The US teenager Thomas Cheatham had planned to study Latin during his time at Hebron High School in Texas. But when he learned that the school district was going to offer a Mandarin class, he quickly changed his mind.

    “I thought Mandarin would be more beneficial than Latin,” said Cheatham, who is now in his second year of studying the language. He speaks Mandarin to order food at Chinese restaurants and can read social media posts from his Chinese-speaking friends.

    While it's a difficult language to master, the high school junior, who plans to study computer engineering, thinks it will be important for his career. “Chinese is a good language to know, especially with China becoming a growing power,” he said.

    Many experts agree that proficiency in a language spoken by a billion people worldwide will give American students an edge in the global economy. “People are looking at China as our next economic competitor, and interest in Mandarin is growing,” said Marty Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. “We're seeing it in all parts of the country. ”

    Abbott estimates that as many as 100, 000 students are now studying Mandarin throughout the US, in public and private schools. She said the US government has designated (指定) Mandarin as a “critical needs” language and provides professional development programs for teachers. “Our government wants to increase our language competency for national security and economic competitiveness,” Abbott said.

    At the same time, the Chinese government is spreading knowledge of the Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institutes established in many US states. For example, the Confucius Institute at the University of Texas in Dallas has been the home of a Confucius Institute for 10 years. It sponsors Confucius Classrooms at 21 local public and private schools, where tens of thousands of students are learning Mandarin.

    How much weight a baby gains during its first month could determine its IQ, new research found. The study found that children who gain more weight, and whose heads grow quickly during the first month of life, tend to have a higher IQ when they start school.

    Researchers at the University of Adelaide, in Australia studied 13, 800 children who were born at full-term. They found that those who put on 40% of their birth weight in the first four weeks had an IQ 1.5 points higher than those who only put on 15% of their birth weight. Those who experienced the biggest growth in head circumference(头围) also had the highest IQs by the age of six.

    "Head circumference is an indicator of brain volume, so a greater increase in head circumference in a newly-born baby suggests more rapid brain growth, "says the author of the study, Dr. Lisa Smithers. She added, "Overall, newly-born children who grew faster in the first four weeks had higher IQ scores later in life. Those children who gained the most weight scored especially high on the verbal IQ at age 6. This may be because neural (神经的) structures for the verbal IQ develop earlier in life, which means the rapid weight gain during the first month could be having a direct cognitive benefit for the children."

    Previous studies have shown the association between early postnatal (产后的) diet and the IQ, but this is the first study of its kind to focus on the IQ benefits of rapid weight gain in the first month of life. Dr. Lisa Smithers says the study further highlights the need for successful feeding of newly-born babies." We know that many mothers have difficulty establishing breastfeeding in the first week of their babies' life,” Dr. Lisa Smithers said.

    "The findings of our study suggest that if babies are having feeding problems, there needs to be early intervention(干预) in the management of that feeding."

    Pastime is a bi-monthly magazine for curious young minds. Many of the topics we write about won't be covered in the classroom. All the articles are written in a lively style, and each one is paired with drawings by some of the country's most talented artists.

    History focuses on archaeological (考古的) sites around the world where archaeologists work to unearth important finds.

    World includes stories about daily life, folk tales, and history and traditions of the people and places.

    Sport includes nutrition tips, information about up-and-coming young athletes, and sports events.

    Art stimulates a child's cultural life, from film to theatre through to writing and music.

    On top of all that, Pastime is packed with items to stimulate a youngster's imagination, including pages of puzzles and a step-by-step guide to creating their own impressive-looking drawings.

    In every issue, we review the latest books top authors write for youngsters. There are also short works of fiction written especially for Pastime by some of our best writers.

    We know that children at this age are dealing with many emotions and sometimes difficult feelings, so we have a personal advice page to reply to questions dealing with personal and moral problems.

    Unlike many of today's throwaway comics, Pastime is written and designed to be kept and treasured. We know children love going online — but we also know how much they enjoy holding a printed magazine in their hands, and the excitement they get when each new issue drops through the letterbox personally addressed to them.

