【推荐1】For years and years people have been saying that railways are dead. “We can do without railways,” people say--as if motorcars and planes have made those railways unnecessary. We all keep hearing that trains are slow, lose money and are dying. But this is far from the truth. In these days of expensive oil, railways have become highly competitive with motorcars and planes. If you want to carry people or goods from place to place, they’re cheaper than planes. And they have much in common with planes. A plane goes in a straight line and so does a railway. What’s more, a railway takes you from the city centre into another centre. It doesn’t hold you up as a car does in endless traffic jams. And a single train can carry goods which no plane or motorcar could ever do.

Far from being dead, railways are very much alive. Modern railway lines give you a smooth, untroubled journey. Where else can you eat well, sleep in comfort, feel safe and enjoy the scene while you are travelling at speed at the same time? And we are only at the beginning, for we have just entered the age of super-fast trains, which are travelling at 250 miles an hour or more. So we will be wondering why we spend so much on motorcars we can't use and planes we can't fly in. After all, we have not enough money to buy the oil.

【推荐2】In the natural habitat, a binge-watcher is a strange sub-species of modern human beings. They are alone and are often found lying on their bed or sofa, still as a rock, looking searchingly into their laptop or at the TV. They rarely get up, only taking occasional breaks for those urgent calls of nature. Unlike so many others of their species, they don’t sleep at the end of every day. They stay up late and are often found to have red eyes.

This, of course, is a little bit exaggerated, but for many of us, binge-watching a show is how we consume our entertainment. With streaming services bringing seemingly endless content to the tips of our finger, creators tailor their shows to our needs and tastes, while their marketing team sells it to us as the next most bingeable show. I can’t help but wonder if this way of consuming television does us any good.

We’re advised to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep per day, but staying up all night to finish shows like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘The Fall’, which Netflix says are binged the fastest, won’t result in 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Netflix’s CEO Richard Hastings told analysts at a conference, “Think about it… when you watch a show from Netflix and you get addicted to it, you stay up late at night. We’re competing with sleep.” And it isn’t only the amount of sleep we get; the quality matters too! A study published in the Journal for Clinical Sleep Medicine reported that those who binged television more often were found to have poorer sleep quality. The mental arousal we get from watching TV doesn’t lend itself to peaceful sleep.

Besides, binging TV can cause weight gain. For every extra hour of TV watched, there was a 2% increase in the prevalence of obesity, according to a study conducted by Harvard that linked TV watching to obesity in children and adolescents.

While it is true that there’s growing evidence that binging isn’t good for us, the results aren’t all hopeless. Binging, occasionally, might have some benefits. For many people, binging is a good way to socialize. It gives people something to talk about at parties and with their friends. Fans of popular shows often hold viewing parties where people can binge-watch shows together and then discuss what they just experienced! This interaction can create a sense of community for many.

For others, binging might just be relaxing. After a long day, a few hours of Friends—still one of the most popular shows on any streaming platform—can ease the stress of a long day. A study followed 240 people through their binging and recorded their stress hormones. They noted for some people that their stress hormone levels decreased during their binging experience.

With binging, there is not a “good” or “bad” answer. Like many things, the key is moderation. Watching TV can be relaxing, but only if it doesn’t stop you from exercising, taking care of your health, and fulfilling your social responsibilities.

【推荐1】U.S. health officials say Americans who are fully vaccinated (接种疫苗) against COVID-19 do not need to wear face coverings in most places. The United States can begin to re-open society and the nation after the year-long coronavirus (冠状病毒) health emergency.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky is the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, known as the CDC. She said Thursday, “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can take part in indoor and outdoor activities - large or small — without wearing a mask (口罩) or physically distancing. People can start doing the things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.”

The U.S. and Israel have shown that the approved vaccines are strongly protective in real situations. The vaccines continue to work although new versions, or variants, of the virus are spreading. However, wearing masks in settings like buses, airplanes and hospitals are still suggested. People with weak immune systems, such as those undergoing cancer treatment, should talk to their doctors about giving up their masks.

The CDC reported this week that about 154 million people in the United States have received at least one shot of vaccine. The agency noted that more than 117 million have been fully vaccinated. This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also permitted the use of the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine for children as young as 12, which can stop the pandemic from continuing to spread.

The new guidance (指南) comes as the U.S. is starting an aggressive campaign to vaccinate those who have not yet received the shots. It had immediate effect at the White House.

President Biden appeared in public for the first time without a mask since the start of the pandemic. He cheered the CDC’s guidance and told Americans, “So for those who haven’t gotten their vaccination yet, especially if you’re younger, or think you don’t need it, this is another great reason to go get vaccinated now.”

And White House employees were told that masks are no longer required for those who are fully vaccinated.

【推荐3】Elizabeth Anionwu, who has received four honorary degrees for her excellent work in nursing, has devoted her life to improving the lives of thousands in the black community who are suffering with sickle cell disease.

Born to an Irish woman and a Nigerian man, her own upbringing was tarnished by racial discrimination and cruelty. Soon after her birth in 1947, she was sent away to a children’s home run by nuns (修女) who were, at times, very unkind indeed. Once, she was made to stand with a dirty wet sheet over her head as a punishment for wetting the bed.

But a caring nursing nun she met at the age of four inspired her career in nursing. “I had painful eczema (湿疹), which the nuns would treat with a special medicine and cover with bandages,” she explains. “Other nuns would tear them off in a hurry and my skin would break and bleed. But one nice nun treated me very gently and I never felt a thing. Later on, I discovered she was a nurse and I decided that’s what I wanted to be.” At 16 she became a school nurse assistant, which was the start of a 50-year career as a nurse and professor.

In the early 70s, Anionwu had her first encounter with sickle cell anaemia-a painful disease found mostly in African and Caribbean families-which at the time was often overlooked. Families had no information about how to cope with their illness or the symptoms to look out for, so Anionwu took action, raising awareness of the disease and setting up the Sickle Cell Society. It’s then that she became the first sickle cell and thalassemia (地中海贫血症) specialist in Britain.

Elizabeth Anionwu has spent her life as a nurse and tutor, working with black and minority communities in London. In 2019, she was presented with the Pride Of Britain’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her great services to nursing.

A．People knew a lot about anaemia.

B．People with anaemia didn't suffer much.

C．Anionwu noticed anaemia before the 1970s.

D．Anionwu was actively involved in fighting anaemia.