【推荐1】A 22-year-old young man from Northeastern China, is reported to have spent 2 million yuan on studying in New Zealand but failed to get any diploma (毕业证). He even could not take care of himself and his grandmother had to feed him.

To use a popular label, the man in the case is a so-called adult baby, because his deeds make him al-most the same as a baby. However, he burns money faster than any normal baby. He spent 2 million yuan in two years overseas, but could not finish even the preparatory course. We do not mean to judge his choice, but someone who lacks the basic ability to survive has little chance of success in any modern society.

In a later interview, his mother was in tears and said she regretted not having taught her son well. She also told the story about how she “educated” her son: by meeting all his demands. When he did not perform well in school, she simply spent money sending him overseas. She would buy whatever he wanted. That was bad for her and bad for him.

No one is born an adult baby. It is a lack of proper education that makes adult babies. The failure of the young man has much to do with his parents giving in to his every demand.

The young man might be an extreme case. However, there are many more families that fail to educate their children properly and simply consider “raising a child” as “buying everything” they want. That might in turn make more adult babies for this society, and it is time for them to change.

【推荐2】When school closes, poor pupils lose the last social institution-one that educates, feeds, and sometimes clothes them-whereas richer pupils are gaining relatively more advantages. Disruptions to schooling tend to lower achievement while increasing inequality.

A new industry of"Learning Pod", where a group of families pool cash to pay for an in-person tutor, is deepening that inequality. Scoot Education, whose normal business is providing substitute teachers for schools, quickly developed a sideline in learning pods in California. For younger pupils, the total cost of a pod, shared among all parents, is $349 a day, which is beyond what a poor family can afford.＂Rich families can always find a way to educate their children, even if COVID-19 pandemic had not started," says Sarah Cohodes, a professor at Teachers College at Columbia University.

Thus, if there would be no extraordinary interventions in the closing of schools, the long-run effects on those poor students are predictable.

A team of five education scholars recently calculated that American schoolchildren in 2020 learned 30% less reading and 50%less maths than they would in a typical year. Despite that, the top third of pupils posted gains in reading. Data from Opportunity Insights, an economic-research team at Harvard University, shows that after lockdowns began in March pupils from low-income neighbourhoods fell permanently behind on online maths coursework, while those from richer areas quickly rebounded.

Then there is the problem of access to online classes. Nearly half of native American pupils and 35% of black and Hispanic ones do not have access to either a computer or the internet at home, compared with 19%of whites. Worsening mental health among poorer families will also hurt achievement. Elizabeth Ananat of Barnard College and Anna Gassman-Pines of Duke University surveyed part-time workers in Philadelphia who had young children; half were showing their anxiety or depression for children's schooling.

【推荐3】Alina Adams 12-year-old son, Gregory, is exceptionally good at computer programming, with talent beyond his young age.

When he was 10, he was accepted into a well-known programming course at a university, but then told he was too young to attend. "So he got mad and built his own website where everyone can learn how to code, whatever age they are." said Adams, 46, who lives in New York.

As Gregory has gotten older, funding his interest has gotten more expensive. "Some of the things he wants to develop now require hardware," Adams said, "and that costs money"

Then there's the price of travel and events. Two years ago Gregory attended young rewired state, a conference in the UK for young "digital makers". He applied for and received a grant (补助金) that covered travel expenses for both himself and his father to attend. but the cost forbad him to return. "I explained to him: No grant, no trip to Europe." Adams said.

Meanwhile, Adams keeps her own principles. "If money were unlimited, I would allow him to take all the classes he wanted," Adams said, "however, there's reasonable amount that is put into his interest, but we're not going to go overboard." she said.

The US National Association of Gifted Children places the number of academically gifted students at 6% to 10% of the total American student population. That doesn't account for kids who shine in music, sports, or a specific subject area, like computer programming.

Of course, many parents think their children are exceptional. A quarter of parents of high school athletes hope their children will go on to play professional sports. (Reality check: Only 1% do)

But for parents of truly gifted children, it's often a financial struggle to balance a limited budget (预算) with private lessons, pricey coaches, and travel to national and international events.

【推荐2】Ever since he was nine years old, Daniel Arundel has been helping his mother Elizabeth in the kitchen. He learnt to bake cakes and savouries (咸味小吃) at home. On Saturdays, he helped fill the rolls at the sandwich shop his mum ran. Now Daniel, who is only 19, has turned his enjoyment of making food into a successful business.

“I’ve always loved making things for people to eat and I realized I wasn’t too bad at it.” says Daniel, who started selling his cakes while at secondary schoo1. “For two years every Sunday, I would sell cakes I had baked at home with Mum on a market stand.”

