A new study of 8, 000 young people in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily, it is a bad thing for young people. Puppy love (早恋) may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression. The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys, and younger girls are the worst of all.
The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is "loss of self". According to the study, even though boys would say "lose themselves in a romantic relationship", this "loss of self" is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions. They won't tell that to their parents.
Dr Marianm Kaufman, an expert on young people problems, says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression. She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up, it is important for young people to build strong friendships and a strong sense of self. She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends, attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.
Parents should watch for signs of depression—eating or mood changes—and if they see signs from their daughters or sons, they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age. Love will always make us feel young, but only maturity gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects.
What is a boy?
Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a "boy". Boys come in different sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the belief: to enjoy every second of every minute every hour of every day and to fill the air with noise until the adult males pack them off to bed at night.
Boys are found everywhere—on top of, under, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to this and that! Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them. A boy is TRUTH with dirt on its face. BEAUTY with a cut on its finger, WISDOM with chocolate in its hair, and HOPE of the future with a snake in its pocket.
When you are busy, a boy is a troublemaker and a noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly, or else he becomes a wild creature bent on destroying the world and himself with it.
A boy is a mixture—he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion of stones and sand, the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker, but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs (拇指) on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday schools, companies, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.
Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes. Nobody else can put into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, a threefoot rope, six cents and some unknown things.
A boy is a magical creature—he is your headache but when you come home at night with only shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, "Hi, Dad!"
The earliest known copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa—thought to have been painted at the same time as the original masterpiece—has been discovered at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. The work offers art-lovers an attractive clue to what the model for the world's most famous painting really looked like. Controllers of the museum found the picture hidden beneath layers of paints during restoration work on a picture initially thought to have been a later replica(exact copy) of the Mona Lisa.
The restored version shows the same woman that Leonardo depicted (描画), against a landscape similar to that shown in the background of the original, which now hangs in the Louvre in Paris. And while the features of Leonardo's Mona Lisa have been dulled by centuries of dirt and layers of cracked paints—which are unlikely ever to be removed—in the recently-rediscovered copy, she appears fresher-faced and younger than her better-known "twin".
News of the find was revealed at a meeting at London's National Gallery, linked to its "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan" exhibition. "This sensational (轰动的) find will transform our understanding of the world's most famous picture," the Art Newspaper reported, adding that the clues found on the Madrid version suggest that the original and the copy were begun at the same time and painted next to each other, as the work went on.
Miguel Falomir, manager of Italian painting at the Prado, told reporters that expert analysis suggested a strong link between Leonardo and the artist who painted the copy. "The painting was done in the painter's own workshop," he said. "It is absolutely consistent with Leonardo's work, but Leonardo didn't actually do any work on it himself."
A small dairy（乳制品）farm that floats on waterways is being tested in the Netherlands as a way to bring animal products closer to the cities and save space.
Dutch businesswoman Minke Van Wingerden looks proudly at her 32 cows at an automated milking station on an unusual farm: a platform located on one of the waterways in Rotterdam port. She is one of the developers of the "Floating Farm," testing whether dairy farming like this is feasible in the heart of one of the world's most urban, industrial areas.
"This idea started in 2012. My partner Peter was involved in a project in New York and then Hurricane Sandy hit New York very badly, so it was flooded and after two days there was no fresh food on the shelves anymore," she said, "So then we realized, ‘Why not produce fresh food on the water close to the city?', and that's where the idea came up."
The cows can rest on the upper level of the structure. Milk and waste processing facilities are located on the lower deck, as well as the visitors' entrance and store. The top level of the structure is used to collect rainwater. Power for the farm comes from a solar panel floating nearby.
"The amount of arable（可耕的）land is decreasing and the world population is growing. So how can we produce enough healthy food in the future?" Ms. Van Wingerden said. "Why not use water to produce fresh healthy food near to the consumers?"
The whole farm is equipped with the latest dairy tech such as an automated feeding system, waste-moving robots, self-serve cleaning stations, and the smartphone app. It sells some bottles of raw milk on-site to visitors, while the rest is turned into milk. It is sold to customers nearby via an online grocery, Picnic, known for its small, electric delivery trucks.
paragraph 2?
