【推荐2】I was in the garden with Augie, my grandson, watching the bees. ''How do they make honey? '' Augie asked. ''Actually, Augie, I don't know, '' I replied. ''But, Grandma, you have your phone, '' he said. For Augie, holding a smartphone almost means knowing everything.

During my childhood I was crazy about books. Over time, reading hijacked my brain, as large areas once processing the real world adapted to processing the printed word. As far as I can tell, this early immersion (沉浸) didn't prevent my development.

Many parents worry that ''screen time'' will damage children’s development, but recent research suggests that most of the common fears about children and screens are unfounded.     There is one exception: looking at screens before bed really disturbs sleep, in people of all ages. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) used to recommend strict restrictions on screen exposure. Last year, the organization examined the relevant science more thoroughly and changed its recommendations. The new guidelines stress that what matters is what children watch and with whom.

New tools have always led to panic guesses. The novel, the telephone, and the television were all declared to be the End of Civilization, particularly in the hands of the young. Part of the reason may be that adult brains require a lot of focus and effort to learn something new, while children's brains are designed to master new environments naturally. New technologies always seem disturbing to the adults attempting to master them, while attractive to those children like Augie.

When Augie's father got home, Augie rushed to meet him and said in excitement. ''Daddy, Daddy, look, '' he said, reaching for my phone. ''Do you know how bees make honey? I'll show you…''

【推荐3】I have been surprised each time my child has come home from school with a message saying his teacher wants to see me.

I know my son seems very naughty（淘气的）. He cannot concentrate（专心）on reading, he makes silly mistakes in his homework or often fails his exams.

Whenever such things happen, his teacher shouts,“Ask your parents to come here.” And then I have to go with my tail（尾巴） between my legs to find out what’s going on with my son and to listen to the teacher scold(训斥）him.

I really feel sorry for my son’s mistakes and usually feel personally responsible.

But I can’t help feeling angry with him after a meeting with his teacher.

Gradually, I have realized that anger will do him no good, and that actually he needs my help.

On the other hand, I think that to educate our “little emperors（皇帝）”,there needs to be more understanding and cooperation（合作）between teachers and parents to help him find his mistake.

【推荐1】It is surprising that eating three meals a day—breakfast, lunch and dinner—has been a custom only since 1890. Before this time, people only had two meals a day—breakfast and dinner.

In the 16th century, breakfast was only to break one’s fast(随便吃一点). But 200 years later it had become a large meal, not just for family, but for numbers of guests as well. It was a social event. It began at 10 a.m. and lasted until 1 p.m. Then breakfast began to be less popular. It became, instead, a lighter meal and was taken at a much earlier hour. By 1850 it had been pushed back to 8 a.m. and became a family meal.

Dinner，however，went to the other way. In the 16th century it was eaten at 11a.m. Years later, it had moved to the early afternoon, then to 5 p.m. By 1850 dinner time had reached 7 p.m. Lunch is a recent idea. It first appeared as a snack to fill the gap between breakfast and dinner.

【推荐2】Different countries have different tipping customs. When you travel, you need to know how to tip in the country that you’re in; otherwise you’ll leave servers angry everywhere you go.Here are just a few guidelines to tipping around the world.

There will always be a standard 10% service charge added to your bill, and you won’t necessarily have to tip. If you do feel like being generous, an extra 5-10% will really make your server very happy. Just remember to do this as skillfully as possible—Brazilians don’t make a big show of this.

In Dubai it’s a rule for restaurants to charge 10% tip on all restaurant and bar bills. You can add a couple of dirhams（迪拉姆,货币单位）to this if you feel like it. Waiters are not paid very much in Dubai, so it is always very appreciated.

German bars and restaurants will include the tip as part of what you owe, but that’s not all you have to pay. It is a custom to round the bill up after that, usually to the euro. This can be anywhere from 5-10%. When it’s time to settle up, you won’t get a bill: your waiter tells you the total and then you tell them how much you want to pay, including your “tip”, and hand over the money.

While locals in the Czech Republic don’t leave tips, that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.Foreign tourists are definitely expected to leave some kind of tip for service—as long as you’re in a high tourist traffic area, like Prague for instance. The standard tip is 10%.

If you like the service, go ahead and tip your server 5-10%. You have to adjust that amount though, based on how big the meal you’re eating is. If the bill is for a small meal, and totals less than 300 rupees, tip the full 10%. If the bill is higher, tip towards the 5%.

【推荐3】Scroll through social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and you will be confronted with picture after picture of perfectly presented and delicious-looking meals. While the smell and taste of food can have an undeniably powerful effect on our cravings, are endless posts of steaming snacks more than just a feast for our eyes?

Our eating habits are influenced by what we see. “There is some evidence that, if you see pictures of food, that visual stimulation can prompt you to feel a desire to eat,” says Suzanne Higgs, a professor in the psychobiology of appetite. “If all your fiends on social media are posting pictures or livestreaming of themselves consuming fast food, it’s going to set a norm that eating fast food is what people do.” says Higgs.

Scientists are becoming increasingly concerned that food-related content on social media is making us think differently about food. Social media algorithms promote content that users engage with more, so viewing more unhealthy food means seeing more of it on our social media feeds.

It seems that healthier foods are often seen as boring in comparison, says Tina Tessitore, associate professor of marketing, “In advertising, you see unhealthy food in social settings—people having a barbecue with friends, for example, while healthy food often focuses more on the nutritional value. If you saw friends eating salad together, it would seem so incredible,” she says.

