Today's demands for measuring childhood success have chased household chores from the to-do lists of many young people. In a survey of 1,001 US adults released by Braun Research, 82% reported having regular chores growing up, but only 28% said that they require their own children to do them. “Parents today want their kids spending time on things that can bring them success, but ironically, we've stopped doing one thing that's actually been a proven predictor of success—and that's household chores.” says Richard Rende, a developmental psychologist.
Giving children household chores at an early age helps to build a lasting sense of mastery, responsibility and independence, according to research by Marty Rossmann, professor at the University of Minnesota. In 2002, Dr. Rossman analyzed data from a longitudinal(纵向的) study that followed 84 children across four periods. She found that young adults who began chores at ages 3 and 4 were more likely to have good relationships with family and friends and to achieve academic and early career success, as compared with those who didn't have chores or who started them as teens.
Chores also teach children how to be empathetic(感同身受的) and responsive to others' needs, notes psychologist Richard Weissbourd. In research, his team surveyed 10,000 high-school students and asked them to rank what they treasured more: achievement, happiness or caring for others. Almost 80% chose either achievement or happiness over caring for others. As he points out, however, research suggests that personal happiness comes most reliably not from high achievement but from strong relationships. “We're out of balance,” says Dr. Weissbourd. A good way to start re-adjusting priorities(优先事项), he suggests, is by learning to be kind and helpful at home.
The next time that your child asks to skip chores to do homework, resist the urge to let him or her off the hook. Being slack(懈怠的) about chores when they compete with school sends your child the message that grades and achievement are more important than caring about others. What may seem like small messages in the moment but add up to big ones over time.
Is there a way to turn back the aging process in people? For centuries, people have been looking for a "fountain of youth". The idea is that if you find a magical fountain, and drink its water, you will not age.
Researchers in New York did not find an actual fountain of youth, but they may have found a way to turn back the aging process. It appears that the answer may be called the hypothalamus(下丘脑), which is part of your brain. It controls important body activities, including growth, the way we process food and so on.
Researchers at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that hypothalamus neural stem cells(干细胞) also influence how fast aging takes place.
Dongsheng Cai, a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, was the leading researcher in a study on aging in mice. He and his team reported their findings.
"Aging speed can be controlled by a particular place in the body, which is the hypothalamus. And it can be controlled by a particular type of cells, which are hypothalamus stem cells. "He added that when the hypothalamus starts aging, so does the body. So when hypothalamus function is in decline, particularly the loss of hypothalamus stem cells, and this protection against the aging development is lost, it eventually leads to aging.
Using this information, the researchers began trying to activate the hypothalamus in laboratory mice. They did this by injecting the animals with stem cells.
The researchers said the results showed that the treatment slowed aging in the animals. "When we injected the hypothalamus stem cells to the middle-aged mice, the mice aged slowly and they can also live longer."
But these results were just from studying mice in a laboratory. If the mice can live longer, does that mean people could have longer lives? The next step is to see if the anti-aging effects also work in human beings.
"If we can translate what we have seen in animals to humans, I think humans can function better during later ages." Cai and his team say their study may have other benefits. They say the findings could lead to new ways to help doctors identify and treat any number of age-related health issues.
— , Mike, and shut up!
Learning English is challenging because of the various rules and exceptions to the rules. The best way to learn English is to hear it spoken and repeat the words as you hear them. You will learn how to make English a daily part of your life in order to learn to speak it quickly.
Ask a friend to help you write letters of English alphabet on index cards. You should write a letter on each card. Practise the letters by mixing up the cards and saying the letters. You can ask your friend to help you pronounce the letters and quiz you on your knowledge.
Make your own videos in English. If you have a video camera, you can tape yourself speaking English and practice along with your own video. Watch your videos daily, and repeat what is being said.
Get a private tutor. A professional English instructor can give you one-on-one instruction that will help you understand the rules of English. Your instructor can teach you how to write and speak English. You can also inquire at your local community college.
Watch movies with English subtitles. When watching a movie in your native language, use the English subtitles so you will understand the connection between your language and English.
You will make mistakes, and that is OK. You need to practice English as much as possible in order to quickly learn to speak the language fluently.
A. Learn the English alphabet. B. Use every opportunity to speak English. C. You can subscribe some English magazines to learn English. D. Constant repetition is the key to remembering words in English. E. If you have any difficult points, you can consult your dictionary at any time.. F. You can find an English tutor by placing an advertisement in your local newspaper. G. You can make a play in which you and a friend are having a simple conversation in English. |
In the English Reading Week, one of my classmates recommended a quote to us, goes like this, "Your future (depend) on many things, but mostly on you." I can't agree (much) with this view. It's true that our future (determine) by many things, such as opportunities and help from others, but our own attitude, determination, hard work play a more important role. In words, we are the master of our own future.
Take Abraham Lincoln for example. He was born in a poor family, and only received a (limit) education in his childhood. Yet through his painstaking efforts, he (change) not only his own fate but also the history of America. Even to this day, Lincoln (regard) as one of the most inspiring figures in the world.
Therefore, I (firm) believe that our future is in our own hands.
Houses fall down. Trees fall over. Large holes form in the ground. Could Alaska be sinking? That's what some villagers in Alaska have been asking themselves recently and scientists think they know why. Warmer temperatures may be causing Alaska's frozen ground to thaw (解冻).
About 85 percent of Alaska's land surface has permafrost (永久冻结带). Permafrost supports the ground above it—including trees, houses, and roads. But why is the permafrost thawing?
Some scientists say that human-caused pollution is leading to global warming. And most scientists agree that Alaska has been getting warmer. They say that the warmer temperature is causing permafrost to thaw in some areas. The thawing permafrost can cause problems for people, plants, and animals.
