【推荐1】Student loan (贷款) debt has become a worldwide problem. In America, the country's overall student debt reached a record of $1.6 trillion in 2019. The average person with student loan debt owed between $20,000 and $25,000. A recent Japanese government report says it has been lending over $9 billion yearly to students since 2010. Similar conditions exist in Africa and South America.

Several factors account for high student loan debt. One is that employers everywhere have increased their demands for skilled workers, making higher education a requirement for many jobs. The students, however, after graduation, often find that their country's economy is not strong enough to support their financial needs, so their ability to pay back the loan becomes a problem.

To solve the problem, many countries are seeking their ways. Australia has developed a system where students do not have to pay anything back until they are earning at least $40,000 a year. In America, several candidates running for president in the 2020 election have offered more extreme solutions that all or at least some of these loans will be forgiven.

Some professors in several universities recently studied what the effects of debt forgiveness might be. They found that, overall, sudden debt relief greatly improved the borrowers' lives. Not only did they have more money, but they were more likely to move to a new area and seek better paying work.

Yet the professors' research doesn’t include what might happen to financial institutions or the overall economy if debt were totally forgiven. It only looks at how debt forgiveness would help the borrowers. They warn of some other possible negative effects. If a borrower knew that if he ran into any trouble he would be saved because he could get the debt relief, then he might actually become more reckless (轻率的) with his borrowing in the future.

No matter what, the professors agree that if countries do decide to approve some student debt relief the neediest students should be helped first.

【推荐2】When did you last write a letter? Properly write one — by hand? In a digital world, where sending a text or email is far more convenient than using snail mail, is the writing on the wall for traditional pen and paper? Well, some people claim that writing still has many benefits, so maybe it’s not time to ditch your ballpoint or fountain pen yet.

These days, when people request things in writing, a typed, electronic document will be accepted. Doing this on a computer means it could be saved, edited, copied and sent via email. But crafting a handwritten document is unique: it requires planning and thought, and, as well as practising your handwriting, it helps you to remember spelling and punctuation.

Some experts believe your brain benefits from using old-fashioned pen and paper. This is particularly relevant for students, where typing notes into a laptop is thought to lack the “tactile feedback (触觉反馈)” to the brain that contact between pen and paper does. BBC Worklife website quotes Hetty Roessingh from the University of Calgary, who says that taking notes by hand involves cognitive engagement in summarising, paraphrasing, organising, concept and vocabulary mapping. Others agree that handwriting may boost fine motor skills in your hands and fingers.

There are everyday benefits of using pen and paper too. Scribbling (匆忙书写) notes, shopping lists or messages on the back of an envelope can still be useful, quick and portable. But putting pen to paper in a letter to a friend or loved one can probably have the most impact. Pen pal writer Katherine Moller told the BBC, “In a world where it is so easy to hop online to email or to send a fast text, it is so personal and so precious to know someone chose to turn off the virtual world to spend some time with you.”

So, while digital skills remain important, don’t write off your pens and pencils yet — especially if your smartphone, tablet or laptop runs out of power.

【推荐3】In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what "keeping up with the Joneses" is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants. Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.

It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They had to move back to an apartment in New York City. Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it "Keeping up with the Joneses" because "Jones" is a very common name in the United States. "Keeping up with the Joneses" came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand's series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are "Joneses" in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

【推荐3】I was at the hardware store the other day and overhear（偶尔听到）a woman tell Ed, the manager, that fall was her favorite time of year. Ed, because he likes to keep his customers happy, agreed that fall was a wonderful season, but I could tell he was lying.

I was going through my mind recently, trying to find sweet memories of fall. I failed. I met my wife in the summer and married her two summers later. My sons were born in the winter and summer, my granddaughter in the winter. I’ve been fired twice in my life, both in fall. One October, a truck carrying tofu ran a red light and hit me, destroying my favorite car, combining（使结合） the three things I most hate — trucks, tofu, and October.

I’m not saying fall is without its attractions. The leaves are beautiful. But fall’s vacillation （立场摇摆）is troubling, its effort to please everyone, its continuous search for the middle ground, to be all things to all people. Say what you will about summer and winter, at least they have the courage to keep their opinions strong, even if they kill us with extreme heat or cold.

I recently read a story of a man coming out of a three-month coma（昏迷）. It started in early fall and ended just as winter came. I hope if I’m ever in a coma I would be just as lucky as the man.

Upon my awakening, one of my families who stood around my bed would ask , “Don’t you remember anything from the past three months?”

“Not the first thing,” I would happily report. If I ever have enough money, I’m going to buy a second home in Australia, so that when fall starts here, I can move there for three months, just when spring is starting.

【推荐1】Miss Gorgers taught physics in a New York school. Last month she explained to one of her classes about sound, and she decided to test them to see how successful she had been in her explanation. She said to them, “Now I have a brother in Los Angeles. If I was calling him on the phone and at the same time you were 75 feet away, listening to me from the street, which of you would hear what I said earlier, my brother or you and for what reason?”

Tom at once answered, “Your brother. Because electricity travels faster than sound waves.” “That’s very good.” Miss Gorgers answered, but then one of the girls raised her hand, and Miss Gorgers said, “Yes? Kate.”

“I disagree. Your brother would hear you earlier because when it’s 11 o'clock here and it’s only 8 o'clock in Los Angeles.” Kate said.

【推荐2】There is an unforgettable beauty to the Karoo, a vast semi-desert, that seems empty save for the stars overhead and sheep eating grass below. Economic opportunities here are few.

