(토요모임) [12. Oct. 2019] Saturday meeting topic

[Scarlet]

Hello ! Englisholic members !

It is me Scarlett :) It is autumn again... time flies. How are you today? 

Today we will talk about "Emotions and Prejudice". 

Relax, Take it easy. This week we will cover some  easy topics 

as well as tricky issues. Topics are as follows 

◈ Korean History & Prejudice :

---- South Korea Timeline : A chronology of key events

---- Black-and-White Thinking in our Social Worlds

◈ Science : Can you be scared to death?

◈ 5 benefits of being a curious person
◈ Functional Food : Scientists invent 'anti-ageing' chocolate 

Hope you enjoy the topics :) 

With Luv 

Scarlett :) 

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Small Talks - Feelings Conversation Questions

Q0. How do you feel today?

Q1. Are you a sensitive person? Are you more emotional or less emotional than other people? 

Q2. Can you control your emotions well? How?

Q3. When are emotions a problem?

Q4. What is a crime of passion? Can you understand why feelings could cause someone to commit a crime?

Q5. Are you generally a positive person or a negative person?

Q6. Do you find it easy to explain your feelings to another person? If not, why is it difficult?

Q7. What makes you feel very good? Or bad?

Q8. Is there a limit to how often we can feel good? In other words, if you feel good now, does that mean you will feel bad at some time later?

Q9. Is sadness always a bad feeling? Are there good types of sadness and bad types of sadness? Give an example if you can.

Q10. What makes you feel sad?

Q11. If you’re feeling down, how can you make yourself feel better?

Q12. What is the saddest movie, song, or story that you know?

Q13. What makes you feel nervous? How can you calm your nerves?

Q14. Are you excited about anything coming up in the near future?

Q15. Have you felt satisfied recently? What made you feel that way?

Q16. What do you do to stay awake when you feel very sleepy?

Q17. Do people know how you feel by looking at your face? Are you good at hiding your emotions?

Q18. What is the best way to deal with feelings of anger?

Q19. When do you feel most energized? What do you like to do with that energy?

Q20. Have you been in love? What is it like to be in love?

Q21. Which is more powerful between feelings of love and feelings of hate?

Q22. Can you easily tell how other people are feeling? How useful is this ability?

Q23. What is emotional intelligence? How emotionally intelligent are you?

Q24. Are women more emotional than men? Or is that just a stereotype?

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South Korea - Timeline

23 January 2018

 A chronology of key events:

Image copyright Getty Images / The Korean war (1950-1953) killed at least 2.5 million people.

It pitted the North - backed by Chinese forces - against the South, supported militarily by the United Nations  

1945 - After World War II, Japanese occupation ends with Soviet troops occupying area north of the 38th parallel, and US troops in the south.

1948 - Republic of Korea proclaimed.
1950 - South declares independence, sparking North Korean invasion.
1953 - Armistice ends Korean War, which has cost two million lives.

1950s - South sustained by crucial US military, economic and political support.
1960 - President Syngman Ree steps down after student protests against electoral fraud. New constitution forms Second Republic, but political freedom remains limited.

 Coup

1961 - Military coup puts General Park Chung-hee in power.

1963 - General Park restores some political freedom and proclaims Third Republic. Major programme of industrial development begins.

1972 - Martial law. Park increases his powers with constitutional changes.

After secret North-South talks, both sides seek to develop dialogue aimed at unification.

1979 - Park assassinated. General Chun Doo-hwan seizes power the following year. 

1980 - Martial law declared after student demonstrations. In the city of Gwangju army kills at least 200 people. Fifth republic and new constitution.

Gwangju massacre

Image copyright AP / Hundreds died as troops fired on 1980 rally

1981 - Chun indirectly elected to a seven year term. Martial law ends, but government continues to have strong powers to prevent dissent.

1986 - Constitution is changed to allow direct election of the president.

 Return to democracy

1980s - Increasing shift towards high-tech and computer industry.

