I know what you're thinking: pizza? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can have last night's leftovers in the a. m. if you want to.

    I know lots of women who skip breakfast, and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it. Some say they don't have time, others think they're “saving” calories, still others just don't like breakfast food.

    But the bottom line is that eating in the morning is very important when you're trying to lose weight. “Eating just about anything from 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all,” says Katherine Brooking, R., D., who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year's “SELF CHALLENGE”. And even pizza can be healthy if it's loaded with vegetables, and you stick to one small piece.

    Breakfast is one meal I never miss, and the same goes for most weight loss success stories. Research shows that eating breakfast keeps you from overeating later in the day. Researchers at the University of Southern California found that breakfast skippers have a bigger chance of gaining weight than those who regularly have a morning meal.

So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of friends who end up having no breakfast at all, and have just coffee or orange juice. I say, try heating up last night's leftovers—it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it! I find if I tell myself, “You can always eat it tomorrow,” I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it…you may save yourself some pre-bedtime calories. And watch your body gain the fat-burning effects.

    The China Daily newspaper group is looking for English-language senior business editors, senior copy editors, copy editors and graphic designers to strengthen its international team. We offer a competitive salary package, free and practical accommodation paid for, 90 percent medical assistance, a seven-day paid leave, eleven-day public holidays and a return ticket to the country of residence(住房).

    Senior Business Editor

    You must: assist the business editor in setting goals and working on achieving them; be an excellent team person who can generate ideas and think creatively and be able to rewrite totally if needed and mentor junior staff; ideally have been working or have worked in a position of responsibility and understand what leadership entails; have had at least five years' editing experience working on editing the Business Desk and be familiar with industry software.

    Senior Copy Editor

    You must: work on shifts in the Business Desk and usually have the last word before the page is sent to print; edit or rewrite copy and give snappy headlines and captions; have had at least two years' editing experience working on editing desks and be familiar with industry software.

    Copy Editor

    You must: be good at editing or rewriting copy and writing snappy headlines and captions; be able to work on shifts for different pages, and usually have the last word before the page is sent to print; have two years of editing experience working on copy desks, and be familiar with industry software.

    Graphic Designer

    You must: have excellent skills in information graphics; be good at illustrations(插图) and freehand drawings; be experienced in newspaper or magazine design; have a good sense of typography(活版印刷术); have good news judgment; be well-versed with Macintosh software, including InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop; be fluent in English.

For enquiries or to apply, write to job@chinadaily.com.cn.

Dear Maya Shao­ming,

    To me, June 6, 1990 is a special day. My long­awaited dream came true the minute your father cried, "A girl！"You, little daughter, are the link to our female line, the legacy of another woman's pain and sacrifice 31 years ago.

    Let me tell you about your Chinese grandmother. Somewhere in Hong Kong, in the late fifties, a young waitress found herself pregnant(怀孕) by a cook. She carried the baby to term, suffered to give it birth, and kept the little girl for the first three months of her life. I like to think that my mother—your grandmother—loved me and fought to raise me on her own, but the daily struggle was too hard. Worn down by the demands of the new baby and perhaps the constant threat of starvation, she made the painful decision to give away her girl so that both of us might have a chance for a better life.

    Having a baby in her unmarried state would have brought shame on the family in China, so she probably kept my existence a secret. Once I was out of her life, it was as if I had never been born. And so you and your brother and I are the missing leaves on a family tree.

    Do they ever wonder if we exist?

    Before I was two, I was adopted by an Anglo couple. I grew like a wild weed and grasped all the opportunities they had to offer—books, music, education, church life and community activities. In a family of blue­eyed blonds, though, I stood out like a sore thumb. Moody and impatient, burdened by fears that none of us realized resulted from my early years of need, I was not an easy child to love. My mother and I conflicted countless times over the years, but gradually came to see one another as real human beings with faults and talents. Lacking a mirror image in the mother who raised me, I had to seek my identity as a woman on my own. The Asian American community has helped me regain my double identity.

    But part of me will always be missing: my beginnings, my personal history, all the delicate details that give a person her origin. Nevertheless, someone gave me a lucky name "Siu Wai". "Siu" means "little", and "Wai" means "clever". Therefore, my baby name was "Clever little one". Who chose those words? Who cared enough to note my arrival in the world?

