China dropped its decades-long, one-child policy last year to allow each family to have two children. This change has put 270 million married women of childbearing age in the position of choosing between family and work. The employers also face big challenges as more female workers will have two maternity leaves(产假) for a total of seven to eight months.

    In a survey published by classified advertising website Ganji.com, career women who might be considering having a second child were asked what kinds of pressure they might expect. More than 76 percent of the women who were questioned mentioned concerns about the financial burden of raising two children, while more than 71 percent said it would be difficult to balance career and family. In addition, nearly 56 percent said that having a second child would definitely have a negative effect on their career.

    Another survey conducted by Chongqing-based human resources website job.cq.qq.com found that over 70 percent of job seekers believe that having a second child would make females less popular in the job market, although two-thirds of the employers said the policy will make no difference in their employment of staff.

    Feng Lijuan, s senior expert on human resources at 51 job.com, a leading Chinese job finding platform, said she would not say “there is prejudice against career women.” Feng said Chinese women shoulder more family responsibility. “It is not only about maternity leave; a female employee might only fully get back to work after three to five years after having her first child.”

    Wang Yixin, a senior employment adviser, said the positive side is that more companies are trying to attract more talents by providing support to career women. “Different from before, it is not only employers choosing employees. Many talents, including professional career women, also choose employers.” said Wang. “According to our survey, many large companies are very open to their employees' choice of having a second child.”

    Cruising（乘船游览）with children has never been more

    Cruising,with free parking,has never been more popular with families with children.It is an ideal family holiday —once you are on board the kids will have so much to do you may not see them at all!

    With fantastic children's clubs and a play area for under 2 years old,to circus skills school on top deck,Rock School,where teens can play guitar,and Noddy and Mr.Bump from the Mr.Men Show are regular visitors.With superliners created with enjoyment and comfort in mind why not take the stress out of your next family holiday.

    Sail from UK in 2011 with free parking

    Sailing from Southampton has never been better value with free parking on selected sailings,saving you up to an extra ￡200 off your holiday.Why not sail from Southampton in 2011 to a great range of.classic and impressive destinations.

    The sales continues more benefits added

    The P&O Cruises sale has been extended!Book before 28th February and you can save up to ￡2,500 and receive up to ￡960 free on board spend PLUS,you can now receive free car parking on selected sailings.Do as much or as little as you desire,with P&O—you make all the choices!

    Get more from your holidays—free hotel stays

    Looking for something a bit different?Why not try a cruise with a pre- or post-cruise stay. Spend a day or two in fantastic cities.Tour the St Peters Basilica in Rome,wander around Sagrada Família in Barcelona or wander the beach front of Miami.Best of all,this won't cost you a penny!

    Explore the possibility of using the iPad App Store in the classroom.

    App Name: Bridge Constructor/Cost: $1.99

    Bridge Constructor lets players build increasingly challenging bridges over deep valleys, canals and rivers. Stress tests reveal whether the bridge kids build can withstand continual use from cars, trucks, and more recently, super-heavy tank trucks. Players can choose from among a range of bridge-building materials such as wood, steel, cables and concrete pillars (混凝土柱). Each bridge also has a budget, and there are numerous ways to successfully complete each challenge.

App Name: Pyramid Adventure 3-D/Cost: $13.99

    The interface allows users to fly around the plateau where the pyramids and the Sphinx are located at Giza near Cairo. Interactive, three-dimensional maps let students wander around the labyrinthine tombs and passageways. Uses can examine wall paintings in detail, or view royal statues and objects with a 360-degree feature. To help explain the world of ancient Egyptians, the app offers an accompanying interactive book, specially written by world-famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass.

    App Name: Grammar Up/Cost: $4.99

    Grammar Up is a multiple-choice quiz system for English grammar. Kids and adults can learn most quickly when playing learning games with real-time error feedback, which Grammar Up provides. The app also offers students practice tests so they can see how much they've learned. A summary is presented at the end of each test, showing the time spent, a score, and the questions answered correctly and incorrectly. The results are also e-mailable.

    Toronto is reminding citizens this month what exactly can and can't go into the blue bins an you may be surprised at what can't be recycled. As it turns out the takeout coffee cups you've been throwing into the recycling actually have to go in the garbage.

