【推荐2】While a female politician or first lady can use her clothing to create a favorable image, male politicians don't have as many fashion choices to play with, But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to have discovered a goldmine - his socks.

He's been seen wearing"statement socks".at many public events. For example, during a NATO(北大西洋公约组织) meeting in Brussels in May, Trudeau wore one blue sock and one pink, both with the NATO symbol printed on them. And in June, he wore a pair of socks with the pattern of maple leaves a national symbol of Canada --- when he appeared on a TV show.

The New York Times editor Vanessa Friedman praised Trudeau's play on his socks as"clever

"Socks are subtle enough not to be distracting, but visible enough that you can't miss the point, she wrote, "Rarely have a man's ankles said so much."

One example is a pair he wore during a meeting with Enda Kenny, then the prime minister of Ireland, in Montreal on May 4. During their meeting, Trudeau wore Star Wars socks-simply because that day happened to be Intemational Star Wars Day. If this pair of socks sent out any message, according to Vogue magazine reporter Emily Farra, that message was just that he has a quirky side and loves George Lucas films, " she wrote.

However, some say that 45-year-old Trudeau's unusual sock choices show a childish side of the prime minister that proves he isn't mature enough to be the leader of a country.

But Friedman doesn't see it that way. "The socks have been a source of pride and applause on an international scale-a symbolboth of Mr Trudeau's ability to embrace multiculturalism and of his position as a next-generation leader not bound by old traditions. "she wrote. They have opened up possibilities for the future.

【推荐1】During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people under lockdown feel lonely and bored. “There is a loneliness epidemic,” said John Dattilo from Pennsylvania State University, US.

So he, together with an international team of researchers, studied how to reduce loneliness and increase positive feelings during the pandemic.

According to their new study, reducing loneliness has something to do with doing enjoyable activities that require both concentration (注意力) and skill.

When people are absorbed in what they are doing, they enter a state called “flow”, Dattilo explained. “Flow can be achieved by doing activities that we value and that requires us to concentrate fully to use our skills.”

To achieve a state of flow, there must be a balance between the challenge of the task and your skill level. For example, if you’re trying to create a complex (复杂的) computer program but your skill level is low, then you’re likely to feel stressed instead of achieving “flow”. On the contrary (相反地), if the task is too easy, then boredom will set in and “flow” will not appear, either.

If you have artistic skills, for example, playing the piano or painting can lead to flow. So can things like skiing, writing and storytelling, depending on who you are.

“When we enter a state of flow, we become focused, and we experience momentary enjoyment,” Dattilo said. “When we leave a state of flow, we are often surprised by how much time has passed.” However, watching television usually doesn’t help people enter flow, according to Dattilo, because there aren’t any challenges.

“People tend to thrive (茁壮成长) on healthy activities and challenge,” said Dattilo. “We hope this research will help people live fuller, happier, healthier lives.”

【推荐2】The Wuhan Institute of Shipbuilding Technology was used as a quarantine site (隔离区) from Feb 8 to March 28. Cheng Shining, a junior of Central China Normal University in Wuhan, was responsible for collecting and distributing supplies for quarantined people and medical staff. As the youngest volunteer at this site, he also chose to live there so that he could show up whenever he was needed.

One day Cheng and two other volunteers took more than 3 hours to move all 1,462 boxes of mineral water to storage with 50 firemen's help. Cheng says. "A single person's strength is limited, but we know the whole country is helping us."

Cheng was a volunteer for the Military World Games held in Wuhan last October. It was the first time he saw his hometown under the world's spotlight. "I've experienced the highlight of Wuhan, and now when my hometown touched a low point, I want to get through the difficulty together with the city," Cheng says.

Like Cheng, 28-year-old Wuhan local Zhu Aobing also volunteered to help his home city. He signed up right away to be a volunteer for the vaccine. A total of 108 Wuhan locals became the first group of COVID-19 vaccine volunteers in March. They are healthy adults aged from 18 to 60 selected from thousands of people who applied.

"Since the lockdown, I've always been thinking what I can do for my hometown during the epidemic," he says. Zhu is a freshman of Hubei University of Technology in Wuhan. He joined the army when he was 18 years old and served for five years. However, Zhu didn't want to miss the chance to study further, so he decided to go to college last year.

"No matter how long I have finished my military service, I always have the responsibility to go to the front line when the country needs me, and when facing this pandemic(疫情)，being a vaccine volunteer is what I should do," he says.

【推荐3】Pang Hui placed a few more pairs of chopsticks on the table for a family dinner, though she did not expect her big family of seven would use them as serving chopsticks.