The collapsing (倒塌) is a problem in the villages in Alaska which are built on permafrost, and some of them may have to move to safer ground, where there is no permafrost.
The Alaskan town of Glennallen saw its old post office collapse. And, according to James Walters, a permafrost expert at the University of Northern Iowa, house-moving companies have been very busy.
“Melting permafrost can also destroy trees and forests,” Walters said. “When holes in the ground form, trees fall into them and die. This could turn a forest into a swamp (沼泽), and animals which need the forests will have to move elsewhere.”
“The melting could cause severe problems.” Walters says, “This could take hundreds of years, but in the end Alaska will look quite different from what it looks like now.”
Mark Twain, the famous American writer and a great master of humor, liked to play jokes on others. But once a joke was played on him. One day Mark Twain was invited to give a talk in a small town. At lunch he met a young man, one of his friends.
The young man said that he had an uncle with him. He told Mark Twain that his uncle never laughed or smiled, and that nobody and nothing was able to make his uncle smile or laugh.
"You bring your uncle to my talk this evening," said Mark Twain. "I'm sure I can make him laugh."
That evening the young man and his uncle sat in the front. Mark Twain began to speak. He told several funny stories and made everyone in the room laugh. But the man never even smiled. Mark Twain told more funny stories, but the old man still kept quiet. Mark Twain continued to tell his funny stories. Finally he stopped. He was tired and quite disappointed.
Some days later, Mark Twain told another friend what had happened." Oh," said his friend, "I know that man. He's been deaf for years."
Chinese proverbs are rich and they are still widely used in Chinese people's daily life. these proverbs there are often interesting stories. For example, the proverb, "plucking up a crop (help)it grow", is based on the following story.
It is said that a short-tempered man in the Song Dynasty(960—1279)was very anxious to help his rice crop grow up (quick). He was thinking about it day and night. But the crop was growing much (slow) than he expected.
One day, he came up with an idea he would pluck up all of his crop a few inches. He did so the next day.
He was very tired after (do) this for a whole day, he felt very happy because the crop did "grow"(high).
His son heard about this and went to see the crop. Unfortunately the leaves of the crop began to wither.
This proverb is saying we have to let things go in their (nature) course. Being too anxious to help an event develop often (result)in the contrary to our intention.
Underground Treasure House next week.
When Luke went to university he thought he would be on a new journey in life and getting his own place. In the UK, it's common to fly the nest at a fairly young age. Many choose a flat-share; others make plans to get on the property ladder.
But the current economic situation forced Luke back to his mum's house at the age of 27. And he's not alone: a quarter of young adults in the UK now live with their parents. The Office for National Statistics said more than 3.3 million adults between the ages of 20 and 34 were living with their parents in 2013.
Lack of jobs and the high cost of renting accommodation made Luke change his plans. He's upset. "There's something very difficult about being an adult living in an environment where you're still a child," he says. "It limits me socially; sometimes I feel it limits me professionally."
Indeed, many young people have no choice but to stay at "the hotel of Mum and Dad".
Krissy had to return home after a year away and now lives in rather terrible conditions, sharing the family's three-bedroom house with her sisters. She says they end up getting on each other's nerves when it's time to use the bathroom in the morning.
Of course, living with your parents is not unusual in some countries. Economic conditions, culture, or family traditions mean many young people stay at home until they get married. Even then, it can be too expensive to rent or buy a house and the married couples continue to live at one of their parents' homes.
But some parents seem to enjoy having their kids back at home. Janice's daughters are part of what's being called "the boomerang generation". She says, "I get to share their lives with them, and I've got to know them all as adults. We have the sort of conversations that good friends do."
So for some it's a win-win situation — spending time with your families, and saving money.
the detective that the millionaire was probably murdered by his own daughter.
The story of how I got my job was a funny one.
One day, I was 1along a street to the interview 2 a yellow car suddenly cut in front of me. With another car coming in the other 3, I had to brake hard and bumped(撞到)another cyclist. We both fell, but 4 neither of us was hurt. I became 5 and cycled as fast as possible to the driver of the yellow car to tell him6 I considered him. I told him what a bad 7 I thought he was and he was a(n) 8to other people on the road. His face turned 9. I warned him not to drive 10 in the future so that everyone else could enjoy a long life.
I was in time for the 11. Having walked into the room, to my 12, I found one of the three interviewers 13 to be the driver of the yellow car. We looked at each other for a while, 14silent. Then I decided to look on the whole matter as a great 15!
I laughed and told him that I talked much the last time we met and this time it was his 16 to talk a great deal.
Lost in thought for a while, he 17that I was not going to say anything about his bad driving. The interview went 18. Two days later, I received a letter offering me the job. I was pleased that the manager—the driver of the yellow car, didn't 19my rudeness to him.
Through the experience, I find something that seems impossible at first sometimes 20 to be good.
We laughed his strange clothes.
1）成为志愿者能介绍中国的文化;
2）自己的优势。
注意:1）词数100左右;
2）可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯;
3）开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Sir or Madam,
As we know ,a growing number of countries hope to know more about China.……
Look forward to your early reply.
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
Now, please allow me to (introduce) Lhasa to you. Lhasa is capital city of Tibet, which is (locate) in the Southeast of Tibet. It is a city with a history of more than 1300 years. It is famous for the Potola Palace. Besides, it's also an (attract) city, attracting tens of millions of visitors from home and abroad each year. There are many (place) of interest and people are very (friend). With the (develop) of modern transportation, traveling becomes (easy). It takes only 2 hours to fly Chengdu to Lhasa. If you have a chance to come to Tibet, welcome Lhasa.
