We discuss the issue of when to help a patient die. Doctors of our generation are not newcomers to this question. Going back to my internship（实习）days, I can remember many patients in pain, sometimes in coma(昏迷), with late, hopeless cancer. For many of them, we wrote an order for heavy medication—morphine(吗啡)by the clock. This was not talked about openly and little was written about it. It was essential, not controversial.
The best way to bring the problem into focus is to describe two patients whom I cared for. The first, formerly a nurse, had an automobile accident. A few days later her lungs seemed to fill up; her heart developed dangerous rhythm disturbances. So there she was: in coma, on a breathing machine, her heartbeat maintained with an electrical device. One day after rounds, my secretary said the husband and son of the patient wanted to see me. They told me their wife and mother was obviously going to die; she was a nurse and had told her family that she never wanted this kind of terrible death, being maintained by machines. I told them that while I respected their view, there was nothing deadly about her situation. The kidney(肾) failure she had was just the kind for which the artificial kidney was most effective. While possibly a bit reassured, they were disappointed. Here was the head surgeon seemingly determined to keep everybody alive, no matter what.
Within a few days the patient's pacemaker(起搏器) could be removed and she awoke from her coma. About six months later, the door of my office opened and in walked a gloriously fit woman. After some cheery words of appreciation, the father and son asked to speak to me alone. As soon as the door closed, both men became quite tearful. All that came out was, "We want you to know how wrong we were."
The second patient was an 85-year-old lady whose hair caught fire while she was smoking. She arrived with a deep burn; I knew it would surely be deadly. As a remarkable coincidence there was a meeting for discussion going on at the time in medical ethics(道德). The speaker asked me if I had any sort of ethical problem I could bring up for discussion. I described the case and asked the students their opinion. After the discussion, I made a remark that was, when looking back, a serious mistake. I said, "I'll take the word back to the nurses about her and we will talk about it some more before we decide." The instructor and the students were shocked: "You mean this is a real patient?" The teacher of ethics was not accustomed to being challenged by actuality. In any event, I went back and met with the nurses. A day or two later, when she was making no progress and was suffering terribly, we began to back off treatment. Soon she died quietly and not in pain. As a reasonable physician, you had better move ahead and do what you would want done for you. And don't discuss it with the world first. There is a lesson here for everybody. Assisting people to leave this life requires strong judgment and long experience to avoid its misuse.
If women are mercilessly exploited（剥削）year after year,they have only themselves to blame.Because they tremble at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion,they are always taken advantage of by the designers and the big stores.Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be put aside because of the change of fashion.When you come to think of it,only a woman is capable of standing in front of a wardrobe（衣橱）packed full of clothes and announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear.
Changing fashions are nothing more than the intentional creation of waste.Many women spend vast sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardly been worn.Women who cannot afford to throw away clothing in this way,waste hours of their time altering（政变）the dresses they have.Skirts are lengthened or shortened;neck-line are lowered or raised,and so on.
No one can claim that the fashion industry contributes anything really important to society.Fashion designers are rarely concerned with vital things like warmth,comfort and durability（耐用）.They are only interested in outward appearance and they take advantage of the fact that women will put up with any amount of discomfort,as long as they look right.There can hardly be a man who hasn't at some times in his life smiled at the sight of a woman shaking in a thin dress on a winter day,or delicately picking her way through deep snow in high-heeled shoes.
When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion,the conclusions to be drawn are obvious.Do the constantly changing fashions of women's clothes,one wonders,reflect basic qualities of inconstancy and instability （不稳定）?Men are too clever to let themselves be cheated by fashion designers.Do their unchanging styles of dress reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability（可靠）?That is for you to decide.
It's true that many dads in the wild aren't interested in parenting, but there are some that work pretty hard to give their little ones a good start. Maybe one of these dads will make you remember your own dad!
