The library is one of the most popular places at a western university.Students turn to it for research，conversations about class，and many other services.

Compared with Chinese libraries，college libraries in the US and UK tend to offer more resources.A postgraduate at Yale University can borrow as many as 225 books at a time.

In addition to borrowing books，there are online and electronic resources.These include a database search of popular and academic material，such as LexisNexis Academic，which offers items from newspapers and magazines.

Although books and articles are the items that students ask for most frequently，some libraries provide audio and video recordings，maps and sheet music(活页乐谱)．At some schools，teachers and tutors put electronic copies of their teaching PPTs on the library web to give easier access for students.

Another useful service in western college libraries is the Interlibrary Loan.This allows a student at one school to borrow books from another school.The loan request is made through the studentˈs college library，which gets the book，gives it to the user，and arranges for its return.

Technology has brought more services to students and has made libraries attractive.Some universities have services for students to send messages through the computer or mobile texts to ask the library staff for information.

Earlier this year，Harvard University introduced a new Scan and Deliver service，allowing students to make requests for parts of books and articles.Requests made through the system are handled by library staff.The student receives an e-mail with an Internet link to the scanned pages.The service is free and all material comes within four days.

It used to be that libraries didnˈt allow food or drinks.But that rule is changing and many of them now contain a café so students can spend as much time as they want in the library.

Actually，some US university libraries are now all-night affairs，or have at least one study room open all night.

When something goes wrong，it can be very satisfying to say，“Well，itˈs so-and-soˈs fault.” or “I know Iˈm late，but itˈs not my fault；the car broke dwon.”It is probably not your fault，but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser.You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation.However，you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation.This is the winnerˈs key to success.

Winners are great at overcoming problems.For example，if you were late because your car broke down，maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly.Or，you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers，so you could call for help when in need.For another example，if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability，find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person.Ask to work with a different person，or donˈt rely on this person.       You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.

This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens.Winners donˈt have fewer problems in their lives；they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else.They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents.So，stop focusing on“whose fault it is”．Once you are confident about your power over bad situations，problems are just stepping stones for success.

       Those who doubt TV’s influence on our lives might consider the effect of automobile on American society. When the automobile first appeared on the highways, most Americans saw it as a horseless carriage, not as an important symbol of a new way of life. Similarly, those of us who grew up before television tend to think of it as just another medium in a series of 20th-century mass-communication systems, such as movies and radio. But television is not just another medium.

       If you were born before 1950, television came into your life after your formative years. Even if you are now a TV fan, it will be difficult for you to understand the changes it has brought. For example, imagine spending six hours a day at the local cinema when you were 12 years old. No parent would have allowed it. Yet, among the children we asked, nearly half the 12-year-olds watch an average of six or more hours of television per day. For many of them the habit continues into adulthood（成年）. From our surveys（调查）,we estimate（估计）that about one third of all American adults（成年人）watch an average of four more hours of television per day.

       None of us is totally dependent upon television for our view of the world. However, many of us have not had the opportunity to observe the reality of police station, courtrooms（法庭）, corporate board rooms（法人会议室）; or hospital operating rooms. Critics（评论家）complain about the stercotyped（不变的）characters and plots of TV dreams. But many viewers look on them as representative（代表）of the real world.

       If adults can so easily accept the reality of television, imagine: its effect on children. By the time the average American child reaches public school, he has already spent several years in an electronic nursery school. At the age of 10, the average child spend more hours a week in front of the TV screen than in the classroom. Given continuous exposure（暴露）to the world of TV, it’s not surprising that the children we tested seemed to be more strongly influenced by TV than the adults.

       At the other end of the life cycle, television becomes the steady and often the only companion of the elderly. As failing eyesight makes reading difficult, and getting around becomes it problem, many old people spend much of the day watching TV. Here the action of fictional drama helps make up for the inaction of their lives.

France has become the first country to forbid supermarkets to throw away unsold food. The law requires supermarkets to donate unsold food to charities and food banks. If supermarkets do not obey the law, they will have to pay $4,000 in fines.

Each year, French throws away about seven million tons of food. That is one-fifth of the amount of food bought each year. Along with individual consumption, restaurants and stores add to the food waste. Other European countries are also making efforts to reduce food waste. In Denmark, a new “waste” supermarket has opened, where customers can buy unsold food in cheaper price.

