It is a popular Internet thing to focus on the upside of being in your 30s, and it is nice to know how to do basic modern-human-being things like paying your taxes and cooking a simple meal. But it can be a less-encouraging story at work: People in their late 20s to early 40s tend to report lower levels of job satisfaction and higher levels of emotional exhaustion than other age groups, according to new research.

    There's an obvious reason: These tend to be the ages when people have young children at home, and the researchers did find that this group reported feeling increasingly crunched for time. But adding to that pressure, coworker support also tends to decline at this age. Some researchers interpret the findings:

    Support from co-workers probably decreases in midlife as peers compete for limited resources（promotion bottlenecks are often encountered during this career stage. Also, whereas younger co-workers are often hungry to make up new social networks, and older workers seek identity-affirming work experiences in their remaining tenure（任期）, mid lifers find it demanding enough just to maintain existing social networks. Meanwhile, time pressure likely increases as colleagues are all trying to enrich their own knowledge and experience.

    But the good news is that after about a decade of struggle, things start to pick back up again. Occupational psychologists say that happiness at work recovers when people reach their 40s, and that people in their 50s are more satisfied with their jobs than any other age group. Hang in there, 30-somethings-soon you will be older, but at least work will meet less frustration（挫折）!

    One of the simplest and the most effective forms of communication involves nothing more than the movement of facial muscles. What am I talking about? Smiling! Everyone understands what a smile means, and everyone also understands what a frown means. In fact, these two basic facial expressions can be recognized across countries, across the world and across the globe, regardless of the language spoken or the culture lived in.

    Moreover, hugs are so beautiful! When you give someone a hug or someone comes up and gives you a hug, this simple act of a hug can “speak” volumes about how much you care for the other person, how much love you want to share with the other person, how much you have missed the other person. This hug has so much to say, and yet there never has to be any words spoken.

    And, who needs to say the words “yes” or “no” when a movement of the head says the same thing. These basic examples show just how powerful body language can be. Just knowing how to read and use body language effectively, makes it really easy to see why it is not always a bad thing to be lost for words.

    Body language in the world of love is a very common thing and sometimes the only thing. And, most of the time, body language is the very first words “spoken” before any words are. The old saying is “love at first sight”, not “love at first word”. Across a crowded room, their eyes meet and linger, he winks at her, and she raises an eyebrow. The connection is made without any words needed. These displays of body language say it all. In fact, sometimes they can say more than words can.

    DESIGN-A-LOGO CONTEST

    We need a logo that will be the perfect sign of our great new Wellsville Skate Park. We would like those of you who are counting the days until the grand opening to design a perfect logo that can be used on stationery, business cards, fliers, brochures, posters and T-shirts. A well-designed logo will provide an opportunity for young artists to receive recognition as well as great prizes. If you are interested, here are the things you need to know:

    Logo Requirements

    Your design mustn't have copied anyone else's.

    Your design must include no more than two colors.

    The words “Wellsville Skate Park” must appear in the logo.

    The logo should be presented on 8×11 paper in every shape.

    Submission(提交) Details

    Your name and address must appear on the back of the logo design.

    You need to include a one-page written explanation of the design.

    Deadline

    Mails will be accepted between July 10 and August 15.

    Winning designs will be posted on our website at www. wellsville. skatepark. com on August 20.

    Prizes

    First Prize: a digital camera

    Second Prize: a one-year pass to Wellsville Skate Park

    Honorable Mention: a T-shirt with the prize-winning logo

    MAIL DESIGNS TO:

    Wellsville Skate Park Logo Contest

    Riverside Recreation Center

    1295 New Rockford Hwy, Riverside, VA 23226

    It has taken an extremely long time－161 years－but the National Portrait Gallery finally has the Duke(公爵)of Wellington in its collection after a fundraising campaign reached its ￡1. 3m target.

    The gallery announced on Thursday that it had acquired Sir Thomas Lawrence's unfinished final painting of a man regarded as Britain's greatest soldier after a successful appeal.

