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　　Children who suffer head trauma(创伤)call experience headaches months after the injury, with girls more likely to have them than boys, a new study finds．

　　The researchers also found that the risk of having these headaches was greater after a mild traumatic brain injury(TBI)than after a moderate or severe one．

　　The study, published online Dec．5 in the journal Pediatrics, included children aged 5 to 1 7 who were hospitalized with traumatic brain injury in King County in Washington State and one in Philadelphia．Three months after treatment, headaches were reported by 43 percent of children who'had a mild TBI, 37 percent of those who had a moderate to severe TBI, and 26 percent of children in a control group who'd suffered broken arms but no head trauma．

　　The researchers also assessed the children one year after they were hospitalized and didn't find any significant differences in headaches between the groups．

　　Teens and girls appear to have the highest risk for headache after mild TBI, and the course of recovery after such events is likely affected by age, injury severity and gender(性别), the researchers concluded．

　　The authors noted that more than half a million children in the United States suffer a TBI each year．

　　“Little research has focused on chronic(慢性的)headache post-TBI in children, ”Dr．Heidi Blume, of me Seattle Children'S Research Institute, said in锄institute news release(发布会)．“The common existence of headache following mild TBI appear to follow a pattern we see in primary headache disorders such as a migraine(偏头痛)．”

　　She said the research will examine similarities betwe．en TBI and migraine, including a look at whether“migraine treatment will work for post．traumatic headaches．”

　　In the meantime, ‘'what parents need to know is that some children with TBI may have headaches for several weeks or months after TBI, but that most recover with time, ”Blume said．“And significantly, girls and teenagers appear to be at particular risk for headaches after mild TBI．Parents should be aware of what to expect after mild TBI, and that includes TBI for sports．related injuries．”

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　　A Tennessee couple helplessly watched their home bum to the ground, along with all of their possessions, because they did not pay a＄75 annual fee to the local fire department．

　　Vicky Bell told the NBC affiliate WPSD－TV that she called 911 when her mobile home in Obion County caught fire．Firefighters arrived on the．scene but as the fire spread, they simply stood by and did nothing．“In all emergency, the first thing you think of,‘Call 9－1＝l', ”homeowner Bell said．However, Bell and her husband were forced to walk into the burning home in an attempt to retrieve(抢回)their own belongings．"You could look out my mom's Wailer(拖车)and湖the trucks sitting at a distance, ”Bell said．“We just wished we could have gotten more out．”

　　South Fulton Mayor David Crocker defended the fire department, saying that if firefighters responded to non＝subscribers, no one would have an intention to pay the fee．Residents in the city of South Fulton receive the service automatically, but it is not extended to those living in the greater county-wide area．

　　“There's no way to go to every fife and keep．up the manpower, me equipment, and just the funding for the fire department, ”Crocker said．

　　The South Fulton policy produced precisely the same nightmare last year, when homeowner Gene Cranick－who had similarly failed to pay the＄75 annual fee for rural Obion County residents－saw his house swallowed by flames as South Fulton firefighter watched close by．That incident sparked a debate among conservative experts over the limits of fee－for-service approaches to government．

　　For his part, Mayor Crocker stressed that the city's firefighters will help people in danger, even those who haven't paid the fee．“After the last situation．1 would hope that everybody would be well aware of the rural fire fees, this time。”Crocker said．

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　　Elena Kagan has reached a lifelong goal：becoming a Justice on the United States Supreme Court．The US Senate confirmed Kagan on Thursday by a vote of 63.37．She replaces Justice John Paul Stevens，who retired in June．

　　Kagan will take a sacred oath(誓言)to uphold the Constitution of the United States on Saturday at a swearing-in ceremony．The new Justice will bring the number of women sitting on the nation's highest court to three．Kagan joins Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor－all three New Yorkers．

　　Kagan is the fourth woman in history to sit on the Supreme Court．Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the first female Justice．She was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and served from 1981 to 2006．

　　Kagan，who is 50 years old，is the second Justice appointed by President Barack Obarna．file appointed Justice Sotomayor in 2009．)Obama told reporters on Thursday that Kagan will make an“outstanding Justice who underStands that her rulings affect people．''He also noted that the addition of another woman to the Supreme Court marks a sign of progress for the country．Obama and Kagan will celebrate her confirmation with a ceremony at the White House today．

