As Earth is getting hotter, the world’s glaciers are melting (融化). In the end, they could be gone. As it affects the land, mountains are “taller” than before.     1    

Scientists looked into Earth’s ice ages for answers. The last ice age happened 16,000 years ago, but the land once under the ice is still changing. The change is called the glacial isostatic adjustment (水川均衡调整). Imagine that you lie down on a soft mattress (垫子) and then get up.     2     It needs a while before it relaxes back.

    3     When huge glaciers“sit” on Earth, the land is under pressure. An ice sheet (冰盖) about 800 meters thick may leave a “pit” (坑) about 270 meters deep. So when the glaciers go, the “pit” begins to go up.

    4     Recent researches suggest that land in southeast Alaska is rising about 3cm a year. It’s a lot—even local families can see the difference, said The New York Times. On the good side, they have “new” land and more living areas. However, the environment is in trouble.     5     They easily dry up, and animals in the water find it hard to live. Researchers are also worried that this may bring challenges to fishermen, as raising fish in these areas could become more difficult.

There are over 6,000 languages in the world. Some are more important than others, not better or more advanced, just more important. Why? Because they are spoken by more people, in more countries. On the other hand, knowing Chinese will help you learn other languages too. Today China’s economy is stronger and stronger. Chinese seems well worth learning. In fact, if you learn one, you can learn the others. I did. But hold it here, don’t be so excited! Let’s look at the present situation of language teaching. According to one Canadian survey, after 12 years of daily French classes, only one high school graduate out of 147 (0. 68%) achieved middle skills. The survey showed that “classroom teaching hours” had little progress. If we cannot teach our own official languages, what hope is there for other languages like Japanese or English? We simply have to change the way we go about teaching languages. At first we need to correct five common wrong ideas about language learning.

Language learning is difficult

It is only difficult to learn a language if you don’t want to. Learning a language takes time, but it’s not difficult. You mostly need to listen and read. Believe me, it is that simple. I have done it many times. Soon you feel the happiness of understanding another language. Before you know it you start speaking.     1    

You have to have a gift for learning languages

No, you don’t. Anyone who wants to, can learn. In many countries such as Sweden and Holland most people speak more than one language.     2     In language learning it is attitude, not abilities, that decides success.

You have to live where the language is spoken

With the Internet, language content is connected to anyone with a computer, and you can download it to your iPad and listen.     3    

Only children can learn to speak another language well

Recent research has showed that our brains remain plastic well into old age.

Adults who lose their eyesight have to learn a new language, braille (盲文), for example.     4     I have learned 4 languages since the age of 55.

Adults only need the child’s willingness to experiment and are willing to communicate, without the fear of ridicule (奚落).

I would love to learn but I don’t have the time

How about the time you spend waiting in line, commuting, doing things around the house, going for a walk?     5     Once you get started, even 10 or 15 minutes a day will soon grow to 30 minutes a day, or one hour. If you believe, you will achieve great results, and if you enjoy doing it, as I do, you will find the time.

Walking in the city is very different from walking in the park. A small psychology study suggests urban environments can slow your step and possibly increase your mental load.     1     It can ease your mind and quicken your pace. The findings show that natural settings may potentially (潜在地) reduce cognitive (认知的) tiredness and improve reaction times straight away.     2    

The first of the two experiments in the new study focused on people’s way of walking and cognitive load. During this trial, participants were fitted with sensors and a dozen motion control cameras were set up to watch them repeatedly walk down a 15-metre room at their natural speed. The wall opposite them showed an image of either a nature scene or a city scene.     3     On the whole, when walking in city settings, people reported that they felt more uncomfortable and they walked at a slower pace, indicating a higher cognitive load.

    4     In the trial, participants were asked to distinguish (区别) between basic visual shapes on the computer while also in the presence of a natural or urban image (the same ones from the first experiment). Measuring reaction times in both natural and urban settings, the team found results to support their idea. In urban environments, participants were slower in distinguishing between simple shapes.     5     Our brains take longer to process. However, more research is needed to prove that idea.

