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STUDY BOOKS

　　Basic Study Manual　Hardcover：＄ 37.50

　　Future success depends on the ability to learn．Here are the answers to the questions most often asked by parents, teachers, business trainers and by students themselves．Read this book and learn：

　　* What the three barriers to study are and what to do about them

　　* What to do if you get tired of a subject you are studying

　　* Twenty-six simple drills to help you learn how to study easily, rapidly and with full understanding

　　Buy and read the Basic Study Manual and use it to dramatically improve your ability to study．

　　Study Skills for Life　Hardcover：＄31.99

　　L．Ron Hubbard’s study technology for teenagers opens the door to their future success by giving them the ability to study and learn．Fully illustrated for easy comprehension．

　　Learning How to Learn　Hardcover：＄24.99

　　The basics of effective study for 8 to 12-year-olds, fully illustrated．Children who read and apply the materials in this book regain their liking for study and their ability to apply this knowledge in life．Get this book for a child you want to see win at his studies!

　　How to Use a Dictionary Picture Book for Children　Hardcover：＄34.90

　　In spite of billions of dollars spent on ‘educational research’, children are not taught the most basic skills of learning, even the most basic of these：how to use a dictionary．In fact, a search of educational books for children found no book that told them how to use a dictionary or that one should．Written for children 8 to 12-year-olds, this fully illustrated book will teach your child：

　　*How to find words in a dictionary

　　*The different ways that words are used

　　*What the different marks and symbols that are used in a dictionary mean

　　*How to use a dictionary to correctly pronounce words

　　It includes a section for parents and teachers showing you how to use this book with children．Buy this book and give it to your children to unlock their education．What’s more, you’ll just pay 50％ for it before May 1, 2006．

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　　While football fans feel strongly angry and shocked about mistakes made by referees(裁判)because they cannot see clearly what has happened, a small German company is quietly pleased．

　　For Cairos Technologies, mistakes made by referees are the kind of advertising that money cannot buy．The company has developed a tiny chip(芯片)that fits inside a football and determines whether the ball has crossed the goal line, by being able to discover its exact location on the field．The world football organization, FIFA, has shown interest in the technology．It is very possible that the new technology will be used in the 2006 World Cup in Germany．

　　"We've been testing the technology at the main soccer stadium in Nuremberg for some time and more recently in an under-17 FIFA Cup in Peru," said Gunter Rohmer, a director of the company．"The technology has performed well, and we're pretty optimistic that it will be used at the games in Germany next year．"

　　The chip only weighs 12 grams, and is placed in the center of the football．It sends 2,000 signals a second to a receiver network of 12 antennas(天线), placed around the field．The receivers then send information about the ball's location to a central computer, and because it works in real time, it can immediately tell the referee whether a goal has been scored．The chip even can tell when the ball crosses the line in mid-air．Oliver Braun, one of the inventors of the chip, says that feedback from German referees was generally positive．Germany sports-wear giant Adidas is also optimistic about using this kind of chip in other ball sports．

　　FIFA aims to test the technology later this year at another game in Japan before deciding whether or not to introduce it in all 12 stadiums in Germany for next year's World Cup．

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　　If women are mercilessly exploited(剥削)year after year, they have only themselves to blame．Because they tremble at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion, they are always taken advantage of by the designers and the big stores．Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be put aside because of the change of fashion．

　　Changing fashions are nothing more than the intentional creation of waste．Many women spend large sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardly been worn．Women who cannot afford to throw away clothing in this way, waste hours of their time changing their old-fashioned dresses．Skirts are lengthened or shortened; neck-lines are lowered or raised, and so on．

　　No one can claim that the fashion industry contributes anything really important to society．Fashion designers are rarely concerned with necessary things like warmth, comfort and durability(耐用)．They are only interested in outward appearance and they take advantage of the fact that women will put up with any amount of discomfort, as long as they look right．There can hardly be a man who hasn't at some time in his life smiled at the sight of a woman shaking in a thin dress on a winter day, or picking her way through deep snow in high heeled shoes．

　　When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion, the conclusions to be drawn are obvious．Do the constantly changing fashions of women's clothes, one wonders, reflect basic qualities of inconstancy and instability? Men are too clever to let themselves be cheated by fashion designers．Do their unchanging styles of dress reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability(稳定耐用)? That is for you to decide．

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　　Every kid wishes to be an adult．But now as grown-ups, some adults find they cannot leave childhood behind．They become "kidults"(kid＋adult)．Being a kidult has become a lifestyle-choice among young people across Asia．

　　Some kidults collect toys they once played with．Hello Kitty, Garfield, and Snoopy have many adult fans around the world．It is not unusual to see a 20-something woman with a big, Garfield-shaped cushion on her sofa or a Hello Kitty mobile phone accessory(附属品)．

　　Other kidults still enjoy children's stories and fairy tales．For example, Bloomsbury even published the Harry Potter novels with an adult cover．That way, no one else on the subway will know that an adult is actually reading a children's book!