Some people welcome the new law. Louise Saint-Germain is the president of a small non-governmental organization called A Hand Stretched Out for Tomorrow in English. She said the increase in donation will allow her group to feed more people.

But other s are worried the law will lead to more donation than they can handle. Aline Chassagnot manages a Salvation Army store. “We simply don’t have the ability to hand out more food to more people. And we’re not the only ones,” she said. “Yes, there’s waste and there are enough poor people around,” she said. “But really taking into account a person’s needs and dignity might mean another way of thinking. That’s not so simple.”

 Many large supermarkets in France argue that the law doesn’t really change much. The director of one Carrefour supermarket in western Paris says her store has been donating unsold food to charities for years.

“Nothing is wasted,” the director said. “In the kitchen, chefs turn day-old bread products into new desserts. And food that is damaged or past its shelf life is turned into biofuel(生物燃料),” the director added. The biofuel helps power supermarket trucks.

Our modern working lives are ruled by the concept of competence．The idea that lies behind competence is quite simple：that one can state what people should do in behavioral terms，and then measure whether a person has succeeded in meeting that task or not．We rarely have a second thought about whether the idea of measuring and achieving competence is a good one or not．In fact，it is a controversial one．

    Humans do not learn or work in ways that can be measured by the concept of competence．Take the example of a barista(咖啡师)who is being trained to make coffee．The job title of“barista”suggests a degree of skill in making coffee．However，baristas in large coffee chains are usually trained through competence-based qualifications．One part of these qualifications is to produce a cup of coffee to meet a minimum standard．It might have to achieve a certain taste and appearance．This might seem perfectly reasonable，but there are two reasons why such an approach to training baristas does not work．

    First，the production of a cup of coffee to a certain standard is a binary(二次元的)outcome．The baristas can either produce a coffee of a certain standard or they cannot．If they happen to produce the best cup of coffee in the world，it does not matter，as competence-based training does not reward outstanding performance．Likewise，producing the worst cup of coffee would be a fail in the same way as producing a cup just below the standard．In fact，competence is not interested in the process of producing a coffee at all—only the final binary outcome．

    Second，if the barista does produce a coffee to a certain standard，competence is not interested in why the barista can do that．But humans are not machines that simply produce binary outcomes．We have bodies and minds which change through learning．

    Yet we are increasingly forced to achieve competence in our schools and workplaces．We are not empty machines that simply produce binary outcomes．If we want to be true human in our learning and our workplaces，we need to be creative and special．Learning and innovation(创新)involve failure in aiming for something that is unusually good．Such things simply cannot be judged by the standard of competence where the mediocre is the gold standard．

Whenever we see a button, we are eager to press it because we know something will happen. This is true in most cases, for example on a doorbell and on the “on/off” button on the TV. But some buttons are actually fake, like the “close” button on a lift.

    Many people are in the habit of pressing the “close” button because they don’t have the patience to wait for the lift doors to shut. But lifts’ “lose” buttons are a complete scam（骗局）, at least in the US—the doors will not close any faster no matter how hard you press.

    It started in the 1990s when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in the US, making sure that all lifts stayed open long enough so that people with disabilities could enter. Only US firefighters and repairmen can use the buttons to speed up the door-closing process if they have a code or special keys.

    But to normal lift riders, the buttons aren’t completely useless. According to psychologists, fake buttons can actually make you feel better by offering you a sense of control.

    “Perceived（能够感知的）control is very important. It reduces stress and increases wellbeing,” Ellen J. Langer, a psychology professor, said. “Having a lack of control is associated with depression.”

    Experts have revealed that a lot of buttons that don’t do anything exist in our lives for this same purpose. For example, many offices in the US have fake thermostats（温度调节器）because people tend to feel better when they think they can control the temperature in their workspace.

    But psychologists found it interesting that even when people are aware of these little “white lies”, they still continue to push fake buttons because as long as the doors eventually close, it is considered to be worth the effort.

    “That habit is here to stay,” John Kounios, a psychology professor, said. “Even though I have real doubts about the traffic light buttons, I always press them. After all, I’ve got nothing else to do while waiting. So why not press the button in the hope that this one will work?”