If you're a high school student，you may tend to measure your self－worth based on your popularity and status.You may feel dejected or disappointed if you have a difficult time fitting in or if you lack the confidence to talk to others.If you want others to like you，you'll need to have a healthy understanding of how people think，what appeals to them and how you can gain their approval.There are four tips on how to be popular in high school.And if you are popular with your classmates，you can get many benefits from it.

    You must be yourself in order to gain any real popularity in high school.While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery(奉承)，copying another's style and personality will have a negative effect on your popularity.If you're not comfortable enough to be yourself 100 percent of the time，others won't feel comfortable around you.If you establish your own style and finesse and stay true to yourself，popularity will soon follow.

    Make yourself approachable to appeal to others and be popular in high school.People love to be around others who are confident and ready to have a good time.Hold your head up high，keep your shoulders back，and smile as you walk with an air of confidence to instantly attract others and boost your popularity.

    Be friendly and kind to everyone you meet.It's not enough to gain the approval of the other popular students in your school.In order to gain real popularity，you'll need to be kind and polite to everyone you meet.Make an effort to talk to your classmates regardless of their popularity or economic status and try to develop friendships with them.The more people you appeal to，the more popular you'll become.

    Involve yourself in school activities that interest you.You can be popular in high school if you play an active role in your school's extracurricular activities(课外活动)．The more you participate in group activities，the more popular you'll become.

    It was the day after Halloween when my grandmother was admitted to the hospital with the worst headache she'd ever had. While posing in our costumes the night before, we knew something was wrong, just not how wrong.

    Grandma's house was the central gathering place of my family. Sunday lunches, birthday dinners, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas — all were our traditions, with her as hostess. While my parents were busy running their small business, there were many nights when Grandma fed me and put me to bed in her spare room, until they came to get me. I spent my summers at Grandma's and I went everywhere with her. I couldn't imagine a time when she wouldn't be around me.

    Then November 1,1991 began her month-long stay in the hospital—she suffered from a rare infection (感染)called nocardia asteroides. After being born in the year of the Great Depression, living through World War II, raising three kids, and being widowed at the age of 48, Grandma never expected to live into her seventies. The infection in her brain seemed to confirm that she wasn't long for this world. But that's not the end of her story. A team of doctors successfully removed the abscess(脓肿), and Grandma even made it into a local medical journal. Her doctor called her “the brain lady”.

    Grandma celebrated her 85^th birthday in March this year. In the almost 23 years since her recovery, she's seen two of her four grandchildren get married and welcomed three great-grandsons. Although they damage something in her house, she loves it when my two boys come over. And while I know they make her day, seeing her love blossom for another generation makes my day too. Happy Grandparents' Day to my amazing grandmother!

    Hobbs was an orphan (孤儿). He worked in a factory and every day he got a little money. Hard work made him thin and weak. He wanted to borrow a lot of money to learn to paint pictures, but he did not think he could pay off the debts.

One day a lawyer said to him, “One thousand dollars, and here is the money.” As Hobbs took the package of notes, he was very dumbfounded. He didn't know where the money came from and how to spend it. He said to himself, “I could go to find a hotel and live like a rich man for a few days; or I give up my work in the factory and do what I'd like to do—painting pictures. I could do that for a few weeks, but what would I do after that? I should have lost my place in the factory and have no money to live on. If it were a little less money, I would buy a new coat, or a radio, or give a dinner to my friends. If it were more, I could give up the work and pay for painting pictures. But it's too much for one and too little for the other.”

    “Here is the reading of your uncle's will (遗嘱)，” said the lawyer, “telling what is to be done with this money after his death. I must ask you to remember one point. Your uncle has said you must bring me a paper showing exactly what you did with his money, as soon as you have spent it.” “Yes, I see. I'll do that，” said the young man.

    A black hole is created when a large star burns out. Like our sun, stars are unbelievably hot furnaces(熔炉) that burn their own matter as fuel. When most of the fuel is used up, the star begins to die.

    The death of a star is not a quiet event. First there is a huge explosion. As its outer layer is blasted off into space, the dying star shines as brightly as a billion suns.

    After the explosion, gravity pulls in what's left of the star. As the outside of the star sinks toward the center, the star gets smaller and smaller. The material the star is made of becomes tightly packed together. A star is so solid that a teaspoon of matter from it weighs billion of pounds.