　　"Kidults can be like vitamins to society．Adults who value their childhood and hold on to pure, child-like emotion may be needed in such a rough and dry society," said Lee Sojung, professor of Foreign Studies at Hankuk University(韩国外国语大学)．He added that kidult culture may fill the generation gap between adults and kids．It could give children and their parents books, movies, and cartoon shows to enjoy together．He may be right．

　　Tim Greenhalgh, a professor, explained that some kidults just refuse to grow up．They value childhood because life in a busy and stressful city frightens them．Kidults would like to forget their age and openly show their fear of society and adulthood．

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　　A number of recent studies have shown how making several small lifestyle changes could help you lose weight without losing the pleasure to enjoy the food you love．

　　1．Use a smaller plate

　　A Comell University study found that when a fixed portion(一份，一客)of food was eaten from a large plate, diners felt they had been given a smaller than average portion, so ate more．When the same portion of food was eaten from a smaller dish, the meal seemed more, so they ate less．

　　2．Eat with men

　　Eat with men if you're a woman．According to psychologist Meredith Young, women eat less if there are men around．She told The Atlantic："It is possible that small food portions signal attractiveness．"

　　3．Avoid light at night

　　This includes late-night television and computer use．A study into the effects of bright light or darkness on weight-gain in mice found that those under a bright light at night gained 50 per cent more weight than those in darkness．

　　4．Be careful around friends

　　Children eat more with a friend than with a stranger, according to a study at the State University of New York at Buffalo．Researchers said that it, which applies to adults too, can be blamed on the fact that friends act as so-called permission-givers, and encourage one to eat．

　　5．Be aware of skinny friends who eat a lot

　　Worse still, are thin friends who have large appetites．A study found that participants ate more during a movie when accompanied by a skinny person who ate a Jot, compared with those sitting next to a fat person who ate a lot．

　　6．Avoid advertisements for exercise

　　A study shows that participants who were shown advertisements encouraging exercise ate more than those who weren't．The same was true of participants exposed to words related to exercise during mealtimes．

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　　Any list of the world's top ten most famous paintings will surely include da Vinci's Mona Lisa．Part of the painting's attraction is its mystery(神秘)．

　　Those lucky enough to have a view of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre often stare in awe(敬畏), surprised by the smile that seems to flicker(忽隐忽现)．Staring at a reproduction of the work produces the same effect．Now she's smiling, then she's not．

　　What's the deal with Mona Lisa's smile?

　　Harvard scientist Margaret Livingstone is pretty sure she's solved the puzzle．After careful studies on human brains, Livingstone reasoned that the famous painting's flickering smile is caused by the way human beings see．

　　Our eyes use two separate regions(部位)to see．One is central vision(视力；视觉), used to see colors and pick out details such as fine print．The other is the vision around, used to observe lights, shadows, black and white contrasts．

　　When we look at a person's face, according to Livingstone, we usually focus centrally on the eyes．Staring at Mona Lisa's eyes, our less accurate vision notices the mouth, picking up shadows from the cheekbones．The shadows play tricks, looking like a smile．But when we look directly at the mouth, our central vision doesn't see the shadows, and so the smile suddenly disappears．As our eyes observe different parts of the painting, Mona's smile seems to show up or disappear．

　　Did da Vinci intend to create this flickering smile effect? Perhaps．In any case, he was talented enough to paint shadows so good as to puzzle viewers for centuries．Meanwhile, Mona Lisa will keep smiling．And not．

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　　The protest movement called Occupy Wall Street has struck a nerve．The demonstrators'(示威者)goals may not be obvious but their complaints are very real．

　　The truth is that millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes and their life savings because of the greed(贪欲)and illegal behavior of Wall Street．Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bemanke also said the protesters hold the view that the financial institutions are responsible for "getting the US into this mess", and added, "I can't blame those protesters．"

　　Where do we go from this movement? How do we calm the protesters' anger?

