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　　A new study has found that the best way to make yourself feel happier is to think of something good that happened to you the day before．

　　Volunteers who were asked to remember a pleasant event from past 24 hours began to feel happier right away．Other activities such as saying “Thank you” and smiling also made volunteers feel happier, but not as much．

　　Professor Richard Wiseman of Hertfordshire University planned the study．He got 26,000 people to go online to try out a few different activities to make them feel happier．They were told to be nice, remember a pleasant event from the day before, give thanks or smile for 15 seconds twice a day．The volunteers did these activities for one week．

　　The result showed that thinking about one good thing that had happened the day before worked the best for making people happier．

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Guangzhou(Xinhua)－12 people were killed and 20 injured early yesterday morning when they jumped from a burning train car into the path of an oncoming goods train in Southern China．When No．247 Wuchang－Guangzhou passenger train was passing the Dayaoshan Tunnel in Guangdong Province, South China at 00∶17 hours yesterday,　a fire caused by passengers' smoking broke out on No．17 car．They wanted to extinguish(扑灭)fire．As the train stopped some frightened passengers jumped from windows．12 people were crushed to death and 20 others injured by a northward passing goods train(No．1766)．

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　　The clock struck eleven at night．The whole house was quiet．Everyone was in bed except me．Under the strong light, I looked sadly before me at a huge pile of that troublesome stuff(东西)they call “books”．

　　I was going to have my examination the next day．“When can I go to bed？” I asked myself．I didn’t answer, in fact, I dared not．

　　The clock struck twelve．“ Oh, dear!” I cried．“Ten more books to read before I can go to bed！” We pupils are the most wretched creatures in the world．Dad does not agree with me on this．He did not have to work so hard when he was a boy．

　　The clock struck one．I was quite desperate(绝望的)now．I forgot all I had learned．I was too tired to go on．I did the only thing I could．I prayed, “Oh, God, please help me pass the exam tomorrow．I do promise to work hard afterwards, Amen．” My eyes were so heavy that I could hardly open them．A few minutes later, with my head on the desk, I fell asleep．

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　　In today's world, almost everyone knows that air pollution(污染)and water pollution are harmful to people's health．However, not all the persons know that noise is also a kind of pollution, and that is harmful to human health, too．

　　People who work and live under noisy conditions usually become deaf(聋)．Today, however, scientists believe that 10 percent of workers in Britain are being deafened by the noise where they work．Many of the workers who print newspapers and books, and who weave(织)cloth become deaf．Quite a few people living near airports also become deaf．Recently it was discovered that many teenagers in America could hear no better than 65-year-old persons, for these young people like to listen to pop music and most of pop music is a kind of noise．Besides, noise produced by jet planes or machines will make people's life difficult and unpleasant, or even make people ill or even drive them mad．

　　It is said that a continuous noise of over 85 decibels(分贝)can cause deafness．Now the governments in many countries have made laws to control noise and make it less than 85 decibels．

　　In China, the government is trying to solve not only air and water pollution problems but also noise pollution problems．

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　　Crossroads is a resource(物资)network．We take goods Hong Kong doesn’t want and give them to people who badly need them．We collect those goods and give them in the welfare(福利)places in Hong Kong, mainland China , elsewhere in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa．So Crossroads is just that：a Crossroads between need and resource．

　　The welfare agencies(机构)we help do not run on large budgets(预算)．They ate grass．Roots group who have seen a need and tried to meet it．They can’t get the job done without back-up, though, so our job is to help them do their work．Our warehouse(仓库)is full of goods, from computers to high chairs, clothing to books, stationery(文具)to medical provision(供应品), cupboards to dining set．They send us a list of their needs and we try to match it with what we have．

　　Crossroads itself also operates on a low budget．We do not buy the goods we send．They are donated．(捐献)Similarly, rather than raising money for shipping, we ask transport companies do donate their services．Nobody in our organization recieves a salary．Even our full-time workers work on voluntary basis．

　　*Factories　　　　　*Hospitals

　　*Hotels　　　　　　*Schools

　　*Householders　　　*Transport Companies

　　*Offices　　　　　　*Other Charities

　　One resource that we are always in need of is people．While we receive large quentities of goods and there is never a short supply of requests for them, we are always in need of hands to help sort and prepare them for shipping!

