【推荐2】A study found that older learners reported higher life enjoyment and greater confidence. The following apps will help you to learn something new.

Quizlet

Whether you’re brushing up on a language, gardening knowledge and cooking techniques, or trying to understand your favourite literature classics, the online learning platform, Quizlet, gives you access to ever 300 million different study sets for free.

Whether you are learning a skill yourself or helping your child or grandchild revise their school work. Quizlet is a great study platform for mastering any subject.

Babbel

As well as being a great skill to show off on holiday, learning a new language can have profound effects on the way you approach problem-solving and might even give you a leg-up in your career. With classes designed to be 10-15 minutes long, Babbel encourages learning in short, yet achievable, bursts. So this summer, whether you’re on the beach soaking up some sun, or simply relaxing at home, why not give language learning a try?

Blinkist

Blinkist is the perfect app to assist you this summer, providing the key highlights from non-fiction books in both audio and text form.

Whether you want to start a new business, improve your management skills, or achieve a better work/life balance, micro-learning app Blinkist takes key ideas from non-fiction texts and reduces them into easy-to-consume 15-minute digests.

Remente

Stress is something that most of us face on a daily basis—be it at work or at home—and continual worry and stress can be harmful to our health.

Today, there are tools that can help you, like the mental health app Remente. Remente guides a user through every step in order to make their goals a reality.

【推荐3】More than a billion people around the world have smart phones, almost all of which come with navigation (导航) apps such as Google or Apple Maps. This raises the questions we meet with any technology: what skills are we losing? What abilities are we gaining?

Talking with people who’re good at finding their way around or using paper maps, I often hear lots of frustration with digital maps. North/South direction gets messed up, and you can see only a small sections at a time.

But consider what digital navigation aids have meant for someone like me. Despite being a frequent traveler, I’m so terrible at finding my way that I still use Google Maps every day in the small town where I have lived for many years. What looks like an imperfect product to some has been a significant expansion of my own abilities.

Part of the problem is that reading paper maps requires specific skills. There is nothing natural about them. In many developed nations, including the U.S., one expects street names and house numbers to be meaningful references, and instructions such as “go north for three blocks and then west ” make sense. In Istanbul, in contrast, where I grew up, none of those hold true. For one thing, the locals rarely use street names. Why bother when a government or a military group might change them again? Besides, the city is full of winding, ancient alleys that meet newer avenues at many angles. Instructions as simple as “go north”would require a helicopter or a bulldozer.

Let’s come back to my original questions. While we often lose some skills after leaving the work to technology, it may also allow us to expand our abilities. Consider the calculator: I don’t doubt our arithmetic skills might have dropped a bit as the little machines became common, but calculations that once boring and tricky are now much more straightforward and one can certainly do more complex calculations more confidently.

【推荐1】If you’ve ever travelled with other people, the chances are you’ve had to make compromises. When you want to get up early to watch the sunrise, for example, your friends may argue that getting enough sleep is more important. And when you want to try the different food, your friends might say it looks strange and push you to a Chinese restaurant instead.

This is probably why more people these days are choosing to travel alone. According to reports on holiday habits from the Association of British Travel Agents, the percentage of people in the UK who take trips alone has been increasing, from 6 percent in 2011, to 12 percent in 2017, and to 15 percent in 2018. Most of these people said they choose to travel alone because this allows them to “do what they want”.

In fact, travelling alone is only a part of a recent trend (趋势) of people wanting to take more time alone—or what’s called “me time”. “Imagine yourself as a full pot of water and everything else that asks for your attention is an empty glass. When you provide what is needed for them you are using up your own water supply,” Editor Nicole Lyons wrote for the mental health social network Psych Central. “But how are you refilling your pot? This is where your ‘me time’ comes in.”

However, it’s still quite a common belief that those who do things alone are losers and that they’re alone simply because they don’t have anybody to be with. But why can’t people just be enough for themselves?

The now Duchess of Sussex Rachel Meghan Markle once wrote on her blog in 2016 about how she enjoyed taking herself out to dinner and travelling alone. ”It’s not easy. But it’s important,“ she wrote. You should face everything and encourage yourself to move forward when the feeling of loneliness and boredom sweeps through your body and mind, according to Markle.

