【推荐2】Nearly two decades ago when the Google Books Project digitized and freely distributed more than 25 million works, book publishers argued that free digital distribution weakens the market for physical books. However, new research from Imke Reimers and Abhishek Nagaraj reveals that the opposite—increased demand for physical books, through online discovery—could be true.

The two researchers focused on a particular part of Google Books’ digitized works: those from Harvard University’s Widener Library, which helped seed the project in its early days. The condition that enabled their experiment: Harvard’s digitization effort only included out-of-copyright works, published before 1923, which were made available to consumers in their entirety. The works from 1923 and later were still copyrighted and not digitized.

The researchers analyzed a total of 37,743 books scanned (扫描) between 2005 and 2009. They looked at sales for the two years before this digitization period and the two years after, and found clear differences in the increased sales between digitized and non-digitized books. Approximately 40% of digitized titles saw a sales increase from 2003-2004 to 2010-2011, compared to less than 20% of titles that were not digitized. The increase in sales was also found to be stronger for less popular books.

“If a book is readily available online, people may decide that it’s a useful book and want to buy it,” Reimers said. “The ‘discovery effect’, which even increased the sales of a digitized author’s non-digitized works, is a strong driver of increased sales. It’s not a huge jump in sales, but it’s still good news for publishers.”

“And book lovers,” Reimers said, “are known for their preference for physical books, as opposed to digital versions, which could also play a role.” She added, “Whenever I talk to people about my research on books, at some point they all say, ‘I just love the feel of a book in my hand.’”

【推荐3】The following books support kids in understanding different kinds of emotions and noticing when they are feeling them.

The Heard and the Bottle

As this wise story shows, we lose access to all our feelings, even the good ones, when we bottle them up. The bottle metaphor (隐喻) is drawn out for children to see. It might be helpful to use this in your family as you each choose to feel any emotion.

A Little Emotional

From the illustrator of the Ordinary People Change the World series comes a humorous and heartfelt story about a boy struggling with uncomfortable emotions. Tommy’s favorite toy has gone missing, and he works through a lot of emotions while he searches for it, from worry to anger.

Breathing Makes It Better

Part guide, part sweet story, Breathing Makes It Better shows children how breath can be their bridge from controlling emotions to a state of calm. Through easy practices like imagining yourself outside in the wind, each story shows children how to use breath as a to deal with challenging situations.

My Mixed Emotions

My Mired Emotions is an interactive handbook that helps teens identify and handle different emotions. Focusing on the four basic emotions—happiness, anger, fear, and sadness—it’s filled with examples, the science behind each, and advice for dealing with feelings. It’s a good way to help kids grow their emotional intelligence.

【推荐1】When Nigeria’s first-ever female taekwondo (跆拳道) Olympian Princess Dudu was fighting on the Olympic mat sat Athens 2004, five-year-old Elizabeth Anyanacho was enjoying one of her favourite movies at her home in Abuja.

She knows that the Olympics are not a joke, and she dreams of being a role model to other women. At 16, Anyanacho wanted to try out a sport. She began training with the track and field team at a local stadium in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.

During one of her training courses, she was spotted by Chika Chukwumerije who was at the stadium to identify up-and-coming talent to train for taekwondo. “In 2015, I went to the stadium to find tall boys and girls. Her body structure fits the body of a taekwondo athlete. She had never done sport in her life,” said Chukwumerije, now the technical director at Nigerian Taekwondo. Chukwumerije, a three-time Olympian figured Anyanacho’s long legs would give her an edge over opponents (对手) when she is kicking from a distance.

“I was happy to give it a try,” said Anyanacho. “I was excited when I discovered taekwondo.” Anyanacho spent more time training and improving her skills. She was outstanding on the mat. In her first competition in 2017 held in neighbouring Ghana, she won gold. The national under-67kg champion has competed in 13 tournaments (联赛), winning eight of them and finishing twice in second and three times in third place. All these events formed part of the road that led her to Tokyo.

“Taekwondo has given me confidence, exposed me to different cultures and I have made friends from all over the world. I would not have had all these opportunities if it weren’t for taekwondo,” said Anyanacho. In addition to her Olympic goals, she hopes her rise can inspire more women.

【推荐2】In the middle of the night, a baby chimpanzee (黑猩猩) is having nightmares. Chantal, his caretaker, tries to calm him down. She works at the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center, in the Republic of the Congo, in Africa. The chimp’s name is George. He was taken from his mother by hunters. Finally, he was rescued and taken to the sanctuary (鸟兽保护区), where Chantal helped him make friends with other chimpanzees. “We rescue chimps from terrible conditions and help them to live in the wild like other chimpanzees,” Chantal said, “They need to learn chimp behavior.”

