4 . The Week Contest

This week’s question: The U.S. will be short of an estimated 550, 000 licensed plumbers by 2027, as a result of r sing retirements and ash or age of young trainees. In seven or fewer word come up with a slogan for a recruitment poster that will inspire a new generation to enter the profession and save America’s bathrooms.

Last week’s contest: Police responding to a report of an “elderly male walking with a shotgun” in rural Minnesota came upon a man listening to music and carrying a stick, which he’d been using to play air guitar. If a classic rock band were to write a song about this law enforcement encounter, what would it be titled?

THE WINNER: “Johnny B. Woode”

Joe Ayella, Wayne, Pa.

SECOND PLACE: “Rock You With a Carry Cane”

James Pearson, Anaheim, Calif.

THIRD PLACE: “Dancing With the Bark”

Jesse Rifkin, Arlington, Va.

For runners-up and complete contest rules, please go to the week.com/contest.

How to enter: Submissions should be emailed to contest @ theweek.com. Please include your name, address, and daytime telephone number for verification; this week, please type “Plumbing poster” in the subject line. Entries are due by noon, East m Tie, Tuesday, April 9. Winners will appear on the Puzzle Page next issue and at thewee.com/puzzles on Friday, April 12. In the case of identical or similar entries, the first one received gets credit.

The winner gets a one-year subscription to The Week.

5 . It was previously assumed that all irrational fears are learned through personal experience or taught to us by others. If somebody nearly drowns while swimming in these a, for instance, it wouldn’t be surprising if they develop aqua phobia (恐水症), the fear of water. The brain makes a connection between the situation and the feeling of pain and panic, and commits it to memory.

However, it is now thought that some phobias have a genetic origin. Experiments with mice have shown that fears they develop can be passed down to their children and even their grandchildren. The mice were conditioned to fear the scent of acetophenone-a sweet-smelling chemical. Researchers found that the pups, and even the grand-pups, of the conditioned mice were startled by the scent too.

One explanation for this could be that parent mice communicate with their pups to effectively teach them what to fear. Studies have found that when mice are scared, they release pheromones that act as an alarm signal to other mice. However, in the acetophenone experiment, the pups proved to be sensitive to the scent from the very first time they encountered it. What’s more, some le pups; of conditioned mice were fostered by non-conditioned mice. The non-conditioned foster parents were not a fad of the scent, but the pups were, suggesting the fears origin was genetic rather than social.

It is not clear exactly how the conditioned fear is passed on to future generations of mice, but the current theory is that it is down to something called epigenetic inheritance (表观遗传). The original conditioning process leads to chemical modifications that change gene expression, without changing the DNA sequence itself. The researchers found that he conditioned mice and their offspring developed more scent receptors in their brains compared to non-conditioned mice. With more of these receptors they can detect the presence of acetophenone at lower concentrations and so are alerted to it more easily.

Epigenetics is a relatively new area of research, but it stands to reason that fears and other memories may well be inherited this way in humans too.

Chilis (辣椒) weren’t always in China, says Brian Dott, a history professor at Whitman College and author of The Chile Pepper in China: A Cultural Biography.    1     (originate) in Central and South America, Capsicum plants were unknown in China until around the 16th Century, when a boom in     2     (explore) and trade brought chilis to the Chinese mainland.

The first     3     (write) record of chili in China    4     (date) from 1591 and it isn’t exactly a flood of positive reviews. Gao Lian, a playwright who lived near    5    is now Shanghai, wasn’t “all that excited about it as a condiment (调味品) or a medicine,” Dott says of his account. Instead, he used it as a decorative plant.

But while elite Chinese enjoyed chili peppers in their decorative gardens, the masses began eating and enjoying the hot plants. By 1765, local historians noted that chi is were used    6     (flavor) sauces, vinegar, savory oils, and preserved vegetables in Hunan. There’s even a recipe for a condiment reminding people of chili crisp in The Harmonious Cauldron, the    7     (early) Chinese culinary book to include chili peppers.

    8     (like) other spices, chili peppers weren’t farmed and traded as commodities. Instead, they    9     (pass) from person to person and cultivated in small crops, says Dott, falling into the hands of skilled farmers who bred even better chilis overtime. These peppers—and the condiment made by frying them in oil—became must-have ingredients all over China, eventually filtering (渗透) to every level of society and becoming so universal    10    they were considered part of the nation’s identity.

8 . Leadership is not just the ability to lead a team, it is a journey of selflessness.

“Alright, class! We are going to work in groups to create a mind map!” Mrs. Low said. “This is a great________

for our group leaders to prove themselves worthy of that ________.” Mrs. Low then raised one of her________ with great expectations. The class burst out ________. Rita and John glanced at me warily. I raised my head________, the gleaming badge (闪耀的徽章) with the words “Team Leader” on my ________. I took out a piece of paper and pointed to John, “Hey you! Make a list of the stuff that we have learned.” John did not________; he simply bit his lip, muttering, “Is this really leadership?” I turned to Rita, “And you! Start drawing the mind map!” Rita angrily slammed her hand on the table. She________, “Why do you have to be so bossy?” It was as if I was standing in front of a mirror, looking at my________, wondering if I was proud to see how I was behaving then. Questions stuffed my mind until I felt it was about to________.Suddenly, Mrs. Low tapped on my shoulder, and explained, “Leadership is not just about being a leader. It is to serve others, not yourself. It is a(n)________journey.” Her words had lit a light bulb in my brain,________all my confusion.

Taking a deep breath and________my pride, l dashed to John and Rita and apologized. Their annoyed expressions________smiles. The following time witnessed our________cooperation. It didn’t take long before we finished the project. Deep down, I recognized that this was just the start of my lifelong journey to become a true leader.