1 . Happiness is not a warm phone, according to a new study exploring the link between young life satisfaction and screen time. The study was led by professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge at San Diego State University (SDSU).

To research this link, Twenge, along with colleagues Gabrielle Martin at SDSU and W. Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia, dealt with data from the Monitoring the Future (MtF) study, a nationally representative survey of more than a million U. S. 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders. The survey asked students questions about how often they spent time on their Phones, tablets and computers, as well as questions about their face-to-face social interactions and their overall happiness.

On average found that teens who spent more time in front of screen devices — playing computer games, using social media, texting and video chatting — were less happy than those who invested more time in non-screen activities like sports, reading newspapers and magazines, and face-to-face social interactions.

"The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use," Twenge said. "Aim to spend no more than two hours a day on digital media, and try to increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising — two activities reliably linked to greater happiness."

Looking at historical trends from the same age groups since the 1990s, it's easy to find that the increase of screen devices over time happened at the same time as a general drop-off in reported happiness in U. S. teens. Specifically, young peopled life satisfaction and happiness declined sharply after 2012. That's the year when the percentage of Americans who owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent. By far the largest change in teens' lives between 2012 and 2016 was the increase in the amount of time they spent on digital media, and the following decline in in-person social activities and sleep.

2 . Ian McKenna was in third grade when he learned that many kids at his Austin school weren't getting enough to eat at home. He wanted to help, but local volunteer organizations turned him away, saying he was too young. So he decided to find his own solution. For years, he had been gardening with his mother, and they often distributed their extra vegetables to the neighbors. “Why not give the produce to a soup kitchen? Then I thought, I'm good at gardening," says McKenna, now 16. “Why not plant a garden at school, so that kids in need could take food home?"

McKenna persuaded his school to set aside space for a garden; then he asked the community for donations of seeds and equipment. Other students donated their time. Within months, McKenna's garden was producing lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers and squash for students and their families. Now, seven years later, McKenna's Giving Garden project has expanded to five area schools in addition to his own backyard garden, and he has provided organic produce, enough for 25,000 meals, to Austin families.

For most of his gardening activities, McKenna wears the same T-shirt in different colors, with his personal motto on it: BE A GOOD HUMAN. To him, that means helping in any way you can, no matter what your age. "Even a smile might change someone's life," he says. “It lets them know that they are important. It can make their day."

When COVID-19 hit the U.S., McKenna redoubled his efforts, cooking up to 100 meals to distribute to the hungry on the weekends. When social distancing meant that volunteers couldn't work on community garden plots, he started offering online classes and a gardening hotline so families could grow at home. While gardening is his core focus, McKenna says he is always looking for new ways to help the hungry.

3 . Creative and can-do Australians are collecting waste plastics and making new products using homemade machines. Precious Plastic SA is part of an international community of more than 40,000 people working to battle against plastic pollution.

Environmental science student Lucy Dunton said she got the idea from designer and maker Dave Hakkens' video on Facebook. Mr. Hakkens is from the Netherlands and posts videos about how to make things out of waste plastics on social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.

“We're really interested in doing something, changing the way people think and creating this amazing community, to share skills and advice and connect with like-minded people,” she said. “Plastics can be used to make useful, everyday things as a way to fight plastic pollution. We want to encourage and support those who have started or want to start their own project, by acting as guides and sharing advice and resources.”The group is growing as others put their hands up to offer their time, skills and resources through the website and join the group.     

Environmental science student Aiden Ryan worked with mechanical engineer Luke Christiansen to build the team's compressor (压缩机) in Luke's Dad's storeroom at Holdfast Bay, South Australia. They're now collecting parts for a shredder, so they can stop cutting plastics by hand. Raw materials come from organized beach cleans. They take their collection of plastics back to the storeroom where they are turned into new plastic products such as bowls and plates.

“A bowl could be made out of 10 reusable plastic containers,”Mr. Ryan said. He hopes to start selling the new plastic products soon.

Nic Wipf-Grant, one of the founders of Precious Plastic SA, says it is part of the growing sharing economy.“We want neighbours to share skills with neighbours,” he said. “We want neighbours to bring their plastics over and make bowls, plates and iPhone covers as gifts for their family and friends.”

4 . Trucker Gerlock traveled hundreds of thousands of miles with his dog, Holly, who came with him on every route—including his last one. While driving near Dallas, Texas, on the job, the 59-year-old Marylander crashed into a concrete column. Gerlock was killed instantly. Looking in the back of the truck, though, rescue drivers found one survivor.

Rescue workers cut the Chesapeake Bay retriever(切萨皮克海湾寻回犬)—practically untouched—out of the back of the truck, where she’d been sleeping. “It’s amazing that anything survived, ”Sandy Nordhoff, friend of Gerlock, told The Kent County News.

