generally reported less difficulty in performing daily activities than the control group. The total training time for the older people was between 10 and 15 hours.

With advanced communication technologics making the iconic British red telephone boxes expendable (可抛弃的）, a US firm is all set to bring them back to use. Call boxes would be changed into mini-offices for workers on-the-go and will offer free coffee to subscribers (认购者).

Bar Works Inc's chief executive Jonathan Black, a Briton living in New York, said that his company will renew telephone boxes with fully functional printers, scanners, 25-inch screens and Wi-Fi. Bar Works specializes in offering bar-themed work stations in prime locations, charging customers with a monthly subscription in return for free access to the business and office supplies. The company plans to operate in a similar manner, offering British customers with monthly memberships to "Pod Works" for £19.99 ($29).

The company will refit telephone boxes in five major British cities and has already rented and changed 15 old call boxes in London and Edinburgh. As expected, they are coming into use by the public in the coming months. "Given the prime location, above all else, of the telephone boxes, the launch is expected to gain at least 10, 000 members by the end of 2021. It's an alternative to, say, Starbucks but obviously it provides you with total privacy. " said Black.

Thanks to mobile phones, the red telephone boxes have been effectively made expendable. According to a report by the Daily Mail, retired telephone boxes, especially those damaged deliberately, are sent to a "telephone box graveyard" of sorts, where they take great pains to restore to their former glory before being sold to collectors across the globe. Such is the demand for properly restored telephone boxes, that it is not uncommon for them to be sold for amounts as high as £10, 000.

Despite its setback, in a recent survey, the British red telephone box, which was originally designed in 1920, was voted the greatest British design of all time.