This year, 25,310 students who have accepted places in higher education institutions have put off their entry until next year, according to statistics on university entrance provided by the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS).

    That is a record 14.7% increase in the number of students taking a gap year. Tony Higgins from UCAS said that the statistics are good news for everyone in higher education. “Students who take a well-planned year out are more likely to be satisfied with, and complete, their chosen course. Students who take a gap year are often more mature and responsible,” he said.

    But not everyone is happy. Owain James, the president of the National Union of Students (NUS), argued that the increase is evidence of student hardship – young people are being forced into earning money before finishing their education. “New students are now aware that they are likely to leave university up to￡15,000 in debt. It is not surprising that more and more students are taking a gap year to earn money to support their study for the degree. NUS statistics show that over 40% of students are forced to work during term time and the figure increases to 90% during vacating periods,” he said.

    There are countless short videos on YouTube. It's a website for people to post video made by themselves. Many people make a lot of money through doing so. Then, who made the most over the past year?

    YouTube's top-earning celebrity is a 25-year-old video-game-playing young man who shows a strong sense of humor in his videos. He earned $12 million over the past year. Forbes magazine says Sweden's Felix Kjellberg, better known by his handle "PewDiePie", tops its first list of people who have turned short videos into huge piles of cash.

    YouTube stars make money mainly by getting paid to interact with products on their channels and sharing ad revenue(收入) with YouTube. Some also star in movies, write books, go on tour, or sell music. They're a hit with younger audiences and brands trying to reach the next generation of consumers.

    Two acts tied for the second place on Forbes' list, both earning $8.5 million: comedy prankster(搞恶作剧的人) duo Smosh(Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla) and the Fine Brothers(Benny and Rafi Fine). Dancing violinist Lindsey Stirling ranked fourth with $6 million. Tied for fifth were comedians Rhett and Link(made of Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Lincoln III) and video game commentators(解说员) Olajide Olatunji, known as "KSI," with $4.5 million. Make-up artist Michelle Phan was seventh at $3 million. The No. 8 place was a three-way tie at $2.5 million shared by comedian Lilly Singh, or "Superwoman;" prankster Roman Atwood; and chef Rosanna Pansino.

    Forbes is best known for its list of billionaires and this list marks its first attempt at ranking YouTube stars. It says it measured earnings before management fees and taxes and came up with the figures based on data from online sources such as Nielsen, IMDb and interviews with managers, lawyers, industry insiders and the stars themselves.

    It is hardly surprising that clothing manufacturers (生产商) follow certain uniform standards for various features (特征) of clothes. What seems strange, however, is that the standard adopted for women is the opposite of the one for men. Take a look at the way your clothes button. Men's clothes tend to button from the right, and women's from the left. Considering most of the world's population—men and women—are right-handed, the men's standard would appear to make more sense for women. So why do women's clothes button from the left?

    History really seems to matter here. Buttons first appeared only on the clothes of the rich in the 17th century, when rich women were dressed by servants. For the mostly right-handed servants, having women's shirts button from the left would be easier. On the other hand, having men's shirts button from the right made sense, too. Most men dressed themselves, and a sword drawn from the left with the right hand would be less likely to get caught in the shirt.

    Today women are seldom dressed by servants, but buttoning from the left is still the standard f0r them. Is it interesting? Actually, a standard, once set, resists change. At a time when all Women's shirts buttoned from the left, it would have been risky for any single manufacturer to offer women's shirts that buttoned from the right. After all, women had grown so used to shirts which buttoned from the left and would have to develop new habits and skills to switch. Besides, some women might have found it socially awkward to appear in public wearing shirts that buttoned from the right, since anyone who noticed that would believe they were wearing men's shirts.

    In Western countries people have been using the installment plan since the first half of the twentieth century. Today, a large number of families in Great Britain buy furniture, household goods and cars by installments In the U. S. A, the figure is much higher than in Great Britain, and people there spend over 10 percent of their income on the installment plan.

    The price of an article bought on installments is always higher than the price that would be paid by cash. There is a charge for interest. The buyer pays one quarter or one third of the price as a down payment when the goods are delivered to him. He then makes regular payments, weekly or monthly, until the full price is paid up. The legal ownership of the goods remains with the seller until the final payment has been made.

    Installment buying has advantages and disadvantages. It can help couples with small incomes to furnish their homes and star housekeeping. It increases the demand for goods, and in this way helps business and employment. There is, however, the danger that when business is bad, installment buying may end suddenly, making business much worse. This may result in a great increase in unemployment. If the people on the installment plan lose their jobs, they will probably not be able to make their payments. If great numbers of people are not able to pay their installment debts, there is a possibility that businessmen cannot collect their debts and will therefore lose money. If businessmen lose money or fail to make a satisfactory profit, it becomes more likely to have a depression. This is why, in some countries,the government controls the installment plan by fixing the amount of the down payment and installments to discourage people from buying more than they can pay for on the installment plan.

    Some spiders hunt on the ground, others build webs to trap their food, but the grass water spider catches its prey by running along the surface of the water.

    This special water spider lives on the grassy banks of streams where mosquitoes, damsel flies and other insects come to feed and breed.

    Although it is one of the largest spiders in New Zealand, it has an unusual ability. It doesn't disturb the water as it waits for its meal, and there is barely a ripple(波纹) when it skims(掠过) across the surface at lightning speed to catch its prey.

    Grass water spiders deal swiftly with larger insects like damsel flies by pulling their heads under the water and holding them there until they drown.

    After a meal, the grass water spider spends up to half an hour grooming(修饰) itself. It wipes its eight eyes, brushes its antennae(触角), and takes special care to clean the hairs on its body.

    It is the hairs that trap tiny bubbles(泡沫) of air so that the spider can run down a blade(叶片) of grass and stay underwater for up to an hour when it is frightened. The hairs also keep the spider dry, even underwater.

    It is only when the female spider is caring for the young that she does not hunt on the water. After mating, she produces a large egg sac(囊), which she carries around for five weeks. Once the eggs start to hatch, she attaches the sac to some blades of grass or a thistle. She then tears the sac open and releases the tiny spiders into the nursery web.

Sleep is essential for a person's well-being. Researchers have found that sleep loss increases a person's risk of developing serious medical conditions. Now, a new study has found that getting enough sleep is also the key to improving academic performance.

Jeffrey Grossman, who led the research, was not trying to find the correlation(相关性) between sleep and grades when he handed out a device to the students in his class. Instead, the professor hoped the popular wrist-worn electronic device, which tracks a person's activity 24/7, would show a connection between physical exercise and academic achievement.

As part of the research, a quarter of the participants chose a fitness class specially created for the study. After the school term ended, the researchers carefully analysed the data. Much to Grossman's surprise, they found no measurable difference in test performance between the group that had been physically active and the group that had not.

However, the study presented a surprising viewpoint in the journal Science of Learning. Going through the large amount of data, Grossman noticed an interesting trend(趋势) from the participants' sleep patterns. There was a straight-line relationship between the average amount of sleep and his/her grade in the exams.

Besides, it was not enough for students to just head to bed early the night before a test. Grossman says, "We've heard the phrase ‘Get a good night's sleep. You've got a big day tomorrow.' It turns out this does not relate at all to test performance. Instead, it's the sleep you get during the days when learning is happening that matters most."

The time when students went to bed each night was similarly important. Those who went to bed in the early hours of the morning performed poorly, even if the total sleep time was the same as a higher-performing student.

The research does not prove that sleep is the only component that helps improve academic performance. However, Grossman says the results are a strong indication that sleep really matters. Who knew getting A's just required some extra ZZZ's?