【推荐1】Whenever Michael Carl, the fashion market director at Vanity Fair, goes out to dinner with friends, he plays something called the “phone stack” game: Everyone_______ their phones in the middle of the table; whoever looks at their device before the check arrives _______for dinner.

Brandon Holley, the former editor of Lucky magazine, had trouble _______ her iPhone when she got home from work. So about six months ago, she _______putting her phone into a milk tin the moment she walked in. It remains there until after dinner. And Marc Jacobs, the fashion designer, didn’t _______ to sleep close to a beeping gadget. So, he_______digital devices from his bedroom—a house rule he _______ with audiences during a recent screening of Disconnect, a film that dramatizes how technology has alienated(使疏远) people from one another.

As smartphones _______to make their way into our lives, and wearable devices like Google Glass_______ our personal space even further, overtaxed users are exploring their own device-free zones. Whether it’s a physical barrier(no iPads at the dinner table) or a conceptual one (turn off devices by 11 p.m.), users say these disconnecting __________ are improving their relationships---and__________their brains.

“Disconnecting is a luxury that we all__________,” said Lesley M. M. Blume, a New York writer who keeps her phone away from the dinner table at home. “The expectation that we must always be__________to employers, colleagues and family creates a real obstacle in trying to __________private time. But that private time is more important than ever.”

A popular method for disconnecting is to choose a box for your cellphone, like the milk tin that MS. Holley uses. “__________my phone is buzzing or lighting up, it’s still a distraction, so it__________in the box.” said Ms. Holley. Others choose new__________. “No screens after 11 p. m.” said Ari. Melber, a TV host. “We found the evenings were more __________and we were sleeping better.” he added.

Sleeping is a big factor, which is why some __________ to leave their phones out of their bedrooms. “I don’t want to sleep next to something full of phones and emails.” said Peter Som, a fashion designer, who keeps his phone charging in the living room overnight. “It __________is a head-clearer and distinguishes daytime and sleep time.”

【推荐2】Most forms of conventional advertising — print, radio and broadcast television — have been losing ground to online ads for years; only billboards, dating back to the 1800s, and TV ads are holding their own. Such out-of-home advertising, as it is known, is anticipated to__________ by 3.4% in 2024, and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising, which includes the LCD screens found in airports and shopping malls, by 16%. Such ads draw viewers’ attention from phones and cannot be skipped or __________, unlike ads online.

Billboard owners are also __________ the location data that are pouring off people’s smartphones. Information about their owners’ locations and online browsing gets collected and sold to media owners. They then use these data to work out when different groups — “business travellers”, say — walk by their ads. That__________ is added to insights into traffic, weather and other external data to produce highly relevant ads. DOOH __________ can deliver ads for coffee when it is cold and iced drinks when it is warm.

Such __________ works particularly well when it is combined with “programmatic” advertising methods, a term that describes the use of data to automate and improve ads. In the past year billboard owners such as Clear Channel and jcDecaux have __________ programmatic platforms which allow brands and media buyers to select, purchase and place ads in minutes, rather than days or weeks. It is said that outdoor ads will increasingly be bought like online ones, based on audience and views as well as__________.

That is possible because billboard owners claim to be able to __________ how well their ads are working, even though no “click-through” rates are involved. Data firms can tell advertisers how many people walk past individual advertisements at particular times of the day. Advertisers can estimate how many individuals __________ to an ad for a handbag then go on to visit a nearby shop (or website) and buy the product. Such metrics make outdoor ads more__________, automated and measurable, argues Michael Provenzano, co-founder of Vistar Media, an ad-tech firm in New York.

However, the outdoor-ad revolution is not free of __________ . The collection of mobile-phone data raises privacy concerns. And __________ of the online-ad business for being vague, and occasionally dishonest, may also be targeted at the DOOH business as it becomes bigger and more complex. The industry is ready to__________ such concerns, says Jean-Christophe Conti, chief executive of VIOOH, a media-buying platform. One of the__________ of following the online-ad pioneers, he notes, is learning from their mistakes.

【推荐3】The next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) promises to have an impact as big as the mobile revolution or the internet revolution. The positive opportunity before us is virtually _______—but for AI to meet its vast potential, it will require the right _______.

AI is already revolutionizing our lives. But though computers can assist us, they are not like us. Our health of experience gives us creativity—but it also makes us vulnerable to accumulating. Conscious and unconscious biases (偏见). _______, AI systems today receive their “training” using very specific collections of relevant data. These data sets can be large but are inherently much more _______than human experience. That can be a(n) _______—AI does not have the complex emotions that guide human decision making, so it could _______most if not all of these inherent biases.

Based on previous work involved in AI research, we believe that makers of AI should _______ the following principles. First, AI should benefit the many, not the few. In practical terms, it is possible for AI to help the doctor and the patient, the business and the employee. As a society, we should make use of this _______ and ensure that AI always aims for the common good.

Second, AI research and development should be open, responsible and socially _______. As we continue developing AI, new questions will continue to arise, and we will need to answer them ________, including everyone from engineers and scientists to philosophers and activists. In particular, those whose industries will ________ as result of AI will need to be part of this global conversation.

Third, those who design AI should establish best practices to avoid undesirable outcomes. Is a system doing what we need. Are we training is using the right data? Have we thought through the way any system might yield ________ side effects—and do we have a plan to correct for this? There should be check systems that ________whether an AI system is doing what it was built to do.

We are building tools that humans control. AI will reflect the values of those who build it. Ultimately our ________ for AI is to give people more choices about how they live their lives. Under our control, it can take the drudgery（辛苦乏味的）out of work and free up many more hours for creative pursuits. And ________properly and cooperatively, AI could help bring about solutions to the world’s most complex problems.

