New research has found that even if you give up smoking,the damage it has done to your genes（基因）will stay there for a much longer time.

    In the research,a team of US scientists studied the blood of 16,000 people.Among them,some were smokers,some used to smoke,and the rest were non-smokers.Scientists compared their genes and found that more than 7,000 genes of smokers had changed-a number that is one-third of known human genes.

    According to NBC News,both heart disease and cancer are caused by genetic changes.Some people may have had the changes when they were born,but most people get them in their day-to-day lives while doing things like  smoking.

When you stop smoking,a lot of these genes will return to normal within five years.This means your body is trying to heal（治愈）itself of the harmful effects of smoking.But the changes in some of the genes stay for longer.They can stay for as long as 30 years.It's almost like leaving a footprint on wet cement（水泥）一it will always be there, even when you've walked away and when the cement becomes dry.

    Although the study results may make people unhappy,there is a bright side: the findings could help scientists invent medicine to treat genetic damage caused by smoking or find ways to tell which people have heart disease or cancer ricks.

    Chiang Mai is proud of the city's 700- year history, which has rich traditional relics and unique culture. It is located 700 km north of Bangkok and is situated among the highest mountains in the country. Chiang Mai means “the new city” in Thai. King Mengrai founded the city as the capital of the Lanna Kingdom on April 12,1296. Therefore, Chiang Mai not only became the capital and cultural center of the Lanna Kingdom, but was also to be the center of Buddhism in northern Thailand. King Mengrai , a very religious leader, founded many of the city's temples (寺庙) that remain important today.

    It is one of the few places in Thailand where it is possible to experience both historical and modern Thai Culture. The city has old temples next to modern stores. It has more than three hundred temples, among which some are the most beautiful and honorable in the entire Buddhist world, giving the city an atmosphere (氛围) of calmness.

    The old city of Chiang Mai has various dialects, architecture, traditional values, festivals, handicraft and classical dances. In addition, it has hill tribes and their wealth of unique culture. Chiang Mai city features old-world beauty and charm as well as modern enjoyment and convenience. It is also filled with natural resources including mountains, waterfalls and rivers. Nowadays there are many activities and attractions both in the city and the surrounding province, including river rafting , elephant riding and golf.

    The quality of living is excellent. Accommodation and food are of the highest standard at a very low cost. Entertainment is plentiful with numerous festivals, outdoor activities and great nightlife. A number of elephant camps, numerous outdoor activities, a variety of handicraft workshops, various cultural performances, and breathtaking scenery make Chiang Mai one of Asia's most attractive tourist destinations.

    Elizabeth Freeman was born about 1742 to African American parents who were slaves. At the age of six months she was acquired, along with her sister, by John Ashley, a wealthy Massachusetts slaveholders. She became known as “Mumbet” or “Mum Bett.”

    For nearly 30 years Mumbet served the Ashley family. One day, Ashley's wife tried to strike Mumbet's sister with a spade. Mumbet protected her sister and took the blow instead. Furious, she left the house and refused to come back. When the Ashleys tried to make her return, Mumbet consulted a lawyer, Theodore Sedgewick. With his help, Mumbet sued(起诉) for her freedom.

While serving the Ashleys, Mumbet had listened to many discussions of the new Massachusetts constitution. If the constitution said that all people were free and equal, then she thought it should apply to her. Eventually, Mumbet won her freedom—- the first slave in Massachusetts to do so under the new constitution.

    Strangely enough, after the trial, the Ashleys asked Mumbet to come back and work for them as a paid employee. She declined and instead went to work for Segdewick. Mumbet died in 1829, but her legacy lived on in her many descendants(后裔). One of her great-grandchildren was W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the founder of the NAACP, and an important writer and spokesperson for African American civil rights.

    Mumbet's tombstone still stands in the Massachusetts cemetery where she was buried. It reads, in part: “She was born a slave and remained a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years. She could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal.”

The Secret of a Long Life

    I am Peter Brown. I am a writer with an important magazine. The other day I saw a white-haired man sitting on the chair in front of his house. I could see the wrinkles (皱纹) in his face and neck, and his wrinkled hands. Articles on the secrets of living to an old age are always popular with our readers, so I decided to write a story and discover the secret of this man's long life. As I went near him, I said:

    “Sir, would it be okay if I talked with you for just a moment?”

