Smoking is harmful. But as soon as you quit the habit, everything will be OK, right?

    Wrong

    New research has found that even if you give up smoking, the damage it has done to your genes (基因) will stay there for a much longer time.In the research, a team of US scientists studied the blood of 16,000 people. Among them, some were smokers, some used to smoke, and the rest were non-smokers. Scientists compared their genes and found that more than 7,000 genes of smokers had changed--a number that is one-third of known human genes.

    According to NBC News, both heart disease and cancer are caused by genetic changes. Some people may have had the changes when they were born, but most people get them in their day-to-day lives while doing things like smoking.

    When you stop smoking, a lot of these genes will return to normal within five years.

This means your body is trying to heal (治愈) itself of the harmful effects of smoking. But the changes in some of the genes stay for longer. They can stay for as long as 30 years, It's almost like leaving a footprint on wet cement (水泥)—-it will always be there, even when you've walked away and when the cement becomes dry.

    Although the study results may make people unhappy, there is a bright side: the findings could help scientists invent medicine to treat genetic damage caused by smoking or find ways to tell which people have heart disease or cancer risks.

    Parents who help their children with homework may actually be bringing down their school grades. Other forms of parental involvement, including volunteering at school and observing a child's class, also fail to help, according to the most recent study on the topic.

    The findings challenge a key principle of modern parenting where schools expect them to act as partners in their children's education. Previous generations concentrated on getting children to school on time, fed, dressed and ready to learn.

    Keith Robinson, the author of the study, said, "I really don't know if the public is ready for this but there are some ways parents can be involved in their kids' education that leads to declines in their academic performance. One of the things that was consistently negative was their parents' help with homework." Robinson suggested that may be because parents themselves struggle to understand the tasks."They may either not remember the material their kids are studying now, or in some cases never learnt it themselves, but they're still offering advice."

    Robinson assessed parental involvement performance and found one of the most damaging things a parent could do was to punish their children for poor marks. In general, about 20% of parental involvement was positive,  about 45% negative and the rest statistically insignificant.

    Common sense suggests it was a good thing for parents to get involved because "children with good academic success do have involved parents", admitted Robinson. But he argued that this did not prove parental involvement was the root cause of that success. "A big surprise was that Asian-American parents whose kids are doing so well in school hardly involved. They took a more reasonable approach, conveying to their children how success at school could improve their lives."

    Most people know something about the greenhouse effect. Factories send gasses such as carbon dioxide, or CO₂, into the atmosphere, the air around the earth. In the past, this wasn't a problem because trees absorbed the CO₂. But now people in many countries are cutting down billions of trees all around the world. At the same time, factories are sending more CO₂ into the atmosphere. It's difficult to believe, but factories put billions of tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere every year. One ton is over 2000 pounds, so it is a lot of pollution. There is too much CO₂ and there aren't enough trees, so the world is getting warmer. In other words, we have a greenhouse effect. This is terrible for the environment.

    What can we do about this? Firsts we can stop using so much coal and oil. We can learn to use different kinds of energy: the sun, wind, steam from volcanoes，and heat from inside the earth. Second, instead of cutting down trees, we should plant more trees. One tree can absorb ten pounds of carbon dioxide every year.

    The trees are good for the earth's atmosphere and for Guatemala (拉丁美洲国家危地马拉).In small towns and villages in Guatemala, most women are poor and have hard lives. Trees help them in three ways. First, the Connecticut factories pay them to plant the trees. Their pay is com, not money. The com is good for their children. Second, these women know a lot about their environment. They know where to plant when to plant, and what kinds of trees to plant. For example，they plant many fruit trees. The fruit gives them vitamins for their families^, diets. Other trees are good for firewood. In a few years, the women won't spend so much time looking for firewood. Third, all these trees are good for the soil. Now rain can't wash the soil down from the mountains so easily.

    This plan isn't enough to stop the greenhouse effect. However, it's a start. The woman of Guatemala are helping themselves and helping their environment.

    Would you buy a car that released calming smells into the air when you are stuck in heavy traffic? Would you buy a robot that smells like a human being?