1987 - President Chun pushed out of office by student unrest and international pressure in the build-up to the Sixth Constitution. General Roh Tae-woo succeeds President Chun, grants greater degree of political liberalisation and launches anti-corruption drive.

Demilitarised zone

Image copyright Getty Images / North (l) and South (r) Korean soldiers stand at arm's length

1988 - Olympic games in Seoul. First free parliamentary elections.

1991 - North and South Korea join United Nations.

1993 - President Roh succeeded by Kim Young Sam, a former opponent of the regime and the first freely-elected civilian president.

1996 - South Korea admitted to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 

 "Sunshine policy"

Image copyright Getty Images / Kim Dae-jung: Former president won Nobel Peace Prize

1998 - Kim Dae-jung sworn in as president and pursues "sunshine policy" of offering unconditional economic and humanitarian aid to North Korea.

2000 June - Summit in Pyongyang between Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. North stops propaganda broadcasts against South.

2000 August - Border liaison offices re-open at truce village of Panmunjom. South Korea gives amnesty to more than 3,500 prisoners. One hundred North Koreans meet their relatives in the South in a highly-charged, emotional reunion. Kim Dae-jung awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

2001 - Opening of Incheon International Airport, built on tidal land off port of Incheon.

2002 March - Group of 25 North Koreans defect to South Korea through Spanish embassy in Beijing, highlighting plight of tens of thousands hiding in China after fleeing famine, repression in North.

 Naval battle

2002 June - Battle between South Korean and North Korean naval vessels along their disputed sea border leaves four South Koreans dead and 19 wounded. Thirty North Koreans are thought to have been killed.

2002 December - Roh Moo-hyun, from governing Millennium Democratic Party, wins closely-fought presidential elections.

2003 October - Biggest mass crossing of demilitarised zone since Korean War: Hundreds of South Koreans travel to Pyongyang for opening of gymnasium funded by South's Hyundai conglomerate.

2004 February - Parliament approves controversial dispatch of 3,000 troops to Iraq.

2004 June - US proposes to cut its troop presence by a third. Opposition raises security fears over the plan.

Union strikes

Image copyright Getty Images / Labour unrest flares up regularly

Disputed island

Image copyright Getty Images / Dispute over Dokdo, known as Takeshima in Japan, sours ties

2005 June - Kim Woo-choong, the fugitive former head of Daewoo, returns and is arrested for his role in the industrial giant's $70bn-plus collapse. In May 2006 he is sentenced to 10 years in jail.

2005 December - South Koreans are shocked by revelations that cloning scientist and national hero Dr Hwang Woo-suk faked landmark research on stem cell research.

2006 October - Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon is appointed as the UN's new secretary-general. He takes office in January 2007.

2007 February - South and North Korea agree to restart high-level talks suspended since July 2006 in wake of North's nuclear test.

Head of the largest South Korean car maker, Hyundai, is jailed for three years for embezzlement.

2007 April - South Korea and the US agree on a free-trade deal after 10 months of talks, although US Congress only ratifies it in 2011.

Historic train crossing

Image copyright Getty Images / Trains from North and South crossed the border in 2007

2007 May - Passenger trains cross the North-South border for the first time in 56 years.

2007 December - Conservative Lee Myung-bak wins landslide victory in presidential election.

2008 February - The country's greatest cultural treasure, the Namdaemun Gate, is destroyed by fire. 

 Financial crisis

2008 October - Government announces $130bn financial rescue package to shore up banking system and stabilise markets amis global financial crisis.

New freeze?

Image copyright Getty Images / President Lee ended his predecessor's "sunshine policy" in 2008

2009 January - North Korea says it is scrapping all military and political deals with the South.

2009 August - Former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung dies; North Korea sends a senior delegation to Seoul to pay its respects.

2009 October - North Korea expresses "regret" for unleashing dam water that drowned six campers downstream in South Korea in September. The two sides hold talks aimed at preventing flooding on the Imjin River which spans their militarised border.