    The city's “recycle right” web explains that food left after a meal, woven (编织的) cloth, old VHS tapes and other things have been turning up in blue bins, where they don't belong.

    According to the city, about 45,000 tunes of garbage was mistakenly put into recycling bins last year alone.

    Among those things are the takeout coffee and tea cups we get while were on the go. The city says that because those paper cups are lined with plastic or wax they can't be recycled. The black plastic coffee lids (盖子) also can't go in the blue bin, although non-black plastic lids can be recycled.

    Emily Alfred, senior campaigner with the Toronto Environmental Alliance, said, “Millions of cups are used in Toronto every year and people are taking these out and putting them in the wrong bin.”

    When paper coffee cups are thrown in with the recycling. Alfred said, they produce a harmful effect on the system.

    “They can't separate the plastic and paper in a typical paper recycling center,” Alfred said, “so it just causes pollution of the recycling process, and it causes lower-quality paper if it does get recycled.”

    “New regulations passed last month call for changes to be rolled out over the next few years regarding what products companies can sell,” Alfred said. Her organization will be pushing for more producer responsibility laws, which call on companies that design and make products to take on the responsibility of recycling them.

    For now, consumers can consider carrying their own reusable coffee cups while they are on the go, ask for a ceramic mug (陶瓷杯) if they plan to consume their drink in the cafe, and support their local government officials if they have put efforts into changing recycling or producer responsibility laws.

    Alfred said, “I think people can change their habits easily if they understand what to do.”

    Last April, on a Sunday, we took one of our “nowhere” drives. My husband was quietly driving along a back road. I was occupied in the front passenger seat watching the scenery.

    I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my husband was struggling to look out of my window. This frightened me, since his eyes should be on the road in front of him. I asked him what he was looking at out of the windows, and he quietly replied, “Nothing.”

    After a few minutes, I looked over at my husband and noticed a tear running down his cheek. I asked him what was wrong. This time he told me, “I was just thinking about Pop and a story he had once told.” It had something to do with Pop, his friend from childhood, and I wanted to know the story, so I asked him to share it with me.

    He said, “When I was about 8 years old, Pop and I were out fishing and he told me that the pine trees know when it is Easter.”

    I had no idea what he meant by that, so I pressed him for more information.

    He continued on… “The pine trees start their new growth in the weeks before Easter because spring is drawing near. If you look at the tops of the pine trees, you will see the yellow shoots(嫩芽). As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot will branch off and form a cross. By the time Easter Sunday comes around, you will see that most of the pine trees will have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest shoots.”

    I turned to look out of the window and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a week before Easter, and you could see all of the trees with the tall yellow shoots stretching to the sky.

    The tallest ones shone in the sunlight like rows of tiny golden crosses. May you find your Easter season filled with beautiful golden crosses!

    "Acting is the least mysterious of all crafts," Marion Brando once said. But for scientists, working out what is going on in an actor's head has always been something of a puzzle.

    Now, researchers have said actors show different patterns of brain activity depending on whether they are in character or not.

    Dr Steven Brown, from McMaster University in Canada, said, "It looks like when you are acting, you are suppressing (压制) yourself; almost like the character is possessing you."

    Brown and colleagues report how 15 actors, mainly theatre students, were trained to take on a Shakespeare role — either Romeo or Juliet — in a theatre workshop. They were then invited into the laboratory, where their brains were scanned in a series of experiments.

    Once inside the MRI scanner, the actors were asked to answer a number of questions, such as: would they go to the party? And would they tell their parents that they had fallen in love?

    Each actor was asked to respond to different questions, based on two different premises (前提). In one, they were asked for their own perspective, while in the other, they were asked to respond as though they were either Romeo or Juliet.

    The results revealed that the brain activity differed depending on the situation being tested. The team found that when the actors were in character, they use some third-person knowledge or inferences about their character.

    The team said they also found additional reduction in activity in two regions of the prefrontal cortex (前额皮质) linked to the sense of self, compared with when the actors were responding as themselves.

    However, Philip Davis, a professor at the University of Liverpool, was unimpressed by the research, saying acting is about far more than "pretending" to be someone — it involves embodying (体现) the text and language.