【推荐2】Most dog owners know that feeding chocolate to their furry friend is a big no-no. Well, one animal hospital in Alabama believes that “no dog should go to heaven without tasting chocolate.”

Smiths Station Animal Hospital posted a photo to their Facebook page of a jar of Hershey Kisses with the words “Goodbye Kisses” painted on the side. There was also a note from one of the hospital’s doctors that read, “This jar is reserved for our euthanasia (安乐死) appointments...because no dog should go to heaven without tasting chocolate.”

“We try to provide as much comfort as possible during a terribly difficult and emotional time. My staff has always kept little snacks and candy bars around specifically for those appointments,” Dr. Nicole Namie, told WRBL. “Typically, these are treats that I wouldn’t recommend giving to my patients, but in their final moments, I think it’s important to offer them something special.”

“We always give them something to make them feel good and to enjoy the last few minutes,” Jennifer Williams, practice manager at Smiths Station Animal Hospital told Newsweek. She said given that the hospital is in a small community, the staff and doctors become attached to the pets and when it comes time to say goodbye it’s heartbreaking for everyone.

The response to the post has been overwhelming, she said, and the best part has been having people from around the world share their own stories. “It has really turned into a really sweet post,” Williams said. “There is no hate speech on it. Everyone is just showing compassion for each other.” The post has since been shared over 113,000 times on Facebook and made its way to TikTok and Reddit feeds too.

【推荐3】What Your Cat's Behavior is Trying to Communicate       

Why cats ignore you.

Cats are intelligent beings but they are also undeniably stubborn. When you call a cat's name, they will more likely ignore you altogether.    1    . It is actually because they just don't want to go to you. They like to show affection on their own terms and will come and say hello to you when they feel like it.

    2    

Cats love to interrupt whatever you are doing by lying across the area where you are working. Whether you have a book open or are typing away on your laptop, they won't hesitate to stamp on top. This is a cat's way of ordering you to stop whatever you are doing and to instead pay attention to them.

When your cat brings you gifts

At one point or another, every owner has to deal with their cat bringing a dead bird or mouse at their feet. Your cat is actually bringing you a gift.     3    , it may be saying thank you for the care you give it.

How cats say "I love you"

Cats make a lot of gestures with their eyes to communicate. If a cat is staring at you, it most likely means that they are trying to get your attention.     4    , they are telling you they love you.

When your cat scratches everything

Cats love scratching so much that they will tear up your new sofa. But why do they do this?

【推荐2】We live in the age of envy. Career envy, kitchen envy, children envy, food envy, holiday envy. You name it, there’s an envy for it. Human beings have always felt what Aristotle defined in the fourth century BC as pain at the sight of another’s good fortune. But with the coming of social media, says Ethan Kross, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, “envy is being taken to an extreme.” We are constantly bombarded by “Photoshopped lives”, he says, “and that applies a toll (严重的不良影响) on us the likes of which we have never experienced in the history of our species. And it is not particularly pleasant.”

Clinical psychologist Rachel Andrew says she is seeing more and more envy in her consulting room from people who “can’t achieve the lifestyle they want but which they see others have”. Our use of social media platforms, she says, amplifies this deeply disturbing psychological discord. “I think what social media has done is make everyone accessible for comparison,” she explains. “In the past, people might have just envied their neighbors, but now we can compare ourselves with everyone across the world.”

And those comparisons are now much less realistic, Andrew continues: “We all know that images can be filtered, that people are presenting the very best take on their lives.” We carry our envy amplification device around in our pockets, we sleep with it next to our pillows, and it tempts us 24 hours a day, the moment we wake up even if it is the middle of the night. “What I notice is that most of us can intellectualize what we see on social media platforms — we know that these images and narratives that are presented aren’t real, we can talk about it and rationalize it — but on an emotional level, it’s still pushing buttons. If those images or narratives tap into what we desire, but what we don’t have, then it becomes very powerful.”

No age group or social class is immune from envy, according to Andrew. In her consulting room she sees young women, self-conscious about how they look, who begin to follow certain accounts to find hair inspiration or makeup techniques, and end up envying the women they follow and feeling even worse about themselves. But she also sees the same pattern among older businessmen and women who start out looking for strategies and tips on social media websites, and then struggle to accept what they find, which is that some people seem to be more successful than they are. “Equally, it can be friends and family who bring out those feelings of envy, around looks, lifestyle, careers and parenting — because somebody is always doing it better on social media,” she says.

【推荐3】The variety of choices today, especially in entertainment and products, is almost beyond comprehension.

Going shopping? There's exponentially more to choose from at your local supermarket in almost every category. It's not just groceries, of course. Need a power saw? How about paint for your wall? So many options you could reasonably throw up your hands in despair.

Yet, I'm willing to bet if someone asked you whether you'd prefer more choices in life or fewer, you'd pick more. “Since, why not? More is better, right?”

However, here's what you lose when you have unlimited choices. First, peace of mind. It's stressful to have to go through an enormous menus of options, since it takes effort to sift through the pros and cons of each, and what if you choose wrong? In an often cited study done at Wharton, customers in a gourmet grocery story were watched as they passed a display of cither 6 or 24 types of jam. While more customers were drawn to the larger display, only 3 percent of shoppers who passed by bought jam at that table.

But beyond our confusion when we're faced with enormous choices, we have also lost a sense of community. Those three national TV networks back in the day aired shows that nearly everyone watched and that you could talk about with the confidence that they were well known by all. Today, you can't assume that any of your friends or coworkers are on the same page.

It's nice, of course, that there are so many choices. But the downside is that at a time when our society is crying for unity, some interest groups often cut off their fans from the rest of our society.

Obviously, we cannot change the present situation. Even as we feel overwhelmed by choice, we certainly wouldn't want someone else to decide which choices we should give up for the sake of peace of mind. But I do sometimes miss the days when decision-making wasn't always a detailed search among endless possibilities for that one, shining, perfect choice that we will never find.