Plumb jobs for graduates

Brainy graduates are training to be plumbers - to earn up to ￡150,000 a year.
One college course recruited two students with history degrees, one with a photography degree and two accountants.

The new breed of super-plumbers earn up to ￡90 an hour working for rich customers in the poshest suburbs.

Most plumbers rake in ￡1,000 a week or ￡52,000 a year. Many in the South East earn ￡70,000 a year for fixing pipes and taps.

The clever students are switching to a career where they know they can earn top wages.

But Ken Daniels who teaches plumbing at London's Hackney Community College, said: "Plumbers at the very top end are earning around ￡150,000 a year.　Graduates now want to be plumbers. They know the rewards are there if you're prepared to get your hands dirty."

One plumber claimed it was possible to earn ￡200,000 a year in London where emergency callouts are ￡100 an hour.


Annotation:
rake in: 赚大钱                           switch: 改变,转换


要高薪宁舍体面 英国大学生争当水管工

眼下，有头脑的毕业生都争着参加一项年薪高达15万英镑的职业培训--水管工人。

某一大学的水管维修课程招收了两名历史专业的学生，一名摄影专业毕业生，还有两个拥有会计学位。

新一代的高级水管工在有钱人居住的郊外工作，专门服务于富人。他们工作一小时的收入高达90英镑。

大部分水管工人获利丰厚，周薪1000英镑或年薪5.2万英镑左右。在英国东南部，修上一年的水管和龙头就能挣到7万英镑。

而识时务的学生自然逐渐改行从事能赚到更高薪水的职业了。

而在伦敦哈克尼社区大学教授水管维修课程的肯·丹尼尔斯则说："最顶尖的水管工人年收入能达到15万英镑。所以现在的毕业生都想当水管工。他们很清楚弄脏双手干体力活的报酬有多么优厚。"

一名水管维修工称在伦敦一年可能赚到20万英镑，那里的紧急维修服务每小时高达100英镑。

The Formula for Happiness
A pair of British researchers said Monday they had worked out a simple equation to quantify happiness that could put an exact figure on the emotional state.

After interviewing 1000 people, the researchers -- a psychologist and a self-styled "life coach" -- concluded that happiness equals P + 5E + 3H.

In the equation, P stands for Personal Characteristics (outlook on life, adaptability and resilience); E for Existence (health, friendships and financial stability) and H represents Higher Order (self-esteem, expectations and ambitions).

The scientists asked interviewees -- a mix of men and women all over 18 years old -- to choose five scenarios that made them more happy or less happy from a list of 80 different situations. They also asked a series of questions about their own natures, outlooks and situations.

Not surprisingly, the results showed that men and women found happiness in different ways.

Sunny weather, being with family and losing weight were more of an influence on women's happiness, while romance, sex, hobbies and victories by their favorite sports teams were more important to men.

The study was commissioned by a holiday company that wanted to understand what made people happier.

科学家发现"幸福方程式"，助你寻找幸福良方

两名英国科学家1月6日宣布他们发现了一个量化幸福的方程式, 可以用具体的数值来描述情感的状态。

在对1000名男女作了跟踪研究后，科学家推导出了幸福方程式：幸福=P+5E+3H。

其中P代表个人性格（包括人生观、适应力和忍耐力）；E代表生存需求（包括健康、友谊和财富），而H则表示高级心理需求（包括自尊、自我期许和抱负）。

心理学家让实验人群--18岁以上的1000名男女--从80个不同的情境中挑出5个让他们觉得幸福或不幸福的要素，还分别就他们的性格、抱负等问题进行了询问。

不出意料，结果显示男性和女性的幸福观大相径庭。

对女性来说，晴朗的天气、甜蜜的家庭时光、减肥成功都是幸福的源泉。而男性则更看重罗曼蒂克的爱情、性、兴趣爱好和心仪球队的胜利。

这一调查是由一家英国假日公司委托进行的。该公司想要了解如何让人们更有幸福感。


Taking New Year Parties to New Depths
Russians with a taste for a bracing New Year swim braved freezing temperatures to plant traditional festive fir trees on the seabed and at the bottom of a lake on December 31.

