【推荐1】To reduce the spread of the pandemic (流行病), Corona Virus, our product manager has announced businesses to start working from home. For those who are working from home, dealing with this situation can be challenging.     1    .

Create a work area. Your first challenge is to pick a corner in the home and create a work-space that is perfect for work from home.     2    . You can make a large coffee table as a work desk. Keep the desk neat and tidy.

    3    . Get your laptop, cell phone diary in the right place. If you are in a noisy home, search for your noise cancellation headphone. Use your mouse for increased productivity. Find out who will take care of children as the schools are closed. Organize the home.

Learn technologies. It is important to learn technology for smoother communication. You can make use of Google Hangouts, Slack or other video tools for messaging.     4    .

Ensure proper lighting is there.     5    . Locating the office where you receive natural lighting is the best way to increase productivity. Ensure you have enough artificial lighting arrangements.

【推荐2】Barbara and I were having dinner with four friends of ours. As the evening progressed, one friend talked about his struggle with a sister, who, at the age of 30, often quarreled with him. That prompted another friend to share how his brother was overdependent on his 70-year-old mother. He explained that he didn't know how his brother would survive after his mother died. Another friend shared a situation with his 40-year-old sister who didn't have a job and was regularly financially rescued by them. A fourth friend complained about a sibling (兄弟姐妹) who at 35 couldn't make a basic decision and spent most of his time going to watch motor racing. By the time we finished dessert, I commented, "I wonder if this is just what occurs in most families?'

And then, as Barbara and I drove home, the thought struck me: the problem with families is that all of us come from one!

Adult sibling relationships in families are like the weather-stormy at times, unpredictable and disruptive (破坏的). You may have a distant relationship with a sister. Perhaps you and your brother are no longer in contact with each other. Whatever your situation, I'd like to offer a couple of thoughts that might help you weather the storm.

Everyone comes from a less than perfect family. So you are not alone in dealing with your family relationships. The question is this: how will we respond to a sibling who is not making wise choices?

First, stop trying to change your sibling. At some point, you may have to let him or her be who he or she is. Second, give up your "911" job in your sibling's life. If you have a tendency to take responsibility for his or her life by rescuing him or her, resign from that role. Third, ask for help from some friends. Gather a couple of wise friends and ask them to give you some guidance. Finally, if your sibling continues making unwise choices, a formal intervention by family members may be necessary.

【推荐1】In Chinese cities, food deliverymen are often seen riding at full speed through busy traffic. They rushed from restaurants to different destinations, even under bad weather conditions.

The article The Food Deliverymen Are Trapped in the App pointed out that on food delivery service platforms, Eleme and Meituan, the time limit and the route for each delivery order is calculated by an algorithm（算法）.But the algorithm doesn't consider real-life situations, such as red lights, speed limits and fully occupied elevators.

The time limit for a delivery order within 2 kilometers is 30 minutes, even shorter in recent years. Delay could mean a fine. So deliverymen rev up, often breaking traffic rules, putting their own lives at risk.

Many people asked the platforms to improve the regulations imposed（强加） on the deliverymen. In response to this demand, Eleme announced it would add a button to the app, which allowed customers to extend the time limits for their orders, and encouraged customers to show more respect for deliverymen. But some people felt that the company was staying away from the problem and changing people's attention. Some held the view that the company was putting the responsibility on the customers rather than solving the problem itself.

As to delivery delays, solutions are far from enough. As a matter of fact, when a delivery delay happens and the company can' t reach an agreement with the customer on the responsibility, the deliveryman is usually the final one responsible for the delay. The Shanghai Customer Council commented that it was unfair for the deliveryman to be the only side responsible for a delay and problems should be solved between the companies and their employees. Besides, market regulatory departments should stop companies from setting tight schedules for their deliverymen and keep them safe on the roads.

【推荐3】For the past decade, Noutsady has been working with the Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA) and grown into an experienced and reliable staff member of its Laos' branch company.

Noutsady, born in 1986 in central Laos' hilly Hin Heup District, went to the capital Vientiane alone at the age of 21 to look for a job and go on with her study. In 2009, with sound knowledge of accounting and favorable English communication skills, she stood out from many applicants and became an employee of POWERCHINA's Lao Cement Industry Co., Lid. Noutsady showed her talent and ability soon in the accounting position, completing nearly 200 payments for more than 50 downstream carriers every month, timely and accurately.

Working and spending time together has brought Noutsady and her Chinese colleagues closer. "I feel great with POWERCHINA, and I will try to achieve the same like POWERCHINA to 'keep promises and make promises valuable' and start a new life here," Noutsady told reporters.

When talking about the cement products of the company, Noutsady is full of pride. "We are one of the earliest cement producers in Laos," she said. "From the many hydropower plants around the country to the broad 450th Anniversary Avenue in the capital and the splendid Lao National Convention Center, even many house buildings in my hometown, our cement is used."

In the last decade, the Lao lady has not only seen the development of the cement company, but also set up her own small family. Now, Noutsady lives with her daughter in a comfortable apartment provided by the company. At the end of 2019, she was honored as an outstanding foreign employee of POWERCHINA. "Another new decade has begun and I will value it even more, loving my daughter, loving my life and loving my POWERCHINA," said Noutsady.

【推荐1】When Edgar Allan Poe, the 19th century American writer best known today for his horror stories, first introduced the world to his fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin, he hit on a winning formula.

Dupin was Sherlock Holmes before Sherlock Holmes, a genius detective who first appeared in the story of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. Though the roots of the detective story go as far back as Shakespeare, Poe's tales of rational crime-solving created a unique type. His stories mix crime with a detective narrative, inviting readers to try to solve the puzzle too.

The key figure in such a story, then, is the detective. Poe's detective, Dupin is a gentleman of leisure who keeps himself occupied by using “analysis” to help the real police solve crimes. The real police are, of course, absolutely incompetent, like Inspector Lestrade and Scotland Yard are to Holmes. Like Holmes, he smokes a pipe and is unnaturally smart and rational, a kind of superhero who uses powers of thinking to accomplish great tasks of crime-solving.

“The elements Poe invented, such as the socially-awkward genius detective, his 'ordinary' helper, the impossible crime, the incompetent police force, the locked room mystery, etc. , have become firmly fixed in most mystery novels of today,” says English professor Karen 'Tan.

Poe's formula appealed in the 19th century because detective stories promised that reasoning could hold the answer to every question. At the same time, with mysterious overtones, they appealed to 19th-century readers' addiction to the mystical.

The detective story, writes book critic William Mullins, was particularly appealing because it promised that “intellect will win out, the criminal will be caught by the rational detective, science will track down the evil-doer and allow honest people to sleep at night.” At the same time, MacIntyre writes. 19Ih-century anxieties about the Industrial Revolution and new ways of living supported the idea that evil was everywhere. These two instincts — “people's increasing faith in reason and mistrust of appearance”- are what made 19th century readers love detective stories, a love that endures today.