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　　Why do men die earlier than women?The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age．

　　The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts hardly lose their pumping power with age．

　　“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,”said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK．“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat．Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,”said Goldspink．“This is part of the ageing process．”

　　What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells．A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s．

　　“This gender(性别)difference might just explain why women live longer than men,”said Goldspink．

　　They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease．

　　The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart, said Goldspink．

　　The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise．Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age．

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　　In the world of fairy tales, great and powerful men are often helped to victory by the small and weak．But in the US it has happened for real．

　　Nine–year–old Noah McCullough from Texas, has taken on the role of speaking to the public in support of President George W．Bush’s social security reforms．

　　On February 25 he signed an agreement with the American Congress to work for the White House as a volunteer．“What I want to tell people about social security is not to be afraid of the new plan,”Noah said．“It may be a change, but it’s a good change．”

　　Besides this task, he already has a higher goal．He plans to run for the White House in 2032．So far, Noah seems to have a very bright future．

　　Despite his age, Noah already has his firm opinion on running the US．“I firmly believe that the combination of large business and small governments creates a peaceful and present society because industry can stimulate(刺激)economic growth,”he said．

　　Noah’s politics do not come from his parents．“He is very patriotic(爱国的)and very republican,”said Noah’s mother, Donna McCullough．“It’s the way he was born．”

　　Noah’s interest began after a mock(模拟)election in the kindergarten when he was five years old．Now he has read more than 3,000 books on presidential history．He can recite the names of all 43 American presidents．He can also describe the achievements and events that took place during a president’s term of office．

　　His unusual experiences in the presidential campaign last year made him a famous figure．He was a member of Bush’s presidential campaign team．He gave speeches at the Republican convention(大会)and followed Bush around on his tour of 27 states．President Bush thinks highly of the boy, saying that he is“the miracle kid of the White House”．

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　　While watching the Olympics the other night, I came across an unbelievable sight．It was not a gold medal, or a world record broken, but a show of courage．

　　The event was swimming and started with only three men on the blocks．For one reason or another, two of them false started, so they were disqualified．That left only one to compete．It would have been difficult enough, not having anyone to race against, even though the time on the clock is important．

　　I watched the man dive off the block and knew right away that something was wrong．I’m not an expert swimmer, but I can tell a good dive from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality．When he resurfaced, it was evident that the man was not out for gold–his arms were waving in an attempt at freestyle．The crowd started to laugh．Clearly this man was not a medal competitor．

　　I listened to the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man who was clearly having a hard time．Finally he made his turn to start back．It was pitiful．He made a few desperate strokes and you could tell he was worn out．

　　But in those few awful strokes, the crowd had changed．

　　No longer were they laughing, but beginning to cheer．Some even began to stand and shout“Come on, you can do it!”and he did．

　　A clear minute past the average swimmer, this young man finally finished his race．The crowd went wild．You would have thought that he had won the gold, and he should have．Even though he recorded one of the slowest times in Olympic history, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors．

　　Just a short year ago, he had never even swum, let alone race．His country had been invited to Sydney．

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　　As a boy, Tim was much influenced by books about the sea, but in fact by the age of fifteen he had decided to become a doctor rather than a sailor．His father was a dentist and as a result Tim had the opportunity of meeting many doctors either at home or elsewhere．When he was fourteen he was already hanging around the clinic of a local doctor where he was supposed to be helping to wrap up medicine bottles, but was actually trying to listen to the conversations taking place between the doctor and his patients in the next room．

　　During the war Tim served in the Navy as a surgeon(外科医生)．“That was the happiest time of my life．I was dealing with very real suffering and on the whole making a success of it．”In California he taught the country people simple facts about medicine．He saw himself as a life-saver．He had proved his skills to himself and his ability to take decisions．Thus, while he was able to tell them what to do, he could feel he was serving them．After the war, he got married and chose to be a doctor in the countryside, working under an old doctor who was popular in the area, but who hated the sight of blood and believed that the secret of medicine was faith．This gave the younger man many opportunities to go on working as a life–saver．

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　　More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving．As Skolnick notes, Americans are a marrying people：relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age．Moreover, after a decline in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing．Even the divorce rate needs to be taken in this pro-marriage context：some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry．Thus, marriage remains, by far, the preferred way of life for the vast majority of people in our society．

　　What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family?Twenty-five years ago, the typical American family consisted of a husband, a wife, and two or three children．Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children．And there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage, or the husband’s, or both．Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage；sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses．

　　Thus, one can find the very type of family arrangement．There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriage, marriages with“full-time”children from the present marriage and“part-time”children from former marriages．There are step-fathers, step-mothers, half-brothers and half-sisters．It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents!These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family．But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant; most Americans spend most of their adult lives married．

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　　It is impossible not to make a mistake at some point in your life．We may as well accept that something will go wrong and we will be to blame．It is therefore sensible to work out some strategies for apologizing, and the best way to apologise is by letter．This way you can take care over every word you write－which you can’t do if you say sorry to someone in person．

　　We all say or do something that we wish we hadn’t said or done．You may say something that accidentally hurts someone, or you may provide a service which doesn’t come up to the standards that a client or customer expected．

　　You may feel that it was a genuine mistake which couldn’t be avoided．Rather than dwell on the mistake, you should quickly try to remedy(补救)the problem．An effective letter of apology is an important part of that process．