    Subscription

    Pastime is published six times a year. An annual subscription costs just £20 and makes a great gift for any child aged eight to twelve.

    To order by phone: Dial 1-800-821-0156 and use Offer Code WEBSAVE86 for print-only subscriptions.

    You can cancel at any time for magazines that haven't shipped yet.

    A 4-year-old boy was given the chance to celebrate his favorite holiday early this year after a neighborhood in Illinois heard that he would miss the chance to trick or treat because of a vital Surgery (手术).Sonny Mead, who put on a Superman costume for the special day, hit more than 20 hours along his special trick-or-treat route and was even treated to a ride in a fire truck.

    “He thinks today is Halloween,” Jackie Mead, the boy's mom, told Fox 2 Now on Wednesday. “We let him pick his costume, and up until today he was going to be Spider-Man, and then he decided that he wanted to be Superman because he wants superpowers.”

    Sonny was diagnosed with craniosynostosis (颅缝早闭), which causes the skull bones to fuse prematurely, affecting brain growth. Sonny had pieces of his skull removed to give his brain more room to grow in 2015, and the bone was supposed to grow back but never did.

    So on Friday, doctors will use a 3-D printer and bone from a dead body to rebuild Sonny's skull. His recovery is expected to take between two and six months, meaning he'll not be able to trick or treat when Oct.31 comes.

    But once Amanda Richert heard that her friends son would miss out on the trick-or-treating fun, Goshen Meadows citizens, in Edwardsville, Illinois united in a group to make sure he had a chance for the trick-or-treat fun. Sonny's mother said their reaction was overwhelming.

    In recent decades there has been a strong push in American education to prepare all high school students for college. As a result, fewer and fewer young people are pursuing careers as skilled tradesmen. But teens should be encouraged to consider learning a trade.
    The average cost of a bachelor's degree is $127,000 and 70 percent of students apply for some form of student loans to help cover this cost. On average, loan borrowers graduate with $37,172 in debt. The average trade school degree, on the other hand, costs only $33,000 – less than what many four-year degree holders will still owe after graduation.
    I have a friend who is a highly educated college professor. He makes a comfortable living, and of course he loves his work, but recently as we discussed his own children's future career plans, it was my friend who raised the idea of pursuing a trade school degree. He told me that every time he calls his plumber (水暖工), the plumber answers his phone from his yacht(游艇).
    Of course not every tradesman can earn a yacht-buying salary, but there are a number of skilled professionals that can earn six figures.
    It's widely believed that academics are more valuable than physical or skilled work. Fortunately, there has been an effort to change that message in recent years and to restore dignity to trade education and tradesmen. Still, that message is going to be reinforced in classrooms and at home so that all students will recognize the beauty and value of possessing a skill, of being able to make something with one's own hands, and of offering a service that makes other people's lives not only better, but in many cases, possible.

    More primary care doctors in a community (社区)appear to lead to improved life expectancy for people living there, though a lack of such physicians across U.S. could be a cause of concern for overall population health in years to come.

    For the study, researchers looked at physician counts per 100,000 people in a range covering 2005 to 2015 in the U. S., along with life expectancy and specific causes of death. They found that an increase of 10 primary care physicians per 100,000 population was associated with a 51. 5-day increase in life expectancy, while an increase of 10 specialty physicians per 100, 000 population increased life expectancy by 19. 2 days. An increase in primary care physicians also was associated with reductions of many deaths including heart diseases and cancers.

    Along with those findings, though, the study said many communities did not have primary care physicians in 2015, with the decline in supply more prominent in rural areas than their urban areas. Many believe that a well-functioning health care system requires a solid foundation of primary care, however, payment difference between primary care and technical specialties continue to dispirit the U. S. primary care physician workforce.

    "Higher pay and lifestyle preferences lead most students to choose non-primary care fields, even when their hearts say primary care," the study said. "We must turn this trend around with practical changes in physician payment policy; no amount of superb primary care training or creative practice reform will prevent further declines in primary care physician, which will lead to worsening health for the United States."

    The study's researchers conclude that future research should focus on the "quality and cover of primary care, types of primary care physician training and service offerings, and effective access rather than just supply".