【推荐1】You might have ever noticed how some people can effortlessly talk to anyone they meet, no matter how different their backgrounds are. Or you may have seen that one person always offends someone, no matter what the topic of conversation is. These two situations describe how we can differ in our abilities to interact, get along with, and relate to others around us. In the same way that we vary in traditional academic competencies, we can vary in how socially competent we are. After years of academic research and development, this social ability is now commonly referred to as “social intelligence.”

Social intelligence is the ability to understand other people, how they work, what motivates them, and how to work cooperatively with them. It is a relationship­based construct that centers on the way we understand others, interact with others, and present ourselves to others. As an example, you would not speak in the same way toward your 70-­year-­old mother as you would to your 16-­year­old daughter. In our working lives, we come across different social groups including those from different countries, varying age groups and cultural identities. Being able to acknowledge and understand people’s different backgrounds is a key way to connect with them.

Our ability to navigate successfully through our lives relies heavily on our levels of social intelligence. It can affect the relationships we form with our partners and children, the friendship circles that we build, and our ability to progress in our careers and ambitions. Given the importance of social intelligence in multiple aspects of life, it is therefore in our best interest to better understand the concept of social intelligence and take the following ways to improve it.

【推荐2】How to Use Social Media Positively

Nowadays so common is social media in our society that almost everyone is connected to some form of it. We are in a fast-paced, technologically evolving(进化) society and we are addicted to social media.    1    

So how does one ensure a positive online reputation? It’s simple:

Keep it clean. Party photos with alcohol are an absolute no-no. Would you want to have your boss see these photos?    2     Make sure to post contents that you feel positively reflect you, your creativity and your skills.

    3     You have a private account so you can post anything you want? This is decidedly not the case. Privacy settings make it harder to see your full account, but it’s not impossible. Under no circumstance should you rely on privacy settings as a way to protect inappropriate contents.

Ensure you’re careful and professional. Keep it classy (优等的)! Discover your brand, or what you want people to think of you. Proper spelling and grammar is always a plus, but it may not be your brand.    4     In this way, you can earn approval.

Follow these simple rules and you’re on your way to building, or restoring an online reputation. Using social media positively doesn’t mean you can’t have fun and use it to express yourself; however, you want to ensure that you’re OK with anyone seeing everything you post.    5    So your post can get your friends active and happy.

Like it or not, your social networks reflect you—make sure you look like the shining star that you truly are.

【推荐3】Brandon Olsen and Tylor Fritz of Hometown Sanitation(公共卫生) left gifts for three sisters who waved to them each Thursday after learning that one of them，3-­year­-old Rose，had been fighting cancer.

The men also gave their parents free garbage service for one year.

“When they did that，it was a few weeks before the diagnosis(诊断) when every day just felt so impossible，”said Rose’s mother，Angie Evenson，of Blue Earth，Minnesota.“Nothing in reality changes Rose’s diagnosis.But what they did makes us feel we are truly not alone in this fight.”

With binoculars(双筒望远镜) in hand，Rose and her two sisters，Grace,5 and Sophia,2 sat by the window and waved at their garbage men，Olsen and Fritz，as they drove by on their weekly route.

Olsen,29，and Fritz,24，told ABC News that the girls’ smiling faces are what they look forward to while working.They even left Halloween candy for the girls this year to show their appreciation.They hope that more and more people can understand and support their work.

But weeks later，Evenson wrote Olsen and Fritz a note explaining that little Rose wouldn’t be able to wave to them for a while since she’d be undergoing chemotherapy(化疗). Rose had been diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer in September.

“As a father of three，it changed my outlook on things，” Olsen said.“It opened my eyes...you don’t know what someone else is going through.”

Fritz said he cried when he read the note.“I got to the chemo part and there were tears running down my face，” he recalled.“I don’t have any children of my own，but I can imagine if someone very close to me is diagnosed as cancer，I’ll be heartbroken.”

“Rose is being treated at Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls，South Dakota.She will miss a few more Thursdays，when she can wave to her garbage men，but her chemo sessions will be switched to Mondays soon and she’ll be back by the window early next year.I have confidence in Rose’s recovery，” her mother said.

【推荐1】Challenging work that requires lots of analytical thinking, planning and other managerial skills might help your brain stay sharp as you age, a study published on Wednesday in the journal Neurology suggests.

Researchers from the University of Leipzig in Germany gathered more than 1,000 retired workers who were over age 75 and assessed the volunteers’ memory and thinking skills through a battery of tests. Then, for eight years, the scientists asked the same group to come back to the lab every 18 months to take the same tests.

Those who had held mentally stimulating, demanding jobs before retirement tended to do the best in the tests. And they tended to lose cognitive (认知的) function at a much slower rate than those with the least mentally challenging jobs. The results held true even after the scientists accounted for the participants’ overall health status.

