With exploding consumer demand for Greek yogurt, production is up. That’s great for food companies’ bottom lines, but it also leaves them dealing with a lot more acid whey (酸乳清), a problematic byproduct(副产品)of the Greek yogurt—making process.

Acid whey, if not properly dealt with, can cause environmental problems. At present, food companies typically pay to landspread it on farmers’ fields or dump it down the drain(下水道). Some factories are starting to send it to some professional companies, where it’s used to produce methane (甲烷). Scientists at the University of Wisconsin－Madison are developing a better choice, one that will transform this waste into treasure, but that’s no easy task.

Compared to sweet whey, however, acid whey from Greek yogurt is hard to work with. Similar to sweet whey, it’s mostly water—95 percent—but it contains a lot less protein, which is considered the valuable part. Some of the other“solids”in acid whey make it a lot more difficult to process. For example, it turns into a sticky mess when it’s dried down.

 Instead of drying it, scientists are developing technologies to separate out the various components.“We’re developing a process that allows us to get some value-added ingredients out at the other end，”says technologist Karen Smith, who is working on the project. Scientists have set their sights on an ingredient that food companies will pay good money for in food-grade form.

 The technology is quite far along. While Sommer, a food technologist, can’t give away names, he says a number of companies are already carrying out lactose-separating(乳糖分离) technology in their commercial factories. Separating the other components will come later, part of the long-term goal for this technology. When it’s perfected, explains Sommer, there will be nothing left in acid whey. It will just be water.

Have your parents ever inspected your room to see if you cleaned it properly? Imagine having your entire houses, garage, and yard inspected at any time -- with no warning. Inspections were a regular part of lighthouse (灯塔) living, and a keeper's reputation depended on results. A few times each year, an inspector arrived to look over the entire light station. The inspections were supposed to be a surprise, but keeper sometimes had advance notice.

Once lighthouses had telephones, keepers would call each other to warn that the inspector was approaching. After boats began flying special flags noting the inspector was aboard, the keeper's family made it a game to see who could notice the boat first. As soon as someone spotted the boat, everyone would do last-minute tidying and change into fancy clothes. The keeper then scurried to put on his dress uniform and cap. Children of keepers remember inspectors wearing white gloves to run their fingers over door frames and windowsills looking for dust.

Despite the serious nature of inspections, they resulted in some funny moments. Betty Byrnes remembered when her mother did not have time to wash all the dishes before an inspection. At the time, people did not have dishwashers in their homes. In an effort to clean up quickly, Mrs. Byrnes tossed all the dishes into a big bread pan, covered them with a cloth and stuck them in the oven. If the inspector opened the oven door, it would look like bread was baking. he never did.

One day, Glenn Furst's mother put oil on the kitchen floor just before the inspector entered their house. Like floor wax, the oil made the floors shiny and helped protect the wood. This time, though, she used a little too much oil. When the inspector extended his hand to greet Glenn's mother, he slipped on the freshly oiled surface. "He came across that floor waving his arms like a young bird attempting its first flight," Glenn late wrote. After he steadied himself, he shook Glenn's mother's hand, and the inspection continued as though nothing had happened.

Perfectionists believe that not only is perfection achievable, but that it should be achieved whenever possible. They always try to make their work better, and often get pleasure from investing time and effort in their projects. They enjoy paying attention to detail and are often hard to please. After all, perfectionists almost always have nearly­impossible standards for themselves, much higher than what outside parties would generally hope for.

Most perfectionists are also highly­organized. Theyˈve perfected their work process along with everything else in their life. They have processes and patterns for handling almost anything that comes their way, from email to new projects and clients to bookkeeping. It can definitely add up to a more effective workday with less wasted time and effort.

Perfectionists can be thought of as overbearing(霸道的) by those who donˈt share their attitude. It can also be upsetting to clients who arenˈt interested in “perfect” and simply want their project done yesterday. When you strive for perfection, everything takes just a bit longer to get right. Even if you have a more efficient design and development process than many other designers, it is likely that you spend more time on each step than a lot of others do.

