【推荐2】24 Solar Terms: 4 things you should know about Grain Buds

The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Grain Buds (小满), the 8th solar term of a year, begins on May 20 this year, and ends on June 4. In China, the 24 solar terms were created thousands of years ago to guide agricultural production.     1    . Let's see what we can do during the "Grain Buds" period.

A good season for eating fish

During the Grain Buds period, the summer harvest is about to begin. A saying about rain during this time mentions, "A heavy rainfall makes the river full." Because of the great increase in rainfall, rivers are full of water, which gives rise to great tasting fish and shrimp. This is a good time to enjoy them.     2    .

Eating herb of common sow thistle

Grain Buds is a season for eating the herb (草药) of the common sow thistle, which tastes a little bitter and sour, but also sweet. It has the function of cooling the blood and detoxifying the body. It can be made into different types of dishes.     3    . Some people boil the herb with water and then squeeze out the juice, which can be used to make soup.

Tips on health preserving in Grain Buds

    4    . The increase in temperature over this season may also give rise to all sorts of skin diseases. It is also important to exercise to keep healthy during the hot summer days. Walking, jogging and practicing tai chi are popular.

    5    

This time is a good period of the quick growth of flowers. It is also a season when plant diseases and pests are at an all-time high, which makes caring for your garden even more critical. Flower trimming and clipping is important. And a systematic fertilized water system should be carried out.

【推荐1】The Honors Program in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (HPBMB) is offered to mature high school seniors with strong academic ability and achievement who seek careers in biological or biomedical science. Students can earn both a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Ph.D.) in approximately 6 years.

Applicants to the Honors Program in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology must be in their last year of high school.

Undergraduates will have the opportunity to work with top-level research scientists in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and also in clinical laboratories with scientists that are associated with the department. They will conduct intensive laboratory work in the areas of biochemistry, molecular biology or nutritional biochemistry starting in the summer before their first fall semester starts. By spring of their junior year；students will prepare an undergraduate thesis as preparation for their entry into graduate school. At that time, they will start taking graduate courses and continue to do research with a graduate faculty member.

To be considered students must:

• have a combined SAT I score of 1400(combined Math and Critical Reading scores)

• meet the SAT II score requirement of at least 600 in Math, and one science (Biology, Chemistry or Physics)

• have completed eight semesters of English and mathematics and two semesters each of Biology and Chemistry by the time they graduate from high school

• complete all components of your Common Application for undergraduate admission by November 1 of your senior year

• complete a supplemental application form for the Honors Program in Bio chemistry & Molecular Biology

• include a counselor recommendation, three letters of recommendation from teachers in support, of your application to the Honors Program and a personal statement

Send all Dual Admission Honors Program application materials to:

Dual Admission Honors Programs

Office of Admission

University of Miami

P. O. Box 248025

Coral Gables, FL 33124-4616

Fax number: (513)529-7592 (513)529-1950

For more information on the HPBMB, contact:

Dr. Thomas K. Harris

Director, Undergraduate and Medical Education

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Office: Gautier Building， Room 111

Phone: 305-243-3358

•E-Mail: tkharris@miami．edu

【推荐2】Schools in the UK are cutting time spent on PE lessons because of exam pressures. Secondary school teachers said that older teenagers were especially likely to miss out, because the time spent on physical education for 14-16 -year-olds had fallen in the past five years.

Teachers said that increased pressure to produce exam results was leading to children being pulled out of PE lessons. One in three said exam pressures were behind the decline, and they said subjects such as English and Maths had been given more time at the cost of PE.

Almost all of the teachers from the 487 schools said PE should be more valued for its advantages to young people. Mental health experts also warned that cutting down on exercise could increase children's mental health problems. Cal Strode, spokesman for the Mental Health Foundation, said cutting PE time would be "short-sighted and dangerous". He said, "It is worrying to hear that PE is being cut at a time when students are facing problems with stress and anxiety in increasing numbers. There's a close relationship between mental and physical health."

Tom Madders, director of campaigns at charity Young Minds, said, "Schools' cutting down on physical education because of exam pressures is worrying. Schools that value health also do better in study, so it makes sense to keep good health, rather than putting children under more pressure."

Rising exam stress has been raised as a problem by experts who warn that children are under greater pressure because of a competitive jobs market. Ali Oliver, an expert, said, "The PE is good for physical and mental health. So cutting down physical education time is depriving young people of these advantages at a time when they need them most."

【推荐1】Not only does “global warming” bring about an increase in the world's temperature， but also it causes sea levels to rise, which has resulted in the first escape of an island nation． The citizens of Tuvalu will have to leave their homeland.

During the 20th century, the sea level rose 8﹣12 inches. As a result, Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water that has polluted the country's drinking water.

Paani Laupepa, a Tuvaluan government official, reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation has suffered an unusually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years. Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damaging storms.

Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, which are a main cause of global warming. “By refusing to sign the agreement, the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluan's to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years,” Laupepa told the BBC.

Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries.

Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable（易受影响的） to rising sea levels, Maumoon Gayoon, president of the Maldives, told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”.

