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      A glass a day keeps obesity at bay. Wine has always been thought to cause weight gain because of its high sugar content, but new research suggests a glass a day could form part of a diet. Looking at past studies they found that, while heavy drinkers do put on weight, those who drink in moderation can actually lose weight.

    A scientist for the research team at Navarro University in Spain says, “Proper drinking may be more likely to protect against, rather than promote, weight gain.” An official organization reviewed the findings and agreed with most of the conclusions, particularly that present data do not clearly show if proper drinking increases weight.

    Boston University's Dr. Harvey Finkel found that the reasons relating alcohol (酒精) to changes in body weight are not properly understood. His team pointed out the strong protective effects (效果) of proper drinking on the risk of getting conditions like diabetes (糖尿病), which relate to increasing obesity. Some studies suggest that even very fat people may be at lower risk of diabetes if they are moderate drinkers.

    The group says alcohol provides energy that is quickly absorbed into the body and is not stored in fat, and that this process could explain the differences in its effects from those of other foods. They agree that future research should be directed towards assessing the roles of different types of alcoholic drinks, taking drinking patterns into consideration.

    For now there is little evidence that drinking small to moderate amounts of alcohol on a regular basis increases one's risk of becoming too fat. What's more, a study three years ago suggested that a chemical found in grapes and red wine, destroys fat cells.

    NEW YORK－Australian mining enterprise Clive Palmer on Tuesday unveiled(公布)blueprints for TitanicⅡ, a modern copy of the doomed ocean liner, although he didn't call the ship unsinkable any more.

    The ship will largely recreate the design and decoration of the fabled original, with some modifications to keep it in line with current safety rules and shipbuilding practices, and the addition of some modern comforts such as air conditioning, Palmer said at a press conference in New York.

    The three passenger classes, however, will be prevented from mingling(混杂), as in 1912, Palmer said. “I'm not too superstitious(迷信的).”Palmer said when asked whether recreating a ship best­known for sinking was tempting fate.

    White Star Line, the operator of the original ship, had said the Titanic was designed to be unsinkable. About 1, 500 people died on Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912 from Southampton to New York after the ship collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic.

    Palmer, who created the company Blue Star Line last year, refused to make a similar boast.

    “Anything will sink if you put a hole in it, ” Palmer said. “I think it would be very cavalier to say it.”

    Unlike the original, TitanicⅡwill have more than enough space in its lifeboats for every person on board and will have additional escape staircases. Markku Kanerva, sales director at Deltamarin, the Finnish company designing the ship, said it would be the “safest cruise ship in the world”．

    Palmer refused to answer questions about the project's cost. Although the Titanic was the world's largest ship in her time, she would be smaller than many of today's modern cruise ships.

    “It's not about the money，” Palmer said. “I've got enough money for it. I think that's all that matters.”

    Forbes estimated Palmer's net worth to be $795 million in 2012.He describes himself as a billionaire.

    TitanicⅡwill be built by Chinese state­-owned CSC Jinling Shipyard, which has already built four ore carriers for Palmer's mining business, he said. The contract to build TitanicⅡhas not yet been signed, Palmer said.

    Most people say “yes” much more readily than “no”.

    A friend is moving house this weekend and would like some help, and you agree. But, what you really wanted was a couple of quiet days relaxing at home. Or a roommate spends the entire weekends playing video games and wants to borrow your homework for “reference”. But, you've just finished it after taking a whole day to work hard.

    Many people say “yes” to those kinds of requests. They tend not to consider their own interests and feelings, and are often angry with themselves afterwards.

    Saying “no” requires courage and considerable practice, in fact, according to psychologists.

    “Everyone wants to be liked,” says Gabriel Steinki, a German psychologist. “Saying ‘no' risk losing the affection of the person asking the favor or even a job.”

    The result is that many people say “yes” just for keeping the peace. But experts say this is regrettable. Anyone should have the right to say “no”.

    In fact, rejecting a request can even help to strengthen a relationship because it expresses a true feeling.

    But, for people used to agreeing to every request, changing can be a long and uncomfortable learning process.

    Most people believe that “If I say ‘no', I'll lose the affection of the person. But the affection is important to me.” This way of thinking can be replaced by this “If he only likes me because I always do what suits him, then the price of his affection is too high in the long term.”

    Steinki says the key is talking to the other person to find a mutual(相互的) solution. “One needs to present the situation from one's own point of view, and to suggest how the situation can be dealt with to the advantage of both parties. The other person must have the feeling that his interests are being considered.”

    When the refusal is not accepted, Steinki advises giving the reasons calmly again until the person gets the message.

    Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

    Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

    People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossers to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

    Often people use laptops(手提电脑) on trains and airplanes, in airports and hotels. These laptops connect people to their workplace. In the United States today, laptops also connect students to their classrooms.

    Westlake College in Virginia will start a laptop computer program that allows students to do schoolwork anywhere they want. Within five years, each of the 1500 students at the college will receive a laptop. The laptops are part of a $10 million computer program at Westlake, a 110-year-old college. The students with laptops will also have access to the Internet. Besides, they will be able to use e-mail to "speak" with their teachers, their classmates and their families. However, the most important part of the laptop program is that students will be able to use computers without going to computer labs. They can work with it at home, in a fast-food restaurant or under the trees—anywhere at all!

    Because of the many changes in computer technology, laptop use in higher education, such as colleges and universities, is workable. As laptops become more powerful, they become more similar to desktop computers. Also, the portable(便携式的)computers can connect students to not only the Internet, but also libraries and other resources. State higher-education officials are also testing laptop programs at other universities, too.

    When "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was first shown to the public last month, a group of excited animal activists gathered on Hollywood Boulevard. But they weren't there to throw red paint on fur-coat-wearing film stars. Instead, one activist, dressed in a full-body monkey suit, had arrived with a sign praising the filmmakers: "Thanks for not using real apes (猿)!"

    The creative team behind "Apes" used motion-capture (动作捕捉) technology to create digitalized animals, spending tens of millions of dollars on technology that I records an actor's performance and later processes it with computer graphics to create a final image (图像). In this case, one of a realistic-looking ape.

    Yet "Apes" is more exception than the rule. In fact, Hollywood has been hot on live animals lately. One nonprofit organization, which monitors the treatment or animals in filmed entertainment, is keeping tabs on more than 2,000 productions this year. Already, a number of films, including "Water for Elephants," "The Hangover Part Ⅱ" and "Zookeeper," have drawn the anger of activists who say the creatures acting in them haven't been treated properly.

    In some cases, it's not so much the treatment of the animals on set in the studio that has activists worried; it's the off-set training and living conditions that are raising concerns. And there are questions about the films made outside the States, which sometimes are not monitored as closely as productions filmed in the Sates.