When John was growing up, other kids felt sorry for him. His parents always had him weeding the garden, carrying out the garbage and delivering newspapers. But when John reached adulthood, he was better off than his childhood playmates. He had more job satisfaction, a better marriage and was healthier. Most of all, he was happier. Far happier.

These are the findings of a 40-year study that followed the lives of 456 teenage boys from Boston. The study showed that those who had worked as boys enjoyed happier and more productive lives than those who had not. “Boys who worked in the home or community gained competence (能力) and came to feel they were worthwhile members of society,” said George Vaillant, the psychologist (心理学家) who made the discovery. “And because they felt good about themselves, others felt good about them.”

Vaillant's study followed these males in great detail. Interviews were repeated at ages 25, 31 and 47. Under Vaillant, the researchers compared the men's mental-health scores with their boyhood-activity scores with their boyhood-activity scores. Points were awarded for part-time jobs, housework, effort in school, and ability to deal with problems.

The link between what the men had done as boys and how they turned out as adults was surprisingly sharp. Those who had done the most boyhood activities were twice as likely to have warm relations with a wide variety of people, five times as likely to be well paid and 16 times less likely to have been unemployed. The researchers also found that IQ and family social and economic class made no real difference in how the boys turned out.

Working—at any age—is important. Childhood activities help a child develop responsibility, independence, confidence and competence—the underpinnings (基础) of emotional health. They also help him understand that people must cooperate and work toward common goals. The most competent adults are those who know how to do this. Yet work isn't everything. As Tolstoy once said, “One can live magnificently in this world if one knows how to work and how to love, to work for the person one loves and to love one's work.”

    March 8 marks the annual International Women's Day. Around the world, women usually played a not well-known role in history. They were often buried with their unknown talents and amazing tales. Yet there are still some lucky ones whose stories have been recorded. Here are six talented ancient Chinese women who once impressed in their time, and still affect us in our time.

    Praised as the “No.1 talented woman”, Li Qingzhao, a poet from the Song Dynasty, was born in Shandong province. She excelled at poetry and in ink painting and calligraphy (书法). Li was most well-known for her poems, which were divided into two contrasting styles reflecting her life as a married woman and a widow. Before her husband's death, her poems were mainly about a carefree and happy life. The keynote turned into a sad tune after her husband passed away. However, Li was not a narrow-minded woman. Apart from expressing feminine (女性的) feelings and experiences, she also wrote poems praising war heroes and criticizing the corrupted emperor. As an example of female patriot, Li has a great effect on modern women's literature.

    Cai Wenji was good not only at poetry and calligraphy, but also mathematics, astronomy, debate and music. Her masterpieces were Hu Jia Shi Ba Pai. As the daughter of literatus Cai Yi of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai had a very unusual life. After her first husband died, she was forced to marry Xiongnu tribe's king. Living in a totally different environment, Cai was very homesick. Twelve years later, Cao Cao, a student of Cai Yi, rescued Cai from the Xiongnu tribe. At the age of 35, Cai got married for a third time in a union arranged by Cao to a man named Dong Si.

    Ban Zhao was the first female historian in China. She was also good at writing poems, yet only seven of her works have survived. Ban was often invited by the emperor to teach the queen mathematics, astronomy and poetry. She was honored as Da Gu, a title for knowledgeable and noble women. At the age of 40, Ban finished Han Shu, based on her brother's writings. A total of four people wrote the book, and Ban, as the last writer, faithfully kept the style of the first three. Ban Zhao also wrote Nv Jie, a book to teach women how to deal with relationships with their husbands and husbands' relatives and how to properly behave.

    Shangguan Wan'er was famous for being given an important position by the only female emperor, Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty. Despite Shangguan's grandfather being killed for offending Wu, she was highly praised by the female emperor for her literary talent. She served as a key secretary to Wu and was called “a female prime minister” at the time. Shangguan changed court poetry so that it used more meaningful expressions than empty praise, and further developed her style based on her grandfather's poems.

    Su Hui was known for a handkerchief she made. It was embroidered (刺绣) with 841 characters that could form 7,958 poems. Named Xuan Ji Tu, the handkerchief was originally made by Su to send to her husband, Dou Tao. Su waited for her husband to come back after Dou's exile (流放), yet Dou had an affair with another woman. Sad and angry, Su created the poems on a handkerchief in red, yellow, blue, white, black and purple silk thread and sent it to her husband. Dou was deeply moved by the poems, felt guilty for his behavior and reunited with Su.

    When Xue Tao's name was mentioned, people would think of the famous Xue Tao Jian, a sort of small-size colorful writing paper. It is recorded that Xue Tao created this colored paper to write poems. During her time, writing paper was yellow, yet Xue changed the simple color into different shades of red or green. Later, people made similar colorful paper and named them “Xue Tao Jian”. Xue had talent for poetry and music. Her poems were not limited to those private feminine feelings and emotions; she also expressed her empathy (共鸣) to soldiers on the frontier.

