Wanted, Someone for a Kiss

    We' re looking for producers to join us on the sound of London Kiss 100 FM. You' ll work on the station's music programmes. Music production experience in radio is necessary, along with rich knowledge of modern dance music. Please apply(申请)in writing to Producer Vacancies, Kiss 100.

Father Christmas

    We're looking for a very special person, preferably over 40, to fill our Father Christmas suit.

    Working days: Every Saturday from November 24 to December 15 and every day from December 17 to December 24 except Sundays, l0:30 —16:00.

Excellent pay.

    Please contact (联系) the Enterprise Shopping Centre, Station Parade, Eastbourne.

Accountants Assistant

    When you join the team in our Revenue Administration Unit, you will be providing assistance within all parts of the Revenue Division, dealing with post and other general duties. If you are educated to GCSE grade C level we would like to talk to you. This position is equally suitable for a school leaver or for somebody who has office experience.

Wealden District Council

Software Trainer

    If you are aged 24 -45 and have experience in teaching and training, you could be the person we are looking for. You should be good at the computer and have some experience in programme writing. You will be allowed to make your own decisions ,and to design courses as well as present them. Pay upwards of ￡15,000 for the right person. Please apply by sending your CV (简历) to Mrs. R.. Oglivie, Palmlaee Limited.

    It may appear strange to hear that crops are making headlines.But this is no ordinary produce—these fruits and vegetables have been grown in simulated（模拟的）Martian and lunar soils!

    Though the possibility of growing crops in outer space only gained widespread interest after Matt Damon grew potatoes in the movie "The Martian",scientists have been testing the idea for many years.Fresh produce will after all be the key to setting up space colonies（殖民地）.

    Among the pioneers in this effort is a team led by Wieger Wamelink,a scientist at Netherland's Wageningen University.In 2013,they planted fourteen varieties of plants in simulated Martian and lunar soils.Though the "Mars" plants did not bear any produce,they grew better than the "lunar" plants,most of which died shortly after being planted.Lack of vapor in the soil,according to the scientists,might have accounted for the failure.

    The second experiment began in late 2015.The researchers selected the same crops,while this time they used larger containers and added grass to them.In March 2016,their efforts were rewarded with a variety of produce including the vegetable that kept "The Martian" alive: potatoes.

    However,the researchers were still not sure if the produce was safe to eat.That's because the Martian and lunar soils contain heavy metals like lead and arsenic,which do not affect plants but are poisonous to humans.

    After months of testing,earlier this week,the team finally confirmed that the produce was safe for human consumption.Some of the crops even contained lower levels of heavy metals than plants grown in the "ordinary" earth soil.

    To celebrate the success,the scientists held a dinner party that centered ground the crops.While there is no word on how the food tasted,it sure looks delicious.

    Have you ever noticed what happens to an idea once you express it? Just talking about it or writing it down causes you to make it clear in your own mind. How can you use this to increase your brain power? Start writing.

    By putting thoughts into words, you are telling yourself the logic（逻辑）behind what you think, feel, or only partly understand. Often, explaining a thought is the process of understanding. In other words, you increase your brain power by exercising your “explain power.”

    Try this experiment. Explain how you'll increase your brain power, even if you have no idea right now. Just start with anything, and create an explanation. For example, start with “I'll learn chess,” or “I'll read an article on the mind every week.” Explain how that will help. You'll be surprised how often this becomes a workable plan, and if you actually do this, you'll have a better understanding of your brain from now.

    Another benefit of writing is that it helps you remember. Many, if not most, highly productive people are always taking notes. You can try keeping it all in your head, but if you keep a journal of your ideas the next time you're working on a big project, you'll probably have more success.

    Want to understand a topic? Write a book about it. That's an extreme example, but if you are learning something new, write a letter to a friend about it, and you will understand it better. Want to invent something? Write an explanation of the problem, why you want to solve it, and why it is worth solving, and you're half-way there.

    Writers don't always write because they clearly understand something beforehand. Often, they write about something because they want to understand it. You can do the same. Writing will help bring you to an understanding. Give it a try.

    The pupils of Grangetown High have been busy getting to know their newest and tallest classmate — a 7-meter-tall giraffe outside their school.