Chimpanzees meet a lot difficulties because people cut down forest and illegal (非法的) wildlife trade. Their population, numbering in the millions a century ago, could be down to 172,000. This makes the work of the Tchimpounga Sanctuary even more important.

When opening in 1992, Tchimpounga had space for 60 chimpanzees. It has been made larger to the size of a hundred football fields, and provide home around 150 chimps. Many live on islands with thick forest in the Kouilou River. In that environment, the chimps are prepared for a possible return to the wild. The sanctuary also works with the government to reduce illegal trade in animals. Tchimpounga’s head veterinarian (兽医) Rebeca Atencia said, “We have effectively reduced the arrival of orphan (孤儿) chimpanzees to Tchimpounga. We’ve received only one orphan chimp over the past three years.”

The chimps have shown that they understand the sanctuary staff’s efforts. “Saving the life of a chimpanzee is very gratifying,” Atencia says. “Chimpanzees know when you’re helped them or saved their life. Sometimes, they thank you with a hug.”

As the leader of Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), Atencia also works with people who live near the sanctuary. These people depend on the forest for food and building houses, and their growing population is a danger to chimps. JGI helps the people in these places get healthcare, clean water, and others. This makes them less dependent on the area’s natural resources and reduces illegal trade in chimps. At present, there are islands within the sanctuary where the chimps can be safe from wild chimpanzees and hunters. And they’ re still under the care of the sanctuary staff.

【推荐3】“Listen!” Mr. Lee said seriously at the beginning of his first class, “I will put a lie into each of my classes. Your job is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day.”

That was really a clever way to fix our attention on the dry and boring subject- geography. Then in the following weeks, we didn’t let off every single word of what he was saying in class and challenged (质疑) his lectures. When his class ended with nobody seeing through the lie, Mr. Lee would say, “Ah ha! Each of you has a lie in your notes. Discuss among yourselves what it might be, and I will tell you at the end of this term.”

Mr. Lee’s special style of teaching worked. All of us reviewed and discussed about our notes actively.

One Monday at the end of the term, Mr. Lee listened carefully to what we were questioning for almost ten minutes. Then he finally said, “Do you still remember the first lesson how I said that every lecture has a lie?”

Confused (疑惑), we said yes.

“Well, that was a real big lie. In fact, all the lectures I’ve given before are completely true. But I am glad you worked so hard. Move on.”

Hearing this, all eyes in the classroom went wide.

While my knowledge of geography has been forgotten over time, the lessons have stayed with me. “Experts” can be wrong and say things that sound right, so build a habit of evaluating (评估) new information and check it against things you already accept as a fact.

【推荐1】The past two years, instead of my favourite maple-frosted donut (枫糖霜甜甜圈) cake, I had one birthday request from my family — hiking (远足) and a picnic together. Thankfully, it was my special day, so they only rolled their eyes and sighed once and then agreed to come along — exploring new places and discovering hidden waterfalls.

That was the past two years. That’s not today.

Today is my birthday, and I’m on the other side of the world. I wish that I could hang out with my family and friends in the US. Just for today — on my birthday.

We are “lonely internationals.” It’s hard. I won’t pretend (假装) it’s not.

My mother, “Nana” to my four boys, tells me regularly how she has missed almost all of her grandsons’ birthday celebrations. She intentionally (有意地) connects with them through texts and FaceTime on their birthdays so that she can join us for the time of singing “Happy Birthday” and SEE the kids blow out their candles.

However, that is not the same as “being there” physically — together. She feels like she misses our major life milestones called “birthdays.”

Today, I’m okay. My mother had made an e-card for me, sent to my email box early this morning. She never forgets. My in-laws, my sister and her family, my sweet friend in France, and my dear friends here in Spain and over there in the US have already wished me “Happy Birthday” online. Some even mailed me cards and gifts across the sea.

The only “gifts” I’m missing are maple-frosted donuts for a birthday cake. My mother tried to bring them to me in Europe when she travelled to visit me. However, after a 20-hour trip across the sea, they weren’t so fresh anymore.

Tonight, we will have a special dinner outside on our back porch in the cool, evening air. I will blow out A LOT of candles on my birthday cake.

I am happy. I have breath, life, a heartbeat, and deep inner joy from the love of my family and friends around the world.