But while studies have found that social media can make us think differently about food, and that we typically engage more with content featuring unhealthy food, it’s uncertain yet whether this actually translates to our changes in our behavior in daily life. “If I’m scrolling through Instagram, looking at photos of tasty food, whether I seek out the food depends on how hungry I am, and whether it’s appropriate in that moment,” says Higgs. And when we do eat, we’re influenced by more than what we’ve seen online, she adds.

【推荐2】In the African country of Malawi, fishing is a way of life for people who live near lakes. Fishing employs over 50,000 people there. Traditionally, the fishers have several methods to dry the fish for the market. They include frying, smoking, or placing them on wire racks. But since the fishers dry their catch in the open air, about half of it slowly breaks down and goes bad. And some animals even try to eat the catch.

Now, solar tents are being used to help dry fish on Lake Chilwa, Malawi’s second-largest lake. The solar tent is made from clear plastic. The plastic is stretched over a large wooden structure. The tent looks like a greenhouse, a glass building where plants can grow in the cold weather.

Jennifer Mussa is a local fish trader. “When we collect fish from the lake, we dry them inside this solar fish dryer,” she said. In the past, it would take one-and-a-half to two days to dry. Now the fishers will put it in the morning; by the evening, they can take the fish out. The solar tents have also helped fish traders get higher prices at the market for cleaner, better-quality fish.

Money for the tents came from Cultivate Africa’s Future. The organization works to improve fishing and farming methods with simple inventions. The goal is to increase access to food, resources, and markets for the communities. The organization also encourages people to use energy-saving kiln ovens to smoke fish, not open fires. Then people can cut down fewer trees for firewood.

【推荐1】Next-generation fitness equipment and robots help you cook dinner. Those are a few of the countless new products expected to be shown next week at CES, the annual tech conference that typically sets the tone for the biggest trends of the year. Home automation（自动化）, health and 5G will once again be hot topics, but many companies will also introduce pandemic-specific features to reflect our increased time at home.

Each year, reporters, exhibitors and investors typically explore Las Vegas showrooms filled with giant TVs, smart cars and robots, but CES will be online only for the first time in its 54-year history due to Covid-19.

The Consumer Technology Association, the nonprofit behind the four-day event starting Monday, said 1,800 exhibitors from around the world will fill its "digital venue" this year—a number that's down significantly from 4,000 in-person exhibitors last year. The move will allow tech companies from countries which have never attended before to take part in the online exhibition, but could also make it harder for smaller companies to get noticed without a physical showroom.

Registered attendees will be able to stream and re-watch keynotes from companies such as Verizon (VZ) and General Motors (GM), tune in to breakout sessions -- about how, for example, technology is playing a role in vaccine deployment（疫苗的应用）—and search through a registry of exhibitors to watch new product presentations.

It'll lack some of the signature ingredients（因素）of the trade show, such as hands-on time with the latest small machines and networking. But the technology that makes our lives more connected and convenient will still gain popularity.

【推荐2】Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities is set in the years before and during the French Revolution (1789 - 1799). During its course, French revolutionaries brought down the empire and established a republic of free and equal citizens.

In reading the work, one sees that Dickens distorted some details of the French Revolution. At the beginning, Dickens notes that, in 1775, France was busy spending money. This mention of France’s spending touches briefly on what is perhaps the major cause of the French Revolution. Before the revolution, the government often borrowed money because it spent more than it raised in taxes. The increased spending and borrowing made many people’s blood boil, yet Dickens focused instead on the nobility’s oppression and exploitation of the working class, including peasants, as the causes of the revolution.

The Marquis, one of the book’s characters, ill-treats and kills many people. Thus, he represents the nobles who mistreat the lower classes. One reviewer criticized this picture as an unfair representation of French society in the mid-1700s. The reviewer pointed out that the government would have punished nobles who mistreated or murdered. Nobles may have been guilty of other evils, however, such as not feeding the starving masses after bad weather ruined crops in 1789.

Dickens’ account of the storming of the Bastille fails to mention that the gang that stormed the prison was looking for bullets and bombs to use in defense against a possible attack by the king’s troops. Dickens does include some accurate details, however, such as the crowd’s finding only seven prisoners and freeing them and the pack’s executing (处决) the prison administrator and sticking his head on a post. The scene that the women knit (编织) as they watch the executions may seem to be an odd detail, but actually many women did knit stockings for the war effort as they watched the killing machine at work.

Dickens’ descriptions of the steady stream of sentenced people into prison and the carts taking them to their deaths give readers some idea of the frequency with which officials jailed and executed people during the Rule of Terror, which lasted about a year. During the Terror, the government jailed about 250 thousand people, tried (审判) and killed about 17 thousand, and executed about 12 thousand without a trial. Those executed included people who opposed the revolution, people who offended the revolutionaries, and even some revolutionaries. About 15 percent were members of the ministry or nobility.

【推荐3】In 1995, Ray Kroc visited a small restaurant in California. The owner of it was the Mc Donald brothers, They built it by the road, so people could drive up to the restaurant, buy food without getting out of their cars and drive away easily. They called it “drive-in” restaurant.

Ray Kroc saw the bright future of the restaurant of this kind. He bought the restaurant and used the brothers’ family name for his new restaurant. The first Mc Donald’s restaurant chain was born.

Now there are more than 5, 000 restaurants in the United States and in 60 other countries. The largest Me Donald's restaurant is in Beijing, China. It has 1,000 workers. About seven hundred people can sit and eat there at one time.