【推荐1】It is not so long ago that the extended family lived under the same roof. Children grew up knowing their cousins，aunts，uncles，grandparents，and other relatives. These children felt connected（关联的）.

In these not-too-long-ago times people were connected with their food. Most people grew their own vegetables and fruit. Many families had a house cow for milk，cheese，butter and cream. Most families also had meat animals. When visitors came unexpectedly，the dad would be sent out to kill the chicken for dinner. Everyone was involved（参与）in cooking and the mealtime was a social event. When the meal ended，most of the family were involved in cleaning up and washing up. How different is the situation today？

The fast life is all around us —fast food，fast cars，fast conversations，fast families，and fast holidays. Our fast-paced life has weakened these connections. We have been fooled into thinking we need to，or even must，be fast and have what the "fast life" gives us. Stress is leading to many new health problems.

The solution is the Slow Movement. It aims to deal with the problem of "time poverty（缺乏）" through making connections. It supports a growing cultural change towards slowing down. It has spread to more than sixty countries and become a worldwide movement.

The Slow Movement tells us that we need to slow down and connect our life. We need connections to people-ourselves, our family, our community, our friends, to food, to places (where we live), and to life. By being part of the Slow Movement, many people have known how they lost connections to most aspects of their life and to the natural world around them. And more importantly, they have been reconnected —they have lived a new connected lifestyle.

【推荐2】As a child grows out of being an infant and begins to notice and react to the world around him, you may find yourself wondering how you possibly impart(给予；传授) all of the things that he needs to become a responsible, respectful adult.     1    A child who learns to respect all he meets not only receives respect from others, but also learns to respect himself as well.

Show your child respect. This is perhaps the best way to teach your child how to respect others. Listen to your child by giving him your full attention and he will learn to listen to you, understanding how important this is in communication.

    2    The more you say “please” and “thank you” to your child, the more likely he will learn to use them with you and others. Politeness then becomes a normal part of any conversation.

Agree to disagree.    3    Explain your decision so that he will understand your reasoning and expect respectful responses. Disagreeing with you doesn't equate (等于)to disobedience.

Control your impulse to overact. When a situation arises between you and your child that requires calmness, keep in mind that you are supposed to be modeling correct behavior.    4    

Praise, praise, praise! So much is focused on what a child does wrong and how to correct it that the accomplishments are not celebrated enough.    5    

【推荐3】Five Ways to Fight Depression

If you feel depressed, it’s best to do something about it. In addition to getting help from a doctor, here are five things you can do to feel better.

Exercise.            1    Or you can dance, jog, or bike if you prefer. People who are depressed may not feel much like being active. But make yourself do it anyway. Once you get in the exercise habit, it won’t take long to notice a difference in your mood.

Nurture yourself with good nutrition（营养）.   One person may not feel like eating at all, but another might overeat. If depression has affected your eating, you’ll need to be extra mindful of getting the right nutrition. Proper nutrition can influence a person’s mood and energy.    2    

Identify troubles. Try to identify any situations that have contributed to your depression.

    3    Talking is a way to release the feelings and to receive some understanding.

Express yourself. With depression, a person’s creativity and sense of fun may seem blocked. Exercise your imagination and you not only get those creative juices flowing, you also loosen up some positive emotions. Take time to play with a friend or a pet, or   do something   fun   for yourself. Find something to laugh about — a funny movie, perhaps.                4    

    5    Depression affects a person’s thoughts, making everything seem negative, and hopeless. If depression has you notice only the negative, make an effort to notice the good things in life. Try to notice one thing, then try to think of one more. Consider your strengths, gifts, or blessings. Most of all, don’t forget to be patient with yourself. Depression takes time to heal（治愈）.

【推荐1】It has been two months since I moved to China, but its digital advancement hasn’t stopped impressing me ever since. One of the major things that I cannot imagine living without anymore is mobile payment. There are two major mobile payment apps here, Alipay and WeChat Pay. Both have similar payment features (特征), though WeChat is more like a social media. That’s why I will focus on this “super app”.

So far, I’ve been shocked by how efficient (效率高的) life can be with WeChat. It is present in every aspect of people’s daily life, from paying water and electricity bills, meals, cinema tickets to calling a taxi, following news, and chatting with friends. Most businessmen have used it, from tiny local street food stalls to high-end (高端的) stores. A cashier (收银员) may be surprised if you do not pay with WeChat or Alipay at the grocers or in restaurants. And it seems like the entire payment industry has encouraged this shift to mobile payment, equipping payment terminals with QR code scanners to simplify payments. Mobile payments are so common here that I realize that I can perfectly survive if I forget my wallet at home one day because most days I just don’t take it out of my bag!

As mentioned earlier, WeChat is also a major social media platform with about one billion daily users, which is more than the entire population of European Union. So I have to say Chinese technological and digital development is a real miracle (奇迹).

【推荐2】While the start of a new school year is always exciting, this year was even more so for some elementary school students in Auckland, New Zealand. They became the world’s first kids to be “taught” by a digital teacher, Will. Will is just an avatar(用户头像)that appears on the students desktop, tablet, or smartphone screen, not a human-like robot walking around the classroom.

Auckland energy company Vector and AI company Soul Machines worked together to develop Will, which has been modeled after the human brain and nervous system, allowing it to perform human-like behavior. The digital teacher is currently assigned to teach Vector’s “Be sustainable with energy,” a free program for Auckland elementary schools.

Just like the humans it replaced, Will is able to instantly react to the students’ responses to the topic. Thanks to a webcam(网络摄像头)and microphone, the avatar not only responds to questions the kids may have, but also picks up non-verbal cues(非口头提示). For instance, if a student smiles at Will, he responds by smiling back. This two-way interaction not only helps capture the students’ attention, but also allows the program’s developers to monitor their participation, and make changes if needed.

Vector’s Chief Digital Officer, Nikhil Ravishankar says, “What was fascinating to me was the reaction of the children to Will. The way they look at the world is so creative and different, and Will really captured their attention.”

Will, in place since August 2018, has been a great success so far. However, regardless of how popular it becomes, Will is unlikely to replace human educators any time soon. For. one, the avatar’s knowledge base is severely restricted. But more importantly, even the smartest digital avatars could never predict and react to all the unexpected situations that educators have to deal with on a daily basis. However, it could come in handy as a “personal tutor”, providing kids with one-on-one help on specific subjects or even topics.