【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, though Wechat is more like a social media. That’s why I will focus on this “super app”.

So far, I’ve been overwhelmed by how convenient 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 hailing a taxi, following news, and chatting with friends. Most merchants have adopted it, from tiny local street food stalls to high-end stores. A cashier 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 (终端) 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 the European Union. So I have to say Chinese technological and digital development is a real miracle.

【推荐2】Time flies, but the tracks of time remain in books and museums. This is what made a recent tragedy in Brazil even more terrible.

On Sept 2, a big fire broke out in the National Museum of Brazil, the oldest scientific institution in the country, in Rio de Janeiro. Two hundred years of work, research and knowledge were lost,‖ Brazilian President Michel Temer wrote on Twitter after the fire. It’s a sad day for all Brazilians.‖

Most of the 20 million pieces of history are believed to have been destroyed. Only as little as 10 percent of the collection may have survived, Time reported. Among all the items, there were Egyptian mummies, the bones of uniquely Brazilian creatures such as the long-necked dinosaur Maxakalisaurus, and an 11,500-year-old skull called Luzia, which was considered one of South America’s oldest human fossils.

Besides these, Brazil’s local knowledge also suffered. The museum housed world famous collections of local objects, as well as many audio recordings of local languages from all over Brazil. Some of these recordings, now lost, were of languages that are no longer spoken.

The tragedy this Sunday is a sort of national suicide(自杀). A crime against our past and future generations.‖ Bernard Mello Franco, one of Brazil’s best-known reporters wrote on the newspaper site.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, as BBC News reported on Sept 3. After the fire burned out, crowds protested(抗议) outside the museum to show their anger at the loss of the irreplaceable items of historical value.

According to Emilio Bruna, an ecologist at the University of Florida, museums are living, breathing places of who we are and where we’ve come from, and the world around us. Those insects pinned in a drawer, or those fish in a jar, or a feathered cape(斗篷) you might see in a display case – that represents a little piece of who we are as a people, as humans, as part of a greater world,‖ he told National Geographic.

Just as underwater grass floats on the surface if it loses its roots, a nation is lost without its memories.

【推荐1】New Jersey Middle School Makes

Students Go Phone­Free

A middle school in Union County, New Jersey, is forcing its students to stay disconnected in class, by prohibiting cellphones. Maxson Middle School Principal Kevin Stansbury put forward the phone ban last week after he noticed some major issues in the school. “Our test scores were down, and discipline was up,” he says. According to him, students were too focused on their phones to pay attention to their lessons. So, he purchased Yondr pouches for the school.

When students come into class each morning, they place their phones in the pouch, which is then locked tightly. So they have no access to phones at all. It can only be opened using a special device at the end of the day. The ban on mobile devices applies not just during class time but during breaks, with the only exceptions being in times of emergency or in cases of students who need such devices to help with disabilities.

Eighth graders who spoke with News 12 NewJersey say that they noticed a change in a matter of hours. “It’s just better for everyone because you’ll understand how it feels to get more work done instead of distracting attention because of the phone,” says student Charlene V. “I was usually listening to music, but today I got to communicate with all my friends,” says student Desiree Duncan.

The program was originally met with resistance from students and parents, so the process was not that smooth. But teachers and administrators say that the program will have a major impact. “Students were talking and laughing and there were no cellphones other than being carried in the pouches,” Stansbury says.

Teacher Nia Cummings says she even noticed students bouncing ideas off each other in class. She says students used to throw in the towel quickly and just rely on their phones to look for answers. She says they now try to figure the answers out themselves. “Everyone is socializing and eating lunch together. That’s what I wasn’t seeing when phone usage was at its worst,” she adds.

Maxson Middle School is currently the only one in the district to use these pouches. Kevin Stansbury also called on all the schools in the community that it’s worth paying close attention to cellphone issues at secondary schools and taking action when necessary.

【推荐2】Children from four Buckingham shire primary schools visited Epilepsy Society to plant a hedge (树篱) as part of a Plant-for-the-Planet project. The children from these schools were planting a hedge in the garden of the Queen Elizabeth House at the charity in Chalfont St Peter. Plant-for-the-Planet gives children across the globe the opportunity to learn about the threats of global warming to the environment, and then put their new knowledge into practice as they plant new trees.

The day was organised by Bob Sherren who showed the children how to plant the planet-friendly line of trees in protective chambers (防护室) to shield them from hungry wildlife as they settle in their roots. Bob said, “The day really was ‘Thinking Globally, Acting Locally’ put into action. The children learned about the importance of planting trees as a way of helping to bring about climate justice (正义) for many living in poorer nations and of course enjoyed planting the trees too.” The eventual hedge, which will grow to full size over ten years behind the Queen Elizabeth House, is made up of trees such as oaks, silver birches and so on.

Bob added, “The children were also able to help people living at Epilepsy Society because they will gain some well-needed privacy from the hedge in time. The natural wildlife benefits too from the fruits and nuts that a hedge made from native species can provide as well as the possibility for any number of nesting sites.”

Emma Darlington, Epilepsy Society’s volunteer officer, said, “I think it’s so important to encourage the younger generation that the future is in their hands and that they can make a difference, whether it is through taking part in projects like this or spreading awareness. We hope they learn a little bit about the work we do at Epilepsy Society too — the trees they planted will be enjoyed by everyone here for years to come.”

【推荐1】The story told to all American children about honesty is about the cherry tree that President George Washington cut when he was a boy. In China, every child knows the story of Lei Feng, the young soldier who helped others and was very honest. The stories of George Washington and Lei Feng help us understand the importance of being honest.

Every teacher wants his or her students to be honest. If every student can be honest in their childhood, they will be honest when they become adults. The country will then be known as an honest country and it will be respected by everyone.

Usually, it is the father and the mother who give the first lessons of honesty. George Washington learned honesty from his father.

A favorite Chinese story is about a young man who went to the market to buy food for his mother. There was a very young girl there who was selling flowers. The young man stole one flower when the girl served her customer.

When he went home, he began to think what he had done. He went back to the market to find the girl. He told her that he was sorry and that he wanted to pay her for the flower. The little girl refused and said, "You do not need to pay for the flower, elder brother. Since you took it, I thought you had a reason to take it so I did not worry about receiving money for it."The young man was ashamed that he stole the flower. He could never forget about the importance of being honest.