The male giant water bug doesn't seem to mind a heavy load on his back for his kids. The female puts about 100 to 150 eggs on the back of the male, and then she leaves. Once the female is gone, the male has to look after the eggs. It usually takes one to two weeks for the eggs to hatch. The father giant water bug jumps around to make sure the growing eggs get enough air and water. All this time he can't fly because of the weight of the eggs growing rapidly on his back.
Now let's turn to the male stickleback fish. When the mother leaves after laying her eggs, the father tends his young. If the young fish go too far away, their father helps with their safe return by carrying them back in his mouth. The male stickleback looks after all his young — as many as 100 — until they can live on their own.
A similar example can be found in emperor penguins living in cold areas. The male emperor penguin goes without food while looking after his egg until it hatches. For about 62 to 67 days, the egg stays on top of the father's feet, in very cold temperatures that drop down to -39° C. As a result, the father may lose nearly 50 percent of his body weight while waiting for his baby penguin to be born!
Many Americans spend more time in cars these days than in the kitchen. But as lives grow busier—and waistlines grow larger—a number of health experts are calling for Americans to reduce their risk of cancer and other diseases by cooking at home more and eating out less.
“When dining out, people are likely to gravitate towards all the wrong thing,” says Rachel Brandeis of the American Dietetic Association. “People take in 50% more fat and sodium when they eat out than when they cook at home. And they often miss out on fruits, vegetables and other vitamin-rich ‘powerhouse foods' that may reduce the risk of cancer.”
Nutritionists know it's not easy to break old habits. Many people say they hardly have time to exercise, let alone fix dinner.
Brandeis says her secret is organization. She cooks six nights a week, even though she and her husband both work. She spends 20 minutes thinking about a week's worth of menus and writing a list. She shops just once a week. Brandeis says she chooses easy cooking methods, too. Since she is not quite good at cooking.
The American Institute for Cancer Research has produced a guide filled with tips like “Homemade for Health”. Melanie Polk, the institute's director of nutrition education, says cooking at home has many advantages. It teaches children about nutrition as well as the importance of sharing housework.
The 39-year-old homemaker Kirstin Kristinus of Washington, D.C. says cooking at home brings her family together. She also tries to reduce her family's cancer risk by preparing every meal with many different kinds of food.
“The only way to know that you are getting all the good things is to expose yourself to a wide variety of food,” says Steven Shiff, a doctor in New Jersey. “If you eat out at a restaurant, it's a lot easier to choose unhealthful things.”
However, “families don't have to give up restaurants,” Shiff says. “It is possible to eat healthfully if you eat outside the home. But it takes probably the same sort of planning that you would have to do to prepare meals at home.”
We'd arrived at Rockefeller Center station on the D train. As in many of New York's underground stations, trains pull in at both sides of the platform. Or rather, they seem to erupt into the station first on one side, then on the other.
Abruptly, my wife stopped.
“Uh, what's this?” she said.
I looked over her shoulder. There at our feet lay a young woman of about 20. She was on her stomach with the top half of her body on the platform, while her legs hung over the tracks kicking powerlessly.
She was stuck. She had also, clearly, been down on the tracks and discovered that climbing back up is really hard.
But unlike in our imaginings, this woman was not in panic, expecting her approaching death by the F train which would be screaming into the station in the next few minutes, if not seconds.
She was laughing! So was her friend who half-heartedly leant down to assist. The assistance was somewhat weakened by the fact that the friend was holding her smartphone. Was she hoping to capture this moment with a picture? Or composing a text?
It's well known that people's compulsive checking of their phones can be deadly. Among young people in America, texting is now the number one cause of car crashes. Maybe it's also a leading cause of leaving friends to die when they fall in the river or on to the train tracks.
I stepped forward, leant out as far as I could, got hold of her leg somewhere near the knee and, together with her finally-engaged friend, dragged the young woman on to the platform.
