Malka and Shaindle are sisters. Although they live an hour's drive from each other and don't see each other often, they are in touch. Malka has a large family. Shaindle, however, has had difficulty having children.

    Malka had just given birth to another son. Shaindle , married three years and still childless, was receiving fertility(生育) treatments. Involved with work, doctor's visits, and medical treats, she was unable to make the trip to visit her sister after she had given birth.

    Malka knew her sister's problem and was quite understanding. Shaindle and her husband Feivel would be at the haptismal (洗礼) ceremony，of course.

    On the day of the haptism, Shaindle and Feivel arrived early, earlier than Malka and her family. Malka's mother-in-law, Yehudit, was already at the hall. “Hello,” said Shaindle cheerfully, never thinking what was about to happen.

    Yehudit turned to her angrily and said, “What a selfish sister you are! Never once did you see fit to visit Makla this entire week! No wonder you have no children!”

    Shaindle went into shock at her words. She turned away, her eyes filled with tears. The accusation（控诉） had cut Shaindle like a knife. She was psychologically bleeding. Poor Shaindle couldn't calm down. It took a while before she could regain her calmness. She couldn't look at Yehudit; it was just too painful for her to do so.

    The minute the words had escaped Yehudit's mouth, she knew she had crossed a red line. She had stepped on very raw toes and felt regretted for her words –but it was too late. Her attempts to apologize were ineffective. The celebration had suddenly turned sour in just a matter of seconds. After all these years, the memory of that happening lingers on …

    A new generation addiction is quickly spreading all over the world. Weboholism, a twentieth century disease, affects people from different ages. They surf the net, use email and speak in chat rooms. They spend many hours on the computer, and it becomes a compulsive habit. They cannot stop, and it affects their lives.

    Ten years ago, no one thought that using computers could become compulsive behavior that could affect the social and physical life of computer users. This obsessional behavior has affected teenagers and college students. They are likely to log on computers and spend long hours at different websites.

    They become hooked on computers and gradually their social and school life is affected by this situation. They spend all free time surfing and don't concentrate on homework, so this addiction influences their grades and success at school. Because they can find everything on the websites, they hang out there. Moreover, this addiction to websites influences their social life.

    They spend more time in front of computers than with their friends. The relation with their friends changes. The virtual life becomes more important than their real life. They have a new language that they speak in the chat rooms and it causes cultural changes in society.

    Because of the change in their behavior, they begin to isolate themselves from the society and live with their virtual friends. They share their emotions and feelings with friends who they have never met in their life. Although they feel confident on the computer, they are not confident with real live friends they have known all their life. It is a problem for the future. This addictive behavior is beginning to affect all the world.

    In 1972, a social worker named Sanjit "Bunker " Roy founded Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan. Today the college trains women from villages for six months to build and maintain solar panels and other instruments. Barefoot College also offers education to the younger generation both during the day and at its solar bridge schools that meet by lamp light at night.

    The philosophy of the Barefoot College is largely inspired by the principles of Gandhi, starting with quality beyond social classes, sex or religion. As a matter of fact, women are favorably regarded as an underserved population that is necessary to bringing villages together. Another central principle of the college is self-reliance, teaching students to support and think for themselves.

    After the colleges female students have completed their half a year of training, they return to their villages villages, where they wait for solar panel parts to arrive from the college. Once they have all the pieces they need ,they construct the panels and begin collecting solar energy. For each village, the college also provides solar lamps. Villagers can, in addition, order parts for other solar-powered devices, such as water heaters and cooking stoves. Once assembled(组装）, they and the lamps are powered by the solar panels.

    The effect on the villages is huge. Before the solar panels and lamps arrived, villagers had only candles to light their homes. This prevented adults from doing serious work at night, and it made studying difficult for children as well. As for physicians, they have difficulty treating patients and performing operations at night because they had to rely on flashlights.

    Now there is power for not only the electrical appliances that the college provides but also devices like televisions, radios and computers. For the first time, the villagers can even connect to the world through the Internet.

    Women are friendly. They often share with others. But men are more competitive. They are trying to improve their social status. Why? Researchers have found it's all due to the hormone oxytocin (荷尔蒙催生素). Although known as the love hormone, it affects the sexes differently.

    Generally, people believe that the hormone oxytocin is let out in our body in various social situations and our body creates a large amount of it when falling in love or giving birth.

