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How Do Animals Catch Their ZZZ’s?

　　Different creatures have developed some pretty creative ways to get their rest and stay safe．The lizard(蜥蝎)likes to sleep at the far end of small branches hanging out over a pond or lake in the rain forest．If a snake tries to slither up the branch to eat it, it will shake the branch and knock the lizard off, and the lizard will fall safely into the water．Chameleons can change color to match their surroundings in order to hide even while sleeping．

　　Corillas(大猩猩)like to sleep high in the trees．They build a new bed every night, sometimes taking up to half an hour to pile branches, twigs, and leaves into a comfortable bed．Birds also find it safe to sleep in the trees, but unless they have eggs or young chicks, they don’t use a nest．They just lock their feet around a branch and hang on．A special tendon(腱)in their legs in automatically tight when they are at rest, so they won’t let go and fall．

　　Dolphins live underwater, but must come to the surface to breather．Scientists now believe that dolphins may sleep with only half their brain, while the other half stays awake to keep them safe and breathing．Seals also do this, lying on their sides on the surface of the water with one flipper underwater paddling to keep their noses above the surface．Some ducks may also have this ability, and actually sleep with one eye closed and one eye open．

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　　My grandfather grew up in war-torn Europe．When German soldiers occupied his hometown, the thriving city of Tarow, Poland, he refused to obey them and eventually joined the Soviet army to fight for his country’s freedom．“Stand straight, stand tall,”he told himself．

　　After the war, in 1947, he boarded a boat for Manhattan．He was hungry and suffering from seasickness．All alone in a new country, he was frightened about his future．Still, he marched head-on into the hustle and bustle of the streets of New York．Soon he met other European immigrants, each of them trying to find his or her own way．If they could do it, why couldn’t he?“Stand straight, stand tall,”he would remind himself．

　　Thanks to the help of a loyal and trusting friend, my grandfather gained a jewelry booth on Canal Street, New York City．He once told me how nervous he was on that first day of work．He was not only trying to learn this tough new business, but also a new language．

　　To his surprise, the men in neighboring booths－who could have taken advantage of him－offered their help and advice．Within months, my grandfather was commanding his spot behind the counter, selling diamonds and cultured pearls as if he’d been doing it his whole life．

　　Stand straight and stand tall．

　　In later years, my grandfather would take both my mother and her sister down the aisle at their weddings．As he stood with each of them, he thought about their new beginnings, and of the adventures and journeys they would experience together．He also thought about the children who would one day carry on his family name．

　　I am so proud to be one of those children．Listening to my grandfather’s remarkable experiences has changed the way I view my own life．

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　　A characteristic of American culture that has become almost a tradition is to respect the self-made man－the man who has risen to the top through his own efforts, usually beginning by working with his hands．While the leader in business or industry or the college professor occupies a higher social position and commands greater respect in the community than the common laborer or even the skilled factory worker, he may take pains to point out that his father started life in America as a farmer or laborer of some sort．

　　This attitude toward manual(体力的)labor is now still seen in many aspects of American life．One is invited to dinner at a home that is not only comfortably but even luxuriously(豪华地)furnished and in which there is every evidence of the fact that the family has been able to afford foreign travel, expensive hobbies, and college education for the children; yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward, furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily got from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery．On the contrary, the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes．A professional man may talk about washing the car, digging in his flowerbeds, painting the house．His wife may even help with these things, just as he often helps her with the dishwashing．The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education．

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　　The Marches were a happy family．Poverty, hard work, and even the fact that Father March was away with the Union armies could not down the spirits of Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, and Matinee, as the March girls called their mother．

　　The March sisters tried to be good but had their share of faults．Pretty Meg was often displeased with the schoolchildren she taught; boyish Jo was easy to become angry; golden-haired schoolgirl Amy liked to show up; but Beth, who kept the house, was loving and gentle always．

　　The happy days passed and darkness came when a telegram arrived for Mrs．March．“Your husband is very ill,”it said,“come at once．”The girls tried to be brave when their mother left for the front．They waited and prayed．Little Beth got scarlet fever(猩红热)when she was taking care of a sick neighbor．She became very ill but began to recover by the time Marmee was back．Then Father came home from the front and at that joyful Christmas dinner they were once more all together．

