Passage 1When Morn and Dad Grow OldA) The prospect of talking to increasingly fragile parents about their future can be "one of themost difficult challenges adult children will ever face," says Clarissa Green, a Vancouver therapist. "People often tell me they don't want to raise sensitive issues with their parents about bringing in caregivers or moving," she says. "They'll say, 'I don't want to see dad cry.'"But Green usually responds, "What's wrong with that?" Adult children, she says, need to try to join their parents in grieving their decline, acknowledge their living arrangements may no longer work and, if necessary, help them say goodbye to their beloved home. "It's sad. And it's supposed to be. It's about death itself."B) There are almost four million men and women over age 65 in Canada. Nearly two thirds ofthem manage to patch together enough support from family, friends, private and government services to live independently until virtually the day they die, according to Statistics Canada. C) Of the Canadian seniors who live to 85 and over, almost one in three end up being moved-sometimes kicking- to group living for the last years of their lives. Even in the best-case scenarios (可能出现的情况), such dislocations can bring sorrow. "Often the family feels guilty, and the senior feels abandoned," says Charmaine Spencer, a professor in the gerontology department of Simon Fraser University. Harassed with their own careers and children, adult children may push their parents too fast to make a major transition.D) Val MacDonald, executive director of the B. C. Seniors Services Society, cautions adult childrenagainst imposing their views on aging parents. "Many baby boomers can be quite patronizing (高人一等的)," she says. Like many who work with seniors, MacDonald suggests adult children devote many conversations over a long period of time to collaborating on their parents' future, raising feelings, questions and options gently, but frankly. However, many middle-aged adults, according to the specialists, just muddle (应付) through with their aging parents.E) When the parents of Nancy Woods of Mulmur Hills, Ont., were in their mid-80s, they made thedecision to downsize from their large family home to an apartment in Toronto. As Woods' parents, George and Bemice, became frailer, she believed they knew she had their best interests at heart. They agreed to her suggestion to have Meals on Wheels start delivering lunches and dinners. However, years later, after a crisis, Woods discovered her parents had taken to throwing out the prepared meals. Her dad had appreciated them, but Bemice had come to believe they were poisoned. "My father was so loyal," says Woods, "he had hid that my mother was overwhelmed by paranoia (偏执狂)." To her horror, Woods discovered her dad and mom were "living on crackers and oatmeal porridge" and were weakening from the impoverished diet. Her dad was also falling apart with the stress of providing for Bemice -- a common problem when one spouse tries to do everything for an ailing partner. "The spouse who's being cared for might be doing well at home," says Spencer, "but often the other spouse is burned out and ends up being hospitalized."F) Fortunately, outside help is often available to people struggling through the often-distressingprocess of helping their parents explore an important shift. Sons and daughters can bring in brochures or books on seniors' issues, as well as introduce government health-care workers or staff at various agencies, to help raise issues and open up discussions, says Val MacDonald, whose nonprofit organization responds to thousands of calls a year from British Columbiansdesperate for information about how to weave through the dizzying array of seniors services and housing options. The long list of things to do, says MacDonald, includes assessing their ability to live independently; determining your comfort level with such things as bathing a parent; discussing with all household members whether it would be healthy for an elderly relative to move in; monitoring whether, out of pure duty, you're over-committing yourself to providing a level of care that could threaten your own well-being.G) The shock phone call that flung Nancy Woods and her parents into action came from herdesperate dad. "I got this call from my father that he couldn't cope anymore. My mother was setting fires in the apartment," she says. "He didn't want to see it for what it was. Up to then he'd been in denial." Without knowing she was following the advice of experts who recommend using outside sources to stimulate frank discussion with parents, Woods grabbeda copy of The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Persons With Alzheimer Disease,Related Dementing Illness, and Memory Loss in Later Life. She read sections of the book to her dad and asked him, "Who does that sound like?" Her father replied, "It's mother. It's dementia (痴呆)." At that point, Woods said, her dad finally recognized their tragic plight (困境). She told her father she would help them move out of their apartment. "He nodded. He didn't yell or roar. He took it on the chin (忍受痛苦)H) Woods regrets that she "had not noticed small details signaling mom's dementia." But she'ssatisfied her dad accepted his passage into a group residence, where he and his wife could stay together in a secure unit where staff were trained to deal with patients with dementia."From the moment they moved into the Toronto nursing home, their physical health improved. On the other hand, it was the beginning of the end in terms of