You're probably aware of the basictrends. The financial rewards to education have increased over the past few decades, but men fail to benefit.

    In elementary and high school, male academic performance is lagging. Boys earn three-quarters of the D's and F's. By college, men are clearly behind. Only 40 percent of bachelor's degree go tomen, along with 40 percent of master's degree.

    Thanks to their lower skills, men are dropping out of the labor force. In 1954, 96 percent of the American men between the ages of 25 and 54 worked. Today, that number is down to 80 percent. In Friday's jobs report, male labor force participation reached an all-time low.

    Millions of men are collecting disability benefits. Even many of those who do have a job are doing poorly. According to Michael Greenstone of the Hamilton Project, annual earnings foraverage prime-age males have dropped by 28 percent over the past 40 years.

    Men still dominate (主宰) the top of the corporate ladder because many women take time off to raise children,but women lead or are gaining nearly everywhere else. Women in their 20 soutearn men in their 20s. Twelve out of the 15 fastest-growing professions are dominated by women.

    Over the years, many of us have employeda certain theory to explain men's economic decline. It is that the information-age economy rewards qualities that women are more likely topossess.

    To succeed today, you have to be able tosit still and focus attention in school at an early age. You have to beemotionally sensitive and aware of context. You have to communicate smoothly. For genetic and cultural reasons, many men are not good at these.

    But, in her fascinating new book, TheEnd of Men, Hanna Rosin suggests a different theory. It has to do with adaptability. Women, Rosin argues, are like immigrants (移民) who have moved to a new country. They see a new social context, and they flexibly adapt to new circumstances. Men are like immigrants who have physically moved to a new country but who have kept their minds in the old one. They speak the old language. They follow the old customs. Men are more likely to be rigid; women are more fluid.

    This theory has less to do with born qualities and more to do with social position. When there's big social change, the people who were on the top of the old order are bound to stick to the old ways. The people who were on the bottom are bound to experience a burst of energy. They are going to explore their new surroundings more enthusiastically.

    Rosin reports from working-class Alabama. The women she meets are flooding into new jobs and new opportunities —going back to college, pursuing new careers. The men are waiting around for the jobs left and are never coming back. They are strangely immune (免疫的）to new options. In the Auburn-Opelika region, the average female income is 140 percent of the average male income.

    Rosin is not saying that women are winners in a global gender (性别) war or that they are doing supersimply because men are doing worse. She's just saying women are adapting to today's economy more flexibly than men. There's a lot of evidence to supporther case.

A study by the National Federation of Independent Business found that small businesses owned by women outperformed male-owned small business during the last recession (衰退). Infinance, women who switch firms are more likely to see their performanceimprove, whereas men are likely to see theirs decline. There's even evidencethat women are better able to adjust to divorce. Today, more women than men seetheir incomes rise by 25 percent after a marital breakup.

    Forty years ago, men and women stuck tocertain theory, what it meant to be a man or a woman. Young women today, Rosinargues, have abandoned both feminist (女权主义者）and prefeminist preconceptions. Men still stick to the masculinity (大男子主义的）rules, which limit their visionand their movement.

   If she's right, then men will have toacknowledge that they are strangers in a strange land.

    The TV shows like “Children are hard tosupport!”, “Where are we going, Dad?”, “hot mom” and “cute kids” are becomingmore and more popular. All of these show the new parents' confusion inchildren's education and the appeal for the balance between career and family.

In real life, on the one hand, the youngparents feel helpless because they are too busy to accompany their childrenunder the pressures of work and life; on the other hand, they continue to doso. The data collected by HNTV show that nearly two-thirds of their audienceare female, among whom 36% are aged from 25 to 34. We can imagine such a scenethat one evening a young mother is watching the show with her young children,while her husband is still at work or trapped in socializing, or maybe is justplaying computer games in the bedroom. The story of a child without the companyof father is still going on. In fact, it is sometimes the same to mothers. In amodern family, it is often the old who take the responsibility for raising achild. The participation of mother in the children's education is also verylow.

    It is just this kind of confusion wherethe parents have gone in the modern family education, and where the parentswill guide their children to go that “Where are we going, Dad?” shows us. If achild wants to grow up healthily and safely into a modern citizen withindependent personality and free spirit, it is very important for him or her tofollow the parents who serve as their first teacher. Maybe this is the realreason why such kind of TV programs could get hot. The truth is that childrenwill go where their parents go, and society will go where the children go.

    Venom (毒液) from a local scorpion (蝎子) in Cuba is being used by Cuban scientists as an effective weapon to fight cancer. The venom, with stopping pain, anti-inflammatory (炎症) and anti-cancer properties, is the active ingredient in the medicine “Vidatox 30 CH,” which can be used to treat liver, brain, lung and other cancers. The treatment has been successfully used for more than four years in humans after being first tested in biological models. Labiofam, a Cuban laboratory, has breeding (繁殖) centers for both the Red Scorpion and Blue Scorpion. Each month, some 30,000 scorpions in Las Minas town, 270 km east of Havana are made to give the venom. After two years, the scorpions are released back into their natural habitat.

