Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

    Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption（摄入） of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale（秤）instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels(标签).

    On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without knowing that we don't have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance（抵制and struggle.

    The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients(营养成分). Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemical that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

    Now that we know the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them.

    Rain beat against the window, matching my mood. I should have known that my new job at the hospital was too good to be true. Throughout the day, rumors (传言) warned that the newest employee from each department would be laid off. I was the newest one in the training department.

    My boss appeared. “You probably know we're cutting back,” he said. “Administration wants us to offer outplacement classes to help those employees find other jobs, showing them how to act in an interview, for example.” “Fine,” I answered unwillingly, not knowing what else to say.

    I decided to go home early that day. In the hall, I met the lady who brought us cookies every Friday. She was a little woman with gray hair. Only her head and the top of her green apron were visible over the cart (小车) loaded with cleaning supplies. At least she had a job!

    At the final meeting, laid-off workers formed a line at the door. A colleague whispered, “I can't believe our Cookie Lady is being laid off. We'll miss her as much as we'll miss her cookies.” When the colleague spoke to her in Spanish, I knew my classes would be useless for her and I realized how much better off was than this poor woman.

    I decided to do something for her. I wrote to a newspaper expressing how I felt about the unselfishness of the Cookie Lady who needed a job. A few days later, my article appeared in the newspaper and the Cookie Lady was allowed to stay in her position. On the same day, I received a letter, which seemed so unlikely that I read it twice. “An editor of a local magazine likes your piece and wants you to call her next time you're looking for work …”

    Wolves strike fear into the hearts of many species, humans included. Our fear of them has brought them to the edge of dying out, as we have cruelly killed them as competitors and trouble-makers. But researchers are discovering that the very fear they put into prey（被捕食者）species is exactly what helps make ecosystems（生态）healthy.

    Yellowstone National Park is a typical example of just how wolves can help repair an ecosystem. An October 2018 study analyzed 40 years of research on large animals inside the park.

    "Yellowstone has benefited from the reintroduction of wolves in ways that we did not anticipate, especially the complexity of biological interactions（互动） in the park," explained Mark Boyce, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences." We were really surprised at that and we'd never have seen these responses if the park hadn't adopted ecological-process management—allowing natural ecological processes to take place with least human intervention."

    After the wolves were re-introduced at Yellowstone, willow and cottonwood trees increased in number. The population of bears and bison also rose and what was once a ruling deer-wolf interaction is now more diverse.

    To learn more about just how wolves are beneficial, a short documentary from Quest explains how the presence of wolves influences the behavior of deer, which eventually makes entire ecosystems more biologically diverse and healthy. In this documentary, biologist Aaron Wirsing explored why wolves and other top predators （捕食者）were needed for diverse ecosystems to develop. Using a simple video camera, Wirsing is gaining a unique view point on predator-prey relationships and changing the way we think about wolves.

    The research is one more piece of evidence for why protecting these top predators is important not just for wolves as a species, but for hundreds of species at every level of an ecosystem. The fear they bring along may be the very angle that helps save them from dying out.

    When Randy Heiss went hiking behind his Patagonia, Ariz. farm, the last thing he expected to find was a Christmas list from a little girl across the US-Mexico border. "I found this balloon on my morning walk near Patagonia on Sunday. Attached to it was a piece of paper with the Christmas wishes from a little girl," Heiss wrote on his Facebook page.

    When he brought the list home to his wife, who speaks fluent Spanish, they determined that the little girl had asked for Enchantimals toys, clothes, art supplies and various other gifts. That's when Heiss set out to make the little girl's Christmas dreams come true. Heiss said he had attempted to send Christmas letters to Santa Claus via balloon when he was a kid but never received a response.

    Heiss sent a Facebook message on Wednesday to XENY, a radio station in Nogales, to see if it could help him track down the girl or her family. He later received a response from the station, which had determined the author of the letter was an 8-year-old girl named Dayami, and the station wanted to set up a meeting between the two on Thursday. "It just changed my entire day," Heiss told the Washington Post. "Instead of going back to my office in Bisbee, I went with my wife to Walmart."

    The couple bought almost everything on Dayami's list. They also brought a few gifts for Dayami's little sister, Ximena. They told the children they were " ayudantes de Santa," or Santa's helpers.

    Heiss, 60, said the experience was very healing for him and his wife. Nine years ago, the couple's only son died. "Being around children at Christmas time has been absent in our lives," Heiss said. We now have friends for life. For a day, that border fence with its concertina wire melted away.

    Pure Yoga is devoted to serving the yoga community in Asia and beyond, offering a wide variety of classes such as Hatha Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yin Yoga and Vinyasa Yoga, etc. Our yoga classes are offered and taught by nearly 200 professional yoga teachers. Private Yoga is also available for learners of all levels. Pure Yoga constantly invites world-known teachers to lead guest teacher workshops.

    Class Bookings

    Class bookings can be made 2 days in advance of the class. It is important that you book your class in advance since some classes are more heavily attended than others.

    We also limit our class sizes so that they are not overcrowded. If the class you wish to take is full, we will place you on the wait list and inform you of an opening as soon as possible. To create the best experience for yourself and others, please follow these guidelines：

    No talking

    The yoga studio is a silent room. Please do not talk while in the studio and studio corridors.

    No eating

    Do not eat in the studio.

    No shoes

    Remove your shoes before entering the practice rooms. Keep your shoes in your locker. Shoe lockers are also available for rental.

No mobile phones

    Turn your mobile phones off or to "vibrate"(震动)mode. Do not take phones into the practice rooms.

    Personal Belongings

    Daily lockers are not for overnight use. Locks from any daily lockers that are kept overnight will be cut.

    The University of Birmingham is the first excellent UK Russell Group university to announce that it will accept the "Gaokao" exam for high­flying Chinese students wishing to join its undergraduate courses in 2019. High school students who complete the "National Higher Education Entrance Examination", or Gaokao, with top grades will be able to apply for direct entry onto Birmingham degree programmes without first completing a foundation year which is a routine for the freshman.

    Gaokao is usually taken by students in their last year of senior high school and, every year, each province in China sets the grades required to gain admission to its universities. It is usually held across China in early June. Students are tested in Chinese, Mathematics, a Foreign Language and social sciences or natural sciences.

    University of Birmingham Vice­Chancellor Professor Sir David Eastwood said: "The University of Birmingham has been challenging and developing great minds for more than a century. We welcome people from around the globe to study at Birmingham and Chinese students form an integral part of our education and research community. We are further opening access to Birmigham's wealth of education opportunities for the brightest and most dedicated Chinese students by accepting this strict and important qualification. I look forward to welcoming these high­flying students to the University of Birmingham."

    Gaokao is increasingly accepted by universities in Australia, the USA, Canada and mainland Europe. Birmingham will only be considering high quality students who achieve a minimum 80% Gaokao score and meet additional academic and English language requirements.

    Professor J on Frampton, Director of the University of Birmingham's China Institute said: "The University of Birmingham has a long history of educating students from China and one of our most famous graduates is Li Siguang­the founding father of Chinese geology. I am delighted that the University is now accepting the Gaokao. This gives the brightest and best Chinese students an opportunity to move straight into the first year of our undergraduate programmes and experience the benefits of studying at a global Top 100 university, such as Birmingham."