His plan to open a bakery in his hometown impressed his teachers and they encouraged him to submit his idea to a national competition for ambitious business people. Although he didn’t win, Daniel was awarded an award of €1,000 to help his project.

Arundel Bakery opened on an industrial site in Oldham surrounded by offices full of staff looking for somewhere for their lunch. So he opened a sandwich shop at the front of the Bakery. He now employs three staff, including his mum, who make food for various customers. And they also help the community later by making fresh hot meals for the elderly.

Last year Daniel was runner-up in another competition to recognize entrepreneurial (创业的) talent. The competition was organized by the Edge Foundation, an education charity, which encourages career routes to young people who can’t be admitted by a university.

Daniel said, “I have been crazy in the past few years. I’m so busy and I don’t have much of a social life at the moment. I want to expand our range of dairy-free cakes for those who have an allergy (过敏反应) to food like me. I’ve put my heart and soul into my baking and getting where I am today. I know I'm still very young and I’m learning all the time. But I love what I’m doing and want to take every opportunity that comes to make my bakery a success.”

【推荐1】Our wedding was about to begin. My throat was tight and my cheeks got red, but I didn't care. I was ready to marry David Sanchez. We’re a "nontraditional" couple: getting married not at a church but in a bookstore that supports a charity to fight H.I.V. and homelessness.

“Kim! I could walk you down the aisle（走廊）if you like!” David's father offered gently.

"I'm OK. But I appreciate that,” I said with a smile. And I was reminded, again, of my dad's absence.

My father died of cancer six weeks ago. For the last two months, we tried to make him feel comfortable and loved as he departed from this world. He always told us that he didn't like a funeral （葬礼）and insisted our wedding go forward as planned. But how could we honor him since the wedding would be the first time the family would gather after his death and some even didn't know he was sick?

During the ceremony, my dear friend Eva delivered a reading entitled "When Things Go Missing” by Kathryn Schulz. She paused and got everyone on the same page: “When we are experiencing it, loss often feels like confusion in the usual order of things. In fact, the entire plan of the universe consists of losing, and life amounts to a reverse（逆向的）savings account in which we are eventually robbed of everything.

I felt the energy full of the room. Everyone was listening. By choosing to accept the pain, we knew what a wedding does to join two families and mark the next chapter for a couple. Loss became a compass that pointed us away from a fantasy and toward celebrating the difficult realities of life.

After rings were exchanged, fried chicken was served, our friends offered so many funny and touching toasts, and finally David sang "Married” on my father’s guitar. I felt joy filling all the holes in my soul. Celebrating my father’s life at our wedding made me grateful for all the time I had spent with him, because it all goes by so fast.

【推荐2】The journey to the moon has been the first step towards future exploration in space. The distance between the Moon and Earth is very short indeed when compared with the distances between Earth and the other planets. Mars, the nearest planet to Earth is millions of miles away! Travelling to the planets will be man's next aim. Such travels will be more challenging than the trip to the moon and certainly more adventurous.

Recently, two American spaceships, Vikings 1 and 2, landed on Mars trying to discover whether that planet has any life on it. So far the signs of life on Mars has neither confirmed nor ruled out. Russians have discovered that the surface of Venus（金星）is so hot that it is almost certain that there is no life there. Also the atmosphere of Venus is extremely dense and the pressure is nearly a hundred times greater than that of the Earth's atmosphere.

Scientists believe man may find planets which have the same conditions as those we have on earth, but man should realize Earth will be his only home for a long time and begin to love and care for it.

【推荐3】It’s a popular belief that a fish’s memory lasts for only seven seconds. It may seem sad to think that they don’t remember what they’ve eaten or where they’ve been, and they don’t identify you or any of their friends -- every moment in their life would be like seeing the world for the first time.

But don’t be so quick to feel sorry for them. A new study has found that fish have a much better memory than we used to think. In fact, certain species of fish can even remember events from as long as 12 days ago. In the study, researchers from Mac Ewan University in Canada trained a kind of fish called African cichlids to go to a certain area of their tank to get food. They then waited for 12 days before putting them back in the tank again. Researchers used computer software to monitor the fish’s movements. They found that after such a long break the fish still went to the same place where they first got food. This suggested that they could remember their past experiences.

In fact, scientists had been thinking for a long time that African cichlids might have a good memory. An earlier study showed that they behaved aggressively（挑衅地）in front of certain fish, perhaps because they remembered their past “fights”. But until the latest findings, there was no clear evidence.

Just as a good memory can make our lives easier, it also plays an important part when a fish is trying to survive in the wild. “If fish are able to remember that a certain area contains safe food, they will be able to go back to that area without putting their lives at risks,” lead researcher Trevor Hamilton told Live Science.

