New research says 35 percent of child deaths worldwide are caused by hunger. The research comes from poor to middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Robert Black from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland is the lead writer of the research. He says more than 3.5 million mothers and children under five die in poor countries each year because of hunger.

He says about two million children die from underdevelopment, either before or after birth. Millions of others who survive face a lifetime of disabilities or early death and the effects are not just physical. Poor mental development also results from hunger as children grow. Then the cycle of poverty and hunger often continues for their children.

Doctor Black says hungry children can have conditions like high blood pressure and heart disease as a result of hunger. He says the studies show that food programs need to place the greatest importance on the first two years of life. Hungry children can suffer their whole life damage from age two.

It is high time their diets were improved. Diets should include foods rich in vitamin A and other vitamins and minerals. The researchers say early help such as this could reduce child deaths by 25%.

This research has also faced some criticism. A medical aid group says the researchers underestimate(低估) the number of child deaths due to hunger. The researchers say there are findings that support this treatment but more studies are needed to compare it to hospital care.

Hey! It's going to be Mother's day again. Have you planned something good for your Mama? If not, try even one of these tips.

Make Your Mama Proud

　　What special talents do you have? Maybe this is the right time to show it to her. She would be very proud and surprised if she'd realized that you have something that she doesn't expect.

　　What's Her Favorite?

　　Most teens don't know what their mama's favorite. You do? Then, what are you waiting for ? Buy her some of her favorite stuff and put a little twist on it. Make it more special.

　　The best time to give her that is while she is sleeping at night. Put it on the drawer next to her so that when she wakes up she'll be surprised to see it. And, maybe, a little tear may fall down from her cheeks.

　　The Memories

　　Our mothers have special memories in mind. Those are the times that they gave birth to their healthy baby. How about you? What's your best moment with her? Maybe you can tell her about the time she got mad at you because you did something that you thought is right but since that day forward you realized your mistakes. Or, you can tell her how happy you are when she was there during your painful days in your life.

　　Be Her

　　What does she look like if she is so exhausted and angry and tired? What does she do for your family? This is the right time to show her the things that she usually does at home. Try to imitate her voice when she is angry. Make your face as if you are her when she is mad.

　　Treat a Queen

　　Your house is a palace with a king and queen (it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor). Our mother is the real queen in our life and in our family though her duties make her look like she is not. Give the lady a day off by being a servant to her.

　　Make-Over Beauty

　　Because of stress and the problems that she is facing right now, especially in the family, she doesn't look great any more. Admit it! Most mothers are not into trends anymore because their focusing on us.

　　Perhaps you could take some of your savings to treat her in a salon or the department store. Then, choose nice clothes that would make her look GLAMOROUS!

　　Have Some of Your Time

　　It's the cheapest but a meaningful way. Most of us are busy from our work, friends, boy/girl friends, school. We stay home late and after several hours, we go out again.

　　Have you ever had a meaningful time with your mother where you don't think or talk about problems and arguments? Have you ever told her how much you thank her from the life she gave to you, the time she took care of you, and for every suffering she'd felt for you? Have you ever told her that you love her?

Life is short. We don't know what will happen tomorrow nor today. Those three words can make her heart jump for joy, you know? Just tell her “I love you!” and it would make her smile so sweetly. Just try! We don't want to miss a thing, right?

An enjoyable trip

On October 28th, we began our exciting trip to the world-famous sand island—Fraser Island, which is said to be the world largest sand island and it is one of the world cultural heritages (遺產). We were really amazed by the spectacular view there.

The road to the island is really tough and bumpy. The bus driver, who was also our guide was a very strong man. He was optimistic (樂觀的) and helpful. I found he was all smiling on the way though the ride was not very smooth. We stopped for several times because the cars in front of us were blocked by sand. The road was completely sand about 50 centimeters high. We were thrown back and forth like taking a rollercoaster (過山車). All of us couldn’t help laughing when we were shaken from side to side. It took us more than an hour to arrive there. I guess this road is one of the most impressive things.

The beach is so wonderful and terrific! This was my first visit to the seaside. The broad sea made me speechless. We were really thrilled by the amazing view. We couldn’t stop taking so many pictures. The bus ran along the beach with the sea water on one side and bushes on the other side. The view outside the bus was really fantastic! The driver told us there were dingoes (野犬) in the bush. When we were sitting on the bus, we kept on searching the faraway bush for a dingo. Unfortunately, we didn’t see one.

The lake is the next destination we went to. This lake which is ringed by white sand beaches lies peacefully on the hill, which is 18 meters above the sea level. The crystal clear water from the rainfall is sparkling (閃光). Male students jumped into the lake without taking off the clothes. They played with water like small children. Nowhere else in the world can you find such a wonderful fairly land.

The forest is the last place we visited. Those towering rainforests grow on sands. There are many varieties of species. Some trees are so tall and have a history of 500 years. Some gum trees are quite strange because their barks (樹皮) fall. The driver told us that this was because they wanted to protect themselves from worms or fires. This forest is home to many animals. We could hear bird singing when we were walking in the shade from the trees.

The tour to Fraser Island makes a deep impression on us. It provides us magnificent views. It is well worth a visit.

In today’s society, everyone is busy and running at a fast pace each day. It does not matter what the reason is; your time is precious and needs to be managed effectively. You need cheap meal ideas that help you save your time and money and still provide a healthy and nutritious (有營養(yǎng)的) dinner for you and your family.

