【推荐1】Inventions change how we live, work, play and think about what’s possible. Every year, TIME magazine lists the 100 best inventions according to their creativity and influence on our lives. What did the magazine choose in 2021? Let's take a look.

Easier to read

Reading can be a big challenge for those who may have poor vision or reading difficulties. But OrCam Read can help them! It’s the first of its kind reading pen with a smart camera and an AI system. After scanning a page of text with the click of a button, it can read the text aloud to the user. You don’t need to connect it to the Internet. You can use it nearly everywhere.

Sweet idea

Honey is produced by bees. But today’s beekeeping business is not good for these hard-working insects. Dee farmers may kill them after harvesting honey because it’s cheaper than feeding the bees through the winter. To save bees, US company McliBio has found a way to make the world’s first bee-free honey. They used synthetic biology to create honey directly from plants. This kind of honey tastes just like the real one, and it is healthy, too.

Keep you calm

When you feel angry or unhappy, what do you do about it7 Scientists say you can try to calm others. This can help you calm down. That’s why Purrble was invented. This furry, bear-like toy has 9 sensors. It has a quick “heartbeat” and can respond to your touch. As you hold and pet it’s its heartbeat slows. And it purrs（发出咕噜声）like a cat. It sounds like it really enjoys your touch!

Through petting Purrble, you will become more aware of your own feelings and learn how to feel calm yourself.

【推荐2】For many kids in Africa, the colorful PlayPump (踏水车) is the first playground thing they have ever seen. When the children give it a push and jump in for their first ride, smiles of wonder appears on their faces.

The fun of going round and round in a circle is just part of the wonder. The wonderful invention doesn’t only change the kids’ play time, but also makes a big difference to the people’s lives.

As the merry-go-round starts, it pumps (用泵输送) clean water up from deep underground and keeps it in a huge tank (桶). People are welcomed to come and help themselves to get the water for free. They are very happy these days.

In the countryside of Africa, very few people could drink clean water. They don’t have machines that can get water in their homes. Instead, they often walk a long way to carry water back.

Patricia Molope, a fifteen-year-old girl, explains that before her village in South Africa got a PlayPump, people would pay a taxi driver to take them to a well far from their homes. “Sometimes the taxi drivers were so busy that we would have to stop taking showers in order to save water. It was so far to walk there, but at present we have our own clean water in the village, and the life is better, too.”

The hard job of carrying water usually is done by women and girls. Carrying water for miles and hours each day is such a heavy job that it sometimes prevents girls from being able to go to school.

Thanks to the PlayPump, getting water is quicker and easier-and even boys join in. The pumps have become a new activity. Kids and adults seem to love playing with them while collecting water.

A boy named Khumalo, twelve years old, says, ”I have seen many kinds of water pumps, but have never seen one that can keep water. When I grow up, I want to be an inventor so I can also invent clever things like the PlayPump that will help my country.“

So far, more than 800 PlayPumps are being operated in schools and neighborhoods in four African countries, providing water for almost two million people.

【推荐1】Have you ever dreamed of traveling to space? With many developments in space travel, you may soon be able to book a ticket.

The International Space Station (ISS) welcomed the first all-private team of astronauts on April 9. The four-man team made a flight hailed by NASA as a milestone (里程碑) in commercial spaceflight.     1    . Let’s take a look.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, 46, has invited eight members of the public to join him for a trip around the moon with the help of Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.     2    . Finally it will spend three days returning. In addition to its historic first as a private lunar (月球) mission, the rocket’s flight path means it will go beyond the distance traveled by the US Apollo missions. The mission, called DearMoon, is scheduled for 2023.

Instead of squeezing (挤) into a space cabin (太空舱), how about enjoying your time in a hotel?     3    . It is expected to have restaurants, cinemas and rooms for up to 400 guests. Developed by a US company, the space station will be a large circular (圆形的) structure.     4    . It is similar to the gravity found on the surface of the moon.

While some people may like to stay in space for a long time, others may prefer to simply have a taste. Tickets for a 90-minute journey have been on sale to the public since Feb 16.     5    . The commercial tourist flights with a private space tourism company are arranged later this year.

【推荐2】The Evolution of Multimedia Technologies

In the late 20th century, a revolution began with the development of various communication tools, producing what we now know as multimedia. This mixture of text, audio, graphics, and video into one medium has transformed the way information is transferred and received, greatly changing several industries.

In the field of education, multimedia platforms have become a must in classrooms. Traditional classrooms, with chalk and blackboard, have transformed into dynamic spaces with interactive whiteboards. Students, no longer passive listeners, are now actively interacting with the content, making a deeper understanding of subjects. Multimedia has allowed for the creation of e-learning platforms, ensuring that no student is left behind, even in remote parts of the world.

The entertainment industry too has seen a big change. Gone are the days when families would gather around a single television set. Due to the popularity of multimedia devices, people have a large amount of content to choose from. Streaming platforms have challenged traditional media systems, providing viewers with a personalized viewing experience.