【推荐2】There is a photo in my collection that I pull out from time to time to remind myself of an old vacation. It’s a picture of me from the late 1970s on a bench in London’s Victoria Station, my head resting against a wall, eyes closed with tiredness, clothes messed up.

I used to love that shot. It was evidence of my leisure time, of travel, of interruption from the office: miles covered, sights seen, train stations raced through, goals achieved.

However, as I leave work to hit the vacation trail this summer, I take along something extra. This traveling companion has a habit of ruining trips with feelings of guilt—the guilt that comes from attempting to vacation while thinking of the job.

The conflict between the time we want off and the guilt we feel when we actually give in to leisure is a long-running battle that has gone too far, driven by an over-scheduling craze. It has made many feel as if their free moments are a form of truancy (玩忽职守).

It’s hard to take it easy when you’ve been programmed not to. We have been taught for generations that work is the only goal.

Time that is unfilled is evil, we are led to believe, and unplanned enjoyment should be avoided. This is reinforced today by a workplace culture that wants you to believe that advancement depends on your staying on the job.

Research now shows, however, that leisure time can do something job advancement and money can’t. Leisure activities increase your desire to work leadership skills, your sense of awareness and your ability to change. Free time also promotes a positive mood and sense of well-being, because it develops self-worth. Deep down, everyone knows we need time off to make our lives better.

On holiday, using your productive output as a measure of yourself doesn’t work. This is because a vacation isn’t about output; it’s about input — exploring, learning, reflecting. The magic of a holiday is in the experience itself. This is the same as life satisfaction; it can’t be measured, only felt.

The best part of a vacation isn’t going somewhere else; it’s being where you are, fully involved in the experience.

【推荐3】New parents often spend a long time debating what to call their newborn. Should they name them after a relative, a famous person, or just pick a name at random?     1     but it’s our children who need to live with our choice. So, how important is the name you choose?

Names usually stay with us for a lifetime, unless we decide to change them. They become part of our identity. Quite often we hear stories of celebrities giving their children unusual names, while other people give their children names which have special meanings, for example,     2     Sadly, though, our parents don’t always get it right.

So, what if you don’t like your given name? A study led by psychologist Jean Twenge found that a person who hates the nickname given to them is more likely to have greater psychological adjustment issues — possibly due to low self-esteem. This is because our title becomes a symbol of our self.     3    

And what if your name is no longer popular? While names like Ethel and Gladys were once in fashion, they now sound a bit out of date, which can be embarrassing.     4     Studies have shown that people with old-fashioned names are more likely to be rejected on dating apps.

However, if you choose an unusual name, it’s not all bad news. According to a study conducted by Professor David Zhu, people with uncommon names can develop a sense of uniqueness.     5    

So, when choosing your successor’s name, there are a fair few things to consider — but going for something too common or too old-fashioned may not be a great choice.

【推荐1】Driverless cars are the best-known example of how artificial intelligence is influencing daily life in China, according to a new report on social attitudes toward AI technology that was released at Fudan University on May 17.

Based on the responses of 625 questionnaires made by Fudan University’s National Center for Cultural Innovation Research and the communication and data science laboratory, the report states that nearly 90 percent of the respondents are familiar with driverless cars, with over 67, percent having access to both positive and negative information on cars. About 62 percent of the respondents said they were willing to ride in driverless cars. Meanwhile, around 47 percent were supportive of unmanned vehicle road tests in the country. However, more than 30 percent of the respondents expressed their concerns about the safety of driverless cars.

If personal injuries or property loss are suffered in the event of an accident, 80.5 percent of the respondents said that the designers of the AI products should bear legal responsibility while 55.5 percent said that vehicle users should also shoulder the blame.

Smart cars with partial or fully autonomous functions are expected to account for 50 percent of new vehicles sold in China by 2020. According to the blueprint released by the National Development and Reform Commission in January, the country is aiming to become a global power in smart-car development and production by 2035.

“One cannot ignore the risks and ethics issues brought up by artificial intelligence technology,” said Sun Shaojing, director of the Communication and Data Science Laboratory of the National Center for Cultural Innovation Research at Fudan University, “Policies should be strengthened to ensure a balanced development of ethics and science, especially for some fast-growing applications like driverless cars.”

【推荐2】"I like your smile, but dislike you put your shoes on my face". A charming way of saying "Keep off the grass". But could you figure it out? Or this: "Wash Clothing Store" for laundry.

