In the United States and several other countries , 2.5 million children play baseball in an organization called Little League . They play on teams in their hometowns . Their parents and other adults in the community coach or instruct them and serve as umpires（裁判员）to make sure that everyone follows the rules . Local businesses give money for the ball fields and the uniforms . Local teams compete against each other and the winners get to play teams that are more distant . Eventually , the top teams go to the Little League World Series .

    One hundred years after Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown , New York , in 1839 , Little League got started in Pennsylvania . Three men started the game for neighborhood boys with a smaller playing field and fewer innings（局）than adult baseball . Little League became popular after World War II when the game spread across the United States . By 1955 it was played throughout North America and within five years it had spread to Europe. Children's baseball really caught on in Japan and Taiwan of China and teams from those areas won the World Series seven out of eight years . After this , the organization tried banning foreign teams from the World Series , but the ban came to an end after one year .

    At first , Little League was only for boys aged nine to twelve . However , in 1974 , the parents of girl baseball players brought a law suit . The courts ruled that Little League had to include both boys and girls . Later Little League added on softball and other games for teenagers up to age eighteen . Occasionally , a Little Leaguer becomes a professional player . For example , Gary Carter went from Little League to play nineteen seasons in the Major Leagues , ten of them as an All-Star player . By and large , youngsters play baseball for fun , but their parents are pround of them .

Mid-IB at a glance

    The summer vacation is the time to strengthen your learning and prepare for the year ahead. In July and August Oxford Study Courses will once again hold its Mid-IB Summer School for students half way through their IB Diploma（国际预科证书）.

    We'll be back giving another generation of IB students a unique opportunity to sample a way of life enjoyed by students at famous universities.

    Students who have completed the first year of their IB Diploma can join us and we can help them prepare for their important second year.

    Students can choose how many subjects they study. Each subject is studied for one week. You can attend up to 5 weeks.

    The Mid-IB Summer School is held at Cambridge University in the UK （between June 20th and August 1 st） and at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology （MIT）in Boston, USA （between July 6th and July 25th）.

Student comments

◆ “The classes have shown me new approaches to learning. I have also learned how to approach exam questions and now feel confident in doing so.”

◆ “It was cool creating tight and close relationships with other students from around the world, realizing we all had a connection to each other.”

◆ “I really enjoyed the level of independence, although I felt like people were watching out for us. I also felt like an Oxford student!”

◆ “I have enjoyed the learning style and the course work has been extremely beneficial academically.”

Enjoy the summer

    Our Summer School gives you an action-packed social scene with visits to the fun places in the area, organized sports and social events, and advice on how to enjoy your free time in these amazing cities with your new friends. Welcome to contact us at ose@ose-ib.com or on +44（0）1865 521802!

Discovery's astronauts arrived to an exciting celebration Wednesday as nearly 700 people crowded an airplane storage place, waving flags and holding signs that read: “Welcome Home, Astronauts!”

    The seven-person team returned to Earth on Tuesday after being the first to take a space shuttle into orbit since the Columbia disaster（灾难）of 2003. 

    “In the last two and a half years, we have been through the very worst that manned space flight can bring us, and over the past two weeks we have seen the very best,” NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told the astronauts and their families and fans Wednesday. 

    The crowd waved American flags for the U.S. astronauts and Japanese flags for crew member Soichi Noguchi, one of the spacewalkers. 

    “As a rookie（新手）astronaut, I could not ask for more,” Noguchi said, “We had three spacewalks, two extra days in space and one great team.” 

    While the homecoming has been filled with excitement for what mission controllers declared a “truly spectacular test flight”, uncertainty remains for the future of the shuttle program. 

    Shortly after Discovery rose up into space July 26, a nearly 1-pound large piece of foam insulation（泡沫绝缘材料）fell from the fuel tank-the very thing that was supposed to have been fixed after Columbia exploded. The foam missed Discovery, but NASA grounded all shuttle flights until engineers fix the problem.

    NASA ground crews examined Discovery after its return from orbit and found it in good condition, an official said Wednesday at NASA‟s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. 

    Technicians counted 101 dings and divots, including 20 that were larger than 1 inch. Schaaf Dean, landing support group chief, said the numbers were similar to the results of other shuttle, post-landing examinations. 

