【推荐1】You’ve heard them before. Perfect voices, matching their speakers’ attitude, style, and appearance. Most people know how to recognize a good voice simply because they like it and feel attracted to it.     1    There are reasons why specific voices feel much easier on the ears, and people describe them as smooth.

Good voices usually sound warmer, friendlier, expressive, and controlled. However, a bad voice is the complete opposite.     2    

The question is:     3     When we have a good conversation with someone, we tend to adjust the pitch (音高) of our own voice towards theirs. But when we find someone attractive, the opposite is true. For men, their pitch goes down, while for women, their pitch goes up. What’s more, lowering or raising your pitch might be a sin of how attractive we find our date, but it also makes the other person more attracted to us.

But could putting on an accent help you to appear younger or more masculine (男子汉的)? Humans have a remarkable vocal range, but also a good ability to detect fakers.     4     -if we could go around deceiving (欺骗) people all the time with our voices , then the entire communication system would fail. At the end of the day, making your voice sound more attractive, better, or deeper is a matter of trying.     5     Practice your breathing, keep your pitch in mind, copy good speakers, and learn how to position your voice after you’ve examined it. Record yourself, and see what works and what doesn’t.

【推荐1】Eating healthier may be as simple as not going to the grocery store, one study revealed. Participants who ordered their groceries online spent less money on junk food compared to when they shopped in person, according to the study. Researchers tracked the spending patterns of 137 shoppers over the course of 44 weeks. People who shopped online spent on average about $2.50 less on unhealthy food purchases like candy and frozen desserts compared to when they did their shopping inside stores, said study author Laura Zatz.

The study did not examine why shoppers spent less money on unhealthy food when they shopped online, there are some likely reasons, such as a reduction in opportunities for impulse (冲动) purchases. “Online shopping allows shoppers to keep away from lots of in-store marketing and attractive food stimuli (刺激), which encourages us to add items to our basket that we didn’t plan to purchase,” Zatz said. “Those towers of junk food at the end of grocery store aisles don’t exist online.” Besides, many people have presaved grocery lists, or their food options are based on their dietary needs, she added. Who we shop with may also play a role in our purchase, said Stephanie Rogus, professor of human nutrition at New Mexico State University. When shopping in person, adults often bring along their children or other family members, who may ask for unhealthy food.

Online grocery shopping is still relatively new, and Zatz said that marketing will evolve and influence shoppers to purchase unhealthy food online. Grocery stores may begin to advertise foods that aren’t selling as well in the form of pop-up ads or personalized recommendations to overcome reduced spending on certain items. If unhealthy foods are underselling, shoppers might start seeing ads for them.

Shoppers spent 44% more per transaction (交易) and purchased more items online versus in stores, researchers also found. Transaction fees could have influenced this trend, Rogus said. Many online grocery services have a transaction fee, so combining shopping trips to have fewer transactions could have saved the participants some money. At some stores, spending a certain amount could mean the fee is free. Most of the shoppers in this study were higher-income and could potentially afford to spend more money to avoid transaction fees or hit a required minimum payment for online orders.

The majority of food shopping was still done in person during the study’s time period, with participants shopping online just under 29% of the time. There is potential for online grocery shopping to reduce unhealthy food purchases, Rogus said, but the high percentage of times participants choosing to shop at a physical store means the full impact is unclear.

Online shopping can reduce the amount of money spent on unhealthy foods, but “people still need to make a wise decision to plan ahead and purchase a healthful and varied mix of foods consistent with a healthy diet,” Zatz stressed.

【推荐2】The award-winning documentary “Feeding Tomorrow” explores the American food system’s shortcomings and the urgent need for change. Directed by Oliver and Simon English, the film dives deep into the complex web of issues surrounding food, climate change, and agriculture, leaving viewers with a clear realization of the challenges ahead.

At its core, “Feeding Tomorrow” raises fundamental questions about humanity’s relationship with the planet and the consequences of our consumption patterns. As the global population reaches up to 10 billion, the film shows the serious reality that our current methods of food production are unsustainable. With agriculture already occupying half of the habitable land and consuming 70% of freshwater resources, the harm on the environment is reaching critical levels.

The documentary reveals the interconnectedness of food, climate, and health, weaving together narratives from diverse voices in the fields of farming, health, and education. Through the stories of innovators like Mark Shepard, Clare Fox, and Lisa McDowell, “Feeding Tomorrow” highlights the urgent need for systemic change.

One of the central themes of the documentary is the importance of regenerative farming practices. By promoting biodiversity and topsoil growth, regenerative agriculture offers a promising path towards sustainability. The film emphasizes the need to transition from conventional, monoculture (单一) farming to more overall approaches.

Moreover, “Feeding Tomorrow” shows the significance of adopting plant-forward diets and reducing meat consumption. With animal agriculture being a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation (恶化), the documentary advocates for a shift towards more sustainable dietary habits.

Ultimately, “Feeding Tomorrow” serves as a cry for collective action and social change. It challenges viewers to reevaluate their relationship with food and embrace sustainable practices that benefit both people and the planet. The documentary reminds us that the power to shape a better future lies in our hands. In the words of Mark Shepard, “What are you going to eat for dinner tonight? Start asking the questions.”

【推荐3】Ru Ling loves spending time in skywells. To her, these courtyards of old houses are the perfect place to be in on a hot and humid day. From 2014 to 2021, Ru lived in a century-old wood-framed home in the village of eastern China’s Anhui province. She moved there for a change of life after living and working in air-conditioned buildings for many years.

A skywell, or “tian jing”, is a typical feature of a traditional home in southern and eastern China. They are relatively common in historic residences in Sichuan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi. In today’s rapidly urbanizing (城市化) China, fewer and fewer people live in skywell dwellings—air-conditioned flats in multi-storeyed buildings and tower blocks are the main forms of homes.

But a revival (复苏) of interest in traditional Chinese architecture is leading some of historic buildings with skywells to be restored for modern times. Meanwhile, as a government push has made low-carbon innovations in the building sector a trend, some architects are drawing inspiration from skywells and other traditional Chinese architectural features to help keep new buildings cooler.

Ancient “green wisdom” such as skywells continues to inspire today’s climate adaptive design and innovations in passive cooling, according to Wang Zhengfeng, a researcher at the Institute for Area Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Passive cooling is a method that incorporates design and technology to cool a building without the use of power.

However, Wang points out some challenges for bringing skywells into modern designs. The mechanisms of courtyards facilitating natural lighting, ventilation and rain collection are well known, but applying these principles needs to be site-specific. Because traditional skywells had different shapes, sizes and features, adding skywells into modern buildings requires designers to be sensitive to their project’s context (环境) and situation, she explains. When asked about why skywells have appealed to modern Chinese people, Wang says that the courtyard is also designed to serve as a gathering space for families or communities. “Perhaps changes in the lifestyle could also lead to nostalgia among people living in concrete and glass forests.”