And you can guess why she'd been on the tracks. Still laughing, but maybe chastened (内疚）by my look of horror she said, “Thanks. Sorry. My phone fell down there. ”
While I turned to hold my daughter's hand and head upstairs, the young woman and her friend walked away. I wonder when she'll be scared.
What are the biggest problems that society will have to deal with in the new age? There re diseases like AIDS and cancer. There's climate change, of course. And what about producing enough cheap food and energy for the world's growing population? Who's going to solve all these terrible problems? Yes, politicians and world leaders will have a big part to play. Yes businesses will need to create the economic wealth to pay for some of these things. But who's going to make a much greater difference to something like AIDS or climate change. It's going to be a scientist. It is the scientist who can turn some new bit of science into a new technology to solve these problems. If you like thinking about the world around you, why not become a scientist? It doesn't mean you have to wear a white coat and plastic glasses and spend all your time in a lab as most people often imagine! Scientists do all kinds of amazing things that are actually interesting!
Military scientists develop not only new weapons but new military technologies that could help make wars out of date. Forensic(法医的) scientists work with the police to find quite small clues to catch criminals. Scientists work in schools and colleges as the teachers and professors who will train tomorrow's scientists. Don't think a scientist is far away! Maybe you like cooking? You could be a food technologist helping to keep fruit and vegetables fresher for longer. Perhaps sport is your thing? Do you know that most top athletes work with sports scientists in order or improve their performance? You could even be the science writer who gets to spend the life studying the latest advances and sharing them with the world.
Looking for something to do for the rest of your life? My advice? Take a long and hard look at science. It is interesting and ever.
An "apple polisher" is one who gives gifts to win friendship or special treatment.It is not exactly a bribe（贿赂）, but is close to it.
All sorts of people are apple polishers,including politicians and people in high offices—just about everybody. Oliver Cromwell,the great English leader,offered many gifts to win the support of George Fox and his party,but failed.
There are other phrases meaning the same thing as "apple-polishing"—"soft-soaping" or "butter-up".A gift is just one way to "soft-soap" somebody,or to "butter him up".Another that is just as effective is flattery,giving someone high praise—telling him how good he looks,or how well he speaks,or how talented and wise he is.
Endless are the ways of flattery.Who does not love or hear it?Only an unusual man can resist the thrill of being told how wonderful he is.In truth,flattery is good medicine for most of us,who gets so little of it.
We need it to be more sure of ourselves.It cannot hurt unless we get carried away by it.But we just lap it up for its food value and nourishment,as a cat laps up milk,then we can still remain true to ourselves.
Sometimes,however,flattery will get you nothing from one who has had too much of it.A good example is the famous 12th century legend of King Canute of Denmark and England.The king got tired of listening to the endless sickening flattery of his courtiers（朝臣）.They over-praised him to the skies,as a man of limitless power.
He decided to teach them a lesson.He took them to the seashore and sat down.Then he ordered the waves to stop coming in.The tide was too busy to listen to him.The king was satisfied.This might show his followers how weak his power was and how empty their flattery.
With the start of the new term, the students around the country exchange their fun and fashionable clothes for boring school uniforms. But not all schools are fashion deserts. Colorful sports shoes, school bags, T-shirts and even drink containers are breathing life into campuses.
"The uniform makes us look like a bunch of clones, especially when we are doing morning exercises on the playground," said Qing Pei, a Senior 2 from Shanghai Qibao High School. "But the boys wear different sports shoes and girls have different decorations in their hair. These are the areas where you can express yourself," said Qing.
Although it might be strange for boys to talk about fashion, they do care about what they wear in school, especially shoes, according to Qing.
"Nike and Adidas basketball shoes, although they are still the must-have items for many of my friends, are becoming out-of-date," Qing added. He explained that "Since Liu Xiang ran so fast in Athens, running shoes are becoming popular in this autumn. "
"Still in fashion are the various baseball caps and American-style T-shirts with random (随意的) English words printed on them," said Qing. "The accuracy of the written message is not important. Often, the words are not spelt correctly. Sometimes they do not even make sense, "Qing said with a smile.
