Mothers and daughters go through so much—yet when was the last time a mother and daughter sat down to write a book together about it all? Perri Klass and her mother, Sheila Solomon Klass, both gifted professional writers, prove to be ideal co-writers as they examine their decades of motherhood, daughterhood, and the wonderful ways their lives have overlapped (重叠).

    Perri notes with amazement how closely her own life has mirrored her mother's: both have full-time careers； both have published books, articles, and stories； each has three children； they both love to read. They also love to travel—in fact, they often take trips together. But in truth, the harder they look at their lives, the more they acknowledge their big differences in circumstance and basic nature.

    A child of the Depression (大萧条), Sheila was raised in Brooklyn by parents who considered education a luxury for girls. Starting with her college education, she has fought for everything she's ever accomplished. Perri, on the other hand, grew up privileged in the New Jersey suburbs of the 1960s and 1970s. For Sheila, wasting time or money is a crime, and luxury is unthinkable while Perri enjoys the occasional small luxury, but has not been successful at trying to persuade her mother into enjoying even the tiniest thing she likes.

    Each writing in her own unmistakable voice, Perri and Sheila take turns exploring the joys and pains, the love and bitterness, the minor troubles and lasting respect that have always bonded them together. Sheila describes the adventure of giving birth to Perri in a tiny town in Trinidad where her husband was doing research fieldwork. Perri admits that she can't sort out all the mess in the households, even though she knows it drives her mother crazy. Together they compare thoughts on bringing up children and working, admit long-hidden sorrows, and enjoy precious memories.

    Looking deep into the lives they have lived separately and together, Perri and Sheila tell their mother-daughter story with honesty, humor, enthusiasm, and admiration for each other. A written account in two voices, Every Mother Is a Daughter is a duet (二重奏) that produces a deep, strong sound with the experiences that all mothers and daughters will recognize.

    Opening week specials at Munchies Food Hall

    At the corner of Green and Brown Streets in the city

    Monday, 7th of January until Sunday, 1 3th of January 2008

    Feast until you're full!

    Come down to Munchies this week to enjoy the special dishes on offer at all of our food outlets. Order from the following:

    Succulent chicken rice     • Spicy satay beef            •DeliciOus noodle dishes

    Plump pork chops            • Seafood specialties         • Crunchy vegetables

    Sweet tropical fruit

    10% discount on all orders above $ 20.00

    Halal food is available at the stall Malay Food Heaven.

    Win Prizes and Gifts!

    Spend $ 20.00 or more and win instant prizes from our lucky draw box.

    Collect a free party balloon and whistle for each young diner.

    Enjoy a free meal if you are the first customer of the day at any of our stalls.

    Win a holiday to Westem Australia. A free raffle ticket is given with every receipt. Just fill in your information and place your entry in the box provided.

    Winner to be announced in The Straits Times on the 15th of January.

    Join in the Fun!

    Between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm each evening until the 10th of January, your favorite Channel 3 television actors and singers will entertain you:

    May Lee      • Jackie Chen       • Kim Yap             • Kamal

    Autograph sessions will follow each performance! And who will be our extra special mystery star? Come down on Saturday at noon to find out.

The Youngest Skier To The South Pole

    On Friday December 9th, a 16-year-old skier, Ameba Hempleman-Adams reached the South Pole with her father after skiing 97 miles and spending 17 nights on the ice. On the final day they skied 14 miles and afterwards Ameba said she felt “elated and tired" on reaching the South Pole.

    “The biggest challenges were the freezing cold and eating only dried food. The best bit has been experiencing what Dad does on expeditions(探险).It's the first time I've been on a difficult long journey with him and now I know what it's like. The trip brought me closer to Dad, but I also had to put up with his snoring(鼾声)which was terrible.', She added, “Would I do it again? I'm not sure. I'll have to think about that after a few nights' sleep! At times it's been really hard: I've got aching shoulders, and my back's been sore from pulling my sledge(雪橇), I've got blisters(水泡)on my feet from the boots and I've got a cold burn on my nose from my sunglasses. ______”.

    She said the most extraordinary part of the trip had been the breathtaking scenery and the sense of isolation in the Antarctic landscape.“ I've really missed my friends while I've been away and want to thank them for all their messages of support.”

    Friends and relatives who posted comments on Ameba's expedition website paid tribute(致敬)to her positive attitude which , they said ,would be an inspiration to others.

    Her father, David, said “Ameba has done amazing well. I'm proud of her. She showed real determination. She was tough and she pulled her sledge the whole way. It was a special experience to share those 97 miles with her.”

    There is an English saying that says, "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie." It means not bringing up an old problem. Researchers in Hungary have found another reason to let dogs keep on sleeping. It seems the animals are learning while they sleep.

    The Hungarian researchers placed tools on the dogs' heads to know about electrical activity in the brain. The brain activity, called sleep spindles(梭状波), takes place in human begins, and has been connected with learning. The researchers hope to understand how the dogs' ability to learn and remember changes as they get older. The study may help them understand how human brains change as we age.

    The researchers found differences between male and female dogs. Iotchey, a researcher, says the females appeared much better at learning new things. Female dogs have about twice as many spindles per minute as male dogs, they also happen to be the better learners, and they memorize the task much better. But it was harder for all the older dogs to remember things, especially when several things were happening at the same time.

    DoraSzabo also studies sleep spindles. Szabo is a neuroscientist in a university in Budapest. She says the older dogs have fewer spindles and are easily cheated. "If you first hide the reward into one bowl, then in another and in another, they get lost after a while. So their performance is going down, and they are getting poor in solving new problems."

    Researchers hope the study will not only help understanding of learning ability and memory changes in dogs, but also the aging of humans. Senior Researcher EnikoKubinyi adds that the aging dogs suffer from the same problems as humans who are aging. “Among very old dogs, up to two thirds of them show signs of dementia(痴呆), and this dementia is really very similar to that of humans, so we could use dog as a natural model of human aging."

    Positive thinking is a significant element of happiness. In order to become a positive thinker, determination and consistency are important. The first thing to know about positive thinking is that everyone can do it.  With certain cognitive (认知的) and behavioral changes, we can all become positive thinkers. Another important factor is that being a positive thinker does not mean you become numb to anything that is not working properly in your life or is negative - it just means that you approach life and face challenges with a healthier outlook.

    Instead of selectively attending to negative events, focus on the positive ones. Then pay attention to the delayed consequences of your behavior rather than the immediate ones. For example, if a job is not going like you want, focus on the fact that you have a job and how you can take your time to make the situation better.

    Challenge any internal attributions and see if you compare your behavior to standards that are excessively rigid and perfectionistic. If so, change these and be reasonable with your comparisons. For example, if you constantly compare your weaknesses with other people's strengths, then switch this and compare yourself with those who are doing poorer than you as well. Overall, people who focus more on their strengths than their weaknesses but at the same time are aware of their weaknesses have a healthier self-evaluation result.

    When faced with too much fear about a situation, imagine the worst case and visualize a solution for it, then let go of fear. This way, you will be prepared for anything and your fear will not block you from being open and creative to different solutions. For example, if you are constantly worried about losing your job up to a point where it is creating a lot of anxiety and fear and is effecting your performance and your happiness negatively, then think of losing your job, visualize how you will handle it, find solutions in your mind and then let go of the thought and the fear attached to it.

    So positive thinkers are better problem solvers and have better interactions. In addition to that, people who are positive thinkers are happier and more satisfied with their life.

    AI(人工智能)makes our lives easier and better. Let's see the amazing AI.