>Women most hard to live with
調(diào)查:家中女性最難相處
Wives, sisters and mothers are more likely to be the most difficult people in our lives, according to a survey of 1,100 respondents who described more than 12,000 relationships. Female family members were most often labeled as difficult because they're usually emotionally invested in relatives' lives. "The message here is that, with female relatives, it can be a two-sided thing," said Claude Fischer, a senior author of the study. "They may be the people you most depend on, but also the people who nag you the most. It's a testament to their deeper engagement in social ties."
根據(jù)1100名受訪者描述的逾1.2萬(wàn)段關(guān)系的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查，妻子、姐妹和母親更有可能成為我們生活中最難相處的人。女性家庭成員最常被貼上難以相處的標(biāo)簽，因?yàn)樗齻兺鶎?duì)親人的生活投入很多感情。該研究的一名資深作者克勞德?費(fèi)舍爾說(shuō)："這里要傳達(dá)的信息是，女性親屬所帶來(lái)的影響具有兩面性。她們也許是你最依賴的人，但也是最愛(ài)嘮叨你的人。嘮叨是她們?cè)谏鐣?huì)關(guān)系中深入?yún)⑴c的證據(jù)。"

>Super banana's peel edible
日本開(kāi)賣能吃皮的香蕉
If you've ever wanted to eat banana peel, Japan is the place for you. In Japanese, the unusual version of the fruit's being described as "Mongee" - the "super" banana. It looks just like any other banana, but it's supposed to be softer and sweeter - and its peel is edible. Even though they cost around $6 each, the special bananas have had no trouble attracting customers to the only place in the country where they're sold, the Tenmaya store in the southwestern city of Okayama. The technique used to create the Mongee banana is called "freeze thaw awakening." The process involves starting banana trees out in an environment that's nearly -27 C, then moving the trees with their still-ripening bananas to a more temperate climate of around -27 C - an environment banana trees typically grow in the entire time.
如果你曾想吃香蕉皮，那么日本就是你要找的地方。在日語(yǔ)里，這種特別的水果被稱為"Mongee"，即"超級(jí)"香蕉的意思。超級(jí)香蕉看起來(lái)和其他香蕉無(wú)異，但口感號(hào)稱更軟更甜且果皮可以食用。雖然每根超級(jí)香蕉售價(jià)約為6美元，但這種香蕉卻不愁銷路。在日本，這種獨(dú)特的香蕉僅一個(gè)地方有售，即西南部城市岡山的店鋪Tenmaya。用于培育超級(jí)香蕉的技術(shù)叫做"凍融喚醒"。在培育過(guò)程中，首先要將香蕉樹(shù)種植在接近零下27攝氏度的環(huán)境中，隨后將果實(shí)仍在成熟中的香蕉樹(shù)移植到溫度在零上27攝氏度左右的氣候更為溫和的環(huán)境中。在這種環(huán)境中香蕉樹(shù)通常會(huì)一直生長(zhǎng)。

>Longer wait for pension
英千禧一代或71歲退休
Those millennials who are aged around 20 will have to work to 71 before being receiving the state pension; those in their 30s must wait till 69, a report by the UK government Actuary's Department said. To cope with an ageing population, the Actuary's Department also said national insurance rates may have to rise by 5 percentage points to keep the pension pot in balance, adding ￡1,000 to the average worker's annual tax bill. Ministers announced last summer that the state pension age would rise to 68 from 2037 – a decade earlier than originally planned. But raising the age again would be controversial as it would force the young to work longer to fund the pensions of those who are already retired.
英國(guó)政府精算部的一則報(bào)告稱，現(xiàn)年20歲左右的千禧一代要工作到71歲才能領(lǐng)取政府養(yǎng)老金，現(xiàn)年30多歲的人則要等到69歲。精算部還表示，為應(yīng)對(duì)人口老齡化，國(guó)家保險(xiǎn)費(fèi)率可能要提高5個(gè)百分點(diǎn)以維持養(yǎng)老基金收支平衡。這意味著普通勞動(dòng)者每年需要多繳納1000英鎊的稅。去年夏天，部長(zhǎng)們宣布，領(lǐng)取政府養(yǎng)老金的年齡將自2037年起提高至68歲，這比原計(jì)劃實(shí)行時(shí)間提前了10年。然而再次提高退休年齡必將引發(fā)爭(zhēng)議，因?yàn)槟贻p人將被迫工作更長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，為那些已經(jīng)退休的人們提供養(yǎng)老金。

>Fungi concrete launched
自我修復(fù)型混凝土問(wèn)世
A new self-healing fungi concrete, co-developed by researchers at Binghamton University and State University of New York, could help repair cracks in aging concrete permanently, and help save America's crumbling infrastructure. Congrui Jin, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Binghamton University, has researched concrete and found that the problem stems from the smallest of cracks. "Without proper treatment, cracks tend to progress further and eventually require costly repair," said Jin. So he worked with other professors and found an unusual way to heal concrete: a fungus called Trichoderma reesei. When this fungus is mixed with concrete, it originally lies dormant - until the first crack appears. "When cracking occurs, water and oxygen will find their way in. With enough water and oxygen, the dormant fungal spores will germinate, grow and precipitate calcium carbonate to heal the cracks," Jin explained.
近日，賓漢姆頓大學(xué)和紐約州立大學(xué)的研究人員共同開(kāi)發(fā)了一種能自行修復(fù)的新型真菌混凝土，可幫助修復(fù)老化了的混凝土的永久性裂縫，這將有助于拯救美國(guó)破敗的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。賓漢姆頓大學(xué)機(jī)械工程學(xué)助理教授康格瑞?金從事混凝土研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)問(wèn)題源于那些最細(xì)小的裂縫。金表示："如果沒(méi)有得到適當(dāng)?shù)奶幚?，裂縫往往會(huì)進(jìn)一步發(fā)展，最終要花很多錢進(jìn)行修補(bǔ)。"因此他與其他教授合作，找到了一種不同尋常的修復(fù)混凝土的方法：一種名叫里氏木霉的真菌。當(dāng)這種真菌與混凝土混合時(shí)，起初它會(huì)進(jìn)入休眠狀態(tài)，直到第一道裂縫出現(xiàn)。金解釋稱："當(dāng)裂縫出現(xiàn)時(shí)，水和氧氣就會(huì)進(jìn)入。有了足夠的水和氧氣，休眠的真菌孢子就會(huì)發(fā)芽、生長(zhǎng)并沉淀碳酸鈣以修復(fù)裂縫。"

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