When I asked my mother-in-law to choose which meals she'd like me to order from the home-delivery menu, she only chose the ones her husband would like. This goes way beyond politeness. She is actually feeling uncomfortable voicing what she wants. She developed the main symptom(症状) of Asker's Syndrome that one's unable to ask for what one wants.

It's not just older women who have this problem. Asker's Syndrome can strike the young. I have single friends who won't ask a man out on a date because they fear being considered “too forward”. My five-year-old daughter Violet is showing the early stages of Asker's Syndrome. She's learned that women don't ask, but rather drop hints. She'll say, “Remember last Sunday afternoon we went to the park？” rather than “Can we go to the park？”

Apart from women and girls' problematic relationship with appetite, food and dating, it's widely reported that women are less likely than men to ask for pay rises and promotions.

Instead, they withdraw, hoping that somebody else will decide they are worthy and make them promoted.

No doubt, many women develop Asker's Syndrome as a defensive measure because they've been labeled as pushy or rude for simply asking for what they want. But in the long term, choosing not to express our desires doesn't serve us well.

It's time to cure ourselves and our girls of Asker's Syndrome. I don't want to raise a future “mother” who denies her wish for food, power and success and anything else. So I now insist that my daughter ask for what she wants directly.

For women in our culture, asking is a skill that we need to learn and practice. And if we all do it, then women asking will become the norm rather than the exception.

When John was growing up, other kids felt sorry for him. His parents always had him weeding the garden, carrying out the garbage and delivering newspapers. But when John reached adulthood, he was better off than his childhood playmates. He had more job satisfaction, a better marriage and was healthier. Most of all, he was happier. Far happier.

   These are the findings of a 40-year study that followed the lives of 456 teenage boys from Boston. The study showed that those who had worked as boys enjoyed happier and more productive lives than those who had not. “Boys who worked in the home or community gained competence (能力) and came to feel they were worthwhile members of society,” said George Vaillant, the psychologist (心理学家) who made the discovery. “And because they felt good about themselves, others felt good about them.”

    Vaillant’s study followed these males in great detail. Interviews were repeated at ages 25, 31 and 47. Under Vaillant, the researchers compared the men’s mental-health scores with their boyhood-activity scores. Points were awarded for part-time jobs, housework, effort in school, and ability to deal with problems.

    The link between what the men had done as boys and how they turned out as adults was surprisingly sharp. Those who had done the most boyhood activities were twice as likely to have warm relations with a wide variety of people, five times as likely to be well paid and 16 times less likely to have been unemployed. The researchers also found that IQ and family social and economic class made no real difference in how the boys turned out. Working----at any age----is important. Childhood activities help a child develop responsibility, independence, confidence and competence---the underpinnings (基础) of emotional health. They also help him understand that people must cooperate and work toward common goals. The most competent adults are those who know how to do this. Yet work isn’t everything. As Tolstoy once said, “One can live magnificently in this world if one knows how to work and how to love, to work for the person one loves and to love one’s work.”

El Nino, a Spanish term for “the Christ child”, was named by South American fisherman who noticed that the global weather pattern, which happens every two to seven years, reduced the amount of fishes caught around Christmas. El Nino sees warm water, collected over several years in the western Pacific, flow back eastwards when winds that normally blow westwards weaken, or sometimes the other way round.

The weather effects both good and bad, are felt in many places. Rich countries gain more from powerful Nino, on balance, than they lose. A study found that a strong Nino in 1997-98 helped American’s economy grow by 15 billion, partly because of better agricultural harvests: farmers in the Midwest gained from extra rain. The total rise in agricultural incomes in rich countries is greater than the fall in poor ones.

But in Indonesia extremely dry forests are in flames. A multi-year drought (干旱) in south-east Brazil is becoming worse. Though heavy rains brought about by El Nino may relieve the drought in California, they are likely to cause surface flooding and other disasters.

The most recent powerful Nino, in 1997-98, killed around 21,000 people and caused damage worth $36 billion around the globe. But such Ninos come with months of warning, and so much is known about how they happen that governments can prepare. According to the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), however, just 12% of disaster-relief funding in the past two decades has gone on reducing risks in advance, rather than recovery and rebuilding afterwards. This is despite evidence that a dollar spent on risk-reduction saves at least two on reconstruction.

Simple improvements to infrastructure (基础设施) can reduce the spread of disease. Better sewers (下水道) make it less likely that heavy rain is followed by an outbreak of the disease of bad stomach. Stronger bridges mean villages are less likely to be left without food and medicine after floods. According to a paper in 2011 by Mr Hsiang and co-authors, civil conflict is related to El Nino’s harmful effects—and the poorer the country, the stronger the link. Though the relationship may not be causal, helping divided communities to prepare for disasters would at least reduce the risk that those disasters are followed by killing and wounding people. Since the poorest are least likely to make up for their losses from disasters linked to El Nino, reducing their losses needs to be the priority.

Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri(MU) researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.

“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density(密度)”，said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope(放射性同位素) battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries.”

Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro / nanoelectromechanreal systems (M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe.

“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said, “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.”

His new idea is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor(半导体). Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.

“The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure(晶体结构) of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said, “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.”

Together with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery. In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair.

U.S. Bank Scholarship

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“No Essay Scholarship”

Most scholarships come but once a year and some once in a lifetime. The beauty of the＄2,000 “No Essay” Scholarship is that it comes once a month and you can apply every single month. And the application is very easy. In fact. You could have filled it out probably 20 times since starting to read this article. You can only apply once a month, but if you are a high school senior or college student, then you can win＄2,000. Winners are drawn at random.

