【推荐1】Many countries have passed safety laws that require seat belts in vehicles. A modern three-point seat belt, also called a safety belt, is a harness to prevent the driver or a passenger from flying forward and hitting hard against the interior of a vehicle during a collision. A modern seat belt will help to position you properly to gain maximum benefit from your car’s airbags that will inflate (使充气) during a collision. Using a seat belt also prevents you from being ejected (弹出) from a car into the path of oncoming traffic. Research shows that when you wear a modern seat belt, you reduce the risk of death or serious injury by 70% or more during an auto accident.

Seat belts have existed in different forms since the early days of automobiles, and they have changed from a single lap belt to the three-point seat belt we use today. In 1911 the first airplane seat belt was installed. Then, in the 1920s they were used in racecars. By the 1930s, a group of American physicians created lap belts for their own vehicles and urged vehicle manufacturers to provide seat belts on all vehicles.

Dr. C. Hunter Shelden made a major contribution to our safety with his article in the November 5, 1955 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). He strongly encouraged the manufacture and use of door locks, airbags, and retractable (伸缩式的) seat belts, like the ones we use today. The modern three-point seat belt, including a lap belt and a shoulder belt, was introduced as standard equipment on Volvo cars in 1959.

In 1970, the state of Victoria in Australia made the wearing of a seat belt compulsory for every car driver and front-seat passenger. Today many countries have also mandated (授权) the use of five-point safety harnesses for carefully designed child safety seats that can protect a child during a serious car accident.

An airbag is a Supplemental Restraint System, or SRS, and consists of a rapidly inflatable restraint cushion that works together with a seat belt to protect you during a collision. Modern cars often contain several airbags in various locations. Since airbags can only inflate once and will quickly deflate after the initial impact, they will not provide any protection for you during a secondary collision.

The inflation of airbag can protect or hurt you. The risk zone for a driver’s airbag is the first 8 centimeters from its pre-inflation location. While driving, you should remain about 25 centimeters from the airbag in the center of the wheel. As a driver, wear your seat belt and make sure children correctly use their seat belts. Failure to wear a seat belt properly means the airbags in your car might injure or even kill you during an accident.

An essential part of your safe driving skills is the habit of making sure that you and each of your passengers are always properly positioned and wearing a seat belt. There are many wonderful benefits of being able to drive a car, but there are also severe consequences during an accident for anyone who chooses not to wear a seat belt.

【推荐2】A few years ago I had an “aha!” moment regarding handwriting.

I had in my hand a sheet of paper with handwritten instructions on it for some sort of editorial task. It occurred at first that I did not recognize the handwriting, and then I realized whose it must be. I finally became aware of the fact that I had been working with this colleague for at least a year, maybe two, and yet I did not recognize her handwriting at that point.

It was a very important event in the computerization of life—a sign that the informal, friendly communication of people working together in an office had changed from notes in pen to instant messages and emails. There was a time when our workdays were filled with little letters, and we recognized one another’s handwriting the way we knew voices or faces.

As a child visiting my father’s office, I was pleased to recognize, in little notes on the desks of his staff, the same handwriting I would see at home in the notes he would leave on the fridge—except that those notes were signed “dad” instead of “RFW”.             

All this has been on my mind because of the talk about The Rise and Fall of Handwriting, a book by Florey. Sire shows in her book a deep concern about the fall of handwriting and the failure of schools to teach children to write well, but many others argue that people in a digital age can’t be expected to learn to hold a pen.

I don’t buy it.

I don’t want to see anyone cut off from the expressive, personal associations that a pen still promotes better than a digital keyboard does. For many a biographer, part of really getting to know their subjects is learning to read their handwriting.             

What some people advocate is teaching one of the many attractive handwritings based on the handwriting of 16th-century Italy. That may sound impossibly grand—as if they want kids to learn to draw by copying classical paintings. However，they have worked in many school systems.

【推荐1】The idea that computers have some amount of “intelligence” is not new, says Ralph Haupter, the president of Microsoft Asia, pointing as far back as 1950 when computer pioneer Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. “So it has taken nearly 70 years for the right combination of factors to come together to move AI from concept to reality,” says Haupter.

It is predicted that the development of artificial intelligence will be the story of the coming generations, not just the coming year, but as 2019 gets underway, you’ll find AI will begin to touch your life in many ways according to some researchers.

“Personal assistant AIs will keep getting smarter. As our personal assistants learn more about our daily routines, I can imagine the day I need not to worry about preparing dinner. My AI knows what I like to eat, which days of the week I like to cook at home, and makes sure that when I get back from work all my groceries are waiting at my doorstep, ready for me to prepare that delicious meal I had been longing for.” ---Alecjandro Troccoli, senior research scientist, NVIDIA.

“Thanks to AI, the face will be the new credit card, the new driver’s license and the new barcode (条形码). Facial recognition is already completely transforming security with biometric capabilities being adopted, and seeing how technology and business are connected, like Amazon is with Whole Foods, I can see a near future where people will no longer need to stand in line at the store.” ---Georges Nahon, president, Orange Institute, a global research laboratory.

“2019 will be the year AI becomes real for medicine. By the end of the year we’re seeing solutions for population health, hospital operations and a broad set of clinical specialties quickly follow behind.” ---Mark Michalski, executive director, Massachusetts General Hospital.

【推荐2】For some people, higher education is not just a goal in life, but also an expectation. In the United States, if your parents attended a college or university, there is a good chance that you will, too. Even if your parents did not go to college, you still have a good chance of completing higher education if your family is wealthy.

