You may argue with your partner and end up in a quarrel; or you disagree with a friend, and have an argument with him or her. In either case, you end up feeling low, and want to make up as soon as possible. The only way is to say “sorry”! This is the most precious word in the English language. Read on to find out how to say sorry in the right way.

   The first thing to remember is not to hide your feelings. Apologize only if you really do feel sorry. Do not lie or give false excuses. Even if it takes the person a long time to respond(回應(yīng))，do not let your temper rise, since you cannot expect a person to accept your apology at once. Give your partner time to cool off a bit, and then apologize. It is always better to sort things out quickly. Remember that it does no good to keep arguing about who is right or wrong when tempers are flying.

   When apologizing, always look the other in the eyes, and stay calm. Do you want to know how to say sorry to a girl? Once you’ve accepted that you’ve make a mistake, meet her in person to apologize. Never say sorry to a girl on the phone. You can say sorry with flowers or with a card. Small gifts are also very effective.

   It can be difficult to say sorry after a fight. A written apology for an unforgivable mistake, such as cheating, is often the best way.

   Owning up to a mistake is very important, and it takes courage to apologize for bad behaviour. Your effort will not change the past, but can have a big effect on the future.

How to Say Sorry

Educating girls quite possibly harvests a higher rate of return than any other investment(投資) available in the developing world. Women’s education may be an unusual fields for economists(經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家), but increasing women’s contribution to development is actually as much an economic as a social issue. And economics, with its focus on encouragement, provides an explanation for why so many girls are not educated.

   Parents in low-income families fail to invest in their daughters because they do not expect them to make an economic contribution to the family: girls grow up only to marry into somebody else’s family and bear children. Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and are kept at home to do housework while their brothers are sent to school---the prophecy (預(yù)言) becomes self-fulfilling, trapping women in a vicious circle(惡性循環(huán)) of neglect.

   An educated mother, on the other hand, has greater earning abilities outside the home and faces an completely different set of choices. She is likely to have fewer but healthier children and can insist on the development of all the children, ensuring that her daughters are given a fair chance. The education of her daughters then makes it much more likely that the next generation of girls, as well as boys, will be educated and healthy. The vicious circle is thus transformed into a virtuous circle.

   Few will argue that educating women has great social benefits. Bit it has enormous economic advantages as well. Most obviously , there is the direct effect of education on the pay of female workers. Pay rise by 10 to 20 percent for each additional year of schooling. Such big returns are impressive by the standard of other available investments, but they are just the beginning. Educating women also has a significant impact on health practices, including family planning.

Topic: The significance of female  68._________ in developing countries

Packaging is an important form of advertising. A package can sometimes motivate(促動) someone to buy a product. For example, a small child might ask for a breakfast food that comes in a box with a picture of a TV character. The child is more interested in the picture than in breakfast food. Pictures for children to color or cut out, games printed on a package, or a small gift inside a box also motivate many children to buy products or to ask their parents to buy for them.

Some packages suggest that a buyer will get something for nothing. Food products sold in reusable containers are examples of this. Although a similar product in a plain container might cost less，people often prefer to buy the product in a reusable glass or dish, because they believe the container is free. However, the cost of the container is added to the cost of the product.

The size of a package also motivates a buyer. Maybe the package had “Economy Size” or “Family Size” printed on it. This suggests that the larger size has the largest amount of product for the least money. But that is not always true. To find it out, a buyer has to know how the product is sold and the price of the basic unit.

The information on the package should provide some answers. But the important thing for any buyer to remember is that a package is often an advertisement. The words and pictures do not tell the whole story. Only the product inside can do that.

Title: 71. _________

Chinese, unlike many other languages, has a large family of dialects and written forms. Spoken Chinese is specially complex with more than five recognized dialect groups, even the written language with two recognized characters.

The written forms of Chinese include a traditional system of characters and a simplified one. The simplified version of characters came into use in 1949.

Traditional Chinese characters are still widely used throughout Asia and among Chinese people around the world, while the simplified characters are only found in the People’s Republic of China.

It is usually accepted that there are five major dialect groups within the Chinese language group. These are Mandarin, Wu, Min, Cantonese and Hakka.

Mandarin is the official language on the Chinese mainland and Chinese Taiwan. It  is also one of the four official languages of Singapore.

