【推荐1】A month ago, I broke a nail. My other nails looked amazing, but now one was a mess.

Clearly, there was no point in keeping the others, so I took out the nail scissors to cut them all off.

“What are you doing, Mom?” my daughter cried. “Your nails look great! Don’t cut them!”

“But they’re ruined,” I said, waving the broken one in her face.

“They’re not ruined,” she said. “You still have nine nails left!”

I hesitated, with the scissors still in my hand. My nails certainly weren’t perfect anymore, and the opposite of perfect is ruined, right?

I mean, this is how I think about most things: It’s all or nothing.

Take my finances for example.

I can spend weeks being sensible and buying only essential items, such as food for my family.

And then one day, I’ll see something expensive that I really like and buy it.

Then, I think to myself “Well, I already spent $100 on that dress last week, so I may as well spend $50 on this lipstick ” and give up saving entirely.

I’ve thought about why I act this way, but I don’t know what causes this behavior.

I seem to go from “good” to “complete catastrophe (灾难)” in a matter of moments.

My brain only sees “perfect” or “disaster”, which is extremely unhelpful.

We humans are never just good or bad – we are far more complex. We have wins and we have losses and, occasionally, they are hard to tell apart.

Some people understand this instinctively, while others struggle.

For most of us, learning not to do the thing we’re used to requires effort and discomfort. However, we should remind ourselves that we sometimes make mistakes, and that this doesn’t mean we’ve failed.

We need to accept that things will sometimes go wrong.

Indeed, failure is part of life. We all fall occasionally, and we normally get straight back up.

And so, with my daughter’s words ringing in my ears, I decided to keep my nine nice nails.

I feel annoyed every time I look at my hands, but I’m determined to live with my choice. It’s a perfect exercise in imperfection.

Maybe soon, I’ll switch off my computer the next time I feel like I might buy something else I don’t need, although I may need my daughter there to guide me again.

【推荐2】Anki has introduced Cozmo, a little robot powered by an advanced artificial intelligence. Cozmo promises to be far more interactive（互动的）than any toy robot.

Cozmo, which can lie in your hand, has a “brain”—technically its CPU—that can process data amazingly fast. In addition Cozmo has a playful personality. He’s designed to react to emotions and even ask users to play with him.

Cozmo is not the first interactive toy to reach the market nor is it the first robot toy. What sets Cozmo apart from the other “smart toys” is that it has greater play value than those toys, which can become repetitious all too quickly.

“Every interaction with Cozmo is different, so you do not put up with repetitive patterns and responses typically found with other preprogrammed robots,” explained Anki spokesperson Peter Nguyen. Because it has functionality that is similar to that of video games, Cozmo also can receive regular updates, which could extend its playability. Still, Anki has designed this toy to be just that: a toy. It’s not an advanced computerized robot. Its software is app-based.

Cozmo lacks the “traditional” human-like robot form factor of legs, arms and a head. But Cozmo does have an OLED screen / face with blue eyes, which in fact were designed to help it connect with its user.

“I’m glad my kids are already raised,” said Roger L. Kay, analyst an Endpoint Technologies Associates. “Otherwise, they might become more antisocial if their relationship with Cozmo is more satisfying than those with real people,” said Kay. “Cozmo might encourage kids to learn more about technology or even inspire them to try programming and similar studies,” said Charles King, analyst at Pund-IT.

Yet this technology does promise to be more than a toy. “It’s a pretty cool invention and might have further applications, for example in elder care,” suggested Kay.

【推荐3】When we think about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, a pinnacle(顶点) of sheer(纯粹的) delight. And those pinnacles seem to get rarer the older we get.    1    I remember playing police and robbers in the woods, getting a speaking part in the school play. Of course, kids also experience lows, but their delight at such peaks of pleasure as winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved.For teenagers, or people under 20 the concept of happiness changes.    2    I can still feel the pain of not being invited to a party that almost everyone else was going to. I also remember the great happiness of being invited at another event to dance with a very handsome young man.In adulthood the things that bring great joy—birth, love, marriage—also bring responsibility and the risk of loss.    3    For adults, happiness is complex.    4    But I think a better definition of happiness is “ the ability to enjoy something”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It's easy to overlook the pleasure we get from loving and being loved, the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, even good health.While happiness may be more complex for us, the solution is the same as ever. Happiness isn't about what happens to us; it’s the ability to find a positive for every negative, and view a difficulty as a challenge.    5