Houses fall down. Trees fall over. Large holes form in the ground. Could Alaska be sinking? That's what some villagers in Alaska have been asking themselves recently and scientists think they know why. Warmer temperatures may be causing Alaska's frozen ground to thaw (解冻).

    About 85 percent of Alaska's land surface has permafrost (永久冻结带). Permafrost supports the ground above it—including trees, houses, and roads. But why is the permafrost thawing?

    Some scientists say that human-caused pollution is leading to global warming. And most scientists agree that Alaska has been getting warmer. They say that the warmer temperature is causing permafrost to thaw in some areas. The thawing permafrost can cause problems for people, plants, and animals.

    The collapsing (倒塌) is a problem in the villages in Alaska which are built on permafrost, and some of them may have to move to safer ground, where there is no permafrost.

    The Alaskan town of Glennallen saw its old post office collapse. And, according to James Walters, a permafrost expert at the University of Northern Iowa, house-moving companies have been very busy.

    “Melting permafrost can also destroy trees and forests,” Walters said. “When holes in the ground form, trees fall into them and die. This could turn a forest into a swamp (沼泽), and animals which need the forests will have to move elsewhere.”

    “The melting could cause severe problems.” Walters says, “This could take hundreds of years, but in the end Alaska will look quite different from what it looks like now.”

    The new mayor of Hillsdale, Michigan, is a man of the people, ready to listen to their problems, but only until 6 p.m. Then he has to do his homework. Michael Sessions, 18, beat former mayor Douglas Ingles, 51, by just two votes and became the new mayor of Hillsdale. He is America's youngest mayor.

    As Sessions was too young to enter the election in the spring of 2005, he registered to vote on Sept, 22, one day after his 18-year-old birthday. The day after that he started his write-in campaign, which means he should persuade voters to remember his name and write it by hand on the voting ballots（选票）.

    To help get his name known, Sessions earned＄700 by selling apples over the summer. He spent the money on posters and put them on the Hillsdale's lawns.

    Sessions' month-long campaign included going door to door, explaining his ideas of the town's future in the kitchens of his neighbors. "They'd look at me, and say‘How old are you again? How much experience do you have?' And I say ‘I'm still in high school', " he said. Sessions promised Hillsdale's voters he would renew local economy. “I was hopeful the whole time, ” he explained. One day he spent so long out on the streets knocking on the doors that he ended up in a hospital emergency room.

    Sessions said that his schoolwork will not get in the way of his job as a mayor. “From 7:50 a.m. to 2:30p.m., I'11 be a student. From 3 to 6, I'11 be the mayor of Hillsdale," he said.

    “He did a very brave thing that couldn't have been easy for him to do, "said Jack Vettel, a councilman in Hillsdale, a city of 8,200 about 75 miles southwest of Detroit. "He does care about this town. He's been here all his life.”

    Sessions will receive＄3, 600 a year during this four-year term, and will work out of his bedroom since the town does not provide the mayor with an office.

    Today's workplace is unique in history.Never before have we seen people working together who represent such different backgrounds and experiences.This difference of age,race,gender,and work style makes it very difficult to organize and run a company.

    As a result,companies are looking for individuals who can manage a wide range of employees effectively. Increasingly,managers are discovering that age differences among workers are a major cause of concern.

    This has been an important realization.The management difficulties and challenges have led some experts to study intergenerational differences for an understanding of problems in the workplace.What they have discovered is interesting and may provide ways of improving working conditions in companies that employ individuals from different generations.

    The first thing to realize,they say,is that differences of opinion about the importance of work and how to get work done are not a coincidence.That is,it is not an accident that young employees will be different from older employees.In fact,if employers do not pay attention to these differences,it is possible that anger will build up between people and lead to difficulties in the company.

    Resentment（仇恨）between members of different generations,if not attended to（处理）,can lead to extreme anger and unhappiness and even lasting enmity if people are not careful.That individuals from different generations should come to view each other as if they were from different sides of warring countries should not be surprising.

    It is natural for individuals from the same generation to form alliances（联盟）,to come together for protection. Different generations represent different experiences in life,and these lead naturally to different opinions about oneself and one's approaches to work.

    If you were raised in a time of plenty,when products were readily available and relatively inexpensive,you would believe that prosperity is natural and expectable.If,on the other hand,you were raised in a time of scarcity,you would always be careful not to waste things for fear you would not have enough.You would make angry people who seem to believe that problems will always solve themselves.Such optimism in the face of difficulties would be a source of unhappiness between you and them.It is difficult,in such circumstances,to achieve a happy,agreeable atmosphere in the workplace.

