1 . Walking slowly out of the classroom by himself to the dining room; taking his lunch, sitting and eating alone at a table of four seats, such moments are pretty normal to be seen on the 14-year-old schoolboy, Peter. He spends most of his school time on his own, which leads his parents to worry about him so much.

His parents’ worries are easy to understand. It is widely accepted that being alone is a symbol of being left out and can bring a lot of trouble. Most people believe teenagers who are usually alone do have few friends and are unable to fit in with other people. At the same time, they are at greater risk of having mental (心理的) problems.

However, a new study by some researchers at Wilmington College, shows that this may not always be true. Whether it is bad for teenagers or not depends on the reasons why teenagers are alone. If it is their choice, it may play an active role in their personal growth.

According to their study, when teenagers choose to think alone, they put 100% of their attention into what is in their mind and are more likely to experience deeper thoughts and feelings than working with others. They may have a greater chance to create something new. In this way they can better develop their creativity (创造力).

On the other hand, the on-going noise children’s brains receive every day can put great stress on them and make it hard for them to focus (专注). Being alone lets them shut themselves of from the noisy outside world and think about what’s best for them. Slowly they improve their ability to focus.

As a matter of fact, our culture is always biased (偏见的) against being alone. Maybe it is the right time for us to rethink about Peter’s situation before we say what’s happening to him.

2 . Imagine taking a flying taxi to the airport, or jumping over crowded city streets at rush hours, getting where you want to go far faster than you could in a car. Believe it or not, you might be able to do these things in an air taxi sooner than you think.

An air taxi is something like a helicopter (直升飞机) that can carry people from place to place. Air taxis don’t need a long runway (跑道) like planes do. They can go straight up and down.

In June, the government of America agreed to allow a company called Joby Aviation to start testing their new air taxi. This is the first time they’ve tested a taxi that has been built in a factory. Before that, all their taxis were made by hand.

By 2025, Joby hopes to start carrying passengers for money. They’ve worked together with Delta Air Lines to create a program to fly people from their homes to the airport. Joby’s air taxis will be flown by a pilot, and can carry four other passengers. They can go around 100 miles before the electric batteries need to be recharged (充电).

Compared with helicopters, Joby says their air taxis are both quieter and cheaper. The company expects to charge (要价) about $3 a mile at first. But over time, they hope to bring the price down to less than $1 a mile.

And as exciting as the idea of flying taxis is, some people have been anxious about them. The air taxis may be quieter than helicopters, but they’ll still be adding noise and traffic to our skies. Some people worry that only rich people will be able to afford to use them.

It seems likely that air taxis will be part of the future of travel. But there’s still a lot to do before air taxis become common.

3 . Is there a connection between music and language? According to recent studies, the answer is yes. Music boosts (促进) certain language abilities in the brain. Here are two examples.

A study from Northwestern University shows that playing a musical instrument can improve a person’s hearing ability. As a part of the study, two groups of people listened to a person talking in a noisy room. The people in the first group were musicians, while those in the second group had no musical training. The musicians were able to hear the talking person more clearly.

Musicians hear better, says study leader Nina Kraus, because they learn to pay attention to certain sounds. Think about violinists in an orchestra (管弦乐队). When the violinists play with the group, they hear their own instruments and many others, too. But the violinists must listen closely to what they are playing and ignore (忽视) the other sounds. In this way, musicians are able to concentrate on certain sounds, even in a room with lots of noise.

Gottfried Schlaug, a doctor at Harvard Medical School, works with stroke patients (中风患者). Because of their illness, these people cannot say their names, addresses, or other information normally. However, they can still sing. Dr. Schlaug was surprised to find that singing words helped his patients to eventually (最终地) speak. Why does this work? Schlaug isn’t sure. Music seems to activate (激活) different parts of the brain, including the damaged parts. This somehow helps patients use those parts of the brain again.

Music improves concentration, memory, listening skills, and our language abilities. It can even help sick people get better. Playing an instrument or singing, says Nina Kraus, can help us do better in school and keep our brains sharp as we get older. Therefore, music is not only enjoyable. It’s also good for us in many other ways.

