*本片的片名出自一首美国50年代的老歌，由Harold Arlen和E.Y. Harburg创作的《Down in Love》。
*影片的两位主演蕾妮·齐维格和伊万·麦奎格将共同演唱一首片中的浪漫情歌--《Here's to Love》，这也是蕾妮·齐维格在《芝加哥》、伊万·麦奎格在《红磨坊》后再展歌喉，这首歌曲也会收录在本片的原声碟中。

They say 21 grams is the weight we lose when we die. The weight of five nickels, of a hummingbird, of a chocolate bar - and perhaps also of a human soul.

World sport – a nation’s passion Table Tennis

At china’s state-sponsored sports schools the next generation of table tennis stars can be found, paddles poised and deep in concentration.
Training for up to six hours a day, these young players are determined to reach the top of the sport proudly referred to in China as “national ball”.

Table tennis became popular in England in the late 19^th century as an indoor alternative to lawn tennis. Originally played by British army officers in India with the lids of cigar boxes as paddles and a carved champagne cork as a ball, the early game was known by a variety of names including Gossima, FlimFlam, Whiff-Whaff and Ping Pong.

Due to the sport’s rapid growth, the international table tennis Federation was formed in 1926 and the World Championships began in the same year, establishing the sport on the world stage.
The Chinese have dominated international competition since the lat 1950s. Table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988 and China has won 13 of the 16 gold medals to date.

More than a nation sport, table tennis has played an important role in China’s diplomatic affairs.

In 1971, during the height of the Cold War, a visit by a group of American table tennis players to China set the stage for restoring harmonious relations with the People’s Republic. Dubbed “Ping Pong diplomacy,” it marked a turning point in US-Sino relations.

Today, table tennis is the world’s largest participation sport, with more than 40 million competitive players worldwide. For the young Chinese players training intensively each day, achieving international success is the ultimate dream.

Meet the Oldest American
Who is more qualified than Verona Johnston to expound on the secrets behind a long, healthy life? The retired Latin teacher, mother of four, grandmother of 13 and great-grandmother of 23 turned 114 on Aug. 6, which makes her the oldest documented person in the U.S. And there's plenty of life in her yet. "I can remember names pretty well," says Johnston, who lived on her own in an apartment until age 98 but now shares a house in Worthington, Ohio, with her daughter Julie Johnson, 81, and Julie's husband Bruce, 83. In fact, Johnston's mind is so sharp that she still solves word jumbles in her head; remembers joke punch lines; and, when she has trouble sleeping, runs through the names of her 36 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, rather than counting sheep.

Oh, sure, her vision is nearly gone, so she had to give up playing bridge at 110. She no longer travels solo to visit kin in Omaha, Neb., and San Diego, as she did at 100, and she relies on a cane to take steps, but Johnston can still hear fairly well, and she loves listening to books on tape. (Now it's Lark Rise to Candleford, about life at the end of the 19th century—a period otherwise known as her childhood.) Johnston doesn't dwell on what age has taken away from her. "She's never been a complainer," says Julie. That attitude may have much to do with her prodigious longevity. Not to mention good genes and a whopping dose of good luck. Johnston's father, a Presbyterian minister, died at 69, her mother at 85. Her younger sister Vern died in 1997 at 105. Though Johnston had surgery for breast cancer in her 90s and a heart attack so minor she never noticed it, she has generally enjoyed superb health.

"I never had a special diet," she says. "I really like mashed potatoes and gravy." But Johnston has always been big on moderation. Even today, her daily snack consists of orange juice and exactly one cracker, one cinnamon-drop candy and one cashew. "That's enough," she insists.

Johnston, who graduated from Drake University in 1912, never smoked. This churchgoing minister's daughter never touched alcohol either, until she moved in with Julie and Bruce, who introduced her to Baileys Irish Cream(^0^), now part of an occasional family happy hour. As for exercise, it was just woven into an active schedule. Well into her 90s, she climbed up and down seven flights of stairs to her old apartment.

Johnston has certainly seen change in her life, and she rolls with it. "Electricity was the most important thing that happened to us," she reflects. The computer was intimidating, but she gave it a whirl: "I worked that mouse." And she's ready for more. "You can get too old to enjoy life," she says, adding slyly, "I never got that old."

By WENDY COLE/WORTHINGTON

How can a woman closing in on the start of her second century be so robustly, almost defiantly, healthy, while men and women decades younger are languishing feebly in nursing homes, plagued with failing bodies and failing minds and wishing they hadn’t been so unlucky as to live so long?

