Because travel is as much about the journey as the destination, the right accessories((配件) make a difference to the jet-setters on your gift list.

Noise-canceling headphones

Few things are more needed by travelers than a quality pair of noise-canceling headphones. The Bose Noise Cancelling Wireless Bluetooth Headphones 700 has 11 levels of noise canceling power so you can control your environment as needed, and four microphones that pick up and separate your voice so you can still take calls, even in a noisy airport. In addition, it offers one-touch access to Google Assistant or Alexa, and 20 hours of battery life, which should get you almost anywhere in the world on a single charge (充电).

Purchase: via AMAZON.COM $399

Multi-purpose jacket

Sure, jackets are a great way to add a layer of warmth — but that's just about any traditional jacket with two front pockets. If the traveler on your list is a techie, he or she will be excited with the Baubax bomber jacket 2.0. which has 25 features to ensure everything stays organized and readily available. It comes with built-in neck pillow, travel footrest, eye mask, travel blanket, battery-charger pocket, bottle opener... and 12 pockets to place your tablet, phone, sunglasses and passport. Yes, 12...

Purchase: via BAUBAX.COM S238

Motion-sickness relief

There's a new choice for the traveler who suffers motion sickness. Reliefband 1.5, a drug-free wristband (腕带) that uses patented, clinically proven, FDA-cleared technology to treat motion sickness. The wristband works by stimulating the nerve at the underside of the wrist with gentle pulses. It works for travel by plane, train, boat, or car, as well as for virtual reality gaming, amusement park rides, and even morning sickness.

Purchase: via AIMAZON.COM $94.99

“Baby signing” classes designed to improve language skills actually make little difference to children’s development, according to new research. Scholars claimed there was no evidence that the lessons — in which babies are taught simple gestures (手势) to communicate their everyday needs — enable children to talk quicker than others.

In a three­year study, it was claimed that the method could make mothers more responsive to their children’s behaviors but failed to actually increase babies’ vocabulary. An active home environment in which parents regularly talk to their children was much more effective, researchers warned. The findings will cast doubt on the movement — born in the United States — which has proved hugely popular among middle­class parents.

Baby signing is now a multi­million pound industry, with thousands of mothers and fathers paying for classes, books and DVDs. Young children are taught simple gestures for words and phrases to communicate their everyday needs, such as “milk” “more” “all gone” “food” and “tired”. It is claimed that the technique brings great benefits, including improving the relationship between mother and child, helping language development and even increasing a child’s intelligence.

But research from Hertfordshire University has found no evidence that using baby signing helps to improve their language development. The scholars added, “Baby signing has become big business and mothers, particularly first­time mums or less confident parents, feel the pressure to do it. Some even think ‘if I don’t do it and everyone else does, I must be a bad mother’.”

Nevertheless, baby signing experts hardly sustained the findings. Wendy Moat, 45, who has been running baby signing classes for three years, said that the classes encouraged speech development, and may help develop a higher IQ. She said, “So many mums say that their children talk so well because they did baby signing when they were babies. Parents wouldn’t say it if they didn’t believe it.”

Nobody likes to fail. It makes people feel embarrassed and discouraged. What's worse, it may cause major professional or personal trouble and lead to negativity. Basically, failure is no fun for most people. However, a vast body of research tells us that failure provides us with a chance to grow and develop, increases adaptability, and helps protect against anxiety.

It's hard to change the mindset (心态) of a lifetime. But even if we still can't get over the broken marriage or the failed College Entrance Examination or the work presentation that went fearfully wrong, it might not be too late for our kids.

Christy Pennison, a professional consultant, says she works with an increasing number of kids and teens who show significant anxiety around a fear of failure. She said, "We want to protect our children, and we want them to live happy and meaningful lives, so we frequently tell them the harm of failure and ask them to avoid failure. The children experiencing internal and sometimes extenal pressure think they shouldn't fail. Meanwhile, we always have high expectations of them. So when they don't live up to a certain standard, or things don't go according to the plans, they will feel upset and anxious."

Pennison argues that failures, are often the hidden learning chances that can help people develop positive qualities, like persistence, focus, flexibility, patience, and positive self-image.

So what can parents do to help their children embrace (拥抱) failure instead of avoiding it at all costs? Pennison suggests directing praise towards the effort, not the result. "This allows children to build confidence in themselves, "she explains." Acknowledging the effort can give children permission to try new things without a fear of failure. And the bigger picture is that the development of the mindset —'I'd rather try and fail than not try at all.'—helps them keep a belief in themselves, and expands their world of possibilities." As Pennison points out, we all fail, but how we get up after we fail is what matters.

I don’t remember the exact date I met Marty for the first time. Like a lot of people who want to get through a checkout line, I found my thoughts on speed, nothing more. The line I was standing in wasn’t moving as quickly as I wanted, and I glanced toward the cashier, who was busy receiving money from customers.