their mental abilities. Perhaps they couldn't get enough stimulation. Perhaps it was inevitable."I ) After my father died in 2002, the grim reality of my mother's sharply declining memory set instarkly. With her expanding dementia, mom insisted on staying in her large North Shore house, even though she was confused about how to cook, organize her day or take care of herself. For the next three years we effectively imposed decisions on her, most of them involving bringing in caregivers, including family members. In 2005 mom finally agreed, although she barely knew what was happening, to move to a nearby nursing home, where, despite great confusion, she is happier. As Spencer says, the sense of dislocation that comes with making an important passage can be "a very hard adjustment for a senior at the best of times. But it's worse if it's not planned out."46. Under the pressure and stress from their own careers and children, adult children tend to push their parents to group living.47. When Nancy Woods' father got to know their tragic plight, he finally agreed to move out of their apartment.48. When Nancy Woods' parents reached their mid-80s, they moved into an apartment.49. Clarissa Green suggests that adult children should try to share their fragile parents' grieving feelings.50. Val MacDonald's organization is non-profit and helps adult children with their aging parent issues through phone calls.51. Since Nancy Woods' parents moved into the Toronto nursing home, they became physically healthier, but had new problems with their mental abilities.52. When her mother set fires in the apartment, Nancy Woods' father was desperate and turned to her for help.53. According to Statistics Canada, most Canadian seniors older than 65 live independently until they die.54. Val MacDonald warns baby boomers not to force their parents to accept their views.55. Despite knowing little about what was happening, the author's mother lived more happily ina nearby nursing home.Passage 2Americans and Their CarsA) It has been one of the world's most enduring and passionate love affairs: Americans and theircars. It's no secret that America is a nation of cars. A recent survey of the number of cars on America's roads counted some 204 million vehicles in the U.S. There is an average of 1.9 motor vehicles for every household in America, and just to illustrate how many cars this is, consider that the average American household has only 1.8 drivers; America has more vehicles than it has drivers to drive them. By the time a middle-class American reaches 35 years of age, he or she has likely owned 3 cars in his or her life.B) The Unites States' lawmakers have done little to undermine the romance between theircitizens and their automobiles. Taxes on gasoline have been kept low, while massive highway building projects allow more and more cars to take to the road. Public transportation, on the other hand, has traditionally suffered from neglect. From the 1970s, since Americans have more than doubled their reliance on cars for long-distance tides, train and bus usage has largely stopped developing. Inner city transit systems in most cities were either deteriorating or crime-ridden, as in New York, or dysfunctional (机能不良的), as in Los Angeles.C) There are, however, signs that U.S. drivers are quietly looking for alternatives to car usagewith growing backing from legislators. Throughout the country a record number of commuters are taking buses and transit to work. In Washington DC, city officials say this summer has been the busiest in the history of the Metro rail system, with trains often carrying more than 600,000 passengers a day. In Cincinnati, transit authorities say there have been up to 50 percent more users this summer on some commuter routes. The Atlanta and Portland transit systems are also recording heavy usage. Nationwide, public transportation systems have recorded a 4.8 percent increase for the first quarter of 2003 over the same period in 2002, according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).D) Transit officials say the main reason is the recent rise in gasoline prices. Feeling the impact ofcuts in production by oil-exporting countries, gasoline prices in the US shot up from a national average of $1.30 dollars a gallon (nearly 3.8 litres) late last year to high of $1.68 a gallon in June this year. In parts of the country, prices even reached $2 a gallon for the first time.E) While the price rise angered car drivers, many transportation experts feel it has turned attention to America's meager (不景气的) public transport. "The public transport system has been better now than in the past decades," says Delon Lowas, an urban planning analyst at the Sierra Club, the environmental group. According to APTA, a person commuting 10 miles to work every day by train instead of by car could save as much as 314 gallons (1193 liters) of gasoline annually -- thus reducing emissions of hydrocarbon gases and other pollutants.F) The oil price rise might just have been the induction to result in a new revolution in the travelhabits of US commuters, say environmentalists. As evidence, they point to the popularity of new light-rail systems in cities such as Portland. Even Los Angeles, whose residents are famous for their infatuation (迷恋) with cars, recently installed 17 miles of subway tracks. Now, US politicians are also warming to public transport. Federal and state governments are toying with some initiatives, such as tax breaks for people who use trains or buses.G) But public transportation continues to have its