【推荐2】Liang Yuying, 26, became a bar performer after graduation from her singing major, but never once did she pluck up the courage to sing in front of her loved ones.

That situation changed in the most dramatic fashion. The final stage of this year’s edition of Sing! China saw Liang’s mother and younger brother not only hear her beautiful singing for the first time but also witness Liang winning the event, which made Liang feel very proud and moved. In the final, Liang touched the judges with her heart-stopping performance, showing her superb singing skills with each word powerful and each breath precise. Her coach, Hong Kong singer Hacken Lee, was thrilled at Liang’s victory. Lee gave her a thumbs-up before jumping onto the stage to give the new champion a warm, congratulatory hug.

Born in Guiping, Guangxi, Liang won the “campus top 10 singers” competition when she was studying at Jiujiang Senior Middle School in Foshan, Guangdong province. In 2019, she started singing in a bar in Chongqing after graduation from Guangxi Arts University, where she majored in pop music performance.

This year is not the first time that Liang has taken part in the show. In 2019, Liang signed up but didn’t make it to the final selection round. Even though her last two demo tapes, submitted in 2020 and last year, were not selected by the directing team, she never gave up. This summer, she finally made it to the ultimate stage.

During the competition, Liang dealt with setbacks, including the catastrophic loss of her voice before one round due to a cold. However, she never thought of withdrawing. Liang says participating in the show has brought great changes to her life, including the development of a more disciplined lifestyle and a better mindset.

【推荐3】Listening to music while studying or doing homework is a very common habit among students.

The research in 1972 showed that there was an increase in the performance of workers when listening to music. However, this research was limited, and was only used to study a very specific and representative working environment at the time-factories. Workforce tasks were repetitive, predictable and boring.

But what about the complex (复杂的) and creative jobs? What about studying complex academic programs?

It seems that when the work at hand forces us to really focus on what we are doing, the presence of the music is a burden that we must avoid. For example, the research published in Psychological Reports found that when some volunteers had to choose a piece of music and listen to it while studying or doing homework, they performed worse than those who did not choose and simply accomplished the task without listening to music.

In other words, even though music is used for studying, it may just be because you like the music, not because it improves memorization and learning outcomes.

Why is it not good to listen to music while studying? The answer lies in two concepts: multitasking (多任务化) and attentional concentration. Multitasking is the ability to perform more than one task at the same time and is closely related to working memory. This type of memory is responsible for keeping in mind the elements with which we work in real time.

Attentional concentration is how the brain directs mental processes toward solving some problems and not others. When we focus on something, we are using a large part of our nervous system to fix it. For this, you have to pay the price for neglecting other functions.

【推荐1】Greece has criticized the United Kingdom for canceling (取消) a planned meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, apparently so that Sunak could avoid talking about ancient artefacts (历史文物) that Greece says were taken illegally. Mitsotakis and Sunak were set to meet on Tuesday, but Sunak canceled it on Monday, reportedly after learning that Mitsotakis planned to talk about the Parthenon sculptures.

The UK government initially believed Mitsotakis would not talk about the sculptures, which are now in the British Museum. The sculptures were once part of the Parthenon in the Greek capital Athens. The row (纠纷) became more serious after Mitsotakis told the BBC on Sunday the UK’s offer to store some of the sculptures in London and some in Athens was akin to cutting the Mona Lisa in two. He also said the sculptures had been essentially stolen.

Mitsotakis said he was deeply disappointed by the abrupt cancellation of the meeting. “Those who firmly believe in the correctness and justice of their positions are never hesitant to engage in constructive argument and debate,” he was quoted by The Associated Press as saying. The BBC reported that sources in the Greek government were puzzled and annoyed by the meeting cancellation.

Greece has long criticized the way in which the Parthenon sculptures ended up in London, after they were bought by British diplomat Lord Elgin and shipped to the UK between 1801 and 1804. Because the two nations disagree on the legality of the deal and have firm positions, they have tended to avoid talking about the issue during high-level diplomatic meetings.

The UK’s Transport Secretary Mark Harper said on the BBC’s Breakfast program on Tuesday that it was regretful that the prime ministers would not meet during Mitsotakis’UK visit. He said Mitsotakis had been offered the chance to meet instead the UK’s deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, but he had refused the meeting. “The views of Greece on the Parthenon sculptures are well known,” Mitsotakis was quoted by The Guardian as saying. “I had hoped to have the opportunity to discuss them with UK Prime Minister along with other international challenges. ” The UK’s opposition Labour Party criticized Sunak for canceling the meeting and said his behavior appeared disrespectful.