When John was growing up, other kids felt sorry for him. His parents always had him weeding the garden, carrying out the garbage and delivering newspapers. But when John reached adulthood, he was better off than his childhood playmates. He had more job satisfaction, a better marriage and was healthier. Most of all, he was happier. Far happier.

These are the findings of a 40-year study that followed the lives of 456 teenage boys from Boston. The study showed that those who had worked as boys enjoyed happier and more productive lives than those who had not. “Boys who worked in the home or community gained competence (能力) and came to feel they were worthwhile members of society,” said George Vaillant, the psychologist (心理学家) who made the discovery. “And because they felt good about themselves, others felt good about them.”

Vaillant's study followed these males in great detail. Interviews were repeated at ages 25, 31 and 47. Under Vaillant, the researchers compared the men's mental-health scores with their boyhood-activity scores with their boyhood-activity scores. Points were awarded for part-time jobs, housework, effort in school, and ability to deal with problems.

The link between what the men had done as boys and how they turned out as adults was surprisingly sharp. Those who had done the most boyhood activities were twice as likely to have warm relations with a wide variety of people, five times as likely to be well paid and 16 times less likely to have been unemployed. The researchers also found that IQ and family social and economic class made no real difference in how the boys turned out.

Working—at any age—is important. Childhood activities help a child develop responsibility, independence, confidence and competence—the underpinnings (基础) of emotional health. They also help him understand that people must cooperate and work toward common goals. The most competent adults are those who know how to do this. Yet work isn't everything. As Tolstoy once said, “One can live magnificently in this world if one knows how to work and how to love, to work for the person one loves and to love one's work.”

    Do you know that November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? You can find the NaNoWriMo Young Writer's program at ywp.nanowrima.org. It is a challenge（挑战）to write a 50,000-word novel in one month.

    The program began in 1999 in San Francisco with only 21 members. Later year, more than 400,000 took up the challenge. The writers can choose what they want to write about. On November 1st, writers visit the website and start to update（更新）their word count. They can communicate with other writers there as well. All the writers have to stop writing on November 30th.

    It is okay if you have never written a book before. The website provides lesson plans and workbooks for beginners. You can use them to improve writing skills in your novel. Then you can start planning what your novel will be about.

    Are there any books published（出版）from the NaNoWriMo program? Here are a few:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Water for Elephants by SaraGruen

Entrychats by Cecile Duquenne

    Are there any young readers who want to join in this program? If you want, we hope you can write the best novel. If you have not heard of NaNoWriMo, but you have a good story in mind, join us!

    Choosing where to live may be one of the biggest decisions you'll make when you move to Sydney, but you'll have plenty of help.

    Temporary arrival accommodation

    Before you move to Sydney, we recommend that you book a temporary place to stay. Once you get here, you can look for longer-term accommodation.

    --sydney.edu.au/accommodation/short-term

    On-campus-residential colleges (fully catered饮食全包的)

    The University has eight residential colleges on the Camperdown/Darlington Campus, including International House, a residential community of global scholars. Colleges provide comfortable, fully furnished single rooms and daily meals, along with sporting, cultural, leadership and social programs. They also include on-site tutorials(辅导课) in addition to campus-based classes.

    --sydney.edu.au/colleges

    On-campus residences (self-catered饮食自理的)

    The University has two self-run residences—Queen Mary Building (QMB) and Abercrombie Student Accommodation—on the Camperdown/Darlington Campus. Both just under a year old, they house up to 1000 students. These residences provide modern single-study rooms with large common living, learning and study spaces, shared kitchens, a theatre, gyms, soundproofed music rooms, art studios, sky lounges and rooftop gardens.

    --sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-on-campus.html

    Off-campus living

    More than 90 percent of our students live off campus. The University is close to many dynamic and multicultural suburbs such as Annandale, Newtown, Chippendale and Glebe. A great place to search is our large online database of properties.

