People can be addicted to(沉溺于) different things — e.g. alcohol, drug, certain foods, or even television. People who have such an addiction are compulsive(强迫的):They have a very powerful psychological（心理上的）need that they feel they must satisfy. According to psychologists, many people are compulsive spenders. They feel that they must spend money. This compulsion, like most others, is impossible to explain reasonably. For compulsive spenders who buy on credit(以赊欠方式), charge accounts are even more exciting than money. In other words, compulsive spenders feel that with credit, they can do anything. Their pleasure in spending large amounts is actually greater than the pleasure that they get from the things they buy.

    There is even a special psychology of bargain hunting. To save money, of course, most people look for sales, low prices, and discounts. Compulsive bargain hunters, however, often buy things that they don't need just because they are cheap. They want to believe that they are helping their budgets(预算), but they are really playing an exciting game. When they can buy something for less than other people, they feel that they are winning. Most people, experts claim, have two reasons for their behavior: a good reason for the things that they do and the real reason.

    It is not only scientists, of course, who understand the psychology of spending habits, but also business people. Stores, companies, and advertisers use psychology to increase business. They consider people's needs for love, power, or influence, their basic values, their beliefs and opinions, and so on in their advertising and sales methods. Psychologists often use a method called “behavior therapy(疗法)” to help individuals solve their personality problems. In the same way, they can help people who feel that they have problems with money.

The baby monkey is much more developed at birth than the human baby. Almost from the moment it is born, the baby monkey can move around and hold tightly to its mother. During the first few days of its life the baby will approach and hold onto almost any large, warm, and soft object in its environment, particularly if that object also gives it milk. After a week or so, however, the baby monkey begins to avoid newcomers and focuses its attentions on “mother” — the real mother or the mother-substitute(母亲替代物）.

During the first two weeks of its warmth is perhaps the most important psychological（心理的） thing that a monkey mother has to give to its baby. The Harlows, a couple who are both psychologists, discovered this fact by offering baby monkeys a choice of two types of mother-substitutes — one covered with cloth and one made of bare wire. If the two artificial mothers were both the same temperature, the little monkeys always preferred the cloth mother. However, if the wire model was heated, while the cloth model was cool, for the first two weeks after birth the baby monkeys picked the warm wire mother-substitutes as their favorites. Thereafter they switched and spent most of their time on the more comfortable cloth mother

    Why is cloth preferable to bare wire? Something that the Harlows called contact（接触的） comfort seems to be the answer, and a most powerful influence it is. Baby monkeys spend much of their time rubbing against their mothers' skins, putting themselves in as close contact with the parent as they can. Whenever the young animal is frightened, disturbed, or annoyed, it typically rushes to its mother and rubs itself against her body. Wire doesn't“rub”as well as does soft wire cloth. Prolonged（长时间的）“contact comfort” with a cloth mother appears to give the babies confidence and is much more rewarding to them than is either warmth or milk.

    According to the Harlows, the basic quality of a baby's love for its mother is trust. If the baby is put into an unfamiliar playroom without its mother, the baby ignores the toys no matter how interesting they might be. It screams in terror and curls up into a fury little ball. If its cloth mother is now introduced into the playroom, the bay rushes to it and holds onto it for dear life. After a few minutes of contact comfort, it obviously begins to feel more secure. It then climbs down from the mother-substitute and begins to explore the toys, but often rushes back for a deep embrace（拥抱）as if to make sure that its mother is still there and that all is well. Bit by bit its fears of the new environment are gone and it spends more and more time playing with the toys and less and less time holding on to its “mother.”

    The last few days before Christmas passed quickly and it was soon Christmas Eve. That night when everyone went to bed, Bunny couldn't sleep. He still couldn't think of what he wanted his Christmas gift to be. He wondered how Father Christmas would know what to bring him if he didn't know himself.

    As he was sitting up in bed, Bunny heard a big noise on the roof (屋顶) and a sound downstairs. It was Father Christmas, he realized. Bunny jumped out of bed and raced down the hall to the stairs hoping to have a look at the old man with his own eyes.