But your chances are reduced if you come from a needy family, a community with limited educational resources or you simply have no one to follow as an example.

Helping those in need is one of the main ideas behind a strategy of behavioral science called nudge theory or nudging. Nudging is a way of changing people’s behavior through indirect suggestions and by supporting positive actions.

A growing number of U.S. colleges and universities look to nudging as a way to support poor, minority and first-generation students. They are also using it to increase overall graduation rates. Two common forms of nudging are emails to students and text messages to their mobile phones. Schools and other educational organizations keep in contact with students this way, offering advice and help when needed.

However, Alejandra Acosta—a higher education policy expert at New America—notes that there are several qualities a nudge campaign must possess in order to be successfu1.

Acosta says messages must be timely, meaning they reach college students well before the date by which a student is required to take action. Additionally, nudges should be written clearly and provide as much information as possible. If students start to struggle in class, school officials should not just message them, saying they should seek academic support. The message should give information about what kinds of support the college or university offers and exactly how the student can make use of them. That is why nudges should possess interactive qualities, Acosta says. For example, students should be able to ask questions of school officials or be directed to a website for more information. In addition, colleges and universities must ensure their support services are in place and working as best as they can.

When nudges work, they can do a lot of good. In 2018, a nonprofit group launched a nudging campaign at four U.S. community colleges. They worked with nearly 10,000 first-year students at three such colleges in Ohio and one in Virginia. A recent study found that older and minority students who agreed to receive these nudges were 16 to 20 percent more likely to continue into their second year than those who did not.

【推荐3】Natural disasters have hit Asia hard in recent years, taking hundreds of thousands of lives. But while these tragedies (灾难) have destroyed homes and lives, they have also created heroes.

The hero: Muelmar Magallanes

The story: As the heavy rain was destroying homes and villagers in Manila, the 18-year-old worker jumped into action. Muelmar swam through the floods (洪水) and pulled 30 of his neighbors to safety. After pushing a mother and baby to shore on a small boat, the tired hero was lost in the water, and his body was discovered the next day. "He gave his life for my baby, "said Menchie Penalosa, the child's mother "I will never forget him.

The hero: Tilly Smith

The story: You never know when those lessons learned in geography class will be put to good use. For Smith, just 10 years old at the time, being able to recognize the warning signs of a tsunami, saved about 100 lives at a holiday center in Thailand. The English schoolgirl was walking on a beach in Phuket when she noticed the water was coming in, but it wasn't going out again. A tsunami, she realized, was just minutes away. Her father told everyone to leave the beach. That beach was one of the few in Phuket where no one was killed or seriously injured.

The heroes: Aisah, Neneh, Azmi, Nuraida and Sulastri

The story: For these five women from the village of Lampasch, the tsunami took everything. That day, Aisah lost her 17-day-old granddaughter, Neneh lost seven of her nine children, Azmi lost her parents, Nuraida lost three of her sisters and brothers, and Sulastri lost her husband, daughter and youngest son. All lost their homes. Everything was gone except for their strong belief. Soon after the tsunami, the five women went back to clean up the village. These women lost nearly everything, except their determination to rebuild their lives.

【推荐2】Do you think the United Kingdom and the United States are alike? Winston Churchill once joked that the people of Britain and the people of America are separated only by their language. Do you think that is true? The British and the Americans both speak English as the official language. However, each uses some different words. We Americans are similar to the British. After all, our country was once owned by the UK, so we have a lot in common. But there are many differences between us.

The UK has a king or queen, and the leader of the government is the Prime Minister. The US has no kings or queens. Our leader is the President.

Both the British and Americans use pounds and ounces, pints, quarts, and gallons. Both use miles, yards, and feet. Our money is different, though. The British use pounds and pence. Americans use dollars and cents.

Driving in a car is very different in the UK. They drive on the left side of the road. We drive on the right. What we call the hood of the car, the British call the “bonnet”. British cars run on “petrol” , which we call gasoline.

In our everyday life, we do many of the same things as the British. But we describe them differently. A young mother here might push a baby in a baby carriage. A British mum pushes a “pram”. The British watch “telly”, while we watch TV. We like to eat French fries, but the British call them “chips”. Millions of Americans drink coffee, but most British prefer tea.

So we are different in many ways. But we stay friendly anyway.

【推荐3】Culture shock occurs when people have been suddenly thrown into a new culture. Newcomers may be anxious because they don’t speak the language. Neither do they know the customs or understand the people’s behavior in daily life.

Quite often the visitor find that “yes” may not always mean “yes”, that friendliness does not necessarily mean friendship, or that statements that appear to be serious are really intended as jokes. The foreigners may be unsure as when to shake hands, when to start conversations, or how to approach a stranger. The idea of culture shock helps explain feeling of puzzlement and confusion.

Language problems do not lead to all the setbacks that people feel. When one has lost everything that was once familiar, such as understanding a transportation system, knowing how to register(注册，登记) for university classes, or knowing how to make friends, difficulties in coping with the new society may arise.

When an individual enters a strange culture, he or she feels like a fish out of water. Newcomers feel at times that they do not belong to the culture and feel deserted by the native members of the culture. When this happens, visitors may want to refuse everything about the new environment and may glorify and sing their own praises of the positive aspects of their own culture. On the other side, more visitors may sneeze at their native country by rejecting its value and instead choosing to approve of the value of the new country. This may occur as an attempt to accept the new culture in order to be taken in by the people in it.