We may not be aware of it, but ordinary family homes in the U.S. and the rest of the world are not energy-efficient.

    Most of their energy goes to heating and cooling, and a lot of it is wasted, as warm air and cool air escape through fireplace chimneys and thin or poorly fitting windows and doors. A passive house loses almost none."Imagine a thermos(保温瓶),"said housing developer Brendan O'Neill."You have insulation(隔绝) everywhere, and it's basically completely sealed. And so the idea is to build a house like a thermos. So the windows are sealed. There's insulation completely surrounding the building. We make it as sealed as possible."

    A 147-square-meter passive house, presented by O'Neill Development Corp. as a demonstration unit just outside Washington, was brought to the site in two boxes. "Once it's set and put together, it takes about four weeks to complete the outside construction, to put down carpets," O'Neill said. "If everything is set in place, you put a house like this together in about four months.”The total cost of building it was $325,000, or about 17 percent more than constructing an ordinary house. But its utility(公用事业) bill is only around $20 monthly, or one-tenth the amount for the average house of the same size.

    While passive houses have been around for a long time, the idea has never taken root in the U.S. There was no driving force to push it.

    However, David Peabody, an architect who designs passive houses said, "I think climate change is now becoming a larger issue. And I think building standards are catching on to that. So people are becoming more aware of energy."Peabody said the cost of building passive houses could come down."What really makes sense for truly affordable housing," he said, "is to build multi-storey buildings."

    Conventional wisdom says that hardship can make us old before our time. In fact, a new study suggests that violence not only leaves long-term scars on children's bodies, but also changes their DNA, causing changes that are equal to seven to ten years of premature aging.

    Scientists measured this by studying the ends of children's chromosomes (染色体), called telomeres (端粒), says Idan Shalev, lead author of a study published in Molecular Psychiatry.

    Telomeres are special DNA sequences (序列) which prevent the DNA in chromosomes from separating. They get shorter each time a cell divides, until a cell cannot divide any more and dies.

    Several factors have been found to shorten telomeres, including smoking, radiation and psychological stresses such as being treated badly when young and taking care of a chronically ill person.

    In this study, researchers examined whether exposure to violence could make children's telomeres shorten faster than normal. They interviewed the mothers of 236 children at ages 5, 7 and 10, asking whether the youngsters had been exposed to domestic violence between the mother and her partner; physical maltreatment by an adult; or bullying. Researchers measured the children's telomeres-in cells obtained by wiping the insides of their cheeks-at ages 5 and 10.

    Telomeres shortened faster in kids exposed to two or more types of violence, says Shalev. Unless that pattern changes, the study suggests, these kids could be expected to develop diseases of aging, such as heart attacks or memory loss, seven to 10 years earlier than their peers.

    Shalev says there is hope for these kids. His study found that, in rare cases, telomeres can lengthen. Better nutrition, exercise and stress reduction three things that may be able to lengthen telomeres, he says.

    The study confirms a small but growing number of studies suggesting that early childhood a adversity imprints itself in our chromosomes, says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School.

    An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow (乌鸦) landed on their window.

    The father asked his son, “What is this?”

    The son replied, “It is a crow.”

    After a few minutes, the father asked his son for the second time, “What is this?”

    The son said, “Father, I told you just now. It's a crow. ”

    After a little while, the father again asked his son the same question for the third time, “What is this?”

    This time, the son said to his father in a low and cold tone, “It's a crow, a crow.”

    After a moment, the father again asked his son for the fourth time, “What is this?”

    This time the son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again? I have told you already, ‘IT IS A CROW'. Are you not able to understand this?”

    A minute later the father went to his room and came back with a diary, which he had kept since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. The following words were written in it.

    Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa when a crow suddenly landed on the window edge. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied him 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question. I didn't at all feet angry, but instead felt affection for my son.

    So...

    If your parents reach old age, do not look at them as a burden, but speak to them gently, and be kind to them. Be considerate to your parents.

    Think twice the next time you decide to copy your boss in an email. That simple little “CC” box (抄送框) could send a message that ruins your relationship with the other receivers.

