D

       Some of the best research on daily experience is rooted in rates of positive and negative interactions, which has proved that being blindly positive or negative can cause others to be frustrated or annoyed or to simply tune out.

    Over the last two decades, scientists have made remarkable predictions simply by watching people interact with one another and then scoring the conversations based on the rate of positive and negative interactions. Researchers have used the findings to predict everything from the likelihood a couple will divorce to the chances of a work team having high customer satisfaction and productivity levels.

    More recent research helps explain why these brief exchanges matter so much. When you experience negative emotions as a result of criticism or rejection, for example, your body produces higher levels of the stress hormone, which shuts down much of your thinking and activates (激活) conflict and defense mechanisms (机制). You assume situations as being worse than they actually are.

    When you experience a positive interaction, it activates a very different response. Positive exchanges increase your body’s production of oxytocin, a feel-good hormone that increases your ability to communicate with, cooperate with and trust others. But the effects of a positive occurrence are less dramatic and lasting than they are for a negative one.

    We need at least three to five positive interactions to outweigh (超过) every one negative exchange. Bad moments simply outweigh good ones. Whether you’re having a conversation, keep this simple short cut in mind: At least 80 percent of your conversations should be focused on what’s going right.

    Workplaces, for example, often have this backward. During performance reviews, managers routinely spend 80 percent of their time on weaknesses and “areas for improvement”. They spend roughly 20 percent of the time on strengths and positive aspects. Any time you have discussions with a person or group, spend the vast majority of the time talking about what is working, and use the remaining time to address weaknesses.

Brrriiinnng. The alarm clock announces the start of another busy weekday in the morning. You jump out of bed, rush into the shower, into your clothes and out the door with hardly a moment to think. A stressful journey to work gets your blood pressure climbing. Once at the office, you glance through the newspaper with depressing stories or reports of disasters. In that sort of mood, who can get down to work, particularly some creative, original problem-solving work?

The way most of us spend our mornings is exactly opposite to the conditions that promote flexible, open-minded thinking. Imaginative ideas are most likely to come to us when we’re unfocused. If you are one of those energetic morning people, your most inventive time comes in the early evening when you are relaxed. Sleepy people’s lack of focus leads to an increase in creative problem solving. By not giving yourself time to tune into your wandering mind, you’re missing out on the surprising solutions it may offer.

The trip you take to work doesn’t help, either.The stress slows down the speed with which signals travel between neurons （神经细胞）, making inspirations less likely to occur. And while we all should read a lot about what’s going

on in the world, it would not make you feel good for sure, so put that news website or newspaper aside until after the day’s work is done.

So what would our mornings look like if we wanted to start them with a full capacity for creative problem solving?

We’d set the alarm a few minutes early and lie awake in bed, following our thoughts where they lead. We’d stand a little longer under the warm water of the shower, stopping thinking about tasks in favor of a few more minutes of relaxation. We’d take some deep breaths on our way to work, instead of complaining about heavy traffic. And once in the office—after we get a cup of coffee—we’d click on links not to the news of the day but to the funniest videos the web has to offer.

A football team stands hanging their heads. The other team has just scored again. Suddenly, a girl flies into the air. She drops down into the arms of her fellow cheerleaders. They start dancing, waving colorful pom-poms（彩球）and chanting. The whole crowd joins in the chant, lifting the spirits of the team.

Since ancient times, there have always been audiences to cheer on athletes. But somehow it took thousands of years for organized cheers to start. They first appeared at Princeton University in the 1880s. Students organized a crowd chant that went “Tah Rah Rah, Tiger Tiger Tiger, Sis Sis Sis, Boom Boom Boom, Aaaaaaahhh! Princeton! Princeton! Princeton!” Not surprisingly, this chant didn’t catch on.

In 1898, a man named Johnny Campbell from the University of Minnesota became the first cheerleader. During a football game, he wanted to pump up the crowd, so he started leading them in a chant that went “Rah Rah Rah! Sku-u-mar, Hoo-Rah! Hoo-rah! Varsity! Varsity! Varsity, Minn-e-So-Tah!” Soon after, the first cheerleading team was created.

Nowadays, 97% of cheerleaders are female. So, it’s pretty hard to believe women were not allowed to be cheerleaders until 1923. When women joined in, the sport changed in varieties of ways. Women cheerleaders made it more athletic by adding gymnastics and acrobatics（特技）into the act.

Though women were becoming more common in cheerleading, the majority of cheerleaders were men until the 1940s. When America joined World War II in 1942, many college-aged men went off to war. Women took over the cheerleading roles and from then on, they dominated（主导）the sport.

Pom-poms, the flashy balls that cheerleaders hold in each hand while doing their cheers, were first used in the 1960s. They add a little extra excitement and flash to the cheerleaders’ moves.

