Baby girls make their way to dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for the toy cars,  a study has shown. The findings, the first to show consistent differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological basis to their preferences.

    Psychologists Dr Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 babies aged nine months to 36 months. They were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were boys' toys - a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy.  The rest were girls' toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys, and could pick whichever toy they liked. Their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.

    Of the youngest children (nine to 14 months), girls spent much longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two-and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents' view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children's choice.

    Dr Brenda Todd said: “Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization. Boys may be given ‘toys that go' while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer moving objects, probably through hunting instincts（本能）, while girls prefer warmer colors such as pink, the color of a newborn baby.”

    Energy independence. It has a nice ring to it. Doesn't it? If you think so, you're not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession.

    “Energy independence” and its rhetorical (修辞的) companion “energy security” are, however, slippery concepts that are rarely though through. What is it we want independence from, exactly?

    Most people would probably say that they want to be independent from imported oil. But there are reasons that we buy all that oil from elsewhere.

    The first reason is that we need it to keep our economy running. Yes, there is a trickle（涓涓细流）of biofuel available, and more may become available, but most biofuels cause economic waste and environmental destruction.

    Second, Americans have basically decided that they don't really want to produce all their own oil. They value the environmental quality they preserve over their oil imports from abroad. Vast areas of the United States are off-limits(禁止) to oil exploration and production in the name of environmental protection. To what extent are Americans really willing to endure the environmental impacts of domestic energy production in order to cut back imports?

    Third, there are benefits to trade. It allows for economic efficiency, and when we buy things from places that have lower production costs than we do, we benefit. And although you don't read about this much, the United States is also a large exporter of oil products, selling about 2 million barrels of petroleum products per day to about 90 countries.

    There is no question that the United States imports a great deal of energy and, in fact, relies on that steady flow to maintain its economy. When that flow is interrupted, we feel the pain in short supplies and higher prices, At the same time, we derive(得到，获得) massive economic benefits when we buy the most affordable energy on the world market and when we engage in energy trade around the world.

    I can't think of a better way of appreciating a new culture than by taking part in one of its festivals. You'll find that some festivals are celebrated by an entire country, while others may be known only to a single city or region, but either way festivals play an important role in a certain culture. Just enjoy them!

    ★ Tomatina — Bunol, Spain

    Every last Wednesday in August, the town of Bunol is filled with tons of tomatoes in the world's biggest food flight. Many people wear goggles during this hour of great fun, as the town becomes a red river.

    ★ Boryeong Mud Festival — Boryeong, South Korea

    For two weeks in July, millions gather in Boryeong to experience the grey pools and slides. What began as a way to help sell the region's mineral-rich mud has turned into a festive party with music and fireworks. The mud is usually only available in cosmetic products (化妆品), but here you can cake yourself in grey as you want.

    ★ Holi — India

    Holi, the Festival of Colors, is a Hindu celebration full of joy and one of India's most important holidays. During the day of the last full moon of the lunar month, usually late February or early March, the air is full of brightly colored powder (粉末). The festival is celebrated differently throughout the country, with bonfires and music, but the cheerful spirit is common among Hindu people around the world.

    ★ International Pillow Fight Day — Worldwide

    Tens of thousands of people took part in the 4th annual International Pillow Fight Day on April 2,2013. From London to Vancouver to many other cities, the festival is held in more than 100 countries. So just bring a soft pillow in early April, and watch feathers fly.

    Stephen Hawking has said he believes brains could exist independently of the body after people die, but that the idea of a conventional afterlife（传统意义上的死后重生）is a fairy tale. Speaking at the premiere（首映）of a documentary film about his life, Stephen Hawking said: “I think the brain is like a program in the mind, which is like a computer, so it's theoretically possible to copy the brain onto a computer and so provide a form of life after death.”

    “However, this is way beyond our present scientific and technological level. I think the conventional afterlife is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.” The author of “A Brief History of Time”, who earlier approved of the right for the deadly ill to end their lives as long as safeguards were in place, suffered from motor neurone(运动神经元) disease at the age of 21 and was given two to three years to live.