Moreover, multimedia has proved to be a boon for the business world. Companies employ multimedia presentations to show ideas, products, and visions, ensuring that their message stands out. Virtual tours, 3D product modeling, and interactive customer service have made user experience better, leading to increased brand loyalty (品牌忠诚度).

The field of healthcare has also been significantly impacted. With multimedia, doctors can now visualize complex medical procedures and share them with patients, making sure a better understanding from the patients. Medical students benefit from 3D models, making learning more interactive and precise.

However, multimedia can sometimes result in information overload, causing cognitive tiredness. Additionally, the cost of setting up multimedia systems can be high, leading to a digital divide where only the rich people can afford the latest technology.

Another concern is the invasion of privacy. With smartphones turning into multimedia platforms, every click, swipe, and download can be tracked, leading to questions about data security. The wide use of multimedia, while beneficial, requires a stronger framework for data protection and user rights.

In conclusion, the rise of multimedia technologies is a testament to human creativity. While it offers many opportunities, it’s essential to address the related challenges to ensure a harmonious digital future, respecting the rights and limits of its users.

【推荐1】Ready to share your novels or personal stories with the world? The following four writing contests are worth considering.

Drue Heinz Literature Prize

You can win $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press with this prize. You may submit an unpublished manuscript (手稿) of short stories, two or more novellas (中篇小说) or a combination of novellas and short stories. You must have already published a novel or book-length work of fiction with a respected publisher.

Deadline: Annual submissions must be between May 1 and June 30.

Biopage Storytelling Writing Contest

Essays of up to 5,000 characters (about 1,000 words) will be accepted, and right now we’re looking for stories of COVID-19 quarantine (隔离期) life. The grand prize winner will receive $300, and five runners-up will be awarded $100 each. You’ll need to register for a Biopage account to be qualified.

Deadline: July 31, 2022

PEN / Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers

This contest requires you to have already published a short story in a literary magazine or journal or cultural website. Short stories of up to 12,000 words are qualified and must be published before the year in which the award is given. The prize money varies from $1,000 to $200. In addition, keep this in mind: Submissions are only qualified when submitted by an editor.

Deadline: The contest is open annually between June and November.

Write the World

For new writers, this cool contest also serves as a mini workshop. Considering that the first draft is never perfect, submissions will receive review by authors, writing teachers and other experts. Participants are given the chance to revise their pieces based on the review before submitting them for final prize consideration. 5 top prize winners will receive $100 each.

Deadline: Monthly

【推荐2】People can experience loneliness for many reasons and many life events may cause it, like the lack of friendship relations during childhood and adolescence, or the physical absence of meaningful people around a person. At the same time, loneliness may be a symptom of another social or psychological problem, such as chronic depression.

Many people experience loneliness for the first time when they are left alone as infants. It is also a very common, though normally temporary, consequence of a breakup, divorce, or loss of any important long-term relationship. In these cases, it may result both from the loss of a specific person and from the withdrawal from social circles caused by the event or the associated sadness.

The loss of a significant person in one’s life will typically start a sadness response; in this situation, one might feel lonely, even while in the company of others. Loneliness may also occur after the birth of a child, after marriage, or following any other socially disruptive event, such as moving from one’s home town into an unfamiliar community leading to homesickness. Loneliness can occur within unstable marriages or other close relationships in a similar nature, in which feelings present may include anger or bitterness, or in which the feeling of love cannot be given or received.

Loneliness may represent a dysfunction of communication, and can also result from places with low population densities in which there are comparatively few people to interact with. Sometimes, loneliness is capable of spreading like a disease. When one person in a group begins to feel lonely, this feeling can spread to others, increasing everybody’s risk for feelings of loneliness. People can feel lonely when they’re surrounded by other lonely people.

【推荐3】Feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list can certainly make you unhappy, but a new study released last week suggests that more free time will not actually make people as happy as they commonly believe it will.

The researchers collected data from two large scale surveys, which included more than 35,000 replies. They found that people with up to two hours of free time a day generally had higher levels of well-being than those with less time. But people who had five or more hours of free time a day generally said they felt worse.

So the free-time “sweet spot” might be two to three hours per day, the findings suggest. “While being too busy can cause stress, having more time is not always better,” said Marissa Sharif, an assistant professor at The Wharton School，in a press release.

Experts note, for example, that some adults struggle with the “retirement blues,” which can be due to a lack of stimulation (刺激) and structure, among other things. The “sweet spot” seems to have something to do with how people spend the extra time they have, the researchers behind the new study argue.

They conducted several smaller online experiments. In one they asked participants to imagine having 3½ to seven free hours per day, and to imagine spending that time doing “productive" things (like exercising) or to imagine doing “unproductive” activities (like watching TV). The participants believed their well-being would suffer if they had a lot of free time during the day—but only if they used it unproductively.

Though that experiment was hypothetical, which is one limitation of the new research, it's certainly in line With other researches showing that being in a state of “flow” can be good for people's mental health. In other words, how people use their free time matters.

“In cases when people do find themselves with excessive amounts of spare time, such as retirement or having left a job,” Sharif said, “our results suggest these individuals would benefit from spending their newfound time with purpose.”