2009 November - South and North Korean warships exchange fire across a disputed sea border, and again in January.

2010 January - North accepts an offer of food aid from South, the first such aid in two years.

 Sinking of warship

2010 May - South Korea breaks off all trade with the North after naval ship Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo in March. Pyongyang describes the findings as a "fabrication" and cuts all diplomatic ties with Seoul.

Cheonan sinking

Image copyright Getty Images / North Korea denied claims it sank the Southern warship Cheonan in 2010

2010 November - Cross-border clash near disputed maritime border results in death of two South Korean marines. South Korea places its military on highest non-wartime alert after shells land on Yeonpyeong island. Further exchange of fire in August.

2012 July - South Korea begins move of most ministries to "mini capital" at Sejong City, 120km south of Seoul. Key ministries will remain in Seoul.

2012 August - Lee Myung-bak becomes first president to visit the Liancourt Rocks, which Japan also claims. Tokyo recalls its ambassador in protest.

2012 October - South Korea strikes deal with the US to almost triple the range of its ballistic missile system to 800km as a response to North Korea's test of a long-range rocket in April.

2012 December - South Korea elects its first female president, Park Geun-hye, of the conservative Saenuri party. She takes office in February.

 New spike in tensions

2013 January - South Korea launches a satellite into orbit for the first time using a rocket launched from its own soil. Comes weeks after a North Korean rocket placed a satellite in orbit.

2013 March - South Korea accuses North of a cyber-attack that temporarily shuts down the computer systems at banks and broadcasters.

2013 September - North and South Korea reopen Kaesong joint industrial complex and hotline.

2013 December - South Korea announces expansion of air defence zone, two weeks after China unilaterally announced its own extended air defence zone in East China Sea to include disputed Socotra Rock.

2014 March - North and South Korea exchange fire into sea across the disputed western maritime border during largest South-US military training exercise in region for 20 years.

Ferry disaster

2014 April - Sewol ferry sinks off west coast, killing at least 281 people, mainly high-school students.

2014 October - North and South Korea engage in rare exchange fire across their land border as South Korean activists launch balloons containing leaflets condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Gun fire also exchanged when Northern patrol ship crossed disputed western maritime border.

US and South Korea again postpone transfer of control over troops in South in event of war with North, citing "intensifying threat" from Pyongyang. Transfer due in 2012, and delayed until 2015. No new date set.

2014 December - Constitutional Court bans left-wing Unified Progressive Party, accused of being pro-North Korean.

President Park calls for cyber security at key facilities to be strengthened after data on its nuclear reactors is leaked.

2015 March - North Korea fires short-range surface-to-air missiles into the sea in an apparent show of force against annual military drills between South Korea and the United States.

2015 November-December - Mass protests in Seoul against government's economic policy and insistence on schools' using state-approved history books.

 President impeached

2016 October - President Park Geun-Hye is embroiled in a political crisis over revelations that she allowed a personal friend, with no government position, to meddle in affairs of state. She is later impeached.

2016 December - South Korea's military says its cyber command came under attack by North Korean hackers.

2017 May - The centre-left candidate Moon Jae-in is elected president in a landslide, and pledges to solve the North Korean crisis by diplomatic means.

2018 January - North and South Korea agree to march under the same flag at next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea in what's seen as a sign of a thaw in relations.

Article source : www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-15292674

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Black-and-White Thinking in our Social Worlds
The Evolutionary Basis of Simple Thinking

Posted Jan 12, 2016

Good guy or bad guy; with me or against me; friend or foe; right or wrong; love versus hate; yin and yang.

Our minds seem to like simple categorical ways to divide up information in the world. This is kind of interesting given how terribly complex and nuanced most things are - especially in our social lives. So why do we so strongly tend toward categorical simplicity in understanding the world? And what are costs and benefits of such reasoning in our day-to-day lives?