While most people who call themselves“perfectionists”do so in a light­hearted or positive manner, there are those out there to whom perfection becomes an obsession(痴迷). They consider anything less than perfect completely unacceptable. This can lead to obsessive behavior and can have damaging effects on their overall quality of life. Just feeling good about a job done to the best of your ability is entirely normal for a perfectionists and isnˈt something to worry about. But it becomes particularly dangerous when perfectionists feel they are never quite able to attain perfection, and so drive themselves crazy trying to always reach this unattainable goal.

These perfectionists often place their entire self­worth on their accomplishments and ability to reach perfection, and since theyˈre never able to reach it, it creates a very negative self­image and low self­esteem or depression. The good news is that there are trained psychologists who can help those who are nervously obsessed with perfection to overcome their obsession.

The British are among the world’s greatest readers of newspapers. It’s been the custom ever since most people could read.

But why do people want to do nothing but read while traveling to work in a train?

Perhaps they are tired, or else they sit behind a newspaper to shut themselves off from the world. All the same, most men would notice a woman struggling with a heavy case and jump up to help her and a pretty girl sitting opposite wouldn’t escape their attention either. In this case a paper is useful because they can have a good look at her from behind it without her knowing. Perhaps they all do nothing but read stories. There are stories of girls and young men who met in the rush hour, got married, and went traveling on the same train, hand in hand.

Fear is hardly a new parental felling,of course. But the fear of letting our children out of sight for even a second---that’s new. And it feeds not only on reasonable worry. but also on a steady diet of pressure.”powerful cultural pressures encourage parents to regard every childhood experience from the standpoint of the worst possible outcome,”says Paranoid Parenting author Frank Furedi.”To do otherwise is to be seen as an ‘irresponsible parent’”

 I received an e-mail about a father who’s following his daughter’s field trip to make sure she’s safe，and even a mother in New York City admits that she won’t let her daughter go to the

mailbox alone as she’s afraid someone may kidnap（绑架）her daughter．How did this happen？

   “TV,”says Trevor Butterworth,an editor at a media group.．“TV exists to scare you．”Thanks to a steady stream of those stories，it starts to feel as if kidnappings，are happening all the time，in any car near you．“But they’re not，”says sociologist David Finkelhor．“Crimes against kids are down to levels we haven’t seen since the early70s．”

    The fact is，children，40 times more likely to die in a ear accident，and that doesn’t stop us from driving them to school.But we blame parents for “letting” anything happen to their children.The “sympathetic” TV host will ask, “Why? Why did you let her go to her piano lesson alone?”

    That’s why the story about my nine-year-old son,，Izzy,riding on the subway by himself,struck people so deeply. But he probably put it best. Like all of us who’d grown up with the freedom to walk to a friend’s house and play in a park, he didn’t think it was a big deal. “ it was fun,” he said. Plus,being on national TV meant that be missed math class．Sometimes it really pays to be brave．

It is not only praise or punishment that determines a child’s level of confidence. There are some other important ways we shape our kids, particularly by giving instructions and commands in a negative or positive choice of words. For example, we can say to a child “Don’t run into traffic!” pr “Stay on the footpath close to me.” In using the latter, you will be helping your kids to think and act positively, and to feel competent in a wide range of situations, because they know what to do, and aren’t scaring themselves about what not to do.

 Why does such a small thing make a difference? It is all in the way the human mind works. What we think, we automatically rehearse (预演). For example, if someone offered you a million dollars not to think of a blue monkey for two minutes, you wouldn’t be able to do it. When a child is told “Don’t fall off the tree,” he will think of two things: “don’t” and “fall off the tree”. That is, he will automatically create the picture of falling off the tree in his mind. A child who is vividly imagining falling off the tree is much more likely to fall off. So it is far better to use “Hold on to the tree carefully.”