A beginning examination of the shuttle's thermal（热的）blanket showed it remained undamaged during re-en-try into the Earth's air.(Agencies)

Integrity

    Integrity is the quality of being honest and strong about what you believe to be right. The concept of integrity has played a key role in moral philosophy throughout history and is promoted in all societies because of its importance to social relations. Individual integrity is vital to society, one that enables people to make use of their capacity for critical reflection, does not force people to take up particular roles and does not encourage individuals to betray each other. Besides, societies can be favorable to the development of individual integrity.

    Individual integrity can lift up the spirits of the entire society. It can shape the lives of people living in a particular society, the lives of all fellow people and, in its broadest sense, even the destiny(命运) of a nation. By contrast, if those living in the society are corrupt, it could have bad effects, jeopardizing the healthy morality of the society.

    On the other hand, a society can be favorable to the development of individual integrity. Society expects and requires integrity. A society consisting of people of integrity, and people who never compromise on their principles, could have a positive mark on the personal development of its members. Being a part of such a morally lively community could serve as a basis for absorbing traits of good character. This could be of a distinct advantage to any individuals in the society.

    However, some social structures are of the wrong sort for some individuals to pursue(追求) integrity. If that is the case, we have to ask questions about the moral nature of society first before raising questions about individual integrity. Questions about integrity may turn out to be about what kind of society it is, rather than about the relationship between individual interests and characteristics of a society. The pursuit of adequate individual integrity often depends, not so much on understanding who one is and what one believes and is committed to, but rather understanding what one's society is and imagining what it could be.

    Under no circumstances can we underestimate the importance of human integrity in a society. People, who are honest, trustworthy, compassionate and caring, are the factors decisive in the growth of individuals as well as the development of a society.

    Regardless of how far we'd like to believe gender(性别) equality in the workplace has come, there's still a yawning gap between male and female leaders in the professional world. A 2018 statistic shows that women nowadays hold just 5.8 percent of CEOs positions at S&P 500 companies, according to Catalyst.

    While it's not a huge shock that women are somewhat underrepresented in leadership positions, what is surprising though, is the fact that females may actually be better suited to lead in almost every area, at least according to new findings from the BI Norwegian Business School.

    In their research，Professor yvind L. Martinsen and Professor Lars Glas surveyed (调查)2,900 managers with a special focus on personality types. The results were clear: Women scored higher than men in four of the five major leadership-centric categories.

    While some people believe that men inherently make better leaders — probably because they picture a leader with a commanding voice, which is more typical of men than women — this piece of research suggests that women are better at methodical management and goal-setting, openness, sociability and supportiveness, as well as ability to communicate clearly.

    There was one area in which men scored higher than women, though, and that was on emotional stability and ability to face job-related pressure and stress. The results suggest that women are more sensitive to the effects of high-pressure or highly emotional situations.

    Obviously，it's important to consider individual(个人的) differences. Anyone, regardless of gender, may be an inspiring leader and a competent boss. But next time you're hiring for a management position, you just might want to give the resumes(简历) from female candidates a harder look.

    Crossing your legs is an extremely common habit; most people don't even notice that they're doing it when they sit down. While you may find it comfortable to sit with one knee crossed over the other, it might be causing health problems that you are not aware of.

    A study published in Blood Pressure Monitoring stated that sitting with your legs crossed can increase your blood pressure. The reason for this is that the blood in your legs has to work against gravity to be pumped back to your heart and that crossing one leg over the other increases resistance(阻力), making it even harder for the blood to circulate. This causes your body to increase your blood pressure to push the blood back to the heart. You won't feel any immediate effects, but repeated, drawn­out increases in blood pressure can cause long­term health problems. So, planning to sit for a long period of time? Don't keep your legs crossed.

    Crossing your legs at the knee can also cause pressure on the major nerve in your leg that passes just below your knee and along the outside of your leg, explains Richard Graves, a medical expert. This pressure can cause numbness and temporary paralysis (麻痹) of some of the muscles in your foot and leg, preventing you from being able to raise your ankle—what we know as that "pins and needles" sensation. While the feeling of discomfort may only last a minute or two, repeatedly crossing your legs until they feel numb can cause permanent nerve damage.

    So next time you sit down, try to get yourself in the habit of sitting with both of your feet on the floor. Not only will it help your posture and stability, but it will also save your health in the long run.