【推荐1】Does your boss make you sick? Employers who overwork and micromanage their staff are doing just that, researchers have found.

A study of more than 7000 people who were middle-aged and otherwise ____ has found those in high-stress offices were more likely to need two weeks or more off work a year and experience ____ like chest pain and shortness of breath.

Study author Sam Harvey said it wasn’t just overwork that seemed to be making people feel sick, but how much control they had over their ______.

“At a ______ level, it’s about how much control you have over the every day, minute by minute in your job--but at a broader level it’s about how much control you have in an organization and your ability to ______ problems and come up with solutions,” he said.

The study, published in the journal Plos One, found one in every 15 cases of long-term sick leave, defined as lasting more than two weeks, could be ______ if workplaces became less stressful. But Dr. Harvey, a psychiatrist and researcher at the Black Dog Institute and the University of NSW, said the ______ was not just as simple as people being worked so hard they had a heart attack or developed depression.

“I think there’s good evidence that ______ of high-demand and low control can cause health problems like cardiovascular disease and depression and anxiety, but it’s also much harder for people to return to work when they have developed health problems,” he said. “Very often it’s a(n) ______ of problems that have reached a point where they can no longer work, and very often what’s written on the sick note doesn’t ______ that.”

He said the Black Dog Institute was developing programs to bring in to workplaces to help lower stress levels, while many workplaces were looking at ways to improve control among ______. “From an organizational point of view, that’s something that’s ______ more easily modified or improved than thinking about the level of demands placed on people,” he said.

Simple changes included giving people more ______ over rostering （制定工作班次）, and creating systems for people to fix workplace problems.

“______, being at work is good for people’s mental health ... what we are trying to push towards is how to make workplaces more mental health enhancing,” he said.

The study used people living in Norway, where a unique ID system for every worker enabled the team to know exactly how much ______ participants took in the year after they were interviewed about their health and work environment.

【推荐2】A video last week showed a mini house in a high chair eating a bowl of carrots. It might seem ridiculous, but it might also be the logical extension of a growing trend; treating animals as human and treating pet as children, _______ to the toddler （学步的小孩）who eats from the same chair.

_______ of this attitude are everywhere, ranging from the innocent to the near-insane. Some people _______ their pets for Halloween, throw them birthday parties, or create social media accounts for them. Five-star cat resorts offer spa services. Yoga studios now offer “doga” classes. Stores sell pet pans and bikinis, and doctors will perform cosmetic surgery in case your pet needs a facelift.

There seems to be _______ between pets and children. An increasingly large group of people who genuinely believe that having a pet is the same thing as being a parent. They _______ the language of parenthood with their pets, calling themselves “mommy” or “daddy” when talking to their “baby”. Of course, it’s one thing to use such language _______, as an expression of love or a reflection of the great joy that pets, like children, can create. But it’s quite another to use this language literally（照字面意思地）.

Using _______ labels for things not only blurs （使…模糊）the real lines between pets and people but also leads to dangerous misbelief. What if a woman thinks she knows what a mon of two kids if going through because she’s a “mom” to two cats or a man believes having a baby won’t be much different from being a “dad” to a dog?

Every pet has its own parent—another cat or dog that feed and teaches it to survive in the animal kingdom. Our love for pets results from their _______ from us, but once we have them, we treat them as people, taming and teaching them how to pee（撒尿）in the tight place and not drink from the toilet. Sometimes, this goes _______, leading to horrible industries like pet cosmetic surgery. But we can’t call our role with pets “parenting” when we do the _______ of what a pets parent would do.

_______, “pet parents” claim that they do everything real parents do – feed, bathe, cuddle, clean up, care for, and love. Indeed, all these actions constitute part of the routines of true parenthood. But pet parents cannot teach character and morality to cats and dogs, which is the most important job of a parent. Having a child means _______ another mind and soul for adulthood and independence. Having a pet child means keeping an animal obedient and _______ so it never leaves as a child will.

Pet and children serve different roles. Ignoring or denying these differences _______ neither creatures nor people. Calling a pet a child, or yourself its parent, reflects a _______ of what animals are and what parenting is. We can call pets “pets” without loving them any less.

【推荐3】For many people today, reading is no longer relaxation. To keep up their work they must read letters, reports, trade publications, interoffice communications, not to mention newspapers and magazines: a never-ending flood of words. In ________ a job or advancing in one, the ability to read and comprehend ________can mean the difference between success and failure. Yet the unfortunate fact is that most of us are ________ readers. Most of us develop poor reading habits at an early age, and never get over them. The main deficiency ________ in the actual stuff of language itself—words. Taken individually, words have ________ meaning until they are strung together into phrases, sentences and paragraphs. ________, however, the untrained reader does not read groups of words. He laboriously reads one word at a time, often regressing (退回) to reread words or passages. Regression, the tendency to look back over ________ you have just read, is a common bad habit in reading. Another habit which ________down the speed of reading is vocalization—sounding each word either orally or mentally as ________ reads.

To overcome these bad habits, some reading clinics use a device called an accelerator, which moves a bar (or curtain) down the page at a predetermined （预先确定的）speed. The bar is set at a slightly faster ________than the reader finds comfortable, in order to “stretch” him. The accelerator forces the reader to read fast, ________ word-by-word reading, regression and subvocalization (默读) practically impossible. At first ________ is sacrificed for speed. But when you learn to read ideas and concepts, you will not only read faster, ________your comprehension will improve. Many people have found their reading skill drastically improved after some training. ________ Charle Au, a business manager, for instance, his reading rate was a reasonably good 172 words a minute ________ the training, now it is an excellent 282 words a minute. He is delighted that how he can get through a lot more reading material in a short period of time.