For most of human history, a long and healthy life has been shrugged off as a gift from the gods- or maybe the undeserved reward for a lifetime of plain cussedness. But to gerontologists, the vagaries of aging have become the focus of intense scientific research.

It’s pretty obvious even to nonscientists that how you get there depends partly on the genes you are born with and partly on lifestyle – what and how much you eat, where you live and what types of stress and trauma you experience. How much depends on each factor, though, was unknown until Swedish scientists tackled that problem in 1998. They did it by looking at the only set of people who share genes but not lifestyle: identical twins who were separated at birth and reared apart. If genes were most important, you would expect the twins to die about the same age. In fact, they don’t, and the average difference convinced the scientist that only about 20% to 30% of how long we live is genetically determined. The dominant factor is lifestyle.

“ You could have Mercedes-Benz genes,” says Dr. Bradley Willcox, of the Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu, “ but if you never change the oil, you are not going to last as long as a Ford Escort that you take good care of. Those who have healthier genes and live healthier lives- those guys really survive for a long time.”

Those unusually clean-living Americans are genetically diverse, but they avoid alcohol, caffeine and tobacco-and they tend to live an average of eight years longer than their countrymen.

All of this is good news, with a Surgeon General’s warning attached: you can’t change your genes, but you can change what you eat and how much you exercise. “The lesson is pretty clear from my point of view in terms of what the average person should be doing.” Says Perls. “I strongly believe that with some changes in health-related behavior, each of us can earn the right to have at least 25 years beyond the age of 60 – years of healthy life at good function. The disappointing news is that it requires work and willpower.”

By Richard Corliss and Michael D.Lemonick

It is so strange that I can hear whisper from my PC speakers when I turn its volumn to minimum. Sometimes it sounds like radio and it is definitely a talk show....I have been noticing this for a quite long time, scary when I am alone during the night. It forces me to switch the power off every time.
But the voice is still there right?

没有去ESim的告别单身佬的party, 是因为没过本小姐出动的先决条件"有没有意义"这一关. 举手说愿意去是为了不影响别人的兴致. 虽带欺骗性质, 但也是好意. 后来不去了, 害得tea也不去了, 很内疚.
后来tea说, 不愿看一个大男生被一大群女生玩, 所以也不是很想去的. 真是有道理.

The Terminal rate: ****
Will you wait when you nearly there, come very close but not yet?
Is it worthwhile to wait for something unrealistic or someone unware?
My languid sympathy to Amelia Warren.

Cooking For Engineers: Recipe File: Basic Tiramisu
var cheese;
var cream;
var sugar;
var brandy;
var ladys_fingers;
var cocoa_powder;
var expresso;
var coffee;
var chocolate;
var bowl1 = new Bowl;
bowl1->push(cream);
chill(&bowl1);
var coffee_and_espresso = rnd(coffee + espresso);
chill(&coffee_and_espresso);
while (!bowl1->ingredients[cream]->stiff_peaks)
bowl1->whip(WHIPPING_STYLE_BEAT);
.....

现在，每次有相同感动时， 我反而会很难过。
那天， 忍不住哭了出来， 怎麼了!?

有時候, 我們捨不得一個人, 只是因為生活裏還有對方的消息和痕跡.

Milan Kundera 米蘭 昆德拉
Ignorance 無知
Jacques & His Master. 雅克和他的主人

關於懶

有人勤於瑣事， 卻懶得為自己的生命找出路.
有人勤於邁向過勞死 ， 卻懶得找出更有效率的做事方式 .
有人勤於掙錢 ， 卻懶得為生活美感投資 .
有人勤於尋覓愛情， 卻懶得為一個愛人付出.
有人勤於外在裝飾， 卻懶得讓自己免於無知.
有人勤於回憶， 卻懶於創造未來.
有人勤於萬卷書， 卻懶於萬里路 .

懶人說 : 偷得浮生半日閑

(諷刺)
'懶'拆開來是'賴皮的心', 你有了這顆'賴皮的心', 不管是賴床還是賴賬, 沒有什麼是你賴不掉的. 把事情賴給別人做, 懶人懶到一定境界, 便也成了'一懶天下無難事' .

懶人萬歲!
祝所有懶人愛怎麼懶就怎麼懶, 想有多懶就能多懶.
(/諷刺)