　　For the content of the letter, just remember TABS－Timing, Action, Brevity, Sincerity．

　　The timing of a letter of apology is vital－it must be sent as soon as possible．Any delay in sending the letter will only compound(使……更坏)the problem．In this case“Better late than never”is not the best motto!The longer you wait before writing a letter of apology, the more it will seem that you have been forced into writing it．

　　Although it is important to recognize what has gone before, it is also essential to detail the action you plan to take to put right whatever it was you did wrong．Research has shown that some indication that you have thought what future action you plan to take is always well received．

　　A letter of apology should be brief and the word“sorry”should appear no more than twice．Indicate that you are aware you are using it a second time“once again, I am so sorry for…”or“as I said earlier, I am really sorry about…”．Finally, the tone of the letter has to be sincere．In fact the combination of all the above factors will help in this respect．

　　And don’t think that letters are out of date in the email-oriented 21st century．An apology email can be worse than no apology at all!

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　　If 2005 was the year that Ding Junhui exploded onto the international snooker scene, then 2006 could be the year he became a legend．

　　He won the famous Northern Ireland Trophy after beating former world No．1 Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-6 in August 2006 and shot up to fifth place in the World Snooker Provisional Rankings．With the first title of the new snooker season at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Ding became only the second player in snooker history to win three ranking titles before his 20th birthday, following the 2005 China Open and UK Championship．Ding was born on April 1, 1987 in Yixing, Jiangsu Province．His talent was discovered by his father when he was just eight years old．Systematic training started when he turned 11．In order to find better training facilities for Ding, his father gave up his small business and took his son to Dongguan, Guangdong Province．Father and son shared an eight-square-meter room created by partitioning the local snooker club．

　　Finally, Ding’s mother sold their house in their hometown and arrived at their narrow“room”．Parental love was all that supported Ding．He practiced very hard．Even as a professional player living in England, he practiced eight hours a day from 10 am to 6 pm, without a day off．

　　Their efforts began to pay off when 13-year-old Ding started to win prizes in an Asian invitational tournament．He turned professional at the age of sixteen．

　　Ding has confirmed his reputation as snooker’s most exciting young talent and perhaps the one with the potential to dominate world snooker in years to come．

　　However, the comments Ding and his father made on the miracle Ding performed were controversial．According to the media, when Ding questioned the importance of schooling, his father described what he did for Ding as nothing but a bet on life!

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　　The ability of forests to absorb man-made CO₂ is weakening, according to an analysis of two decades of data from more than 30 sites in the frozen north．

　　The study was conducted by a team of Canadian, Chinese and European researchers and published in the science journal Nature on January 3．The findings mean that more of the CO₂ we release will end up affecting the climate rather than being safely locked away in trees or soil．

　　As plants take up more CO₂, that should put a break on CO₂ increases, scientists once thought．However, the new data suggest that this idea is too simplified．The research team monitored the date in autumn at which the forests switched from being a net sink for carbon into a net source．Instead of moving later in the year as they had expected, this date actually got earlier－in some places by a few days, but in others by a few weeks．

　　“This means potentially a bigger warming effect,”said Timo Vesalai, who led the study．The precise effect the trend will have on future warming is hard to predict．But the research could partly explain why the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected．

　　Currently, half of the man-made CO₂ is absorbed by oceans and ecosystems on land．

　　Between 1970 and 2000, the CO₂ concentration(浓度)in the atmosphere rose by 1.5ppm．Since 2000 the annual rise leap to an average of 1.9ppm－35％ higher than expected．

　　In China, the average temperature in 2007 was 1.3℃ higher than the average temperature between 1970 and 2000．

　　So, it is time for us to take action now．

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　　Dr Wiseman started“the laugh lab”project in September 2001．It is the largest study of humor．Participants(参加者)are invited to log on to the laugh lab website, give a few personal details, tell their favorite jokes and judge the jokes told by other people．

　　The project will last for a year, and the organizers hope to finally discover the world’s funniest joke．But there is also a serious purpose．The researchers want to know what people from different nations and cultures find funny．And they want to find out the differences between the male and female sense of humor．The idea is that if we want to understand each other, we have to find out what makes us laugh．

　　This is a subject that has long interested psychologists(心理学家)and philosophers(哲学家)．Most of the time, people are not completely honest．We do things that society expects us to and say things that help us get what we want．But laughing cannot be controlled．When we laugh, we tell the truth about ourselves．

　　By December 2001 over 10, 000 jokes had been submitted．This gave the scientists enough evidence(证据)to make early conclusions．It seems that men and women do have different senses of humor, for instance．

　　“Our findings show the major differences in the ways in which males and females use humor,”said Dr．Wiseman．“Males use humor to appear superior(优越)to others, while women are more skilled in languages and prefer word play．”

　　Researchers also found that there really is such a thing as a national sense of humor．the British enjoy what is usually called“toilet humor”．But the French like their jokes short and sharp：“You’re a high priced lawyer．Will you answer two questions for 500?”“Yes．What’s the second question?”

　　The Germans are famous for not having a sense of humor．But the survey found that German participants were more likely to find submitted jokes funny than any other nationality．Perhaps that proves the point．Is this joke funny?I don’t know, but let’s say yes, just to be safe．

　　Dr Wiseman and his workmates also submitted jokes created by computer．But none of those who took part in the survey found any of them amusing．Perhaps this is relief．Computers already seem like they can do everything．At least they should leave the funny stuff to us．

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