　　Kazan has spent most of her adult life working with the law．She served in President Clinton，s administration as a legal adviser, Was the head of Harvard Law School，and until her confirmation Thursday, Was the US Solicitor General－one of the most powerful lawyers in the federal government．Kagan was born in New York City．She grew up in an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan，the strong-willed, independent middle sister sandwiched between two brothers．

　　Kagan's mother was a public school teacher who taught filth and sixth grades．Her father was a lawyer．

　　The new Justice once wore．a judge's robe in a picture for her high-school yearbook．Now she'11 be wearing real ones as she and the other eight Justices decide some of the most important legal cases．

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　　The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is a plague that man receives．

　　The most widespread mistake of all is that colds are caused by cold．They are not．They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person．You catch a cold by coming into contact directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one．If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever．But they do not．And in isolated Arctic regions, explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contract again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes．

　　During the First World War, soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches, cold and wet, seldom caught colds．

　　In the Second World War, prisoners at Auschwitz concentration camp, naked and starved, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds．

　　At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time．After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in a room．Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion．Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose．

　　If then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in winter? Despite the most hard research, no one has yet found out the answer．One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and that makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on．

　　No one has yet found a cure for the cold．There are drugs and pain-killers such as aspirin, but all that they do is to relieve the symptoms．

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　　Dubai boasts(夸口)that it has just built a “new global landmark”－the Dubai Tower, which stands 512.1 meters high now and has just become the tallest building in the world．

　　The Dubai Tower now surpasses Taiwan’s Taipei 101, which is 508 meters tall, and has 141 storeys, more than any other building in the world．

　　The Dubai Tower, being built by South Korea’s Samsung Corporation and scheduled for completion next year, is one of a series of great projects taking shape in Dubai．The final projected height of the tower has remained a secret since the project was launched in January 2004; however, it is rumored that the tower will be more than 700 meters tall and have more than 160 storeys．

　　The Dubai Tower has become the tallest building in the world in just 1,276 days, leaving behind other tall buildings．

　　The Dubai Tower will house 30,000 apartments in addition to the world’s largest shopping mall．It is the centerpiece(重要工程)of the 20-billion-dollar venture．Another venture gradually emerging across the desert sands is Dubailand, a series of multi-billion-dollar projects claimed to be the Middle East’s very own Orlando．Dubai also paid 100 million dollars to buy the Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ, one of the world’s superb cruise liners(游轮), which it plans to turn into a luxury floating hotel．

　　Faced with decreasing oil wealth, the Western-oriented emirate(酋长国)has raced to turn itself into a business and leisure hub and it aims to more than double the number of tourists to 15 million by 2015．

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　　That year, in the local school, there was a new math teacher, as well as some new pupils．One of the new kids was the stupidest child anyone had ever seen．It made no difference how quickly or how slowly they tried explaining numbers to him; he would always end up saying something enormously stupid．Like two plus two was five, seven times three was twenty-seven, or a triangle had thirty corners……

　　Before this boy arrived, math lessons had been the most boring of all．Now they were great fun．Encouraged by the new teacher, the children would listen to the pieces of nonsense spouted by the new kid, and they would have to correct his mistakes．

　　Whenever the new teacher asked questions, the stupid kid would stand up but made the wrong answers, the other students all wanted to be the first to find his mistakes, and then think up the most original ways to explain them．To do this they used all kinds of stuff：sweets, playing cards, oranges, paper planes, etc．It didn’t seem like any of this bothered the new kid．

　　However, Little Lewis was sure that it was bound to make him feel sad inside．Lewis was sure he would see him crying．So, one day, he decided to follow the new kid home after school．On leaving school, the new kid walked a few minutes to a local park, and there he waited for a while, until someone came along to meet him……

　　It was the new teacher!

　　The teacher gave the new kid a hug, and off they went, hand in hand．Following from a distance, Lewis could hear they were talking about math．

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　　“I never expected that I would be so busy．Why can’t there be 25 hours in a day?” complained Liu Ran in Hong Kong as mid-term exams were going on．

　　The 18-year-old was Shandong Province’s top scorer in this year’s college entrance examination．After graduating from Tai’an No．1 High School, she chose the Chinese University of Hong Kong(香港中文大学)， although both Peking University and　Tsinghua University promised her a place．

　　“I want to experience a more international school and social life in Hong Kong．I’m majoring in journalism, so Hong Kong will surely help widen my horizons,” Liu said．

　　It is two months since Liu first set foot on Hong Kong．She missed home a lot at the beginning, because of the food and language problems．

