The production of coffee beans is a huge，profitable business，but，unfortunately，full-sun production is taking over the industry and bringing about a lot of damage．The change in how coffee is grown from shade-grown production to full-sun production endangers the very existence of certain animals and birds and even disturbs the world's ecological balance．

    On a local level，the damage of the forest required by full-sun fields affects the area's birds and animals．The shade of the forest trees provides a home for birds and other species that depend on the trees' flowers and fruits．Full-sun coffee growers destroy this forest home．As a result，many species are quickly dying out．

    On a more global level，the destruction of the rainforest for full-sun coffee fields also threatens human life．Medical research often makes use of the forests'plant and animal life．and the destruction of such species could prevent researchers from fending cures for certain diseases．In addition，new coffee-growing techniques are poisoning the water locally，and eventually the world's groundwater．

    Both locally and globally，the continued spread of full-sun coffee plantations could mean the destruction of the rainforest ecology．The loss of shade trees is already causing a slight change in

the world's climate，and studies show that loss of oxygen-giving trees also leads to air pollution and global warming．Moreover，the new growing techniques are contributing to acidic(酸性的) soil conditions．

    It is obvious that the way much coffee is grown affects many aspects of life，from the local environment to the global ecology．But consumers do have a choice，They can purchase shade-grown coffee whenever possible，although at a higher cost．The future health of the planet and mankind is surely worth more than an inexpensive cup of coffee．

Following one million middle­aged women in Britain for 10 years, a study finds that the widely held view that happiness enhances health and longevity is unfounded.

 The results come from the so­called Million Women Study, which took on women aged 50 to 69 from 1996 to 2001, and tracked them with questionnaires and official records of deaths and hospital admissions. The questionnaires asked how often the women felt happy, in control, relaxed and stressed, and also instructed them to rate their health and list ailments like high blood pressure, diabetes, depression or anxiety.

 When the answers were analyzed statistically, unhappiness and stress were not associated with an increased risk of death. It is not clear whether the conclusion applies to men. 

Professor Peto said particularly important data came from 500，000 women who reported that they were in good health, with no history of heart disease, cancer or stroke. A minority of these healthy women said they were stressed or unhappy, he said, but over the next decade they were no more likely to die than the women who were generally happy.

 “This finding refutes (驳斥) the large effects of unhappiness and stress on deathrate that others have claimed，”Dr. Peto said. Unhappiness itself may not affect health directly, but it can do harm in other ways, by driving people to suicide, alcoholism or other dangerous behaviors, he warned.

 This type of study, in which people involved depend on their self­assessment, is not considered as reliable as a designed experiment where people involved are picked at random and assigned to a treatment or control group. But the huge number of people in this study gives it power. Still, some observers noted that measuring emotions is more nuanced (细微的) and complex than simply declaring happiness or unhappiness.

 “I would have liked to see more discussion of how people translate these complicated feelings into a self­report of happiness.”said Baruch Fischhoff, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University.

 The results of earlier studies have been mixed, with some finding that unhappiness causes illness and others showing no link, Dr. Fischhoff said.“It looks to me like people have collected a lot of data without finding a clear signal，”he said. However, an editorial accompanying the study in The Lancet noted that it had the largest population so far in happiness studies and praised its statistical methods.

 Professor Peto said he doubted whether the new study would change many minds because beliefs about the risks of unhappiness are so rooted.“People are still going to believe that stress causes heart attacks，”he said.