How Women Were Freed From Their Homes

    As late as 1800, a woman's only place was in her home. Women in business were unheard of. No respectable woman would dream of entering what was strictly a “man's world”. Even if she would, what could she do? Men were sure that no woman could do a job well outside her home.  This was a widely-accepted idea. When the famous Bronte sisters began writing books in 1846, they had to resort to using men's names as aliases.

    Teaching was the first profession opened to women, soon after 1800. But even that was not easy for women to take because most high schools and colleges were open only to men. Oberlin College in Ohio was the first college in America to take in women.

    Nursing was regarded as a respectable profession for women only after Florence Nightingale won high credit for her nursing career and became famous. Miss Nightingale opened the first training school for nursing in 1860 in England.

    The invention of typewriters in 1867 helped to bring women out of their homes to join the business world. Because women are careful and have nimble fingers, businessmen found that they were well suited to this kind of work.

    By 1890, tens of thousands of women were working in schools, hospitals, shops, offices, and factories both in England and the States. Some even managed to become doctors or lawyers. The idea of women working in business and other circles was accepted. 

    Rachel Carson (1907-1964) is a writer, biologist, and environmentalist. As a trained scientist and a great writer, Rachel Carson did much to shape people's attitudes toward the natural world. Born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, she shared from childhood her mother's love of books and feeling for the beauty and mystery of nature. At Pennsylvania College for Women, she first majored in English, but later learned biology. The imagination of a creative writer with a scientific lobe for fact made her books successful. After graduating with honors, she won a scholarship to Johns Hopkins University, where she earned an A.M. in zoology.

    When her father died suddenly in 1935, she took a job as an aquatic(水生的) biologist. An article for the Atlantic Monthly led to her first book, Under the Sea Wind (1941). During World War II she wrote a series of booklets on wildlife refuges(收容所). Meanwhile she had been working on a book that would make her known throughout the world. Published in 1951, The Sea Around Us became an immediate best-seller, won many honors and literary awards, and was translated into thirty-two languages. After earning enough money, she could devote full time to writing. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea (1955), was also a success.

    Rachel Carson's last book, Silent Spring (1962), became one of the most famous books of the last half of the twentieth century. Ever since the end of World War II, when the insecticide (杀虫剂) DDT came on the market, she had been worried about the dangers in the uncontrolled use of the poisons: their effect on wildlife, on human life, and on the environment. She decided to speak out. The result was a book showing how modern society has been poisoning the earth on a worldwide scale. "A few thousand words from her," wrote a newspaper editor, "and the world took a new direction."

    University Room Regulations

    Approved and Prohibited Items

    The following items are approved for use in residential (提供住宿的) rooms: electric blankets, hairdryers, personal computers, radios, televisions and DVD players. Items that are not allowed in student rooms include: candles, ceiling fans, fireworks, waterbeds, sunlamps and wireless routers (路由器).Please note that any prohibited items will be taken away by the Office of Residence Life.

Access to Residential Rooms

    Students are provided with a combination (组合密码) for their room door locks upon check-in. Do not share your room door lock combination with anyone. The Office of Residence Life may change the door lock combination at any time at the expense of the resident if it is found that the student has shared the combination with others. The fee is $25 to change a room combination.

Cooking Policy

    Students living in buildings that have kitchens are only permitted to cook in the kitchen. Students must clean up after cooking. This is not the responsibility of housekeeping staff. Kitchens that are not kept clean may be closed for use. With the exception of using a small microwave oven to heat food, students are not permitted to cook in their rooms.

    Pet Policy

    No pets except fish are permitted in student rooms .Students who are found with pets, whether visiting or owned by the student, are subject to an initial fine of $100 and a continuing fine of $50 a day per pet. Students receive a written notice when the fine goes into effect. If, one week from the date of the written notice, the pet is not removed, the student is referred to the Student Court.

    If you want to travel from Xi'an to Chengdu by train, it will take about 16 hours. But starting this month, the new Xi'an-Chengdu high-speed railway will shorten this travel time to three hours.

