再占楼

I’m sure you realize that your research papers are due in six weeks. I’ve looked at your proposed topics and made comments about them. The most frequent problem was proposing too broad a topic---remember, this is only a fifteen-page paper. As I return your topic papers, I’d like to look over the schedule which sketches out what we’ll do during the next two weeks. Today is Monday; by Friday, I want your preliminary outline. Please be sure to incorporate the suggestions I’ve made on your topics in your outlines. Next week I’ll have a conference with each of you. I’ve posted a schedule on my office door---sign your name to indicate the time you’re available for an appointment. In the conference, we’ll discuss your preliminary outline. Then you can make the necessary revisions and hand in your final outline, which is due two weeks from today. Use the outline style in your textbook and remember it should be no more than two pages long. Be sure to begin with a thesis statement---that is, with a precise statement of the point you intend to prove---and include a conclusion. Have you got all that? Your two-page preliminary outlines are due at the end of this week and the final outlines are due after your conferences. Follow the textbook style and include a thesis statement and a conclusion.

We’ve probably all wondered how a new word gets into the dictionary. Take the word”doofus,” for example, spelled d-o-o-f-u-s, meaning a stupid or incompetent person. This word, which has been around since the late 1960’s in a slang sense, made it into the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary only in 1993. Why did it take so long? Well, first of all, dictionary editors like to wait at least three years to be sure a word is going to last, especially a slang word. They don’t want to put in a new word prematurely and then have to take it out in the next edition. But even for words that aren’t slang, getting into the dictionary isn’t easy. New words have to pass a lot of editorial tests, including how difficult or easy they are to look up. There’s also a limit to how thick a dictionary can be or how small its type can get before people feel they don’t want to use it. Some words have to come out before others can go in. The Collegiate Dictionary adds about ten thousand words to every edition, but it takes out only a few hundred, so choices have to be made very carefully.

You’ll recall that in last week’s class I talked about how the sound made by most animals, though sometimes complex, are different from human language. Only in humans do these sounds represent objects and events. Keep in mind that most animals can only repeat their limited utterances over and over again, while humans can say things that have never been said before. Today I want to focus on human language and how it developed. I doubt you’ll be surprised when I say that the evolution of language was slow and laborious. There’s some reliable evidence that language began with early humans a million and a half years ago. Through the study of the size and shape of brain fossils, scientists have determined that early human brains, like modern brains, had a left hemisphere slightly larger than the right hemisphere. We know that in modern humans, the left hemisphere’s the seat of language. We also know that early human brains had a well-developed frontal section, known as Broca’s area, which coordinates the muscles of the mouth and throat. It’s clear, then, that early humans had a speech apparatus. They could produce any sound that we can. What we don’t know is whether early humans used what they had. Since scholars know virtually nothing about prehistoric speech patterns, all they can do is speculate about how language actually originated. Let me give you a brief summary of some of these theories.

这几天回学校做论文的事，没上传听写的内容心里觉得少了点什么……今天晚上总算是赶回来了，今天先上传刚刚听写的内容吧，等明天再把这几天用MP3听写的内容传上来，说句实话，用MP3听写实在太痛苦了，一点都不方便

四十天至四十四天内容待传

In our lab today, we’ll be testing the hypothesis that babies can count as early as five months of age. The six babies here are all less than six months old. You’ll be watching them on closed-circuit TV and measuring their responses. The experiment is based on the well-established observation that babies stare longer if they don’t see what they expect to see. First, we’re going to let two dolls move slowly in front of the babies. The babies will see the two dolls disappear behind a screen. Your job is to record, in seconds, how long the babies stare at the dolls when the screen is removed. In the next stage, two dolls will again move in front of the babies and disappear. But then a third doll will follow. When the screen is removed, the babies will only see two dolls. If we’re right, the babies will now stare longer because they expect three dolls but only see two. It seems remarkable to think that such young children can count. My own research has convinced me that they have this ability from birth. But whether they do or not,perhaps we should raise another question---should we take advantage of this ability by teaching children mathematics at such a young age? They have great untapped potential, but is it good for parents to pressure young children?/ }( S' u; ~, m

+ g% A* h! R: H4 h4 f* _[ 本帖最后由 icenot 于 2008-4-25 23:55 编辑 ]

Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Then maybe this is for you. When you worry about needing sleep and toss and turn trying to find a comfortable position, you’re probably only making matters worse. What happens when you do that, is that your heart rate actually increases, making it more difficult to relax. You may also have some bad habits that contribute to the problem.Do you rest frequently during the day? Do you get virtually no exercise, or do you exercise strenuously late in the day? Are you preoccupied with sleep, or do you sleep late on weekends? Any or all of these factors might be leading to your insomnia by disrupting your body’s natural rhythm. What should you do, then, on those sleepless nights? Don’t bother with sleeping pills. They can actually cause worse insomnia later. The best thing to do is drink milk or eats cheese or tuna fish. These are all rich in amino acids and help produce a neurotransmitter in the brain that induces sleep. This neurotransmitter will help you relax, and you’ll be on your way to getting a good night’s sleep. Until tomorrow’s broadcast, this has been another in the series” Hints for Good Health."
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  c: o3 g& |+ g2 k/ z; W, G[ 本帖最后由 icenot 于 2008-4-25 23:56 编辑 ]

Today we’re going to talk about shyness and discuss recent research on ways to help children learn to interact socially. Many people consider themselves shy. In fact, forty percent of people who took part in our survey said they were shy---that’s two out of every five people. And there are studies to indicate that the tendency toward shyness may be inherited. But just because certain children are timid doesn’t mean they are doomed to be shy forever. There are things parents, teachers, and the children themselves can do to overcome this tendency---and even to prevent it. One researcher found that if parents gently push their shy children to try new things, they can help these children become less afraid and less inhibited. Another way to help shy children is to train them in social skills. For example, there are special training groups where children are taught things like looking at other children while talking to them, talking about other people’s interests, and even smiling. These groups have been very successful at giving shy children a place to feel safe and accepted, and at building up their self-esteem.

终于回来了，哈哈 与小马论坛一日不见如隔三秋啊