Quality of sleep linked to higher diabetes risk

Just three nights of bad sleep is enough to dramatically reduce the body's ability to process glucose and raise the risk of diabetes, a study released yesterday found.



Suppressing deep sleep for three nights in a row decreased the glucose tolerance of young, healthy adults as much as if they had gained eight to 13 kilograms, researchers at the University of Chicago's medical school found.



And while it is possible that the body's ability to process glucose would adjust to chronic sleep deprivation, it is likely that poor sleep patterns in the elderly and obese play a role in the development of diabetes, the authors concluded.



Deep sleep, or "slow wave sleep," is considered the most restorative form of sleep and has been shown to be important for mental clarity. This is the first study to show its significance for physical well-being.



"Previous studies from our lab have demonstrated many connections between chronic, partial, sleep deprivation, changes in appetite, metabolic abnormalities, obesity, and diabetes risk," said study author Eve Van Cauter.



"These results solidify those links and add a new wrinkle, the role of poor sleep quality, which is also associated with aging."



Nine lean, healthy volunteers between the ages of 20 and 31 spent five nights in a sleep laboratory where they went to bed at 11 p.m. and got out of bed at 7:30 am.



They were undisturbed for the first two nights but on the following three nights, speakers near the bed emitted low-level sounds whenever their brain patterns indicated they were drifting into deep sleep.

While not loud enough to wake them, the sounds reduced deep sleep by about 90 percent by shifting them out of the onset of deep sleep back into a lighter sleep.



This mimicked typical sleeping patterns of those over the age of 60 who generally get only 20 minutes of deep sleep a night compared with 80 to 100 minutes for young adults.



When tested after having had their sleep disturbed, the insulin sensitivity of the volunteers had decreased by 25 percent, which meant they needed more insulin to dispose of the same amount of glucose.



But insulin secretion did not go up in eight of the subjects and, as a result, they showed a 23 percent increase in blood glucose levels.





1. dramatically: It is an adverb. It means something can make someone focus on it.

2. glucose: It is a noun. It is a thing people need.



This is an article about sleep. The enough sleep is good for health, if we do not sleep enoough, our body will become more weak.

The "Mozart Effect" Fact or Fiction?

Recently, the idea that listening to classical music can increase intelligence, especially in babies, has caught the attention of the media, researchers, and parents around the globe. In the early 1990s, researchers from France and the US published articles that said listening to Mozart for 10 minutes temporarily improved performance on IQ tests and challenging tasks. As a result, the media quickly began reporting on the "Mozart effect." In 1997, Don Campbell patented the term and published a book about this interesting phenomenon. Campbell claimed that classical music could improve health and memory, counteract mental and physical disorders, and reduce stress and depression. He soon followed with The Mozart Effect for Children, as well as CDs and products for parents of young children. Today, a wide selection of similar products is available, including Baby Mozart and Baby Bach, two bestselling DVDs in the popular Baby Einstein series. There are even music players specially designed for expectant mothers to wear on their tummies. This way, babies can listen to classical music before they're even born. However, there is some doubt surrounding the Mozart effect. Parents question whether it is a proven reality or just a fad designed to make money. Frances H. Rauscher, a psychologist and author of one of the original studies, is skeptical. Much of the original research pointed to temporary improvements on specific tasks. She believes these findings have been incorrectly portrayed as a general increase in intelligence. "I don't think it can hurt," Rauscher said. Yet she added that parents may still want to think twice before spending a fortune trying to make a genius out of their baby.

1.tummy: It means stomaache.

2.fad: It means fashion.

3.temporarily: It is an adverb, like for a moment.

4.expectant mother: It mens a mother-to-be.

This article is talk about the way to make baby increase more intelligence. The researchers found that listen classical music can make baby smarter for a while, so they believe if baby listen classical music for a long time , it will really increase baby's IQ ,but there are still some people suspect this study is true or not. I think this method is a good education for baby.

Over 40 youngsters from abroad 'initiated' at Confucian temple

"I was greatly impressed."
So said Dario Rivera after he was initiated at a coming-of-age ceremony held at Taipei's Confucian Temple late last month.
"There never was such a grand, dignified initiation in my country, Mexico," Rivera said.
The 16-year-old boy attended the rites－in full accordance with Confucian rules that have been upheld for more than 2,000 years.
So were more than 40 other youngsters from abroad, aged from 16 to 20, who took part in the four-hour ceremony. Altogether 103 young men and women participated in the uniquely Chinese initiation, organized and sponsored by Rotary International District 3520.
It's part of the Taipei Rotarians' youth exchange program. Those initiated are all children of members of the foreign diplomatic corps in Taipei or foreign students learning Chinese here.
Other features of the ceremony included the cleansing of the participants' hands in a golden bowl, the beating of the drum to get the initiation under way, participants' oral reports on their coming of age, a performance by a Confucian musical group, and the wearing of hats with pins inserted by guardians.
Only those who came of age were allowed to wear hats in ancient China. Pins had to be inserted to keep the hats in place.
Confucius was China's greatest sage and the founder of Confucianism, which was made a state religion by the Emperor Wu Ti of the Han Dynasty.