Besides sports shoes and T-shirts, styles and colors of school bags are another opportunity for students to express their taste in fashion. Some bags are made more eye-catching by decorating them with small hanging dolls.
Other fashionable items are the colorful drink containers which are now popular among girls this term.
"Some teachers are surprised to see a teenager sucking a bottle like this at school and criticize it as a childish regression (退化). But some girls just love it," said Yang Rui, a Senior 3. from High School attached to Xi'an Jiaotong University.
With the development of our society, cell phones have become a common part in our lives. Have you ever run into a careless cell phone user on the street? Maybe they were busy talking, texting or checking updates on WeChat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new "species" of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name—phubbers (低头族).
Recently a cartoon created by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film, phubbers with various social identities bury themselves in their phones. A doctor plays with his cell phone while letting his patient die, a pretty woman takes a selfie (自拍) in front of a car accident site, and a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events finally leads to the destruction(毁灭) of the world.
Although the ending of the film sounds unrealistic, the damage phubbing can bring is real. Your health is the first to bear the effect and result of it. "Always bending your head to check your cell phone could damage your neck," Guangming Daily quoted doctors' words. "The neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching." Also, staring at cell phones for a long time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.
But that's not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. When getting together with family or friends, many people prefer to play their cell phones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.
It can also cost your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed of their cell phones in broad daylight.
①Destructing the world
②Affecting his social skills
③Damaging his neck and eyesight
④Getting separated from his friends and family
How many men do housework? Recently a European Commission tried to find out people's ideas and reactions to the women's movement. As part of their survey, they asked many men and women the question, “Who does the housework?” The men answered very differently from the women!
The housework they asked people about were: preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house and babysitting. 48% of British husbands said they did these things. 37% of Danish men helped in the house. But only 15% of Italian men said they did the housework, many of them said they never helped at all!
But there was an interesting point of view from the wives. According to British wives, only 38% of their husbands helped in the house. And Italian wives said that their husbands hardly ever helped. The Italian and British men did not tell the truth! The Commission found that Danish men were the most trustful husbands; their answers were the same as their wives' answers.
Do the men you know help in the house? Do you think the survey gives a true picture in your experience? Write and tell us what you think.
Depression and suicidal thoughts have doubled in young Americans, according to a new study from the American Psychological Association.
Likely triggers? Cell phones and social media.
"More US adolescents and young adults in the late 2010s, vs the mid-2000s, experienced serious psychological distress, major depression and more attempted suicide (自杀)", says lead researcher Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University. "These trends are weak or non-existent among adults 26 years and over, suggesting a generational shift in mood disorders instead of an overall increase across all ages."
Twenge believes this trend is partially due to the explosion of digital culture over the past decade, which may have twisted modes of social interaction enough to affect mood disorders.
The study analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which tracked drug and alcohol use and mental health issues in more than 200,000 youths aged 12 to 17 from 2005 to 2017 and almost 400,000 adults from 2008 to 2017.
Major depression in the last 12 months increased by 52 percent in kids from 2005 to 2017 and 63 percent in young adults aged 18 to 25 from 2009 to 2017. There was also a 71 percent jump in young adults experiencing serious psychological distress in the previous 30 days from 2008 to 2017.
So what's so different now? Twenge says research shows young people just aren't getting as much shuteye as they did in previous generations.
Whereas older Americans might have established more stability in their lives, sleep-disrupting social stressors are likely at their peak for teens and young adults in this digital era, she says. Older adults are also less likely to let devices interfere (干预) with sleep.
These results suggest a need for more research to understand how digital communication versus face-to-face social interaction influences mood disorders and to develop specialized interventions for younger age groups.
Her suggestion? Put your phone down at least an hour before bedtime.