【推荐3】New rules and behavior standards for middle school students came out in March．2017．Middle schools are going to use a new way to decide who the top students are，    1    The following are some of the new rules．

Have you ever copied someone else's work in an exam？    2    That's not honest．If you have played computer games for two hours in your room，don't tell your parents that you have done homework．

Good students love animals and care for other people．April is Bird-Loving Month in our country．Is your school doing anything to celebrate it？ You should join !     3    Have you ever quarreled with your teammates when your basketball team lost？ Only working together can make your team stronger．Be friendly to the people you are with．Try to think of others，not only yourself．

Be open to new ideas．

Have you ever thought that people could live on the moon？ Perhaps you'll discover Earth II someday．Don't look down at anyone．    4    You should welcome them，because new ideas make life better for everyone．

Protect yourself．

Has someone ever taken money from one of your classmates？ Don't let it happen to you．If you have to go home late，you should let your parents know．

Use the Internet carefully．

The Internet can be very useful for your studies．But some things on the Internet aren't for kids，so try to look at Web Pages that are good for you．    5    

【推荐1】Shortly before Christmas last year, one of Brazilian pianists Joao Carlos Martins invited his friends to a bar near his home. He wanted to show them the best gift he had received: a new pair of gloves. They are not just any gloves, however. The special bionic devices let the 79-year-old pianist play with both hands for the first time in more than 20 years.

By his retirement last March, Martins had received 24 medical operations to try to reduce pain caused by a disease and from a series of accidents. Before the gloves, which were especially developed for him, Martins could only play songs slowly with his thumbs and, sometimes, his pointer fingers.

However, one designer believed Martins’ retirement had come too early. The designer, Ubirata Bizarro Costa, created special bionic gloves for Martins’ hands. The gloves help move his fingers up after they press on the piano keys. Costa said he created early models based on images of Martins’ hands, but he said those models were not good. He then decided to tell Martins about his work. Costa and Martins then spent several months testing different models. Finally, the perfect model came in December, and cost only $125.

These days, Martins never takes off his new gloves, even when he goes to sleep. Martins said, “I have received more than 100 devices in the last 50 years. None of those devices worked well or long enough, but these gloves do. ”

The new gloves have given Martins a new goal. He hopes to play the piano at New York’s Carnegie Hall in October. He is already set to conduct a concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of his first appearance there.

【推荐2】Spending Christmas in a foreign country can be a truly eye-opening experience, especially since it’s easy to believe that as a worldwide festival, most countries probably celebrate it in a fairly similar manner. Being from the UK, Christmas for me means spending time with family and friends, exchanging presents, eating and drinking, and, of course, hiding from the cold. In Colombia, however, Christmas is viewed much more as a time which devotes itself to religion.

With celebrations beginning on 7 December, Columbia is recognized as having the longest Christmas celebrations period in the world. The celebrations generally begin in the evening with the lighting of candles, either in the streets, parks or outside people’s homes. Cities are lit up by candles, as this day marks the beginning of the Christmas period. Although decorations have been up since early November, another tradition in Colombia is that during the nine days before Christmas, family members and friends meet up to pray, sing songs and share traditional foods at home.

Probably the biggest surprise for me has been the music people listen to during the Christmas period. At first, you could easily mistake these songs for the classic salsa, which is played all year round. However, after asking a Colombian if it really felt like Christmas music, they explained to me that the songs are loved more for the memories they symbolize than for the way they sound, and that Colombia has been through so many dark periods in history, it was important to hold on to the good memories of years gone past.

Being in a country like Colombia during this festive period has taught me that   you don’t need to be religious to take part in these Christmas traditions.

【推荐3】Most credit cards today use magnetic strips(磁条) that hold the encrypted(加密)data about the owner's bank account and personal identification number called a PIN. Other credit cards hold the data in memory chips that communicate wirelessly with card readers. Both systems are easy to be attacked. Criminals can secretly find a way to enter the computer systems of the banks or retailers(零售商), and steal the data illegally or,as in the case of Target,disturb the card readers in stores by implanting virus.

Now, scientists in Britain say they are developing a way to make encrypted data more secure by storing it in the plastic itself. Gordon Smith, a retired professor at Warwick Manufacturing Group, at the University of Warwick, says researchers are using a plastic molding(模具) machine to encrypt data with the colors of the card. "As it's making that plastic from a molten plastic into a solid component, we are moving the pigments(颜料) so that they form specific images.The way the pigment is arranged in a particular way inside the plastic ensures the security of the data.When the card is passed through a special scanner,similar to magnetic strip readers,the software reads the fixed image containing the data."When we first developed the images within the plastic,it looked as though it would just be an artistic aspect to it,but then we've realized that once we could make it covert,we could color the plastic so that the image was hidden,then it became something a lot more special.

Smith admits the system could be compromised if someone discovers how the card was made, but says that's unlikely. The counterfeiter would need to have access to an injection molding machine that costs more than $300,000.

The patent for this new method is not yet officially recognized,and it has not been used commercially at all. But Smith says some credit card companies have already indicated they are interested in the technology.