  The fast food makers know we have little time and use this very thing to make themselves successful. The idea of coming home after a long day at work and cooking for four or five people is not something we look forward to. This is why they offer you cheap food that requires no cooking, no cleaning, and only 25 minutes to pick up.

  But eating so much fast food will cause body fatness and fast food is not nutritious, so it’s not the healthiest choice to consider. There are some very cheap meal ideas that take almost no time to prepare and will make coming home for a good meal more enjoyable.

  The first cheap meal idea includes meat, vegetables and rice all in one dish. Not only is this a cheap meal idea, but it is fast since it can be made in only 20 minutes.

  You can quickly make some pancakes and scrambled eggs (攤雞蛋) for the family in about 30 minutes. If you think it is strange to eat breakfast food for dinner, consider how the same foods give you what you need to go through an entire day.

  Another cheap meal idea to try is a “macaroni (通心粉) and cheese with meat” dish, which only takes around 20 minutes to cook.

If you are interested in these cheap meal ideas, you’re welcome to visit our website for details. When you fix one of these or other cheap meal ideas at home, you are taking time out of your busy day to treat yourself and your family in a special way.

Choosing fast and cheap food

In a memory – based competition between you and a chimp (猩猩); who do you think would win? If you put yourself on top, you might want to guess again.

In a test that challenged participants to remember numbers, a young chimp performed better than Japanese college students.

Here's how the test worked. At Kyoto University in Japan, human students and chimpanzee participants sat in front of a computer. Five numbers, ranging from 1 to 9, were combined with one another and then, they appeared at random places on the screen.

The numbers stayed on the screen for less than a second. In the first test, for example, participants saw the numbers for 650 milliseconds (about two- thirds of a second).

Then, each number disappeared and they saw a white square instead. Participants had to touch the squares in numerical order, based on the numbers that had been there a moment before.

In this test, the students touched the boxes in the correct order about 80 percent of the time. A young chimp named Ayumu performed equally well.

  During a harder test, participants were only able to see the numbers for 210 milliseconds.

  This time, students only succeeded in putting the boxes in the correct order about 40 percent of the time. But Ayumu still could select the boxes in the right order nearly 80 percent of the time.    

Some people have what's called a "photographic memory", which allows them to remember a surprising number of details after just a quick look at something. Ayumu's memory might work in a similar way, says lead researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa.

The chimp's young age might have something to do with his impressive performance, too. In previous tests, the Japanese researchers found that young chimps performed better than their mothers.

  The scientists are interested to see whether Ayumu loses his strong memory as he arrows older. They already know that young children sometimes have sharp memories when offered something photographical, but they lose this ability over time.

The New York City Marathon was started by a man named Fred Lebow. It began in 1970 as a small, unimportant race. Only 127 local people ran, and just 55 of them finished. They ran around Central Park four times. Few people watched them run. However, over the years the marathon grew and became more popular.

Today people come from all over the world to run in the marathon. Runners must be at least 18 years old. In fact, the oldest runner was an 89-year-old man. Recently, more than 27,000 people ran in the New York City Marathon. Large crowds cheered the runners and offered them cold drinks and encouragement.

The course of the marathon has changed. Instead of running around Central Park, the runners go through the five districts of New York City: Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx ,and Staten Island. The marathon begins at the base of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Staten Island. The runners go across the bridge into Brooklyn. Then they go up through Queens and into the Bronx. The marathon finishes in Central Park in Manhattan. The complete course is 26.2 miles, and takes the best runners less than 3 hours.

Although it has changed since 1970, the New York City Marathon is always exciting. Through the years, many unusual events have happened during the marathon. For example, Pat Tuz and John Weibaker got married a few minutes before the race. Then they ran the race with their party members. Some people run the whole race alone.

In the fall of 1992, Fred Lebow, the founder of the New York City Marathon, slowly ran his last race. He was very ill with cancer, but he did not want to stop running. In October 1994, Fred died. However, the New York City Marathon, and all its excitement, will continue for many years to come.

Chinese are very generous(慷慨的) when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the U.S. or Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes that will give them a head start in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.

   However, what most parents fail to see is that the best education they can give their children is usually very cheap.

   Parents can see that their children’s skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence.

   The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills they need to be confident, happy and clever.

   Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.

   Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of confidence.

   Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not only teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.

Title: What Chinese Parents Do in (71)_____ ▲_______ Their Children

Teenagers today live in a very competitive world. It is more important than ever to succeed at school if you hope to have a chance in the job market afterwards. It’s no wonder that many young people worry about letting down their parents, their classmates and themselves. In trying to please everyone, they take on too many tasks until it becomes harder and harder to balance homework, parties, sports activities and friends. The result is that young people suffer from stress.

       There are different ways of dealing with stress. Everyone knows that caffeine, whether it is in the form of coffee or soft drinks, keeps you awake and active. But caffeine is a drug which can become addictive (上癮). In the end, like other drugs, caffeine only leads to more stress. A better way to deal with stress is to exercise. Research has proved that physical exercise is a good release for stress, because it increases certain chemicals in the brain which calm you down. Making sure you get enough sleep is also an important way of avoiding stress and of staying healthy and full of energy. Another way to avoid stress is to manage your time effectively. It is better to do a few tasks really well than lots of tasks badly. Know your limits and try not to take on too much. Finally, if it all gets beyond your control, don’t panic or get hysterical (歇斯底里). Find the time to sit down quietly and breathe deeply for ten to twenty minutes. Do this regularly, and it will help you calm down.

Title: Stressful teenagers