The International School for Earth Studies

    It's a private，interdisciplinary institution specializing in earth-based studies．The Programs encourage students to explore the seeds of greatness，with a view to developing tomorrow's environmentally sensitive spokespersons and leaders. The principle goal is to help students develop responsibility inspired through appreciation and love for natural places and the greater environment．

    Program Location（s）：Newfoundland，Canada

    Phone：819—647—3226

    Email：info＠earthstudies.ca

    Expedition Education Institute

    Do you want to be an ecological leader，to become deeply rooted in the natural world and in your own power to make change and create a better，more resilient world？

Organized as the equivalent （等价物）to a semester abroad，Expedition Education Institute offers a unique opportunity for gap year participants to be personally transformed and academically challenged and supported to become better and more self-directed life-long learners．

    Program Location（s）：USA

    Phone：207—322—2973

    Email：Info＠expedition educatlon.org

    The Experiment in International Living

    It provides summer abroad programs for high school students who want to connect deeply and engage meaningfully with the richness and complexities of another country. Programs are designed to equip participants not only with essential cultural skills and，in many cases，language skills，but also with a deeper awareness of and sensitivity to critical global issues shaping the diverse communities and regions we visit.

Program Location（s）：Europe，the Americas，Africa，south of the Sahara

Phone：800—345—2929

Email：experiment＠worldlearning.org

Visitoz

    It's the Only organization in Australia that guarantees jobs for young people coming to our country on a Work and Holiday Visa. For young Americans this is a huge chance to get away from home and stand on their own two feet to make their own decisions．

Program Location（s）：Australia

Phone：4168—6106

Email：info＠visitoz.org

    The more hours that young children spend in child care, the more likely they are to turn out aggressive and disobedient by the time they are in kindergarten, according to the largest study of child care and development ever conducted. Researchers said this correlation (相关性) held true regardless of whether the children came from rich or poor homes, were looked after by a relative or at a center, and whether they were girls or boys.

    What is uncertain, however, is whether the child care actually causes the problem or whether children likely to turn out aggressive happen to be those who spend more hours in child care. It also remains unclear whether reducing the amount of time in child care will reduce the risk that a child will turn into a mean person. What's more, quality child care is associated with increased skills in intellectual ability such as language and memory, leading some academics to suggest that child care turns out children who are “smart and naughty”.

    The government-sponsored research, which has tracked more than 1,300 children at 10 sites across the country since 1991, is bound to cause the debate over child care again: How should people balance work and family? And how should parents, especially mothers. Resolve the demands that are placed on them to be both breadwinners and supermoms?

    That debate was already on display at a news briefing yesterday, where researchers themselves had different opinions about the data and its implications (含义). “There is a constant relationship between time in care and problem behavior, especially those involving aggression and behavior,” said Jay Belsky of Birkbeck College in London, one of the lead investigators of the study who has previously annoyed women's groups because of his criticisms of child care. “On behalf of fathers or mothers?” interrupted Sarah Friedman, a developmental psychologist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and one of the other lead scientists on the study. “On behalf of parents and families,” responded Belsky.

    “NICHD is not willing to get into policy recommendations.” said Friedman, contradicting her colleague. “There are other possibilities that can be entertained. Yes it is a quick solution—more hours in child care is associated with more problems. The easy solution is to cut the number of hours but that may have implications for the family that may not be beneficial for the development of the children in terms of economics.” In an interview after the briefing, Friedman said that asking parents to work fewer hours and spend more time with their children usually meant a loss of family income, which adversely(不利地) affects children.

    Scientists said that the study was highly reliable. But the researchers said they had no idea whether the behavioral difficulties persisted as the children moved to higher grades.

    On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted that 42% of Americans could be overweight by 2030. Our expanding waistlines lead to not only a medical problem, but according to a recent article In The New York Times, it could also endanger personal safety in some situations—in an airplane crash, for example.

    The New York Times' Christen Negroni reports that engineers and scientists are questioning whether airplane seats are adequately constructed to protect overweight travelers. Government standards for airplane seat strength（强度）— first set moe than 60 years ago — require that the seats be made for a passenger weighing 170 pounds (77kg). Today, the average American man weighs nearly 194 pounds (88kg) and the average woman 165 pounds (75kg). Negroni reports:

    “If a heavier person completely fills seat, the seat is not likely to behave as intended during a crash,” said Robert Salazar, the leading scientist at the Center for Applied Biomechanics at the University of Virginia. “The energy absorption that is built into the aircraft seat is likely to be overpowered and the passengers will not be protected properly.”

