Why do some people live to be older than others? You know the standard explanations: keeping a moderate diet, engaging in regular exercise, etc. But what effect does your personality have on your longevity?Do some kinds of personalities lead to longer lives?A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society looked at this question by examining the personality characteristics of 246 children of people who had lived to be at least 100.

    The study shows that those living the longest are more outgoing,more active and less neurotic (神经质的) than other people.Long-living women are also more likely to be sympathetic and cooperative than women with a normal life span.These findings are in agreement with what you would expect from the evolutionary theory: those who like to make friends and help others can gather enough resources to make it through tough times.

    Interestingly, however, other characteristics that you might consider advantageous had no impact on whether study participants were likely to live longer.Those who were more self-disciplined,for instance,were no more likely to live to be very old.Also,being open to new ideas had no relationship to long life,which might explain all those bad-tempered old people who are fixed in their ways.

    Whether you can successfully change your personality as an adult is the subject of a longstanding psychological debate.But the new paper suggests that if you want long life,you should strive to be as outgoing as possible.

    Unfortunately, another recent study shows that your mother's personality may also help determine your longevity.That study looked at nearly 28,000 Norwegian mothers and found that those moms who were more anxious, depressed and angry were more likely to feed their kids unhealthy diets.Patterns of childhood eating can be hard to break when we're adults,which may mean that kids of depressed moms end up dying younger.

    Personality isn't destiny(命运),and everyone knows that individuals can learn to change.But both studies show that long life isn't just a matter of your physical health but of your mental health.

    Early people lived by hunting animals and gathering grains. After a tribe(部落） had lived in an area for some time, its food supply would begin to reduce. Then the tribe had to move to new hunting grounds where there was more food.

    This way of life caused special problems for the tribes. They were forced to depend on luck, as well as on their hunting skills. If they could find no game, the whole tribe was in danger of starving. And when the hunters had good luck one day, they were not sure to find game the next time. The tribes moves often because much land was needed to support their people.

    Finally, people learned that they could grow their food. At first, the women of tribes raised patches of wild grain. Later, people discovered that they could plant their own seeds. Farming slowly became a way of life.

    As people turned away from hunting to farming, their life changed. When the food supply became more constant, they no longer moved from place to place. The success of their crops depended partly on the weather, but there were also things they could do to help crops grow.

    In the past, a tribe had to travel many miles for food. Now , only a small amount of land was necessary to feed the whole tribe. The tribe could grow in size because farming provided a way to feed people.

    Google is consistently rated the best place to work. So you need a degree from Harvard to in the door, right?

    Not really, according to Laszlo Bock, Google's Head of People Operations. When the company was small, Google cared a lot about getting kids from Harvard, Stanford, MIT and many other Ivy League schools.  But Bock said it was the "wrong" hiring strategy.  Experience has taught him there are exceptional kids at many other places, from state schools in California to New York.

    "What we find is the best people from places like that are just as good, if not better, as anybody you can get from any Ivy League school, "said Bock, who just authored a book titled "Work Rules!"

    Every year, 2 million people apply to get a job at Google.  Bock himself has seen some 25, 000 résumés.

    So what else does Google not care about:

    Grades: Google's data shows that grades predict performance for the first two years of a career, but do not matter after that.

    Brain-teasers: Gone are interview questions such as: Why are manhole covers（井盖)round? or How many golf balls can fit in a school bus? "Our research tells us those questions are a waste of time, "Bock said "They're a really coachable skill. The more you practice, you get better at it. "

    Here's what Google does care about:

    Problem solvers: Your cognitive ability(认知能力), or how well you solve problems.

    Leaders: The idea is not whether you were president of the student body or vice president of the bank, but rather:" When you see a problem do you step in, help solve it, "and then critically, "Are you willing to step out and let somebody else take over, and make room for somebody else? Are you willing to give up power?"

    Googleyness: That's what Google calls its cultural fit. It's not "Are you like us?" Bock said. "We actually look for people who are different, because diversity gives us great ideas."

    "What's most important is that people are intellectually humble, willing to admit when they're wrong, and care about the environment around them… because we want people who think like owners not employees, "Bock said.

    The least important thing? Knowing how to do the job.