ideological critics. "It shouldn't be encouragedat the expense of private ownership of vehicles," says Ben Lieberman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). He asserts that the government's priority should be to make owning and driving a car more affordable by reducing environmental restrictions that push up the price of gasoline.H) The expansion of public transportation systems also draws opposition from those who areworried about the immense costs involved. They cite Los Angeles' subway expansion, which cost a record $4.7 billion, as an instance of how expensive public transport can be.I) Citing costs of construction, Tome DeLay, the powerful Republican Whip of the House ofRepresentatives, have moved to block funds for a proposed light-rail system in Houston. Mr.DeLay argues that the city should conduct a referendum（公民投票) before investing taxpayer's money. The result: the Houston authorities might well have to manage without federal funds or scrap the light-rail project entirely. Given the strong political pressure against it, some observers think the flirtation (对…的一时兴趣) with public transport will pass, not least because there are signs already that gas prices have started to fall. Mr. Lovaas, however, thinks that there has been "genuine grass-roots change" as people understand the environmental and social need for cutting down on automobile use. But he admitted that political opposition could take a long time to overcome. "The people at the top will be the last to get it."46. One factor for the sharp rising price of gasoline in the US this year was oil production cuts by oil-exporting countries.47. People who are concerned about the immense costs involved oppose the expansion of public transit.48. From the 1970s, train and bus usage in America has stopped developing to a great extent in that people have relied on cars more for their long-distance travel.49. Mr. Lovaas thinks that the change of travel habits can benefit the environment and society.50. According to environmentalists, the change of American commuters' travel habits might have been caused by the rise of oil price.51. A survey revealed recently that there are more than 200 million cars on America's roads.52. According to APTA, if a person commutes 10 miles a day taking a train instead of a car to work, he will save about 1193 liters of gasoline a year.53. CEI's Ben Lieberman is in favor of allowing people to have the right of owning private cars.54. Tax breaks are one of the initiatives federal and state governments are taking into consideration for people using buses.55. According to city officials, the underground railway system in Washington DC has been very busy this summerPassage 3Why DIY?A) The reasons why people engage in DIY have always been numerous and complex. For some,DIY has provided a rare opportunity for creativity and self-expression. For others it has been an unwelcome necessity, driven purely by economic considerations. Then there has been a group which feels that a building can never be a home unless it has been altered and modified to reflect a change of occupancy. A final group has traditionally taken the line that if you want a job done well, you must do it yourself.B) The same four basic species of DIYers exist today, although these various motives may nowoverlap very substantially. The perfectionist in search of the good job done well is often also driven by a desire for creativity. There are also two new categories of motive ~ the pursuit of DIY as a leisure activity and DIY as a form of occupational therapy. These, again, overlap with other reasons.DIY as necessityC) There is a significant number of young homemakers (38% of our informants) for whom there isno option but DIY. Their new home, whether bought on a mortgage which consumes a major slice of their income, or rented at similarly challenging rates, will often require essential rearrangement and even structural repair. Some of these people are reluctant first-time DIYers. They would much prefer to hire professionals, but can't afford to do so. The majority, however, welcome the opportunity that need has forced upon them to get involved for the first time in the real business of creating a home with all of its unfamiliar physical labour and the learning from scratch of new techniques. In time, many will migrate to one of the other categories of DIYer, continuing to exercise their new found talents and enthusiasm when no longer forced by financial constraints to do so.DIY as territorial markingD) Even those who have bought a brand new "starter home", the type which increasingly gainspopularity around the edges of our towns and cities, will feel compelled to add personal touches of a less dramatic kind to disguise its otherwise bland and expressionless nature.Putting a "personal stamp on the place" was one of the most frequently reported motives for DIY, with 72% of sample seeing this as being a very important aspect.DIY as self-expressionE) Many young people today are frustrated artists ~ their latent creative talents just waiting forthe chance to reveal themselves. There are also those seeking opportunities for a sense of achievement and personal fulfillment. DIY provided just such opportunities for the overwhelming majority of our informants (84%). This sense of creative achievement comes both from the choices made by the first-time DIYer the selection of colors, textures and components to apply to the "canvas" of the home and from the application of specific skills and techniques. The manufacturers of DIY materials