    US scientists say they have poured cold water on the theory that washing hands with hot water kills more germs (细菌) than unheated water. The small study of 20 people found using water at 15C (59F) left hands as clean as water heated to 38C (100F).

    National Health Service (NHS) recommends that people wash their hands in either cold or warm water. In this study, scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick wanted to find out if popular assumptions about the benefits of warm or hot water and official guidance on hot water —given to the food industry in the US - held true. They asked 20 people to wash their hands 20 times each with water that was 15C (59F), 26C (79F) or 38 degrees (100F). Volunteers were also asked to experiment with varying amounts of soap. Before they started the tests, their hands were covered in harmless bugs. Researchers say there was no difference in the amount of bugs removed as the temperature of the water or the amount of soap changed.

    Prof Donald Schaffner said: “People need to feel comfortable when they are washing their hands but as far as effectiveness goes, this study shows us that the temperature of the water used did not matter.”

    However, the researchers accept their study is small and say more extensive work is needed to determine the best ways to remove harmful bacteria.

    In the UK, NHS experts say people can use cold or hot water to wash their hands. They say hands should be washed for at least 20 seconds and stress the importance of using enough soap to cover the whole surface of the hands. Their guidance focuses on rubbing hands together in various .ways to make sure each surface of each hand is clean.

    New Jersey Middle School Makes Students Go Phone-Free

    A middle school in Union County, New Jersey, is forcing its students to stay disconnected in class, by prohibiting cellphones. Maxson Middle School Principal Kevin Stansbury put forward the phone ban last week after he noticed some major issues in the school. "Our test scores were down, discipline was up," he says. According to him, students were too focused on their phones to pay attention to their lessons. So, he purchased Yondr pouches for the school.

    Yondr pouch

    When students come into class each morning, they place their phones in the pouch, which is then locked up tight. It can only be opened using a special device at the end of the day. The ban on mobile devices applies not just during class time but during breaks, with the only exceptions being in times of emergency or in cases of students who need such devices to help with disabilities.

    Eighth-graders who spoke with News 12 New Jersey say that they noticed a change in a matter of hours. "It's just better for everyone because you'll understand how it feels to get more work done instead of paying attention to the phone," says student Charlene V. "I'm usually listening to music, but today I got to communicate with all my friends," says student Desiree Duncan.

    The program was originally met with resistance from students and parents, so the process was not that smooth. But teachers and administrators say that the program will have a major impact. "Students were talking and laughing and there were no cellphones other than being carried in the pouches," Stansbury says.

    Teacher Nia Cummings says she even noticed students bouncing ideas off each other in class. She says students used to give up quickly and just look for answers on their phones. She says they now try to figure it out themselves. "Everyone is socializing and eating lunch together. That's what I wasn't seeing enough of when phone usage was at its worst," she adds.

    Maxson Middle School is currently the only one in the district to use these pouches. Kevin Stansbury also called on all the schools in the community that it's worth paying close attention to cellphone issues at secondary schools and taking actions when necessary.

When you were at school, were you ever told to stop daydreaming and concentrate? It was easy for your mind to wander if you weren't interested in what you were learning or if you had better things to think about. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But understanding how to do it, and knowing what is distracting you, can help.

Scientists have looked at what makes us delay and found a number of ways to help us stay in the zone. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Research by Science Focus magazine found silence is best for concentration, or a gentle background music is great! It also found turning off notifications on your phone, or switching it off altogether, removes a major distraction and helps us focus on the task at hand.

  {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Psychologists and neuroscientists are increasingly interested in our ability to settle down and have looked at what we can change inside our head to make us concentrate. An article for BBC Future by Caroline Williams says that "Attention Researcher Nilli Lavie of University College London has found that making a task more visually demanding takes up more processing power and leaves the brain nothing left to process distractions." So, keeping your mind busy might be the answer.

 {#blank#}4{#/blank#} These include making a list or timetable of the tasks you have to do, finding a workspace where you're not attracted by other things, or chewing some gum! It's possible the movement in your mouth occupies parts of the brain that might otherwise get distracted.

But according to Science Focus magazine, distraction isn't all bad. "If we were always so focused that we never got distracted, we'd miss potential changes, such as threats, in our environment. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} ."

A. Distraction is vital for survival.

B. Staying focused can avoid dangers.

C. Performing visual tasks makes us concentrate.

D. One of the most obvious things is removing noise.

E. Staying focused can still be a challenge in adult life.

F. There are more practical tips to keeping your mind focused.

G. Another possible cure for a short attention duration is brain training.