They are both typical Chinglish, a combination of English vocabulary and Chinese grammar. Expressions such as "people mountain people sea", means extremely crowded, and "give you some color to see see", meaning a punishment, are widely known and recognized.

Chinglish has been attracting global attention in recent years as China grows rapidly in status on the world stage, attracting both fans and detractors (诽谤者).

The Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Programme and English First China Company, a language trainer known as EF Education, jointly launched a campaign to root out poor grammar and misused vocabulary in downtown Beijing. They argue Chinglish is an embarrassment that we should let it die out at all costs.

"It is meaningful to allow the capital to show its most beautiful historical and cultural heritage to the world." said Michael Lu, vice-president of EF Education. He believed signs were very important in public services. "The signs in some old buildings confused foreign visitors."

Chinglish, although the target of much criticism, has also won supporters who regard it as an interesting way for foreigners to learn how Chinese people think and express themselves.

"Many Chinglish logos carry Chinese elements and they will enrich the English language," 32-year-old Oliver Radtke said. He had even published a book "Chinglish: Found in Translation," on the subject, 50,000 copies of which have been sold since it was published in 2007.

Some Chinese university experts also side with Chinglish. "English has absorbed elements from other languages such as French and Spanish in its growth, and the emergence (出现) of Chinglish again shows the language's liveliness and inclusiveness (包容性), said Shi Anbin, an associate professor of Tsinghua University.

【推荐3】If asked if space exploration should continue, most Americans would give an immediate response either in favor of continuing or in favor of ending space exploration. A common response would be that space exploration is a waste of money. An average American, uneducated on the subject,might believe that the government is wasting billions of dollars on the research that has no value.Someone strange to the subject might say that a space shuttle goes up once in a while and that is about all that happens. Research is ongoing and continues when there are no shuttles being launched. This also costs the government money. Does the extreme cost of space exploration make sense?

One argument is that the government is wasting money on the research not being used on Earth. Actually, the money goes to workers and scientists that support National Acronauics and Space Administration (NASA) missions, and goes to major companies that play important roles in major sectors of the US economy. Boeing is a partner of NASA for aircraft, the same company that makes commercial aircraft for the airline industry.

Another benefit to continuing space exploration is the many technologies it provides ides. The artificial heart resulted from experiments on the space shuttle. The handheld Jaws of Life used to save victims from car accidents resulted from the system used to separate the space shuttle from its booster rockets. Insulation (隔热板) in homes that keeps them warm and energy efficient is based on the technology used to insulate the space shuttle.

There are direct benefits to the economy provided by NASA missions as well as those technologies. These advances are found in food, building materials, medical procedures and the vehicles we drive. While it can be proven that billions of dollars that could be used elsewhere is being spent on space exploration, the benefits it provides outweigh the terrible aspects. As a matter of fact,the money spent helps to improve the quality of our lives. .

【推荐2】Artificial Intelligence has been around for many years. But it’s recently gotten much media attention because of an AI application called ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an advanced AI chatbot trained by OpenAI which interacts in a conversational way. The dialogue form makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect places, and reject inappropriate requests.

It has reached 100 million users just two months after launching, according to analysts. ChatGPT has taken the world by storm since it launched last November. The AI chatbot answers questions online in text in a human-like way, and it can also write its responses in different styles, for example, that of a student writing an essay.

ChatGPT technology can help people write code (编码) quickly and accurately with the help of natural language. ChatGPT can take a text prompt (提示) and generate code that is tailored to the given task. This technology has the potential to cut down development time, as it can generate code quickly and accurately. It can also help reduce the risk of errors, as ChatGPT is capable of generating code that can be tested and used immediately.

Some teachers are worried about how many of their pupils are using it to do their homework and have written to parents warning them about it. Others say they can spot its essay, and there are now tools which claim to be able to differentiate human text from that written by artificial intelligence.

But the cat is out of the bag, and now the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) says its students can take advantage of the tech, just like using a calculator (计算器) to work out a maths problem, as long as they admit to it by both crediting ChatCPT in the text and adding a reference note at the end.

Good news for students, but ChatGPT’s knowledge database only goes up to September 2021, so it’s not very useful on topical subjects, and, as it gets its information from the internet, it can also be inaccurate.