For Western designers, China and its rich culture have long been an inspiration for Western creative.
"It's no secret that China has always been a source(来源)of inspiration for designers," says Amanda Hill, chief creative officer at A+E Networks, a global media company and home to some of the biggest fashion(时尚)shows.
Earlier this year, the China Through A Looking Glass exhibition in New York exhibited 140 pieces of China-inspired fashionable clothing alongside Chinese works of art, with the aim of exploring the influence of Chinese aesthetics(美学)on Western fashion and how China has fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries. The exhibition had record attendance, showing that there is huge interest in Chinese influences.
"China is impossible to overlook," says Hill. "Chinese models are the faces of beauty and fashion campaigns that sell dreams to women all over the world, which means Chinese women are not just consumers of fashion — they are central to its movement. "Of course, only are today's top Western designers being influenced by China-some of the best designers of contemporary fashion are themselves Chinese." Vera Wang, Alexander Wang, Jason Wu are taking on Galiano, Albaz, Marc Jacobs-and beating them hands down in design and sales," adds Hil.
For Hill, it is impossible not to talk about China as the leading player when discussing fashion. "The most famous designers are Chinese, so are the models, and so are the consumers," she says. "China is no longer just another market; in many senses it has become the market. If you talk about fashion today, you are talking about China-its influences, its direction, its breathtaking clothes, and how young designers and models are finally acknowledging that in many ways."
Have you ever made your life look a little more charming than it actually is by posting truths on social media? If so, you may be damaging your mental health.
The posts we make on social media platforms allow us to look back and see what we did on a given day. But what happens when, in an effort to impress our online friends, photos and videos we post become beautified versions of the things we did?
A young girl named Sophia went out to a romantic anniversary dinner with her boyfriend, had a near relationship-ending fight during dessert, then came home and posted, "Had the best time out with the love of my life!"—even with a photo of the meal. No surprise, but according to a new study, Sophia was by no means unique. Two-thirds of users admit lying about their lives on social media with 20 percent of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 stating that they edit their own stories by frequently lying about relationships and promotions.
By beautifying our online stories, we are harming our memories. We start believing the stories we tell rather than remembering what really happened. Soon, the real experience is lost and all that remains is the beautified version of history.
Scientists fear that these edited stories will end up changing our memories. It's well confirmed through research that our own memories are often unreliable and can be easily controlled. Writing down one's life in the form of a journal, or even on social media can help us keep our memories undamaged, but only if we tell the truth. So recording our experiences through whatever medium, to later recall lessons we learned, is not only acceptable but desirable. In fact, looking back at our own past—however embarrassing or uncomfortable - is not just healthy but can be enjoyable.
Military training has long been considered a ritual (仪式) that freshmen must go through in order to officially start their college lives. While some question the necessity of such training. Many students see military training as a campus tradition that should be maintained.
Early in February, the Ministry of Education issued a new regulation that colleges and universities should carry out a minimum of 14 days compulsory military training for freshmen.
In a report by Beijing Evening News, Hou Zhengfang, a Beijing-based education PhD, questioned the benefits of military training. "The training routine does little to improve students' physical fitness over only two weeks' time. Maybe some disaster prevention training, such as earthquake survival or escaping from fires would be of greater benefit."
Meng Yang, a 19-year-old freshman at Guangxi University, fainted during training. She said that many students, especially girls, are willing to train under direct sunshine. "For me, military training is physically challenging and even damages my health."
According to Li Jian from the student affairs office of Guangzhou University, feeling dizzy happens frequently during military training and the school has received a lot of complaints from both students and parents: "But I still think military training is a good thing. Students are easier to manage after the military training. They became more positive about their new environment after the training."
Although autumn is fast approaching Beijing, the noon heat burns 3300 freshmen on Tsinghua University's campus. Chu Jinjing, a freshman majoring in medicine, did feel some discomfort while training in sweaty clothes in the glaring heat, the 18-year-old still enjoyed being part of group going through strict exercises. "By going through this tough training, students bond faster and a sense of belonging to the school can be formed. I've made a lot of friends already."
