【推荐2】Early in my time in China, I asked a coworker if she noticed anything Americans do that is strange. “You’re always fighting, even with your best friend.” she said. She had never seen me fight with my friend, so I was surprised, until I realized she was referring to a philosophical debate. Though passionate, my friend and I would hardly have considered it a fight. According to him, many Chinese wouldn’t tell their friend to “shut your mouth when you speak to me” or tell them, “your logic is so dumb — you don’t have object permanence”, which is opposed to social harmony.

Words are metaphors, serving to comprehend abstract ideas or beliefs. Each language possesses an inner logic, influencing how its speakers structure sentences and understand words. This uniqueness extends beyond mere vocabulary; it spreads to the system of expression, shaping thoughts and ideas. Regardless of how skilled one becomes at communicating, or how many dictionaries they’ve read, they can not guarantee that the listener understands them correctly.

Each language barrier exists within speakers of the same language. In 2013, I worked with a British man who had lived in China for a decade and spoke Chinese fluently. It took him about 10 years to fully understand the culture. Either I’m silly, or he was kidding me.

I can confidently say that after all this time, I’m even more confused than I was then...The concepts and ideas I learn about Chinese culture expand endlessly, and I suspect that will always be true. If I’m lucky, I’ll have another 30 years of life, less time than more intelligent men than I have spent studying culture.

Perhaps I’m not meant to understand China. There is acceptance and peace in that. With my foreign friends, I will joke and even tease them and with my Chinese friends, I will ask questions to avoid giving the impression I am fighting with them. I will embrace cross-cultural confusion and persist in understanding my Chinese friends, family, coworkers and neighbors, because that knowledge bears gifts of wisdom and joy. My life is better for it.

【推荐1】If you’ve noticed you’re getting less while your bill almost stays the same, it’s not just you. “Shrinkflation” — reducing a product’s size or quantity while keeping its price stable — is showing up in shops around the world.

As the global economy struggles with inflation (通货膨胀), rising material costs and higher human cost, consumers are bearing the increasing production prices. “Consumers are more likely to notice how their purchases are affecting their wallets than the amount of product lost when sizes decrease,” says Mark Stiving, the chief pricing educator at Impact Pricing. As a result, companies use shrinkflation to make consumers “less painful”.

Yet even as shrinkflation comes with inflation, the problem doesn’t end after inflation does. Once the new sizes are on the shelf, they are likely to stay that way. “Shoppers don’t have a choice. They have to adapt themselves to the changes,” adds Stiving. There are rare exceptions, but companies generally take the opportunity to get more profits.

For many companies, shrinkflation seems to be unavoidable. In food industry, for example, where customers are highly sensitive to price, lifting prices might make customers jump ship to another brand. But facing the continuous inflation, the companies have to do something to maintain their profits. Introducing small reduction in the size of their goods should enable them to improve profits while keeping their prices competitive. But once customers notice the change, they might feel fooled, leading to a loss of trust and confidence.

Some grocers are using stickers to remind shoppers of shrinkflation, but still, it’s a tough hit to the bottom line — especially because the price of products generally doesn’t fall as inflation does. Consumers may need to examine both price and size sensibly as they shop, and make sure they don’t fall into the trap of that super size on the shelf.

【推荐2】A Singaporean company will feed airport food waste to mealworms before turning them into fish feed, aiming to cut the country's use of imported feed and offer a continuous alternative.

Blue Aqua International will partner with Dnata, an air and travel services provider, to change organic waste at Singapore's Changi Airport into insect protein for aquacultural use, according to a statement Tuesday.

The project looks to replace traditional fish and soybean meal as the main sources of protein for aquafeed. The insects will eat the food waste and change it into part of the body containing about 60 per cent protein. The dried baby worms will then be made into feed.

These mealworms can be a continuous solution to several problems. Using a small land and giving out less carbon, they turn food waste into feed and offer an alternative source of protein. Ynsect SAS, a small French business that keeps mealworms to feed fish and pets, attracted money from investors including Iron Man movie actor Robert Downey Jr. in a round of fund-raising last year.

The deal will give Singapore's farmers access to domestically produced animal feed, which is traditionally bought from abroad. The Southeast Asian nation imports more than 90 percent of its food and has set a goal to produce a third of its food locally by 2030. It also aims to achieve a general recycling rate of 70 per cent by then. Presently, less than 20 per cent of Singapore's food waste is recycled.

As part of the partnership, Dubai-based Dnata will add Blue Aqua to its list of suppliers to buy locally farmed seafood for its catering service.

【推荐3】The Grameen Bank (GB) project started in 1976 as an action research pilot project in “Jobra” village in Chattogram district of Bangladesh. In 1983, the pilot project was transformed into a bank with the aim of reducing poverty and empowering the poor in Bangladesh through micro credit.

The unique feature of GB is that no collateral（担保抵押）is required to get the credit from the bank. Unlike mainstream commercial banks that bring their clients to their shiny branch buildings where the poor are afraid to be trampled, GB carries its services to the comfort zone of its clients’ doorsteps. It has inspired the women and the weaker section of the communities to join the Grameen community. All banking businesses except loan disbursement（支付）are done in the meetings of the borrowers at the village level centers organized by the center managers. GB’s strong presence in remote areas of the country bears witness to this fact. GB has always made it a priority to empower women and involve them in economic activities. As a result, GB can proudly say that 98% of its borrowers are women. More than two-thirds of these women have moved on to better lives through poverty reduction.

GB is currently present in 81678 (94%) villages in the country and provides services to nearly 45 million people (including family member) through 10.34 million borrower members. Its microcredit program is being carried out as a successful model in reducing poverty in many countries of the world. GB was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 in appreciation of its efforts to create economic and social development from the bottom of the society through microcredit. Now GB is working not just to reduce the poverty of its borrower members, but also to ensure that their future generations are not left behind. It offers education loans, new enterprise loans, and scholarships to borrower members’ children.

Grameen Bank has been actively contributing to the development of Bangladesh.