The Figure/Ground Illusion and Simplicity-Seeking

Source: Guam / Wikipedia Commons

The figure/ground illusion (see Hasson et al., 2001) exists when we look at an image that can be interpreted in multiple ways. For instance, the image included here can be seen as a vase. But after a few seconds of seeing it that way, we tend to see it as two faces looking at one another. However, and this point is critical, we cannot see both the vase AND the faces at the same time. To allow us to perceive the world in coherent units, our perceptual systems have evolved to force us to see a cluster of stimuli as only one coherent form at any given moment.

Simplicity-Seeking in Social Psychology

One of the interesting things about human social psychology is that, in many regards, we tend to over-simplify stimuli in our social worlds - seeing things that could be conceptualized as complex and nuanced as simple and categorical. For instance, in many ways, we divide people into the category of “on my team” or “not” per the powerful ingroup/outgroup phenomenon (Billig & Tajfel, 1973). Quickly and automatically, people divide folks into these categories - and research has shown that we treat people very differently if they are in our (psychologically constructed) group or not.

We see others as friends or as foes. We see people as good or bad. We see people as on our side, or against us. In an important sense, then, the simplicity-seeking processes in our basic visual systems parallel simplicity-seeking processes in our social perceptions.

And this tendency to see others in our social world in neat little categories, such as “good” or “bad,” likely helped our ancestors make efficient social decisions that helped them consort with others who were likely to help and support them and their families.

Implications of Being Simplicity-Seeking Creatures

Of course being overly simplistic in our social perceptions can be the basis of major problems in our worlds. As a college professor in the behavioral sciences, I am always trying to get students to understand nuances and complexities that underlie all behavior. Further, as an evolutionary psychologist, I am always teaching about human universals - or the fact that, at the end of the day, we’re all humans and all have come about the by same processes - and are all working toward similar goals that stem simply from being part of the living world.

Simplicity-Seeking and the Perception of Narcissists

And sometimes our science encourages simplicity seeking. As one example, consider current research on the topic of narcissists (see, for example, Paulhus & Williams, 2002). Researchers into relatively “dark” aspects of human personality have found that a core dark trait is narcissism - a tendency to focus overly on oneself at a cost to caring about others. People who are high on narcissism tend to behave in ways that truly benefit themselves a lot and such individuals tend to have little problem disregarding the interests of others.

This said, one nuance that often gets lost in the mix when it comes to narcissism is this: Narcissism is a continuous trait - people vary from one another by matters of degree. As is true with all continuous personality traits, people do not vary from one another categorically on this dimension. Thus, technically (and importantly), it’s not like there are “the narcissists” and “everyone else.” Rather, everyone has some proclivities toward narcissism - and some do more so, on average, than do others.

Now that’s a much more nuanced approach to thinking about what narcissism is, isn’t it? It’s also less simple. It’s less black-and-white. And, as someone who has taught courses in personality psychology since 1995, I can tell you also that it’s a difficult way for students (or anyone) to think about narcissism. It is so much easier and more natural for us to think about “narcissists” versus “everyone else” - and this fact is strongly rooted in our basic perceptual processes that promote black-and-white thinking in all areas of our lives.

Of course, this same problem, of seeing other people in overly simplified ways, is related to how things like ethnic or religious background affect how we see others. And yeah, lots of problems in this world stem from this fact.

Bottom Line

The social world is complex. In reality, people don’t really easily fall into categories of “good” and “evil” or "smart" or "dumb" or "helpful" or "lazy" - etc. In spite of the fact that human universals underlie so much of who we are, people have a very strong tendency to see others in highly simplistic, categorical ways. It’s way easier to see someone as “a narcissist” than to see that person as “slightly above the mean on the narcissist dimension at times.” It’s way easier to see someone as “a hypocrite” than to see someone as “less likely to hold and express consonant thoughts on average compared with others.”

We see a simple set of visual stimuli as either a vase OR as a pair of faces. And we often treat people in our social worlds with this same kind of categorical simplicity - often to the detriment of our getting to really know others in our world.

References

- Billig, M., & Tajfel, H. (1973). Social categorization and similarity in intergroup behaviour. European Journal of Social Psychology, 3, 27–52.