 Clear, positive instructions help kids to understand the right way to do things. Kids do not always know how to be safe, or how to react to the warning of the danger in negative words. So parents should make their commands positive. “Sam, hold on firm to the side of the boat” is much more useful than “Don’t you dare to fall out of the boat?” or worse still “How do you think I’ll feel if you drown?” The changes are small but the difference is obvious.

 Children learn how to guide and organize themselves from the way we guide them with our words, so it pays to be positive.

For many people, leisure time is an opportunity to get outdoors, have some fun and meet interesting people. Add two pieces of advanced 21st century technology — global positioning system (GPS) devices and the Internet — to get “geocaching”.

The word geocaching comes from “geo” (earth) and “cache” (hidden storage). Geocachers log onto a website to find information about the location of a cache — usually a waterproof plastic box containing small items such as toys and CDs — along with a notebook where “finders” can enter comments and learn about the cache “owner”, the person who created and hid the cache. Finders may take any of the items in the cache but are expected to replace them with something of similar value. They then visit the website again and write a message to the owner.

Geocaching became possible on May 1, 2000, when a satellite system developed by the U.S. Department of Defense was made public. Using an inexpensive GPS device, anyone on earth can send a signal to the satellites and receive information about their position. This is basically a high-tech version of orienteering, the traditional pastime which uses maps and compasses instead of GPS to determine one’s location.

Geocachers are a very considerate group. Owners carefully choose a cache’s location to give finders an enjoyable experience, such as a beautiful view or a good campsite. They also consider the environmental impact of their cache since it could result in an increased number of visitors to an area. As for the content of the caches, owners and finders must only use items that are suitable for the whole family, as caches are found by geocachers of all ages.

      If you are a fruit grower — or would like to become one — take advantage of Apple Day to see what’s around. It’s called Apple Day but in practice it’s more like Apple Month. The day itself is on October 21, but since it has caught on, events now spread out over most of October around Britain.

      Visiting an apple event is a good chance to see, and often taste, a wide variety of apples. To people who are used to the limited choice of apples such as Golden Delicious and Royal Gala in supermarkets, it can be quite an eye opener to see the range of classical apples still in existence, such as Decio which was grown by the Romans. Although it doesn’t taste of anything special, it’s still worth a try, as is the knobbly (多疙瘩的) Cat’s Head which is more of a curiosity than anything else.

       There are also varieties developed to suit specific local conditions. One of the very best varieties for eating quality is Orleans Reinette, but you’ll need a warm, sheltered place with perfect soil to grow it, so it’s a pipe dream for most apple lovers who fall for it.

At the events, you can meet expert growers and discuss which ones will best suit your conditions, and because these are family affairs, children are well catered for with apple-themed fun and games.

       Apple Days are being held at all sorts of places with an interest in fruit, including stately gardens and commercial orchards (果园). If you want to have a real orchard experience, try visiting the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, near Faversham in Kent.

I looked down at my shoes as people filled the train, and then I saw her. I saw her beat-up unlaced construction boots first. I followed the shoes, laceless hole by laceless hole, all the way up to the face of an old woman. She was tiny. She had a slight slump（萎靡）in her shoulders. She wore a bright red cap. Wisps of gray（一小束头发）poked out from beneath it.

As I watched the woman, I thought about the letters my mother wrote and how she must have known an ordinary piece of paper turns into a love letter when a person puts her self into it. Then I remembered the notebook in the belly of my bag. I would write the woman a note and give it to her as I exited the train, I decided. I could drop it at her feet.

I pulled the notebook out of my bag, turned to a new page, and began writing a letter. The words spilled out of me.

When I looked up, the woman was gone. I left the letter in my notebook, unsure of what to do with it now that she would never know that it was meant for her.

After I wrote that letter, more letters to other people I observed came marching out of me, one by one, until soon I had filled up the notebook.

