My friend BJ Gallagher told me a great story recently, about her own experience with resentment (愤恨). She once worked as the training manager for a large newspaper, where she found the corporate culture extremely frustrating. The company was a hundred years old and their past success ha d blinded them to the need for change. Finally, after butting heads with several senior executives (主管) many times, she left the company. But she found that she hadn't left her resentment, frustration, and anger behind when she resigned.

    “I finally decided to write about my experiences and my feelings at the newspaper. I wanted to be rid of that company and those people, once and for all. So I wrote and I wrote. It wasn't just a story that poured out; it was a whole book! We called it A peacock in the Land of Penguins. I was the peacock and those newspaper executives were the penguins.”

    “It took me several more years to finally get over my negative emotions. Through a lot of soul-searching and reflection, I finally was able to let go of my resentment. I came to see that there was nothing personal in the way they treated me, and they were good people doing what they thought best for the company. I was the one who had made it personal. I thought they were making my life miserable on purpose.”

    “Finally, the time came when I decided to make amends (弥补) for the sharp, angry things I had said about the company. I invited my former boss to dinner and made my apology. It was a great healing process for me. I finally felt free of the resentment that had been eating me up.”

    “What was the final outcome?” I asked her.

    “Gratitude,” she replied. “Not only wasn't I resentful any more, I was grateful to the company. If I hadn't had those painful experiences, I would never have written a book. And the book became hugely successful – now published in 21 languages; it transformed my business.”

    Experiments under way in several labs aim to create beneficial types of genetically modified foods, including starchier potatoes and caffeine-free coffee beans. Genetic engineers are even trying to transfer genes from a cold-winter fish to make a frost-resistant tomato.

    A low-sugar GM strawberry now in the works might one day allow people with health problems such as diabetes (糖尿病) to enjoy the little delicious red fruits again. GM beans and grains rich in protein(蛋白质) might help people at risk of developing kwashiorkor. Kwashiorkor, a disease caused by severe lack of protein, is common in parts of the world where there are severe food shortages.

    Commenting on GM foods, Jonathon Jones, a British researcher, said: "The future benefits will be enormous（巨大的）, and the best is yet to come". To some people, GM foods are no different from unmodified foods. "A tomato is a tomato," said Brian Sansoni, an American food manufacturer.

    Critics of GM foods challenge Sansoni's opinion. They worry about the harm that GM crops might do to people, other animals, and plants.

    In a recent lab study conducted at Cornell University, scientists tested pollen(花粉) made by BT corn, which makes up one-fourth of the U.S. corn crop. The scientist dropped the pollen onto milkweed, a plant that is the only known food source of a butterfly caterpillar(毛虫). Within four days of feeding on the leaves, almost half of a test group of caterpillars died. "This is a warning bell." said Cornell researcher Linda Raynor.

    Some insects that are not killed by GM foods might find themselves made stronger. How so? The insecticides are used on the crops to kill the pests. But GM plants produce a continuous level of insecticide. Insects relying on those crops may develop resistance to the plants and they may also develop a resistance to the insecticide.

    At the forum on GM food held last year in Canada. GM crops that have been made resistant to the herbicide might crossbreed with wild plants, creating "superweeds" that could take over whole fields.

    So where do you stand? Should GM food be banned in the United States, as they are in parts of Europe? Or do their benefits outweigh（胜过） any of the risks they might carry?

    My husband and I had been married nearly twenty-two years when I acquired Stevens-Johnson syndrome,a disorder where my immune system responded to a virus by producing painful blisters（水疱）.Although my long-term evaluation was good,I,who had been so fiercely independent,rapidly became absolutely helpless.

    My husband,Scott,stepped up to the plate,taking care of kids and cooking dinners.He also became my personal caretaker,applying the medicine to all of my blisters because my hands couldn't do the job.Needless to say,I had negative emotions,bouncing from embarrassment to shame caused by total reliance on someone other than myself.

    At one point when I had mentally and physically hit bottoms I remember thinking that Scott must somehow love me more than I could ever love him.With my illness he had become the stronger one,and I the weaker one.And this disturbed me.

    I recovered from my illness,but I couldn't seem to recover from the thought that I loved my husband less than he loved me.This seeming distinction in our love continued to annoy me for the year following my illness.