    The giraffe is a huge sculpture (雕像). The school's headmaster noticed it in an artist's garden as he drove past one day, and thought it would be perfect for his school. “I knew everyone would love it,” he said, “because our basketball team is known as the Grangetown Giraffes, and they wear giraffes on their shirts. So I asked them to write to the artist, asking how much it would cost to buy the giraffe. He was very kind and got it ready to deliver (递送) in six weeks — all for nothing! It was expected to arrive one Sunday morning, so that the pupils would see it when they got to school on Monday — at that time they had no idea that we were getting it.”

    The artist, Tom Bennett 9 was a university professor of chemistry before he retired in 2012 and only took up metalwork a couple of years ago. “I've always drawn pictures,” he said. 441 can even remember doing it on my first day at school — I drew a horse. I wanted it to be the best horse picture ever, but I don't think I succeeded.” Tom's first metalwork was a bicycle on which he and his wife could go cycling together, “It was the most uncomfortable bike ever created,” he said, “so I gave up making bicycles and went into sculpture instead.”

    Meanwhile the pupils at Grangetown High are very happy with their new classmate. “We're going to hold a competition to give it a proper name,” said one girl. “Everyone likes the expression on its face, so perhaps that will give us some ideas.”

    In the past, people who graduated from college felt proud of their academic achievement and confident that their degree would help them find a good job.

     However, in the past four years the job market has changed dramatically. This year's college graduates are facing one of the worst job markets in years. For example, Ryan Stewart, a graduate of San Jose University, got a degree in religious studies, but no job prospects. He points out that many people already working are getting laid off and don't have jobs, so it's even harder for new college graduates to find jobs.

    Four years ago, the future looked bright for the class of 2013. There were many high-tech job opportunities. Graduates received many job offers, and they were able to get jobs with high salaries and benefits such as insurance and paid vacations. However, “Times have changed and it's a new market,” according to Cheryl Allmen- Vinnidge of the San Jose State Career Center.

    Allmen-Vinniage says students who do find jobs started preparing two years ago. They worked during summer vacations, they have had several internships（实习）, and they have majored in one of the few fields that are still hot, like chemical engineering, accounting, or nursing, where average starting salaries have actually increased over last year. Other popular fields (like information system management, computer science, and political science) have seen big reduction in starting salaries.

    Ryan Stewart (he had hoped to become a teacher) may just end up going back to school. “I'd like to teach college some day and that requires more schooling, which would be great in bad economy.” he said.

    In conclusion, these days, to some students a degree may not be a ticket to instant wealth. For now, they can only hope its value will increase over time.

    The largest genetic study of mosquitoes has found their ability to resist insecticides(杀虫剂) is evolving rapidly and spreading across Africa, putting millions of people at higher risk of contracting malaria(疟疾).

British scientists who led the work said mosquitoes' growing resistance to control tools such as insecticide-treated bed nets and insecticide spraying, which have helped cut malaria cases since 2000, now threatens "to disturb malaria control" in Africa.

    "Our study highlights the severe challenges facing public efforts to control mosquitoes and to manage and limit insecticide resistance," said Martin Donnelly of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who worked on the study with a team from Britain's Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

    Latest World Health Organization (WHO) data show that 216 million people were infected last year with the malaria parasite(寄生虫), which is transmitted by blood-sucking Anopheles mosquitoes. The disease killed 445,000 people in 2016, and the majority of them were children in sub-Saharan Africa.

    To understand how mosquitoes are evolving, the researchers sequenced the DNA of 765 wild Anopheles mosquitoes taken from 15 locations across eight African countries. Their work, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, created the largest data resource on natural genetic variation for any species of insect.

    Analyzing the data, the scientists found that the Anopheles gamblae mosquitoes(冈比亚疟蚊)were extremely genetically diverse compared with most other animal species. This high genetic diversity enables rapid evolution, they said, and helps to explain how mosquitoes develop insecticide resistance so quickly.

    The data also showed the rapid evolution of insecticide resistance appeared to be due to many previously unknown genetic variants(变体)within certain genes. The scientists said these genetic variants for insecticide resistance were not only emerging independently in different parts of Africa, but were also being spread across the continent by mosquito migration.

    Michael Chew, an expert at Britain's Wellcome Trust global health charity which helped fund the research, said the finds underlined the importance of pushing scientific research ahead to control malaria.

Global efforts to control malaria through effective vaccine, insecticides and the best drug combinations require urgent, united action by scientists, drug companies, governments and the WHO.