【推荐1】How to Have a Healthy Relationship with Your Colleagues at Work

●     1    

It is unprofessional to misbehave towards fellow workers. An employee must behave in an acceptable way in the workplace. Being rude to fellow workers spoils the relationships among employees. Remember that the way you behave says a lot about your education, upbringing and family background.

●Make Your Fellow Workers Feel Important

Show how much you care about them. If they have done something for you, remember to thank them. The good work of employees must be acknowledged and appreciated in front of all. Being jealous doesn’t help, and, in turn, it spoils your relationship with your fellow workers.

●     2    

If any of your colleagues is doing something wrong, tell him to his face. It is better to be straighlt-forward than spread unnecessary rumours (谣言) Criticizing and making fun of fellow workers spoil relationships and eventually turn friends into enemies.

●     3    

Listen to what your colleagues say. You need to be a little more understanding, meanwhile. Try to avoid unnecessary conflicts in the workplace. Put yourself in your colleague’s shoes before taking any important decisions.

【推荐2】Oxford ELAT(English Literature Admissions Test)

If you are applying for one of the following courses you will be required to take the Oxford ELAT: English Language and Literature, Classics and English, English and Modern Languages, History and English.

The Oxford ELAT is a paper-based test, lasting 90 minutes and taken under timed exam conditions. The Oxford ELAT is designed to test a candidate’s close reading skills, and their ability to write about unfamiliar literary material. You will be asked to write one essay comparing two passages, focusing on elements such as language, form and structure.

You will be given six passages on the same theme, the names of the authors and the dates of publication, as well as the forms (novel, essay, poetry,   etc.). You are not expected to introduce any references to other texts or authors you have studied and marks are not awarded for evidence of wider reading or previous knowledge of the texts or their contexts (语境). Instead, the examiners will reward your ability to do the following: respond perceptively (有洞察力地) to unfamiliar materials demonstrate skills of close reading construct a well-structured essay write fluently and accurately.

Please note that the Oxford ELAT is a closed-book test and you will not be able to take dictionaries or notes into the test.

【推荐1】More than half of Chinese children and teenagers suffered from nearsightedness, according to a survey by the National Health Commission(NHC).

    1    . It covered 1.1 million students in 1,033 kindergartens and 3,810 primary and middle schools. It found that 81 percent of senior high school students were nearsighted. In junior high school and primary school, that rate was 71.6 percent and 36 percent respectively. In kindergarten, 14 percent of six-year-olds were nearsighted.     2    .

The common phenomenon of extreme myopia has also become alarming. According to the survey, the percentage of senior students in high schools who wear glasses stronger than six diopters went up to 21.9 percent.

According to Ma Jun, deputy head of the Beijing Ophthalmology Institute, the survey was the largest in recent years. This survey has provided a basis for taking targeted measures for control and prevention.

    3    . He said that insufficient outdoor exercise and sleep time, excessive homework and near-vision work, and improper use of electronic devices were the main causes.

Nearsightedness is not curable with current medical techniques.     4    . Experts suggest that children and teenagers should exercise outdoors for two hours a day, or 10 hours per week, and reduce their amount of near-vision work, as well as use of cell phones and computers.

    5    . The plan aims to keep the myopia rate among six-year-olds at around 3 percent by 2030, and the rate among junior and senior high school students below 60 percent and 70 percent respectively. Zhang said the commission will cooperate with education authorities to pressure local governments to carry out measures for the control and prevention of nearsightedness among students, and improve the monitoring of nearsightedness.

【推荐2】What is the ideal physique(体形)? The answer is ever-changing. But it is to a large extent work of a single company that dominated the past 60 years of body image standards.

Since its creation in 1959, Barbie has been in the leading position of promoting hardly attainable body image standards, for which it was often heavily criticized. Scientific research shows that the probability of achieving a Barbie-like body shape is less than 1 in 100,000!

Mattel, the company behind the Barbie doll, has recognized that the 60s’ idea of good body image is long gone. In an effort to keep up with social change, Mattel is adjusting the dolls' body type and skin color, introducing special editions.

There is now a Barbie in a wheelchair. There is a Barbie Astronaut, Rescuer, or Engineer. In their latest Barbie special edition, Mattel honors the women fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, including Dame Sarah Gilbert. In the hope that Mattel is adapting to modern corporate standards just as well as it is to social change, we’re attracted by what the company's sustainability data may tell us.

What does the data tell us? To answer this question, we’ve launched a sustainability-focused beauty contest-with Mattel as one of the contestants. The company scores relatively well on environmental and social metrics(衡量标准).However, in terms of diversity, Mattel is well below its competitor, Hasbro. This being said, the judges advise that beauty should be equally defined by the inside and the outside.

What does this mean? Be body-positive! As we’re approaching the second quarter of the 21st century, the importance of a healthy relationship between mind and body is being recognized. And with this, body image standards are changing, allowing for more freedom of expression and identity.

Mattel’s efforts in product diversity are a welcome step in the right direction, as the doll has its very own influence. We believe that Barbie’s future lies in the empowerment(赋予力量)of today’s youth, contributing toward a generation of confident individuals.

【推荐2】When parents ask, “What grade did you get?” there is a common follow-up question: “So who got the highest grade?” The practice of making such social comparisons(比较) is popular in all corners of the world. Many teachers choose and publicly announce the “best student” in a class. Adults praise children for doing better than others. People cheer for the athletes who defeat others.

Social comparisons are well meaning: we want to make children feel proud and push them to achieve more. Yet social comparisons can backfire: children can learn to always compare themselves with others and become caught up in a harmful cycle(循环) of competition.

One well-known method to remove social comparisons is to provide participation prizes for children who take an active part in activities. Such prizes, however, may not end social comparisons: A high achiever who receives the same prize as a low achiever may feel unfairly treated. More generally, those who are highly praised unexpectedly may come to believe that they do better than others and thus have reason to be given a prize.

How, then, can we make children feel proud of themselves and encourage them without the unwanted side effects? We believe a better way is to use temporal comparisons—encouraging children to compare themselves with their past self rather than with others, such as by checking on their progress. Adults should teach children that doing better than oneself is more important than doing better than others and that even small achievements can be celebrated.