【推荐1】There is no point destroying your peace of mind and happiness by taking the wrong job. Society may pressure you into grabbing (抓住) whatever you can get. If you do not have a set path that must be taken, then you have the opportunity to choose something you will not only be paid for doing, but enjoy.

One of the best ways of finding a suitable career is to determine your personality type. It may seem obvious that the creative (创造性的) type does not really find much pleasure in a job as a butcher (屠夫) or dry cleaning assistant (助手), and that weak character may not find happiness in a career based on teaching or leading a team.

To find the best job for your personality type, the first step is to know what and who you really are. If you already know your style, you can search for suitable employment; however, if you are uncertain, there are ways that will help you discover who and what you are. For example, an employment centre, a career adviser or an online quiz can help you.

Taking my own situation for example, am definitely (明确地) a creative type. Besides, I prefer to be my own boss or, if I cannot, at least I want to rely on a boss I truly both respect and admire. I do not like telling people what to do, or being told what to do. I do not relate well to regular 9-5 hours. I do not feel satisfied being paid a high wage for a bad job. I feel much happier at home. Combining my creativity, independence, and desire to stay at home, my ideal (理想的) career would be running home-operated- business involving (涉及) creativity. I actually happen to have chosen this solution; I am a writer, poet, author and publisher. I have suited my career to my personality type.

【推荐2】Today, people all over the world are moving out of small villages in the country to go and live in big, noisy cities. They are moving from the peaceful hills, mountains, fields, rivers and streams of the countryside to the busy world of streets, buildings, traffic and crowds. This movement from rural areas to urban areas has been going on for over two hundred years.

In many countries, the main reason people come to live in towns and cities is work. After one or two large factories have been built in or near a town, people come to find work, and soon an industrial area begins to grow. There is usually a residential area nearby, too. The families of these workers need schools, hospitals and shops, so many people come to live in the area to provide these services and a city grows.

In every major city in the world, there is a business district where the big companies have their main offices. In the United States, this area is usually in the city center downtown. It is here that you can see many huge skyscrapers(摩天大楼)and office blocks. The people who work here often travel a long way to work each day. Many of them live in the suburbs of the city, far away from the industrial area and the city center. Some suburbs are very pleasant, with nice houses and big gardens. There are usually parks for children to play in and large department stores where you can buy all you need.

But what is the future of the big cities? Will they continue to get bigger and bigger? Perhaps not. Some major cities have actually become smaller in the last ten years, and it is quite possible that one day we will see people moving out of the major cities and back into smaller towns and villages.

【推荐3】Many people fear that robots will destroy jobs. A paper in 2013 by economists at Oxford University was widely misinterpreted as meaning that 47% of American jobs were at risk of being automated.

The concern about mass unemployment is overblown. Actually, robots will be ultimately beneficial for labour markets. A Yale University study that looked at Japanese manufacturing between 1978 and 2017 found that an increase of one robot unit per 1,000 workers boosted a company’s employment by 2.2%. Research from the Bank of Korea found that robotisation moved jobs away from manufacturing into other sectors, but that there was no decrease in overall vacancies. Another study, by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, looked at Finnish firms and concluded that their use of advanced technologies led to increases in hiring.

For all that, the march of the robots will bring big changes to workplaces. The skills and firms that are rewarded will shift, too. One supposed example of “bad automation” is self-service checkouts in supermarkets, because they replace human workers. Robots could perform work that is unpleasant, such as butchering. Checkout staff who retrain to help customers pick items from aisles may well find that dealing with people in need is more rewarding than spending all day swiping barcodes in front of lasers.

Inevitably, some people will be on the losing end of change even as the robots make society as a whole better off. One lesson from the freewheeling globalisation of the 1990s and 2000s is that the growth in trade that was overwhelmingly beneficial triggered a political backlash (反对), because the losers felt left behind. That is one more reason why firms and governments would do well to recognize the value of retraining and lifelong learning. As jobs change, workers should be helped to acquire new skills.

【推荐1】Multiple actions have been taken to fight food waste, but one young man is making a big difference with technology.

Liu Jichen, 23, a student from Tsinghua University, has developed a WeChat mini-program called “Clear Your Plate”. After a meal, users can open the mini-program and take a picture of their empty plates. Once the image recognized by the AI, users can collect points and use them to buy gifts or purchase charity meals donated to children in impoverished (贫困的) rural areas.

“Technological innovation is a good way to reduce food waste,” Liu thought. He organized a team of 20 members to work on the project at the end of 2017. To solve the AI's problem of identifying photos of empty plates, the team spent half a year collecting over 100,000 samples in canteens and restaurants. In 2018, the mini-program was officially put into operation on Oct 16, World Food Day.

“There were so many unknowns in research and development. For our team members, the biggest psychological challenge was whether we were confident enough to complete it,” Liu said. They not only achieved their goal, but mow, the mini-program has more than 5 million registered users, according to Liu.

Thanks to his innovative and practical actions concerning social issues, Liu, along with the other 16 members, stood out among more than 7,600 candidates around the world to be inducted (入选) into the 2020 Class of Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals by the UN Office of the Secretary General's Envoy on Youth in September.

“We hope our efforts can start a new trend among the younger generation by encouraging them to cherish their food and develop the habit of thrift (节约),” Liu told China Daily. “We hope to inspire everyone to take action against food waste and to contribute Chinese wisdom and solutions to global food security challenges,” he added.

【推荐2】It’s not every day that you see pigeons(鸽子)with cowboy hats on their tiny heads walking or flying around, unless you live in Las Vegas, where cowboy-hat-wearing pigeons are actually a thing people have been constantly taking about these days.