　　For starters, we should break up the super financial institutions．Left to their own selfish will．Wall Street bankers will continue to gamble(赌博)with other people's money．There also is a sound economic argument against too few owning far too much．The idea that six super financial institutions(Bank of America, CitiGroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs)can take control over the economy frightens anyone who believes in a competitive free-market system．Good Republican presidents like William Howard Taft and Teddy Roosevelt broke up Standard Oil, the Railroad Trusts．and other huge companies a century ago．

　　Real unemployment is more than 16％．Average family income has declined by ＄3,600 over the last decade．A record 46 million Americans live in poverty．The gap between the very rich and everyone else, the widest of any major country, is growing wider．Now is the time for us to end the financial oligarchy(寡头)that has been so harmful to our economy．If a bank is too big, it is too big to exist．

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　　She was born to wealth and power in a time when money and politics were left to the men．Later, as The Washington Post's publisher, Katharine Graham became one of America's most powerful women．

　　Despite a privileged(有特权的)background, Katharine had to deal, while growing up, with the high demands her mother placed on her children．Katharine's love of journalism, which she shared with her father, led to her career after college at The Washington Post, the newspaper her father bought in 1933．At the Post, Katharine met Phil Graham, a young, charming lawyer who became her husband．When, in 1945, Katharine's father chose Phil over her to take over his struggling paper, Katharine didn't object and stayed at home as a wife and mother of four．

　　While Phil's successful efforts to restore the Post to fame made the Grahams popular members of the Washington social scene, Katharine privately suffered great pain from her husband's increasingly harmful behavior caused by severe depression．When Phil committed suicide(自杀), the 46-year-old Katharine found herself thrown into a new job, that of newspaper publisher．But determined to save the family paper for her children, Katharine rose to the challenge of running the Post, attending meetings in every department, working endlessly to prove herself to her critics, and becoming the toast of Washington．

　　In 1971, Katharine ordered the Post to print a copy of the Pentagon Papers, the top-secret documents telling the truth about the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War．What's more, her courageous decision and support for her journalists prepared the Post to break the most important political story in modem history：Watergate(水门事件), one of the greatest scandals(丑闻)in American political history．Katharine managed to keep control over the most disorganized situation when it was reported, all the time insisting the news stories be accurate and fair．Watergate made the Washington Post an internationally known paper and Katharine was considered as the most powerful woman in America．

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　　Which animal has the fastest snapping jaw(突然合住的颚)? If you're guessing a shark or perhaps a larger animal, you'll have to think smaller．The trap-jaw ant, which lives in Central and South America, moves its mouth parts at 35 to 63 meters per second．Another way to think about this is that the ant's jaws close at 125 to 233 kilometers per hour．That's 2,300 times faster than the blink of an eye．

　　Scientists were able to measure the amazing jaw speed using high-speed video techniques．Sheila Patek, a biologist, says the key is that the jaws have a springy(有弹性的)system, which is critical in getting explosive(爆发性的)speeds．

　　Consider a bow and arrow．If you try to throw an arrow with your arm, it won't go very far．If you use a bow, elastic energy stored in the bow is freed almost immediately when you let go of the arrow with your finger．That's exactly what really fast organisms are doing．

　　Maybe even more amazing than how fast these ants grab food or even enemies is how they use this same energy to move．As the ant closes its jaws, it uses them to push off the ground－all faster than the eye can see without slow motion video．A snap of the jaw can send an ant up to 8.3 centimeters into the air．That's like someone who is 1.7 meters jumping 13 meters high! Not only can they quickly escape from enemies, but often a group of ants will start jumping all at once．It would be hard for their enemies to grab just one．

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　　Close your eyes and think of someone who has hurt you．The offence may be severe or small but deeply painful．He may be a stranger－the driver who caused your accident or someone who took your child．More likely, it is someone close and trusted．It may even be yourself．

　　Let all the anger and hurt you feel for that wrongdoer gradually come to the surface．Feel your heart beating quickly, your stomach churning(翻腾)and your thoughts racing in dark directions．OK, stop．Now, forgive the offender．Don't just remember the bitterness, but wish him well and move on－whether he is sorry or not．

　　Many researchers think forgiveness may be medicine for the body．They have shown that “forgiveness interventions(介入)”－often just a couple of short sessions in which the wounded are guided towards positive feelings for an offender－can reduce pain and depression and increase quality of life among the very ill．

　　Like proper nutrition and exercise, forgiveness appears to be a behaviour that a patient can learn, exercise and repeat as needed to prevent disease and preserve health．But the new science worries many in mental health who fear that traumatised(精神受创伤的)patients face pressure to forgive when their desire to do so is not fully developed．

　　While much of the early work on forgiveness has focused on forgiveness of others, scientists are turning up evidence that forgiving oneself may have a more powerful effect on overall health．“Sometimes people hurt us, and we move on, and it might fade,” says Loren Toussaint, a psychologist who with colleagues was the first to establish a long-term link between people's health and their likeliness to forgive．However, Dr．Toussaint has been surprised to learn that those who hold onto self-blame may suffer more．As he says, “The human mind is sometimes an instrument of suffering．”