    “Not at all. Actually, it would make me very happy. I get very bored sitting here, even for a short time. Until a little while ago, I lived a full and active life without a moment's rest.”

    “Well, they say that a lot of activities help one to live a long time.”

    “That's true, very true. I still feel very well, although my step has slowed down a little.”

    The conversation continued in that way for a while. Although I tried to be very thoughtful about getting information from older people, it seemed to me that it would now be all right to begin to ask some polite questions.

    “Would it be okay if I smoked?”

    “Not at all.”

    “I'd offer you one, but I suppose you probably don't smoke, or drink, or…”

    “You're wrong! I've always smoked a great deal. And until a little while ago, I went dancing every night. And as for alcoholic drinks ...”

    “Do you mean to say that you've done these things all your life?”

    “Of course. Why does that surprise you so much?”

    “I've always been told that doing those things is bad for the health.”

    “Nonsense!”

    “I suppose that you have another secret ... a lot of fruit... vegetables ... a lot of exercise in the fresh air…”

    “Don't be silly! I hate exercise in the fresh air, and I don't like any kind of vegetable.”

    “This is unbelievable!”

    “What do you mean, unbelievable? What are you talking about?”

    “It's just that I can't understand how you've been able to live like that and to have lasted so long. Tell me, how old are you?”

    “Me? I'm twenty-eight. Why?”

    When the natural climate changes due to global warming, it can surely affect seals. The majority of them live in the Antarctic region so as the ice is melting, their natural habitat（栖息地）can be seriously affected. These changes don't take place overnight. They can be the result of many years of additional temperatures in the area. The seals then have to find ways to adapt.

    Seals depend on the cool air currents to bring plenty of food for them. When the temperatures get higher, there is less and less food and the seal population starts to get depleted. Mothers aren't healthy enough to feed their babies. Many of them end up abandoned as the mothers have to leave to find their own source of food.

    The fact that their desire to produce young can be changed by the warmer temperatures is frightening too. It is also believed that the warmer temperatures can allow different diseases and viruses to attack the seals. This is a huge concern as they can rapidly wipe out huge numbers of seals out there.

    However, these changes in climate and temperature aren't all bad for other species of seals. Scientists have found that those living in warmer climates are producing more young due to the changes. Research also shows that the females are moving further to find food and water. When they are out of the reach of the governing males, they are more willing to accept the moves of other males in the group.

    This is good news too because it means that there will be more selection in the gene pool（基因库）for future generations. It can help the seals as a species adapt to changes in their natural environment more easily.

    The climate change problem for seals is directly linked to humans. When we take action to change what we let out into the environment, we will make positive changes for the seals. However, it is going to take a very long time to reverse（彻底改变）the effects of what has already been done.

    Born and raised in a digital age, today's young people are generally tech savvy (技术娴熟的). But when it comes to basic life skills, they're less capable than the older generation.

    According to a recent study, 69 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds in the UK have no idea how to bleed a radiator(暖气片换水). About 35 percent of them don't know how to sew on a button, while about 11 percent don't understand how to change a light bulb or iron clothes.

    It appears young people are losing the skills older generations took for granted. In fact, the problem is shared by young people in the United States. According to a report by Forbes in 2014, most millennial (千禧一代) drivers don't know how to check their tire pressure. Cooking is another basic life skill that has been dropped, as millennials are much more likely to order food deliveries than previous generations.

    Technology may be to blame for this generational gap. Skills at using phones and computers are the ones valued these days, and the practical skills are now seen as functions that can be easily outsourced (外包). Indeed, improvements in technology have made young people unfamiliar with many basic life skills. For example, with GPS always at hand, young people have had no need to learn how to read physical maps.

    However, this change has raised concerns among many people. “If you have your master's degree and you can't live within your means or go home from your job and feed yourself a nutritious (有营养的) meal, you're not a complete graduate,” Chris Moore, a professor from Brigham Young University, US, told Huff Post.

    That's why there's an increasing call for the return of “home ec” in the US, short for home economics, which teaches basic life skills like cooking and how to do laundry. It was very popular in the early 20th century, but was later taken out of schools and universities because of budget(预算) cuts. But recently, home ec was reintroduced in a small number of schools and universities.

    “The educational system would work better if every academic class had a practical course that applied the theory to do something regular people do in real life,” Robert Frost, instructor and flight controller at NASA, wrote on Quora, according to Huff post.