【推荐1】Heavy clouds threaten rain, but this doesn’t seem to weaken the spirits of the gardeners who are cheerfully weeding in a community vegetable garden which lies deep inside Manguinhos, previously a rubbish dump.

The Manguinbos garden is part of the Hortas Cariocas project (Carioca Gardens). Launched in 2006 by Julio Cesar Barros, an agriculturist who works for the government, the project now includes 55 gardens that are located either in schools or in “vulnerable” neighborhoods, such as favelas (棚户区). The gardens produce organic food that is then supplied to feed low-income families around.

Barros explains that the expansion of the largest garden which will benefit five nearby favelas is under way. It will follow the same model as existing gardens. Each of the five favelas will provide a team of local gardeners. Half of the produce must be donated locally, but the team is then free to sell the other half, adding to the salary they receive.

Hortas Cariocas is run and funded by the government, but each garden is tended by a group of locals who receive a small salary: for their work! The favela residents involved in the gardens are nevertheless enthusiastic about the project’s other benefits, such as education and bringing people happiness. I always tell people, Hortas Cariocas’ dis the name of the project, but its surname is “ Saving Lives”, says Ezequiel Dias Areas, who manages the team of gardeners in Manguinhos. Dias Areas was unemployed for five years before getting involved in 2013. Without the garden “today I might be doing something illegal, I might be dead, I might be in prison”, he says.

Douglas dos Santos, a 30-year-old father-of-four, tells his story. “I feel valued,” he says, explaining how he learned about agriculture via the project. Despite his pride, dos Santos isn’t blind to the project’s shortcomings. He readily admits that juggling a pleasant relationship with the favela’s residents’ association is no easy task.

【推荐3】As soon as Boran Bumovich Hignio’s bare feet touch the sand on the beach, he spreads his arms like a helicopter and happily says, “Let’s go surfing!” The 7-year-old, wearing a black wetsuit, is followed by a dozen other kids who skip their way into the blue waves of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru’s capital, Lima.

Boran gets help with his wetsuit from Diego Villarán, who founded the local surf school. This Peruvian surf school is part of a wave of community-based projects around the world that use a perhaps surprising method to help kids: surf therapy (疗法).

The idea is not only about catching waves to make use of the proven mental health benefits of physical exercise. The wider goal is to create a space for young children to express themselves freely, to help teach them how to process their emotions and to create positive social connections.

Lima’s surf therapy project is run by Alto Peru, a local nonprofit named after the neighborhood in the south of the city where Villardn — its 41-year-old founder and all of the trainee surfers come from. Many of the children in the Alto Peru program face challenging situations. Some parents are addicted to alcohol. One of the boys has even turned up for lessons with a black eye a couple of times.

Half of all mental health disorders begin before the age of 14 and up to a fifth of teenagers globally experience mental health conditions, according to the World Mental Health Survey Initiative, which conducted face-to-face interviews in 17 countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.

Surf therapy, which covers projects from Sierra Leone to California and Trinidad, is seen by advocates as a convincing solution to helping address mental health issues among young people. “It has changed my life,” says Omarion Butler, 19, who began surfing with Alto Peru two years ago. “When my parents put me down in the past, it was hard for me to express my feelings. But surfing makes me more confident. It helps me to take time for myself.”

【推荐1】Technology use seems to be the new wave of addiction hitting people of all ages. The next time you’re in a crowded public place, look at the people around you. It’s hard to find someone who isn’t glued to the tiny screen, fingers moving at lightning speeds, texting their friends, emailing co-workers or listening to music. It may seem ridiculous (荒谬的) that someone is that addicted to such a small object. I’ve seen people who seem to be at their wits’ end if their phone has been taken away, lost or left at home.

Some people may ask, “What’s wrong with technology use? It’s a way for people to communicate.” While this is true, the overuse of technology isn’t always suitable in certain settings. Schools are becoming stricter about the use of mobile phones, iPods and other electronics in classrooms. Various workplaces have signs hanging on their walls warning employees that “Mobile phone use is not permitted.”

Electronics may be a way for people to communicate and stay in touch with each other, but the disadvantages may outweigh the benefits. People are losing the ability to hold face-to-face conversations with others.

However, it’s hard to avoid electronics in this day and age because almost everything is turning into an electronic format. Books, originally meant for paper design, are now being transferred (转存) to electronic forms. Photo albums, and even yearbooks, can now be viewed via the Internet. With this growing trend (趋势), future generations certainly become even more addicted to technology.

Is there a cure for electronic addiction? Simply turning electronics off for an hour or two a day may help to an extent, but it will not completely overcome electronic addiction. There only seems to be one cure left, and it may be the hardest: self-control.

【推荐2】In the past 50 years, the amount of water in the open ocean with zero oxygen has gone up more than fourfold. In coastal water bodies, including river mouths and seas, low-oxygen sites have increased more than tenfold since 1950. Scientists expect oxygen levels to continue dropping even outside these zones as the Earth warms.

“Oxygen is fundamental to life in the oceans,” said Denise Breitburg, marine ecologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre. “The decline in ocean oxygen ranks among the most serious effects of human activities on the Earth’s environment.” “Actually, it’s a great loss to all the services that rely on recreation and tourism, including hotels, restaurants and everything else. The severe impact of unhealthy ecosystems in the ocean can be extensive,” said Lisa Levin, scientist at the University of California San Diego.

In areas traditionally called “dead zones”, like those in Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, oxygen plummets (暴跌) to so low levels that many animals die. As fish avoid these zones, their habitats become smaller and they’re easier to be attacked or caught. But the problem goes far beyond “dead zones”. Even smaller oxygen decline can prevent growth in animals, get in the way of reproduction and lead to disease or even death. It can also cause the release of dangerous chemicals such as nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas up to 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. While some animals can thrive(茁壮成长) in “dead zones”, overall biodiversity falls.

Climate change is the key culprit (问题的起因) in the open ocean. Warming surface waters make it harder for oxygen to reach the inside of the ocean. Furthermore, as the ocean as a whole gets warmer, it holds less oxygen. In coastal waters, too much nutrient pollution from land creates algal(海藻的) blooms, which use up oxygen as algae die and break down.

People’s livelihoods are also on the line, the scientists reported, especially in developing nations. Smaller fisheries may be unable to relocate when low oxygen destroys their harvests or forces fish to move elsewhere. So we humans have to carry on a war against climate change now and win the war.

【推荐3】If a business wants to sell its products internationally, it had better do some market research first. This is a lesson that some large American corporations have learned the hard way.

Sometimes the problem is the name. When General Motors introduced its Chevy Nova into Latin America, it overlooked the fact that Nova in Spanish means “It doesn’t go”. Sure enough the Chevy Nova never went anywhere in Latin America.

Sometimes it is the slogan that doesn’t work. No company knows this better than Pepsi-Cola with its “Come alive with Pepsi!” campaign. The campaign was so successful in the United States that Pepsi translated its slogan literally for its international campaign. As it turned out, the translations weren’t quite right. Pepsi was begging Germans to “Come out of the grave (坟墓)” and telling the Chinese that “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.”

Other times, the problem involves packaging. A picture of a smiling baby has helped sell countless jars of Gerber baby food. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in African countries, the picture on the jar shows what the jar has in it for many people there can’t read.

Even the culture and religious factors and pure coincidence can be involved. Thorn McAn shoes have a Thorn McAn “signature” inside. To people in Bangladesh, which is a Muslim country, this signature looked like Arabic script for the word Allah. In that country feet are considered unclean and Muslims felt the company was offending God’s name by having people walk on it.