    Then recently Scott and I went on a long bike ride.He's an experienced cyclist;I'm quite the green hand.At one point with a strong headwind and sharp pain building in my tired legs,I really thought I couldn't go any further. Seeing me struggle,Scott pulled in front of me and yelled over his shoulder,"Stay close behind me."As I fell into the draft of his six-foot-three-inch frame and followed his steps,I discovered that my legs quit burning and I was able to catch my breath.My husband was pulling me along again.At this very moment I woke up to what I now believe: during these and other tough times,love has the opportunity to become stronger when one partner learns to lean on the other.

    I pray my husband will always be strong and healthy.But if he should ever become the struggling one,whether on a bike ride or with an illness,I trust I'll be ready to call out to him: Stay close behind me—my turn to pull you along.

    You have never seen him,but they're with you every time you fly.They record where you are going,how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally.Their ability to withstand（经受得住）almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a magic book.They're known as the black box.

    When planes fall from the sky,as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean June 30,2009,the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong.So when a French submarine（潜水艇）detected the device's homing signal five days later,the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.

    In 1958,Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction.That was the first mode for a black box,which became a requirement on all U.S.commercial flights by 1960.Early models often failed to withstand crashes,however,so in 1965 the device（装置）was completely redesigned and moved to the back of the plane-the area least affected bu impact-from its original position in the landing wells（起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes,which were never actually black,be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.

    Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder,which tracks pilots' conversations,and a flight-data recorder,which monitors fuel levels,engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments.Placed in an insulated ( 隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel,the boxes can withstand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉.When in deep water,they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft.Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447,which crashed near Brazil on June 1,2009,are in water nearly that deep,but statistics say they're still likely to turn up.In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years,only one plane's black boxes were never recovered.

    Feifei, an 11-year-old boy from Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, suffered from a sudden acute eye disease which has almost led to blindness. The disease was caused by excessive（过度的）eye fatigue（疲劳）during the winter vacation, during which he played computer games for continuous 10 days and nights.

    Many youngsters in China nowadays are increasingly addicted to computer games and other electronic products. This is followed by a series of health problems, with the most typical case being myopia, or nearsightedness.

    According to the latest research report released by the World Health Organization (WHO),the myopia rate among Chinese teenagers ranks first in the world—70 percent of high school and college students. The rate is nearly 40 percent in primary school students, while it is only 10 percent for their peers in the United States.

    There are at least 10 million people in China with severe myopia, and they are likely to get pathological（病理性的）myopia in middle age. Pathological myopia can't be treated with glasses or surgery, and it is one of the biggest factors that lead to blindness, Xu Xun, director of the ophthalmology（眼科学）department at Shanghai General Hospital, pointed out.

    Experts explain that two major factors lead to the high rate of myopia among Chinese people. One is high academic pressure, and the other one is excessive use of electronic devices over a long period of time .Genetics, on the other hand, are not the main reason, as only 20 percent of Chinese people had myopia in the 1960s.

    "Teenagers are now faced with severe academic pressure, which means they often study without natural light. This increases their risk of becoming nearsighted," Xu said.

    Experts suggest that youngsters maintain a proper balance between study and rest so as to protect their eyesight, and parents should play an active role in the process.

    Garden of the Drunken Bai Pond

    With a history of more than 300 years, the Pond of the Drunken Bai, a classical garden in the style of Ming Dynasty, is among the Five Classical Gardens in Shanghai. "Bai" is said to be Li Bai, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty. However, some believe that "Bai" indicates Bai Juyi, another well-known poet in the Tang Dynasty.

    Zhujiajiao Ancient Town

    Located at the bank of the Dianshan Lake in Qingpu District, Zhujiajiao Ancient Town, with a history of over 1,000 years, has been known as "Venice of Shanghai" for its simple but attractive appearance. Inside the own are rivers and bridges, giving tourists a sense of the ancient time.

    Upside-down House

    In China, the upside-down house is a new thing, but in foreign countries, it is getting more and more popular in recent years, especially in Poland. As is name suggests, the house is built inverted（倒置的）. Inside it, all the furniture and household items are placed upside down. People will feel the magic of a disorder space when walking in the house.

    Chenshan Botanical Garden

    The garden covers a total area of about 206 hectares（公顷）. Its theme is "plant and Health", combining research, education and landscape appreciation. It opened to the public in April, 2010, and is expected to be the largest one in Shanghai.

Tickets: 40 yuan per person; children under l.2m: free of charge if accompanied by an adult.