How is it that siblings (兄弟姐妹) can turn out so differently? One answer is that in fact each sibling grows up in a different family. The firstborn is, for a while, an only child, and therefore has a completely different experience of the parents than those born later. The next child is, for a while, the youngest, until the situation is changed by a new arrival. The mother and father themselves are changing and growing up too. One sibling might live in a stable and close family in the first few years; another might be raised in a family crisis, with a disappointed mother or an angry father.

    Sibling competition was identified as an important shaping force as early as in 1918. But more recently, researchers have found many ways in which brothers and sisters are a lasting force in each others' lives. Dr. Annette Henderson says firstborn children pick up vocabulary more quickly than their siblings. The reason for this might be that the later children aren't getting the same one-on-one time with parents. But that doesn't mean that the younger children have problems with language development. Later-borns don't enjoy that much talking time with parents, but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters, learning entire phrases and getting an understanding of social concepts such as the difference between “I” and “me”.

    A Cambridge University study of 140 children found that siblings created a rich world of play that helped them grow socially. Love-hate relationships were common among the children. Even those siblings who fought the most had just as much positive communication as the other sibling pairs.

    One way children seek more attention from parents is by making themselves different from their siblings, particularly if they are close in age. Researchers have found that the first two children in a family are typically more different from each other than the second and third. Girls with brothers show their differences to a maximum degree by being more feminine than girls with sisters. A 2003 research paper studied adolescents from 185 families over two years, finding that those who changed to make themselves different from their siblings were successful in increasing the amount of warmth they gained from their parents.

                                                                                                   Money Matters

    Parents should help their children understand money. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} So you may start talking about money when your child shows an interest in buying things, candy or toys, for example.

    ⒈The basic function of money

    Begin explaining the basic function of money by showing how people trade money for goods or services. It is important to show your child how money is traded for the things he wants to have. If he wants to have a toy, give him the money and let him hand the money to the cashier (收银员). {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When your child grows a bit older and understands the basic function of money, you can start explaining more complex ways of using money.

    ⒉Money lessons

    Approach money lessons with openness and honesty. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you must say no to a child's request to spend money, explain, “You have enough toy trucks for now.” Or, if the request is for many different things, say, “You have to make a choice between this toy and that toy.”

    ⒊{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Begin at the grocery store. Pick out two similar brands of a product— a name-brand butter and a generic (无商标产品)，for example. You can show your child how to make choices between different brands of a product so that you can save money.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} If he chooses the cheaper brand, allow him to make another purchase with the money saved. Later, you may explain how the more expensive choice leaves less money for other purchases.

A. Wise decisions.

B. The value of money.

C. Permit the child to choose between them.

D. Tell your child why he can —or cannot — have certain things.

E. Ask yourself what things that cost money are most important to you.

F. Talk about how the money bought the thing after you leave the toy store.

G. The best time to teach a child anything about money is when he shows an interest.

    A person's chances of falling ill from a new strain (菌株) of flu are at least partly determined by the first strain they ever met with, a study suggests.

    Research in Science Journal looked at the 18 strains of influenza A ( 甲型流感) and the hemagglutinin protein (红血球凝集素蛋白) on its surface. They say there are only two types of this protein and people are protected from the one their body meets first, but at risk from the other one. A UK expert said that could explain different patterns in flu pandemics (流行病).The researchers, from University of Arizona in Tucson and the University of California, Los Angeles, suggest their findings could explain why some flu outbreaks cause more deaths and serious illnesses in younger people. The first time a person's immune system meets a flu virus, it makes antibodies targeting hemagglutinin protein that sticks out of the surface of the virus — like a lollipop (棒棒糖).

    Even though there are 18 types of influenza A, there are only two versions of hemagglutinin. The researchers, led by Dr Michael Worobey, classed them as "blue" and "orange" lollipops. They said people born before the late 1960s were exposed to "blue lollipop" flu viruses — H1 or H2 — as children. In later life they rarely fell ill from another "blue lollipop" flu — H5N1 bird flu, but they died from "orange" H7N9. Those born in the late 1960s and exposed to "orange lollipop" flu — H3 — have the opposite pattern.

