【推荐1】① There is a gender gap (性别鸿沟) in the world of science, according to the United Nations (UN). Among all the researchers, 33.3 percent are women. And only 12 percent of the members of national science academies (国家科学研究院) are women.

② To encourage more girls and women to take part in science, the UN General Assembly (联合国大会) set February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (IDWGIS) in 2015. “We need women to make sure science and technology work for everyone.” said Antonio Guterres, a leader of the UN.

③ In 2023, IDWGIS focuses on the roles of women and girls. “From improving heath to fighting climate change, meeting some of the greatest challenges of the 2030 will depend on all talents. That means getting more women into these fields,” said Zhang Wanqing, 27, a female engineer from China.

④ “Women have their own strength (优势). They can shine in the field of science, too. Take rocket design for example, female engineers are more careful with details (细节). When they deal with work, they check several times to make sure there are no mistakes,” Zhang added.

⑤ “To attract more women to the field of science, biases (偏见) that stop girls from dreaming of a job in science need to be removed,” said Zhou Jie, 27, a female (女性的) doctoral student in chemistry studying at the University of Padua, Italy. “For example, we should remove gender biases in learning materials. Many materials often describe male (男性的) examples of experts (专家) such as engineers and scientists. However, women are more likely to be described as teachers, nurses and so on.”

【推荐3】When you are doing homework, sometimes your eyes may suddenly twitch (抽动). You may hear some superstitions (迷信) about this. For example, if your right eye jumps, you will hear good news. If your left eye jumps, you will hear bad news.

But science can tell you that it has nothing to do with these superstitions. It is just a movement of your muscles (肌肉). There are a few reasons why this happens.

According to ZME Science, when you feel stressed or tired, your eyes will twitch. This tells you that you need to get more rest.

Looking at a TV or computer screen for a long time can also make your eye twitch. Looking at screens can make your eye dry (干涩的). So it twitches to make itself wet.

Lacking (缺乏) some minerals (矿物质) in your diet (饮食) is another reason. Eating food such as almonds (杏仁) or spinach (菠菜) can be helpful.

【推荐3】A new app uses AI to tell you what your pet is thinking.

It’s called Happy Pets. It tells you what kind of animal it is and shows you which of the five most usual animal emotions—happy, angry, neutral (不动声色的), sad and scared—it is feeling.

It was developed by a team at the University of Melbourne. This app uses AI, or machine learning. It’s the technology that’s used for vision (视野) in robots and self-driving cars and it works by taking in images and comparing them.

One popular use for AI is in facial recognition (辨识) technology. Many of us can unlock our mobile phones with an image of our face. But this is the first time this kind of technology has been used for animals.

The researchers had to teach the technology to recognize that an image was an animal—instead of, for example, a chocolate cake.

It then had to learn to recognize facial expressions. This is difficult because photos can be taken in so many different ways: from the side, above, below, in bright light. And different animals can have such different facial expressions. Finally, once the AI has learned from thousands of examples, it then will be able to tell which kind of feeling your pet is having.

The free app can be downloaded on Apple iOS or Google Android now.

【推荐2】English families are usually small. The members of the family are simply—Mum, Dad and the children. They don’t live together with their grandparents or unmarried（未结婚的）aunts or uncles. And all the members in the family are very kind to each other. In the evenings, they often like to drink tea and watch TV.

English people love their homes and families their gardens and pets. They have all kinds of pets, such as dogs, cats and goldfish. They treasure（珍惜）friendship, too. They often invite their friends to dinner, but in a rather formal（正式）way. Yet they don’t like people to drop in without an invitation. If invited to an English home, you get a cup of tea. Remember never refuse（拒绝）to drink tea when asked to.

English women are an important part of the country. Besides doing housework, homemakers take part in social（社交的）activities. As they are much more independent（独立）today, they can marry（嫁给）men they like and take up the jobs on their own wish.

Children are better cared for and far healthier. As soon as they leave school, they start their studies or jobs. They have government’s grants（助学金）which are enough for their keep. But they still stay with their parents a lot. They seem very close to them.

【推荐3】Good manners mean politeness. Politeness can be seen in our daily lives, such as in one’s way of dressing, speaking and standing. Everyone should pay enough attention to his manners all the time. A man with good manners is welcome everywhere and can make friends easily. On the other hand, a man with bad manners is thought to be rude and nobody wants to be friends with him. He would feel lonely and unhappy.

If you want to be a person with good manners, you should learn to use one useful expressions, such as “please”, “thank you”, “excuse me” and “sorry” on different occasions. Also, where help is needed, you should be happy to lend a hand.

Like customs（风俗）, good manners may be different from country to country. Good manners in one country may not be good in another. In order to behave like a person with good manners in different places, it is necessary for one to learn about cultures of other countries.