The world consumes hundreds of billions of single-use plastic bags each year. They are difficult to recycle, wasteful and damage the nature. Environmental activists want to ban plastic bags or—as many communities have done —charge a fee for them. But the plastic bag industry defends their use, saying people reuse plastic bags, and industry officials argue recycling is a matter of personal responsibility and should not be forced.

    City officials say New Yorkers use 5.2 billion plastic bags each year. They are offered free with nearly every supermarket, or convenience store purchase. Many people like them, even if they sometimes feel guilty about using them. But what happens to those bags after they've been used in a huge environmental problem. They are found on beaches. They are caught in trees. They are swallowed by marine life.

    Plastic bags are made of petroleum products and natural gas, and do not biodegrade (分解). And they are difficult to recycle. So New York City spends nearly $ 10 million dollars a year to send 100—thousand tons of plastic bags to landfills out of state.

    In Washington, D.C., a five percent charge on all single-use bags led to about a 60 percent reduction and in Los Angeles County in California , a 10 cent charge on single-use bags led to a 95 percent reduction. With a 10 cent charge on bags, customers are much more likely to stop and think about whether they need a bag or not. And that's really all that these laws are doing.

    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?

    A German study suggests that people who were too optimistic about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than those pessimists who expected their future to be worse.

    The paper, published this March in Psychology and Aging, examined health and welfare surveys from roughly 40,000 Germans between ages 18 and 96. The surveys were conducted every year from 1993 to 2003.

    Survey respondents (受访者) were asked to estimate their present and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10, among other questions.

    The researchers found that young adults (age 18 to 39) routinely overestimated their future life satisfaction, while middle-aged adults (age 40 to 64) more accurately predicted how they would feel in the future. Adults of 65 and older, however, were far more likely to underestimate their future life satisfaction. Not only did they feel more satisfied than they thought they would, the older pessimists seemed to suffer a lower ratio (比率) of disability and death for the study period.

     “We observed that being too optimistic in predicting a better future than actually observed was associated with a greater risk of disability and a greater risk of death within the following decade,” wrote Frieder R. Lang, a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

    Lang and his colleagues believed that people who were pessimistic about their future may be more careful about their actions than people who expected a rosy future.

     “Seeing a dark future may encourage positive evaluations of the actual self and may contribute to taking improved precautions (预防措施),” the authors wrote.

    Surprisingly, compared with those in poor health or who had low incomes, respondents who enjoyed good health or income were associated with expecting a greater decline. Also, the researchers said that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability.

    The authors of the study noted that there were limitations to their conclusions. Illness, medical treatment and personal loss could also have driven health outcomes.

    However, the researchers said a pattern was clear. “We found that from early to late adulthood, individuals adapt their expectations of future life satisfaction from optimistic, to accurate, to pessimistic,” the authors concluded.

    It was not yet eleven o'clock when a boat crossed the river with a single passenger who was lucky to be able to cross the river at that unusual hour by promising to pay some extra money. While the youth stood in the light place searching his pockets for money, the boatman lifted a lamp, with the help of which, together with the newly risen moon, he took a careful look at the stranger. He was a young man of about eighteen years, clearly country brought up, and was, as it seemed, on his first visit to town. He was wearing a rough grey coat, which was in good shape, and which had seen many winters before this one. The jacket under his coat was made of leather and trousers fitted tightly to a pair of strong legs; his stockings of blue yarn(毛绒) must have been the work of a mother or sister, and on his head was a hat, which in its better days had perhaps protected the grayer head of the young man's father. In his left hand was a walking stick, and on his strong shoulders hung a leather bag. Brown hair, well-shaped features, bright, cheerful eyes were nature's gifts. The youth, whose name was Robin, paid the boatman, and then walked forward into the town with a light step, as if he had not already traveled more than thirty miles that day. As he walked, he looked around as eagerly as if he were entering London or New York instead of the little city in New England.

    Recently a friend of mine asked me whether I'd seen the TV series Cook' Table. Of course, I hadn't because I'm not that into food. But I do get hungry for adventures sometimes, so I decided to watch the show. This is when I was introduced to the cook Francis Mallmann.

    He makes choices; he doesn't plan. When he was young, he looked for mentors (导师) and experiences, not books or paths. He honored his roots but embraced the world and sought things and places he didn't know. He isn't content with just one lifestyle and he doesn't bend to expectations. This made me puzzled because I grew up thinking I had to have a plan and have long-term stability in front of me.

    When I saw Mallmann doing what makes him happy, everything changed. I thought to myself, "That's how we're supposed to live." I felt as if I'd stood up from a comfortable fireplace and the blanket of my life just fell to the ground. I submitted my leave of absence application to my employer less than a month later. I'm now full of excitement. I'm leaving my job and a good salary, and I'm going to do things that feed my soul.

    Michael Kernis and Brian Goldman, psychologists at Clayton State University in Georgia, studied the benefits of authenticity (真实性) and being true to yourself. Some of the benefits of following your inner voice include enjoying a strong sense of purpose in life, greater confidence, healthier relationships and strong skills.

    I might soon be hungrier and poorer than I was before but at least I'll be staying true to who I am and I'll get the true freedom.

I didn't go to Santiago, Chile to look for friendship. In fact, Chile was not even on my wish list.

A mid-life crisis woman, I got a chance to study abroad. I only wanted to learn about global business, taste South American cuisine, and check "study abroad" off my wish list.

On the fifth day, I joined a group for a neighborhood work project aided by the anti-poverty (扶贫) organization. Our tasks were to build a water tower and paint the community center. Upon arrival, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like a scene out of a horrible film. That moment redefined poverty for me because I had never seen such terrible living conditions. As advised, I showed no signs of the motional battle going on inside me.

Just as I was about to start work on painting, a request came through for a few volunteers to help Nadia, a local resident who volunteered to cook for us. I raised my hand to help because I wanted spend time with the people of the neighborhood despite my shortage of Spanish speaking skills.

Nadia had a sincere smile but not overly friendly. Even without speaking each other's language we started to learn about one another. We chatted about our children, our upbringing, shared picture of our family, struggled to instruct each other to communicate in the other's language, and laugh many times.

After we fed everybody and the dishes were washed, my day was over. But I found myself hesitant to leave. It was as if I had known her my entire life. I had not predicted the unselfishness heart I would encounter, and it was moving.

As we were waiting for the car to pick us up, Nadia showed me her plants that are well-maintains. I could see that despite the hard conditions she was passionate about life. She made me long to be stronger person. She showed me that poverty was external, but happiness was internal. I was seeking to give 100 percent for a well-intentioned cause, but I left receiving 200 percent from her.