You may have recently heard of NFT technology, which allows digital (数字的) works of art to be collected and sold for millions of dollars.

But why would people pay so much money for something they cannot even touch? And what is driving the present rise in NFTs?     1    

What is an NFT?

NFT stands for non-fungible token (非同质化代币).     2     It is based on a technology called blockchain (区块链), which is also used with digital money systems known as cryptocurrency (加密货币).

What kinds of things are NFTs?

    3     They are usually bought with electronic money. The form of digital money mainly used with NFTs is called ether. NFTs have been used to sell sports videos, pieces of land in worlds that only exist on computers and even the first-ever tweet by Twitter’s founder.

What do people say about NFTs?

Some people mention that traditional art, like a painting, can be placed on a wall and looked at.     4     They point out that even though an artist can “own” a digital piece, others can easily save a copy of the same work as a file on their computer.

What are some prices for NFTs?

In February, a 10-second video showing an picture of former U.S. President Donald Trump sold on an NFT marketplace for over $6 million. The first-ever published tweet from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey recently sold for nearly $3 million.

    5    

It is too early to say if it is wise to pay for NFT’s. But so far, many people have objects that are more valuable than what they paid for them. This is no promise, however, that such buyers will be able to sell their digital objects for more money.

7 . Creating avatars (虚拟化身) is a possible job appearing from the rise of the metaverse (元宇宙).     1     The job of avatar maker has interested young people. According to the social platform (平台) Soul, over 80 young creators on the platform created 23,000 avatars from June to November of 2021.

    2     So, virtual clothes makers are needed.     3     Users could buy the virtual clothes with real money to dress their avatars on this site.     4     This service helps IMVU attract 7 million active users each month.

    5     As a result, people can buy land and build houses in the metaverse.

It might be fair to say that a new creator economy is on the rise because of the metaverse.

9 . Many boys get hooked (钩住) on the games and want to learn how to reprogram them to their interest. From this attraction they go on to learn how to design (设计) and create technology. Often they become the technologists of our society. They lead us through the great changes of the information age and redesign our culture.     1    

Although there are some girl gamers, most females use the technology but do not design or invent it. In the US, only about 20 percent of computer science majors (专业) are female. And only about 17 percent of high school students taking the Advanced Placement Computer Science exam are female.

Though Women accounted for (占……比例) 46.6 percent of the US work force in 2005, they made up only 25 percent of the IT work force.

    2     Girls and women miss out on educational and economic opportunities that go to computer-aware young men.

In the long term, the absence of women at the design table will affect the direction of its influence in society.     3     More importantly, large parts of the economy and our social lives are being shaped without the experience of half the population (the female half).

Is the absence of girls in computer science classes in high schools and colleges a matter of biology? Well, it maybe not.

Interviews with women who are studying computer science reveal (揭示) a connection they see between computing and other areas they want — like medicine, environmental protection and so on.     4    

What would our world look like if there were larger numbers of female computer scientists?     5     That would be a step forward.

It seems necessary to make sure that women are “drivers”, not just “passengers”. The computer gaming industry needs a new operating system.

10 . Sometimes you just need to have a great party! There’s nothing like hosting and seeing all your friends together in the same place. But how do you do it? Here are some ways.

Decides on a theme

Try to come up with a theme that might get everyone excited. Write down different fun activities, types of music, and others that help you think of possible themes .Or don’t have a theme at all.

    1    

Pick a place for your party. Where are you going to have a party? Could you have it at your house or a friend’s house? Did you have a place in mind, like a restaurant, movie theater, or park?     2    .

Decide on the time for your party

If it’s a birthday party, most people try to have the party on that day. Or,     3    , so you and your guests don’t have school or work the next morning. Most parties are after dinner, but a brunch or afternoon party works, too.

    4    

This will be partly decided by where you are having the party. Make sure that place is large enough. Also think about whether you want your friends to bring friends or not. That could seriously change how many hands you have to plan for and mouths you have to feed.

Get the word out

You can talk of guests in person about the party or just call them. Start talking about the party at least two weeks before, so they don’t make plans. And     5    . Remind them once or twice before the party, too.