Wu is spoken around the lower Yangtze River and its tributaies(支流). Shanghai is a well-known dialect of Wu.

Min is commonly spoken by people in Taiwan, Fujian and Hainan. Cantonese is mainly spoken in the province of Guangdong. Cantonese is also spoken in many parts of the Chinese Diaspra(移居地), particularly HongKong and overseas Chinese settlements in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia. Hakka is the least well-known dialect group inside China compared to the above four. Most of the Hakka dialect group is scattered(散居) throughout southeastern China in Guangxi Province. Historically, the Hakka people were northerners who moved south over several hundred years. Their name Hakka means “guest” indicaing their immigrant(移民) status in the southern areas to which they moved.

Could your cellphone give you cancer? Whether it could or not, some people are worrying about the possibility that phones, powerlines and wi-fi (路由器) could be responsible for a range of illnesses, from rashes to brain tumours.

For example, Camilla Rees, 48, a former investment banker in the US, moved out of her apartment in San Francisco because of the radiation coming from next door. Rees told the Los Angeles Times that when her neighbors moved in and installed a wi-fi router she lost her ability to think clearly. “I would wake up dizzy in the morning. I’d fall to the floor. I had to leave to escape that nightmare,” she said. Since then, she’s been on a campaign against low-level electromagnetic fields, or EMFs（低頻電磁場）.

And she’s not alone. Millions of people say they suffer from headaches, depression, nausea and rashes when they’re too close to cellphones or other sources of EMFs.

Although the World Health Organization has officially declared that EMFs seem to pose little threat, governments are still concerned. In fact, last April, the European Parliament called for countries to take steps to reduce exposure to EMFs. The city of San Francisco and the state of Maine are currently considering requiring cancer-warning labels on cellphones.

If these fears are reasonable, then perhaps we should all be worried about the amount of time we spend talking on our phones or plugging into wi-fi hotpots.

Some say there is evidence to support the growing anxieties. David Carpenter, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University at Albany, in New York, thinks there’s a greater than 95% chance that power lines can cause childhood leukemia. Also there’s a greater than 90% chance that cellphones can cause brain tumours.

But others believe these concerns are unreasonable paranoia (猜疑). Dr Martha Linet, the head of radiation epidemiology at the US National Cancer Institute, has looked at the same research as Carpenter but has reached a different conclusion. “I don’t support warning labels for cellphones,” said Linet. “We don't have the evidence that there’s much danger.”

Studies so far suggest a weak connection between EMFs and illness — so weak that it might not exist at all. A multinational investigation of cellphones and brain cancer, in 13 countries outside the US, has been underway for several years. It’s funded in part by the European Union, in part by a cellphone industry group.

According to Robert Park, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland in the US, the magnetic waves aren’t nearly powerful enough to break apart DNA, which is how known threats, such as UV rays and X-rays, cause cancer.

Perhaps it’s just psychological. Some experts find that the electro-sensitivity syndrome seems to be similar to chemical sensitivity syndrome, which is a condition that’s considered to be psychological.

Whether EMFs are harmful or not, a break in the countryside, without the cellphone, would probably be good for all of us.

Could your cellphone give you cancer? Whether it could or not, some people are worrying about the possibility that phones, powerlines and wi-fi (路由器) could be responsible for a range of illnesses, from rashes to brain tumours.

For example, Camilla Rees, 48, a former investment banker in the US, moved out of her apartment in San Francisco because of the radiation coming from next door. Rees told the Los Angeles Times that when her neighbors moved in and installed a wi-fi router she lost her ability to think clearly. “I would wake up dizzy in the morning. I’d fall to the floor. I had to leave to escape that nightmare,” she said. Since then, she’s been on a campaign against low-level electromagnetic fields, or EMFs（低頻電磁場）.

And she’s not alone. Millions of people say they suffer from headaches, depression, nausea and rashes when they’re too close to cellphones or other sources of EMFs.

Although the World Health Organization has officially declared that EMFs seem to pose little threat, governments are still concerned. In fact, last April, the European Parliament called for countries to take steps to reduce exposure to EMFs. The city of San Francisco and the state of Maine are currently considering requiring cancer-warning labels on cellphones.

