Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.

     “I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生),” said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that' s a conservative estimate(保守的估计).”

    At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. “There is a great effort so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”

    However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.

    Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. “At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”

    What will you think of when it comes to “Hong Kong” and “great swimming”? Shopping sure, but swimming pool? Turns out, along with all its other attractions, Hong Kong is loaded with wonderful pools.

    The Ritz－Carlton

    The pool at the Ritz－Carlton is breathtaking, thanks to the view, the altitude and, of course, the swim. On the 118th floor at 484 meters above the street in the tallest building in Hong Kong, it's the world's highest swimming pool. The ceiling and walls are made up of 144 LED screens displaying coral reefs and other natural scenes.

    W Hotel Hong Kong

    If you have only one nice swimsuit, save it for the W Hotel Hong Kong. Only people living in this hotel can enjoy this wonderful pool, which is Hong Kong's highest rooftop pool. The hotel's signature WET deck is famous for stylish and occasionally wild poolside parties in summer. WET also features a good cocktail bar and a Jacuzzi.

    Hotel Indigo

    One of Hong Kong's unique experiences is swimming in Hotel Indigo's glass bottom pool. The pool protrudes from the hotel, allowing people below to see swimmers and the swimmers to do laps while checking out the traffic below. The pool is smaller compared to other local grand hotels and only available to the hotel guests.

    Four Seasons Hotel

    The Four Seasons Hotel gorgeous infinity pool overlooks Victoria Harbor. Even cooler, the hotel pipes in underwater music, making the swim much more wonderful, or annoying, depending on your taste in music. The pool is open only to hotel guests.

    In our everyday lives we meet situations in which we take many things for granted（不去重视）.We only treasure things when they are gone.This is a sad truth of human nature.One day,I found myself as a witness to a similar situation.

    One evening,I left work and boarded the train.After entering,I noticed something unusual.The center of the car had a few empty seats while both ends were crowded with people standing.I didn't pay much attention and sat down on one of the empty seats.I sensed a funny smell.It wasn't long before I noticed a homeless person sleeping on three seats in front of me.He was bleeding from his nose.Why wasn't anyone helping him?

    His clothes were torn and he was giving off a strange smell.Along with the smell,his eyes were dull,watery and red.Occasionally he scratched himself and people looked at him as if he had committed a crime.As the train stopped at stations and more people came in they covered their noses and faced away from him.All the seats around him were empty.

    Suddenly,he began to swear at the people around him.A plain clothes policeman who looked like a construction worker took out his certificate and showed it to the homeless man.The officer,not wanting to touch the homeless man, told him his rights and directed him to exit the train.As the officer walked the man out of the train,the homeless man turned around and said "MY HOME!" and started crying.

    A man doesn't value things until they are gone.If he didn't have a home,at least he had freedom.Now he has neither.No one wants to help someone who won't help himself.

    It's hard to talk to Dad sometimes. His silence about his feelings and thoughts made him mysterious and hard to see through. You could never break his hard shell and get to know him. And he seemed to want to stay that way too.

    But a year ago when my relationship with my wife and career took a hit, I needed my dad to pull back the curtain so I could see him as real and accessible. I was facing serious problems, and I wanted to know whether he had faced them before and how he had found his way, because I felt like I had lost mine. In desperation, it occurred to me that sending an email might be the key, so I wrote him one, telling him about my regrets and fears, and I asked him to answer, if he felt like it.

    Two weeks later, it showed up in my inbox: a much thought, three page letter. Dad, a 68­year­old retired technologist and grandfather of four, had carefully considered my message, and crafted a response. He mentioned his lost love, the foolish mistake he made in career and the stupid pride he had between him and his parents. He comforted me that “life will still find its right track despite many of its twists and turns”.

    I closed the email and started to cry, because I wished I had opened it up earlier but was grateful it wasn't too late. I cried because at first, in the midst of my own struggles, his letter instantly put me at ease. And I cried because in the end, it was so simple: I just had to hit “Send”.

    We've since had many email exchanges. This increasing communication opened a door into his world. My problems haven't been magically solved, but getting to know my dad better has made the tough stuff more manageable and life sweeter. It's hard to talk to Dad sometimes, but I'm glad I found a way to talk to mine.

    Vacation is a time for refreshment. In work, we are often called to think. Sometimes, it's good to give our brains a rest. Without a break, we may not be able to perform up to our potential. This can be a problem, not only for the employee, but for the employer as well.

    "The main benefit of vacation is for the worker to come back energized," says Weaver. "If they haven't had a break, then they're not coming back with new energy. They haven't had a chance to step back and get perspective（远景）, and come back with renewed enthusiasm."

    Long working hours without a break, insecurity about one's job, and other work-related worries can lead to burnout and stress. Humans can usually adapt to pressure, but not for a limitless amount of time.

    "It is a problem of relating good workers and having them loyal to the firm while they're there," says David Maume, PhD, professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati. He says burnout can also affect employees' productivity, creativity, and effectiveness.

    In addition, high levels of stress may lead to depression, which can hit both the employer and employee's pocketbook. Even people who manage to remain productive at work can have problems. If they're always at work, then they're not with their family and friends. If they're working while on vacation, for the time that they're on the job, they're not really present.

    An unbalanced emphasis on work can strain family and social life. When you come up for air, you may see that you're alone, or that your relationships have gone on without you.

    The recession (衰退) of 2008-09 was remarkable in rich countries for its intensity, the following recovery for its weakness. The labour market has also broken the rules, as new research from the OECD, a think-tank of mainly rich countries, shows in its annual Employment Outlook.

    Young people always suffer in recessions. Employers stop hiring them; and they often get rid of new recruits because they are easier to dismiss. But in previous episodes, such as the recessions of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, older workers were also kicked off. This time is different. During the financial crisis in 2008, and since, they have done better than other age groups.

    The researchers focus on movements in "non-employment" as a share of the total population in three age groups between the final quarters of 2007 and 2012. This measure has the advantage of including not just unemployment, where people are looking for work, but also inactivity, where people are not seeking jobs. Whereas the average non-employment rate in the OECD has risen by four percentage points among young people and by one-and-a-half points among 25-to 54-year-olds, it has fallen by two points among the 55-64 age group.

    Why have older employees done so well? In some southern European countries they benefit from job protection not afforded to younger workers, but that did not really help them in past recessions. What has changed, says Stefano Scarpetta, head of the OECD's employment directorate, is that firms now bear the full costs of getting rid of older staff. In the past, early-retirement policies provided by governments (in the mistaken belief that these would help young people) made it cheaper to push grey-haired workers out of the door. These have largely stopped.

    Many will argue that older workers have done better at the expense of the young. That view is wrongheaded. First, it is a fallacy that a job gained for one person is a job lost for another; there is no fixed amount of work. And second, as the report shows, young and old people are by and large not substitutes in the workplace. They do different types of work in different types of occupation: younger people are keen on IT firms, for example, whereas older folk tend to be employed in more traditional industries. There are plenty of things that should be done to help the young jobless, but kicking older workers out of the workplace is not one of them.