    “All my life I have lived with the menace of an early death, so I hate wasting time,” Hawking said on Thursday night, using the computer-created voice he controls with a facial muscle and a blink(贬眼) from one eye. The documentary explores a brilliant schoolboy with unclear handwriting who enjoyed the life of Oxford University before illness led to a lifelong desire of discovery about the origins of the universe, which began as a graduate at Cambridge University and has shocked the world.

    Hawking's sister Mary says in the film that her brother was highly competitive and curious about everything in a household which friends described as very academic, and explains how she received a toy house as a present when they were children, to which Stephen immediately added electricity.

    She said that life with her brother was attractive and exciting. “It's a waste of time arguing with Stephen because he always manages to turn the argument round,” she said. The film goes back to his childhood and his student days and shows the scientist, who uses a wheelchair, at home with break. It also explores his family life with his first wife, Jane, and their three children, the breakdown of their marriage and his marriage to one of his carers.

    Jane appears on camera to explain how the pressures of caring for the children and the increasingly disabled Hawking became even worse once full-time nurses were brought into the home, destroying any privacy（隐私）. His second wife and former nurse, Elaine Mason, does not appear in the film, and Hawking introduces their 1995-2007 marriage with a few pictures and a brief description.

Millions of people crowded onto trains, airplanes and buses across China last week. They were hurrying home, to be with their families for China's most important holiday, Chinese New Year. More than one billion people around the world are celebrating the New Year.

History Behind the Holiday

The Chinese New Year is celebrated at the second new moon after the winter solstice (冬至). (The winter solstice is one of the two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the equator. It is also the shortest day of the year. ) According to an ancient legend, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. 12 animals came, and Buddha named a year after each animal. The animals were: the mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

A Good Year to Be a Pig

Buddha announced that people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. If you were born in 1959, 1971, 1983 or 1995, you were born in the year of the Pig. People who were born in these years are believed to be polite, honest, hardworking and loyal. They are also supposed to be lucky, which is why many Chinese like to have babies in a Pig year. They are said to get along best with people born under the year of the Rabbit, Goat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse and Dog.

Festivals, Lions and Feasts

On Chinese New Year's Eve, the Chinese celebrate with fireworks, family gatherings, and feasts. One of the most popular ways to celebrate the holiday is the lion dance. The lion is considered a holy (神圣的) animal. During celebrations, dancers dressed as lions (or holding up elaborate paper lions in the air) perform to bring good luck to the people they visit at their homes or businesses. People often wear in red, which symbolizes fire. Legend has it that fire can drive away bad luck. The 15­day New Year season is celebrated with firecrackers, dragon dances and visits to friends and relatives. The celebrations end with the Lantern Festival, when brightly colored lanterns are hung in parks around China.

I was cutting up lettuce in the kitchen when I suddenly remembered watching a video about soaking the lettuce stub (莴苣残余部分) in water to grow a whole new vegetable. So I took out a wide-mouthed cup and placed the stub into it, gave it a little water, and placed it by the window. 

On a snowy morning I noticed the first sign. A first small leaf from its heart spread out. A tiny green flag of hope. Beaten, but not defeated. This lettuce was not done living! Within days, it was impossible to see the cuts where I had removed the leaves. The growth was explosive. And when I lifted the blossoming head out of the cup, tiny root threads fell down, seeking for the earth. 

What is growing here? Lettuce or hope? 

If I were a lettuce in a similar condition, I'd want to skeptically assess where I found myself before committing to full growth. Yet for this lettuce, my inadequate offering of water and a place by a window was enough for it to decide to reclaim itself again. It grew in a cup of water, in faith. This is the heart of this lettuce: alive, strong and fearless. It deserved a name. I decided to call it Monty. 

Monty wanted to grow, as we all do. I think I gave him a little love and freedom. Those two were all he needed to return to himself. I see joy in this lettuce. The return to self is always an expression of joy, which is life itself. This is the tendency of all living things. 

Monty still lives in a cup, but I'm going to transplant him outside. He deserves to become his full self. The only problem I see now is my ability to support Monty. I hope I have enough of a green finger. 

I'm surprised to find myself where I am. Maybe Monty is, too. I have the same choice as he does: give in or start again. The prospect of starting again is discouraging. But my lettuce-friend, Monty, leads the way. I can only hope to be as brave.