"What kind of rubbish are you?" This question might normally cause anger, but in Shanghai it has become a special "greeting" among people over the past week. On July 1st, the city introduced strict trash-sorting regulations (条例)that are required to follow and expected to be used as a model for our country. Residents must divide their waste into four separate categories and toss (投放)it into specific public dustbins. They must do so at specified times, when monitors are present to ensure correct trash-tossing and to ask the nature of one's rubbish. Individuals who fail to follow the regulations face the possibility of fines and worse. They could be punished with fines of up to 200 yuan ( $ 29). For those who repeat to go against them, the government can add black marks to their credit records, making it harder for them to get bank loans or even buy train tickets.
Shanghai government is responding to an obvious environmental problem. It generates 9 million tons of garbage a year, more than London's annual output, which is rising quickly. But like other cities in China, it lacks a recycling system. Instead, it has relied on trash pickers to sift (筛选)through the waste, picking out whatever can be reused. This has limits. As people get wealthier, fewer of them want to do such dirty work. The waste, meanwhile, just keeps piling up.
Many residents appear to support the idea of recycling in general but are annoyed by the details. Rubbish must be divided according to whether it is food, recyclable, dry or harmful, the distinctions among which can be confusing, though there are apps to help work it out. Some have complained about the rules concerning food waste. They must put it straight in the required public bins, forcing them to tear open plastic bags and toss it by hand. What they complain most is the short periods for dropping trash, typically a couple of hours, morning and evening. Along with the monitors at the bins, this means that people go at around the same time and can keep an eye on what is being thrown out no one wants to look bad.
Red squirrels(松鼠) , a kind of animal once lost from their native woodlands, have been returned to the north-west Highlands, early results of a reintroduction(重新引进) project show.
The new population has naturally increased since they were reintroduced to north-west Scotland last year. The animal had disappeared as a result of the reduction of forests, as well as illness and competition from the introduced non-native grey squirrel. However, Trees for Life—the organization behind the project—is hopeful that red squirrels will continue to add to their 138,000 number and continue their increase.
"Early results shows that this could be a real wildlife success story. The new squirrel populations are not only living in their new homes, they are also starting to spread out into new areas, with squirrels being sighted as far as 15km away," said Becky Priestley, Trees for Life's wildlife officer.
The first relocation began in the spring of 2016, through to this year, when the first 33 squirrels from Inverness-shire and Moray were set free at Shieldaig in Wester Ross. Another 22 were set free at the Coulin estate, next to Beinn Eighe, plus 30 at Plockton, which is partly owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
The red squirrel, found throughout Eurasia, has experienced a great population reduction in recent years. In 2007, just 25,000 could be found throughout the UK after a one-time high of 3.5 million. This is often because of the fact that their grey cousins have a larger appetite(食欲) and eat most of the food in the forest. Reds are also more likely to be influenced by viruses(病毒) than greys, dying up to 25 times quicker.
Grey squirrels first came to England from North America in 1876 as a decorative species. However, it was not until 1930 that the damage they did was realized, when it was almost too late for the reds.
Now, though, red squirrels appear to naturally take over their land again. During 2016, they spread beyond Shieldaig, with one sighting eight miles away beyond Loch Torridon. One was seen recently near Nostie, about five miles from the release site, and there have been sightings further.
Good relationships are definitely good sources of happiness in life. We all want happy relationships but if we do not keep that relationship alive, it can also be one of the most distraught things in life. There may be no hard and fast rules in making good relationships, as each of us has different preferences and points of view as to what is a great relationship. The following are some major key points in making relationships work.
It is often said that building good relationships is all about communication. Good communication indeed governs a good relationship — knowing the right thing to say, when to say it, how to say it, and accepting that some things are better left unsaid. I personally think communication must be broadened because relationships involve more decisions to make. From study to work, from money to entertainment and even in things about yourself or about your friend that you do not know, communication is essential in these aspects of the relationships.
Of course, being with someone is not saying that you totally agree with him all the time. You and your friend come from different family backgrounds, raised in different environments so there may be disagreements here and there. However, it is important in making relationships work to express disagreements without pushing the relationship to end. Again, good communication and learning to compromise (妥协) at times are necessary.
As the relationship lasts longer, you may also discover things about you and your friend that you may not have known before. Therefore, supporting each other on both your "hidden selves" can also make a good relationship.
Love is an important aspect of building relationships and for me, I always believe that love needs open communication, respect, support and understanding each other in making relationships work.
a. communication b. support c. love d. hidden selves
Matthew Whitaker has been blind since birth. His parents were told that he only had a 50% chance of survival, and he experienced 11 operations before he was even two years old.