    The 643-kilometer line is China's first high-speed railway to run through the Qinling Mountains, which form a natural boundary (分界线) between China's north and south. With a speed of 250 km per hour, it's also the first mountain-heavy train line to provide a 4G network. Along the way, the train passes through two areas for rare (稀有) wild animals — one for pandas and the other for crested ibises (朱鹮).

    To reduce the railway's influence on the animals, workers and experts have designed and built the railway to be environmentally friendly. There were 345 wild pandas living in the Qinling Mountains. China currently has 1,864 wild pandas in total, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

    To avoid disturbing the pandas, the railway was designed to run through tunnels (隧道) within the area. Protective shields (防护屏) are placed near the entrance of each tunnel to stop animals from going in.

    To protect the thousands of crested ibises that fly near one part of the railway, protective nets have been set up to make sure the birds will not fly into a train.

    The nets are about 32 km long and 4 meters high. Experts tested different shapes and materials for building the nets before making their final choice.

    Wanted: A Personal Assistant

    I'm a very busy woman, looking for an assistant to help me with certain important tasks. This is not your average assistant job. What I'm looking for is someone to take care of some of my more personal business so that I may focus on my true passion: grocery shopping. Please apply if and only if you are willing and able to accomplish the following tasks:

    Work I would love to have a nine-to-five job. However, I find sitting in an office all day unbearable. An ideal assistant would secure a high-paying office job and excel in that setting, even going so far as to eagerly accept every invitation to after-work drinks.

    Go on family vacations I love my family, especially when I don't have to spend time with them. Thus, I will require my employee to attend all family vacations in my place. Since I'll miss out on spending time with my nephews, a good assistant will live-stream (直播) them for me the entire time while discreetly muting the live-stream whenever they start fighting.

    Exercise I am determined to get in better shape but find working out strenuous and tiring. The right candidate will exercise for a minimum of an hour every day and allow me to reap the benefits of his or her vigorous activity.

    Eat Just kidding—I love eating!

    Date I'm looking for love but find dating tedious and intimidating. Ideally, my employee will get a drink with a potential mate so he or she can do the tiresome work of getting to know someone and deciding whether I'll like him. If the romantic candidate advances past a third date, I'd be willing to step in and proceed with the relationship from there, excluding birthdays, holidays, and other high-pressure situations.

    Have a baby I'm eager to have a child, but being pregnant and giving birth seems hard. Likewise, raising a child seems daunting. I'd prefer to spend an hour or two with my child each day while someone else tackles the incredible responsibility of childrearing. Once my child turns 18, I will happily assume all parenting duties, excluding any financial obligations.

    A recent documentary produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has caused a stir in China and in the UK.

    The documentary, titled Are Our Kids Tough Enough? focuses on five Chinese teachers who are sent to teach 50 UK teens at a school in Hampshire.

    The teachers instruct the students for a month. The pupils are then tested, and the results are compared to the ones of those who have continued in the regular UK education system. The idea is to see if the Chinese method improves academic performance.

    The Chinese teachers use their own teaching methods but receive strong resistance from the students. A clip from the documentary online shows some problems, with Chinese teachers calling their students lazy and lacking in discipline, while the students say the high pressure and harsh teachers are driving them crazy.

    This has aroused a new debate in both China and the UK, with some arguing the teenagers need more regulation and discipline. Others say Chinese methods encourage rote learning (死记硬背) instead of independent thinking. For instance, Chinese language teachers should do more than pass on knowledge about words and characters. They should inspire students, helping them feel the sentiment from Chinese literature. This is a higher level of teaching.

    Yang Dongping, dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, says, "The Chinese teaching methods are designed to strictly train the majority. Foreign teaching methods, however, are more natural and relaxing, and designed to inspire students' interest in learning. Education methods are based on culture. That is why a successful education method in one place may not work that well when simply 'transplanted' into another place."

    Yang Dongping says, "The documentary does reflect some problems rooted in traditional Chinese teaching methods. Nobel prize winner, Yang Zhenning, gave a very fair comment on this issue. He said the Chinese-style education method works for most ordinary qualified students effectively, helping them reach high standards. However, it may weaken the training for high-potential outstanding students."