　　“The canteen offers mostly Western or Guangdong food, but it’s convenient to cook for ourselves in our dorm if we like．People speak Cantonese and almost all classes are in English,” Liu explained．

　　Her English and Cantonese are now both improving, but she still needs more time to adapt to the new environment．

　　“I’m happy that I made the right decision to study here．With a mix of the Eastern and Western cultures, there is so much to discover and learn,” she said．

　　Liu has 18 credit hours(学分)of classes every week and 23 non-credit hours every other week．She has signed up for four associations including the Chinese Language Debating Team and the drama club．Essays, book reports and presentations also take plenty of time to prepare．And, of course, there are various parties to attend．

　　“I wasn’t a party animal before, but that may be interesting part of college．I sense myself changing,” Liu said．

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　　In bringing up children, every parent watches eagerly the child’s acquisition(学会)of each new skill－the first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writing．It is common that parents hurry the child beyond his natural learning rate, but this can set up dangerous feelings of failure and states of worry in the child．This might happen at any stage．A baby might be forced to use a toilet too early, and a young child might be encouraged to learn to read before he knows the meaning of the words he reads．On the other hand, though, if a child is left alone too much, or without any learning opportunities, he loses his natural enthusiasm(热情)for life and his desire to find out new things for himself．

　　Parents vary greatly in their degree of strictness towards their children．Some may be especially strict in money matters; others are severe over time of coming home at night or punctuality(准时)for meals．In general, the controls imposed(强加的)represent the needs of the parents and the values of the community(社区)as much as the child’s own happiness．

　　As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency is very important in parental teaching．To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality．Also, parents should realize that “example is better than precept”．If they are not sincere and do not practice what they preach(说教), their children may grow confused, and emotionally insecure when they grow old enough to think for themselves, and realize they have been to some extent fooled．

　　A sudden awareness of a marked difference between their parents’ principles and their morals can be a dangerous disappointment．

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　　Everybody hates it, but everybody does it．A recent report said that 40％of Americans hate tipping．In America alone, tipping is a ＄16 billion-a-year industry．Consumers acting politely ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service．Tips should not exist．So why do they? The common opinion in the past was that tips both rewarded the efforts of good service and reduced uncomfortable feelings of inequality．And also, tipping makes for closer relations．It went without saying that the better the service, the bigger the tip．

　　But according to a new research from Cornell University, tips no longer serve any useful function．The paper analyzes numbers they got from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants．The connection between larger tips and better service was very weak．Only a tiny part of the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service．

　　Tipping is better explained, by culture than by the money people spend．In America, the custom came into being a long time ago．It is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service．In New York restaurants, failing to tip at least l5％ could well mean dissatisfaction from the customers．Hairdressers can expect to get l5％-20％, and the man who delivers your fast food ＄2．In Europe, tipping is less common．In many restaurants the amount of tip is decided by a standard service charge．In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all．Only a few have really taken to tipping．

　　According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell papers’ author, countries in which people are more social or outgoing tend to tip more．Tipping may reduce anxiety about being served by strangers．And Mr．Lynn says, “In America, where people are expressive and eager to mix up with others, tipping is about social approval．If you tip badly, people think less of you．Tipping well is a chance to show off．”

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　　In our life, we have rarely expressed our gratitude to the one who’d lived those years with us．In fact, we don’t have to wait for anniversaries to thank the ones close to us－the ones so easily overlooked．If I have learned anything about giving thanks, it is this：give it now！While your feeling of appreciation is alive and sincere, act on it．Saying thanks is such an easy way to add to the world’s happiness．

　　Saying thanks not only brightens someone else’s world, but it also brightens yours．If you’re feeling left out, unloved or unappreciated, try reaching out to others．It may be just the medicine you need．

　　Of course, there are times when you can’t express gratitude immediately．In that case don’t let embarrassment sink you into silence－speak up the first time you have the chance．

　　Once a young minister, Mark Brian, was sent to a remote parish of Kwakiutl Indians in British Columbia．He had been told that the Indians did not have a word for thank you．But Brian soon found that these people had exceptional generosity．Instead of saying thanks, it is their custom to return every favor with a favor of their own, and every kindness with an equal or superior kindness．They do their thanks．

　　I wonder if we had no words in our vocabulary for thank you, would we do a better job of communicating our gratitude? Would we be more responsive, more sensitive and more caring?

　　Thankfulness sets in motion a chain of reaction that transforms people all around us－including ourselves, for no one ever misunderstands the melody of a grateful heart．