For a long time, fish were placed far below chimpanzees, dolphins and mice on the list of smart animals. But this study has given scientists a new understanding of their intelligence.

【推荐1】Food sometimes gets poisoned with harmful things. A person who eats such food can get an illness called food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually not serious, but some types are deadly. The symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within hours of eating the poisoned food. Fever is one of the most common symptoms.

Certain microorganisms (微生物)cause most types of food poisoning. Bacteria and other microorganisms can poison eggs, meat, vegetables, and many other foods. After entering the body, these tiny living things release poisons that make people sick.

Some chemicals can also cause food poisoning. They are often added to food while it is being grown, processed, or prepared. For example, many farmers spray chemicals on crops to kill weeds and insects. Some people may have a bad reaction to those chemicals when they eat the crops.

Some plants and animals contain natural poisons that are harmful to people. These include certain kinds of seafood, grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and mushrooms. ,

When people handle food properly, the risk of food poisoning is very small. Microorganisms multiply rapidly in dirty places and in warm temperatures. This means that people should never touch food with dirty hands or put food on unwashed surfaces. Food should be kept in a refrigerator to stop microorganisms from growing. Meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to kill any dangerous microorganisms. People should also wash food covered with chemicals before eating it. Finally, people should not eat wild mushrooms or other foods that grow in the wild. Some of these foods may contain natural materials that are poisonous to humans. In addition, some types of fish can be poisonous.

Most people recover from food poisoning after a few days of resting and drinking extra water. If people eat natural poisons, they must go to the hospital right away to have their stomachs emptied.

【推荐2】Children are now more likely to want to work in social media or gaming than traditiona Careers. According to a new survey, many from seven to 11 -year-olds are looking at modern technology when they think about future jobs, rather than professions such as police officer or doctor.

The survey involved 13.000 UK primary school children. They were asked to draw pictures of the job they wanted to do when they grow up and then tell the reasons. It concluded that children's career aspirations (志向)are often based on factors such as gender stereotypes (性别角色定型)or what they've seen in the media, TV and film.

"For more and more children and young people, online celebrities and You Tube gaming videobloggers' have taken the place of TV and movie stars, "the report said. "It could be argued that this is due to the growing fame and attraction of YouTube and video blogging stars, who are especially popular among younger audiences. Also, this may also speak to children's present worlds.

Many from seven to 11-year-olds will spend their time gaming and perhaps at the same time watching celebrity gaming bloggers instructing them how to do it."

The survey found that 5% of children wanted to be in the police, with the same percentage on becoming doctors. A gender breakdown shows the top job choice for girls was teacher (19%). follow ed by vet (11%) and sportsman (9%) and police (8%).

This highlights the pressing need for closer ties between employers and schools, to ensure that all children can have role models in a wide range of fields to help them develop an awareness of career choices at an early age. "This is vital to ensure that all children—regardless of gender and backgrounds—can fulfill their full potential. "

【推荐3】One of the greatest killers in the Western World is heart disease. The death rate from the disease has been increasing at an alarming speed for the past thirty years. Today in Britain, for example, about four hundred people a day die of heart, disease. Medical experts know that people can reduce their chances of getting heart disease by exercising regularly, by not smoking, by changing their diets, and by paying more attention to reducing stress in their work.

However, western health-care systems are still not paying enough attention to the prevention of the disease. There is a need for more programs to educate the public about the causes and prevention of heart disease. Instead of supporting such programs, however, the US health-care system is spending large sums of money on the surgical treatment of the disease after it develops. This emphasis on treatment clearly has something to do with the technological advances that have taken place in the past ten to fifteen years. In this time, modern technology has enabled doctors to develop new surgical techniques. Many operations that were considered impossible or too risky a few years ago are now performed every day in US hospitals, The result has been a huge increase in heart surgery.

Although there is no doubt that heart surgery can help a large number of people, some people point out that the emphasis on the surgical treatment of the disease has three clear disadvantages. First, it attracts interest and money from the question of prevention. Second, it causes the costs of general hospital care to rise. After hospitals buy the expensive equipment that is necessary for modern heart surgery, they must try to recover the money they have spent.To do this, they raise costs for all their patients, not just those patients whose treatment requires the equipment. The third disadvantage is that doctors are encouraged to perform surgery…even on patients for whom an operation is unnecessary…because the equipment and expert skills are there. A government office recently stated that major heart surgery was often performed even though its chances of success were low. In one type of heart surgery, for example, only 15 percent of patients improved their conditions after the surgery. However, more than 100 000 of these operations are performed in the United States every year.