    The more the star shrinks(收缩), the stronger the gravity inside it becomes. Soon the star is very tiny, and the gravity pulling it in is unbelievably strong. In fact, the gravity is so strong that it even pulls light into the star! Since all the light is pulled in, none can go out. The star becomes black when there is no light. Then a black hole is born!

    That's what we know about black holes. What we don't know is this: What happens inside a black hole after the star has been squeezed into a tiny ball? Does it keep getting smaller and smaller forever? Such a possibility is hard to imagine.

    But if the black hole doesn't keep shrinking, what happens to it? Some scientists think black holes are like doorways to another world. They say that as the star disappears from our universe, it goes into another universe. In other words a black hole in our universe could turn into a "white hole" in a different universe. As the black hole swallows(吞噬) light, the white hole shines brightly--somewhere else. But where? A different place, perhaps, or a different time--many years in the past or future.

    Could you travel through a black hole? Right now, no. Nothing we know of could go into a black hole without being crushed(挤压). So far the time being, black hole must remain a mystery.

    Black holes are a mystery--but that hasn't stopped scientists from dreaming about them. One scientist suggested that in the future we might make use of the power of black holes. They would supply all of Earth's energy needs, with plenty to spare. Another scientist wondered if a black hole could some day be used to swallow earthly waste--a sort of huge waste disposal(处理) in the sky!

    Many years ago, my mother read from the book Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey to me. I remember as if it were yesterday, hearing her voice at my side on a cold wintry night. My mother's voice changed my world.

    Long before I could read on my own, she shared with me the strength and beauty of McCloskey's language a story of a little girl and her mother out in nature, co-existing with a mother bear and her own baby. The power of the story, of language and of my mother all came together. And it happened many times after that, over and over. The read aloud made me a reader.

    Years later, I was reading aloud a picture book to a small child in a classroom. His life, so far, had not been easy. His childhood was troubled by poverty and loneliness. In that moment, in the joy of the read aloud, he had an idea that started something big.

    What he said was this: "Mrs. Allyn, let's make sure everyone knows how good this feels. Let's have a holiday for the read aloud" Therefore, my organization, LitWorld, created a grassroots movement World Read Aloud Day in 2010 to honor this young boy's wish for everyone to be able to have a read aloud every day.

    Since the day he shared that good idea with us, World Read Aloud Day has become a worldwide event reaching over one million people in more than 65 countries around the world. This year we are over 600 cities strong, a number that is growing every day.

    Children who grow up as readers become engaged citizens of the global world, and every child deserves the right to read. When I say that reading aloud will change the world, I know it sounds simple. But one of the many great things about giving kids access to the power of stories and sharing them together is that it is simple. It is also cheap and easily done. And the impact is huge.

    An online supermarket company—Ocado in the UK, has recently displayed a robotic hand that can pick fruits and vegetables!

    When an embryo (胚胎) is in the womb, the very first sense it develops is touch. The sense of touch is also the one that lasts the longest—as we get older and our vision and hearing begins to weaken, touch still remains. Humans use their touch to protect themselves, to create emotional relationships with other people, and to experience pleasure. Can you imagine life without it?

    The sense of touch comes from a network of nerve endings and special touch receptors on the surface of the skin. While there are different kinds of touch receptors (感受器), they help us judge pressure, texture and vibrations (震动). They are located in our fingertips, palms, soles of our feet, face, lips and tongue.

    When we touch something, the mechano-receptors perceive the touch and through a network of nerves, send signals to the brain. This informs the brain about the location of the touch, the amount of force used, and the speed at which it was used.

    Several different techniques have been tried in the past to create such a robotic hand—using three fingers. But this latest design by SoMa copies the human hand. The gripper (夹具) is made up of flexible materials which grasp onto the thing based on its size and shape. Then air pressure is used to control the movement of the robotic fingers to pick objects safely and without causing damage.

    The next step would be for the robot to judge how ripe the fruits and vegetables are, and apply pressure accordingly. Members of the research team are currently working on adding computerized vision to the robots, so that they can see what they are gripping.

    Does all this mean robots can replace people? According to Ocado, it helps improve productivity by removing some of the repetitive tasks done by humans.