【推荐2】A pacer is someone who runs in races or marathons to help set the pace for runners. There are different types of pacers. A race pacer usually carries a sign highlighting a specific competition time for a race. He helps runners reach their goals without relying on technology, such as a smart watch or GPS. Professional pacers are used in long-distance races. They run at different sections of the race to inspire runners. A record pacer helps a professional runner set a new record, who often leads the race for a predetermined distance at a predetermined pace.

A runner being paced runs directly following a pacer. Having a pacer can be helpful for a long-distance runner because researches show that it takes more energy to lead in a race all through the race than to follow another runner. The pacer takes on the responsibility of timing and establishing the pace so the runner only has to focus on his own running. Having a pacer as a guide in a long race can take some of the stress and pressure off by keeping an even pace. The pacer may also provide encouragement along the way to work towards the goal.

There are times, though, when running with a pacer can be more stressful than beneficial for a runner — especially for amateur runners. Not having taken professional training, you set a goal to run a particular pace, but then you realize this may not be the best speed for you. In some cases, the pacer is running too quickly for what you can stand. Other times, you could misjudge your abilities and run a slower pace than what your body can bear.

It is important to note that you don’t have to stay with a pacer just because you started with him. If you feel strong at the end and want to finish faster, you can run ahead. Or if he is too fast, you could slow down and maybe even join the slower pace group behind you.

【推荐3】We love the idea of writing contests, but we hate con test fees. That’s why we’ve rounded up these 4 writing contests that all have no entry or reading fees. Some end soon, so be sure to apply for those right away if you’re interested.

The Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry is currently open for submissions. Poets can submit a book-length manuscript, but there is no page requirement. The winner will receive $10,000 and publication by Milkweed Editions. Deadline is March 1. To learn more, click the prize submission guidelines.

The Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award is currently accepting nominations (提名，推荐). Indiana-born or Indiana-based Authors may nominate themselves or be nominated. There are several award categories. The cash awards range from $6,000 to $10,000. Deadline for nominations is March 18. To learn more, click the award guidelines.

Winning Writers is currently hosting its Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. Poets can submit one humorous poem for consideration. The first place winner will receive $1,000; second place will receive $250; and 10 honorable mentions will receive $100 each. All winners will be published online. Deadline is April 1. To learn more, click the contest guidelines.

The Griffin Poetry Prize welcomes poets and translators to submit their work. Two prizes will be awarded. The Canadian Prize will go to a Canadian poet or translator who has published or translated a work. The International Prize will go to a poet or translator from any part of the world. Each prize winner will receive $65,000 CAD. Deadline is June 30, with a second deadline of December 31. To learn more, click the prize guidelines.

【推荐1】Sanjiangyuan National Park

Located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau , the Sanjiangyuan covers about 123,100 square kilometeris .It is home to the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers, which help to nurture billions of lives. Hence it is also called China's water tower.

The giant panda national park

The giant panda national park covers about 27,000 square kilometers in three provinces – Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi in the country's west. The park is home to 1,631 wild pandas, accounting for 87.50 percent of the country's total wild panda population.

Northeast China tiger and leopard national park

Northeast China tiger and leopard national park is located in the northeast of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces at the junction, with a total area of 1.4612 square kilometers. The park is China's most important settlement and breeding area of the Siberian tiger and Amur leopard. It is also an important wildlife distribution area and one of the areas with the richest biodiversity in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere.

Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park

Located in the south-central part of Hainan Island, Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park covers an area of 4,269 square kilometers, covering more than 95 percent of the island's primary forest and 55 percent of its natural forest.

The park has the most concentrated distribution of the best preserved and the largest contiguous area of island tropical rain forest in China, an important part of the world's tropical rain forest, with a national representative and global protection significance.

【推荐1】The rise of satellite-enabled GPS was revolutionary for navigation, and with the rise of mobile phones, anyone can have their personal navigation. GPS navigation apps enable egocentric (自我中心的) navigation with easy-to-follow turn-by-turn directions. With these conveniences at our fingertips, we are no longer active navigators, we are passive passengers aboard the GPS.

However, multiple experiments have shown that this easy egocentric navigation also reduces spatial awareness and mental mapping when compared to more traditional forms like paper maps.

Our question is: Can we find a way to still use GPS but reduce the harmful effects of current GPS navigation on memory? The challenge is to create alternative forms of GPS navigation that will remain easy enough for the general public, but also enable traditional navigation and thus be more likely to improve spatial awareness.

Our research finds that appropriately-designed audio beacons (声音指引) offer an alternative that develops a much more active form of egocentric navigation. Instead of guiding users to turn right and turn left on the way to their desired destination, we can change a location of interest to a distinctive auditory beacon via earbuds or headphones. Our auditory navigation application, known as Soundscape, has an effect that resembles a church bell, where loud ringing of the bell or calls to prayer can be heard at great distance; our would-be navigator can make way by heading toward the sound.

Auditory beacon navigation is an example of how we are entering into an era where negative effects of automation on our brain health will be at the forefront of technological development. Technology does not need to replace our evolutionary functions and distance us from our environments, but rather with appropriate design can add the sensory inputs processed by our brain. Perhaps instead of evolving into a new species of turn-by-turn zombies, we can thereby all engage more deeply with humanity, our local environment and life itself.

【推荐3】Yet although officers will not disappear, it’s hard to imagine that working life will return to before-COVID-19 (新冠肺炎) ways. For more than a century workers have pushed themselves on-to crowded trains and buses, or suffered traffic jams, to get into the office, and back, five days a week. However, for the past one year they have not had to commute (上下班往返), and may enjoy it for a long time.

Employers, for their part, have supported expensive offices in city centers because they need to gather workers in one place. The rent is only part of the cost; there are cleaning, lightning, printers, catering and security on top. Needless to say, in the homeworking era these costs are cut down.

Another part of the homeworking era may be the disappearance of the five-day working week. Even before the COVID-19 many workers became used to taking phone calls or answering emails at the weekend. In the homeworking era, the dividing line between home and working life, a useful way of relieving stress, will be even harder to keep. It may be lost altogether.

What’s more, without the Monday-to-Friday commute, the weekend seems more nebulous, for employees may walk and take breaks freely, with only the company video calls unchanged.

Looking further out, the homeworking era may bring other changes. Some may decide to live in small towns where housing costs are lower, since they have no need to commute. Men will have fewer excuses to skip cleaning or childcare if they are not disappearing to the office.

In a sense, this is a return to normal: until the 19th century most people worked at or close to their homes. But social historians may still regard 2020 as the start of a new age.