【推荐2】Sometimes our friends’ behavior can offend (冒犯) us; sometimes we can see changes they need to make — but how do we tell them?     1    

It’s important to have solid evidence that there is indeed a problem. Evidence that can be agreed upon makes it easier for other people to recognize issues.     2     Psychologist Andrea Bonior suggests framing problems with “I”. Saying “I feel hurt that you spend less time with me” is less accusatory (谴责的) than “You never spend time with me!” and is focused more clearly on the impact.

    3     Becoming tense might lead you to react badly and cause an argument. Bonior recommends that you should acknowledge the conversation could make you anxious. If you think about this yourself, it can help you focus on positive results. If you admit your anxiety to your friend, you will show a more human side. Another psychologist, Laura Brennan, points out how it’s important that we let go of our ego (自我) and don’t focus on the need to be proved right. This can help reduce tension.

    4     Many experts recommend planning your words so that you can say things in a way that avoids conflict. However, Bonior cautions against overplanning, as this can stop you from being flexible enough to genuinely follow and participate in the discussion.

Be realistic. Complicated problems are unlikely to be solved with one conversation. Consider what is possible in one discussion and that it may be harder than you initially thought.     5    

【推荐3】September is the month of new arrivals. International students and young professionals arrive in other countries eager to find their new home. Living in a foreign country is hard, and you need to learn to adjust to life there.     1    

Find a new level of open-mindedness. Living abroad long-term requires a whole new level of opening your mind towards everything new, especially if the country has a very different culture to what you’ve been used to.     2    Try not to get frustrated and accept this fact, and it will make your life easy and stress-free.

Don’t have expectations. You may visualize what your new life abroad is going to be like.     3    Instead of expecting too much, do your research, and read more about the culture. Chat with a local about what real life is like. This will help you build a real picture and prepare yourself for the move.    4    

When you can’t find an apartment, and your new job starts in a few days, you might think everything is just awful and there’s no way out. What’s so positive about that, you may ask? Well, the universe might be saving your dream apartment for you, so don’t lose hope.

Create a new social circle. It’s common to feel lost and lonely in a new environment.    5    Where to make friends? At your job or university you’re likely to meet people, who have recently moved abroad just like you. Take a look online: There should be many social events around your home.

【推荐2】Earthquake can strike without warning. But many injuries and deaths from this kind of natural disaster can be prevented if people follow these safety tips.

If you’re inside a building, stay there! One of the most dangerous things to do in an earthquake is to try to leave a building. But do remember: do it carefully.     1     So do it as follows: Drop to the ground. Get under an object (物体) that is not easily damaged. Hold on to it until the shaking stops. You can also get to a corner formed by two walls with your arms over your hand. If you’re in bed when the quake hits, stay there and protect your head with a pillow.

    2     You can go to the park, playground or fields near your house. Don’t take shelter under a tree, streetlights, electric poles or tall buildings. If you are driving, stop as quickly as possible and stay away from overpasses, buildings, bridges or anything else that might fall or collapse beneath you     3    

If you are trapped in ruins, cover your mouth with a handkerchief or a piece of clothing. Use your cell phone to call for help if possible. Don’t shout.     4     Tap (敲) on a pipe or the wall so rescuers can find you.

Be prepared for aftershocks.     5     However, sometimes they even happen months later. Therefore, if you are not in a safe position (位置) after the first shock, you should move quickly but carefully to a safer place.

【推荐2】Butterflies, a familiar sight around the world, are disappearing now.Over the past four decades, more than 450 butterfly species have been affected by threats from climate change. In the US alone, the monarch butterfly has seen a drop of 80%, from millions of them in the 1980s to only 29,000 in 2020; in 2017, scientists in Germany raised alarm bells after stressing that insects had decreased by more than 70% in 30 years.

As of now, there is no long-term data available to develop effective conservation strategies in those areas where the threat is particularly widespread. And long-term monitoring programs worldwide face a challenge—training locals as citizen biologists, which, although successful, requires significant and constant funding to cover wages.

In Ecuador, however, scientists have come up with a novel approach.In Yasuni National Park, they started a monitoring project where park rangers(护林员) were trained and then performed monitoring.The rangers were able to identify sampled butterflies with impressive accuracy-an 85% success rate-which is key to the success of these monitoring programs. The data gathered by the park rangers was so accurate that it did not significantly differ from data obtained by trained biologists in the area.

Other monitoring projects select individuals from the community to act as citizen biologists, so scientists may pull the plug on them when funding dries up. However, this study represents a long-term solution.Monitoring with an infrastructure (基础设施)already in place means that it can continue into the future regardless of funding.