Despite being faced with these terrible situations, he survived. Not only that, he exhibited an excellent gift for playing the piano; by the time he was 3 years old, he was playing two-handed piano compositions and writing his own songs without ever having a teacher. At the age of 5, he even could play the songs completely after hearing them one time.
Dalia Sakas, the director of New York's Filomen M. D Agostino Greenberg Music School, recalls the moment she decided to take Matthew on as a student when he was five years old, making him the youngest person to ever attend the school. Now only 18 years old, Whitaker has since toured the world, headlined famous sites from Carnegie Hall to Kennedy Center, and won a number of music awards.
Such is the height of Whitaker's talent that he caught the attention of Dr. Charles Limb, a neurologist who also happens to be a fellow musician. Dr. Limb was attracted by what might have been going on inside Whitaker's brain, so with the permission of the musician and his family, Whitaker took two MRI exams — first while being exposed to different stimuli, including music, and then while he played on a keyboard.
What Dr. Limb was surprised to find was that Whitaker's brain seemed to have repurposed its own disused visual cortex(视觉皮质) in order to build other neurological(神经系统的) pathways. Even when Whitaker was simply listening to one of his favorite music, his entire visual cortex lit up.
When Dr. Limb presented Whitaker with his brain scans showing how his brain lit up when he listened to music, the musician was amazed. "I didn't even know that that was happening." When asked about why his brain was inspired in such a way, he simply said "I love music".
A new pastor(牧师) named John reopened a church that had been abandoned in a suburb. He found it broken, and in need of a lot of repair work. His goal was to have everything done in time for his first service on Christmas Eve.
He worked hard. However, when John went to the church on Dec. 21, his heart sank: a large area of plaster (石膏) had fallen off the front wall due to a terrible storm the night before. John headed home, and on the way he stopped at a market selling items for charity.
One of the items was an exquisite(精致的)handmade tablecloth. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. It started to snow. An old woman had missed her bus, and he invited her to wait in the warm church for the next one. As John put up the tablecloth the woman asked him to check the corner for the initials(手写字母). They were her initials: she had made this tablecloth 35 years before. Then the war broke out, and forced her to part with her husband.
John wanted to give her the tablecloth. but she asked him to keep it for the church. John insisted on driving her home which he thought was the least he could do.
What a wonderful service he had on Christmas Eve! John noticed one old man staring at the tablecloth on the front wall. The man said it was similar to one that his wife had made many years before.
John brought the old man to the house where he had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped him climb the three flights of stairs to her apartment, and saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever have imagined.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet, publisher, painter, social activist and bookstore owner, has been San Francisco's honored poet. He turns 100 this month, and the city is making preparations to celebrate him in style. Readings and performances and an open house will take place at City Lights—the sacred bookstore he co-founded in 1953.
On March 24, 1919, Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers, New York. After spending his early childhood in France, he received his BA from the University of North Carolina, an MA from Columbia University, and a PhD from the Sorbonne.
He is the author of more than thirty books of poetry, including PoetryasInsurgentArt; AConeyIslandoftheMind. He has translated the works of a number of poets, including Nicanor Parra, Jacques Prevert, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. In addition to poetry, he is also the author of more than eight plays and three novels, including LittleBoy, LoveintheDaysofRage and Her.
In 1953, Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin opened the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, California. It became a nerve center for the Beats and other writers. Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and other writers from that era were Easterners who dropped into San Francisco for a spell. In 2001 it was made an official historic landmark. Now City Lights is almost certainly the best bookstore in the United States. It's filled with serious world literature of all kinds.
If City Lights is a San Francisco institution, Ferlinghetti himself is as much of one. He has loomed over the city's literary life. As a poet, he's never been a critical favorite. But his flexible and plain-spoken and often powerful work — he has published more than 50 volumes — has found a wide audience. His collection AConeyIslandoftheMind has sold more than 1 million copies, making it one of the best-selling American poetry books ever published.
When John was growing up, other kids felt sorry for him. His parents always had him weeding the garden, carrying out the garbage and delivering newspapers. But when John reached adulthood, he was better off than his childhood playmates. He had more job satisfaction, a better marriage and was healthier. Most of all, he was happier. Far happier.
These are the findings of a 40-year study that followed the lives of 456 teenage boys from Boston. The study showed that those who had worked as boys enjoyed happier and more productive lives than those who had not. "Boys who worked in the home or community gained competence(能力) and came to feel they were worthwhile members of society," said George Vaillant, the psychologist(心理学家) who made the discovery. "And because they felt good about themselves, others felt good about them."
