A new study suggests that the more teenagers watch television, the more likely they are to develop depression (抑郁症) as young adults.

The researchers used a national long-term survey of healthy young teenagers of about 13-16 to find out the relationship between media (媒体) use and depression. They based their findings on more than 4000 young teenagers who were not depressed when the survey began in 1995.

As part of the survey, the young people were asked how many hours of television or videos they watched daily. They were also asked how often they played computer games and listened to the radio. Here was the result. The young people spent five and a half hours a day using media and more than 2 hours of that was spent watching TV.

Seven years later, in 2001, more than 7% of the young people had signs of depression. The average age at that time was 21. Brian Primack at the University of Pittsburgh medical school was the lead author of the new study. He says every extra hour of television meant an 8% increase in the chances of developing signs of depression.

The researchers say they did not find any such relationship with the use of other media such as movies, video games or radio. But the study did find that young men were more likely than young women to develop depression given the same amount of media use.

Doctor Primack says the study did not find out if watching TV causes depression directly. But one possibility, he says, is that it may take time away from activities that could help prevent depression, like sports and social activities. It might also prevent a person from sleeping well, he says, and that could have an influence.

The study was just published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

In December, the journal Social Indicators Research published a study of activities that help lead to happy lives. Researchers from the University of Maryland found that people who describe themselves as happy spend less time watching television than unhappy people. The study found that happy people are more likely to be socially active, to read, attend social services and to vote.

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Most children don’t enjoy doing chores. They like playing computer games rather than cleaning the rooms. But in Australia, Jim and Robert’s mother, Mrs. Black, has good and proper ways to get their children to do housework. Here is an example.

“Mom, have you worked out next week’s chores? Let Jim and me choose the cards. I can’t wait. It’s fun!”

When Robert shouted out, his mother had already put all the cards on their big table. On the cards, there are some words like these, “sweep the floor, clean your bedroom, help mom cook, wash vegetables, make beds, feed the fish, cut the wood, clean the bathroom” and many others, Jim and Robert chose two cards for each day from Monday to Friday. Then they would hang them on the weekday task board. Jim likes to clean the bathroom, so he picked up the card “clean the bathroom”. Robert loves to make the bed so he picked up his favorite card. Jim again picked up “wash vegetables” and Robert chose “feed the fish”. Soon the two boys were happy to take away all the cards.

To help the children do chores, their mother thought hard and came up with this idea. Of course, the parents did the chores at weekends and left Jim and Robert two days free.

My teachers thought I was the worst student. My family also had the
102． thought as my teachers.

When I was going to give up my studying, a new teacher, Miss White came to our school. She was young,
103． and knowledgeable (知识渊博的).

One day, I was sitting alone in my
104．, Miss White came up to me and talked to me happily. Soon her smile away my unhappiness.

“Do you think I can go to college?” I didn’t
105． why I asked such a question. I thought she must say “no”.
106． everyone else said so. But she said, “Dear, you can do
107． you want. Just try, and you’ll get closer to success. I believe you are the best!”

I was touched
108． by her words. I decided to study hard. From then on, we became good
109．. She often helped me with my study in her free time.

In the end, I
110． well in my studies and went to a good college. Miss White is an angel (天使). Her words have kept me going forward. She helped me to see that I am special and can be
111． in life.