    "We figure if you get the first three right you'll figure it out most of the time."

    Shyness is the cause of much unhappiness for a great many people. Shy people are anxious and self-conscious; that is, they are excessively concerned with their own appearance and actions.

    Worrisome thoughts are constantly occurring in their minds: what kind of impression am I making? Do they like me? Do I sound stupid? Am I wearing unattractive clothes? It is obvious that such uncomfortable feelings must negatively affect people. A person's conception of himself or herself is reflected in the way he or she behaves, and the way a person behaves affects other people's reactions. In general, the way people think about themselves has a profound effect on all areas of their lives.

    Shy people, having low self-esteem, are likely to be passive and easily influenced by others. They need reassurance that they are doing "the right thing." Shy people are very sensitive to criticism; they feel it confirms their feelings of inferiority. They also find it difficult to be pleased by compliment with a statement like this one, "You're just saying that to make me feel good. I know it's not true." It is clear that while self-awareness is a healthy quality, overdoing it is harmful.

    Can shyness be completely eliminated, or at least reduced? Fortunately, people can overcome shyness with determined and patient efforts in building self-confidence. Since shyness goes hand in hand with a lack of self-esteem, it is important for people to accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Each one of us is a unique, worthwhile individual, interested in our own personal ways. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to live up to our full potential. Let's not allow shyness to block our chances for a rich and fulfilling life.

    While staring out of the window during a flight, not everyone will think carefully about the question why airplanes have rounded windows rather than square ones.

    Over the years, aerospace engineering has made huge steps in airplane technology, meaning planes can carry more passengers and go faster. The planes have also changed shape to increase safety—including the windows. As commercial air travel took off in the mid－20th century, airline companies began to fly at higher altitudes to lower their cost—the air density(密度) is lower up there, creating less drag(阻力)for airplanes. However, higher altitudes came with problems, like the fact human beings can't really survive at 30，000 feet. To make that possible, the cabin was changed to a cylindrical(圆柱体) shape to support the pressure inside. But at first, plane builders left in the standard square windows and this expansion meant disaster. The de Havilland Comet came into fashion in the 1950s. With a closed cabin, it was able to go higher and faster than other aircraft.

    However, where there's a corner, there's a weak spot. Windows, having four corners, have four potential weak spots, making them likely to crash under stress—such as air pressure. By curving the window, the stress that would eventually break the window corner is distributed and the chance of it breaking is reduced. Rounded shapes are also stronger and resist deformation(变形), and can thus survive the extreme differences in pressure between the inside and outside of the aircraft.

    Fortunately, designers figured out the lack of design pretty quick. Now we have nice, rounded airplane windows that can resist the pressure of traveling altitude. It gives being able to gaze out of your window to the world from 35，000 feet a whole new outlook, doesn't it?

    On Sunday, November 3, 2019, most North Americans will mark the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) by moving their clocks back an hour. This simple action will not only add an extra 60 minutes to their weekend, but also shift (变换，变动) daylight back into the morning hours, making it a little less painful to wake up for school and work during the shorter winter days.

    Operating the clocks was first suggested by Benjamin Franklin in 1784. He mentioned the idea in a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris and advised it should be a way to save candles, but it was not taken seriously. George Hudson from New Zealand also recommended moving the clocks back two hours in 1895 to get extra daylight time to study insects. Unfortunately, neither he nor British people William Willett, who suggested it in 1907 as a way to save electricity costs, got their wish.

    It was the German Empire that began the clock shifting tradition on April 30, 1916, to save fuel needed to produce weapons and bombs for World War I. Though a few others, including the US and Britain, adopted the tradition shortly after, all the countries returned to Standard Time once the war ended, only to start DST again during World War II. Once the battle ended in 1945, the US government ended DST nationally but allowed states and districts to continue the tradition and even allowed them to establish their own start and stop dates.

    However, though there have been many attempts to persuade lawmakers to end DST, both in the US and Europe, they have not been successful. Therefore, unless you live in places like Hawaii and Arizona, you have little choice but to "Fall Back" and enjoy the extra hour this weekend! Health experts suggest the best way to adjust is going to bed at your regular time, even if the day is an hour longer.