clearly understand this and now providea wide range of "arty" products to fuel creative urges. At the same time, they make thematerials themselves much easier to use the DIY equivalent of painting by numbers. Special paint effects, which once required the specialist knowledge and training of the true professional, can now be achieved straight out of the can with a simple brush.DIY as perfection-seekingF) A large proportion of first-time DIYers (63%) distrust builders and decorators. They feel thatmost are "cowboys" and that even the more reputable ones are very unlikely to have thesame loving attention to detail and care as the DIYer. Some had previously suffered from the alleged bodge of small builders, while others were proud of the fact that no tradesman of this kind had ever set foot in their home. Within this group there were those who were content for builders to perform basic or structural work, and to undertake tasks such as plastering which are beyond the competence of most DIYers, particularly the younger novices in our sample. The finishing work, however, was something these people kept for themselves the final "perfecting" of what otherwise would be just a mediocre result.G) This drive for perfection was also evident among the "strippers" in this group. The idea ofputting wallpaper over existing paper, or even paint on the top of preceding coats, was anathema. Everything needed to be taken back to the bare plaster or the naked wood before any new decoration could be applied. Some informants recognized that this search for perfection could sometimes go too far: "It's an obsession for me really. I'm never happy with anything." The problem perfectionists face is that progress can be very slow. When perfectionists are obliged, by nagging or circumstance, to speed things up, other problems can result. DIY as leisure activityH) For a significant minority of first-timers (28%), DIY is seen as a novel and entertaining pastime.It is not really work, but something akin to entertainment, shared by both partners and even the children in the case of young families. "It's just great fun" enthused one of our sample.The idea that DIYing is akin to a trip to the lions of Longleat may seem strange. But for these informants home-making was sufficiently different from, and infinitely preferable to, the dull routines of weekday work to constitute a weekend break. The results of such activity were rewarding, but probably less so than engaging in the activity itself.DIY as therapyI) "It's therapeutic, isn't it? I'm always in my own little world when I'm doing DIY~ it's great." Sosaid a young man of 27 in our sample. "For me it's occupational therapy", said another informant. For them and others it was their way of getting rid of stress after a long day at work ~ a way of switching off and using the repetitive nature of many DIY tasks as a way of relaxing. Others hinted at a similar process, where DIY was almost an end in itself, rather than just a means to achieving a better home. In this sense they were similar to those who saw DIY as a form of leisure, but it was the psychological effects which were emphasized by 18% of our sample.46. It's found that most young DIY beginners are not competent for plastering.47. A brand new "starter home" becomes more and more popular around the border of towns and cities.48. Besides the traditional motives of DIY, the new categories of motive include the pursuit of DIY as a leisure activity.49. To those young homemakers, buying a new home on mortgage is as challenging as renting a house.50. About twenty-eight percent of the first-timers consider DIY as a novel and entertaining pastime.51. A large part of first-time DIYers use the term "cowboys" to refer to builders and decorators.52. "Strippers" are those people who are driven by the pursuit of DIY as perfection.53. Those reluctant first-time DIYers think it preferable to hiring professionals to do the homemaking.54. People who take DIY as a form of leisure and those who take DIY as therapy similarly think of DIY as almost an end in itself.55. At present~ special paint effects can be achieved by any DIYers with simple tools.Passage 4Want to Know Your Disease Risk? Check Your Exposome（环境暴露）A)When it comes to health, which is more important, nature or nurture? You may well thinkyour genes are a more important predictor of health and ill health. Not so fast. In fact, it transpires (得知) that our everyday environment outweighs our genetics, when it comes to measuring our risk of disease. The genome is out -- welcome the exposome.Ｂ）"The exposome represents everything a person is exposed to in the environment, that's not in the genes," says Stephen Rappaport, environmental health scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. That includes stress, diet, lifestyle choices, recreational and medicinal drug use and infections, to name a few. "The big difference is that the exposome changes throughout life as our bodies, diets and lifestyles change," he says. While our understanding of the human genome has been growing at an exponential (迅速发展的) rate over the last decade, it is not as helpful as we hoped in predicting diseases. "Genes only contribute 10 per cent to the overall disease burden," says Rappaport. "Knowing genetic risk factors can prove absolutely futile (无用的)," says Jeremy Nicholson at Imperial College London. He points to work by Nina Paynter at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who investigated the effects of 101 genetic markers implicated in heart disease. After following