【推荐2】I was in the garden with Augie, my grandson, watching the bees. ''How do they make honey? '' Augie asked. ''Actually, Augie, I don't know, '' I replied. ''But, Grandma, you have your phone, '' he said. For Augie, holding a smartphone almost means knowing everything.

During my childhood I was crazy about books. Over time, reading hijacked my brain, as large areas once processing the real world adapted to processing the printed word. As far as I can tell, this early immersion (沉浸) didn't prevent my development.

Many parents worry that ''screen time'' will damage children’s development, but recent research suggests that most of the common fears about children and screens are unfounded.     There is one exception: looking at screens before bed really disturbs sleep, in people of all ages. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) used to recommend strict restrictions on screen exposure. Last year, the organization examined the relevant science more thoroughly and changed its recommendations. The new guidelines stress that what matters is what children watch and with whom.

New tools have always led to panic guesses. The novel, the telephone, and the television were all declared to be the End of Civilization, particularly in the hands of the young. Part of the reason may be that adult brains require a lot of focus and effort to learn something new, while children's brains are designed to master new environments naturally. New technologies always seem disturbing to the adults attempting to master them, while attractive to those children like Augie.

When Augie's father got home, Augie rushed to meet him and said in excitement. ''Daddy, Daddy, look, '' he said, reaching for my phone. ''Do you know how bees make honey? I'll show you…''

【推荐3】There is something to be said for being a generalist, even if you are a specialist. Knowing a little about a lot of things that interest you can add to the richness of a whole, well-lived life.

Society pushes us to specialize, to become experts. This requires commitment to a particular occupation, branch of study or research. The drawback to being specialists is that we often come to know more and more about less and less. There is a great deal of pressure to master one's field. You may pursue training, degrees, or increasing levels of responsibility at work. Then you discover the pressure of having to keep up.

Some people seem willing to work around the clock in their narrow specialty. But such commitment can also weaken their sense of freedom. These specialists could work at the office until ten each night, then look back and realize they would have loved to have gone home and enjoyed the sweetness of their family and friends, or traveled to exciting places, meeting interesting people Mastering one thing to the exclusion of others can hold back your true spirit.

Generalists, on the other hand, know a lot about a wide range of subjects and view the whole with all its connections. They are people of ability, talent, and enthusiasm who can bring their broad perspective (视角) into specific fields of expertise (专长). The doctor who is also a poet and Philosopher, is a superior doctor, one who can give so much more to his patients than just good medical skills.

Things are connected. Let your expertise in one field fuel your passions in all related areas. Some of your interests may not appear to be connected but, once you explore their depths, you discover that they are. My editor Toni, who is also writer, has edited several history books. She has decided to study Chinese history. Fascinate by the structural beauty of the Forbidden City as a painter, she is equally interested to learn more about Chinese philosophy. “I don't know where it will lead, but I'm excited I'm on this pursuit.”

These expansions into new worlds help us by giving us new perspectives. We begin to see the interconnectedness of one thing to another in all aspects of our life, of ourselves and the universe. Develop broad, general knowledge and experience. The universe is all yours to explore and enjoy.

【推荐1】Each country has its own set of national impression, but perhaps the most famous is Britain’s love of tea. According to the BBC, they drink over 60 billion cups each year. The most popular tea type in the UK is black tea. It’s a simple recipe: You find a mug, add a tea bag, pour boiling water, add milk and sugar (according to your taste) and finish by stirring.

Usually,the only debate is whether milk should be added before or after the boiling water. But a recent popular video has made Britons annoved, American TikTok user, Sophie, posted her version of “British tea”, which involved microwaving cold water, then adding milk, sugar and an instant teabag containing powdered lemonade, cinnamon and clove leaves.

Mainstream media called the method “deeply disturbed”, and a Twitter user even wrote, “I would rather see tea wasted into the Boston harbor than drink this.”

As you can tell, tea is a precious part of British life, whether you’re having afternoon tea at a fancy hotel or drinking it in a takeaway cup.

“Rosie Lee”, a common slang term for tea, first came to Britain in the mid-1600s from China. Since then, the country’s love for it has not declined.

Types of tea can even indicate someone’s social class, according to anthropologist Kate Fox. In her book, she notes that “teas get progressively weaker as one goes up the social ladder”, like black tea served during afternoon tea. Fox added, “Taking sugar in your tea is a lower-class indicator: More than one and you are lower-middle at best; more than two and you are definitely working class.”

Despite the argument on what makes a perfect “cuppa”, Britons can at least agree on the saying, “No matter what is happening in your life, you always offer tea.”

【推荐2】It used to be mostly the military that used small, unpiloted aircraft, called "drones". The little planes were very costly. But as they have dropped in price more people have begun to use them. Rescue workers and farmers are among the new users.