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4 . Over the past 10 years, thanks to the country’s stress on cultural confidence, Han-style clothing has been developing into a fashion trend (趋势). While a city in Henan Province has held four Hanfu festivals, Chengdu has hosted Hanfu fashion shows. Even a scenic spot (景点) in Sanya, Hainan Province, announced that those wearing Hanfu will be allowed to enter it for free.

Hanfu fans have developed websites and written articles on Hanfu, attracting more than 4 billion page views on Weibo alone. The rising popularity of Hanfu has also excited public interest in other traditional cultural forms. For example, Chinese painting, calligraphy (书法) and kungfu are attracting more and more young learners while traditional Chinese medicine is returning to hospitals.                    

Although most people agree that Han-style clothes look beautiful on people on certain occasions (场合), there is still heated arguments about whether the trend should be encouraged or not. Those support Hanfu say it spreads Chinese culture and looks beautiful. And it can also help teenagers know more about traditional Chinese art and culture.

However, those against it believe that a set of Han-style clothing may cost much money because they have to be handmade but not mass-produced. They also say putting on Hanfu and other accessories (配饰), not to mention getting a hairstyle to match the dress, will waste a lot of time. They may be right. A girl I met in Suzhou told me that she had to spend more than 1,000 yuan ($138) to rent a set of Han-style dress and get a makeup to go with it, which took two hours to complete.

Most people, however, choose to ignore such arguments. They just think that seeing people wholly or partly dressed in Han-style clothes while walking in a street is a “beautiful” experience.

6 . Starting along the Huaihe River in eastern China, Flower Drum Lantern Dance is well known for its bright colors, different forms and a cheerful mood.

As a traditional treasure in China, the dance has a very long history. It’s said that the dance appeared in the Song Dynasty, developed in the Ming Dynasty, and finally became popular in the Qing Dynasty. It’s usually used to show the peaceful lives of people in the countryside.

In the dance, the women wear a red silk ball flower on their heads. In their hands, silk fans and scarves are used as props (道具). And the props used by men are mainly umbrellas, short wooden sticks and drums. Before 1949, women were discouraged from performing in public, so women’s roles were mostly played by men. That’s why most of the old famous artists still alive today are men.

The dance is usually performed in an open area such as the central square of a village and the side of a river. The audiences (观众) usually come around in a circle. Inside the circle are several long benches with the drum group on one side. The performers enter the circle with the women standing on the men’s shoulders, and then the men lower the women to the benches and stand beside them. The show begins when the men with umbrellas enter the performance space. Then they lead the performers into the center to dance.

Flower Drum Lantern Dance is still quite popular across the country, especially in places such as Anhui, Henan and Jiangsu. Even today, village dance teams often compete with each other by performing the dance during the Spring Festival.

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8 . In Western countries, some people think the number 13 brings bad luck. In the past, a lot of tall buildings didn’t even have a 13th floor. However, there aren’t really any other numbers that are special in this way in the West.

There are superstitions (迷信) about some numbers in China as well. For example, the number “4” is said to be unlucky because it sounds like the Chinese word for “death”. But that’s just one small example of China’s obsession (迷恋) with numbers.

When I first came here, I was surprised to see that many websites had numbers in their names instead of letters. Because Chinese characters (文字) cannot be used for website addresses. They can only use numbers or the letters of the Roman alphabet.

In pinyin, the telecom company China Unicom is called Zhongguo Liantong. If the company used their pinyin name for their website address, it would be quite long. So instead, they use their customer service hotline number —10010. com. This is easier to type and remember.

In addition, the pronunciations (发音) of some numbers sound similar to other words in Chinese. This makes for some clever wordplay. For example, the numbers “5-2-0” in Chinese sound similar to the pronunciation of the Chinese phrase “I love you”. Many couples choose to get married on May 20 for this reason.

It is interesting to see how Chinese people have used numbers in so many different ways. “88” for now!