【推荐1】If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?

According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter. This is the area of the brain which processes information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.

The study also found the effect is greater when the younger people learn a second language. A team led by Dr. Andrea Mechelli, from University College London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners. Scans showed that grey matter density (密度) in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference.

“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists. It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.

Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales, has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible (灵活的),” he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”

The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and thirty-four. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.

【推荐2】There’s a lot we know about eggs: they are great for breakfast and you can cook them in different ways. One topic of debate, however, is why brown chicken eggs usually cost more than white ones. According to Shaman Hickman, the director of Community Outreach and Education for Hickman's Family Farms, genetics (基因学) not nutrition determines the eggshell colour and thus the egg’s price.

The chicken breed (品种) and their genetics decide whether or not hens have pigment (色素) genes, which coat the egg and result in a coloured shell during the egg-laying process. Although all eggs start out white in colour, shell colour can range from white to brown and even blue in some rare breeds, Hickman adds. Breeds such as the Leghorn chicken lay white eggs, while the Orpington lays brown eggs and the Ameraucana produces blue eggs.

Hickman notes that the Leghorn breed is the most efficient egg-laying hen, making it a popular choice for farmers. Hens that produce coloured eggshells, however, tend to be larger and require more feed and energy to create that painted layer. Since those breeds cost more to feed, their eggs are more expensive.

Although eggs sometimes look different and are priced differently, it’s impossible to know their nutritional make-up from the shell colour alone, according to Malkani, media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Choosing between brown and white eggs is a matter of personal preference,” she says. “But it's important for people to know that the colour of the eggshell has nothing to do with the egg’s nutrient content or shell thickness.”

What does affect the nutrient content is the specific diet the hen is on, according to Malkani. For example, hens fed with a diet with omega-3s and vitamin D produce eggs that are higher in those specific nutrients. No matter what your preference is, don’t judge an egg by its shell colour.

【推荐3】Campuses should be safe places for children to learn and develop. However, the movie, Better Days, released on Oct 25 , highlights a serious issue—school bullying. Some experts say people should treat bullying seriously and not regard it as a joke. School bullying involves hurtful words, physical attacks, even sexual violence.

    1    In quite a few cases, a child is bullied merely because another sees him/her as being weak in strength or character, and he or she is singled out for violence.

That the offenders are just children does not mean bullying is simply high spirits or that the children are just being naughty.     2    and it does not matter how old the perpetrator（施暴者）of the violence is or what form it takes.

It is not helpful for parents and teachers to ignore the matter by saying it is a private affair between the children and they can solve it by themselves.     3    All violence should be prevented, and the most effective way of preventing bullying on campus is to call the police and let the professionals deal with it.     4    

Bullying is a serious offense. While there may be no visible harm, it can leave invisible scars and wounds that can prove fatal over time. According to data from the United Nations Education, Science, and Culture Organization, over 32 percent of male pupils and 28 per-cent of female pupils suffer from campus violence with many suffering serious emotional and psychological problems as a result.     5    

【推荐1】Online live streaming(直播) is big business nowadays, making huge profits and attracting hundreds of millions of viewers. In addition to adults, this rapidly expanding industry is now drawing underage live streamers, who are not of legal age. According to a report by the Sina Weibo Data Center, live streamers aged 11—16 accounted for 12 percent of all streamers in China. The figure has been rising still, while streamers are getting younger.

It has been found that a large number of underage streamers are drinking, smoking or even exposing to attract viewers. In the best case, live streaming will affect children’s schoolwork and waste their precious youth. In the worst case, they will develop bad values and an improper outlook, which will damage their future.

“Webcasts (web broadcast) are suspected of having a hotbed of improper program. Particularly, the involvement of underage streamers in this industry is making the situation more complex” said Mao Jianguo from Southern Metropolis Daily.

Some legal experts recently issued a report on protection of the children in the cyberspace(网络空间), suggesting that those under 14 should be restricted from independently live streaming and posting videos online.

However, it is unwise and impossible to totally reject all underage streamers but it's necessary and even urgent to standardize the underage webcast sector.

Fortunately, some webcast companies have said that they will not allow streamers under the age of 18 and online live streamers must register by using their ID. However, the reality is that many underage streamers choose to avoid that by using the IDs of adults, who also go through the face scanning required for conditions. All this means that to block underage streamers from webcasting, it’s not enough to depend on their self-discipline.

Parents should tell their children about the disadvantages of getting involved in live streaming so that children develop an objective attitude toward live streaming. Adults should not lend their IDs to children to register for live streaming. And the watchdogs must patrol(巡逻) webcast platforms more actively and remove all unauthorized videos of underage streamers.

【推荐3】One of the key tasks for leaders at GE (General Electric) is to look after the company’s resources. We watch how money is spent and protect the company’s assets(资产) .We make efficiencies(效率) and fight to find funding for new ideas. We care about the health and welfare of our employees,and work to keep them safe all over the world.

Where we sometimes fall short-I am sure this is true of most organizations-is with time.I don’t think we manage time as well as we could. We have meetings that include too many participants,some of whom don’t need (or want) to be there. Too much time is spent at the start of meetings passing around information that could be shared in advance. Some meetings go on longer than they need to, and don’t always result in real actions, or decisions.

Leaders make personal decisions about how to distribute their own time,and this affects how others and particularly their teams have to spend their time. I’ve asked people in my organization to think ahead-what can be done individually or beforehand. We need to think about the impact every time we occupy time, or create work, for others.

Wasting time contributes to a competitive disadvantage. It keeps us from doing things that matter and meeting deadlines. One solution we’re working on at GE is adopting a “FastWorks” mindset. This is a lean start-up concept we developed to better understand pain points, quickly test product or service hypotheses(假设) and to understand if a proposed solution is right. We used this approach to develop our GuardEon circuit breaker in less than half the time it would previously have taken and went to market 3 years sooner.

If you are like me, you have your best days when you accomplish things. The worst days are when we spend time doing things without results, and you come away feeling you have wasted time. We don’t mind working hard, but we want to get things done. The old saying went something like “time is money,”In today’s world, it’s more like “time is speed and focus, and speed and focus is money.”We are more successful if we are focused and spend our time doing the things that matter.