    “Nor would the injury be limited to that passenger only,” Dr. Salzar said. “If a seat or a seat belt fails,” he said, “those people who are seated nearby could be endangered from ‘the uncontrolled movements of the passenger'.”

    Most complaints about airplane seats focus on their lack of comfort and high ticket price, and whether overweight passengers should be made to buy two seats. But The New York Times' article brings up another reason to feel anxious about flying. Investigators of the issue got in touch with the airplane seat and seat belt makers, but they refused to comment on the problem. Experts agreed that crash testing should be done with overweight dummies （人体模型）. Both airplane seats and seat belts should be tested, they said.

    Fortunately, however, according to Nora Marshall, a senior adviser at the National Transportation Safety Board, the board's investigators have never seen an accident involving a commercial plane in which the weight of a passenger was a problem.

    Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete for the title Character Hero, which is a Chinese­style spelling bee (拼写大赛). In this challenge, young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand. To prepare for the competition, the competitors usually spend months studying dictionaries.

    Perhaps the show's popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder and paper, many Chinese people consider the creation of Chinese calligraphy (书法) to be one of their primary contributions. Unfortunately, all over the country, Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without computerized help. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet(字母). The correct character is chosen from a list. The result? It's possible to recognize characters without remembering how to write them.

    But there's still hope for the paint brush. China's Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write.

    In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day inside a specially decorated classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. Soft music plays as a group of six­year­olds dip brush pens into black ink. They look up at the blackboard often to study their teacher's examples before carefully trying to reproduce those characters on thin rice paper.＂If adults can survive without using handwriting, why bother to teach it now?＂we ask the calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin.＂The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture,＂she reasons.＂Students must learn now so they don't forget when they grow up.＂says the teacher.

    Chicago is considering firm measures to prevent the Asian carp, a giant fish native to the Far East, from coming into North America's Great Lakes in large numbers. Such a move could cost up to$18bn, a heavy economic burden to the city.

    This species, more than a metre in length, was originally introduced to southern US states three decades ago to control weeds in sewage (污水) treatment plants. But they escaped into the Mississippi River and increased in number quickly, making their way north towards the Great Lakes and threatening the native fish species along the way.

    "Dozens of them will often leap out of the water as boats approach." Michael Beecham, a local environmental expert, described how frightening the scene was. "I've gone down the river and seen these fish jump up and hit me in the face. It is a big problem for our native species." he said.

    A meeting has been organized to find a technological solution to the carp problem, one of which involves blocking parts of Chicago's canal system. Listening at the meeting was John Goss, who was worried about the effect that having barriers in the canal system would have on industry. "It would certainly increase the cost of transportation," he told. "It is currently very cheap and efficient to bring materials and finished goods down the Chicago ship canal.''

    Another cheaper option is to eat the fish out of existence. Dirk Fucik is selling carp burger(鲤鱼汉堡包) at his fish shop not far from downtown Chicago. He thinks the carps are a great resource. "To catch it and throw it away is a waste," he says. "Eating them helps solve the problem and also provides jobs." But the idea has not yet caught on. So far, he is the only person in Chicago selling carp burgers.

    LONDON Tuesday April 11—Dustin Hoffman fan Pamela Crack got the shock of her life when the movie star telephoned her as she was doing her housework.Crack, 58, said she was "flabbergasted" when she picked up the phone and heard the star at the other end.

    "It's not every day you get a Hollywood superstar phoning you when you're doing the housework," Crack told the Sun."It was a moment I'll never forget."

    Hoffman was in the back of a London taxi driven by Crack's husband, Dave, when he made the call after being told Pamela was a fan. Dave Crack later became the star of Hoffman's speech at the Bafta award ceremony Sunday, where the 62-year-old American actor presented the Best Film award.

    "He said to give him a mention," Hoffman told the audience to a burst of laughter. "Cheers Dave."Taxi driver Crack said the Hollywood star was a joy to drive from the moment he got into the taxi eating a cheese and tomato sandwich.

    "I said 'You're that Dustin Hoffman, aren't you?' and he said, 'Yes I am—would you like a sandwich?' I was a bit surprised but I took a sandwich from him and ate it hungrily."