But the Karoo’s clear skies also draw some of the world's best scientists. A radio telescope project called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is under construction, with the latest group of 64 giant antennae（天线）due to be completed late next year. When finished, it will be the biggest radio telescope in the world and should allow scientists to peer into the origins of the universe.

Still, some sheep farmers are complaining. Because of the sensitivity of the telescope, the surrounding area must be kept free from radio interference（干扰）caused by everything from mobile phones to microwave ovens and some car engines. The SKA is buying up more farms than originally expected to ensure radio silence over an area of some 130,000 hectares. There will be no mobile phone signals allowed, except in the few towns in the area. Save the Karoo, an advocacy group, isn’t convinced by the bright future of groundbreaking astronomical discoveries. Its members fear the restrictions will make the Karoo “a cut-off and backward region”, and warn that people serving farms near the SKA site could face financial ruin. “I don't care about a black hole siting somewhere out in space,” says Eric Torr, an organiser with the group. “It does not put food on the table.”

Sky-high expectations in this down-at-heel area are also a problem. An SKA official complains that the locals expect the telescope to solve all their problems. Some jobs have been created, but few locals have the skills to find out the secrets of distant galaxies. Until recently the high school in Carnarvon, a nearby town, didn’t even have a maths and science teacher. The SKA organisation hired one, and is also offering scholarship to college students. Perhaps if the next generation's horizons are raised, they will be able to take advantage of the radio telescopes in their own backyard.

【推荐3】There were smiling children all the way.Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway,wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang.Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives.This is the simple village people of Malaysia.I was moved.

I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car,so this was the first time I was on a train.I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread.I looked about the train.There was not one familiar face.I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.

It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia.Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore,so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past.As we went beyond the city,I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green.Then the first village came into sight.Immediately I came alive;I decided to wave back.

From then on my journey became interesting.I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life.Then everything came alive.The mountains seemed to speak to me.Even the trees were smiling.I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.

The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry.I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm.Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth.I looked at the people all around me.They all looked beautiful.When my uncle arrived with a smile,I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱).I had never done this before.He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile.We walked arm in arm to his car.

I looked forward to the return journey.

【推荐1】July 20, 2021 marks the 52th anniversary of the first moon landing. The National Space Center will provide you with super-size space experiences: a giant Earth model, a domed planetarium （穹顶天文台） and a 42-meter rocket tower. It's all under cover so it's a good place to visit on a rainy day.

Ticket

It's not cheap-adult $15, 5-to-16-year-olds $12-but once you've paid you can revisitas many times as you want in a year, and admission is free for kids under five.

Opening hours

10 am-4 pm Monday to Friday, 10 am-5 pm weekends and school holidays.

What about lunch?

The Boosters Cafe serves reasonably priced hot and cold snacks and drinks at the foot of the center's two rockets. The cafe offers vegetarian (素食的)option too.

Exit through the gift shop?

It's stocked with souvenirs including books, games and telescopes. Some are quite pricey. The gift shop is the first thing you pass on entry and also the last thing you see as you leave.

Too much TV-watching can harm children’s ability to learn and even reduce their chances of getting a college degree, new studies suggest in the latest effort to examine the effects of television on children.

One of the studies looked at nearly 400 northern California third-graders. Those with TVs in their bedrooms scored about eight points lower on math and language arts tests than children without bedrooms TVs.

A second study, looking at nearly 1,000 grown-ups in New Zealand, found lower education levels among 26-year-olds who had watched lots of TV during childhood. But the results don’t prove that TV is the cause and don’t rule out that already poorly motivated youngsters(年轻人) may watch lots of TV.

Their study measured the TV habits of 26-year-olds between ages 5 and 15. Those with college degrees had watched an average of less than two hours of TV per weeknight during childhood, compared with an average of more than 2.5 hours for those who had no education beyond high school.

In the California study, children with TVs in their rooms but no computer at home scored the lowest, while those with no bedroom TV but who had home computers scored the highest.

While this study does not prove that bedroom TV sets caused the lower scores, it adds to accumulating findings that children shouldn’t have TVs in their bedrooms.

【推荐3】When visiting New York City with your kids, there are many things to do with kids that will entertain their spirits and feed their minds.

The Whispering Gallery

Make your way to the Whispering Gallery. The Whispering Room’s architecture allows for a phenomenon that usually makes people laugh. Once inside the gallery, place one person facing the corner at one end of the room and then place another person facing the corner at the opposite end. Ask one of the participants to whisper a phase or a quick sentence or two and the person on the opposite end will be able to hear every word that was said.

E. 42nd St

212-771-5322

grandcentralterminal.com

The American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History was founded in 1869. In addition to its impressive exhibits, permanent attractions bring the cool factor home to kids. They can enter the Fossil Halls and see the impressive dinosaur skeletons (骨架). And the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life educates kids about the fragility (脆弱) of the ocean.

Central Park West at 79th St

212-769-5606

amnh.org

The Scholastic Store

Most parents want their children to read, and moreover, to enjoy reading. Scholastic helps to make that wish a reality by publishing interesting, well written stories that are popular with children. With such classics as “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” “The Magic School Bus,” and “Harry Potter,” the Scholastic Store will delight your children.

557 Broadway

212-343-6100

scholastic.com

Ellen’s Stardust Diner

The restaurant is a place where each person in your family can find something to eat. Arugula salads, grilled cheese, burgers and meatloaf are all on this varied menu. A hall of beauty queens, a drive-in theatre and wait staff that sing to you add to this unique dining experience.

1650 Broadway, corner of 51st St.

212-956-5151

ellensstardustdiner.com