As cheerleading became more popular, it then spread from college to high school and finally became an important part of American culture.

  Mr William Shakespeare and the Internet

Explanation of Contents

This is the fourth edition of these pages. It is hard to believe, but once again they are new and improved. My motive in publishing these pages remains to help and stimulate others in Shakespeare studies, and especially those who might contribute their work to the Internet. The spirit of altruism (利他主义) that originally built the Internet is not quite gone, though, sadly, through the pressure of time and profit has lessened.

A major new addition to the pages is a Shakespeare Timeline, which is an online biography mounted at this site. The problems with searching for Shakespeare resources using the available Search Engines are:

---- It is difficult to focus most searches so that you get a manageable number of relevant hits;

---- It is impossible by simply reading an abstract(摘要) to make any distinction between the output of a Junior High School student and that of a professional researcher.

Another change in these pages over previous editions is the “What’s News” page.  If you come away from these pages with the feeling that they are very useful but slightly pedantic (学究的), I will have realized my goal.

An Apology

I am continually apologizing to the many who have written me requesting revisions of the pages. We are all too busy. I simply have not had the time to dedicate to these pages that I wish. But I love the material and so have, at long last, made some time to update them.

A Reminder to Young Students

These pages contain the best links I can find to Shakespeare on the Internet. As a reminder, I would say I very much enjoy hearing from people who view and use these pages. If you want to do Shakespeare research using the web, this page is a great starting point, and I keep it as current as I can. The web is in its infancy（初期in bringing good, scholarly content to students. Don’t forget the best, if not quickest, resources are still in your library.

B

     Sometimes in a big city, there are a large number of things to drive you mad on your daily route, and it’s not just overcrowded subway trains.

      Vicky is a mainlander working in Hong Kong. For her, one thing she can’t put up with is people standing on the wrong side of the escalator（自动扶梯）in subway stations. “Escalators help us move faster and save time. It isn’t a place to rest,” the 24-year-old says. “I often see tourists block the way with their suitcases or chatting on the escalators during rush hours. It annoys me to no end.”

Admitting she is not the patient type, Vicky says things are much better in Hong Kong than in cities on the mainland where “stand right, walk left” signs are often ignored.

       The logic behind the “stand right, walk left” escalator etiquette（礼仪）seems obvious. Even though you may want to catch your breath while you’re transported up or down, you should still consider others and leave enough space for people in a hurry, so that they can run and catch the train.

        Many cities’ escalators, including London’s and Beijing’s, use the “stand right, walk left” system to speed up the flow of people.（Australia is an exception and you should stand on the left side instead.）But some cities discourage people from moving on escalators out of safety reasons. In Hong Kong’s subway stations there are regular announcements asking people to “stand still” on escalators. Even so, most people in this fast-paced city observe the “stand right, walk left” etiquette.

      But the people who stand on escalators defend themselves by telling the walkers not to be so impatient. The BBC quotes one stander as saying：“If the person is in such a rush, why not just take the stairs? Even when the escalator is packed and there’s nowhere to move, I see these same people complaining about not being able to pass.

     Whatever the escalator etiquette is in the place you live or visit, do what most people are doing and always be mindful of others: leave enough space between each other, don’t stay at the end of the escalator, and if someone is blocking your way, a simple “excuse me” is enough.

Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the websiteBookCrossing.comturns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

    Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

    People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Pederson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

    BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

In Pride and Prejudice (1813), an evergreen (永葆活力的) novel, Jane Austen wrote a story that has some sad truths to tell on the way to its happy ending.

Austen's tales belong to the world of the late 18th­century England. They are filled with characters like those she knew: young women who are trying to find a way to be happy, usually through marriage, in a world dominated (统治) by men.

Two bachelors, charming Mr Bingley and sour Mr Darcy, come to Netherfield Park where they immediately become the focus of unmarried young women of the community. Jane Bennet and Mr Bingley soon fall in love, but Jane's sister Elizabeth finds that she can't get on with Mr Darcy at all. It seems to the reader that they are opposites in every way, he all prides and she all prejudices.

Of course, Elizabeth and Darcy must end up together: everyone knows that opposites attract. But before that happens there are many obstacles to overcome, and not only for the two main characters. Jane and Bingley's romance does not run smoothly, while young Lydia and her lover, the ne'er­do­well (不成器的) Mr Wickham, cause a scandal (丑闻) that threatens the social standing of the Bennet family.

The quality that draws people to this book is its lightness of touch. We care for the characters and wish for their happiness. But Jane Austen does not tell us that one character is bad and that another is good. She does not preach (说教) to us. She uses irony (讽刺); that is, she manages to convey what she thinks by saying nearly the opposite of what she means.

The most famous example of this is the opening sentence of the novel: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” The sentence is funny and witty (诙谐的) because in reality it is the other way around: the real truth is that a single woman with no money needs a husband.

