Thanks in no small part to Al Gore and his film producers, the

American public is waking up to the seriousness of global warming. That 【M1】________

is not so widely appreciated is that unless the US government

acted urgently and decisively, this problem could very quickly get very 【M2】________

much worse.

For reasons both economic or political coal is poised to be the fuel 【M3】________

of choice in the coming decades as the US weans itself off foreign oil.

Coal combustion generates half the US’s electricity and release about 【M4】________

1. 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. If present trends continue,

this figure will be more than double by 2050, much on to the detriment 【M5】________

of the world’s climate. Without an alternative fuel, the only solution is

to capture and store carbon dioxide from burning coal.

Overcome the engineering obstacles in the way of large-scale 【M6】_________

sequestration of carbon dioxide will be hard enough, and the bigger 【M7】_________

challenge is one of political will. US companies as yet have no incentive

to capture carbon emissions. While movements at state and congressional 【M8】_________

levels are pushing in the right direction, the ambiguity in the

administration’s policy is counterproductive.

It is time for the US government to put price on carbon emissions so 【M9】_________

utilities that invest in technologies to reduce carbon emissions will see

their efforts rewarding. Such a move would not only reduce the risks 【M10】________

associated with global warming, but also go a long way towards restoring

America’s green credentials.

Contrary to what many people think, depression is not a normal

part of growing older. Or is it harder to treat in older people. But it is 【M1】_________

often harder to recognize and harder to get patients accept and continue 【M2】_________

with treatment.

“Most people think sadness is a hallmark of depression,” Bruce

said. “Hence more often in older people it’s anhedonia—they’re not 【M3】_________

enjoying life. They’re irritable and cranky.” She added, “Many older

people desperate of the quality of their lives at the end of life. If they 【M4】_________

have a functional ability or serious medical illness, it may make it harder 【M5】_________

to notice depression in older people.”

Family members, friends and medical personnel must take seriously 【M6】_________

when an older person says “Life is not worth live,” “I don’t see any 【M7】_________

point in living,” “I’d be better off dead” or “My family would be better

off if I died,” the experts emphasized.

“Listen carefully, empathize and help the person get evaluated for

treatment or into treatment,” Brown urged. He warned that “depressed

older adults tend to have few symptoms” than younger adults who are 【M8】_________

depressed.

The ideal approach, of course, is to prevent depression in the first

place. Brown recommended that older adults structured their days by 【M9】_________

maintaining a regular cycle and planning activities that “give them

pleasure, purpose and a reason for living.”

He suggested “social activities of any type—joining a book club or

bowling league, going to a senior center or gym, taking courses at a local

college, or hanging on out at the coffee shop. “ 【M10】________

Bruce suggests taking up a new interest like painting or needlework

or volunteering at a place of worship, school or museum. Brown

explains that any activity the person is able to do can help to prevent

depression and silly ideas of killing oneself.

A trade group for liquor retailers put out a press release with an

alarming headline: “Millions of Kids Buy Internet Alcohol, Landmark

Survey Reveals.”

The announcement, from the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of

America, received widely media attention. On NBC’s Today Show, Lea 【M1】_________

Thompson said, “According to a new online survey, one in ten teenagers

have an underage friend who has ordered beer, wine or liquor over the 【M2】_________

Internet. More than a third think they can easily do it but nearly half 【M3】_________

think they won’t get caught. “ Several newspapers mentioned the study,

including USA Today and the Record of New Jersey. The news was even

covered by Australia’s Gold Coast Bulletin.

Are millions of kids really buying booze online? To arrive that 【M4】_________

shocking headline, the group used some question logic to pump up 【M5】_________

the results from a survey that was already tilted in favor of finding a 【M6】_________

large number of online buyers.

For starters, consider the source. The trade group that

commissioned the survey has long fought efforts to expand online sales of

alcohol; its members are local distributors that compete online liquor 【M7】_________

sellers. Some of the news coverage point out that conflict of interest, 【M8】_________

though reports didn’t delve more deeply on how the numbers were 【M9】_________

computed.

The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America hired Teenage

Research Unlimited, a research company, to design the study. Teenage

Research, in return, hired San Diego polling firm Luth Research to put 【M10】________

the questions to 1,001 people between the ages of 14 and 20 in an online

survey. Luth got people to participate in its surveys in part by

advertising them online and offering small cash awards—typically less

than $ 5 for short surveys.