    --sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-off-campus.html

    The Trans-Siberian Railway is a single train line that crosses nearly the complete length of Russia, from Moscow to Vladivostok. It covers a total of 5,772 miles, running from Europe to Asia. Unlike the longest flight in the world, which just began transporting passengers in 2018, the Trans-Siberian Railway started its business in 1916.

    Anyone who has taken this long journey, or even just part of it, will tell you that it travels at a rather slow speed, passing through some amazing, remote areas of Russia. You don't have to make the full journey without stopping. Instead, you're suggested to get off where there are attractive views, since it stops in some pretty fantastic places. But you certainly can take the full journey non-stop. If you do, the trip will take about 144 hours—six full days!

    You can book tickets with travel agencies. You can also make the booking online and tickets will be sent to your hotel or personal address. Children under 4 years old accompanied by adults can travel free, but cannot take up a seat. A child ticket needs to be bought if you want to get a seat for the child.

    There are longer railway services in the transportation world, but only one of them is a passenger line as some longer routes transport goods, not travelers. This railway may not be the fastest or the most modern, but it's clearly still an important player in the transportation world!

    Older women who walk a little over three kilometers each day might live longer than less active women of the same age, a new study suggests.

    Many Americans hoping to stay healthy set a daily goal of 10, 000 steps, or about eight kilometers. They often have this goal because they are wearing electronic devices which set that target, note researchers in the United States. Their findings appeared recently in the publication JAMA Internal Medicine.

    But it is not clear how much intensity(强度)or speed matter when counting the health benefits of every step, the researchers write. They add that 10,000 steps per day might not be the right goal for everyone.

    For the study, researchers observed 17,000 women, all in their early 70s. They asked the women to wear accelerometers for at least four days. Accelerometers are small devices that measure the number of steps and the intensity of movement. The researchers followed up with the women much later, around 4. 3 years later, on average. Since the beginning of the study, 504 women had died. Compared to women who took no more than 2, 718 steps daily, the women who took at least 4,363 steps per day were 41 percent less likely to die.

    "Even a modest amount of steps is associated with lower death rates," said I-Min Lee, the lead writer of a report on the study. "The rate of stepping did not matter in these older women: it was the number of steps that mattered.

    The study had a few limitations. For example, the researchers only measured women's movements once, at the start of the study period. It is possible that the women's behaviors changed over time. Still, the results are "good news for older adults who may have difficulty walking at faster paces, "said Keith Diaz, a researcher at Columbia University. He was not involved in the study.

    "Any walking is better than nothing," Diaz said by email. "With even small amounts of walking, your risk of death will be sharply reduced "For those who have difficulty walking, other research shows that any form of aerobic activity provides health benefits," he added. "Swimming, bicycling or any form of activity that is continuous in nature will provide health benefits.

Online jobs have opened the door for many people to earn a living (谋生) or make some extra money from the comfort of their homes.This includes teens as well.If you're looking for such a job, here are some choices you can consider.

Customer Service

If you are 16 years old and over, you have a chance to work with Uhaul as a customer service person.You just need to have a good pair of head－phones and high－speed Internet in order to do this job.Basic pay starts at $7.50 an hour.

Sell Items Online

Selling items online is one of the easiest ways to make quick cash.Teens can turn it into a good business by selling things on Bonanza.You need to start sorting through (分类) items at your home that are no longer being used and list them for sale.

Take Surveys

Another easy task teens can do to earn money is to take surveys online.You don't need any work experience to do this and can be as young as 13 years old to get started.Survey sites like VIP Voices，Swagbucks，Harris Poll, E－Poll, and Paid Viewpoint allow teens to start taking surveys for cash and gift cards.And your opinions should be expressed clearly in English.

Etsy

Do you love to make new things? You can open up an Etsy shop to share your works.Etsy is great for DIYers who can create new products.If you are under 18, you just need a parent who is willing to help manage your shop.