"Our approach increases the possibility of constant monitoring in the long term by reducing costs such as lodging(住宿)and wages,"said lead author Maria Checa. "Furthermore, it also empowers(授权)local people, offers opportunities to public institutions to accomplish their environmental goals, and opens up possibilities for expansion into other highly threatened and important areas for biodiversity(生物多样性)conservation."

【推荐1】Be careful on January 8th --- It’s officially the most dangerous day of the year. The insurance company Hyperion has studied accident statistics (统计数字) and has found that there are more accidents on January 8th than on any other day.

Accidents are certainly more likely to happen at particular times of the year. One general rule is that more accidents happen in winter months, because risk increases in bad weather. In 2004 and 2005 Hyperion found that the worst day was January 8th, with 298 accidents reported to them. March 3rd was the safest day, with only 89 reports. Six of the ten worst days for driving were in January.

It’s clear that icy and snowy conditions are dangerous, but some other statistics are puzzling. A British Medical Journal report in 2001, for example, found that hospital admissions (住院) were always higher than usual on Friday the 13th.

But it is not only when Friday falls on the 13th that it is a dangerous day. Four of the top ten worst days for accidents last year were Fridays --- perhaps because everyone is rushing home for the weekend --- while Thursdays are the safest day of the week.

At what time of the day is an accident most likely to happen? The Health and Safety Authority found that people are most likely to have an accident at 11.00 a.m., while the safest time of day is between 4.00 and 5.00 a.m. --- probably because most people are in bed!

Finally, good news for Harry Potter fans. Doctors at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford noted that fewer children were in hospital on the weekend when Harry Potter books were available to the public. Casualties (伤亡人员) fell by over 50% when the last two books went on sale. So if you want to be really safe, you should read a Harry Potter book in bed, at around 5.00 on a Thursday morning, in summer.

【推荐2】A new color changing ink could aid in health and environment monitoring for example. allowing clothing to switch colors when exposed to sweat or a woolen blanket to shift colors if a dangerous gas enters the room. The ink could be printed on anything from a T-shirt to a tent.

Wearable sensing devices like smart watches use electronics just to monitor heart rate, blood sugar. and more. Now researchers at Tufts University's Silklab say the new silk-based ink can respond to. and quantify the presence of chemicals on or around the body. “Silk has the ability to add necessary sensing and color changing chemical substances to the ink without losing their functions. " says Fiorenzo Omenetto. a biomedical engineer at Silklab.

The researchers improved on an earlier repetition that worked with inkjet printers, thickening the ink with a chemical to make it capable for screen printing. and then added various reactive substances. With the new ink, they can now easily print a large number of reactive elements onto large surfaces.

The team made the ink by breaking down raw silk fibers into proteins, which the researchers suspended in water. Next they mixed in various reactive molecules (分子) and analyzed how the resulting products changed hues when exposed to changes in their environment. When printed on fabric. pH indicators, for example. could convey information about skin health and a wearer s tiredness levels. The changes are visible to eyes. but the researchers also used a camera- imaging analysis to continuously monitor the color variations and create a database of values.

Omenetto says that the ink could be adapted to track environmental changes in a room, or to respond to bacteria and follow disease progression.

Mechanical engineer Tyler Ray of Hawaii University notes that most of today's wearable monitors are rigid, fairly large and heavy. "The new ink technology has the potential to transform consumer wearable monitors from entertainment devices into body worn, clinical grade physiological measurement tools providing useful information and making it easier for physicians to operate. " he says.

【推荐3】The Internet brings us many advantages. With the Internet, people can send and receive e­mails. On the Internet, people can skim over news. Using the Telnet, the user anywhere on the Internet can log into any other machine on which he has an account. It is possible to use the FTP program to copy files from one machine on the Internet to another.

But the Internet also brings us troubles.

Internet use seems to cause a fall in psychological (心理的) health, according to research at Carnegie Mellon University. Even people who spent just a few hours a week on the Internet experienced more depression and loneliness than those who logged on less often, the two­year study showed. And it wasn't that people who were already feeling bad spent more time on the Internet, but that using the Net actually seemed to cause the bad feelings.

Researchers are puzzled over the results, which were completely opposite to what they had expected. They expected that the Net would prove socially healthier than television, since the Net allows users to choose their information and to communicate with others.

The fact that Internet use reduces time used for family and friends may be the reason for the drop in health, researchers said. Faceless, bodiless “virtual” (虚拟的) communication may be less psychologically satisfying than actual conversations, and the relationships formed through it may not be so deep. Another possibility is that exposure to the wider world through the Net makes users less satisfied with their lives.

“But it’s important to remember this is not about the technology; it’s about how it is used,”said one of the researchers. “It really points to the need for considering social factors (因素) when you design new inventions.”