【推荐2】Imagine that one day you live in a highly immersive (身临其境) virtual world. You can go to a virtual concert, take a trip online, view or create artworks and try on or buy digital clothing. Amid a pandemic like COVID-19, instead of seeing teachers and classmates on a video call screen, you could join them in a virtual classroom. This may help you understand the concept, metaverse.

The term metaverse refers to a shared virtual 3D world in which people can access via the Internet. Currently, most virtual spaces look more like the inside of a video game than real life. However, metaverse’s made the digital spaces more realistic by the use of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR, 增强现实).

Metaverse was first used in Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash in 1992. The novel is about Hiro, a pizza delivery man by day and a VR superhero by night who lives in an online universe called The Metaverse. “He is in a computer-generated universe that his computer is drawing onto his glasses and pulling into his earphones,” the novel says of the city that everyone pops into in VR. The idea rings in many other works, for example, in Ready Player One directed by Steven Spielberg.

In recent years, metaverse has become the latest popular word to capture the tech industry’s imagination so much that one of the best-known Internet platforms is renamed to embrace the futuristic idea-Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that he changed his company’s name to Meta.

Tech companies are also dedicated to exploring metaverse-related products. Facebook has launched meeting software for companies, called Horizon Workrooms, to use with VR headsets. The headsets cost $300 or more, putting the metaverse’s most cutting-edge (尖端的) experiences out of reach for many. For users who can afford it, they can enter the virtual worlds created by different companies. Fans of metaverse see it as the next stage in the development of the Internet.

So, do you expect the coming of metaverse?

【推荐3】As I enter my 40s, I’ve noticed many of my parents’ generation think social networking is something they are simply unable to understand. They fear that, should they try, they will somehow get it wrong; they will say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing or behave in a way that causes embarrassment. But there are some secrets of social media for them to consider.

Here’s the first secret: everyone feels this way. I recently met a young actor who was complaining that her work demands that she join Microblog, but she always feels like she doesn’t have anything smart to say. It’s the same resistance (抵制). I hear from the older generation, who, however, have somehow believed that age is the barrier (障碍), rather than the differences of personal taste.

Here’s the second secret: everybody uses it for more or less the same reasons. Older generations often sign up to stay in touch with children and relatives. We talk about this kind of communication like it’s some old-fashioned activity, but it is exactly why younger people use social media. The truth is that most people use social media to gently keep an eye on one another, to see how those they care about are doing without needing to ring them up on the phone every night.

And this is the last secret: everyone gets to use them in their own way. Newcomers—younger and older—who worry about “getting it right” are thinking that there’s a right way to get them. But actually there isn’t. Personally, I talk a lot on Microblog. And some people post nothing and they use social media every day as readers. Social media companies would rather see people decorating their networks with pictures and posts, but there’s no rule against being a fly on the wall. It’s also a fine way to get involved.

Were quick to forget that the web wasn’t invented by 13-year-olds; it was created by today’s seniors. I’d never try forcing those with no interest in social networks to use Microblog. But don’t let the talk of age divides put you off. There’s nothing to stop the older generation from joining in the network their own generation created.

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【推荐1】One form of social prejudice against older people is the belief that they cannot understand or use modern technology.     1     Isn't it unfair that older people enjoying a computer game should be frowned upon by their children and grandchildren?

Nowadays older people have more control over their lives and they play a full part in society. Moreover, better health care has left more people in their sixties and seventies feeling fit and active after retirement.     2     Playing computer games is a very effective way of exercising the brain.

When personal computers were first introduced, most older people didn't believe they would ever familiarize themselves with it. Now computers have been around for a few generations and retired people have gradually become more relaxed about using them for fun.     3     Kate Stevens, aged 72, says, “I find playing such games very relaxing. It's not very demanding, but you still need to concentrate.”

    4     There's a greater variety of games to choose from, including more intellectual and complex strategy and simulation( 模拟) games. Internet Chess and Train Simulator are among the most popular of these. Train Simulator is based on real-world activities. Players can choose from a variety of challengers, such as keeping to a strict-timetable and using helper engines during a winter storm.

Some people argue that “grey gamers” simply don't have the skills required for computer games, and that teenagers are better.     5     Most computer games require the kind of analytical thinking that improves with practice, which means that the “grey gamers” may well be far better than gamers half a century younger than them. In games where speed is the main consideration, older people would be at a disadvantage because they may have slower reaction time. On the other hand, “grey gamers” have a preference for slower paced, mind challenging games.

【推荐2】It is believed that greed and selfishness has become the basis of modern society, and we should return to the old traditions of family and community. Then we will have a better life. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above opinion?     1     While people traditionally regard caring, sharing and generosity the most important in life and work, modern people seem to be more self-absorbed and self-concerned.

    2     They say that it is a jungle out there. To survive, you have to fight with whatever means that come handy. Obviously greedy and selfishness go perfectly well with such ideas. In a company, employees do everything they can to get better pay and higher position, even at the cost of colleagues. We are in no way advocating any selfish conduct. It is just that people are pressured to act in a certain way due to outside influences.

