These devices, along with many others, made the list of tech-related items available this holiday season.

Theragun Mini

The Theragun Mini is essentially a massage (按摩) gun that provides up to 2,400 beats per minute to relax muscles after a workout to prevent soreness. The device is designed for quietness and can last around two hours on a full charge; $199.99 at theragun.com.

Lenovo Smart Clock Essential

The Lenovo Smart Clock basically is a digital alarm clock attached to a Google smart speaker, which allows you to adjust settings with only your voice or play music. The simple LED display shows the lime, weather and day of the week, and it has a built-in nightlight. Its battery has a charge life of about half a month with continuous use. Starts at $29.99 at lenovo.com.

Fitbit Versa 3

Fitbit’s newest smartwatch offers built-in GPS tracking for those who prefer to log their exercise outings without the need to carry a phone. If your focus is fitness, the Versa, which has a larges, color touchscreen display, could be considered a less expensive option to Apple’s smartwatch. The Versa’s battery can last up to six days; $229. 95 at fitbit.com.

Amazon Echo Dot and Echo Dot Kids

The fourth generation of Amazon’s smart speaker now has a round shape and comes in two editions: regular and one for kids. It operates the same way as other smart speakers in the Echo line, allowing users to ask the device to play music or give the latest news headlines. The kids version comes with a free subscription to Amazon Kids+, which has access to child-friendly digital books and games. Its battery can last around seven hours on a full charge, starting at $49.99 at amazon.com.

Jean was a single mother with a young son. She taught the first grade and worked very hard. She drove a small old car. One August, the teachers returned from a summer break to see Jean drive up to school with three children The two girls were Jean’s former students who had lost their parents. They did not want to enter a foster care center. They turned to Jean—their first grade teacher—for help. Though she and her son lived in a small house, Jean took the girls in.

During lunch, while other teachers shared life stories, Jean never complained about her new responsibilities. She did, however, speak about her car. With three children to transport, the car was too small and slow. It even burned engine oil. Jean needed something new. However, she couldn’t buy one with three children in her home.

As a good friend, I listened to her concerns. At that time, did not have much money. But I wanted to help Jean buy a car. An idea hit me when I watched a TV show.

One day, Jean received an invitation to TV show. She was surprised but decided to attend it. Midway through the show the host called Jean to the stage. He explained he had received a letter, knowing her need for a new car. The audience listened to the details of Jean’s story and were all moved. Then the host said that Jean would receive a new car for her family. Cheers filled the studio and Jean shook with disbelief.

Six hundred miles away, I watched the joy of it all from the television in my living room. Jean’s big heart taught me many lessons that year. I did nothing but share her story.

A quick look at Instagram will show you thousands of girls sharing their clothing of the day. Many of these girls are sharing completely new clothes every day. And they’re feeling the pressure to never repeat clothes. This attitude of not being able to wear something again after sharing it on Instagram is far too common. It is a sad thing when some girls feel sorry for appearing in the same clothes more than once on Instagram.

Clothes businesses push new “must-haves” every week, which adds to the pressure to keep up. Clothes have been so cheap because of the competition between clothes businesses that it’s shockingly easy to buy new clothes every day. These clothes businesses have made it possible for a normal person to never be seen in the same clothes twice. Often the quality of these clothes is so low that they don’t even survive the wash so there is no chance of that second wear.

Consider everything that goes into making a single piece of clothing—for example: plenty of water, energy and petrochemicals, finishing and labor of each worker throughout making it. It’s shocking to think after all this, a piece of clothing might be worn once, maybe twice, and then thrown away so that they can follow fast fashion.

The fashion of throwing clothes away after use needs to change. Proudly post the same clothes you’ve worn before online. Get creative with mixing and matching, and borrow from friends for special times. The possibilities are endless so there’s no need to shop frequently.

If you think of the jobs that robots could never do, you would probably put doctors and teachers atop of the list, it's easy to imagine robots and factory workers. But are we underestimating what robots can do？

In some cases, they already do better than doctors at diagnosing illness. Also, some patients might feel more comfortable sharing personal information with a machine than a person. Could there be a place for robots in education after all？

British education expert Anthony Seldom thinks so. He even has a date for the robot takeover of the classroom: 2027. He forecasts that robots will do the main job of disseminating knowledge and teachers will be like helpers. Intelligent robots will read students' faces, movements and even brain signals. Then they will pass the information on to each student in the way he or she can understand.

However, it's not a popular opinion. Most people think it's impossible that robots will have the ability to really connect with humans like another human can.

One thing is certain, though. A robot teacher is better than no teacher at all. In some parts of the world, there aren't enough teachers and 9%—16% of children under the age of 14 don't go to school. That problem could be partly solved by robots because they can teach anywhere.

Being a teacher is a difficult job and teachers often feel overworked. Perhaps the question is not “Will robots replace teachers?” but “How can't robots help teachers?” Teachers spend a lot of time doing non-teaching work, including more than 1 hour a week marking homework. If robots could cut the time teachers spend marking homework and writing reports, teachers would have more time and energy for the parts of the job humans do best.

Invisible People

If you have the time, check out an amazing YouTube channel that I recently found     36     (call) “invisible people”. It’s a channel with     37     (hundred) of interviews of homeless people     38     share their story and how they survive day to day.

The man who operates the channel     39     (be) formerly homeless and has devoted his life to helping     40     homeless. The name “invisible people” certainly suits the channel well. For indeed there are so many “invisible” beings who are suffering every day, both humans and animals, and yet our     41     (social) either pays little for people to     42     (cruel) treat and kill animals, or completely     43     (ignore) those who are in desperate need.

Occasionally, someone who watches the videos posted on that channel is near one of the people interviewed and is able     44     (help) in some way. Some of the videos are truly heart-breaking but it’s important to see what people are going     45    . We can’t turn blind eye or treat them as if they’re invisible. We cannot behave as it’s been said, “Worship a homeless man on Sunday, and then ignore a homeless man on Monday.”

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