“This works just like physical exercise,” says Francisca, who led the study. “After a long run, you may feel like you’re in pain and tired. But it makes you fit. After a long day at work — sure, you will feel tired, but it can help your brain stay healthy.

It’s not just corporate jobs, or even paid work that can help keep your brain fit. Francisca points out. A waiter’s job, for example, that requires multitasking, teamwork and decision making could be just as stimulating as any high-level office work. “Running a family household also requires high-level planning and coordinating abilities,” she says. “You have to bring order to the activities of the children and take care of the bills and groceries.”

Of course, our brains can decline as we grow older for lots of reasons — including other environmental influences or genetic factors. Sill, continuing to challenge yourself mentally and keeping your mind busy can help.

【推荐1】Hello and welcome to English with Lucy. Today we have another topic:“Four common British expressions.” Now, before we get started, make sure you connect with me on all my social media which is right here. You can subscribe to my YouTube. You can also like me on Facebook. And for my Chinese followers, I have my Weibo account as well.

Four Common British Expressions:

“A piece of cake.”

And this is very similar to “Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy,” which we've discussed in a former video.   And basically, it means very easy.   So I might come out of an easy exam saving, “That exam was a piece of cake. ”

“Break a leg!”

It actually looks really rather cruel, but I promise you it's positive.   And “Break a leg!” means “Good luck!” So before a race, before a job interview, before a test, instead of saying “Good luck!” I might say “Break a leg!”

“It cost an arm and a leg.”

And this basically means something was really expensive.   If I say, “My bag cost an arm and a leg,” I mean it cost a lot of money.

“To call it a day.”

And this means “to end a task”.   So, for example, “I'm feeling a bit tired. I think I'll call it a day. ”That means “I think I'll stop here.   Let's finish.”

Thank you so much for watching this program of “Four Common British Expressions.” I hope you like it, and I hope you've learned something.

【推荐2】NBC News published an opinion piece declaring that parents aren’t qualified to make decisions about school curricula for their children. The column, “Schools face parents who want to ban critical race theory — and don’t get how teaching works,” written by author Christina Wyman was instantly roasted on social media.

“Parents and politicians across the country are getting their fingers into the curricula that public schools use to teach students. Some states are passing laws to keep critical race theory out of schools, and school libraries are coming under attack for containing books about gender. There are even parents who are trying to keep students away from learning about mental health and as though helping children build emotional strength is a bad thing,” Wyman wrote to kick off the piece.

“While the political climate and national involvement in school districts give the phenomenon a broader platform and have more serious impact, this behavior is nothing new. Parents have always tried to interfere (干涉) with curricula, as I observed when teaching middle school in the mid-2000s,” she continued.

Wyman then compared parents wanting to have a say in what their children learn to someone barging into an operating room during surgery on their child. “These distractions are nothing more than theater, and school boards and administrators should be protecting their teachers — and students — from it rather than bowing to it.” she wrote.

Wyman, who spent some time discussing her own schooling and Ph.D. in curriculum, painted parents as under-qualified to cut in unless they have achieved the same level of education that is required of most teachers. Wyman wrote. “An educator’s primary goal is to teach students to think. Parents who attempt to influence curricula with their personal opinions block that goal.”

【推荐3】Chinese scientists have created the world’s first light-based quantum (量子) computer, called Jiuzhang, opening a new age of quantum calculation. It’s a breakthrough in the field after Google completed its quantum computer last year.

Compared with today’s best supercomputers, Jiuzhang can calculate 100,000 billion times faster. For example, it takes Jiuzhang 200 seconds to perform Gaussian boson sampling (高斯玻色取样问题), an extremely challenging calculation, while the fastest classical supercomputer, Fugaku, would need about 600 million years to complete the same task.

Quantum computers can take calculating shortcuts when simulating extremely complex scenarios (场景), whereas conventional computers have to find a solution step by step, taking significantly more time in the process.

Quantum machines’ amazing computing power arises from their basic building blocks, called quantum bits, or qubits, according to the University of Science and Technology of China. Usually, classical computers handle data in binary (二进制的) bits, presenting data as either 0s or 1s. However, quantum computers process data using qubits, which can be identified as 0s, 1s or everything in between. As a result, as the number of qubits increases, the calculating ability of quantum computers increases too.

Another advantage of Jiuzhang is that it’s easier to make and maintain. Superconducting quantum computers must be kept at extremely cold temperatures to ensure their materials can conduct electricity without any resistance. But most components of Jiuzhang can operate at room temperature except its sensory (传感的) equipment, which must be kept at -269.1℃.

With advantages over traditional computers, quantum computers have a wide range of applications. The calculations carried out by Jiuzhang can potentially be applied to machine learning, quantum chemistry and graph theory, according to Pan Jianwei, a key researcher behind Jiuzhang. According to Pan, quantum calculation has already become a fierce competition ground among the United States, Europe and other developed regions. “The achievement strengths China’s position in the first echelon (梯队) of nations in quantum computing, the university said in a news release.”