Do this test tonight when you go to bed. Put a plate on the floor next to your bed. Lie down with o...
How much sleep do we need?
The amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factors, including age. Infants generally require about 16 hours a day. For most adults, seven to eight hours a night appears to be the ideal amount of sleep, although a few people may need a little as five hours’ slee...
How market leaders keep their edge
Research shows that no company can succeed today by trying to be all things to all people. It must instead find the unique value that it alone can deliver to a chosen market. Choosing one discipline to master does not mean that a company abandons the others, only that it picks a di...
Common faults and eye movement
There are a number of bad habits which poor readers adopt. Most of these involve using extra body movement in the reading process. In efficient reading, the muscles of the eye should make the only external movement. Of course there must be vigorous mental activity, but extra movemen...
The red shoes
There was once a little girl who was very pretty and delicate, but in summer she was forced to run about with bare feet, she was so poor, and in winter wear very large wooden shoes, which made her little insteps quite red, and that looked so dangerous! In the middle of the village ...
The little match girl
Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening--the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the...
The story of a mother
A mother sat there with her little child. She was so downcast, so afraid that it should die! It was so pale, the small eyes had closed themselves, and it drew its breath so softly, now and then, with a deep respiration, as if it sighed; and the mother looked still more sorrowfully o...
The leap-frog
A Flea, a Grasshopper, and a Leap-frog once wanted to see which could jump highest; and they invited the whole world, and everybody else besides who chose to come to see the festival. Three famous jumpers were they, as everyone would say, when they all met together in the room. "I ...
The Snow Queen - The second story
SECOND STORY. A Little Boy and a Little Girl In a large town, where there are so many houses, and so many people, that there is no roof left for everybody to have a little garden; and where, on this account, most. persons are obliged to content themselves with flowers in pots; ther...
The Snow Queen - The third story
THIRD STORY. Of the Flower-Garden At the Old Woman's Who Understood Witchcraft But what became of little Gerda when Kay did not return? Where could he be? Nobody knew; nobody could give any intelligence. All the boys knew was, that they had seen him tie his sledge to another large ...
The Snow Queen - The fourth story
FOURTH STORY. The Prince and Princess Gerda was obliged to rest herself again, when, exactly opposite to her, a large Raven came hopping over the white snow. He had long been looking at Gerda and shaking his head; and now he said, "Caw! Caw!" Good day! Good day! He could not say it...
The Snow Queen - The fifth story
FIFTH STORY. The Little Robber Maiden They drove through the dark wood; but the carriage shone like a torch, and it dazzled the eyes of the robbers, so that they could not bear to look at it. "'Tis gold! 'Tis gold!" they cried; and they rushed forward, seized the horses, knocked do...
The Snow Queen - The sixth story
SIXTH STORY. The Lapland Woman and the Finland Woman Suddenly they stopped before a little house, which looked very miserable. The roof reached to the ground; and the door was so low, that the family were obliged to creep upon their stomachs when they went in or out. Nobody was at ...
The Snow Queen - The seventh story
SEVENTH STORY. What Took Place in the Palace of the Snow Queen, and what Happened Afterward The walls of the palace were of driving snow, and the windows and doors of cutting winds. There were more than a hundred halls there, according as the snow was driven by the winds. The large...
The Snow Queen - The first story
FIRST STORY. Which Treats of a Mirror and of the Splinters Now then, let us begin. When we are at the end of the story, we shall know more than we know now: but to begin. Once upon a time there was a wicked sprite, indeed he was the most mischievous of all sprites. One day he was ...
The fir tree
Out in the woods stood a nice little Fir Tree. The place he had was a very good one: the sun shone on him: as to fresh air, there was enough of that, and round him grew many large-sized comrades, pines as well as firs. But the little Fir wanted so very much to be a grown-up tree. H...
The real princess
There was once a Prince who wished to marry a Princess; but then she must be a real Princess. He travelled all over the world in hopes of finding such a lady; but there was always something wrong. Princesses he found in plenty; but whether they were real Princesses it was impossible...
The swineherd
There was once a poor Prince, who had a kingdom. His kingdom was very small, but still quite large enough to marry upon; and he wished to marry. It was certainly rather cool of him to say to the Emperor's daughter, "Will you have me?" But so he did; for his name was renowned far an...
The Emperor's new clothes
Many years ago, there was an Emperor, who was so excessively fond of new clothes, that he spent all his money in dress. He did not trouble himself in the least about his soldiers; nor did he care to go either to the theatre or the chase, except for the opportunities then afforded hi...
Traditional Vietnamese medical theory
The beliefs of Vietnamese folk medicine associate illness with the absence of any of the three souls which maintain life, intelligence, and the senses or of the seven spirits which collectively sustain the living body. A number of rituals performed at childbirth, which are aimed at ...
If the world were a village of 100 people
If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following: There would be: 60 Asians, 10 Europeans, 14 people from the Americas, 16 Africans There would be: 50 f...
Strategic planning for your career
How many times will you change careers in your lifetime? If you’re like majority people, you’ll change careers at least several times over the course of your life. How successful you’ll be in making transitions among careers can at least be partially attributed to the amount of care...
How environmentally aware are you?
If we want to save energy then we need to change the way we behave. Let’s find out just how environmentally aware you are. 1. You decide to fly to an island 5,000 miles away for a holiday. How many trees would you need to plant to offset or make up for the CO2 emissions produce...