    Tickets for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil have gone on sale, with fans able to apply on FIFA's website. FIFA is expecting a similar demand to that in Germany 2006, when there were about seven applicants for every ticket of the 64 matches. And now around 3.3 million tickets will be available for the matches in 2014.

    Tickets will range in price from￡58 for first-round matches to￡632 for the final at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian citizens over 60, local students and members of some social programs can purchase tickets for ￡15.

    The Price of Football - World Cup 2014

    "It's always difficult to predict," said FIFA marketing director Thierry Weil. "But I truly believe that it will be more similar to what happened in Germany than in South Africa in 2010." According to FIFA, the 2006 World Cup was attended by more than 3.3 million fans. Almost two million tickets were sold to the general public in South Africa, although the number of applications during the first ticketing phase was significantly lower.

    All applications made before 10th October 2013 will enter a random selection draw if there are not enough tickets available to fulfill all requests. The sales of the leftover tickets will begin on 5th November on a first-come, first-served basis. Another phase（阶段） will begin on 8th December after the draw is made. The tournament begins on 12th June, with Brazil playing the opener in Sao Paulo.

    A study on the price of World Cup 2014 looked at the ticket prices and the cost of travelling to Brazil and found that our English fans face hotel costs of between￡46 and￡797 a night, while packages range from￡2,999 to￡14,999.

    All over the world people enjoy sports. Sports help to keep people healthy, happy and help them to live longer.

    Sports change with the season. People play different games in winter and summer.

    Games and sports often grow out of people's work and everyday activities. The Arabs use horses or camels in much of their everyday life; they use them in their sports, too.

    Some sports are so interesting that people everywhere go in for them. Football, for example, has spread around the world. Swimming is popular in all countries near the sea or in those with many rivers.

    Some sports or games go back to thousands of years, like running or jumping. Chinese boxing, for example, has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are rather new. Neither one is a hundred years old yet. People are inventing new sports or games all the time.

    People from different countries may not be able to understand each other, but after a game they often become good friends. Sports help to train a person's character(性格). One learns to fight hard but fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace(体面).

The True Story of a Young Man

When Reginald Lindsay received a scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1967, what he wanted most was not a job with a good salary, but a chance to be a member of Congress as a southern representative. After earning his degree at Harvard Law School in 1970, he returned to the South to practice law among the poor. "I want to help them understand what their rights are and to help them achieve them," he said. Then he ran for political office at the local and state level until he was ready to try for Congress.

Reg grew up in a low-income Negro section of Birmingham, Alabama. Brought up by his grandparents after his parents were divorced while he was very young, Reg had been living through a period of far-reaching progress in race relations. In the summer of 1968 Reg himself became a good example of this progress when he became the first Negro student appointed to a special new program. The program introduced bright young students to the workings of the Georgia State government and encouraged them to seek employment there after finishing their education. "I've been lucky," he said. "I seem to have been in the right place at the right time."

But luck was only part of Reg's story, for he made the most of opportunities that came his way. He learned to read in kindergarten and began visiting the public library regularly to borrow books. His grandparents encouraged him, though neither of them had much education, and they bought him a set of encyclopedias. "I loved those books," he remembered. "I used to come downstairs before breakfast and read short articles. I enjoyed reading about famous men, and then I would pretend to be one of them. I guess it was partly a childish game and partly an escape. It wasn't too much fun to be a Negro when I was a kid." While studying for his bachelor's degree at Morehouse College, Reg worked on several political campaigns helping candidates get elected to government offices. At the same time he maintained a "B" average while majoring in political science.

With just two more years to complete at Harvard Law School, which also gave him a scholarship, Reg made a good start on his professional career. He said, "The good life for me is the kind of life where I can find satisfaction in public service." Then in 1975 he was the Massachusetts state commissioner of public utilities and from 1993 to 2009 he was judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

 Last week, my younger brother visited me for five days. To ensure I could spend as much time with him as possible, I worked extra hard during the weekend before he arrived.

 It amazed me how much I could accomplish when I had a strong motivation to be efficient.

 During the week, I put in a couple of hours in the mornings to handle pressing issues and then spent the afternoons and evenings going out with him. Once again, I was surprised to realize just how much free time was available to me if I consciously chose to be more effective while working.

 This made me think of Parkinson's Law: Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

 I realized then that I'd given myself more time than necessary for work, and as a result, I ended up spending a lot of time delaying needlessly and entertaining myself online.

 How might things change for me, I wondered, if I chose to commit to more social and recreational activities, made them priorities and was motivated to finish work quicker?

 I realize not everyone has flexible work schedules, but I believe we could all create more time for ourselves if we were motivated to cut out the choices that don't match our strongest desires and intentions. Maybe it's being absent-minded in front of the TV or searching the web.

 I believe what English musician John Lennon said is true: Time that you enjoyed wasting was not wasted.1 don't think there's anything wrong with using technology if we've consciously chosen to do it.

 However, we owe it to ourselves to get out in the world and explore different possibilities—to be playful, curious, engaged and just to be.

 Perhaps it would be easier to do that if we asked ourselves: How can I be more effective? Can I minimize what I am currently doing? How can I start using the time I've created in a way that will excite and inspire me?