【推荐1】Although many companies offer tuition reimbursement (偿付), most companies reimburse employees only for classes that are relevant to their positions.    1    A company that reimburses employees for all college credit courses--whether job related or not--offers a service not only to the employees, but to the entire company.

One good reason for giving employees unconditional tuition reimbursement is that it shows the company’s dedication to its employees and it is important for a company to demonstrate to its employees that it cares. The best way to do this is to make investments in them.

    2    A company that puts out funds to pay for the education of its employees will get its money back by having employees stay with the company longer. It will reduce employ turnover, because even employees who don’t take advantage of tuition reimbursement programs will be more devoted to their company, just knowing that their company cares enough to pay for their education.            

Although companies do indeed run the risk of losing money on employees, who go on to another job in a different company as soon as they get their degree, more often than not, the employees will stay with the company.     3     Thus, throughout those years, the employer will have a more sophisticated, more intelligent, and therefore more valuable and productive employee. And, if the employee stays, that education will doubly benefit the company: Not only is the employee more educated, but now that employee can be promoted so the company doesn’t have to fill a high-level vacancy from the outside. Open positions can be assigned to people who already know the company well.

Though unconditional tuition reimbursement requires a significant investment on the employer’s part, it is perhaps one of the wisest investments a company can make.

【推荐1】In 1965 three fathers in Washington State faced a problem familiar to many parents in 2022: how to keep their restless children entertained. They threw together wooden paddles (乒乓球拍), a badminton net, and a perforated (有孔的) plastic ball. The sport “pickleball” was born, getting its name — according to one story — from a dog named Pickle, who kept running away with the ball.

Today pickleball, which is a mix of tennis, badminton and ping pong, is the fastest-growing sport in America. In the five years to the end of 2019, pickleball participation grew by more than 7%, while Americans’ overall activity level stayed flat. Now, the sport has picked up more swing thanks to COVID 19. Last March, when gyms closed, portable (便携的) pickleball nets temporarily sold out. “It’s a trend.” says Derek Heil, an employee at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Dallas, who has seen a sales spike for pickleball equipment over the last year. Players set up courts, which are half the size of tennis courts, in driveways.

The 3.5 million Americans who play pickleball are about one-tenth the number who play golf and one-fifth the number who play tennis. Yet there are reasons to bet on the sport’s spread. Like many outdoor activities, pickleball is social, but it is easier to learn than tennis and faster and less expensive than golf. Country clubs and recreation centers are changing some of their tennis courts into pickleball courts to meet demand. The more places there are to play, the more players will try the sport.

Hoping to predict where the ball is going to land, producers of tennis racquets (球拍) are starting to make pickleball kit too. “Pickleball is viewed as an opportunity,” says Stu Upson of USA Pickleball, the sport’s national governing body. As more people take up the sport, demand for televised matches and sponsorships will increase. Mr. Upson expects that one day pickleball will become an Olympic sport, although that may be a long shot.

【推荐1】In addition to the problem of miscomprehension from both sides, there are victories accidentally or deliberately twisted, especially when only the victors know how to write. Those who are on the losing side often have only their things to tell their stories. The Caribbean Taino, the Australian Aboriginals, the African people of Benin and the Incas, all of whom appear in this book, can speak to us now of their past achievements most powerfully through the objects they made: a history told through things gives them back a voice. When we consider contact (联系) between literate and non-literate societies such as these, all our first-hand accounts are necessarily twisted, only one half of a dialogue. If we are to find the other half of that conversation, we have to read not just the texts, but the objects.

【推荐2】We live in a town with three beaches. There are two parts less than 10 minutes’ walk from home where neighborhood children gather to play. However, what my children want to do after school is pick up a screen — any screen — and stare at it for hours. They are not alone. Today’s children spend an average of four and a half hours a day looking at screens, split between watching television and using the Internet.

In the past few years, an increasing number of people and organisations have begun coming up with plans to counter this trend. A couple of years ago film-maker David Bond realised that his children, then aged five and three, were attached to screens to the point where he was able to say “chocolate” into his three-year-old son’s ear without getting a response. He realised that something needed to change, and, being a London media type, appointed himself “marketing director from Nature”. He documented his journey as he set about treating nature as a brand to be marketed to young people. The result was Project Wild Thing, a film which charts the birth of the World Network, a group of organizations with the common goal of getting children out into nature.

“Just five more minutes outdoors can make a difference,” David Bond says. “There is a lot of really interesting evidence which seems to be suggesting that if children are inspired up to the age of seven, then being outdoors will be on habit for life.” His own children have got into the habit of playing outside now: “We just send them out into the garden and tell them not to come back in for a while.”

Summer is upon us. There is an amazing world out there, and it needs our children as much as they need it. Let us get them out and let them play.