＄1,000 Weekly Scholarship

Even better than once-a-month is once-a-week. The Zinch. Com weekly scholarship is just as simple as filling out basic information about yourself. All U.S.high schoolers and college students are fit for this＄1,000 scholarship. All it requires is filling out a short form about yourself and answering an unusual question in 280 characters or less. The question changes weekly. You can apply every week, once a week. Have fun with it.

Scholarship Zone Scholarship

It seems nearly every website wants you to register. But not many sites offer as great a possible reward as Scholarship Zone does. By simply registering, you are automatically entered for the next scholarship drawing of＄10,000.You are not really required to do anything after that. Are you in college? Then why not take minutes to apply?

The English test will be removed from China’s college entrance exam by 2020, according to the Ministry of Education.The national college entrance exam, known as the “Gaokao” has been used to evaluate Chinese students for three decades. The Ministry of Education has worked out a plan for reforming exams and enrollment. Tests will be held several times a year to allow students to choose when and how often they sit the exam so as to reduce study pressure and change China’s once-in-a-lifetime exam system.

The decision has aroused a heated discussion among Shanghai educators and parents who doubted the reform would reduce the burden of learning English or if the substitute test could reflect a student’s English skills and help students learn English better. Cai Jigang, a professor from Fudan University said, “The reform shows China is to give students more test-taking chances. But more chances might become more of a burden since Chinese students are likely to repeat the test until they get the highest score.”

“In my opinion, the reform doesn’t mean English is no longer important for Chinese students after it will be excluded from the unified college entrance exam,” said Yu Lizhong, chancellor of New York University Shanghai, “In a way, English is even more important than before since the test would only serve as reference, while every college and university, even every major, can have different requirements of a student’s English skills under a diverse evaluation system.”Yu said some students will have their study pressure reduced if the major they choose doesn’t need excellent English while others still need to study hard if they want to be among the best students.

The education ministry said the reform would not affect students attending the college entrance exam over the next three years. But parents with younger children are concerned. Zhang Hui, the mother of a fourth-grade girl at Pudong Zhuyuan Primary School, said English was her daughter’s strength, so canceling the English test would not favor her child.

More students than ever before are taking a gap year(间隔年)before going to university. It used to be called the“year off”between school and university .The gap-year phenomenon originated(起源)with the months left over to Oxbridge applicants between entrance exams in November and the start of the next academic year.

This year,25310 students who have accepted places in higher education institutions have put off their entry until next year, according to statistics on university entrance provided by the University and College Admissions Service(UCAS).

That is a record 14.7% increase in the number of students taking a gap year. Tony Higgins from UCAS said that the statistics are good news for everyone in higher education. “Students who take a well-planned year out are more likely to be satisfied with, and complete, their chosen course. Students who take a gap year are often more mature and responsible,”he said.

But not everyone is happy. Owain James, the president of the National Union of Students(NUS),argued that the increase is evidence of student hardship—young people are being forced into earning money before finishing their education.“New students are now aware that they are likely to leave university up to ￡15,000 in debt .It is not surprising that more and more students are taking a gap year to earn money to support their study for the degree. NUS statistics show that over 40% of students are forced to work during term time and the figure increases to 90% during vacation periods,”he said.

   In 1816, there were no schools for the deaf in America. Several people started a few schools, but in the end all of the schools closed. There were too many problems. The first people to succeed were Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. They opened their school in 1817, and the school did not close. At that time it was the only school for deaf children in America!

   Clerc and Gallaudet did not know what would happen after they opened their school. They worked very hard. The school grew, and many more students went to this school. These new students were from all over the country. People thought the school would be big enough for all of the deaf children in America. The school is still open today, but the name was changed. Today it is called the American School for the Deaf. It is in West Hartford, Connecticut.

   After Clerc and Gallaudet established their school, many other schools for the deaf were opened as well. Before Gallaudet's death in 1851, 15 other schools for deaf children were built! Many of the teachers at those 15 schools used Gallaudet's teaching methods. Many had even studied with Gallaudet and were deaf themselves!

A build-it-yourself solar still（蒸馏器） is one of the best ways to obtain drinking water in areas where the liquid is not readily available. Developed by two doctors in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it’s an excellent water collector. Unfortunately, you must carry the necessary equipment with you, since it’s all but impossible to find natural substitutes. The only components required, though, are a 5＇5＇ sheet of clear or slightly milky plastic, six feet of plastic tube, and a container — perhaps just a drinking cup — to catch the water. These pieces can be folded into a neat little pack and fastened on your belt.

To construct a working still, use a sharp stick or rock to dig a hole four feet across and three feet deep. Try to make the hole in a damp area to increase the water catcher’s productivity. Place your cup in the deepest part of the hole. Then lay the tube in place so that one end rests all the way in the cup and the rest of the line runs up — and out — the side of the hole.

   Next, cover the hole with the plastic sheet, securing the edges of the plastic with dirt and weighting the sheet’s center down with a rock. The plastic should now form a cone(圆锥体) with 45-degree-angled sides. The low point of the sheet must be centered directly over, and no more than three inches above, the cup.

   The solar still works by creating a greenhouse under the plastic. Ground water evaporates (蒸发) and collects on the sheet until small drops of water form, run down the material and fall off into the cup. When the container is full, you can suck the refreshment out through the tube, and won’t have to break down the still every time you need a drink.