American researchers found females are the more talkative sex because of a special “language protein” in the brain.

    The study, conducted by neuroscientists (神经学家) and psychologist from the University of Maryland, concluded that women talked more because they had more of the Foxp2 protein. The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that higher levels were found among humans that were women but in rats that were males. Their findings came after it was previously claimed that ladies speak about 20,000 words a day — over 13,000 more than men. “This study is one of the first to report a sex difference in the expression of a language-associated protein in humans or animals,” said Prof Margaret McCarthy, who led the study. In their study, the researchers attempted to determine what might make male rats more vocal than their female friends.

    They separated four-day-old rats from their mothers and then counted the number of times they cried out in the “ultrasonic (超声波的) range”, the frequencies higher than humans can hear, over five minutes. While both sexes called out hundreds of cries, the males called out twice as often, they found. But when the pups were returned to their mother's cage, she fussed over her sons first. Tests conducted on the parts of the brain known to be associated with vocal calls showed the male pups have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females. The researchers then increased the production in the brains of female pups and reduced it in males. This led to the female rats crying out more often and their mothers showing more interest in them. In contrast, males became less “talkative”.

    The researchers then tested samples from ten children, aged between three and five, which showed that females had up to 30 per cent more of the Foxp2 protein than males, in a brain area key to language in humans.

    “Based on our observations, we assume higher levels of Foxp2 in girls and higher levels of Foxp2 in male rats is an indication that Foxp2 protein levels are associated with the more communicative sex,” said Prof McCarthy.

    “Our results imply Foxp2 as a component (成分) of the neurobiological basis of sex differences in vocal communication in mammals.”

    Many foreign students report feeling lonely or unwelcome in Australia. Those feelings are among the reasons why Australia is taking a close look at its international education industry. But wherever international students go, making friends may not always be easy. Elisabeth Gareis of Baruch College in New York surveyed 454 international students. They were attending four-year colleges and graduate schools in the American South and Northeast.

    Students from English-speaking countries and from northern and central Europe were more likely to be happy with their friendships. But 38% of the international students said they had no close friends in the United States. And half of the students from East Asia said they were unhappy with the number of American friends they had. Thirty percent said they wished their friendships could be deeper and more meaningful.

    Professor Gareis says, “Students from East Asia have cultures that are different on many levels from the culture in the United States. There are also language problems, and maybe some social skills, such as small talk, which are possibly not as important in their native countries, where it's not as important to start friendships with small talks. Many East Asian students blamed themselves for their limited friendships with Americans, for not speaking the language well enough and for not knowing the culture well enough.

    VOA's Student Union blogger Jessica Stahl did her own survey to find out how American students and foreign students relate to each other. More than 100 students, about half of them American, answered her online questions.

Half of the international students and 60% of the Americans said they related as well or better to the other group than to their own group.

    Professor Gareis says: "International students who make friends with host nationals are, overall, more satisfied with their stay in the host country. They have better language skills, they have better academic performance and they have better attitudes toward the host country."

    It is sad to learn that fewer of us now own pets. According to Mintel, just 56% of UK households（家庭）today include a pet, compared with 63% in 2012. It is down to our smaller homes. The housing crisis（危机）is taking away one of our life's joys: pets.

    Pets can help us get over serious illness. Pets lessen our anxiety. Pets can be a godsend for people experiencing various forms of mental disorders. As if all that were not enough, pets also help their owners get a date because of complex psychological reasons.

    There do, of course, remain oppositions to the very idea of pets. The charity PET A puts it thus: “This selfish desire to own animals and receive love from them causes immeasurable suffering, which results from selling or giving them away casually, and taking away their opportunity to enjoy their natural behavior.” This is undoubtedly true in some situations. But seen from a different point of view, there's something quite lovely about the story of people and their companion animals.

    What was once a relationship based only on the animal's functional effects—its ability to kill pests（害虫）, guard houses, and the like—has developed into something much more about care and love.

    We share 84% of our DNA with dogs. We share 90% of our DNA with mice, for good ness sake. I have no idea how that works. But still pets remind（提醒）us we're part something bigger. Pets break down the barriers between us and the animal kingdom. We may teach pets to roll over, stand up, order takeaways and so on. But they teach us much more: that life is actually really quite short and so should be filled as much as possible with life-giving experiences.