    Denyer Sanchez, a biologist from Labiofam, explained that the conditions are adjusted for reproduction, proved by the high number of breeding female scorpions. He said when the offspring (后代) becomes able to live in the environment, we release them because they do not have the necessary size yet to remove their venom, said Sanchez. Sanchez also said that there is still much to research on the exploitation process of scorpions, such as female death rate or the ability to survive of the released scorpions.

    Cuban research on the scorpion's venom began at the end of 1980s in Guantanamo province, the island's eastern tip, where a group of biologists and doctors became interested in the stories told by the peasants about the venom's benefits. However, the first discovery was made by Cuban biologist Misael Bordier. In 2001, Bordier visited Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM) and presented the research progress in a professional journal. Bordier died in 2005, one year before Cuba's Industrial Property Office gave Labiofam the rights to exploit the patent related to the venom.

    "The history of the world is but the biography (传记) of great men," argued Thomas Carlyle, the advocate of what has come to be known as the "Great Man Theory of History." This theory suggests that the broader movements and outline of history all go back to the leadership of great individuals who had unique influence on their times. Whether or not Carlyle's theory proves true is debatable, but that certain individuals cast long shadows is not.

    As one who is entrusted with a leadership position, I find it profitable to read of others who have led. Wherever you find me, you'll likely find a good biography nearby. Why is this the case? First, I find good biographies fascinating. I'll occasionally read a novel, but I've never been overly drawn to fiction. I have found myself unable to sleep while in the struggle of the Battle of Britain in William Manchester's The Last Lion. For me, not to read biographies would rob me of pleasure in my life.

    Second, I find good biographies informative. A good biographer tells not only the story of a person, but also of their times. Reading a good biography is like wandering through an intellectual shopping mall. The first store is what drew you there, but you will be pleasantly surprised along the way at what other items grab your attention. You'll find no better account of the British Empire at its peak than the opening chapters of Manchester's Visions of Glory, volume one of his The Last Lion. Strictly speaking, a biography is but a slice of history.

    Third, I find good biographies relaxing. Winston Churchill once noted a man who works with his hands should have a hobby that engages his mind, and a man who works with his mind should have a hobby that engages his hands. Another way to apply Churchill's saying is to combine technical, pen-in-hand vocational reading with leisurely biographical reading. Indeed, few things are more relaxing to me than winding down the evening and entering into another world.

    This is why I love reading good biographies, and why I pity the person who neglects them. Don't be counted among their number.

    First aid is defined as the emergency care given to a sick or injured person. The goals of first aid are to prevent death and to prevent injuries from becoming worse. Each emergency condition is different. However, the following rules apply to any kind of emergency.

    Be aware of your limitations. Do not try to do more than you are able to. Nor should you do things if you are unfamiliar with them. Do what you can under the conditions at the time.

    Stay calm. Acting calmly will help the victim feel safe.

    Take a quick look to see if the victim is bleeding, and if there is a pulse.

    Keep the victim lying down and do not move him or her. You could make an injury worse if you move the victim.

    Call for help or ask someone to make the EMS system (急救系统) start.

    Keep the victim warm. Cover the victim with a blanket. Coats and sweaters can be used if a blanket can not be found.

    Reassure (使……安心) the victim. Explain what is happening and that help has been called.

    Do not give the victim any food or fruits.

    Keep the bystanders (旁观者) away from the victim. Bystanders want to have a look, offer advice, and say something about the victim's condition. The victim may believe that the condition is worse than it really is.

    Jimmy is an automotive mechanic (汽车修理技工), but he lost his job a few months ago. He has a good heart, but always feared applying for a new job.

    One day, he gathered up all his strength and decided to attend a job interview. His appointment was at 10 a.m. and it was already 8:30. While waiting for a bus to the office where he was supposed to be interviewed, he saw an elderly man wildly kicking the tyre of his car. Obviously there was something wrong with the car. Jimmy immediately went up to lend him a hand. When Jimmy finished working on the car, the old man asked him how much he should pay for the service. Jimmy said there was no need to pay him; he just helped someone in need, and he had to rush for an interview. Then the old man said, "Well, I could take you to the office for your interview. It's the least I could do. Please, I insist." Jimmy agreed.

    Upon arrival, Jimmy found a long line of applicants waiting to be interviewed. Jimmy still had some grease (油渍) on him after the car repair, but he did not have much time to wash it off or have a change of shirt. One by one, the applicants left the interviewer's office with disappointed looks on their faces. Finally his name was called.  The interviewer was sitting on a large chair facing the office window. Rocking the chair back and forth, he asked, "Do you really need to be interviewed?" Jimmy's heart sank. "With the way I look now, how could I possibly pass this interview?" He thought to himself.

    Then the interviewer turned the chair and to Jimmy's surprise, it was the old man he helped earlier in the morning. It turned out that he was the General Manager of the company.

    "Sorry I had to keep you waiting, but I was pretty sure I made the right decision to have you as part of our workforce (职工) before you even stepped into this office. I just know you'd be a trustworthy worker. Congratulations!" Jimmy sat down and they shared a cup of well-deserved coffee as he landed himself a new job.