Surprisingly, her 75-year-old father, who used to shrug off the idea of serving chopsticks, became a firm supporter this time, said Pang, 40, from Beihai, a coastal city of South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Chinese people often share dishes, and diners use their own chopsticks to serve themselves food from the shared dishes, a tradition now being challenged by the outbreak of COVID-19.

“We feel a sense of crisis as well as the urge to desert our old habits when we see reports of family infections,” Pang said, pointing to the reports of the virus spreading via droplets and close contact.

Local governments are helping to encourage a shift, too. On Feb.13, 2020, local authorities of Beihai started a campaign promoting serving chopsticks and spoons, which will avoid cross-infection caused by the use of personal chopsticks.

Similar measures were also adopted in other cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Taizhou city in East China’s Jiangsu Province even standardized the colors of serving chopsticks and spoons to help diners differentiate (区分) them from personal ones.

The practice of eating wild animals has been targeted by the government, which remains present in certain areas.

China stopped the illegal trading and transportation of wild animals shortly after the outbreak. The move became a permanent ban on Feb.2, 2020, when the country made a decision on thoroughly prohibiting (禁止) the illegal trading of wildlife and the consumption of wild animals.

Li Bo, with the Hainan International Center for Wildlife Protection, said wild animal consumption could lead to the faster extinction of particular species, damage the ecological balance and harm people’s health.

“The epidemic (流行病) could become a turning point to eliminate the bad habit.” Li said.

【推荐1】If a stranger offered you money to keep a suitcase in your spare room，would you accept? How about the other way round：if you had too many belongings，would you consider trusting someone you met online with their safekeeping? Anthony Paine believed enough of us would answer “yes” to these questions to launch his own startup (新兴公司)，Stashbee．His business links people with space to those who need it．

And it's just one player in the booming “sharing economy”，an industry that relies on people renting out things like their beds，bikes and even parking spaces．Airbnb，a company valued at 200bn RMB，provides a platform for those renting property short-term．DogVacay pairs holidaymaking pet owners with pet-friendly hosts，and aims to be profitable by 2017．

All their business models revolve around one simple word：trust．So，how does Stashbee measure up? BBC journalist Dougal Shaw decided to try it out for himself．He had some odds and ends to store while renovating his house，and met a host through the site who could keep them for 475 RMB for two months．All relatively smooth and painless．

Heavyweights (行业巨头) in the traditional storage industry，such as Big Yenow and Access，aren’t convinced．A representative from Access told Shaw he was skeptical about storing with “amateurs”．He considered 24／7(全天候) access to the items and better security as the main advantages of his service.

Stashbee agree that dealing with security concerns is important，but say business success depends more on people overcoming a distrust of strangers we’ve been taught since childhood. They aren’t alone．Companies such as Costockage，Roost and Spacer all run similar storage businesses，and are all relying on a shift in consumer attitudes．

And the concept of social storage doesn’t stop there．CityStasher believe there’s a gap in the market for those who want to store things for extremely short periods of time．

Would you try it out? It’s a question of trust．

【推荐3】The cola wars became a cultural phenomenon. Credit for that goes to Donald Kendall, PepsiCo's brilliant former boss, who died on September 19th aged 99. A gifted salesman, he rose quickly through the ranks from his start on the bottling line to become the firm's top sales and marketing executive at the young age of 35.

Seven years later he was named CEO. In 1974 he invested in the Soviet Union, which allowed Pepsi to become the first Western product to be legally sold behind the iron curtain. By the time he resigned as boss in 1986, PepsiCo's sales had shot up nearly 40 times, to $ 7.6 billion. His legacy continues to shape the industry.

Mr. Kendall offered a mix of strategic vision, principled leadership and marketing talent. Two years after taking charge he acquired Frito-Lay, a leading producer of snacks, giving PepsiCo an advantage of diversity that continues to this day. PepsiCo brought in $ 67 billion last year in sales compared to Coca-Cola's $ 37 billion.

But his most famous move was the all-out marketing blitz (闪电战) against Coca-Cola, long the global market leader in non-alcoholic drinks. The two firms had competed for decades, but they mostly fought low-grade battles. Mr. Kendall changed that, by forcing both companies into an advertising arms race. In 1975 Coca-Cola spent around $ 25 million on advertising and PepsiCo some $18 million. By 1985 those figures had shot up to $ 72 million and $ 57 million, respectively. In 1995 Pepsi outspent Coke by $112 million to $ 82 million.

This was a risky strategy for both cola competitors but it paid off by helping non-alcoholic drinks win a greater "share of throat". Last year Coca-Cola and PepsiCo remained in the leading position as usual. Also, the cola wars benefited both companies by turning them into "the world's best marketers". Today a decades-long addiction to cut-price quantity growth has been replaced by a focus on income and profits.