    But in a former experiment Professor Ryan found that the hormone is also let out in our body during a negative situation such as envy (嫉妒).

    Further researches showed that in men the hormone oxytocin improves the ability to recognize competitive relations, but in women it raises the ability to recognize friendship.

    Professor Ryan's recent experiment used 62 men and women aged 20 to 37.

    Half of the participants (参与者) received oxytocin. The other half received placebo (安慰剂).

    After a week, the two groups switched with participants. They went through the same steps with the other material.

    Following each treatment, they were shown some video pictures with different social behavior. Then they were asked to analyze the relations by answering some questions. The questions were about telling friendship from competition. And their answers should be based on gestures, body language and facial expressions.

    The results showed that, after treatment with oxytocin, men's ability to correctly recognize competitive relations improved, but in women it was the ability to correctly recognize friendship that got better.

    Professor Ryan thus concluded, “Our experiment proves that the hormone oxytocin can raise people's abilities to better tell apart different social behaviors.”

    Who can think of the race between the tortoise and the rabbit when it comes to the greatest races? Sure, that race only took place in ancient Aesop's mind, but while the great modern races can teach us a lot about commitment, perseverance (毅力) and the virtues of having a rather large engine, "The Tortoise and the Rabbit" may tell us everything about animals and even vehicles on this planet.

    In a study published this week, Adrian Bejan, a professor of mechanical engineering, concludes that no one should be surprised that the tortoise wins over the seemingly speedier rabbit. In fact, after analyzing the reported speeds of land-air-and-water-based animals, Bejan concludes that the world's well-known speedsters are actually among the slowest when their movements are averaged out over the course of a lifetime.

    The study builds on Bejan's previous research showing that an animals speed increases with mass regardless of species. And that principle can also be extended to non-living things, like aircraft.

    After studying data from historical airplane models, Bajan noted the speed of each model increased with its size, too. That doesn't sound right. What about the modern jet fighter? How is that relatively small craft not faster than a clumsy large transport plane?

    Again, Bejan harks back to the tortoise. That transport plane spends lots of time in the air, moving regularly across long distances. The fighter jet, on the other hand, may fly across the sky occasionally, but-like the rabbit-it's often found resting on the ground.

    The slow and steady transport plane wins the marathon of life.

    But like so many good stories, Aesop's tale offers even more than a lesson in perseverance.

    At one point, the rabbit asks the tortoise how he expects to win a race at such a slow pace.

    The tortoise—ever focused—doesn't respond But it's the rabbits own words that provide the moment to reflect on, especially in modem times.

    "There is plenty of time to relax," Until there isn't.

    In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh (法老) treated the poor message runner like a prince when he arrived at the palace, if he brought good news. However, if the exhausted runner had the misfortune to bring the pharaoh unhappy news, his head was cut off.

    Shades of that spirit spread over today's conversations. Once a friend and I packed up some peanut butter and sandwiches for an outing. As we walked light-heartedly out of the door, picnic basket in hand, a smiling neighbor looked up at the sky and said, "Oh, boy, bad day for a picnic. The weatherman says it's going to rain." I wanted to strike him on the face with the peanut butter and sandwiches. Not for his stupid weather report, for his smile.

    Several months ago I was racing to catch a bus. As I breathlessly put my handful of cash across the Greyhound counter, the sales agent said with a broad smile, "Oh, that bus left five minutes ago." Dreams of head-cutting!

    It's not the news that makes someone angry. It's the unsympathetic attitude with which it's delivered. Everyone must give bad news from time to time, and big winners do it with the proper attitude. A doctor advising a patient that she needs an operation does it in a caring way. A boss informing an employee he didn't get the job takes on a sympathetic tone. Big winners know, when delivering any bad news, they should share the feeling of the receiver.

    Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this. When you're tired from a long flight, has a hotel clerk cheerfully said that your room isn't ready yet? When you had your heart set on the toast beef, has your waiter merrily told you that he just served the last piece? It makes you as traveler or diner want to land your fist (拳头) right on their unsympathetic faces.

    Had my neighbor told me of the upcoming rainstorm with sympathy, I would have appreciated his warning. Had the Greyhound salesclerk sympathetically informed me that my bus had already left, I probably would have said, "Oh, that's all right. I'll catch the next one." Big winners, when they bear bad news, deliver bombs with the emotion the bombarded (被轰炸的) person is sure to have.