- Hasson, U., Hendler, T., Ben Bashat, D., and Malach, R. (2001). Vase or face? A neural correlate of shape-selective grouping processes in the human brain. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 13, 744–753.

- Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K.M. (2002). The Dark Triad of Personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 556-563.

Article source : https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/201601/black-and-white-thinking-in-our-social-worlds

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< Questions >

- Topic-1 : Korean History - 

Q1. What was the most memorable event in Korean history? 

Q2. Please name 3 events that you think important in our history.

Q3. Do you have any role model in our history? Who is that person? Why did you pick that public figure? What do you want to learn from him or her? 

Q4. What is the most important value for you between the Development and the Distribution? 

Q5. Do you find black and white thinking approach in Korean history? 

- Topic-2 : Prejudice - 

Q1. How would you define prejudice? 

*** Prejudice is an affective feeling towards a person based on that person's perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived, usually unfavourable, eval‎uation of another person based on that person's political affiliation, sex, gender, beliefs, values, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race/ethnicity, language, nationality, beauty, occupation, education, criminality, sport team affiliation or other personal characteristics.

source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prejudice

Q2. Why does prejudice occur?

Q3. Have you ever suffered because of prejudice?

Q4. Christian Bovee said: “The great obstacle to progress is prejudice.” What do you think of this?

Q5. Would you act if you saw cases of prejudice?

Q6. According to this article, we tend to over-simplify stimuli in our social worlds - seeing things that could be conceptualized as complex and nuanced as simple and categorical. For instance, in many ways, we divide people into the category of “on my team” or “not” per the powerful ingroup/outgroup phenomenon. How about you? Do you have similar over-simplifying experiences as above example suggested by dividing the group of people as your friends or foe? 

Q7. What is meant by splitting(all-or-nothing thinking)?

*** Splitting (also called black-and-white thinking or all-or-nothing thinking) is the failure in a person's thinking to bring together the dichotomy of both positive and negative qualities of the self and others into a cohesive, realistic whole. It is a common defense mechanism used by many people.

Q8. We need organized history for 'Social justice'. However, sometime people go too much. People pursue the 'Social Justice' while they are ruining the procedural justice. Do you think Korean politicians are enormously obsessed with the past and splitting thinking? What is the required attitude for brightening Korea future and for the citizen? 

*** Procedural justice is the idea of fairness in the processes that resolve disputes and allocate resources. One aspect of procedural justice is related to discussions of the administration of justice and legal proceedings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_justice

Q9. What is the most important value for our peaceful and brightening future Korea and Korean citizen? 

Q10. Which generation is main player in your society? 

Q11. What would you do if prejudice was directed against you?

Q12. What does your government do to fight prejudice?

Q13. Do you think everyone in the world has prejudices?

Q14. Do you know any people who have prejudices?

Q15. What’s the worst form of prejudice you know of?

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Can you be scared to death?

We don't want to scare you, but the answer, according to AsapSCIENCE, is YES.

If you have a phobia of, say, spiders, needles, heights, or enclosed spaces, there's a good chance you got it from your parents. Scientists suggest that the most common phobias we have today can be traced back to our prehistoric ancestors. The things that killed them most frequently continue to scare us now, even if that fear has become somewhat irrational - the chances of dying from a spider bite are incredibly slim, and unless your oxygen supply is cut off, an enclosed space isn't going to kill you. 

And the fact that so many of us are scared of things that aren't actually realistic threats anymore isn't the result of our evolution being flawed. It's the result of the genes that prepare us to instinctively avoid these things becoming more common, while the genes that don't promote this fear end up fading away, says the latest episode of AsapSCIENCE.

And then there are the day-to-day experiences that also shape our fears, regardless of what happened to our ancestors, or even our parents. With so many fears, it's not the actual threat that's the problem, but our perception of the threat that makes them so scary. But could this perception be so strong, that it actually kills us? We don't want to alarm you, but the answer, says AsapSCIENCE, is yes.