Back on the train, just a few days later, the plan became clear. I was going to leave the letter I wrote to the woman on the subway for someone else to find. Then I would scatter other love letters all over New York City. And once I had set each one in its place, I would write even more. And you want to know why? Because it made me feel something.

I tried to imagine what would make me pick up a letter if I found it on a random subway train or in a coffee shop thinking it might have been for me all along. I settled on something simple: If you find this letter … then it’s for you. I wrote those words on my first letter. I folded the letter and placed it behind me. When I got to my stop, I planned to let the letter slip down onto the seat as I walked away.

At Grand Central Terminal, I waited for the subway doors to open and then busted out of my seat quickly. Darting through the doors, I kept walking faster and faster once my feet hit the platform. My nerves surged. There was a whiff of adrenaline（肾上腺素）as I got farther away from the train, disappearing into the city.

During the fall of 2010, I kept tucking and leaving, tucking and leaving. In the months that followed, I started my own site, MoreLoveLetters.com, about my project, inspiring others to write and leave letters in their own communities. Now the website connects her both to strangers in need of love letters and to those who want to write them.

About a year later, a woman wrote to me about her friend Briana, a single mother struggling to pay the rent. I typed out Briana’s story and published it on the website, encouraging anyone who read it to mail me letters of encouragement for Briana. I decided that at the end of the month, I’d send Briana a bundle of love letters.

A week later, I walked away from the post office with a lot of mail—and a big idea about human beings: mainly that if you give them something to do, a mission, they will show up. At the end of that month, I marched the love letter bundle for Briana to the post office and mailed it off to her.

Then, I got a thank-you e-mail from Briana’s friend. “They show you’re not alone and that you’re not struggling for nothing,” she wrote.

About all stories, I will always go back to Matt’s from Ohio. He e-mailed me one night about two years ago. Matt told me he was getting older. His family and he were disconnected. He didn’t have many friends. He was starting to believe he’d leave nothing behind and he’d be forgotten.

The message was sent with no return address attached. There was no way to write back to him, but I hope he reads these words:

“Matt, I want you to know: You were wrong to think you’d be forgotten. And I was wrong to think people couldn’t walk into our lives and shift our histories in an instant. Because you did that for me.”

C

An average of one school shooting happens every week in American, says a recent report. From Everytown for Gun Safety. The advocacy group( 倡导组织)seeks to reduce gun violence. The report lists 150 school shootings that have happened since tend of 2012. The latest mass school shooting happened on October 1 in the state of Oregon. Nine people died and nine others were wounded at Umpqua Community College. That marked the 45^th school shooting in America in 2015. School officials across the country do all they can to protect students. But for one elementary school in northern Virginia, the opening of a nearby gun store has led to fear, protests and anger.

The issue of gun laws took center stage earlier this month in the first debate between Democratic (民主党）presidential candidates. Candidate Hillary Clinton criticized opponent Bernie Sanders for his position on gun control. In her words, he is “not at all” strict enough .” I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it’s time the entire country stood up against the NRA.” Clinton said. Shortly after the school shooting in Oregon, President Obama said he was considering an executive (行政的,执行的）order on gun access. The president’s order would require dealers who sell a high number of guns to have a license from the  Bureau(管理局） of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms and Explosives. It would also require dealers to perform background checks on their buyers.

More debate means more gun sales. Back in McLean, Virginia, Rachel Dresser of NOVA Firearms says business is better than ever. After the protests and media attention, she says more people know about the business. “ They wanted to be on the news and get their point across, but at the same rate, they put us on the news and got our name out there. It brought awareness to us on both sides.” Dresser also says sales go up after school shooting and other gun tragedies, especially after politicians speak about the need for stronger gun laws. “Mostly we see an increase in sales because of an increase in rhetoric regarding gun restrictions... And so people want to make sure they exercise their right to purchase while it’s still there.”