For some people,music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes(音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.

As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music sets them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret,a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.

Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn't involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can't see. certain colors.

Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed(诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say,” No thanks, I'm amusic,'“says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.”

   What’s your opinion on spicy food? Some people cannot handle even the smallest amount of chili peppers in their dinner while others can’t get enough of them.

Scientists have long been puzzled by why some people love the chili while others loathe it. Plenty of research has been done on the subject, dating as far back as the 1970s. Previous results showed that a love of chilies is related to childhood experiences, and that cultural influences affect our taste too. But the latest study has found that a person’s love of spicy food may be linked to his or her personality (性格) more than anything else, CBC News reported.

“We have always assumed that liking drives intake — we eat what we like and we like what we eat. But no one has actually directly bothered to connect personality with intake of chili peppers,” said Professor John E. Hayes from Pennsylvania State University, who led the study.

But before you look at the study, you should first know that “spicy” is not a taste, unlike sour, sweet, bitter and salty taste. It is, in fact, a burning feeling that you feel on the surface of your tongue. This got scientists thinking that maybe a love of spicy food is brought about by people’s longing for thrill, something they usually get from watching action movies or riding a roller coaster.

In the study, 97 participants, both male and female, were asked to fill out questionnaires about their personality, for example, whether they like new experiences or tend to avoid risks. They were then given a glass of water with capsaicin (辣椒素), the plant chemical that makes a chili burn, mixed into it.

By comparing the answers to the questionnaire and what participants said they felt about the spicy water, researchers found that those who tended to enjoy action movies or take risks were about six times more likely to enjoy the spicy water.

Interestingly, we used to believe that the reason why some people can withstand (耐受) spicy food is that their tongues have become less sensitive to it. However, this latest study has found otherwise. “It’s not that it doesn’t burn as badly, but that you actually learn to like the burning feeling,” Hayes explained.

   Experts believe that the best time to teach kids language skills is when they are babies. Most times the task is easily accomplished with parents reading or talking to their babies. However，in some cases that is not possible due to parents' busy work schedules or when kids are born deaf. Now，a blue-eyed robot，a human image，and some high-tech neuroscience may be able to assist parents with this important developmental task.

The Robot AVatar thermal-Enhanced system，or RAVE，is the brainchild of a team of researchers led by Laura-Ann Petitto，an educational neuroscientist. The learning process begins when the robot's camera，which is focused on the baby's face，notices tiny changes in his/her body temperature. This，combined with the baby's facial expression，causes the robot to turn its head and guide the baby's attention to a computer screen，on which a human image starts to communicate with the baby. For example，if the baby points towards the screen，the image might respond，“Are you pointing to me？”and follow that up with a nursery rhyme or fairy tale，all in American Sign Language（ASL）. The“conversation”continues until the kid loses interest.

The researchers found that babies as young as 6 to 8 months old began to move their hands in a rhythm similar to ASL after communicating with RAVE for just a few minutes. Petitto says natural language，whether communicated through speech or sign，activates（激活）the same parts of the brain and believes the rhythmic motion proves the babies are learning the essential elements of communication.

What sets this technique apart from other methods，such as showing educational videos or television shows，is its interactive（互动的）nature and real-time response to the baby's actions. The researchers say that while it is too early to determine the system's long-term influence on baby communication, the initial response has been very encouraging. Next, they plan to introduce a robot that can both sign and speak to babies.

Global warming could make humans shorter, warn scientists who are said 【小题1】（find）evidence that it caused the world’s first horses to shrink nearly 50 million years ago.

In fact, a team from the universities of Florida and Nebraska says it has found a link between the earth 【小题2】（heat）up and the size of mammals — horses. The scientists used fossils to follow the evolution（进化）of horses from their earliest 【小题3】（appear）56 million years ago.

“As temperatures went up, 【小题4】（they）size went down, and vice versa; at one point they were as small as a house cat,” said Dr. Jonathan Bloch, curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History. The scientists say that the current warming could have the same effect 【小题5】 mammals — and could even make humans 【小题6】（small）.

Horses 【小题7】（start）out small, about the size of a small dog like a miniature schnauzer.【小题8】 is surprising is that after they first appeared, they then became even smaller and then dramatically increased in size, and that 【小题9】（exact）agrees with the global warming event. “It had been known that mammals were small when it was warm,【小题10】 we hadn’t understood that the temperature really was driving the evolution of body size,” Dr. Bloch said in the Science journal.

   As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation. _______ you are in the habit of rushing through life, being on the go（忙碌）from morning till night, it is hard to _______. But relaxation is _______ for a healthy mind and body.

Stress is a（n）_______ part of everyday life and there is no way to _______ it. In fact, it is not the bad thing that it is often supposed to be. A _______ amount of stress is important to provide motivation and give _______ to life. It is only when stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and _______ health.

The amount of stress a person can bear _______ very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such a ________ is obviously chief material for managerial responsibilities. Others lose heart at the ________ of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we ________ both chemically and physically. In fact we make a choice between ________ and fight. And in more ancient days the choices made the ________ between life and death. The crises we meet today are ________ to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it requires the same response. It is when such a reaction ________ long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes ________. Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart disease have ________ links with stress. Since we cannot ________ stress from our lives we need to find ways to ________ it.

So what do you think of stress? What is your way to deal with it?