During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have to stay at home. They often feel lonely and bored. So John Dattilo studied how to reduce (减少) loneliness and have more positive feelings with a team of scientists.

According to their new study, reduced loneliness has something to do with enjoyable activities that need both concentration and skill. “When people pay attention to what they are doing, they enter a state (状态) called ‘flow’,” Dattilo said. “You can achieve ‘flow’ by doing activities that you value.”

To achieve a state of flow, there must be a balance between the challenge of the task and your skill level (水平). For example, if you’re trying to create a computer program but your skill level is low, then you may feel anxious instead of achieving “flow”. However, if the task is too easy, you will feel bored and “flow” will not appear, either. If you have artistic skills, for example, playing the piano or painting can lead to flow. So can things like skiing, writing and storytelling, depending on who you are.

“When we enter a state of flow, we become concentrated and experience short-time enjoyment without paying attention to other things,” Dattilo said. “When we leave a state of flow, we are often surprised by how much time has passed.” However, watching TV doesn’t help people enter flow because there aren’t any challenges.

“People can get better with healthy activities and challenge,” said Dattilo. “We hope this research will help people live happier, healthier lives.”

What is a wave? A wave is a disturbance (震动) that moves through matter (物质). Energy creates the disturbance that makes a wave. Ocean waves are created when energy disturbs the water. Most water waves are caused by wind blowing across the water’s surface.

Tsunami waves are not like most water waves, however. The energy that creates tsunamis is a disturbance in the Earth-an earthquake. The shaking energy of an earthquake pushes the water.

Tsunami waves can be more powerful than ordinary water waves, too. Tsunami waves in deep ocean waters can be huge. They can be miles long and lift up the water by about 3 feet. These waves move with the speed of a jet plane until they approach land. Then they slow down and grow taller.

Scientists study tsunamis in order to be able to warn people. They use tools that measure seismic waves (地震波). Seismic waves are the shaking energy that moves through the Earth during an earthquake. Seismic waves tell scientists where and when earthquake are happening under the ocean. They tell how much energy is in an earthquake.

Tsunamis do not happen very often, but they can be very dangerous. For your safety, know if there you live or travel is in a tsunami zone. If there is an earthquake, a tsunami could follow. So listen to a radio or watch TV for instructions. The important thing is to get to higher ground and go as far inland as you can. You could be told you have two hours to get to safety, or only minutes.

Sometimes, people at the beach observe the water pulling back unusually far from the shore. This is called “drawback”, and it can happen before a tsunami hits. People may be curious and go towards the water when they see the water drawing back. NEVER do this! Run to safety in the opposite direction, away from the water.

Have you ever been ill? When you are ill, you must be unhappy because your body becomes hot, and there are pains all over your body. You don’t want to work, you stay in bed, feeling very sad.

What makes us ill? It is germs(细菌). Germs are everywhere. They are very small and you can’t find them with your eyes, but you can see them with a microscope. They are very small and there could be hundreds of them on a very small thing.

Germs are always found in dirty water. When we look at dirty water under the microscope, we shall see them in it. So your father and mother will not let you drink dirty water.

Germs aren’t found only in water. They are found in air and dust. If you cut your finger, if some of the dust from the floor goes into the cut(割开处), some of the germs would go into your finger. Your finger would become big and red, and you will have much pain in it. Sometimes the germs would go into all of your body, and you would have pain everywhere.