1. sage: Who is a perfect person.
2.oral report: It means a report which is not written on the paper , just tell the report to others by mouth.
3. in accordance with: It seems like obey.


The coming-of-age ceremony is an important part in Chinese culture , especialy the ceremony which be held at Confucian temple. I really iook forward I can attend this ceremony in the future.

When toasters could fly: a museum for domestic appliances

They come from flea markets across Europe and the United States, from Internet auctions or dusty lofts: the vacuum cleaners and hot irons, toasters and pots and pans from the avant-garde of modern design, which French collector Jean-Bernard Hebey has picked up over decades.
Around 375 of these extraordinary domestic appliances from the 1920s to the 1970s are on display at the design museum in the Flanders' metropolis of Ghent, northern Belgium, in an exhibition entitled Domestic Aesthetics open to the public until September 30.

The first item Hebey bought was a lemon squeezer in the United States when he was 16. Now his Paris collection has some 8,000 items and is likely the largest European collection of designer domestic appliances.

"America was colored; Europe was still black and white," says Hebey. This is how his passion for collecting originated in the 1950s.

In fact, objects like the bright-red ice-crusher The Ice Gun from 1940, which strongly resembles a futuristic space patrol pistol, would have been unimaginable in Old Europe at the time.

Some of his toasters look as if they could fly, and his vacuum cleaners resemble rockets on vats that are more likely to do their service in orbit.

"Over the last 50 years modernity has always been associated with space travel or aviation," Hebey said. Domestic design had to "fulfill necessities and dreams at the same time."

passion:It means you love something very much.
loft:It means the top floor of a house.
metropolis:It means the city located at center of a country , or the main city.


I like to collect any interesting , special thing . I collect stamps , pens , toys , books , and beautiful paper , I also want to collect some appliances which be used in the kitchen , but most of them are too expensive . This article gives me an inmagination to future , if those things really can fly , it may be very interesting .

My First Speech Contest

I still clearly remember what happened during my first speech contest.I was very nervous about talking in front of a large crowd.When it was my turn,I tried to stay calm and walked onto the stage with a big smile.Somehow,I tripped and fell.At that mIoment,everyone in the audience started laughing.
I felt so embarrassed that I wanted to run away.However,I told myself that things couldn't get any worse.So I got up,took a deep breath, and went on giving my speech. As soon as I finished it, I felt relieved.
At the end of the contest, I didn't expect to win anything. To my surprise, I was awarded a special prize for courage. When I held the prize and saw the audience cheering, I felt proud of myself.

trip(vi):It is mean someone fall down by something.

This article is also from the Ivy magazine. I know it is not a good article for an university student, it is too easy, but it reminds me that my experience of speech contest. When I was an elementary school student,I went to a English cram school, I had a lot of English contest there. Although I have these experiences, I still feel nervous when I have to speak to the crowd. This habit bothers me a lot. I hope that I can speak to the crowd and not be nervous in the future.

Hawaiian cowboys

Did you ever hear about the cowboys in Hawaii? Even though that sentence sounds like a joke,

in reality, cowboys have been in Hawaii for over 200 years.

In the late 1700s, Captain George Vancouver explored the Sandwich Islands, which would later

be known as Hawaii. During that time, he met the Hawaiian ruler, Pai`ea Kamehameha. As a

gift, Captain Vancouver gave Kamehameha five head of cattle. The cattle were allowed to roam

freely and began to multiply rapidly. Soon, the large population of cattle was causing damage

everywhere. John Parker, a sailor who had settled on the islands, came to the rescue. Though

not a cowboy, Parker was a loyal friend of Kamehameha's and was given permission to start a

beef industry.

The Hawaiian cattle industry grew slowly until Kamehameha's grandson visited California and

invited Mexican cowboys to the islands in 1832. These cowboys taught the Hawaiian herders

important skills and better techniques for raising cattle. Because of them, herders in Hawaii

were transformed into excellent cowboys. They even became known as the most daring

cowboys of all.

Since then, the cowboy scene has been thriving in Hawaii. Cattle ranches, like the Parker Ranch,

still offer locals and tourists a chance to see cowboys in action. Hawaiian cowboys have also won

top awards at prestigious rodeos, events where cowboys compete and show their skills. These

cowboys have proven they're definitely no joke.

roam: means you walk slowly

rapidly: it is an adverb, means quickly

herder: a man whose job is look after cows or other kinds of animal

ranch: a place where live many animals,like cows

This article from Ivy magazine. I choose it because I have a dream,I can like a cowboy ,when I

was a little girl.When I was a little girl , I went to America in the summer,and I played with

horse there.It is a different experience for me,I felt very excited .At that time ,my first thinking

is:"Wow! the horses are horrible ,they are too tall."But when I sit on it's back,my thinking

is:"Yeah!It is great!"Although this article is talking about cows not horses,it still make me

remember that interesting travel.It is a good article to me