If these fears are reasonable, then perhaps we should all be worried about the amount of time we spend talking on our phones or plugging into wi-fi hotpots.

Some say there is evidence to support the growing anxieties. David Carpenter, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University at Albany, in New York, thinks there’s a greater than 95% chance that power lines can cause childhood leukemia. Also there’s a greater than 90% chance that cellphones can cause brain tumours.

But others believe these concerns are unreasonable paranoia (猜疑). Dr Martha Linet, the head of radiation epidemiology at the US National Cancer Institute, has looked at the same research as Carpenter but has reached a different conclusion. “I don’t support warning labels for cellphones,” said Linet. “We don't have the evidence that there’s much danger.”

Studies so far suggest a weak connection between EMFs and illness — so weak that it might not exist at all. A multinational investigation of cellphones and brain cancer, in 13 countries outside the US, has been underway for several years. It’s funded in part by the European Union, in part by a cellphone industry group.

According to Robert Park, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland in the US, the magnetic waves aren’t nearly powerful enough to break apart DNA, which is how known threats, such as UV rays and X-rays, cause cancer.

Perhaps it’s just psychological. Some experts find that the electro-sensitivity syndrome seems to be similar to chemical sensitivity syndrome, which is a condition that’s considered to be psychological.

Whether EMFs are harmful or not, a break in the countryside, without the cellphone, would probably be good for all of us.

Speaking in public is most people's least favorite thing. The reason is that we are all afraid of making fools of ourselves. The more important the speech is, the more frightened we become. In fact, public speaking is not a "gift" like musical talent. Anybody who can talk can speak in public. Here are some of the lessons I have learned:

Try to make your idea clear and brief. If you can't express what you intend to get across in a sentence or two, and then your speech is not focused well enough. If you don't have a clear idea of what you want to say, your audience will make no sense. After all, what you can impress your audience in your speech is one or two of your main ideas. One or two. Not ten or twenty.

No matter how long or short your speech is, you've got to organize it well-how you are going to open, what major points you want to make and how you're going to close. A strong close is critical: the last thing you say is what your audience will most likely remember. When I do a radio or TV piece, I often write the last sentence first. When you know where you' re headed, you can choose any route to get there.

Finally, you'd better limit the time of your speech as properly as you can to hold the audience's curiosity. Take a vaudeville act (雜耍) for example. The standard length of one is usually 12 minutes. Just imagine how you are feeling if you have been watching all the performers singing and dancing their hearts out for more than the standard time

Do we need an “Ivy League”?

China may soon have its own “Ivy League”, with a union of top universities.

The term originally referred to an athletic conference of eight top universities in the northeastern US. The Chinese version, which was officially started in mid-October, consists of nine famous universities, including Peking, Tsinghua, Zhejiang and Fudan. The union is supposed to result in student exchange programs, recognition of academic achievements, and other joint programs.

The news of this Chinese “Ivy League” has received mixed responses from the public and press. Some negative critics have dismissed it as yet another example of the wishful copying of international practices without fully understanding them. Others say that the “Ivy League” is not necessary but that the union is a good idea, one that could promote academic development.

So what’s your opinion on a Chinese “Ivy League”? Do we need one?

Yes. Ivy League or not, nine of China’s best universities cooperating is a good thing.

These universities combining resources could create a better environment for students and for research. It could also save a lot of time and resources because it would mean fewer unnecessary investments for some of the universities.

Allowing students to move to or have exchanges with other universities could broaden their horizons, improve their social skills and create more employment opportunities. The results could be more important than lessons and achievements.

The term “Ivy League” carries a sense of academic excellence, tradition and reputation. If borrowing such a term could encourage students’ and professors’ mental state and improve Chinese higher education, then there’s no reason not to do it.

No. Universities should do some work on increasing cooperation instead of copying an “Ivy League” model.

Many Chinese universities already have such cooperation with each other. If this cooperation were associated with the “Ivy League”, it would just distract (分散) attention and resources and have a negative effect.

These Chinese universities are all state-run and most get their funding from the government. They’re quite similar to each other in many ways and more cooperation wouldn’t bring about as much potential ability as between , say, public and private, or Chinese and foreign universities.

China should find its own way to develop world-class universities instead of by copying some foreign practices. We have our own unique conditions and foreign lessons often don’t apply well here.