    Nicholas Cullinan, the gallery's director, said the NPG had been looking for a suitable painting of the Duke of Wellington since the gallery was founded in 1856.

    He called it "a remarkable painting", while Lucy Peltz, the gallery's senior manager of 18th­century paintings, said the work was "an inspiring and powerful image of one of the most influential men of the 18th and 19th centuries".

    The NPG announced last November that it needed to raise ￡300,000, the final piece of a funding jigsaw(拼图). The Art Fund had already contributed ￡350,000 and the appeal reached its target thanks to ￡200,000 from the G&K Boyes charitable trust and ￡180,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. A further ￡570,000 came from a public appeal and the gallery's own funds.

    It was painted in 1829 when Wellington was prime minister, however, Lawrence died in 1830 leaving the portrait unfinished. The gallery believes it is a more attractive work because of that, with the viewer focusing more on the man himself rather than any clothes of power.

    Dan Snow, the historian and broadcaster, said Wellington was a "Titanic figure" in British history, the only field greatest prime minister, a man of genius on and off the battlefield. He added:" This arresting portrait must sit in the national collection and now, following an outpouring of donation, it will do. The artist has caught the Duke's legendary features. Among his many contributions to British life he formed the culture of unbending spirit in the face of difficulty."

    The painting was lent to the NPG in 2015 for an exhibition marking the Battle of Waterloo.

    Any foreigner who has tried to learn Chinese can tell how hard it is to master the tones required to speak and understand. And anyone who has tried to learn to play the violin or other instruments can report similar challenges.

    Now researchers have found that people with musical training have an easier time learning Chinese. Writing in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience, researchers from Northwestern University say that both skills draw on the same parts of the brain that help people discover changes in pitch(音调).

    One of the study's authors, Nina Kraus, said the findings suggested that studying music "actually tunes our sensory system". This means that schools that want children to do well in languages should hesitate before cutting music programs, Dr. Kraus said. She said music training might also help children with language problems.

    Mandarin(普通话)speakers have been shown to have a more complex encoding(编码) of pitch patterns in their brains than English speakers do. This is because in Mandarin and other Asian languages, pitch plays a central role. A single­syllable word can have several meanings depending on how it is intoned.

    For this study, the researchers looked at 20 non­Chinese speaking volunteers, half with no musical background and half who have studied an instrument for at least six years.

    As they were shown a movie, the volunteers also heard an audio tape of the Mandarin word "mi" in three of its meanings: squint, bewilder and rice. The researchers recorded activities in their brain stems to see how well they were processing the sounds. Those with a music background showed much more brain activities in response to the Chinese sounds.

    The lead author of the study, Patrick C.M. Wong, said it might work both ways. It appears that native speakers of tonal languages may do better at learning instruments.

    It is hard to say the first day of school in the United States because when the first day of school is and what happens on the first day of school usually are different by districts(地区).

    The first day of school for many school districts in different states is on the day after the first Monday in September. In some other school districts, school begins in mid-to-late August. For example, the Denver, Colorado schools go back in mid-August and schools in Cleveland, Ohio start back usually one week before the first Monday in September. The Boston, Chicago, New York City and San Diego schools start back on the Tuesday or Wednesday after the first Monday in September.

    Schools in Cleveland, Ohio used to start the school year on the day after the first Monday in September, but in the 1976-1977 and 1977-1978 academic years, the school year was affected by several bad snowstorms, extreme cold. In the 1978-1979 school year, the Ohio Department of Education moved the start of the year to late August, one week before the first Monday in September. This went into effect in the 1980-1981 school year.

    In most school districts in Utah, the school year starts between August 25 and August 30, and goes until the last week of May or the first week in June next year.

    In American high schools, the freshmen class usually goes back one or two days before the rest of the school body for an orientation(迎新)period. An orientation period helps the freshmen get familiar with their new school, its rules, and surroundings.

    In some schools, the freshmen classes have their photographs taken for identification purposes. Some high schools have tried to make the first week of school fun for incoming freshmen.