Getting help with parenting makes a difference -- at any age

    New Oxford University study finds that parenting interventions(育儿干预)for helping children with behavior problems are just as effective in school age, as in younger children.

    There is a dominant view among scientists and policy-makers. They believes, for the greatest effect, interventions need to be {#blank#}1{#/blank#} early in life, when children's brain function and behavior are thought to be more flexible. However, according to the new research, it's time to stop focusing on when we intervene with parenting, and just continue helping children in need of all ages.

    Just published in Child Development, the study is one of the first to {#blank#}2{#/blank#} this age assumption. Parenting interventions are a common and effective tool for reducing child behavior problems, but studies of age effects have produced different results until now.

    A team led by Professor Frances Fardner {#blank#}3{#/blank#}data from over 15,000 families from all over the world, and found no evidence that earlier is better.  Older children benefited just as much as younger ones from parenting interventions for reducing behavior problems. There was no evidence that earlier interventions are more powerful. This was based on {#blank#}4{#/blank#} data from more than 150 different experiments.

    What's more, their economic analysis found that interventions with older children were {#blank#}5{#/blank#} more likely to be cost-effective.

    Professor Gardner commented: “When there is {#blank#}6{#/blank#} about behavioral difficulties in younger children, our findings should never be used as a reason to delay intervention, otherwise, children and families will suffer for longer.” She continued, “As for {#blank#}7{#/blank#} parenting interventions for reducing behavior problems in childhood, we should stick to the principle, 'it's never too early, never too late', rather than 'earlier is better'.”

    The study draws the conclusion that it makes sense to invest in parenting interventions for children at all ages with behavioral difficulties, because they are no more likely to be {#blank#}8{#/blank#} in younger than older children, at least in the pre-adolescents.

    Of course, there's more work to be done. The experiments conducted were {#blank#}9{#/blank#} to pre-adolescents, to shorter-term effects, and parent-reported assessment of child outcomes. Future studies are needed that focus on adolescents, longer-term outcomes, and using multiple sources for {#blank#}10{#/blank#} child behavior problems.

    The United Nations' series of "language days" are designed to promote the use of the six official languages of the UN as well as to celebrate cultural and linguistic diversity (语言多样性). Chinese Language Day is the 20th April. It's a time chosen to fit in with the Chinese{#blank#}1{#/blank#} of Guyu (古语), which honours Cangjie—the four-eyed {#blank#}2{#/blank#} figure who is traditionally understood to have created Chinese characters in the time of the Yellow Emperor, 5000 years ago.

    Mandarin (普通话) is the most-spoken language in the world, with over 1.5 billion speakers. When most people think of "Chinese", it is Mandarin that they are {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. But Mandarin Chinese is far from the only variant of the Chinese language—or the only language spoken in China. In fact, there are a great number of Chinese languages. Remember—this is a country which is both very large and very, very old. Different regions are within the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} expanse of territory, that is, China can be {#blank#}5{#/blank#} not only by great distances but also by broadly geographical features such as mountain ranges.

    It is hard to guess how many dialects actually exist. In general, dialects can be {#blank#}6{#/blank#} classified into one of the seven large groups: Putonghua (Mandarin), Gan, Kejia (Hakka), Min, Wu, Xiang, and Yue (Cantonese). Each language group contains a large number of dialects.

    Understanding the situation is {#blank#}7{#/blank#} by the fact that, while many Chinese people in different geographical areas of the country may not understand each other when they speak their regional dialect, they may share the same written language even if their pronunciation of different characters within that language may{#blank#}8{#/blank#}.

A {#blank#}9{#/blank#} feature across all Chinese languages is tone. For instance, Mandarin has four tones and Cantonese has six tones. Tone, in terms of language, is the pitch (音高) in which syllables (音节) in words are spoken. In Chinese, different words {#blank#}10{#/blank#} different keys. Some words even have pitch variations in one single syllable.

    The Historical Change of Reader's Digest

    During World War I, Mr. DeWitt Wallace was wounded in a battle. During his recovery in the hospital, he read a lot of magazines and {#blank#}1{#/blank#} a lot of interesting information. At the same time, he also found that few people had time to read so many magazines that he realized the idea of excerpting (摘录) these articles and publishing them.

    He was {#blank#}2{#/blank#} to publish a pocket magazine they called Reader's Digest with his wife Lila Acheson. They opened an office downstairs in an illegal hotel in Greenwich Village, New York, and spent only $5,000 in capital and began {#blank#}3{#/blank#} subscribers. After a period of hard work, the first volume was {#blank#}4{#/blank#} published on February 5, 1922. Its purpose is to inform the readers in daily life and give the readers entertainment, encouragement and guidance. The first article, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} How to Stay Young Mentally, was one and a half pages long.

    In 1920, he put {#blank#}6{#/blank#} selected articles into Reader's Digest samples and displayed them to major publishers in the United States. He hoped that someone would be willing to publish them, but they were all {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. Mr. Wallace did not give up and decided to publish it himself. He worked at home with his wife, and finally published the first issue of Reader's Digest in February 1922. The first was printed in 5,000 copies, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} at 25 cents, and sent to 1,500 payment subscribers by mail. By 1935, the circulation of Reader's Digest had reached one million copies.

    The Chinese {#blank#}9{#/blank#} of Reader's Digest was first published in March 1965. The first editor-in-chief was Lin Taiyi, the daughter of Mr. Lin Yutang, master of literature. In November 2004, Reader's Digest and Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau announced the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} of a long-term publishing cooperation.