Vaillant's study followed these males in great detail. Interviews were repeated at ages 25, 31 and 47. Under Vaillant, the researchers compared the men's mental-health scores with their boyhood-activity scores. Points were awarded for part-time jobs, housework, effort in school, and ability to deal with problems.
The link between what the men had done as boys and how they turned out as adults was surprisingly sharp. Those who had done the most boyhood activities were twice as likely to have warm relations with a wide variety of people, five times as likely to be well paid and 16 times less likely to have been unemployed. The researchers also found that IQ and family social and economic class made no real difference in how the boys turned out.
Working — at any age — is important. Childhood activities help a child develop responsibility, independence, confidence and competence — the underpinnings(基础) of emotional health. They also help him understand that people must cooperate and work toward common goals. The most competent adults are those who know how to do this. Yet work isn't everything. As Tolstoy once said, "One can live magnificently in this world if one knows how to work and how to love, to work for the person one loves and to love one's work."
According to statistics published by the BPI (Buying Power Index) a couple of months ago, digital streaming (流媒体) now accounts for 80 percent of the music consumption in the UK. Despite the incredible growth of online streaming platforms like iTunes, Apple Music and Tidal over the past 15 years, a more traditional medium has also seen a return of interest and sales in the music industry. In 2020, almost one in five of all albums purchased in the UK is vinyl (黑胶唱片), and it has once again become the most popular physical musical medium.
With digital streaming so easy and convenient, why are so many people drawn to traditional records? Some experts claim that vinyl is a physical medium for experiencing music, something tangible (有形的) to hold and own. For most people, having something tangible and interacting with it gives depth to the experience of music. Listening to an album and touching it the way the artist intended can make them feel more connected to the music and the artist. Records are physical products that can be not only displayed but also gifted, shared, traded and passed down through generations.
Sound quality is another hot topic. A lot of music lovers feel that the analogue sound (模拟声音) vinyl offers is superior to modern digital audio, particularly with regards to the compressed formats streaming platforms use. There's a common belief that old-school analogue audio has a warmer, fuller sound than digitised music. For vinyl followers, the very defect traditional recorders often have, such as the familiar crackle (劈啪作响) when the record starts, bring the music to life in a different way.
There's a ritualistic aspect to vinyl that a lot of people are drawn to, too. The act of putting a record on—carefully removing the record from the sleeve, placing it on the record player and gently dropping the needle on the right groove (凹槽)—is a more assiduous (一丝不苟的), mindful way of engaging with music. When you're listening to vinyl, you can't tap a button and go about your day while the streaming service provides hours of music. You need to stay close to the record player to move the needle and flip the record over.
It's clear that the vinyl interest is well underway, and vinyl records are truly making a comeback. In an increasingly digital society, there's something to be said for analogue experiences. Perhaps one of the great things about being alive in the 21st century is our ability to have the best of both worlds—the timeless appeal of physical records alongside the easy access to vast music libraries that streaming offers.
As a teenager, I hated Physical Education lessons. I was not very good at sports, and I hated team sports because I always felt like I was disappointing the rest of the team. I was always making up excuses to get out of such lessons.
When I started university, I decided to try kung fu. To my surprise, I loved it! It was a friendly club, and in my first year most of us were beginners. I used to go two or three times a week to train. Because it is not a team sport, I didn't feel guilty (内疚的) about not being very good. And because it is a combat (格斗) sport, you train in pairs, which means that you get to meet people and talk to them. When I was doing kung fu, I got stronger and quicker. Unluckily, in the last year of university I was too busy to do kung fu most of the time.
When I moved to Italy this year I decided to start doing a combat sport again. I found a great local club that does mixed martial arts (综合格斗) and I love it. The club is more serious than the one at my university and we do lots of practice fights. It is very fun.
When I was a teenager, I would say I just wasn't a sporty person and that I just didn't like sport and never would. Now I know that everyone should try as many sports as possible because there is often something out there for everyone!
In 2006, Chris visited Honduras, a country where more than half the population lives poorly. He returned home with a plan to go back and help. He and his brother, Will, came up with an idea. They would start a business in Honduras to create opportunities for people living there.
But what kind of business would they start? They began by looking for a resource the country had naturally. The brothers chose to use wood from Honduras' thick forests. Next they had to decide what they would build with that wood. Eventually, they found their way into the toy industry.
