Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for two weeks．When he came to analyze their embarrassing errors, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups．

　　One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog her earrings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear．“The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,” explains the professor．“People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly．” It was the woman's custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her earrings．“But somehow the action got reversed(颠倒)in the programme．” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “programme assembly failures．”

　　Twenty percent of all errors were “test failures”-mainly due to not verifying the progress of what the body was doing．A man about to get his car out of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept, put them on-much to his surprise．A woman reported, “I got into the bath with my socks on．”

　　The commonest problem was information “storage failures”．People forgot the names of people whose faces they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it．

　　The research so far suggests that while the central processor of the brain is liberated from second-to-second control of a well-practiced routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended．Otherwise the activity may be gotten by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors．

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　　According to the dictionary definition of“create, ordinary people are creative every day”．To create means“to bring into being, to cause to exist something each of us does daily”．

　　We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way．First, this includes an awareness of our surroundings．It means using all of our senses to become aware of our world．This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture(质地), as well as taste, when we plan a meal．Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss．

　　A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things．If we believe the expression,“There is nothing new under the sun, the creativity is remaking or recombining(重组)the old in new ways．”For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to create an unusual photograph．

　　A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ideas, to ask for them to achieve some new results．To think up a new idea is one thing; to put the idea to work is another．

　　These three parts of creativity are included in all the great works of geniuses, but they are also included in many of our day-to-day activities．

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　　A good teacher is many things to many people．In my own experience, the people I respect the most and think about the most are the teachers who demanded the most discipline(纪律)from their students．

　　I miss one teacher in particular that I had in high school．I think she was a good teacher because she was a very strict person．I remember very clearly a sign on her classroom door．It was a simple sign that said, “Laboratory：in this room the first five letters of the word was stressed not the last seven．” In other words, labor for her was more important than oratory, which means making speeches．

　　She prepared her work very carefully and told us to do the same．We got lots of homework from her．Once she had broken her arm, and everybody in the class thought that maybe the homework load would be reduced, but it continued just the same．She checked our work by stamping her name at the bottom of the papers to show that she had read them．

　　I think sometimes teachers who demand the most are liked the least．But as time goes by, this discipline really seems to benefit the students．

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　　One day a teacher was giving her young students a lesson on how the government works．She was trying to explain the principle of income tax(收入税)．

　　“You see, ” she began, speaking slowly and carefully, “each person who works must pay part of his or her salary(薪水)to the government．If you make a high salary, your taxes are high．If you don't make much money, your taxes are low．”

　　“Is that clear? ” she asked．“Does everyone understand the meaning of income tax? ” The students nodded．

　　Are there any questions? ” she asked．The students shook their heads．

　　“Very good! ” she said．” “Now, I would like you to take a piece of paper and write a short paragraph on the subject of income tax．”

　　Little Joey was a slow learner．He had lots of problems with spelling and grammar, but this time he at least seemed to understand the task．He took his pen and after a few minutes, he handed the teacher the following composition：

　　Once I had a dog．His name was Tax．

　　I opened the door and in come Tax．

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　　Waste can be seen everywhere in the school．Some students ask for more food than they can eat and others often forget to turn off the lights when they leave the classroom．They say they can afford these things．But I don't agree with them．

　　Waste can bring a lot of problems．Although China is rich in some resources, we are short of others, for example, fresh water．It is reported that we will have no coal or oil to use in 100 years．So if we go on wasting our resources, what can we use in the future and where can we move? Think about it．I think we should say no to the students who waste things every day．Everybody should stop wasting as soon as possible．

　　In our everyday life, we can do many things to prevent waste from happening, for example, turn off the water taps(水龙头)when we finish washing, turn off the lights when we leave the classroom, try not to order more food than we need, and so on．Little by little, everything will be changed．Waste can be stopped one day, if we do our best．

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　　Mr．Ellis is very old．He has seen many changes in his home town．He knows that things are different now．But he never forgets the old days．He likes to talk about them．He often talks about his favourite(最喜欢的)birds, the robins(一种小小鸟——鸫)．"When I was a boy, these houses were not here．There were wide fields and tall trees．Every spring robins would come．Thousands of them would fly up to the north from the south．They spent the winter in the south．Some would build their nests(巢)in the trees near our houses．Then people started to cut down trees, and they built more houses．The robins stopped coming．They couldn't build their nests near our houses because there were no trees．”

　　"Now there are too many houses and too many roads．There are no places for the robins．They do come any more(不再)．"

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　　Once upon a time, there was a farmer in central China．He didn't have money, so instead of a tractor, he used an old horse to plow his field(犁地)．

　　One afternoon, while working in the field, the horse fell down, dead．Everyone in the village said, “Oh, what a horrible thing! ” The farmer said simply, “We'll see．” He was so peaceful and so calm that everyone in the village got together and, admiring his attitude, gave him a new horse as a gift．

　　Everyone's reaction now was, “What a lucky man! ” And the farmer said, “We'll see．”

　　A couple of days later, the new horse jumped over a fence and ran away．Everyone in the village shook their heads and said, “What a poor fellow! ”

　　The farmer smiled and said, “We'll see．”

　　Eventually, the horse found his way home, and everyone said, “What a fortunate man! ”

　　The farmer said, “We'll see．”

　　Later in the year, the farmer's young boy went out riding the horse and fell and broke his leg．Everyone in the village said, “What a poor boy! ”

　　The farmer said, “We'll see．”

　　Two days later, the army came into the village to draft new recruits(征召新兵)．When they saw the farmer's son had a broken leg, they decided not to recruit him．

　　Everyone said, “What a fortunate young man! ”

　　The farmer smiled again and said, “We'll see．”

　　There's no use in overreacting to the events and circumstances of our everyday lives．When our hearts are in the right place, all evens and circumstances are gifts that we can learn valuable lessons from．

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　　When they look at the sky, people usually find the sky looks blue-not orange, red, green or yellow．Do you know why?

　　It gets its blue colour from the sunlight that shines through the air．Sunlight contains all the colours, which the rainbow is made up of, but these coulours are scattered as they pass through the air．Some coulours are scattered more than others, and the colour that is scattered the most is the colour you see-blue．

　　The sky usually looks light blue．But it would be deep, dark blue if you stood on top of the highest mountain, where there is less air between you and the sun to scatter the sunlight, the sky would be so dark that it would be black．

　　Sometimes the sky doesn't look blue．At sunrise and sunset, the light from the sun sometimes scattered in such a way that you see red, orange, and other colours in the sky．

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　　Young people can have problems with their minds．Some students become worried because they have to study very hard．Others have trouble getting on well with people like their parents and classmates．

　　Liu Wei, a Junior 2 student from Hefei, could not understand his teacher and was doing badly in his lessons．He became so worried about it that he started to cut his finger with a knife．

　　Another student, 14-year-old Yan Fang from Guangzhou, was afraid of exams．She got very worried in every exam．When she looked at the exam paper, she couldn't think of anything to write．

　　A recent report from Jiefang Daily says about 18％ of Shanghai teenagers have mental(精神的)problems．Their troubles include bringing unhappiness and having problems in learning and getting on with people．Many students who have problems won't go for advice or help．Some think they will look stupid(愚蠢)if they go to see a doctor．Others don't want to talk about their secret．

　　Liang Yuezhu, an expert on teenagers from Beijing Anding Hospital has the following advice for teenagers：

　　*Talk to your parents or teachers often

　　*Take part in group activities and play sports

　　*Go to see a doctor if you feel unhappy or unwell

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