　　What can I do?

　　We are always in need of people．We have a lot of different jobs．If you are volunteering regularly, we can offer work in some of the following categories(类别), some of the time．You are welcome to number your top three choices and we Will do our best to match them．

　　*Clothing categorization(分类)　　*Toy categorization

　　*Book categorizaion　　　　　　*Househould goods categorization

　　*Electrical goods categorization　　*Medical categorization

　　*Furniture handling　　　　　　　*Driving

　　*Office work　　　　　　　　　　*Money-raising

　　All volunteer work is done at our warehouse．Our warehouse hours：

　　Tues－Sat, 10am－5∶30pm

　　Postal Address：

　　16 Man Tong, Silvermine Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong

　　Office details：

　　Ph：984 9309, 27409657;

　　Fax：2984 7452

　　Email：106122．2524@ compuserve．com

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　　The American newspaper has been around for about three hundred years．In 1721, the printer James Franklin, Benjamin's older brother, started the New England Courant, and that was what we might recognize today as a real newspaper．He filled his paper with stories of adventure, articles on art, on famous people, and on all sorts of political subjects．

　　Three centuries after the appearance of Franklin's Courant, few believe that newspapers in their present printed form will remain alive for long．Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value, and, in some cases, their sense of purpose at a speed that would not have been imaginable just several years ago．The chief editor of the Times said recently, "At places where they gather, editors ask one another, 'How are you?', as if they have just come out of the hospital or a lost law case．"An article about the newspaper appeared on the website of the Guardian, under the headline "NOT DEAD YET．"

　　Perhaps not, but the rise of the Internet, which has made the daily newspaper look slow and out of step with the world, has brought about a real sense of death．Some American newspapers have lost 42％ of their market value in the past three years．The New York Times Company has seen its stock(股票)drop by 54％ since the end of 2004, with much of the loss coming in the past year．A manager at Deutsche Bank suggested that stock-holders sell off their Times stock．The Washington Post Company has prevented the trouble only by changing part of its business to education：its testing and test-preparation service now brings in at least half the company's income．

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　　“Happy New Year!” Everyone will greet each other with these words as they meet over the next couple of weeks．But it wasn’t always January l that marked the New Year．

　　At least 4, 000 years ago the ancient Egyptians and Bahylo-nians(古巴比伦人)marked the changing of the year．In Egypt, the year started when the Nile River(尼罗河)flooded，enriching farmers’fields with silt(淤泥)．This happened at the end of September．

　　The Babylonians held a festival in spring，on March 23, to kick off the next farming cycle．The Babylonian celebration lasted for l l days．

　　The date January l was picked by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar as the change of the year when he established his own calendar in 4 6 BC．The month of January was named after the Roman god，Janus(雅努斯)．He is pictured with two heads．0ne head looks forward and the other back．They represent a break between the old and new．That new calendar was in time with the sun and it has been used until the present Day．

　　Around the world，different cultures have their own traditions for welcoming the．New Year．The Japanese hang straw rope across the front of their houses to keep out evil spirits and bring happiness and good luck．They also have a good laugh as the year begins to get things started on a lucky note．

　　In India people like to wear pink, red , purple and white flowers．Women favor yellow，the colour of spring．Hindus also leave shrines next to their beds so they see beautiful objects when they wake up．

　　Canadians enjoy the traditional polar bear swim．People of all ages put on their swimsuits and jump into frozen lakes．

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　　TOKYO(AP)-An express train traveling through strong winter winds derailed(出轨)in northern Japan, killing four people and injuring more than 30, officials said Monday．

　　Five cars of the six-car express train derailed Sunday evening, three of them toppling(倾倒)onto their sides in Yamagata prefecture(辖区), about 180 miles north of Tokyo, officials said．The train was going from northern Akita to Niigata prefecture．