According to the Ministry of Education, the purpose of military training is to teach students discipline, the spirit of teamwork and endurance. But in reality, according to Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21stCentury Education Research Institute, the effect is not satisfying. "Such goals require long-term development. It is unrealistic to expect military training to make a difference in only 14 days." He thus suggests that it should be up to schools to conduct military training in a way that best suits their students.
However, Wang Wenhui, an 18-year-old freshman from Xi'an Jiaotong University, sees military training as a tradition that reaches beyond character building. "From junior and senior high school to college, we join military training to start a new journey. I would feel a bit incomplete without it."
Teens and their teachers know well that early-morning classes can be tiring. Doctors now have a solution: for better teen health, push the sleep button on school start times. Janet Croft, who studies teens and sleep at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention(CDC)in Atlanta high schools, says, “Most teens are actually brain dead when they go to these early classes. Too many students start their day as walking zombies(僵尸).”
One report stresses the importance of sleep for teens and describes the dangers from not getting enough sleep. Studies in the past have shown over and over that teens lacking sleep face higher risks of being overweight and being frustrated.
Many teens get too little sleep because they attend middle and high schools that start earlier than 8:30 am. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP),those early start times throw off a student's internal body rhythm, called the circadian clock(生物钟).Too little sleep disturbs that clock and causes problems.
The study conducted by the National Sleep Foundation found that nearly 6 in every 10 middle school students and 9 in 10 high school students are sleeping too little. Yet many parents aren't aware of this. In the same study,7 of every 10 parents said they believed their kids did sleep enough. That study shows too many parents are unaware of the science on teen-sleep needs, says Owens.
Kyla Wahlstrom, a former teacher, who has spent a lot of time with teens lacking sleep, says: “An incredible number of students are either sleeping at their desks or sitting there like a lump, not asking questions or raising their hands.”
Getting enough sleep can help a teen on the inside, too. Several studies have shown that children and teenagers who don't sleep enough are more likely to become obese, or extremely overweight. Teens lacking sleep also are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and mood disorders. It's time to recognize how important sleep is, particularly to teenagers.
Many students in China are learning English. Some of these students are small children. Others are teenagers (十几岁的青少年). Many are adults. Some learn at school, others study by themselves. A few learn English language over the radio, on television, or in films. One must work hard to learn another language. Why do all these people want to learn English? It is difficult to answer that question. Many boys and girls learn English at school because it is one of their subjects. They study their own language and maths and English. Some people learn English because it is useful for their work. Many people often learn English for their higher studies, because at college or university (大学) some of their books are in English. Other people learn English because they want to read newspaper and magazines in English.
"A lie can travel half way around the world before the truth can put its bots on." That quote is attributed to Mark Twain. In today's Internet world of "fake (假的) news", lies spread even faster than the truth is having trouble finding its boots.
To make matters worse, most young people get news from social media sites where facts are mixed with rumors (谣言), half-truths and complete lies. This has led to young people becoming confused. In the latest PISA, which tested 15-year-old worldwide on academic subjects, fewer than one in ten of the examinees were reported to be able to distinguish fact from opinion. A Stanford University study showed that students at all levels of education could not tell real news from fake news. In one instance, 80 percent thought that a paid advertisement was a real news story.
Fake news is spread by people who have a prejudice. They want to influence public opinion either for or against something or someone. It is important, then, for young people to recognize when they are being used and to be skeptical of online information.
Traditional media, such as newspapers and television, are still the more credible sources of information. Reporters are professionally trained to look for facts, and editors have the job of making sure those facts are correct. However, if you getting most of your information online, you have to be your own editor. In that case, the first thing to do is to look at the writer of a post. Is this person known to be credible? Does the site where you read the post have a prejudice? Next, look for other sources from mainstream media to confirm the information. In other words, by putting on your truth boots you won't be fooled into chasing lies.