It depends largely on the health of your heart. When you're scared, adrenalin is released, and the heart has to beat much faster to pump blood and oxygen into your muscles. And while, ideally, this means you're stronger and more able to combat an incoming threat, if your heart isn't up to the task, well, it just might kill you. We'll let the guys at AsapSCIENCE fill you in on all the gory details, plus they've got some tips on how to beat a crippling fear.

Source: http://www.sciencealert.com/watch-can-you-be-scared-to-death

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< QUESTIONS >

Q1. Do you have anything that make you scared to death? 

Q2. Why does people have phobia? What kinds of advantages and disadvantages can we have when you feel the fear ? Can you explain your body responses after watching scary things?

Q3. What's the difference between phobia and fear?

*** Psychologists often make a distinction between fears and phobias. A fear is an emotional response to a real or perceived threat. A phobia is similar to a fear with one key difference: the anxiety they experience is so strong that it interferes with their quality of life and/or their ability to function.

Q4. The ten most common fears people hold are as follows, Which one is yours?

Social phobias. Social phobias are the most common type of fear. ...

Agoraphobia: fear of open spaces. ...
Acrophobia: fear of heights. ...
Pteromerhanophobia: fear of flying. ...
Claustrophobia: fear of enclosed spaces. ...
Entomophobia: fear of insects. ...
Ophidiophobia: fear of snakes. ...

Cynophobia: fear of dogs.

Q5 . Are people in your country xenophobic (they fear or hate foreigners)?

Q6. Can you guess what these phobias are – hydrophobia, zoophobia, sociophobia and numerophobia? What would life be like with these? (Answers: fear of water, animals, society and numbers.)

Q7. How does phobia affect the brain?

This causes the body to experience the same reaction. In a phobia, the areas of the brain that deal with fear and stress keep retrieving the frightening event inappropriately. Researchers have found that phobias are often linked to the amygdala, which lies behind the pituitary gland in the brain

Q8. How do you overcome phobia? 

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 5 Benefits Of Being A Curious Person

Curiosity killed the cat? Not exactly. Evidence continues to emerge about the benefits of being an inquisitive, interested person. Not only does staying wide-eyed about the world make life more fun, it also has a number of surprising benefits.

Here are five reasons why curiosity is great.

It can strengthen your relationships.

Your curiosity about people and the world around you can make your social life richer. If you demonstrate an interest in what someone has to say and maintain many of your own interests that you can discuss, people probably enjoy spending time with you.

"Curious people are often considered good listeners and conversationalists," Ben Dean, Ph.D. wrote in a newsletter for the University of Pennsylvania. "In the early stages of a relationship, we tend to talk about our interests or hobbies. One reason for this is that people tend to equate 'having many interests' with 'interesting,' and for good reason. Curious people tend to bring fun and novelty into relationships."

It can help protect your brain.

Ever heard that crossword puzzles may help prevent Alzheimer's disease? Craving new experiences doesn't hurt either.

“Keeping your brain mentally stimulated is a lifelong enterprise,” David Knopman, a professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said, according to Bloomberg. “If one can remain intellectually active and stimulated throughout one’s lifespan, that’s protective against late-life dementia. Staying mentally active is definitely good for your brain.”

It can help you overcome anxiety.

It's perfectly normal to be nervous before a big date. But your curiosity and excitement about getting to know an attractive new person might push your anxieties into the background.

"Socially anxious people who experience high levels of curiosity, or appraise certain events as having a high possibility to satisfy curiosity, may be more likely to engage in approach behavior amidst conflicting avoidance motivations," according to a study published in 2009 by psychologist Todd Kashdan in the Journal Of Anxiety Disorders.

It correlates with happiness.

One theory on happiness is that we develop a "happiness set point" at an early age. We're at this baseline happiness level most of the time, and the level goes up or down depending on positive and negative life events. Kashdan, who authored the book Curious?: Discover The Missing Ingredient To A Fulfilling Life, argues that staying curious can kick our set point up a few notches.