　　Three years later the March girls had grown into young womanhood．Meg became Mrs．Brooke, and after a few family troubles got used to her new state happily．Jo had found pleasure in her literary efforts．Amy had grown into a young lady with a talent for design and an even greater one for society．But Beth had never fully regained her health, and her family watched her with love and anxiety．

　　Amy was asked to go and stay in Europe with a relative of the Marches’．Jo went to New York and became successful in her writing and had the satisfaction of seeing her work published there．But at home the bitterest blow was yet to fall．Beth had known for some time that she couldn't live much longer to be with her family, and in the springtime she died．

　　News came from Europe that Amy and Laurie, the grandson of a wealthy neighbor, had planned to be married soon．Now Jo became ever more successful in her writing and got married to Professor Bhaer, and soon afterwards founded a school for boys．

　　And so the little women had grown up and lived happily with their children, enjoying the harvest of love and goodness that they had devoted all their lives to．

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　　Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia(痴呆)in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones(荷尔蒙), U．S．reseachers reported on Thursday．

　　Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s(早老痴呆症)．University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans．

　　“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy(怀孕)are protecting the brain, including estrogen(雌激素), which we know has many neuroprotective(保护神经的)effects,”Kinsley said．

　　“It’s rat data(资料)but humans are mammals(哺乳动物)just like these animals are mammals,”he added in a telephone interview．“They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes．”

　　Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline．

　　“When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,”said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the yearly meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida．

　　“They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain．If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young．But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant－that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations(改变)to the brain．”

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　　Jonathan James looks like just another kid about to graduate from high school．But this 19-year-old Swede is far from ordinary．From the computer in his parents’ home he helps the US Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI)find out the world’s most wanted cyber criminals(网络犯罪分子)．

　　Jonathan first made headlines when he and another Swede, Fredrik Bjoerck, found out the maker of the“Melissa”virus(病毒)in March 1999．He came to the aid of the FBI again on May 7, finding out the suspected(嫌疑的)sender of the dangerous“I LOVE YOU”virus．The suspect was caught in Manila on May 8．

　　Jonathan’s special skills are in hot demand as officials around the world express alarm at the“virtual”crimewave．In between studying for final exams, hanging out with friends and refereeing(担任裁判)his younger brother’s football matches, the quiet, gentle teenager also gives lessons on e-security(电子安全)to large companies．He reads a lot and exchanges information with other computer experts to know much about the latest tricks of the hacker(黑客)trade．

　　Many companies have already tried to employ him, but he is not interested at the moment．Instead, he plans to begin law school in the autumn at Sweden’s Uppsala University and start up his own e-security company．

　　Although he works with the FBI now, his family insists he’s just“a regular kid”．“Jonathan is a great kid, he has his friends and he does a lot more than just play with the computer,”his little sister Tessa said, adding that he helps the FBI because“he likes to help”, not because he’s looking for fame and recognition．

　　When the world was hit by the“Love Bug”virus, Jonathan was too busy preparing a speech on e-security to look into the problem．“Finally on May 7, I had some free time, so I began looking．”Within a few hours, he had found the suspect and e-mailed his method and results to the FBI．He said his work on the“Melissa”virus, which took three weeks to solve, was a big help in finding the suspect so quickly．

　　“This time I knew exactly where to start, I knew what to disregard and what to look at．”

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　　Spacing in animals

　　Flight Distance

　　Any observant people has noticed that a wild animal will allow a man or other potential enemy to approach only up to a given distance before it escapes．“Flight distance”is the terms used for this interspecies spacing．As a general rule, there is a positive relationship between the size of an animal and its flight distance－the larger the animal, the greater the distance it must keep between itself and the enemy．An antelope will escape when the enemy is as much as five hundred yards away．The wall lizard’s flight distance, on the other hand, is about six feet．Flight is the basic means of survival for mobile creatures．

　　Critical Distance

　　Critical distance apparently is present wherever and whenever there is a flight reaction．“Critical distance”includes the narrow zone separating flight distance from attack distance．A lion in a zoo will flee from an approaching man until it meets a barrier that it cannot overcome．If the man continues the approach, he soon penetrates the lion’s critical distance, at which point the cornered lion turns back and begins slowly stalk(逼近)the man．