    Many people have seen the 3-D computer-made environments of virtual reality (VR). Now these virtual worlds will not just look and sound real. Researchers have created VR environments that even smell like the real things. With the new technology, users open a virtual door and step into a new environment, like a rainforest. After they enter this virtual world, special equipment releases forest-like smells into the air to make the experience seem more real.

    Suzanne Fisher-Murray said, “it is a really wonderful experience that you have because you're exploring this environment and you have smells with it.”

    In the United States, Smell-O-Vision was designed to provide smells during the showing of a movie. The Smell-0-Vision system was once popular in the 1960s. Now, Emanuela Maggioni says it is close to becoming popular again. “The connection with emotions, memories, and…the sense of smell,” Maggioni said. “It is unbelievable what we can do with technology.”

    The uses for smell technology are not just limited to films and the performing arts. Researchers showed a computer program where users could imagine themselves driving a car. The system included a special smell-spraying machine. Dmitrijs Dmitrenko said, “We want to deliver the smell of lavender（薰衣草）every time the person drives over the speed limit. We choose lavender because it's a very calming smell.”

    Scientists are experimenting with smell instead of sounds or image-based alerts on telecommunications equipment. And businesses are already using smell to influence people's behavior. “Not only.…in stores…But on the other side, you can create and stimulate immediate buying,” Maggioni said. “So you're in a library and you smell coffee and actually you are unconsciously having the need to drink a coffee.”

    Children's books are everywhere. New ones, old ones, made-into-movie ones. It seems as if the children's publishing industry is developing rapidly. Here are some books every young child should have in their book diet.

    The Peter Rabbit books by Beatrix Potter

    It's best to have a copy of the original stories, with the original drawings done by Beatrix Potter herself. In The Tale of Peter Rabbit are the delightful tales of Peter Rabbit. Included in the series are also cute little stories about mice. These books have sweet stories that teach lessons.

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

    Dr. Seuss is, of course, the master of children's literature. Dr. Seuss teaches children to play with language and have a good time reading. The pictures are wonderful and inspire lots of fun questions. Big kids will like re-reading Dr. Seuss along with their younger sisters and brothers.

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

    The story of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard is shown by simple pencil drawings that help children use their imaginations. The story explores the city of Boston as the Mallards look for a place to get their ducklings safely across the city. Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack are good examples of obedience(顺从) as they follow Mrs. Mallard through the city.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar(毛虫) and other books by Eric Carle

    The Eric Carle books have delightful pictures, full of bright colors and interesting detail. In The Very Hungry Caterpillar, children see the life cycle of a butterfly through the eyes of a caterpillar that is hungry. The children will laugh at all the food the caterpillar eats and be overjoyed by the beautiful butterfly at the end. All the Eric Carle books are fun for kids and parents, with simple ideas and beautiful art.

    There are many children's books available, and this list is only the beginning. However, these are all essential to a good children's library.

    With all the wars, fighting and sadness in the world today, it's not only necessary, but also essential to have a good sense of humor just to help us get through each and every day of our lives. Putting a smile on someone's face when you know they are feeling down in the dump, makes me feel good and warms my heart.

    How would you feel if you could not joke around with your wife, husband, child, co-worker, neighbor, close friends, or even just someone that you are standing in line with at your corner store? I am always saying things that make others smile or laugh, even if I don't know the person I'm joking around with. My Grandma always found humor in everything she did, even if it was the hardest job anyone could imagine. This not only relieves stress in any situation, but also is common courtesy(礼貌)to speak to others that are around you.

    I know of a few people that don't have a funny bone in their bodies, as they say. Everyone around them could be rolling on the floor after hearing a great joke and they would sit there without the s lightest smile on their face. They don't get the joke that makes others laugh. I am busting a gut while they just sit there, looking at me as if I were from outer space. How can people not get a really funny joke?

    Laughing is essential to keep your stress levels under control. Without humor we would find ourselves with a lot of psychological problems, or on a lot of medications to keep us from going crazy. There is too much sadness in this present world. It drives people crazy. We all need to find a way to ignore the sadness and bring a little light into our lives. So, I believe our best medicine is to get together and tell some jokes and have some fun laughing together.