The brothers decided to make children's blocks, drawing inspiration from the traditional wooden toys they discovered on a trip to Germany. Will and Chris decided to call their company “Tegu”, short for Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Then they staffed their factory with Honduran citizens. “We found that our workers in the factory are super proud that the name of their capital city is going out on their product and representing what they're able to do,” said Will.
In addition to giving Honduran citizens the opportunity to work and learn about running a business, Tegu is partnered with a school that helps educate the children of families that work at the Tegucigalpa trash dump.
But Will and Chris did not feel it was enough to simply help the people of Honduras — they wanted to make sure they took good care of the land, too. They felt it was important to make toys using a natural resource in a way that is sustainable.
In order to do their part for the environment, Tegu works with woodcutting cooperatives and plantation-growers to select trees responsibly. The company also plants one, two, or three trees in place of every toy set that is produced. They've already planted more than half a million trees since Tegu was founded.
It's common for some high school students to need the help of a math teacher. For others, numbers come naturally. And then there's Tamar Barabi. The Israeli teenager just invented a new geometric theorem(几何定理).
Like most discoveries, the moment happened by accident. Tamar handed in her math homework and the teacher said the theory she used to solve the problem didn't actually exist. "She said if I could prove it, it could be my theory. So that's what happened,"Barabi said. With help from her dad, who is also a math teacher, they sent the theorem to experts around the world.
Known as the Three Radii Theorem, or" Tamar's Theory" for short, it goes as follows:" If three or more equal lines leave a single point and reach the boundary(边界)of a circle, the point is the center of the circle and the lines are its radii(半径). "To create the actual theorem, Barabi had to write up three proofs, a series of conclusions and some sample exercises.
"Tamar deserves praise for finding a new twist of stating that a circle has only one center and only one radius," Professor Ron Livne said. "It's cool to see how Tamar's theorem can give elegant proofs for other important theorems."
When she's not coming up with new math theorems, Barabi spends most of her time after school taking ballet lessons. She also plays the guitar and the piano. When asked if she liked Justin Bieber, Barabi, who comes from the same town as supermodel Bar Refaeli, she just laughed. "I want to be an actor and a dancer," she said. For now, the teenager is enjoying the fame this new theory has afforded her.
So did her math teacher give her an A+ for her discovery?" No,"Barabi explained, "learn in a school where we don't get grades."
While quite complicated at times, coding is a way of communicating with a machine ——in many ways similar to a human writing script and virtually anyone can learn it. It's made up of a set of rules and commands, and once you master them all, you can control a machine in any way you want!
Now, in the brave new world we live in, coding has become a new form of literacy, and the way of technology is progressing, understanding how machines work and how to "communicate" with them is going to be the new norm in future education.
So, what is coding in the first place? Responsible for bringing machines, websites, and applications to life, coding represents the act of issuing commands written in a programming language to achieve a specific result Most of everything you've seen on your desktop screen, a laptop or on an iPhone has been programmed by writing code sheets.
Why should kids learn how to code? On one hand, coding develops problem-solving skills. Writing code into a platform to make something "come to life" is a fairly high-precision craft. Through trial and error, a child will learn how to make something work and then even fix it if it fails along the way! On the other hand, coding gives them better job opportunities in the future. For all intents and purposes, programming is becoming increasingly popular and will be even more so in the future!
Learning how to code doesn't happen overnight. So, considering that the future has plenty of programming and technology for our children and us, having them get acquainted with this subject matters while they're still young. It is possibly the best way to give them an upper hand in education and find a well-paying job!
War can be deadly for wildlife, too. A new study reports that war is the biggest threat to Africa's elephants, rhinoceroses, and other animals. Researchers examined how years of conflict in Africa have affected populations of large animals. More than 70 percent of Africa's protected wildlife areas have been within a war zone at some point in the last 70 years. The more frequent the fighting, the greater the drop in animal populations, said Josh Daskin, an ecologist at Yale University. He was the lead author of the study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
It takes very little conflict, as much as one conflict in about 20 years, for the average wildlife population to be declining, Daskin said. "Areas with frequent fighting—but not necessarily the bloodiest fighting—lose 35 percent of their large animal populations during each year of war, "he said.
Some animals get killed by weapons of war. Yet, many also die because of changes in social and economic conditions in an area as a result of war, said Rob Pringle. He is an ecologist at Princeton University and the study's co-author. "People in and around war zones are poor and hungry. So they may begin to illegally hunt animals for valuable tusks or hunt protected animals to eat, "Pringle said. "And during wartime, animal conservation programs do not have as much money or power to protect wildlife. "
The new study examined the entire African continent over 65 years. The researchers looked at 10 different factors that could change population numbers. They included war, drought, animal size, protected areas and human population density. The number of wars had the biggest effect on wildlife population. The intensity of the wars—measured in the number of human deaths—had the least effect on animals.
