【推荐2】Duan Jiayang, a 12-year-old student of a primary school in Yinchuan, Ningxia, learns the skills required to attend vegetable fields.

“I learned how to place the mulch film (地膜),” he says, “It’s not easy.”

In China, many parents place a heavy focus on their children’s good marks, but career skills have little been cared.

“Some parents do everything for their children,” says Yan Mei, an official in a primary school, adding that many students lack the basic skills which are needed in their daily lives. For example, Yan says, some parents, not their children, would do the school’s general cleaning.

Since March last year, the governments have launched (发布) a lot of policies, requiring that colleges, middle schools and primary schools pay more attention to teaching students practical skills.

Following these policies, the primary school launched an “agricultural class base” on one of its schoolyards. Students plant fruit and vegetables on an area of land about 4, 000 m² in size.

With May Day holiday coming near, students of various grades at the school worked together in the fields, says school principal Yang Bo. They planted watermelon, carrot and com. May Day, also known as Labor Day, is celebrated on May 1st in China.

The school hopes that students will understand the food is quite precious so that they will better realize the difficulties that their parents went through.

【推荐3】An increase in students applying to study economics at university is being attributed to （归因于）the global economic crisis awakening a public thirst for knowledge about how the financial system works.

Applications for degree courses beginning this autumn were up by 15% this January, according to UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. A. spokesman for the Royal Economic Society said applications to do economics at A-level were also up.

Professor john Beath, the president of the society and a leading lecture at St Andrews University, said his first-year lectures---which are open to students from all departments—were drawing crowds of 400, rather than the usual 250.

“There are a large number of students who are not economics majors, who would like to learn something about it. One of the things I have done this year is to relate my teaching to contemporary events in a way that one hasn’t traditionally done. ” he added.

University applications rose 7% last year. But there were rises above average in several subjects. Nursing saw a 15% jump, with people’s renewed interest in careers in the public sector（部门）, which are seen as more secure in economic crisis.

A. recent study showed almost two thirds of parents believed schools should do more to teach pupils about financial matters, and almost half said their children had asked them what was going on, although a minority of parents felt they did not understand it themselves well enough to explain.

Zack Hocking, the head of Child Trust Funds, said: “It’s possible that one good thing to arise from the downturn will be a generation that’s financially wiser and better equipped to manage their money through times of economic uncertainty.”

【推荐3】Big messaging apps abroad

While WeChat is China’s biggest mobile messaging app (应用软件), there are many equivalent apps in other countries that offer similar features.

WhatsApp (US)

Users: more than 300 million

Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry

Features: text chats, push­to­talk, file sharing, location sharing

With more than 300 million active users, WhatsApp is one of WeChat’s biggest competitors. Developed by two ex­Yahoo employees in 2009, WhatsApp originally focused on text chats, but on Aug. 6, it also started push­to­talk service. It’s noted for its accessibility, ease of use and the absence (没有) of ads. The service is free for the first year, after which $0.99 (6.06 yuan) is charged for a one­year subscription.

Kakao Talk (South Korea)

Users: more than 100 million

Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Bada (an operating system developed by Samsung)

Features: text chats, group chats, push­to­talk, group calls, file sharing

With more than 100 million users in more than 230 countries, Kakao Talk is a multi­platform (多平台) texting application that allows users to send and receive messages for free. With Kakao Talk, users can message each other one­on­one or in group chats with unlimited numbers of friends. You can also choose from more than 250 animated emoticons and share them with friends.

Line (Japan)

Users: more than 200 million

Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and PC

Features: text chats, group chats, push­to­talk, file sharing, location sharing, gaming, stickers

Line tops the list of the most downloaded free apps in 52 countries. Apart from text and voice messaging, Line provides its users with more than 250 original stickers and emoticons to buy from its own shop. In the first quarter of 2013 alone, it made $17 million just from stickers. The popular app also allows friends to battle each other in the Line games.