The Right Electric Bike for You

The bicycle fever is back, but this time it has gone electric. According to NPD Group which tracks the bicycle industry, electric bike sales have more than doubled since 2019. And their popularity is still on the rise. Confirm your need and pick the electric bike that’s best for you.

“Somebody just died,” my daughter Katy begins.

“Somebody was just born,” I answer, smiling.

“Somebody is crying,” she replies.

“Somebody is laughing.”

This is our game. It’s our secret way of being amazed at the complexity (复杂性) of the world. I was reminded of our game yesterday as Molly, my 15-year-old pet dog, lay beside me. Molly was more than a pet. She was part of me. But she was dying.

Molly was given to me as a puppy a few months after I completed my exams in college and has been by my side ever since. But when I took her out the other day, she started to walk slowly and then fell down.

“She’s getting ready to go,” I bravely told my husband.

One day, I walked down to the stream to think. As I looked around, I thought that the magic of a forest is not all about the green leaves or colorful plants. It is the decay (腐朽) that makes the color stand out.

Katy’s game rang in my mind. Something is decaying, I thought, something is growing, I thought …

We chose to keep Molly at home. We didn’t want to make her last trip uneasy at the vet’s. Our task was to keep her be with us and make sure she was comfortable.

I wanted to be by her side. If I tried to leave the kitchen, she struggled to pick up her head to find me. So, I stayed.

My kitchen became like the forest, like Katy’s game. Somebody was crying. Somebody was cooking. Somebody was dying.

Molly lifted up her head with a sudden jerk (猝然一动). I dropped the cup I was holding and rushed to her. I took hold of Molly and placed my fingers over her beating heart. I kept them there, feeling her pulse, until it stopped. I didn’t beg her to stay. That would have been silly.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t cry, though. The girls hugged me, more frightened by my sadness than by the loss of the dog.

“Mommy! Say you’ll be happy again.” Katy cried.

I took my hands from Molly and put them around Katy’s balled fists.

“Remember the game?” I whispered quietly. “Where sometimes somebody’s happy and somebody else is sad?”

She nodded.

“Right now, it’s my turn to be sad. And you just have to let me be. But that doesn’t mean I’ll never be happy, okay?”

For now, I’m just somebody who’s sad. Somebody who cries. Somebody who loves. Maybe tomorrow, or the day after, I’ll be somebody who laughs.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can do many different things. From controlling the lights in our homes to helping us order pizzas, it seems there aren’t many more uses for AI than we already have. However, can AI make music like human beings?

Thanks to a team of Swiss scientists, AI may soon be able to come up with music especially for us. Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have created a computer algorithm (算法), the “Deep Artificial Composer” (DAC), which can create original music all by itself.

Florian Colombo, an EPFL scientist who helped create the DAC, said that AI could produce complete melodies (旋律), with a beginning and an end.

At present, the DAC is only able to produce several pieces of traditional Irish folk music, but it’s hoped that it will be able to create songs based on any type of music in the end.

To “teach” the DAC, the scientists trained it to “listen” to over 2,000 different folk songs. Based on this input (输入), the AI taught itself how to compose music, from getting the pitch (高音) and timing right, to choosing the right notes.

This process is still in its early stages, with the DAC still not producing perfect results, but Colombo told AFP that the AI’s music is still “quite pleasant to listen to.”

While the idea sounds very hopeful, we shouldn’t expect the DAC to replace real-life composers any time soon. According to Colombo, the system was designed to produce only simple melodies. So far, it can only create songs based on a single instrument.

Colombo said that his purpose in creating the DAC was to help people create their own music, not to have it made for them. His exciting new ideas came from Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart. It’s said that he used to throw dice (掷骰子) to help him pick which notes to use when making new music.

“A good composer with creative ideas will never be replaced by an algorithm.” Colombo told AFP.

I’m one of those people who often joined in some class or other. I find that I do better in learning some topics in a classroom environment than on my own. Here are some skills that I highly recommend you to consider:

Writing: While improving your writing can sometimes just be a matter of practice, it’s very easy to create bad grammatical habits without a teacher’s guidance. You probably don’t need a degree (学位) in creative writing to help you with your work, but even a short class with a teacher who can review your work can make your written communications so much better.

A second language: Although there are many online courses to teach a second language, it’s certain that in-person instruction is effective. So why not take a class? Considering the increasing population of the US, as well as other countries, knowing a second language can make a world of difference, whether you’re working for a boss or you have your own business.

Emergency (突发事件) management: People with degrees in emergency management are having less difficulty finding jobs right now than other job hunters. That’s because the ability to deal with any kind of emergency properly is prized. Even a single first aid class can make a world a difference.

Shop class of any type: Many schools’ shop classes have ended, so it’s harder to learn the skills necessary to use tools, fix cars and deal with other common situations. Visiting the mechanics (技工) can be as good as having such classes. You can also get to learn how to use a number of tools without having to buy them all yourself.

Some Skills Might Be Worth Going to Classes for

65. 时光荏苒，转眼又是毕业季了，在这即将结束的三年学习生涯中，有很多事情值得我们铭记一辈子，尤其是同学们之间珍贵的友谊。学校将举行“晓园杯”征文大赛，题目是“My friendship”。请描述你获得一段友谊的经过以及友谊对你产生的影响。

My friendship