Tod Morgan was born blind, mentally challenged, and autistic. So he couldn't see, he could not learn like other children, and he didn't interact with people very much. He did not seem to have much of a chance. Then, when he was two years old, he began to play little songs on his tiny toy piano. He could play perfectly some of the children's tunes he had heard.
Today, Tod works as a professional pianist. He plays jazz, Broadway songs, and classical pieces. After hearing a tune, he can imitate it almost perfectly the first time he plays it. He doesn't only imitate; Tod is creative too. He can change a classical piece to a jazz, a jazz to a polka, and a polka to a waltz. In addition to the p1ano, Tod plays 13 other instruments and also sings. Tod's list of musical heroes includes Louis Armstrong, Mozart, and Beethoven. How can this be? How can such a severely challenged person be so musically talented?
Tod has what is called "savant syndrome'' — a condition in which a mentally challenged person has a tightly developed talent of a specific kind. Savant syndrome is a mystery to medical researchers. One person who is studying savant syndrome is Dr. David Brighton. He says that he has never seen a musical savant like Tod. Most musical savants are limited to simply repeating tunes they hear. Dr. Brighton points out that Tod's ability to come up with his own tunes is a giant step beyond memorization.
As for Tod, after studying jazz piano at the Music School at Rivers in Massachusetts, he attended and graduated from the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston. Tod is encouraged by his parents as he performs all over the world, appearing on TV and radio shows.
We tend to think of plants as the furniture of the natural world. They don't move, they don't make sounds, they don't seem to respond to anything-at least not very quickly. But as is often the case, our human's view of the world misses quite a lot. Plants talk to each other all the time. And the language is chemical.
Over the years scientists have reported that different types of plants, from trees to tomatoes, release compounds（化合物）into the air to help neighboring plants. These chemical warnings all have the same purpose-to spread information about one plant's disease or infestation soot her plants can defend themselves. But exactly how plants receive and act on many of these signals is still mysterious.
In this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in Japan offered some explanations. They had identified one chemical message and traced it all the way from release to action.
The scientists looked at tomato plants infested by a common pest, the cutworm. The re-searchers studied leaves from exposed and unexposed plants. They found one compound showed up more often in the exposed plants. The substance is called Hex Vic. When the scientists fed Hex Vic to cutworms, it knocked down their survival rate by 17%. The scientists identified the source of Hex Vic, and sprayed it lightly over healthy plants. Those plants were then able to start producing the cutworm-killing Hex Vic. Researchers confirmed that uninfested plants have to build their own weapon to fight off bugs and diseases. How do they know when to play defense? They are warned first by their friendly plant neighbors.
It is a complex tale, and it may be happening in more plant species than tomatoes. It may also be happening with more chemical signals that are still unknown to us. For now though, we know that plants not only communicate, they look out for one another.
Most recently, Zhang Chaofan has been honored as a national ethical role model at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Over the past six years, Zhang has donated 1. 35 million yuan and raised 5. 2 million yuan from the public to help more than 400 people with health problems—including teachers with severe cancer, disabled children and autistic (自闭症的) children in poor families—learn traditional Chinese culture.
She has also made more than 700 public welfare speeches at universities and in poor mountain areas, teaching people how to gain self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance and self-improvement.
The young girl was born without a left forearm in Changchun, Jilin Province, but her constant drive to become stronger has inspired many people.
In 2015, Zhang rejected an offer of postgraduate study from a famous university and set up a calligraphy and painting school in Changchun. When she found that some parents were unable to afford their children's education fees, she made the lessons free and began providing 300, 000 yuan annually to help them through her foundation.
"I think it's important for teenagers to receive quality education because they are the future of the country," she said. "I will make great efforts to help them get equal opportunities to pursue their dreams and inspire them to do their best."
In early 2020, her school stopped all courses because of the pandemic, but she didn't stop her public welfare activities. She raised materials and donations worth more than 8 million yuan. Then she sent masks, protective suits, and daily necessities to medical workers.
"Women in the new era should have the courage to create value and also have a sense of social responsibility," she said. "It is my great honor to be elected as a role model. This will become a driving force for me to forge ahead and pass on the seeds of public welfare through even greater efforts. "