    His team looked at cases of H5N1 and H7N9 — two kinds of bird flu which have affected hundreds of people, but have not developed into pandemics. The researchers found a 75% protection rate against severe disease and 80% protection rate against death if patients had been exposed to a virus with the same protein version when they were children.

    Dr Worobey said the finding could explain the unusual effect of the 1918 "Spanish flu" pandemic, which was more deadly among young adults. "Those young adults were killed by an H1 virus and from blood analysed many decades later there is a pretty strong indication that those individuals had been exposed to a mismatched H3 as children and were therefore not protected against H1. The fact that we are seeing exactly the  same pattern with current H5N1 and H7N9 cases suggests that the same fundamental processes may govern both the historic 1918 pandemic and today's contenders (斗争者) for the next big flu pandemic."

    Jonathan Ball, professor of University of Nottingham, said, "This is a really neat piece of work and provides a reason why human populations have been sensitive to different strains of bird influenza over the past 100 years or so. The findings are based on analysis of patient records and they certainly need further proof in the laboratory, but nonetheless the results are pretty amazing and inspiring."

    Happy, angry, amazed—these are some of the emotions we like to express these days when we're sending a message on our smart phones. That's why many of us now add little pictures to our texts to brighten up someone's mobile screen but we're also using them as a quick way of telling someone how we're feeling. Yes, emojis have become a vital tool for communication.

    Let's clear one thing up first—there are emojis and emoticons (表情符号). The latter are little images made using normal keys on a keyboard. For example, a colon, two dots, followed by the curved line of a close brackets is a “smiley face”.

    The emoji was first invented in Japan in the late 1990s and the word “emoji” comes from the Japanese words for “picture” and “character”. The number of different images has dramatically increased since then and now we have a picture for every mood or situation.

    So now we have the option to give this new creation the visual “thumbs-up” but have you thought why we've become so addicted to using emojis? Professor Vyv Evans who has written a book called The Emoji Code says, “What we're finding is that digital communication is taking over from certain aspects of face-to-face interaction…One of the reasons emojis are so interesting is that they really do enable us to express our emotional selves much more effectively.”

    Another advantage of emojis is that they are an international language—they don't use words but tell a message in pictorial form so they can be easily interpreted whatever your native language.

    Emojis are a good way for showing empathy (共鸣)—they are a virtual hug or an adorable tease. But as linguist Neil Cohn says, “To many, emojis are an exciting evolution of the way we communicate while to others, they are linguistic (语言学的) Armageddon.” It does show there is a lot more to our communication than words alone but does this mean the decline in traditional writing?

Does your mood change with the seasons?

    Some people find that when the temperature goes down, so do their spirits. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}They eat more and gain weight. They have trouble sleeping. They can't think clearly.

    Here are some ways you can beat the winter blues:

    Get out in the sun. Some experts say that winter blues happen because we get less sunlight in the winter than we do in other seasons. Some say that the decrease in sunlight can make us feel sad.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Get some exercise. A walk or other exercise will make chemicals called endorphins (内啡肽) flow through your body. Endorphins are natural "feel good" chemicals.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Avoid having too much sugar. If you are eager for sugary foods (like cookies or candy), it may be a sign that you need more protein, like meat, chicken, or fish.

    Avoid holiday stress. Cut back if you have too many things to do. Make sure you have some quiet time to yourself.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Get some rest. Studies show that most teens need about nine hours of sleep each night. The average teen, though, gets only about six or seven hours of sleep per night.

    Get help. Be cautious if you feel sad all the time and the feeling won't go away.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

Talk to an adult who you trust or get help from a doctor.

A. Eat more healthy foods.

B. Choose different foods in season.

C. Don't be so busy that you get tired.

D. Those people sometimes feel sad for no reason.

E. You may have a bigger problem than the winter blues.

F. Getting extra sunlight each day can help brighten your mood.

G. A regular pattern of sleep is the most important thing to keep.