Funny, but serious too. It is not a joke that women like Elizabeth and Jane had no money  and couldn't be independent. It is not amusing that they had so little choice in life while the men had the run of everything. Pride and Prejudice communicated this truth even as it amuses and entertains us.

D

Be honest, when was the last time you cried? If you’re one of those who say they never cry, the statistics are against you. Women reportedly cry 64 times a year on average, while men shed（流）tears about 17 times. Everyone from professional athletes such as Michael Jordan to politicians like Barack Obama has been caught crying at least once. But why do we cry?

Some psychologists believe crying is our body’s response when we’re helpless. Even if we’re surprised by happy news, we may still cry. Other psychologists say that when we cry, we’re trying to get others to help us out when we’re surprised, sad, angry, scared, or in danger.

Therapist（临床专家）Judith Kay Nelson says that our experience with crying as babies may determine how we view crying when we’re older. Some parents are quick to try and calm their kids down whenever they start crying. Those children will likely find crying in their adult years brings a similar comfort. On the other hand, those whose parents became angered by their crying probably won’t feel crying has the same calming effect.

Many people believe crying can actually make a person feel better. But according to studies, whether it makes us feel better or not depends on the reactions of others. If others react positively, we’ll feel better. On the contrary, we’ll feel worse.

People’s reactions to crying have a lot to do with the gender（性别）of the person weeping. In the West, it’s generally acceptable for women to be seen crying. In Britain boys are taught not to cry. Even though people are becoming more enlightened about tears, crying in males is still viewed as a sign of weakness. Philip Hodson, an expert on male emotions, has a different viewpoint. “In truth, crying isn’t weakness; it’s a relaxation system,” he says. “If we don’t use this system, we’re not being very intelligent.” After all, everybody cries.

In today’s fast paced, high stress world people are working longer hours than ever, and often exhaust themselves at day’s end in front of the television to relax enough to begin again in the morning. However, television watching, for most people, does not really lower stress. Studies show that TV viewing more than an hour or so actually creates stress and, especially in women, may lead to the blues. Most individuals are unaware that doing some exercise after work makes them more energetic since it increases energy levels.

Wise use of free time does not mean getting an advanced degree, although the mental encouragement gained through education is unbeatable in keeping your mind active. Learning new things nearly always adds a spark to your daily life, especially if it is a favorite topic, such as sport, fashion, or art. Also, look through your bookstore or library to find books on your interests. Try to replace a half hour TV watching with reading.

It is reported that in the United States recently, many individuals have as few as two good friends. Long work hours and car commute act to separate people from each other. This separation is deadly. Find ways to meet people at the end of the day and on weekends. Often this can be best done by combining activities, such as by joining a walking group to get both exercise and companionship. Taking a class will lift your spirits and allow you to meet others with similar interests. Hobbies are great for reducing stress and provide another opportunity for social interaction.

Using your free time to aid your health may include these elements and many more, such as going to concerts and spending time with family. Overall, the key is to spend less free time being passive. The best ways to use free time are to be mentally and physically active, spend some time outdoors, and interact with other people on a regular basis.

B

Learning to read and write is a complex process, which can be disrupted in various ways, leading to disorders known as dyslexia and dysgraphia（读写障碍）. Two new studies, published in a recent special issue of Elsevierˈs Cortex provide evidence of this variety, suggesting that effective treatment needs to take it into account.

A group of researchers from the Universities of Bari and Rome in Italy studied the reading and writing abilities of 33 Italian dyslexic children, comparing their performance with that of children with normal reading ability. Italian is an "orthographically transparent" language, meaning that letters tend to correspond to the same sounds, whereas many letters in the English alphabet change their sound from word to word (like the "c" in car and city). However, the new study showed that even in Italian, in which it is relatively straightforward to convert sounds into letters, children still have difficulty in spelling. Younger children with dyslexia generally performed worse than proficient readers; however, the older ones showed a more selective impairment when spelling words, suggesting that knowledge of vocabulary may be more important in spelling than previously thought.

The other study, from Tel Aviv University, Israel, provided the first systematic description of a type of reading disorder called "attention dyslexia" in which children identify letters correctly, but the letters jump between words on the page, e.g., "kind wing" is read as "wind king". Teachers and neuron-psychologists often notice that children substitute letters when reading, but in this type of dyslexia the substitutions are not caused by inability to identify letters or convert them into sounds; they result from migrations of letters between words. The findings showed that letters would mostly migrate to the same position in another word, so the first letter of one word would switch places with the first letter of another word. Awareness to the existence of this type of dyslexia is important, because it suggests a straightforward way to assist these children in reading ——by presenting a ‎single word at a time, e.g., with the help of a word-sized window cut in a piece ofcardboard.