A British friend told me he couldn't understand why Chinese people love eating sunflower seeds as a snack so much. “I've met a lot of older Chinese and many have a crack in their front teeth; I believe that's from cracking the seeds, ” he said.

    I had never noticed the habit, but once he mentioned it, I suddenly became more aware. I realized that whenever I'm watching TV or typing a report, I always start mindlessly cracking sunflower seeds. My friend doesn't like sunflower seeds, and, to him, it seems unnecessary to work so much just to get one small seed.

    When we were young, the whole family would usually get together for Chinese New Year. Then, we all lived close to one another, usually in a small city, and sometimes even neighbors would go door-to-door on Chinese New Year's Eve to check out what every household was making.

    I remember my parents would be in the kitchen cooking. Out in the living room , a large table would already be laid out, complete with fancy tablecloth, ready-made dumpling fillings, and dishes full of candy, fruits and sunflower seeds. Some of the dishes were to be offered to our ancestors later, while others were for neighbors and children to eat before the evening feast. I must have learned how to crack sunflower seeds back then.

    I don't think it's right to criticize one's choice in food or eating habits, no matter how strange they may seem.

    It's not only in China. When I went abroad, I found people had all sorts of strange habits when it came to food. In Denmark, they put salted red fish on bread and eat it for dinner, no matter how much it ruins your breath. They think it's a delicacy, and it's connected to their culture. I think it's a wonderful tradition.

Surviving Hurricane Sandy(飓风桑迪)

    Natalie Doan, 14, has always felt lucky to live in Rockaway, New York. Living just a few blocks from the beach, Natalie can see the ocean and hear the wave from her house. “It's the ocean that makes Rockaway so special, ” she says.

    On October 29, 2012, that ocean turned fierce. That night, Hurricane Sandy attacked the East Coast, and Rockaway was hit especially hard. Fortunately, Natalie's family escaped to Brooklyn shortly before the city's bridge closed.

    When they returned to Rockaway the next day, they found their neighborhood in ruins. Many of Natalie's friends had lost their homes and were living far away. All around her, people were suffering, especially the elderly. Natalie's school was so damaged that she had to temporarily(临时地，暂时地) attend a school in Brooklyn.

    In the following few days, the men and women helping Rockaway recover inspired Natalie. Volunteers came with carloads of donated clothing and toys. Neighbors devoted their spare time to helping others rebuild. Teenagers climbed dozens of flights of stairs to deliver water and food to elderly people trapped in powerless high-rise buildings.

    “My mom tells me that I can't control what happens to me,” Natalie says. “but I can always choose how I deal with it. ”

    Natalie's choice was to help.

    She created a website page matching survivors in need with donors who wanted to help. Natalie posted introduction about a boy named Patrick, who lost his baseball card collecting when his house burned down. Within days, Patrick's collection was replaced.

    In the coming months, her website page helped lots of kids: Christopher, who received a new basketball; Charlie, who got a new keyboard. Natalie also worked with other organizations to bring much-need supplies to Rockaway. Her efforts made her a famous person. Last April, she was invited to the White House and honored as a Hurricane Sandy Champion of Change.

    Today, the scars(创痕)of destruction are still seen in Rockaway, but hope is in the air. The streets are clear, and many homes have been rebuilt. “I can't imagine living anywhere but Rockaway, ” Natalie declares. “My neighborhood will be back, even stronger than before. ”

    Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbours, even pets, will all do the trick, but the biggest longevity(长寿) boost seems to come from marriage or an equivalent relationship. The effect was first noted in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows and widowers(鳏夫) were at a much higher risk of dying than their married peers. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man's life and two to a woman's. The effect holds for all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.

    Even if the odds are stacked against you (the conditions are not favourable), marriage can more than compensate. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Likewise, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn't smoke. There's a flip side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their spouse's death, and caring for a spouse with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the odds favour marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.

    So how does it work? The effects are complex, affected by socio-economic factors, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological mechanisms(机制). For example, social contact can boost development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.

    A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100.The best social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says: “People are interconnected, so their health is interconnected.”

    Then the servant knocked in a very guarded manner; the door was opened on the chain; and a voice asked from within, “Is that you, Poole?”

    “It's all right,”said Poole,” Open the door.”

    The hall, when they entered it, was brightly lighted up/The whole of the servants, men and women, stood crowded together like a flock of sheep .At the sight of Mr. Utterson, the housemaid broke into crying hysterically but softly; and the cook, crying out” Bless God! It's Mr. Utterson,” ran forward as if to take him in her arms.” What, what? Are you all here?” said the lawyer impatiently.” Very irregular, very unseemly; your master would be far from pleased.”

    “They're all afraid,” said Poole.

    Blank silence followed, no one protesting; only the maid lifted her voice and now wept loudly.

    Blank silence followed, no one protesting; only the maid lifted her voice and now wept loudly.

