Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the United States today because it is about simple but strong human feelings and events-love, sadness, good times, and bad times. It tells real-life, stories and sounds the way people really talk. As life becomes more difficult to understand, it is good to hear music about ordinary people.

Country music, sometimes called country-western, comes from the traditional music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern Unite States. Country music is also from traditional cowboy music from the west. The singers usually play guitars, and in the 1920s they started using electric guitars. At first city people said country music was low class. It was popular mostly in the South. But during World War II, thousands of Southerners went to the Northeast and Midwest to work in the factories. They took their music with them. Soldiers from the rest of the country went to army camps in the South. They learned country music. Slowly it became popular all over the country.

Today country music is also popular everywhere in the United States and Canada—in small towns and in New York City, among black and white, and among educated and uneducated people. About 1, 200 radio stations broadcast country music twenty-four hours a day. English stars sing it in British English, and people in other countries sing it in their own languages. The music that started with cowboys and poor Southerners is now popular all over the world.

In China, writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and ink stones are used in Chinese calligraphy (书法).and painting. They all have a long history. The writing brush produced in Huzhou, the ink stick produced in Huizhou, the xuan paper made in Xuancheng and the ink stone in Duanxi are the best known.

The writing brushes can be used to draw pictures. They are mainly made of the hair of animals. Many kinds of animal hair were used, like goat, ox, rabbit and sheep. Hair of different animals can be mixed to create different brushes.

The ink stick is used in writing and painting. The ink is commonly made by burning pine or another wood. An unusual piece of ink is shaped like a runyu (润玉), that shows wishes for happiness and good luck. After shaping, it takes about two years for the ink to dry, in a fully dry and dark environment.

The famous xuan paper appeared in the Sui and Tang dynasties. It’s said that Cai Lun’s students Kong Dan took the job of producing paper but he didn’t succeed making perfect white paper. Later he happened to see the ebony (檀木) in the river. It was all wet with the water and turned white. Then he used the bark (树皮) to produce the world-famous xuan paper.

The ink stone was already very popular in the Han dynasty. The Ming and Qing dynasties saw the appearance of the Four Famous Ink Stones-Duan Ink Stone, She Ink Stone, Tao Ink Stone and Chengni Ink Stone. They were mainly used in writing and painting in ancient times. But nowadays, many people also buy ink stones for their beauty.

They show the wisdom of ancient Chinese people and also symbolize the importance of study.

When you’re bored, what will you do first? If you’re like many, the answer is quite simple: You reach for your phone. Five minutes of short videos or funny pictures seem like a pleasant break.

If that sounds familiar, a new study has bad news. Reaching for your phone is likely to leave you feeling more bored. The problem isn’t taking a break. The problem is your phone. A research shows using phones can’t help people relax from their heavy work.

To find out the relation between phones and boredom, the research team placed an app on the phones of 83 volunteers to find out how often they used their phones. They also asked these volunteers to keep diaries for three days, recording their level of boredom every hour. “Phone breaks were frequent (频繁的): In the 20 minutes following each survey, the volunteers picked up their phones 52 percent of the time. They spent an average of around 90 seconds on it each time,” reports the research team. “The more tired we are, the most likely we are to reach for our phones. While we look at our phones to relieve (减轻) boredom, screen time seemed to increase feelings of boredom. The volunteers actually reported higher levels of boredom after having used their smart phones.”

The research team pointed out that phone breaks may end up being more tiring than exciting. In other words, watching funny videos is nice, but it’s now worth the cost to your brain in effort and attention. In addition, picking up your phone might remind you that you have a better choice to do something else if you don’t have to finish the tasks immediately. Both your time and effort are easily wasted.

What should we do instead? Here are some good tips for you. Taking a walk is good exercise. Calling someone can make your mood cheerful. Reading a book gives your brain a fresh start. You can do many things like that. Just remember, don’t reach for your phone!