A recent study has looked into what happens inside your brain while you read and listen to music. You know that thrill you get when listening to your favorite music?

According to the study, it seems the same thing can happen while you are reading, but not with every kind of text. Professor Adam Zeman, a neurologist said, “The participants lay in an MRI scanner reading the texts, then we compared brain activity for five texts.” The texts ranged from deadly boring ones to highly exciting ones.

As the researchers observed, participants found some texts more emotional than others. When reading these emotional texts, there was higher activity in brain areas associated with pleasure and reward—the same areas related to the thrill we get when we listen to music.

Reading poetry is often considered a reflective activity, but did the study find any evidence of this? In fact, when the participants were reading poems, the team found there was more activity in a particular brain area called the Default Network. “These areas seem to be associated with things we do with our minds when we are resting, like thinking about what's happened to us recently, and that network seems to be more strongly associated with poetry than with essays.” explains Zeman.

The study shows that the different texts activate different areas of our brains when we read. Zeman reflects that “the study did confirm what we thought, in particular our belief that the response to literature was going to be a bit like the response to music in terms of emotion.”

Beach volleyball can be played with as few as two people in each team, making a total of four people. However, if you are less skilled and experienced in the game, it will be easier to play with a larger team. The more players you have, the less ground each person will be responsible for covering and the more time they will have to recover between shots. If you only have a few players, each of you will get a lot of running for the ball after each volley (截球). If you are looking for a relaxing, fun, low-key experience, choose larger teams.

Beach volleyball is similar to regular volleyball in its rules. However, even experienced volleyball players do not realize how much more difficult it is to run and jump on sand. Since it is harder to move quickly on sand than a hard surface, play will be much slower than regular volleyball on a court. When an athlete trains for beach volleyball, he will focus on building lower body strength (力量) as well as upper body strength. Strengthening his legs is extremely important. This improves the player’s ability to move quickly and accurately on sand despite the resistance. The ability to jump high and land without injury is necessary for beach volleyball players.

Whether you are in it for the competition, or just to have a great time with your friends, beach volleyball can be extremely exciting and fun. You may start out with friends and may soon fall in love with the sport.

In America, when the eighth graders leave the middle school, they are often worried about moving to the high school. It is a hard time for them,but it can be an exciting one as well. To make it easier, students need to get familiar with their school.

Even though they’ve done this already in the middle school, it’s still important to find where their classrooms are. Most schools take students to the high school for a visit at the end of their eighth grade year. And, most schools also have a freshman(新生) speech for parents and students before the first year begins. Sometimes the main office will give away a map of the school. This can help students and parents to find different places in the school.

One way to know your high school more and make new friends is to join a club or play a sport. Schools often offer chances to join different clubs and sports. Fall activities begin in August before the first day of school. If you are not interested in sports, there are clubs for any interest, such as drama, dance, chess, photography, community service, etc. These clubs allow students from different grades. By joining an activity,students can find new friendships, not to mention improving their chances in future college applications(申请). The school office will have a list of activities offered at the school and information on how to join them.

What’s more, to have a great start to a high school year, students can write down some of their worries, and ask for help from teachers and school workers.