You could fill a store with all the energy drinks now available. They promise to make people feel more energetic and think more clearly. These products have names like Red Bull, Monster, Ripped Force, Speed Stack and 5-Hour Energy. They appeal mainly to young people and are fueled mainly by caffeine.

Chad Reissig at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, is a medical researcher who studies drug dependence. He says the team he works on got interested in studying energy drinks because of the explosion in their popularity in the last few years.

He says the researchers found three major things. One: there are hundreds of brands of energy drinks in most major countries. Two: the drinks are not clearly labeled with enough information. And three: the amount of caffeine varies greatly. Some contain as little as fifty milligrams, others as much as five hundred.

By comparison, a cup of Starbucks brewed coffee contains 330 milligrams in 473 milliliters.

Some energy drinks contain a mixture of ingredients listed as an “energy blend(混合物)”. Ingredients like taurine, guarana and inositol are natural substances. But Chad Reissig says scientists do not know a lot about them and how they interact with each other and caffeine. And worse, he says, there is no listing of the amount  of each ingredient.

Some people combine energy drinks with alcohol. They think they can drink more alcohol that way and not be affected. Studies, however, suggest that they are still under the influence of the alcohol even if they do not feel that way.

Some makers of energy drinks do provide warnings. For example, a popular energy shot warns against use by people who are pregnant, nursing a baby or under the age of twelve. Energy shots are small bottles of liquid. The directions also advise people to limit caffeine products and drink only half the bottle if they want a moderate (適度的) amount of energy.

The team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine published a report in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. They suggested better labeling with the amount of caffeine and other ingredients clearly listed on the drink. The researchers are continuing to study energy drinks. They are currently seeking young people who have had a bad experience after drinking them.

Some days you wake up and right when you are going to begin your work, you feel a presence within you that stops you from doing so. You don’t want to work today and you don’t feel motivated to do anything but just escape. Without this motivation, you feel a little hopeless, lost, and stuck. But sometimes even if there is no motivation, you can still feel inspired.

Connect the Dots

Steve Jobs has never finished college. After studying in college for 6 months, he couldn’t see the value in it and dropped out. Not knowing where to go in life, he decided to take a class in calligraphy (書法). Ten years later, he designed something that has affected the different types of typography (排版) that we use today. If he hadn’t dropped out in college, he would never have taken that calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography.

Sometimes when you’re trying to reach a goal, it’s impossible to connect the dots where you currently are. Somehow you just have to trust yourself, and have faith that you will reach your dreams, despite not having the slightest clue or perfectly laid-out road to where you are going. Nobody can connect the dots looking forward; you only can connect them when you’re looking backwards. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future; you have to trust in something, whether it’s destiny (天數(shù)，命運(yùn)) or not, but trusting yourself is the first step towards feeling inspired and having the motivation to move forward.

Perfect Your Environment

Look around your room right now or your workspace. Does it inspire you? Does it give you motivation? Is it noisy or quiet? Sometimes the hardest thing we do to ourselves is try to force ourselves to work in an area that is subconsciously telling us, “I can’t work here.”

And when you are constantly trying to discipline yourself, you will feel worse and be less productive. Instead try to build your ideal workplace and ideal time. Perhaps add a piece of artwork or a quote of your favorite person nearby you on the wall. Maybe add a beautiful plant in the corner to give you inspiration. If you feel more energy and enthusiasm during the night, schedule your day to work at midnight if you can. If you can realize the power of having a productive environment, you will naturally feel inspired and motivated to get work done.

Don’t Work So Hard

If you’re trying to force your way into taking action, it could be a sign that you are working too hard. Most people won’t wake up and waste an hour imagining, thinking further, or confirming, and the first thing they think about is asking “what do I need to do today?” And when they get the answer, they feel miserable, as if their work suddenly weighs them down. But if you spend time focusing on your goals, you’ll receive good feelings—feelings that help you feel inspired and motivated to take real action.

Don’t try to paddle upstream. That just basically equals saying to yourself that you need to force yourself to work hard every day. Instead, paddle along the stream of the river. Trust yourself, let your environment work in your favor, and spend some a little bit of time putting yourself in a state before you work. Inspiration will come to you from different ways—inside and outside—and give you the motivation to guide yourself towards reaching your dreams.