The United States is committed to empowering women all over the world. In too many places around the world today women face barriers to equality, resources, and opportunities, said USAID’s Senior official Michelle Bekkering. It could be a barrier to credit, to the     1     needed to launch a business. And all too frequently, women are tied down by gender-based violence, at home or within the community.

“Gender-based violence harms women, girls, their families, communities and countries,” added Bekkering.

Gender-based violence, is a universal barrier to global security, women’s empowerment, and economic growth. It is estimated right now that gender-based violence has     2     the world more than five percent of its global GDP, having a greater total economic impact than war.

USAID is trying to eliminate it through prevention and response. On prevention, we first need to learn what’s causing the problem,     3     if there are too many such severe incidents within a given region. How do natural disasters compound gender-based violence? What about lack of access to natural resources? What is the     4     of local laws?

As part of a     5    , we look at the regulatory framework, make sure there are laws that clearly define and punish offenders of gender-based violence.

Improving girls’ education is a step in the right direction, said Ms. Bekkering. For every    6     year that a girl goes to school, she is less likely to be a victim of gender-based violence. So is improving women’s access to digital technologies, and     7     support from local leadership.

U.S. Congress appropriates (拨款) a combined 150 million dollars to the State Department and to USAID for the global effort to     8     gender-based violence. It also provides money for combating child, early, and     9     marriage, which are closely linked to gender-based violence. Since 2012, USAID has provided critical services to over five million survivors and persons at risk of GBV.

Women and girls should be safe from the     10     of violence in their homes, in their communities, and they should have access to education and health care—and opportunities to live up to their full economic potential.

Embrace the rule of awkward silence

The rule of awkward silence is simple: When faced with a challenging question, instead of answering, pause and think deeply about how you want to answer. This is no short pause; rather, it involves taking several seconds (10, 20 or longer) to think things through before     1    .

At Apple, Tim Cook has engaged in the     2     for years. Back in 2008, a Fortune article said that in meetings, Cook was “known for long,     3     pauses, when all you hear is the sound of his tearing the wrapper of the energy bars he constantly eats.”

Cook isn’t alone in embracing the rule of awkward silence. Steve Jobs once took almost 20 seconds to respond to a personal attack,     4     a perfect response.

The rule of awkward silence has always been valuable as a tool of emotional intelligence because it allows you to     5     thought and emotion instead of simply reacting based on feeling.

Why the rule of awkward silence is more valuable than ever.

We live in a world that     6     instant satisfaction. Emails should be answered on the same day. Text messages should be answered right now. But there’s a major problem with all of this immediate communication: It doesn’t leave time to think.

As in, think     7    .

Critical thinking calls for deep and careful consideration of a subject. It involves weighing and analyzing facts, and careful     8    . And it results in making insightful connections.

None of this is possible without time.

And time has become the biggest luxury on the planet.

But when you embrace the rule of awkward silence, you steal back time. Time that used to be wasted on     9     answers.

So, the next time someone asks you a challenging question, or even what seems on the surface to be a simple one, resist the     10     to respond with the first thing that comes to mind.

Instead, embrace the rule of awkward silence, and think before you speak.

Berlin: At nine most mornings the same scene is repeated in office buildings around the world. An employee walks into the elevator with his boss and apart from a mumbled “good morning” the junior is lost for other words. That’s an opportunity missed, says experts, who believe that such an     1     dull 30-second conversation can be invaluable for those who want to climb the career ladder.

“Small talk can help establish a     2    upon which you can build,” says Dusseldorf communication advisor Thorsten Knobble, whose company customize curriculum vitas and job references.

As a matter of fact, the     3     of small talk goes far beyond the relationship to one’s boss. People who fail the art of speaking a lot without     4     saying anything find it harder to     5     relationships in the workplace, believes Ulrich Goldschmidt, director of the senior management association VDF Essen“Small talk is an     6     part of networking,” he says.

Virtually every conversation begins and     7     with small talk, according to Wolf Lasko, who has written a book on the topic and its bearing on career prospects.

Not everyone is good at small talk. It takes skill to     8     the right moment and the right topic with which to start a conversation. There are plenty of topics although some are not     9     for informal chat. “Anything to do with sex is taboo,” cautions Knobble. “    10     is needed with politics, religion, money and health.” Safe topics include the holidays, the movies, or sports.

Online, where posts can spread rapidly and everything leaves a trail, words can also be harsh. Often the only defence people have is     1    their online profiles entirely. But that means giving up a way to interact with others in a positive way. Bullying happens where young people spend their time-at present, mainly Weibo, Wechat, Hupu and Tieba. A widely suggested “solution” is to     2     teenagers to particular platforms. But then they will migrate to others.

Facebook and Instagram use artificial intelligence to spot verbal     3    . Most social-media sites have instructions on how to report     4     material and block other users. For example, Facebook this week announced new ways for users to avoid “unwanted, offensive or hurtful experiences”. However, a(n)     5     survey in Britain found that 70% of people thought that social-media companies do too little to prevent bullying.

More school-aged children have reported being cyberbullied than before the pandemic, according to the report     6    by the World Health Organization (WHO). The study surveyed more than 279,000 young people from 44 countries and regions. In Wales, where nearly 37,000 young people were surveyed, 17% reported falling     7    to cyberbullying. The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey suggests the proportion of adolescents who reported being cyberbullied has witnessed some     8     increases since 2018, from 12% to 15% for boys and 13% to 16% for girls.

Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, a WHO     9    , said: “Focusing on virtual types of peer violence is now a priority to safeguard the health and     10     of populations of adolescents and young people, and cyberbullying must be viewed as a major issue for societies.”

You Deserve a “Brighter” Future

WOOOOOSH! The drone (无人机) flew over our heads. Students     1     with delight and dashed around the courtyard, all heads turned skyward. Misty mountains and the green forest surrounded us, with fields caved into the wilderness. I was in the Yunnan countryside with an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) to     2     free glasses to nearsighted children.

While the children seemed quite pleased to witness a drone lift off for the first time, the sad reality was that perhaps only half could see the drone at all.

Many layers of obstacles     3     this problem, the first being access. The eye doctors are concentrated in cities, but so many urban students need eye examinations.

In addition to access, information is another     4    . If a rural student is nearsighted, there is almost no way for them to know unless their teacher notices and acts. Even if students discover they need glasses and can access an eye doctor, they face the financial challenge of paying for glasses. Many parents in rural areas, who have never worn glasses themselves, don’t understand the     5     and see no reason to spend the extra money. Some even fear that glasses will further harm their eyesight. How     6    !

When you walk the streets of cities in China today, you will find that the     7     is even more alarming. Heavy homework loads, increasing screen time on smartphones, and less sunlight from outdoor activities all     8     to worsening nearsightedness among urban students. If this problem     9    , the consequences will be more serious than you can imagine. This may lead to the county’s running out of personnel in certain fields or occupations which require good eyesight.

To give students a "brighter" future, the government has     10     a grand plan to control the country’s rising number of nearsighted children and teenagers. Before it takes effect ,why not put down your smartphone and get back to nature?