Business administration is the most popular undergraduate major in U.S. colleges and universities, accounting for as much as one-fifth of all bachelor degrees awarded each year. Students naturally think of a business degree as the surest way to land a good job after graduation. Many international students agree. Twenty percent studied business last year-the second most popular major after engineering, according to the Institute of International Education.

    Below are descriptions of three of U.S. colleges and universities with strong offerings in business.

    Bentley College    Waltham, Massachusetts

    Bentley offers its 4,000 undergraduates a top-flight business education and an equally strong liberal-arts program that leaves them well-prepared to join the ranks of future business leaders. The college occupies a scenic campus only a shuttle-bus ride from Boston's Harvard Square. More than 90 percent of students seek career-oriented internships（实习）.

    Bucknell University    Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

    Bucknell's 3,500 undergraduates benefit from small classes and an engaging staff at this liberal-arts institution in a remote but beautiful campus in central Pennsylvania. Accounting and financial management are specialties in the introductory management course that create and sell a product and then donate their profits to charity（慈善）.

    University of Cincinnati        Cincinnati, Ohio

    This urban university with 21,000 undergraduates, located a mile from downtown Cincinnati, was the-birthplace of cooperative education over a century ago. Under this five-year “earn while you learn” program, more than 3,000 students alternate academic study with internships in local businesses and other organizations.

    A new study suggests that people who drank a certain amount of alcohol（酒）had a lower risk of cancer and death than those who drank more or none during a nine-year period. And with each additional drink a week, the risk of cancer and death from any cause increased, the scientists reported.

    However, the study found only an association between alcohol and cancer and death, and did not prove cause and effect, the researches said. What sets the new study apart, said lead study author Andrew Kunzmann, is that previous studies looked at cancer and death separately. “What our study does is combine the two outcomes together and we find that lighter drinking is associated with the lowest risk of cancer or death,” Kunzmann said.

    But Kunzmann noted that the participants（参与者）were all older adults. That means that “we're not really showing what happens in younger people if they drink,” he said. Also, it's difficult to account for other lifestyles that could have affected the results. “These could also influence health. But the results did take into consideration differences in diet, smoking and education among participants,” Kunzmann noted.

    The researchers said that they hope their study sparks conversation about reducing the suggested alcohol intake in countries' guidelines. “We're not telling people what they can or can't do or what they can or can't drink,” Kunzmann said. “We're just trying to give them reliable evidence so that they can make their own informed, healthy decisions.”

    Gardening is a very popular hobby. And it is one that produces wonderful results – food for your dinner table and flowers for your home! Gardens themselves can be very beautiful. So you would think that a garden path is a great place to be. Well, in conversation, it is not. Leading someone up the garden path means you are trying to trick them. You are not trying to show them your beautiful flowers.

    Speaking of beautiful flowers, gardeners love to see small buds (芽) forming on their plants. Besides plants and flowers, people can bud, too. If a child is good at drawing and painting, we can call him a budding artist. So “budding” describes something that is beginning to develop.

    On the opposite end, you stop something from growing if you nip it in the bud. This is a common expression when we talk about stopping something bad and preventing it from continuing. It's good to nip small problems in the bud before they turn into big problems.

    Now flowers that bloom （开花）are beautiful to see – even garden-variety flowers. “Garden-variety” describes anything that is common and not so special. You can have a garden-variety cold—not a serious illness.

    Now, a problem that many gardeners have is weeds. Weeds grow easily and can quickly take over a garden. In conversation, we sometimes use “weeds” to mean too many details. So, if you are in the weeds, you are taken over by too many details.

    As we said, weeds grow quickly. So do children. So, we like to say a child grows like a weed. This expression compares a child's fast growth to that of a weed.

    We all know what a brain is. A doctor will tell you that the brain is the organ of the body in the head. It controls our body's functions, movements, emotions and thoughts. But a brain can mean so much more.