"When we experience curiosity, we are willing to leave the familiar and routine and take risks, even if it makes us feel anxious and uncomfortable," Kashdan writes in his book. "Curious explorers are comfortable with the risks of taking on new challenges. Instead of trying desperately to explain and control our world, as a curious explorer we embrace uncertainty, and see our lives as an enjoyable quest to discover, learn and grow."

It can help you learn pretty much anything.

A new study published in the journal Neuron found that it's much easier to learn not-so-interesting things when our curiosity is piqued. For instance, if what you're trying to learn just isn't sticking, try watching 10 minutes of your favorite TV show between study sessions. It'll give you a nice break, and it will pique your curiosity, stimulating your brain's pleasure center. When you return to studying, your brain might be more willing to let in some of that information you thought was boring.

"Look for ways to connect the uninteresting things you have to learn with something you're curious and excited about," Lifehacker suggests. "Whatever makes you tick can be used, even if it's not actually related. Study in between 10-minute sessions of that show you're addicted to, go over presentation talking points while playing a new video game, or place study index cards throughout that new page-turner."

Just don't let the innocent 10-minute break turn into an all-night Netflix binge.

Article Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/09/benefits-of-being-a-curious-person_n_6109060.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living

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<Questions>

Q1. Do you think you are an inquisitive or interested person? Or do you know anyone who has lot of curiosity on various issues?

Q2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having much curiosities?

Q3. From the article, some of games such as crossword puzzles could be the stimulus to our brain. So It may help prevent Alzheimer's disease. Do you have any intention to apply those activities to remain intellectually active and stimulated throughout your life span?

Q4. Do you think someone who has lots of curiosity on diverse matters is more creative than average person?

Q5. What type of person are you attracted to? 

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Scientists invent 'anti-ageing' chocolate (24th February, 2015)

Imagine a new chocolate that keeps you younger looking. It seems too good to be true, but a team of scientists believes they have invented anti-ageing chocolate. A laboratory working with the UK's Cambridge University has been working on a method to keep away wrinkles and keep the skin looking younger. It has called its new product 'Esthechoc'. This is a combination of the words 'esthetic' (meaning all things beautiful) and 'chocolate'. The new product is also called Cambridge Beauty Chocolate. The makers will start selling it from next month. The laboratory has not said anything about the price yet, but it is likely to be quite expensive. The lab hopes young, rich business executives will buy it.

The laboratory used a special chemical called an antioxidant in the chocolate. The antioxidant they used is one that gives flamingos their pink colour. The scientists say that the antioxidant can bring parts of the skin of a 50 to 60-year-old person back to the levels of a 20 to 30-year-old. They said people who ate the chocolate could see changes in their skin within just three weeks. A spokesman for the laboratory said it took a decade of research and trials with more than 3,000 volunteers to produce Esthechoc. The chocolate bar will only be sold in boxes of 21 bars – one a day for three weeks. Other scientists say more research is needed for people to know whether or not Esthechoc actually works.

Read more: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1502/150224-anti-ageing-chocolate.html#ixzz3SiKBgxAL

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< QUESTIONS >

Q1. What do you think of the idea of anti-ageing chocolate? What do you think of the name Esthechoc? Do you have intention to buy this chocolate? 

Q2. How do you think about those functional foods? Do you think those industries' future is promising ?

* A functional food is a food given an additional function (often one related to health-promotion or disease prevention) by adding new ingredients or more of existing ingredients.[1]

       source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_food

Q3. How much of this chocolate would you like to buy? Is this new chocolate "too good to be true"? 

Q4. What are the health benefits of chocolate?

Q5. Are you positive or negative with age? Following attitudes have been suggested by one article. Here are 12 ways to stay positive and happy as you age. How about your opinion? 

Think positive and stay optimistic. No matter what happens (in your journey of aging) it could be worse. ...
Think young. ...
Stay busy and active. ...
Find a life purpose. ...
Keeping learning and growing. ...
Forgive. ...
Get a pet. ...
Laugh often and have fun.

Q6. How much do you worry about your skin? What do you do to look after your skin?

Q7.  What's the best way to keep wrinkles away?