over 19,000 women for 12 years, she found these markers were not able to predict anything about the incidence of heart disease in this group.C) On the other hand, the impact of environmental influences is still largely a mystery. "There's animbalance between our ability to investigate the genome and the environment," says Chris Wild, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, who came up with the idea of the exposome. In reality, most diseases are probably caused by a combination of the two, which is where the exposome comes in. "The idea is to have a comprehensive analysis of a person's full exposure history," says Wild. He hopes a better understanding of exposures will shed a brighter light on disease risk factors.D) There are likely to be critical periods of exposure in development. For example, the time frombirth to 3 years of age is thought to be particularly important. "We know that this is the time when brain connections are made, and that if you are obese by this age, you'll have problems as an adult," says Nicholson. In theory, a blood or urine sample taken from an individual could provide a snapshot of what that person has been exposed to. But how do you work out what fingerprints chemicals might leave in the body? The task is not as formidable (艰难的) as it sounds. For a start, researchers could make use of swathes of biobank information that has already been collected. "There has been a huge international funding effort in adult cohorts (一群) like the UK Biobank already," says Wild. "If we improved analysis, we could apply it to these groups."E) Several teams are also working towards developing wearable devices to measure personalexposure to chemicals in the environment. "We can put chemicals in categories," says Rappaport. "We could start by prioritizing toxic chemicals, and look for markers of these toxins in the blood, while hormones and metals can be measured directly." Rappaport islooking at albumin, a common protein in the blood that transports toxins to the liver where they are processed and broken down. He wants to know how it reacts with a range of chemicals, and is measuring the products. "You can get a fingerprint -- a display of all the products an individual has been exposed to."F) By combining this information with an enhanced understanding of how exposure affects health,the exposome could help better predict a person's true disease risk. And we shouldn't have to wait long -- Rappaport reckons we can reap the benefits within a generation. To this end, the U.S. National Institutes of Health has set up an exposure biology programme. "We're looking for interactions between genes and exposure to work out an individual's risk of disease.” says David Balshaw, who manages the programme. "It would allow you to tailor (使合适) the therapeutic response to that person's risk." An understanding of this interaction, reflected ina person's metabolic (新陈代谢) profiles, might also help predict how they will respond to adrug. Nicholson has been looking for clues in metabolite profiles of urine samples.G) Last year, his research group used these profiles to predict how individuals would metabolizeparacetamol（扑热息痛）. "It turned out that gut microbes were very important,”says Nicholson. We’ve sh own that the pre-dose urinary metabolite profile could predict the metabolism of painkilling drugs, and theref ore predict drug toxicity.” The findings suggest that metabolic profiles of exposure could help doctors tailor therapies and enable them to prescribe personalized medicines. Justin Stebbing at Imperial College London has already shown that metabolic profiles of women with breast cancer can predict who will respond to certain therapies. It is early days, but the initial findings look promising. "We're reaching me point where we are capable of assessing the exposome,” says Balashaw. With the implication for understanding the causes and risks, and a real prospect of developing personalized medicine, the exposome is showing more promise than the genome already, he adds. Bugging your biosphereH) How does air pollution or stress leave a trace in the blood? The US National Institutes ofHealth in Bethesda, Maryland, is trying to find out. One group funded by the NIH and led by Nongjian Tao at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute in Tempre is developing wearable wireless sensors to monitor an indivi dual’s exposure to env ironmental pollutants.Tao’s team started by creating software for Windows phones, but they are working on apps that could be used on any smart phone. In theory, anyone could pop on (戴) a sensor and download an app to receive real-tune reformation on exposure to environmental pollutants.At the same time, smart phones monitoring your location can combine the level of pollution with an exact time and place. Tao presented his sensor at the Circuits and Systems for Medical and Environmental Applications Workshop in Yucatan Mexico last week.I) “We are now moving prototypes into human studies, and progressing those products,”saysDavid Balshaw of the NIH. Earlier this year, Tao’s group tried out the sensor in individuals taking a stroll around Los Angeles, California. They were able to measure how exposure to pollutants changed as each person wandered near busy roads and petrol stations.46. It is Chris Wild who put forward the conception of exposome.47. Rappaport has confidence in the realization of exposome’s helping better predict people’s true disease risk.48. According to Jeremy Nicholson, knowing genetic risk factors of health turns out to be。