    A brain can also simply be a smart person. If a person is called brainy, he is smart and intelligent. If a family has many children but one of them is super smart, you could say, “He's the brains in the family.” And if you are the brains behind something, you are responsible for developing or organizing something. For example, Bill Gates is the brains behind Microsoft.

    Brain trust is a group of experts who give advice. Word experts say the phrase “brain trust” became popular when Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president in 1932. Several professors gave him advice on social and political issues（问题）facing the U.S. These professors were called his “brain trust”.

    These ways we use the word “brain” all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand. For example, to understand the next brain expression, you first need to know the word “drain”. As a verb, to drain means to remove something by letting it flew away. So a brain drain may sound like a disease where the brain flows out of the ears. But, brain drain is when a country's most educated people leave their countries to live in another. The brains are, sort of, draining out of the country.

    However, if people are responsible for a great idea, you could say they brainstormed it. Here, brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic. For example, business leaders may use brainstorming to create new products, and government leaders may brainstorm to solve problems.

    If people are brainwashed, it does not mean their brains are nice and clean. To brainwash means to make some accept new beliefs by using repeated pressure in a forceful or tricky way. Keep in mind that brainwash is never used in a positive way.

    Suppose you work in a big firm and find English very important for your job because you often deal with foreign businessmen. Now you are looking for a place where you can improve your English, especially your spoken English. Here are some advertisements(广告) about English language training from newspapers. You may find the information you need.

    Global English Centre

    General English in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

    3-month (700 yuan), 6-month (1, 200 yuan) and one-year (2, 000 yuan) courses.

    Choice of morning or evening classes, 3 hours per day. Mon.~Fri.

    Experienced college English teachers.

    Close to city centre and bus stops.

    Tel: 67605272

    Add: 105 Zhongshan Road, 100082

    Modern Language School

    Special courses in English for business, travel, banking, hotel management and office skills.

    Small classes (12~16 students) on Sat. & Sun. from 2:00~5:00 p.m.

    Native English teachers from Canada and USA.

    Language lab and computers supplied.

    3-month course: 1,050 yuan; 6-month course: 1,850 yuan.

    Write or phone: Modern Language School, 675 Park Road, 100056

    Tel: 67353019

    The 21^st Century English Training Centre

    We specialize in effective teaching at all levels.

    We offer morning or afternoon classes, both of which last three months and a half at a cost of 800 yuan.

    We also have a six-week TOEFL preparation class during winter and summer holidays.

    Entrance exams: June 1 and Dec. 1.

    Only 15-minute walk from city centre.

    Call 67801642 for more information.

    The International House of English

    Three/Six-month English courses for students of all levels at a very low cost: 60 yuan for 12 hours per week, convenient (方便的) class hours:

    9:00~12:00 a.m. and 2:00~5:00 p.m.

    A four-month evening programme for developing speaking skills (same cost as day classes).

    Well-trained Chinese and foreign teachers with experience in teaching English as a second foreign language.

    Free sightseeing and social activities.

    Very close to the Central Park.

    For further information call 674322308.

    Ask any new college graduate about his immediate goals, and it is likely that he will tell you he wants a job. But it turns out that today's students are not going to be satisfied with any job. According to the latest survey, making a difference through their work is essential(必要的) to young people's happiness.

    The survey found that 72 percent of graduating college seniors believe being able to have a positive social influence through their work is essential to their happiness. Making a difference is so important to them that 45 percent say they would take a 15 percent pay cut to work at an organization that has a social or environmental influence, and 58 percent say they would take a pay cut to work for an organization whose values are the same as their own.

    Besides this, the survey found that female students are far more likely to put social influence in first place than their male classmates, echoing the results of a former study showing that female maths and science majors are more likely to say they go into those fields to make a difference.

    One reason for the emphasis(强调) on improving the world probably has to do with the culture of colleges, which encourages students to connect their studies back to real-world problems. Students are used to discussing important social issues(问题) with their friends and professors, and doing something about them in class or through volunteer activities. Once students develop those habits, they don't shut them off when graduation rolls around.