中国大学MOOC: Bright said science must always trump politics. It’s all unfolding late tonight, and CBS is Paula Reid is at the White House. Paula. Norah, CBS News has learned that this key official who spent his 6)____________ career on vaccine development

Which of the followings are good table manners? A: Wait until the host/hostess and the guest of honor to unfold their napkins before quietly unfolding yours and laying it on your lap. B: Use the napkin to wipe your lips. C: Put the napkin on your chair if you want to leave the table for a while. D: Put you elbow on the table.

The 1918 Pandemic Narrator: November 1918, Armistice Day. Around the world, people celebrate the end of four years of 1 . But there’s another horror unfolding in the shadow of war. A deadly 2 sweeping the world. Schools and theatres are shut down. Coffins are 3 high. The flu pandemic kills over 4 people. Many of them die cruelly. Doctor: She’d finally drowned in her profuse, thin, bloodstained sputum, constantly bubbling forth. Narrator: Only by going back to rare and previously unseen letters, diaries and memoirs of those who fought the 5 can we fully understand what happened. Nurse: Just try and breathe. Narrator: The heroic efforts of nurses and doctors. Fateful decisions of key officials. Officials: The relentless needs of warfare justify the risk of spreading infection. Narrator: The experience of ill and the dying. Girl: My grandmother tells me my mother has gone to Jesus. But I want my mummy back. Narrator: Hidden in this personal testimony are clues that can benefit us today. Male Voice: What if the apocalyptic 1918 pandemic were to recur? That’s a scary prospect. Narrator: Pinpointing the lessons learned and mistakes made in 1918 will help prepare us for the next global 6 . Female Voice: Everybody would agree that another flu pandemic will happen. And what 1918 does is illustrate to us how bad it could be.

Gregory Currie, a professor of philosophy at the University of Nottingham, recently argued in The New York Times that we ought not to claim that literature improves us as people, because there is no “compelling evidence that suggests that people are morally or socially better for reading Tolstoy” or other great books. Actually, there is such evidence. Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and Keith Oatley, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, reported in studies published in 2006 and 2009 that individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize (起共鸣) with them and view the world from their perspective. This link persisted even after the researchers factored in the possibility that more empathetic individuals might choose to read more novels. Recent research in cognitive science, psychology and neuroscience has demonstrated that deep reading of books is a distinctive experience, very different from the information-driven reading we do on the Web. Although deep reading does not, strictly speaking, require a conventional book, the built-in limits of the printed page are uniquely conducive to the deep reading experience. A book’s lack of hyperlinks allowing the reader to remain fully immersed in the narrative, without having to make such decisions as whether to click on a link or not. That immersion is supported by the way the brain handles language rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity, by creating a mental representation that draws on the same brain regions that would be active if the scene were unfolding in real life. The emotional situations and moral dilemmas that are the stuff of literature are also vigorous exercise for the brain, propelling us inside the heads of fictional characters and even increasing our real-life capacity for empathy. This is not reading as many young people are coming to know it. Their reading, mostly done onscreen, is pragmatic (实际的) and instrumental. If we allow our children to believe reading onscreen is all there is, we will have deprived them of an enjoyable and enlightening experience that will enlarge them as people. Instead molding our education around young people’s attachment to digital devices and onscreen habits, we need to show them some place they’ve never been, a place only deep reading can take them.