He was an old man in his sixties. I thought, well, it probably took him a little longer to get the jobs done. For the next few minutes I watched him. He greeted every customer before he began scanning the goods they were purchasing. Sure, his words were the usual, “How’s it going?” But he did something different—he actually listened to people. Then he would respond to what they had said and talk with them briefly.

I thought it was strange, but I guessed I had grown accustomed to people asking me how I was doing simply out of a conversation without thinking. Usually, after a while, you don't give any thought to the question and just say something back quietly.

This old cashier seemed sincere about wanting to know how people were feeling. Meanwhile, the high-tech cash register rang up their purchases and he announced what they owed. When customers handed money to him, he pushed the appropriate keys, the cash drawer popped open, and he counted out their change.

Then magic happened.

He placed the change in his left hand, walked around the counter to the customers, and extended his right hand in an act of friendship. As their hands met, the old cashier looked the customers in the eyes. “I want to thank you for shopping here today,” he told them. “You have a great day. Bye-bye.” The looks on the faces of the customers were priceless.

Now it was my turn. I glanced down at the name tag on his red waistcoat, the kind experienced Wal-Mart cashier wore. It read, “Marty.”

Marty told me how much I owed and I handed him some money. The next thing I knew he was standing beside me, offering his right hand and holding my change in his left hand. His kind eyes locked onto mine. Smiling, and with a firm handshake...

Most people hate change, which is sad since we often go through intense change in life.     16     So the question is: Why do most of us find making adjustments to our lives so hard?

Why we dislike change

Fear of change is nothing new. Over a century ago, the Parisians were unhappy over a particular addition to their city: the Eiffel Tower. In fact, the citizens were so angry about the plans for the tower that they were against its construction. They were given no choice about the huge change that was going to be made, so they became angry.

    17     Changes are brought about every day by the decisions we make. Voluntary changes also make most of us uneasy because we don’t know those changes will affect our future.

    18    

People have discovered that the key to overcoming the fear and anger associated with change is to be flexible. When they are flexible, people can adapt to new situations more easily.

When change comes, and you have no choice but to face it, embrace it.     19     In fact, the change may turn out to be the best thing for you. Don’t merely focus on how you feel about change; instead decide to accept the change.     20     And it’s up to you whether the change will be a success or a failure. You never know—your next change may be your life’s Eiffel Tower!

“How dare you!” My anger finally burst out when my son refused to go to the piano classes for the third time that day. He rolled his eyes at me, which made me even ______. I exploded with anger and screamed at the top of my lungs, “Enough! You are not my boy anymore!” He didn’t ______ or talk back to me. He responded in ______ with a look of helplessness that I had never seen before. He used to cry violently and beg me to ______ him. The innocence shining in his big eyes would ______ that hot-tempered beast in me away in the end. ______, this time...

Did what he had done really make me ______? No. Did such anger come entirely from his improper______? No. Had I ever given it a chance to listen to and ____ him? No. My demanding job, my ______ housework, my kid’s cry for company..., all formed a minefield(布雷区) and all that was needed to blow it up was a fuse (导火索). My son was the victim.

The rest of the day, he declined an outdoor walk, a ride in the park and even his favorite games and just wanted to be alone. I could ______ the greatest sorrow and the most true innocence in his eyes. After admitting my own fault, I held this tiny trembling creature ______ in my arms, tears swelling in my eyes.

For those who believe “Sticks and stones may break the bone, but ______ can never hurt anyone”, I have a piece of heartfelt advice. Do not try this most powerful weapon(武器) ______ the people you love. It is ______ enough to cut the deepest into a soul.

Tamdrin, a 20-year-old Tibetan man, recently     36     (attract) a lot of attention after a photographer posted a less than 10-second video of him on Douyin. Tamdrin lives in Litang County of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province at present.

The netizens are amazed     37     his pretty face with sun-kissed skin and a comforting smile like an angel. In particular, Tamdrin had “stars in his eyes”. On Nov 19, Tamdrin posted his first video on his own Douyin account. As of Nov 24, the video received more than 2.2 million likes and over 100,000 comments, and he collected over 2.5 million     38     (follow).

    39     Tamdrin took off overnight, some companies invited him to become a professional online celebrated person. Instead of doing this, Tamdrin     40     (hire) by a state-owned company.

“Tamdrin has been selected to develop the tourism of Litang county and Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,” Gao Xiaoping told Red Star News. Gao is     41     manager of the county’s culture, tourism and sports investment (投资) development company.

“He’ll get a     42     (month) salary of 3,500 yuan as well as insurance and subsidies (补贴). We’ll check the qualifications (资质) of the companies     43     want to work with him to prevent him from     44     (cheat),” he added.

“I’m glad to see that Tibetans are     45     (increase) becoming internet famous persons,” Sangyeshung, a Tibetan man who works as a doctor for the Ganlu Tibetan Medicine Group in the Tibet Autonomous Region, told the media.