　　The injuries of the survivors did not appear to be life-threatening, Yamagata police spokesman Yoshikatsu Oe said．It was unclear how many passengers were on the train, but Oe said most of the injured were in the first two cars．

　　The dead included two men and two women, and rescuers planned to lift the wreckage(残骸)later in the day to see if any other passengers remained beneath, officials said．

　　Transport Ministry official Hiromi Mishima said it was not known what caused the derailment and officials were assessing the extent(程度)of the damage．Railway operator JR East Co．President Mutsutake Otsuka apologized for the accident at a news conference Monday morning and promised a thorough investigation(调查)．

　　Yamagata police official Yasuhiro Sugiu said there had been high speed wind warnings for the area．According to a train conductor, a strong gust(阵风)hit the train just before the accident．Winds in the area were about 48 mph, Kyodo News agency reported．

　　Authorities said they did not know how fast the train was going．Speed was believed to be a factor in an April 25 train wreck that killed 107 people and injured more than 500 others in Amagasaki, western Japan．That accident was Japan’s worst train wreck since 1963．

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　　The 2012 London Olympics had enough problems to worry about．But one more has just been added - a communications blackout caused by solar storms．

　　After a period of calm within the Sun, scientists have detected the signs of a flesh cycle of sunspots that could peak in 2012, just in time for the arrival of the Olympic torch in London．

　　Now scientists believe that this peak could result in vast solar explosions that could throw billions of tons of charged matter towards the Earth, causing strong solar storms that could jam the telecommunications satellites and interact links sending live Olympic broadcast from London．

　　"The Sun's activity has a strong influence on the Earth．The Olympics could be in the middle of the next solar maximum which could affect the functions of communications satellites, "said Professor Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire．

　　At the peak of the cycle, violent outbursts called coronal mass ejections(日冕物质抛射)occur in the Sun's atmosphere, throwing out great quantities of electrically-charged matter．" A coronal mass ejection can carry a billion tons of solar material into space at over a million kilometres per hour．Such events can expose astronauts to a deadly amount, can disable satellites, cause power failures on Earth and disturb communications, " Professor Harrison added．The risk is greatest during a solar maximum when there is the greatest number of sunspots．

　　Next week in America, NASA is scheduled to launch a satellite for monitoring solar activity called the Solar Dynamics Observatory(SDO), which will take images of the Sun that are 10 times clearer than the most advanced televisions available．

　　The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory helped to make the high-tech cameras that will capture images of the solar flares(太阳耀斑)and explosions as they occur．

　　Professor Richard Holdaway, the lab's director, said that the SDO should be able to provide early warning of a solar flare or explosion big enough to affect satellite communications on Earth "If we have advance warning, we'll be able to reduce the damage．What you don't want is things switching off for a week with no idea of what's caused the problem, " he said．

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　　My parents were in a huge argument, and I was really upset about it．I didn't know who I should talk with about how I was feeling．So I asked Mom to allow me to stay the night at my best friend's house．Though I knew I wouldn't tell her about my parents’ situation, I was looking forward to getting out of the house．I was in the middle of packing up my things when suddenly the power went out in the neighborhood．Mom came to tell me that I should stay with my grandpa until the power came back on．

　　I was really disappointed because I felt that we did not have much to talk about．But I knew he would be frightened alone in the dark．I went to his room and told him that I'd stay with him until the power was restored．He was quite happy and said, "Great opportunity．"

　　"What is it?" I asked．

　　"To talk, you and I” he said．"To hold a private little meeting about what we’re going to do with your mom and dad, and what we're going to do with ourselves now that we're in the situation we are in．"

　　"But we can't do anything about it．Grandpa, " I said, surprised that here was someone with whom I could share my feelings and someone who was in the same " boat" as I was．

　　And that's how the most unbelievable friendship between my grandfather and me started．Sitting there in the dark, we talked about our feelings and fears of life － from how fast things change, to how they sometimes don't change fast enough．That night, because the power went out, I found a new friend, with whom I could safely talk about all my fears and pains, whatever they may be．

　　Suddenly, the lights all came back on．"Well," he said, "I guess that means you'll want to go now．I really like our talk．I hope the power will go out every few nights!"