    “I told your tongue!” Poole said to her, with a violent accent that proved his own anxiety; and indeed, when the girl had so suddenly raised the note of her mourning, they had all started and turned towards the inner door with faces of dreadful expectation.” And now,” continued the servant, addressing the knife-boy,” reach me a candle, and we'll get this through hands at once.” And then he begged Mr. Utterson to follow him, and led the way to the back garden.

    “Now, sir,” said he, “you come as gently as you can. I want you to hear, and I don't want you to be heard. And see here, sir, if by any chance he was to ask you in, don't go.”

    Mr. Utterson's nerves gave a jerk that nearly threw him from his balance; but he recollected his courage and followed the servant to the foot of the stair. Here Poole signed to him to stand on one side and listen; while he himself, setting down the candle and making a great and obvious call on his determination, went up the steps and knocked with a somewhat uncertain hand on the red baize of the cabinet door.

    “Mr. Utterson, sir, asking to see you,”he called; and even as he did so,once more violently signed to the lawyer to give ear.

    A voice answered from within:” Tell him I cannot see anyone,” it said complainingly.

    “Thank you,sir,” said Poole, with a note of something like triumph（胜利）in his voice; and taking up his candle, he led Mr. Utterson back across the yard and into the great kitchen.

    “Sir,” he said, looking Mr. Utterson in the eyes, “Was that my master's voice?”

    “It seems much changed,” replied the lawyer, very pale, but giving look for look.

    “Changed? Well, yes, I think so,”said the servant, “Have I been twenty years in this man's house, to be deceived about his voice? No, sir; master's killed; he was killed eight days ago, when we heard him cry out upon the name of God; and who's in there instead of him, and why it stays there, is a thing that cries to Heaven, Mr. Utterson!”

    “This is a very strange tale, Poole; this is rather a wild tale, my man,” said Mr. Utterson, biting his finger,” Suppose it were as you suppose, supposing Dr. Jekyll to have been--well, murdered what could cause the murderer to stay ? That won't hold water; it is not reasonable.”

    “Well, Mr. Utterson, you are a hard man to satisfy, but I'll do it yet,” said Poole. “All this last week（you must know）him, or it, whatever it is that lives in that cabinet, has been crying night and day for some sort of medicine . It was sometimes his way--the master's, that is --to write his orders on a sheet of paper and throw it on the stair. We've had nothing else his week back; nothing but papers, and a closed door, and the very meals left there to be taken in secretly when nobody was looking .Well, sir, every day, and twice and there times in the same day, there have been orders and complaints, and I have been sent flying to all the wholesale chemists in town. Every time I brought the stuff back, there would be another paper telling me to return it, because it was not pure. This drug is wanted bitter bad, sir, whatever, for.”

    As a college student, I have planned my future career goals. I would like to work as a sales assistant in a computer company, then a sales manager and finally boss of my own company.

    At the very beginning, I plan to find a job in a famous company producing computers, in which all the staff are fully happy at work and I can experience job satisfaction most of the time. Only such kind of company can provide me with good working atmosphere and eagerness to learn more so as to get well prepared for my future profession.

    At first I want to be a sales assistant and always keep myself busy working in and out of the company, such as, answering telephones, doing repair work, even cleaning the rooms. Although the salary may be low, I will seize every chance to learn from other staff. In my spare time, I will take some courses so as to get more qualifications and experience in this field. In three or five years, I am determined to become a sales manager who is responsible for the selling of the computers. I will interview as many customers as possible and do market research and improve our products. Meanwhile I will take care of my staff to make them eager to work to the best of their abilities.

    As is known to us, it is hard to manage a company, but I will make every effort to achieve my goal step by step, and I am sure "There is nothing difficult in the world if you put your heart into it."

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently declared children's mental health is a national crisis. 

In December 2021, Dr. Murthy issued a report to highlight the additional pressures the economic depression had put on the country's youth, and the urgent need to address this. The impact of this crisis is far-reaching, and new research shows that it's affecting parents' well-being, plus their ability to succeed at work and provide for their families. 

"On Our Sleeves, a national movement that aims to break shame around children's mental health, surveyed more than 3,000 working parents across the US and found that 8 in 10 parents have been very concerned about their child's mental health and development or behavior in the past two years. Children's mental health concerns have been hiding in plain sight for many years, surrounded by confusion and shame," says Marti Bledsoe Post, the director of On Our Sleeves. 

The survey found that 53% of working parents have missed work at least once per month to deal with their children's mental health. And 71% of parents said issues with their child's mental or emotional well-being made the stresses of work much more difficult to cope with. 

"Employers need to know that many of their employees are struggling and it is impinging their work as a result," says Marti. "Our mission with On Our Sleeves is to provide every family in America access to free, evidence-based educational resources. We see this study as incredibly important in starting the conversation and providing solutions for working families."

As Marti points out, for some parents, taking a child to weekly therapy (心理治疗) appointments and attending meetings at school consume a lot of time. These parents should be helped.