    By the time Bunny reached the bottom of the stairs, though, everything was again silent. Beautiful gifts were piled (堆积) under the Christmas tree, but Father Christmas was gone. He looked for him for a few minutes, but it was already too late. Bunny turned to climb back upstairs when he heard a cry.

    “Hello,” said Bunny. “Is somebody there?”

    He was answered by another cry. Bunny looked around the big pile of gifts to see what was making the noise. Right under the tree was a funny looking brown animal with big feet and sad eyes. Bunny might have mistaken it for a dog, if it hadn't been for the antlers (鹿角) on its head.

    “Are you a reindeer (驯鹿)?” asked Bunny.

“Yes,” replied the animal, “my name is Ralph.”

    “And you were pulling Father Christmas' sled (雪橇)?”

    “I was until I got airsick,” replied Ralph, “I'm afraid I wasn't cut out for the job. Now I'm stuck here and I don't know how to get back to the North Pole.”

    “Well, if you like, you can stay with us as a friend,” said Bunny. As he made the offer, Bunny suddenly realized the gift he wanted from Father Christmas was a new friend!

    Nearly 19 percent of teachers of color(有色人种教师) left their jobs after the 2014-2015 school year. Some left for personal reasons like taking care of their families. But 50 percent said they left because they were dissatisfied with their employment situation, such as poor working conditions, student discipline problems and large class sizes. Thus, taking immediate measures to improve it is our top priority.

    For years, researchers have proved the benefits of increasing the share of minority teachers in schools, especially as our public school system has turned to one that is made up mostly of minority students. Teachers of color, who are more likely than their white counterparts to choose to work in racially diverse( 多 种 多 样 的 ) schools, offer particular benefits to their students. Graduation rates increase among minority students when they are taught by racially similar educators, research shows. They can also serve as positive role models, and their presence reduces the chance of racial discrimination at school.

    The Shanker Institute report suggests that the rate of minority teacher hiring is not the whole problem. The problem is what happens after these teachers enter the classroom. These teachers often work in high-poverty rural schools. They are more likely to have less-desirable working conditions.

    Diversity is a key component to equality and opportunity. Where there's a diverse teaching workforce, all kids thrive. So solutions must be found at once to turn this trend around. Firstly, schools should develop mentorship programs that support minority teachers once they are in the classroom. Secondly, more money should be spent in improving working conditions in these schools. Of course, school headmasters should also be evaluated on their ability to retain teachers of color.

Growing evidence shows that dancing can boost brain health and help manage neurocognitive (神经认知的) disorders. So what is it about dance that's different from other regular exercises? 

Helena Blumen, a cognitive (认知的) scientist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, says the complex (复杂的) mental multitasking that dance requires involves various parts of the brain at the same time. Basically, dancing requires more brain power than simpler repetitive (重复的) exercises. 

While scientists are still learning how the mechanisms of dancing work in the brain, a clearer picture is beginning to appear. Researchers at Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany, did MRI scans of older adults who had participated in one of two programs over a six -month period. One group practiced dance and the other did a traditional exercise program with cycling and strength training. While both groups improved their level of physical fitness, the dancers grew more white and gray matter in the parts of the brain responsible for cognitive processes. Both white and gray matter typically decline as we get older, making communication in the brain slow. 

Imagine your brain is a city with loads of roads. The researchers assume the changes brought by dancing contribute to brain plasticity, which is like the city's ability to build new roads, repair old ones or even change the direction of traffic based on how often the routes are used and what the city needs. 

In addition to the physical and neurological (神经学的) benefits, dance can also help people accept what their bodies can and can't do. Dawnia Baynes, 44, developed multiple sclerosis (MS) after her body lose all feeling from the chest down. She recently joined an online dance program for people with MS. Not only has it improved her range of motion, it has also helped her overcome her fear of being judged for how she moves. 

"To see other people moving is like I'm moving," she says, "and knowing that I don't have to be professional and super technical in my dancing makes me comfortable with where I am right now."