    I lost my Chinese name for 18 years. It was Americanized for convenience to "Sue". But like an ill­fitting coat, it made me uncomfortable. I hated the name. But even more, I hated being Chinese. It took many years to become proud of my Asian origin and work up the courage to take back my birth name. That, plus a little knowledge of classroom Cantonese, is all the Chinese culture I have to offer you. Not white, certainly, but not really Asian, I try to pave the way between the two worlds and bridge the gap for you. Your name, "Shao­ming", is very much like mine—"Shao" means "little". And "ming" is "bright", as in a shining sun or moon. Whose lives will you brighten little Maya? Your past is more complete than mine and each day I cradle you in your babyhood, generously giving you the loving care I lacked for my first two years. Sweet Maya, it doesn't matter what you "become" later on. You have already fulfilled my wildest dreams.

    I love you,

Mummy

    NOT all memories are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences. Violence and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and emotional scars. Often they relive these experiences in nightmares.

    Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill, which will help people forget bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it might reduce ,or possibly erase(抹去),the effect of painful memories.

    In November, experts tested a drug on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body releasing chemicals that fix memories in the brain. So far the research has suggested that only the emotional effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are erased.

    The research has caused a great deal of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, while others support it.

    Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers' troubling memories after war. They say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories.

    "Some memories can ruin people's lives. They come back to you when you don't want to have them in a daydream or nightmare. They usually come with very painful emotions," said Roger Pitman, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "This could relieve a lot of that suffering."

    But those who are against the research say that changing memories is very dangerous because memories give us our identity (特质). They also help us all avoid the mistakes of the past.

    "All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were horrible at the time but make us who we are. I'm not sure we want to wipe those memories out, "said Rebecca Dresser, a medical ethicist.

    The World Health Organization recently said that it planned to add gaming disorder (游戏成瘾) to its new list of disease classifications, angering the gaming industry but pleasing doctors who hope it may make treatment more easily available.

    Some US experts said it would make little difference when it comes to helping people with the disorder, although others said it would bring attention to a disorder that people sometimes don't recognize. So some experts disagree WHO's plan.

    Many of us enjoy video games, but does playing our favorite game for a couple of hours every night mean we're suffering from gaming disorder? Not according to the WHO.

    The symptoms listed by the WHO include a lack of control over gaming, treating gaming more seriously than other life interests and daily activities, and continuing to play games despite the negative consequences that playing them might have.

    "The behavior pattern is enough to result in significant damage to one's personal, family, or social life." the WHO said.

    Meanwhile, Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University has carried out influential research into the cause of gaming addiction in young people." I and many others had assumed that gaming is not really a problem but is a symptom of other problems," he told NBC News. Many had thought it was simply a failure of self-control. To see if it was, Gentile's team studied a group of children who had been gaming for several years." We found that when kids became addicted, their anxiety increased … and their grades decreased," Gentile said. When kids were able to back off from gaming, their symptoms disappeared, he added.

    Gentile thinks medical organizations should pay attention to the WHO's proposal." This isn't an issue of opinion; it's an issue of science," he said." This is a major scientific and medical organization. They don't do things lightly and without reason."

    Dr Petros Levounis, chair of psychiatry at the New Jersey Medical School at Rutgers University, said that he hoped the WHO's proposal would lead to more research into obsessive (过度的) behavior among all types of people.

    "Now, there is renewed interest and excitement," he said. So some experts are in favour of WHO's plan.

    If you use social media to chase away loneliness, a new study suggests you're going against the grain.

    We may have heard a lot about the benefits of interacting with others online, but the findings of a study conducted by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists show a direct relationship between social media usage and feelings of isolation (隔绝). In short, the more time you spend on social media, the lonelier you may feel.

    With increased interaction on a large number of apps that allow for endless virtual connectivity, loneliness seems like the last problem frequent social media users would face, but according to the leader of the study Brain Primack, it has the exact opposite effect.

    "Mental health problems and social isolation are at widespread levels among young adults nowadays," Primack said, "We are naturally social creature, but modem life tends to separate us instead of bringing us together. While it may seem that social media presents opportunities to fill the social void (空隙), I think this study suggests that it may not be the solution people were hoping for."

    Primack and his team examined the social media habits of 1,787 U.S. adults aged 19 to 32 via a questionnaire that asked about the time and frequency they spent on the most popular social media platforms. Eventually, they determined that young adults who are constantly logging into social media reported more feelings of isolation than those with less social media usage. Frequent exposure to unrealistic descriptions on social media instead of face-to-face social interactions may give people the impression that others are living happier, more connected lives, and this may users feel more socially isolated in comparison.