The fast rate of the development of computer technology, image sensing devices, satellite navigation and smartphones has led to lower-priced drones. Researchers and developers have learned how to build smaller and less-costly drones, Moviemakers are using drones to film from the sky. Historians use them when they explore ancient buildings. Rescue workers use them to look for people. And now farmers are using them to watch over their crops.

Romain Faroux is a French businessman who starts companies. His father was a farmer. He believed drones could help farmers. He helped create a company that developed a small drone that could be controlled by people on the ground. They called it "Agridrone". It uses a special "optical sensor" to examine crops. The technology used is similar to that used by smartphones-except it has wings. A computer program directs the drone to fly over the crops. The sensor on the drone records four different-colored "bands" of sunlight that are reflected off the crops.

Jean-Baptiste Bruggeman is a farmer. He says the drone flies over his crops at different times of the season. He says this provides a lot of information about his crops. The drone pictures show him the exact amount of fertilizer the crops need. It also shows exactly where the fertilizer is needed.

Romain Faroux says farmers use information collected by the Agridrone to place fertilizer only in areas where it was needed. This saves money and reduces pollution. Before they used the drones, farmers would put the same amount of fertilizer everywhere. Drones also save time because farmers can examine up to three hectare in about a minute.

【推荐3】Recently, Tamdrin, a 20-year-old Tibetan herdsman (牧羊人) from Litang County, Sichuan Province in southwest China, has become popular online thanks to a 10-second video. Tamdrin smiles sweetly in the video. The video has gained popularity with more than 2.7 million likes and 135,000 comments within days, most of which show fondness for his style.

After shooting to fame overnight, Tamdrin was invited by his home county Litang to become a tourism ambassador, and made a chance to promote local tourism. In the video, he is dressed in his traditional Tibetan clothes, rides a white horse, and stands against a background of snow-capped mountains and yellow meadows, which caused another round of following on the Internet. Soon, many other local areas considered him as their own and a war of sorts has broken out among them over this new Internet influencer.

This event is certain to have some effect on this boy and may even influence the rest of his life. So far, Tamdrin appears calm, without becoming confused with success. The fact that he chooses to work for his hometown instead of joining entertainment companies has calmed people’s worry that he might be seduced (诱惑) by the outside world. He has also been praised by many for his efforts to help his hometown that got rid of its poor status in February. Nevertheless, his wide popularity still worries some, afraid that he might be overly consumed in a fast-food culture environment.

【推荐2】Silence is unnatural to man. He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness. In between he does all he can to make a noise in the world, and he fears silence more than anything else. Even his conversation is an attempt to prevent a fearful silence. If he is introduced to another person, and a number of pauses occur in the conversation, he regards himself as a failure, a worthless person, and is full of envy of the emptiest headed chatterbox ( 喋喋不休的人). He knows that ninety nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but he is anxious to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a waxwork figure (蜡塑人像).

The aim of conversation is not, for the most part, to communicate ideas; it is to keep up the buzzing sound. There are, it must be admitted, different qualities of buzz; there is even a buzz that is as annoying as the continuous noise made by a mosquito. But   at a   dinner party one would rather be a mosquito than a quiet person. Most buzzing, fortunately, is pleasant to the ear, and some of it is pleasant even to the mind. He would be a foolish man if he waited until he had a wise thought to take part in the buzzing with his neighbors.

Those who hate to pick up the weather as a conversational opening seem to me not   to know the reason why human beings wish to talk. Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new. Some of them are content if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people’s ears, though they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen two or three new plays or that they had food in a Swiss hotel. At the end of an evening, during which they have said nothing meaningful for a long time, they just prove themselves to be successful conversationalist.

【推荐3】Uminur Kuchukova of Russia could have retired years ago. Yet the 61-year-old teacher keeps working at a school in the Siberian village of Sibilyakovo. She continues to teach for one reason: the school’s one and only student, a nine-year-old boy. Kuchukova is to leave next year for health problems, which means the school will close.

Sibilyakovo is like thousands of villages across Russia: Many people moved out of it after the closure of the local state-operated collective farm. Sibilyakovo is mainly home to Tatars, a Turkic group that is one of many minorities in Russia. In the 1970s, the village had a population of 550 and a primary school with four classes. Each class had about 18 children. Today the village’s population has shrunk to 39.

Kuchukova has taught at the school for 42 years. She has bought a home in the town of Tara, about 50 kilometers away and plans to retire there with her husband at the end of the school year. By then, she hopes, her only student will be old enough to travel to a neighboring village for classes. But the nearest school is a 30-minute boat ride across the Irtysh River followed by a 20-minute ride on a school bus.

Kuchukova does not think her student, Ravil, is ready yet for making such a trip every school day. “His parents don’t want to leave Sibilyakovo yet and it’s scary to send a little boy like him over the Irtysh. There are such big waves,” she says.

And even when she herself will finally retire and go to live in Tara, Kuchukova will not leave her past behind, saying, “My parents are buried here; a part of me is here.”