    A study in Harvard Business Review asked working adults to imagine that their coworker always, sometimes, or rarely CC'ed their boss in emails. The study results show that employees felt less trusted when their coworker “always'' copied the boss than when they ''sometimes” or “almost never” did. The results of the survey aren't surprising, says career expert Bruce Tulgan. Sometimes the boss really does need to stay in the loop (在圈内) with an email chain. But most times, employees are purposely sending the message that they don't think the receiver follow through with what they're asking unless the boss gets involved, says Tulgan. “That is an expression of lack of trust,'' he says.

    Breaking down that trust level in your office can have serious consequences. Like in any relationship, coworkers need trust to keep things running smoothly. “When people have trust, there is a much higher level of wanting to deliver for each other,” says Tulgan. “When people have enthusiasm, they try harder.” That means more willingness to take risks and make decisions, he says. Even if you don't trust your coworker to follow through for you, copying the boss in an email is not the best strategy, says career expert Todd Dewett, PhD. “CC'ing is the adult version of being a tattletale (告密者),” he says. “It tells your colleague you didn't agree without telling it to their face, and you want your boss to know without talking about it.”

    As a rule of thumb, only about 20 percent of what you do in the office is truly urgent, and those are the only times you should consider getting your boss involved in, says Tulgan. “The most important people, the most important project, key relationship,” she says. “That's when you might consider the occasional use of CC.”

    At times my mom has been uncomfortable seeing some quality in me. For example, when I was 12, I went to Puerto Rico all by myself to stay with my grandmother for the summer. My mom was extremely nervous about it. She kept telling me how things were different in Puerto Rico, to always put on sunscreen, not to wander away from my grandmother, and other warnings. She helped me pack and did not leave the airport until she saw my plane take off.

    But despite her worries, she let me go on my own. As I moved into my teens, she continued to give me space to grow and learn, even when it might have been difficult for her. When I reached my senior year, I decided to move away for college. Once again I found that I differed from my peers: while many of them wanted to stay close to home, I couldn't wait to be out in the world on my own. While my mom may not have been happy at the thought of my going away, she was supportive and excited for me.

    One big thing I realized during my senior year, as my mom granted me more freedom, was that she actually believes in me and trusts me. That means a lot. Most of my life, and especially when I was little, the main person I tried to impress in my schoolwork or other things was my mother. I knew she expected nothing but the best from me. Sometimes it was hard to live up to her standards: getting a single B on my report card would make me feel bad because I knew she wanted me to have all A's.

    I know that her high standards have helped me stay focused on what's important, like education, and made me who I am. I am thankful for her support and involvement in my life. Most of all I respect her. She is the strongest woman I know and that's why I have turned out so strong and independent.

    Last year, on report card day, my son and a bunch of his 13-year-old friends piled into the back seat of my car, ready for the last-day-of-school party at McDonald's. "Jack got a laptop for getting straight A's, and Laurie got a cell phone," one boy said. "Oh, yeah, and Sarah got an iPod Nano, and she's only in third grade," said another. "And how about Brian? He got $10 for each A."

    I suddenly became concerned. These payoffs might get parents through grammar school, but what about high school and beyond? What would be left after the electric guitar, the cell phone, and the portable laptop?

    I saw the road ahead: As the homework load increased, my income would decrease. I saw my comfortable lifestyle vanish before my eyes — no more of those $5 bags of already-peeled organic carrots. No more organic anything!

    I started to feel surprised and nervous. Would every goal attained by my two children fetch a reward? A high grade point average? A good class ranking? Would sports achievements be included in this reward system: soccer goals, touchdowns(橄榄球触地得分(, runs-batted-in(棒球打点得分(? What about orchestra(管弦乐团(? Would first chair pay more than second? I'd be penniless by eighth-grade graduation.

"We never paid anything for good grades," said my neighbor across the street, whose son was recently accepted at MIT. "He just did it on his own. Maybe once in a while we went out for pizza, but that's about it."

    Don't you just hate that? We're all running around looking for the latest electronic products, and she's spending a few dollars on pizza. She gets motivation; we get negotiation.