Who gets to decide what is content worth posting? Content worth engaging?
On social media, it's an algorithm (算法) — a computer program that matches your particular likes and follows with others who have similar likes and follows. But even more than that, it's based on how much content you create. If you don't feed the social media monster on a regular basis, it refuses to expose what you post for others to see.
Thus, some bloggers share heavily filtered (过滤) photos of tourist attractions on the social media and lifestyle platform to get traffic. However, this practice sometimes disappoints other users of Instagram who go to those locations after seeing the pictures.
Since the bloggers don't clearly state that their pictures are works of photography, they are considered as travel guides. After the viewers visit those places in person, they find a big gap between reality and what they have seen online, leaving them feeling frustrated.
Last week, one famous app issued a statement on its social media account, admitting that some users have "over-beautified" their online travel diaries.
The apology came after users complained on social media about their experience following travel guides on the app, only to find out on actual visits that the places are poles apart from the skilfully retouched images they saw. One of the most well-known cases involved the "pink beach" of Fuxian Lake in China's southwestern Yunnan province, which often appears online in dreamy pink images, but in reality is more similar to the colour of red bricks.
"If it's OK to photoshop promotion pictures for tourist sites like this, I can turn the bushes downstairs in my neighbourhood into a Norwegian forest in any minute," one of the most upvoted (置顶) comments on the app said. Others argued that the problem lies with the bloggers rather than the platform.
Most of us are aware that we must take care of the environment, and the majority of us take steps to save energy and reduce waste and pollution. But recently some "green truths" have been shown to be only half true, or even completely false. Here are some common ones. Which are really green?
? It's better to take a shower than a bath.
It depends on how long you spend in the shower and how large your bath is. If you spend more than eight minutes in a shower, you'll use as much water as in a bath—about 50 litres of water. Therefore, the key is to keep your shower time as short as possible.
? Eating local food is good for the environment.
It seems like common sense: eating local food should be better for the environment, because it does not need to be transported long distances and kept cold during transport. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. In some cases, local produce might have used more energy and produced more greenhouse gases than produce grown a long way away.
?_____________________________
When we tun off a device, such as television, it goes into stand-by mode. Devices in this mode still use power, and older devices in stand-by mode can use even more. This happens because electricity continues to leak from the device, even when it is turned "off". To make sure your appliances are in fact off, remove the plug from its power supply.
Environmental awareness is now part of daily life. But it's worth checking common ideas and opinions to see what's really green.
It is often said that you can't have too many friends. But it seems that there is a natural limit to the number of people we stay in touch with. A study found that when we make new friends, by starting a new job or going to university, we downgrade or even drop old ones. And while the friends may change, the number stays almost the same.
Oxford University researcher Felix Reed-Tsochas asked 24 students in the final months of school to list all their friends and relatives and say how close to them they were. The pupils filled in the questionnaire(问卷) twice more after starting work or going to university. They were also given free mobile phones and agreed that researchers could use their bills to work out who they called, when and for how long.
Putting the two pieces of information together showed, unsurprisingly, that most people have a small circle of close friends, who they spend most of their time talking to. This inner circle is surrounded by group after group of ever more distant friends. As the volunteers' lives changed, this overall pattern, including the number of best friends, remained almost the same, meaning that some close friends from childhood were dropped or downgraded as new friendships were built.
Dr Reed-Tsochas said: "Maybe my best friend is no longer the same person but the amount of time I allocate(分配) to my best friend is still the same." He added that this finding suggests that even with the coming of modem technology we are only capable of forming a limited number of true friendships.
Chester University researcher Dr Sam Roberts said: "Our results are likely to reflect limitations in the ability of humans to keep emotionally close relationships both because of limited time and because the emotional capital(情绪资本) that individuals can allocate between family members and friends is limited. "