It all started on December 5, when a Las Vegas citizen named Bobby Lee noticed two funny-looking birds walking near a dustbin. The pigeons drew his attention because they were wearing tiny cowboy hats — one red and one grey — so he took out his smartphone and started filming them. Later, he uploaded the video online, where is quickly spread. The next day, everyone was talking about Las Vegas’ cowboy-hat-wearing pigeons, and Lee was getting phone calls from agencies trying to license his video.

It was only a matter of time before news outlets picked up the story and reported on the mysterious pigeon cowboys spotted around Las Vegas. The only link anyone could think of was the Wrangler National Rodeo Finals that were taking place in town at the time, but the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which organized the event, denied any involvement.

While some netizens just found the idea cute and jumped at the opportunity to catch the pigeons on camera if they spotted them around Vegas, others expressed concern about the birds’ well-being. They even mentioned animal cruelty.

Hillman, the founder of local pigeon rescue Lofty Hopes, said that her organization was trying to track down the birds and remove their hats, but trapping them with food has proven very difficult so far. That’s because the two known cowboy-hat-wearing pigeons have become very popular around Las Vegas, and people are constantly throwing them much food.

“When you see them today, you could see some loose feathers in the glue around the hat, and it’s surely a concern,” Hillman said, adding that she believed the hats had been glued on with a strong adhesive (粘合剂).

【推荐3】Some houses are designed to be smart. Others have smart designs. An example of the second type of house won an Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Architects.

Located on the shore of Sullivan’s Island off the coast of South Carolina, the award-winning cube shaped beach house was built to replace one smashed to pieces by Hurricane Hugo 10 years ago. In September 1989, Hugo struck South Carolina, killing 18 people and damaging or destroying 36,000 homes in the state.

Before Hugo, many new houses built along South Carolina’s shoreline were poorly constructed, and enforcement of building codes wasn’t strict, according to architect Ray Huff, who created the cleverly-designed beach house. In Hugo’s wake, all new shoreline houses are required to meet stricter, better-enforced code. The new beach house on Sullivan’s Island should be able to withstand a Categ hurricane with peak winds of 179 to 209 kilometers per hour.

At first sight, the house on Sullivan’s Island looks anything but hurricane-proof. Its redwood shell makes it resemble “a large party lantern” at night, according to one observer. But looks can be deceiving. The house’s wooden frame is reinforced with long steel rods to give it extra strength.

To further protect the house from hurricane damage, Huff raised it 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings—long, slender columns of wood anchored deep in the sand. Pilings might appear insecure, but they are strong enough to support the weight of the house. They also elevate the house above storm surges. The pilings allow the surges to run under the house instead of running into it. “These swells of water come ashore at tremendous speeds’ and cause most of the damage done to beach-front buildings,” said Huff.

Huff designed the timber pilings to be partially concealed by the house’s ground-to-roof shell. “The shell masks the pilings so that the house doesn’t look like it’s standing with its pant legs pulled up,” said Huff. In the event of a storm surge, the shell should break apart and let the waves rush under the house, the architect explained.

【推荐1】From cheap family rooms to child discounts and personalised kids menus, London's best family hotels have many ways to make it a memorable stay. Browse (浏览) our favourite budget hotels for families in London at hotels.london.com and get ready for your family stay.

Luna&Simone Hotel

Ideally situated a short stroll from Victoria coach, it offers a welcoming bed and breakfast accommodation with a child-friendly focus. This charming family-run hotel offers affordable family rooms just minutes away from Buckingham Palace, St James's Park and the musicals at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.

Nightly rate: £136. 50 per room

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7834 5897

Travelodge London Docklands

It has everything you need for a good night's sleep, offering great value rooms close to the river Thames, with fast rail connections to the city centre. To accommodate families, there are family rooms, which come equipped with a sofa bed and can sleep up to two adults and two children under 16.

Nightly rate: £29.00 per room

Telephone: 0871 9846192

Generator Hostel London

Generator is part of Europe's fastest growing hostel brand and offers stylish accommodation. The single, twin and family rooms as well as larger dorms (female-only) cater to a range of travellers. A late checkout at 5 p. m. is possible at weekends, so you can make the best of your time in London.

Nightly rate: £33 per room

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7388 7666

Holiday Inn London Kensington Forum

Book a family-friendly room and enjoy a cheap but comfortable stay in one of London's most fascinating areas, within walking distance of Harrods, the Natural History Museum and the Royal Albert Hall. Children under 18 stay free in a family room, and under-12s also eat for free from a healthy and affordable kids menu.

Nightly rate: £119.00 per room

Telephone: 0870 4009100

【推荐2】By the time Robert Porter Allen was born in 1905, the whooping crane(鸣鹤)was already in trouble. The beautiful bird was once commonly found across North America. By 1941,the whooping crane population had dwindled to the double digits (数字).The tallest species in North America were critically endangered.

In the1940s, the remaining cranes migrate(迁徙)every year from the Gulf Coast of Texas to somewhere in the north of Canada to breed (繁殖). The conservation community didn't know where the birds went. The wetlands where they used to spend winters were growing rarer and rarer.

In 1942, Allen undertook the whooping crane project. Over the next three years, he did almost constant field work that took him from Texas up the cranes' migration route to Nebraska, and on into Saskatchewan in search of the nesting ground of the birds.

In 1952, Allen wrote a report on the whooping crane. The report was a warning call to the conservation community: only 33 migratory whoopers remained, and their nesting site still hadn't been found. Two years later, the whooping cranes breeding grounds in Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park were finally found, and Allen headed north to study them firsthand. Allen’s work laid the groundwork for conservationists lo save the birds.

Their efforts paid off as the numbers reached 57 by 1970 and 214 by 2005.Today, the whooping crane is still listed as endangered, but there are roughly 600 birds alive.