    Learning English as the second language for non­native English speakers is not an easy task. It needs to spend a considerable time before you could speak or write the English language. There are only two ways to learn the English language or any other language you prefer.

The first one needs a lot of money because of the requirements needed. If you notice, a person migrated(移民) to another country and stayed there for a couple of years and then going back to his home non­native speaking country, the person became so familiar in speaking English. This is the most effective way of learning to speak and write a language unfamiliar to you.

    The learner learns the language because he/she is forced to do so because there is no other language being used. Not to mention that the learner should adapt to the environment. It is all started from listening. This is the process how language is acquired if you will stay long in a foreign country.

    The second one is the traditional way. You go to school or learning center specialized in teaching English as the second language. Obviously, this is cheaper than the first, but it needs a considerable time before you will learn to familiarize the language. Today, there are different language centers offering their services for people to learn the language in your own country. They brought all the materials needed because, compared to the first one, they're affordable and reasonable.

    Nowadays, learning English as the second language is one of the global trends. Since the English language is used in most of the business transactions, you should be on it too. Otherwise you will not go along with the future trends that will arise.

    Dance Classes

    Ballet

    Ballet teaches grace, posture(姿势) and flexibility. Students focus on the use of proper ballet items(物品),expanding their knowledge of classical ballet techniques and improving motor skills for classical ballet practice. The class is a formal ballet class.

    Age 8-10

    September 7, 2019-May 16, 2020

    10:30 am-12:00 am on Saturday

    Creative Movers

    Students can explore creative movement, balance, focus, the development of skills, motor planning and balance. The class helps build strength, flexibility and self-confidence, and allows children to realize expression in a positive and encouraging environment.  Children use their imagination to celebrate movement and have lots of fun.

    Age 3-5

    September 7, 2019-January 18, 2020

    9:00 am-9:45 am on Saturday

    Jazz

    Jazz includes movements from both classical ballet and dance techniques. This class will focus on traditional jazz dance. Students will be introduced to jazz-style rhythms and movements. In order to ensure proper placement for your child, we invite all students to participate in a sample(示例) class. Students and parents work with program staff to meet students' personal dance goals.

    Age 5-6

    September 7, 2019-May 16, 2020

    2:00 pm-3:00 pm on Saturday

    Hip Hop

    Students will be introduced to several different aspects of hip hop dance including popping, locking, breaking and totting in a high-energy environment. Our hip hop instructors are highly knowledgeable and will provide students with a wonderful view of hip hop dance.

    Age 7-10

    September 7, 2019-May 16, 2020

    1:00 pm-2:00 pm on Sunday

A bot is a software program that often works by itself on the internet to perform the same kinds of actions as humans do. The report, produced by California-based internet security company Imperva, found that 49.6 percent of worldwide internet traffic ( 互联网流量） came from bots in 2023, while from human users fell to 50.4 percent. Imperva's study also found that web traffic linked to "bad bots" grew to 32 percent in 2023, a rise of 30.2 percent from 2022. Nanhi Singh, a security advisor at Imperva, said that bots are currently one of growing threats facing almost every industry.

Bots are generally designed to visit websites and independently search for many kinds of online information. They are able to operate at much greater speeds than humans and can process repeated searches and process large amounts of data. Online search advisor Yoast notes that some bots are considered good because they can be useful to individuals through tools such as OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT. Some others are considered malicious, because they are trained to hack, or break into network computer systems. These kinds of bots pretend themselves as humans and collect private data or financial information that can be used to commit crimes. And some bots are even designed to spread misinformation and false news.

The study also suggested that some countries have a much bigger problem with bad bots than others. Web traffic linked to bad bots in 2023 accounted for 71 percent in Ireland while Germany was next, with 67.5 percent. The percentage of Mexico and the USA was reported to be 42.8 percent and 35.4 percent respectively. Imperva even reported that bad bot activity would lead to account takeovers, which increased 10 percent in 2023 over 2022. The highest number of account takeovers – 36.8 percent–happened in the financial services industry. Next was the travel industry, with 11.5 percent, followed by business services at eight percent.

Nanhi Singh said the problem is likely to worsen in coming years to the point where such bots would exist everywhere. She urged organizations to introduce bot management and security tools in an effort to limit automated traffic and prevent dangerous account takeovers.