Despite common practice, it is hard to conclude that modern society is built on greed and selfishness, both of which are not newly invented vocabulary. In ancient times people also did greedy and selfish things though such behaviors were more condemned (被宣告有罪的) then.     3     Are we happier to share with others and be generous to them? There is no fixed answer either. Some people take great pleasure helping and giving to others while others feel happy doing the opposite.     4     Caring for others can actually encourage the development of a mutually beneficial relationship.

In conclusion, modern people appear to be more self-centered than those in the past due to strong outside pressure. However, we should encourage people to know the importance of being caring and generous and to build a mutually beneficial relationship with others.

【推荐3】Even when communing with nature we depend on technology for help-but then, so did Thoreau at Walden Pond.

Walking in the same woods yesterday, I let myself wander at random, communing with nature.

I took in beautiful scenery near and far thanks to my progressive-lens eyeglasses. Occasionally I’d pull out my smartphone to take pictures on anything interesting. I recorded an inner monologue (独白) with a background of all sounds of the forest. At times, I consulted my smart watch to check on my heartbeat, mileage and calorie burn. Eventually I realized I was quite lost. Not a problem of course. Online maps came to my rescue.

But something bothered me. In what I’d intended as a nature experience, here I was using very high technology to help myself out. This insight set off a reconsideration of everything that happened during my “nature walk”, which had been technologically enhanced every step of the way. I’d been functioning as a man-machine combination: a cyborg.

What would the true naturalist Thoreau think of that? My first thought was that he’d be shocked. But later I did some research. Thoreau enjoyed what his spyglass discovered, like this eagle from his journal:

Lying on the ground with my glass, I could watch him very easily…till I almost lost him in the clouds… I think I have got the worth of my glass now that it has revealed to me the white- headed eagle.

Famously, Thoreau always set out equipped with a walking stick, which he used not only for support but also to take measurements of water and snow levels. His hat was also a tool, which he called his “botany-box”. And he was prepared even with needles and thread, so when coming out of the woods, he was “the best dressed”. Clearly, Thoreau was a bit of a cyborg himself.

Thinking more deeply, I realized we’ve come a long way from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who walked from necessity and relied on nature’s gift. Cyborgs are us.

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【推荐1】Ben, at the age of 23 ,was the youngest man to ski solo to the North Pole. He dragged a 180-kilogramme sledge over 1,420 miles through the worst Arctic conditions. This year, Ben plans to ski solo from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole and back in the autumn, carrying all his supplies on his sledge.

Ben Saunders was fired after persuading the firm to support his disorganized first adventure. “Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. We didn’t get to the Pole, so we had no media interest. No one heard about it.”

“People said it was impossible for me to get to the Pole. I said, “No, I can get there,” and I did. Self-belief, I see it as being a bit like a muscle — it’s my belief that the more you stretch yourself the stronger it gets. If you never do anything that’s uncomfortable or risky then your self-belief gets weaker. So that’s one of the lessons I’ve figured out along the way.

“My Antarctic adventure is just practicable and that’s what is exciting to me. If I knew I could do it without too much bother, I wouldn’t be interested.“ Why? “Personally I’m attracted by the human performance element to it. Not that long ago, running a marathon was seen as the top point of human attempt, and now I wouldn^’t be that surprised if my mum said she was going to run one.”

People’s horizons are changing. “I’m not particularly gifted. I’ve just chosen this one goal to achieve and I’ve been working hard to realize it. And that’s the thing that attracts me: with enough training and enough determination, enough focus and preparation, how far can we go? And I don’t think I’ve found out yet.”

【推荐3】Maria Sibylla Merian-drawing from life

In 17th-century Europe, it was unheard of for a woman to travel by herself, but that didn’t stop Maria Sibylla Merian. In 1699, she and her 2l-year-old daughter Dorothea sailed from Amsterdam to Suriname in South America. The three-month voyage was dangerous but she was determined to go. Besides, she was on a bold mission. She would be the first person to go to a foreign country to study and paint insects directly from nature.

When they arrived in Suriname, Maria and Dorothea started working. Day after day, they took their painting materials into the hot and humid rainforest to collect and draw insects and plants. Artists had never done such a thing before. Still life painters drew from dead specimens. But Maria had always been interested in painting living animals and plants, and her favourite subjects were insects.

In the rainforest, she climbed ladders to study and collect insects. She had trees cut down so she could see what lived at the top level of the forest more than a hundred feet overhead. Maria combined both art and science in her work. As a skilled observer, she kept detailed notes.

Maria planned to stay in Suriname for five years, painting and collecting insects and plants that Europeans had never seen. She learnt about the medicinal plants of the area and expanded her interest to spiders, birds, lizards and snakes. She planned to publish a book of her new work on her return to Amsterdam.

After two years, she had to leave Suriname. The heat was unbearable and she was ill with malaria. But she had more than enough material for a book. In June 1701, Maria and Dorothea sailed back to Amsterdam with many paintings and specimens—butterflies preserved in brandy, bottles with crocodiles and snakes, lizards’ eggs and boxes of pressed insects.

Four years later, in 1705, Maria published the book, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, for which she is best known. The paintings of insects and plants in their natural habitats revolutionized scientific illustration and advanced the scientific study of insects.