“Did you hear what happened to Adam Last Friday?” Lindsey whispers to Tori.

       With her eyes shining,tori brags，“You bet I did, Sean told me two days ago.”

Who are Lindsey and Tori talking about? It just happened to be yours truly, Adam Freedom, I can tell you that what that what they are saying is (a) not nice and (b) not even true. Still, Lindsey and Tori aren't very different from most students here at Linton High School, including me. Many of our conversations are gossip(闲话)。I have noticed three effects of gossip: it can hurt people, it can give gossipers a strange kind of satisfaction, and it can cause social pressures in a group.

An important negative effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic-breakups, trouble at home, even dropping out-that a person would rather keep secret. The more embarrassing or shameful the secret is, the juicier the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, but cruel lies can cause pain.

If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? That answer lies in another effect of gossip: the satisfaction it gives us. Sharing the latest rumor(传言)can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don't. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the “in group.” In other words, gossip is satisfying because it gives people a sense of belonging or even superiority(优越感).

Gossip also can have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten, unspoken rules about how people should act. Professor David Wilson explains that gossip is important in policing behaviors in a group. Translated into high school terms, this means that if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can bet that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. The do's and don'ts conveyed through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.

   The effects of gossip vary depending on the situation. The next time you feel the urge to spread the latest news, thing about why you want to gossip and what effects your “juicy story” might have.

    Throughout history, music spread through common experiences among people of different cultures. In today technologically advanced society, however, people spread music online, sometimes without an artist's permission. This can lead to many problems, and music companies are now cracking down on this practice. Sharing music online without permission is theft.

    Sharing music online prevents recording companies from making money from their efforts. They say that online file sharing has resulted in a huge drop in profits and sales over the past 10 years. People who find music for free online are not charged for CDs or every MP3 download. To truly understand the impact of music piracy (盗版)on creators, one must understand how many people are involved in the recording process. For the sale of each album, profits must be shared between all parties: musicians, sound engineers, music producers, managers advertisers, and the company selling the product. Many people believe sharing music only affects the recording artist, but the reality is that sharing hurts business for all companies involved. Therefore, the sharing of music files is just as damaging as stealing a CD from Target.

    There are many people who don't see the harm in sharing music files online and even think they have the right to do it. One online blogger states that he originally paid for an entire CD and that he “should be able to do with the material whatever he wants”. While he may have legally paid for the music, he does not have the right to provide it to the world at no cost. Most music is copyrighted(有版权的). No one can legally hand out free copies without permission, which means people like the blogger are thieves.

    Although we do not spread today's music the same way we did historically, there's no doubt that people around the world love to share music. However, internet piracy could prevent musicians from wanting to continue producing albums for fear of theft. Therefore, if people want to continue listening to their favorite artists, they need to buy their music so that artists will make enough profit to continue their music careers.

    A popular saying goes, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." However, that's not really true. Words have the power to build us up or knock us down. It doesn't matter if the words come from someone else' or ourselves—the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.

    We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We're usually too shy to admit it, though. In fact, more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.

    This "self-talk" helps us encourage ourselves, remember things, solve problems, and calm ourselves down. Be aware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying "Good job!"!

    Often, words come out of our mouths without thinking about the effect they will have. But we should be aware that our words cause certain responses in others. For example, when returning an item to a store, we might use warm, friendly language during the exchange. And the clerk will probably respond in a similar manner Or harsh (刻薄的)and critical language will most likely cause the clerk to be defensive.

    Words have power because of their lasting effect. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn't pass this test, then it's better left unsaid.

    Words have power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem(自尊) and encourage others to do their best Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.

    There are several ways from which to choose for you to keep your kids safe in your neighborhood. But the first step to keep your child safe in your neighborhood is to know your neighbors.

    Knowing your neighbors can save you a lot of worry. It lets you know that the car that has just driven down the street belongs to “the yellow house on the corner”, or the truck that has just driven by the playground looks unfamiliar, but the guy in the passenger seat resides two doors down. It's these simple things that keep you from going out of your mind whenever you see someone driving by where children are playing.

    But you shouldn't just know what they look like. The next step is to know them well. What do they do? How do they act? You might be OK with them driving by the playground since they live in the neighborhood, but are you OK with them being on the playground? Knowing your neighbors solves several things. First you find out what kind of people they are. This helps you know if you should let your child go out in an area where they gather. Let us face it: you do not want your child to play around people or people's children that curse (咒骂) or hit each other. Sometimes you have to protect your child against your own neighbors.

    Knowing them also makes them know you. Being neighbors is an interesting thing. You might not like them or have the same views as them, but we all usually protect those that we consider our own. If you know your neighbors, they know you. They are more likely to look after the child of the nice lady down the street in the brick (砖) house, than the people, in the house on the corner, who no one ever sees.

    While every dog owner knows their dogs can read their moods perfectly, scientists have always been a little doubtful. Now thanks to some researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, we finally have some convincing evidence.

    For their study, biologist Corson Miller and his team exposes eleven selected dogs to digital images of women that were either angry or happy. Half the dogs were rewarded for touching the screen when shown a happy face, while the other half got their treat for selecting those that appeared angry.

    Interestingly, the dogs were not provided with the entire face. Some dogs were shown only upper halves while the others observed lower halves. That's because the scientists believe humans show their emotions on their entire face.

    After some training like how to recognize small differences like the wrinkles between the eyes or the changes in their shape that accompany the happy or angry expressions, the dogs were mostly able to identify the correct expression not only on a familiar face but on a strange face. The researchers concluded the dogs were smart enough to read human emotions.

    They also found those being trained to read angry expressions took a longer time to learn. They guess it may be because dogs find angry faces disgusting, causing them to withdraw quickly. However, once the smart dogs realized they were getting rewarded, the trepidation seemed to disappear. In fact, the dogs had such a good time playing the computer "game" That scientists had a hard time keeping them away from the touch screens after the study was completed.

    The researchers also noticed only dogs with a male owner had a harder time understanding the expressions correctly. Since the touch-screen models were all females, this confirmed what has been observed in previous studies dogs are more efficient at reading facial expressions of people that are the same gender as their owner.

Dear Alcohol,

    You've been around forever. I can remember all the pain you've caused for me.

    Do you remember the night you almost took my father's life? I do. He loves you. Sometimes I think he loves you more than he loves me. He's addicted to you, to the way you promise to rid him of his problems only to cause more of them. You just sat back and laughed as his car went spinning through the street, crashing into two other cars. He wasn't the only one hurt by you that night.

    Do you remember the night of my first high school party? You were there. My friends were intrigued by you. They treated you as if they were never going to see you again, drinking all of you that they could. I spent two hours that night helping my friends who had fallen completely. "I'm so embarrassed," they said as I held their hair back so that they could vomit. "I'm sorry," they said when I called taxies for them, walking them out and paying the driver in advance. "This won't happen again," they said as they were sent to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. Two 15-year-old girls slept in hospital beds that night thanks to you.

    Do you remember the night when you took advantage of my 17-year-old neighbor who had to drive to pick up his sister from her dance lessons? Do you know how we all felt when he hit another car and killed the two people in the other car? He died the next morning too. His sister walked home from her dance lesson, and passed police cars and a crowd of people gathering on the sidewalk just two blocks away from the dance studio. She didn't realize her brother was in the midst of it all. She never saw him again. And it's all your fault.

    I wish you'd walk out of my life forever. I don't want anything to do with you. Look at all the pain you've caused. Sure, you've made people happy too from time to time. But the damage you've caused in the lives of millions is inexcusable. Stop luring (引诱) in the people I love. Stop hurting me, please.

Sincerely,

Me