【推荐1】Microsoft won’t renew the contracts (合同) for dozens of news production contractors working at its MSN website and plans to use AI (人工智能) to replace them.

The roughly 50 employees were informed that their services would no longer be needed beyond June 30, but a team of full-time journalists will remain.

The Microsoft spokesman said in a statement, “Like all companies, we analyze and make judgments on our activities and services on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment (投资) in some places and, from time to time. rearrangement in others. These decisions are not the result of the current pandemic.”

MSN will use AI to replace the production work its journalists had been doing. That work includes using an automated system to identify trending news stories from dozens of publishing partners and to help improve the content by rewriting headlines or adding better accompanying photographs or slide shows.

“I spend all my time reading about how automation and AI are going to take all our jobs - now it’s taken mine,” one of the terminated (被终止的) contractors said. “But with fewer human beings to monitor the technology, AI may not be fully familiar with strict editorial guidelines and could end up letting through inappropriate stories.”

MSN has undergone a number of changes since its launch as Microsoft Network in 1995. Once it offered original content and links to news, weather, and sports. In 2013, it reduced original news content and began cutting employees. By 2014, it launched a redesigned version that partner red with other news sites-paying them to redistribute their content. Today, the news service relies entirely on those partnerships with no original news content of its own. Selecting and editing stories rather than actually generating them made it easier for MSN to increasingly rely on an automated editing system.

【推荐3】For many students, maths and science have always been boring and even difficult subjects. Teachers have long tried a variety of ways to get students excited about STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and maths.     1    .

The use of robotics is on the rise in today’s world.     2     Not only does it give them a head start in subjects like computer programming, maths and science, it can also develop an interest in careers students may have never considered before.

Robots are most often related to technology and other STEM-related fields. However, playing with robots has educational benefits beyond simply learning to build and program the robots themselves. Robots can be used to in problem-based learning to develop students’ problem-solving skills and get them working cooperatively and more. In this learning model, students are presented with a problem they must solve.     3    . This inspires creativity, critical thinking and cooperation—all important 21s-century skills.

Robots aren’t just for students who need a challenge.     4     Students with autism who may shy away from interaction with a human being are more likely to open up to a robot, and the risk of failure or embarrassment in front of the robot is much lower. Robots can provide a way for them to practice social skills without the pressure of interacting with a real person.

There are a wide variety of robots available for classroom use.     5     It now makes robots designed for students in elementary and middle school. The robots can be programmed using a computer or tablet and a simplified programming app. This introduces the basics of programming and robotics to younger students who might then choose to study further in high school and college.

Robots are only going to become a bigger part of everyday life in the future. Using robots in the classroom is a proven way to get kids excited and increase learning.

【推荐1】Children have their own rules in playing games. They seldom need a referee (裁判) and rarely take trouble to keep scores. They don’t care much about who wins or loses, and it doesn’t seem to worry them if the game is not finished. Yet, they like games that depend a lot on luck, so that their personal abilities cannot be directly compared. They also enjoy games that move in stages, in which each stage, the choosing of leaders, the picking-up of sides, or the determining of which side shall start, is almost a game in itself.

Grown-ups can hardly find children’s game exciting, and they often feel puzzled at why their kids play such simple game again and again. However, it is found that a child plays games for very important reasons. He can be a good player without having to think whether he is a popular person, and he can find himself being a useful partner to someone of whom he is ordinary afraid. He becomes a leader when it comes to his turn. He can be confident, too, in particular games, that it is his place to give orders, to pretend to be dead, to throw a ball actually at someone, or to kiss someone he has caught.

It appears to us that when children play a game they imagine a situation under their control. Everyone knows the rules, and more importantly, everyone plays according to the rules. Those rules may be childish, but they make sure that every child has a chance to win.

【推荐3】SALISBURY

Summer School

2020 TRAVEL FORM

Please complete and return

Student’s Name:________ Cell number: ________

Travel Plans: Please specify the means of traveling to and from the school.

Students traveling with parents by car should plan to arrive on Sunday, July 1 and depart Salisbury School on Saturday, August 4, the next day after Progress Day. Please indicate:

Students will be arriving and departing with parents.

Students will be traveling by train or bus to/from the school.

New York City — via Train:

(Metro-North Railroad — Harlem Line: Wassaic Station & Grand Central Station)

The Wassaic Station is the closest to the school — approximately 10 miles. Contact information: 845473-8424 or http:// www.mta.info/mnr.

Bus Line from NYC:

The Bonanza bus stop in Canaan, CT is approximately 5 miles from the school. Schedules can be accessed at http://www.bonanza-bus.transit-info.com.

Local Taxi Services:

Lakeville Taxi 860-435-8000 and 800-675-0670

Airport Pickup, Saturday, June 30

Please note: My child will travel to JFK Airport (New York City) where a Salisbury representative will pick students up.

The shuttle (班车) will leave from JFK at 6 o'clock in the afternoon for the return to Salisbury. Please provide all flight information in the space below including the cell phone contact number for your child. We will provide the cell phone number of the representative later. This is the preferred arrival date for all students from home and abroad traveling through JFK, which can be guaranteed by taking the airplane.

Airline & Flight # :_________     NYC Arrival time:_________

Please note: My child will depart on August 4 by shuttle through JFK.

Depending on flight times, students may experience a long wait for their flight departures. Airline & Flight # :_________     Departure time:_________