"We like to celebrate the New Year underwater," said Andrei Baranovsky, one of a team of divers who planted a decorated tree 55 feet below the ice on Siberia's Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake.

"And for the fish it's fun too, although I don't think they celebrate New Year so it's probably all the same to them."

Elsewhere, a team of extreme sports enthusiasts from the northwestern coastal town of Severomorsk planted a tree on the bed of the Northern Ocean.

The three divers danced round the tree and opened a bottle of champagne while underwater.

New Year is the biggest holiday in the Russian calendar and it is traditional to put up a tree for celebrations with family and friends.

行到水深处，植树过新年
喜爱在新年神清气爽地游个泳的俄罗斯人冒着刺骨的严寒在12月31日将传统的节日冷杉树种到了海中和湖底。

潜水员安德烈·巴拉诺夫斯基说："我们喜欢在水底庆祝新年。"他和其他队友在西伯利亚贝尔加湖的冰层底下种了一棵55英尺高的装饰树。贝尔加湖是世界上最深的湖。

安德烈还说："我想对于湖里的鱼来说，这也是十分有趣的。尽管我认为他们不会庆祝新年，所以也许对他们来说区别并不大。"

与此同时，还有一支由来自西北海边小镇北莫尔斯克的体育狂热爱好者组成的队伍在北部的海床上种下了一棵树。

三名潜水员在水下围着树翩翩起舞，还开了一瓶香槟来庆祝。

在俄罗斯，新年是一年中最重要的节日。按照传统，家人和朋友一起种下一棵树来庆祝新年

Cult-Linked Group Says First Cloned Baby Goes Home  
克隆人走出实验室 家中等待验明正身

Brigitte Boisselier
The head of a company that says it has produced the first human clone said on Monday that the mother and baby were home following the child's birth last week and genetic proof demanded by scientists and other skeptics should be available in a week.

Brigitte Boisselier, chief executive of Clonaid, which is linked to a group that believes mankind was created by extraterrestrials, declined to say whether the 31-year-old American mother and her child were in the United States or elsewhere.

Her claim to have cloned a human being last week drew skeptical reaction from experts in the field and she offered no proof, but said that genetic testing was scheduled for Tuesday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which strongly opposes human cloning, said on Friday it was "taking steps to investigate" Clonaid's claim. It said the implantation of a cloned baby into a woman is illegal in the United States without FDA approval.

Clonaid was founded by the creator of the Raelian Movement, a group that claims 55,000 followers around the world and asserts that life on Earth was sparked by extraterrestrials who arrived 25,000 years ago and created humans through cloning.

自上周某机构宣称已经成功克隆出第一个人类后，12月30日该机构负责人宣布，克隆宝宝和她的母亲已于周一回到自己的家中。此外，该机构还将在一周内向科学家和其他对此事抱怀疑态度的人们提供证据，来证明克隆宝宝确为克隆出来的。

布里吉特·布瓦耶利领导的这一名为"克隆援助"的机构被认为与一个宣扬人类是由外星生物创造的邪教组织有着联系。她拒绝透露克隆宝宝和她31岁的母亲目前是否在美国境内。

布里吉特上周宣布她已经成功地克隆出了人类。这一结果遭到了同一领域专家的质疑。她没有提供更多证据，只是透露说将于12月31日进行基因测试。

上周五，对克隆人类持强烈反对态度的美国药物食品管理局称，他们正在对"克隆援助"机构进行调查，并称不经过药物食品管理局允许就将克隆婴儿植入妇女体内是违法的。

"克隆援助"机构隶属于"雷利安运动"组织。该组织在全球拥有5.5万信徒。他们宣扬地球上的生命都是由外星生物创造的。他们于2.5万年前来到地球，并克隆出了人类。