　　Social Distance

　　Social animals need to stay in touch with each other．Loss of contact with the group can be fatal(致命的)for a variety of reasons including exposure to enemies．Social distance is not simply the distance at which an animal will lose contact with his group－that is, the distance at which it can no longer see, hear, or smell the group－it is rather a psychological distance, one at which the animal apparently begins to feel anxious when it goes beyond its limits．We can think of it as a hidden band that contains the group．

　　Social distance varies from species to species．It is quite short－apparently only a few yards－among some animals, and quite long among others．

　　Social distance is not always rigidly(刻板的)fixed but is determined in part by the situation．When the young of apes and humans are mobile but not yet under control of the mother’s voice, social distance may be the length of her reach．This is readily observed among baboons(狒狒)in a zoo．When the baby approaches a certain point, the mother reaches out to seize the end of its tail and pull it back to her．When added control is needed because of danger, social distance shortens．To show this in man, one has only to watch a family with a number of small children holding hands as they cross a busy street．

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　　The British psychoanalyst John Bowlby argues that separation from the parents during the sensitive“attachment”period from birth to three may scar a child’s personality and be likely to cause emotional problems in later life．Some people have drawn the conclusion from Bowlby’s work that children should not be made to experience day care before the age of three because they have to be separated from their parents if they go to the day care center and many people do believe this．But there are also arguments against such a strong conclusion．

　　Firstly, anthropologists(人类学家)point out that the separation between children and parents found in modern societies does not usually exist in traditional societies．For example, in some tribal(部落)societies, such as the Ngoni, the father and mother of a child did not raise their baby alone－far from it．Secondly, common sense tells us that day care would not be so widespread today if parents, care-takers found their children had problems with it．Statistical studies of this kind have not yet been carried out, and even if they were, the results would be certain to be complicated and controversial．Thirdly, in the last decade there have been a number of careful American studies of children in day care, and they have all reported that day care had a neutral or slightly positive effect on children’s development．But tests that have had to be used to measure this development are not widely enough accepted to settle the argument．

　　But Bowlby’s analysis raises the possibility that early daycare had delayed effects．The possibility that such day care might lead to, say, more mental illness or crime 15 to 20 years later can only be found out by the use of statistics．Whatever the long-term effects, parents sometimes find the immediate effects difficult to deal with．Children under three are likely to refuse to leave their parents and show unhappiness．At the age of three or three and a half almost all children find the changing from home to nursery(kindergarten)easy, and this is undoubtedly why more and more parents make use of day care at this time．The matter, then, is far from clear, though experience and available evidence indicate that early day care is reasonable for babies．

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　　XinJiang：The plane carrying the bodies of three Chinese engineers, who were shot dead in Pakistan on Wednesday, landed at Urumqi airport on Friday．

　　Investigations are focusing on why no guards escorted the engineers the day when they were attacked．Local police usually accompanied the group during their travels in the country．

　　Earlier in the day, 10 other Chinese engineers who worked together with the victims returned to Hefei．They were all from Hefei Cement Research & Design Institute, and were in Pakistan to offer technical services for the construction of a cement factory there．

　　“The guards of the Chinese engineers were not accompanying them when they were attacked,”local police officer Pervez Zahoor said．“Police are investigating as to why the guards did not do so that day．”

　　Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in Islamabad on Friday that all the development activities between Pakistan and China would continue and the incident would not affect the friendship between the two countries．He told Xinhua News Agency that the incident had shocked him．“We condemn it in the strongest terms,”he said．“We are annoyed at those who carried out this very evil act．We are determined to catch them and give them the strongest and harshest punishment．”

　　Families of the victims－Long Hongbao,32, Wei Jianping,54, and Zhao Bin, 46－have spoken of their disaster．“I can’t accept his death, as he called me only days ago to say he would be coming back this Saturday,”Zhao’s wife Shi Weiling said．The father of Long, from Hefei, said,“My son was the pillar of the family, how can this tragedy have happened to him？”

　　Families of the victims are expected to get at least 400,000 yuan(US＄ 49,000)in compensation according to their insurance policies．

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