【推荐1】Teak is a large tree that grows in tropical(热带的) forests. It’s often used for outdoor furniture, since it’s more resistant to the elements than other types of wood. When untreated, it tends to fade to a grayish color, so it is often stained(着色). Before being able to stain teak furniture, you’ll need to sand and smooth the wood first.

Wipe dirt and dust off. You can use a dry paper towed or a cloth to brush any dirt off. If there are more tenacious spots to clean off, you can use a wet rag to rub them clean. Sand rough spots with 120 grit sandpaper. After that, use 220 grit sandpaper on the whole surface. Wipe any wood dust off with a dry rag before continuing.

Paint on a layer of sanding sealer(底漆). This will make the surface smoother and will get the wood stain better attached. Once the sealer has started to dry, use a clean cloth to wipe off any sealer that’s still pooled at the top of the wood. This will prevent spots from forming on the wood. Let the sealer dry completely. It should only take a few hours for the sealer to dry completely. You should sand the surface a few times before continuing to smooth out any spots where the sealer might not have dried evenly.

When painting on a layer of stain, a brush will do fine. Apply an even coat all over. Wipe off any stain not absorbed by the wood. Use a clean dry rag to wipe off extra stain. Let the wood stain dry. The amount of time it takes for the stain to completely dry will depend on how thick of a layer you used. Avoid touching the stain too much if it’s still wet. After the first coat has dried, take a moment to see if you’re satisfied with the color. If you want your furniture to be darker, you can add another coat of wood stain, right on top of the previous layer, following the same process.

【推荐2】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.”

【推荐3】Are people less or more happy when they get older? A study in 2018 found that people generally become happier and experience less worry after age 50. In fact, it found that by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were at 18.

Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were the highest among adults between the ages of 22 and 25.     1    

Happiness was the highest among the youngest adults and those in their early 70’s. But the people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their 70's and 80's. The survey also found that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older.     2    

The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.

    3     One theory is that, as people get older, they become more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.

    4     In another study, people in their 80’s reported the fewest problems with the quality of their sleep. The original goal was to confirm the popular belief that aging is connected with increased sleep problems.     5     But except for that, people reported that they felt their sleep quality improved as they got older.

【推荐2】Ma uka, ma uka ka ua,

Ma kai, ma kai ka ua

So sing the children at Hawaiis Punana Leo Hilo kindergarten on the Big Island of Hawaii. The chant is much like any other “Rain, rain, go away” nursery rhyme, but it has an unusual power: it is one of the tools that has brought about the revival(复兴)of a near-dead language.

The decline of Hawaiian was not, as is the case with most disappearing languages, a natural death caused by migration and mass media. In 1896, after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy (君主政体) by American business interests, schools were banned from using the language, and children were beaten for speaking it. By the late 20th century, aside from a couple of hundred people on one tiny island, English had replaced Hawaiian and only the old spoke the language to each other.

Larry Kimura, a professor there, and his students wanted to bring it back to life. In 1985, when educating children in Hawaiian was still banned, Kauanoe Kamana and her husband Pila Wilson, both students of Kimura's created the first Punana Leo (which means language nest) at Hilo. They gathered together a small group of children and elderly native speakers. The movement grew: there are now 12 kindergartens and 23 schools. The number of children being educated in Hawaiian has risen from 1,877 in 2008 to 3,028 in 2018. Along with Japanese, Hawaiian is the non-English language most commonly spoken among children.

The success has been hard-won. Campaigners had to get the law changed. “People in the community, even in our families, were saying: ‘You'll ruin your children's future. They won't be able to go to college.’ ” Such fears turned out to be unfounded. All the pupils at Nawahi, the main Hawaiian-medium school, complete high school, compared with the state average of 83%; 87% go to college, compared with a state average of 55%.

But academic outcomes are not the primary focus, says Mr. Wilson. “We value our connection with our ancestors more than we value being millionaires,” he says. Mr. Kimura explains that the schools have allowed Hawaiians to pass on their culture.