Unsure what happened to Holly, Gerlock’s friends from his town of Rock Hall, Maryland, made numerous calls and emails to agencies in order to find out where the dog was. Eventually, they found out she had been staying in Dallas Animal Services shelter and a foster family had taken her in for Thanksgiving. The Rock Hall locals hatched a plan to get her home.

Joe Creighton and Sandy’s husband, Russell Nordhoff, both lifelong friends of Gerlock, volunteered to make the 2, 800-mile trip from Rock Hall to Dallas and back, which took two days each way. The friends borrowed Gerlock’s pickup truck for the road, so Holly would feel more comfortable on the journey home, according to The Kent County News.

Back in Rock Hall, some of Gerlock’s friends adopted Holly. Ever since, the dog has been a town icon(偶像), making an appearance in almost every town parade.

“The outpouring of love shown towards Gerlock and Holly was heartwarming, ”Rock Hall resident Jamie Elburn tells Reader's Digest. “It shows how the companionship of‘man’s best friend’and simple kindness can overcome even the most difficult situation!”

5 . Located in the southeast of Canada and with a population of approximately 6 million, Toronto is a big and beautiful city, which has developed from a relatively unknown place over the past half century to the center of culture, trade and communication in Canada.

With its colorful ethnic mix, rich history and breathtaking buildings. Toronto offers non-stop adventures to the tourists. To get a sense of how big, various and magical Toronto is, the best place to start is the CN Tower. From this point, visitors can get a bird's-eye view of the city's amazing scenery and unique geography.

In addition to being an important center of culture, trade and communication in Canada, Toronto is also a major muti-ethnic city. It is the most populous city in Canada and its citizens come from countries around the world and from different kinds of ethnic backgrounds. Every day, in most places of the city, a hundred different languages can be heard on the streets, from Hindi to Greek to French. This, perhaps, explains why former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once said that Canada is a mosaic（嵌合体）of cultures and languages rather than a melting pot.

Street signs in Toronto are mostly in English. Weekly and daily newspapers are published in various languages, and the city hosts the successful international film festival each September. It is also home to a popular baseball team the Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto has something for everyone.

Moreover, Toronto has been rated one of the most livable cities in the world by United Nations Human Settlements Programme for many years. At the same time, Toronto is one of the safest, richest cities in the world with the highest standard of living.

6 . If you stop a random person on the street in China, there’s a pretty good chance that their surname would be either Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu or Chen.That’s because those are the five most common surnamesin China — shared by 30% of the population. And the vast majority of the population share just 100 of those surnames. In comparison, the United States reported 6.3 million surnames in its 2010 census.

There are a few reasons for this: China is less racially diverse than countries such as the US, where a wealth of minority groups increase surname diversity (多样性). It also has to do with language; you can’t just add a random stroke (音节) to a Chinese character and create a new surname.

But there’s also another factor at play: technology. With China roaring into the digital age, nearly everything has moved online — from making appointments to buying train tickets.

The main problem is that not all Chinese characters have been coded into computer systems. That meant a world of trouble if you happened to have a rare character in your name. As of 2017, up to 60 million Chinese citizens faced this problem, according to Xinhua.

People with rare characters in their names, which aren’t compatible(兼容的) with existing computer systems, can get left behind— pushing many to change their names for the sake of convenience, even if it means abandoning centuries of heritage and languages.

To try to address this, experts have increased the database from 32,000 characters to 70,000 characters, according to the government. They’re still working to expand it to include more than 90,000 characters, said Chen Jiawei, an associate professor at Beijing Normal University.

7 . Here on Earth where most of us live, we spend about a third of everyday lying down sleeping and two-thirds standing or sitting in an upright position.

That's not really how it goes in space when people are weightless and the zero gravity environment causes more liquid to shift to the head. Faces get swollen, legs lose volume and appear to be smaller. Many astronauts have complained of eye and back problems after coming back down to Earth and its gravity.

And now scientists say they have discovered some new risks with long-term space flight. A study published recently in JAMA Network Open, a medical journal, examined 11 healthy astronauts who had been on the International Space Station for six months. Eight of them had unusual characteristics observed in their blood. For instance, six of the astronauts had reverse （反向的）blood flow from their heads.

The lead author of the study says he doesn't know if that's actually harmful. The blood is still leaving the head from other pathways, so flowing backwards through a jugular vein（颈静脉） may not be dangerous. But he says it does show a change in how blood moves through the body while in space.

Another issue the study found was blood clots （凝块）. One astronaut had one. Another showed signs of a partial blood clot. That is potentially harmful as the clots can block the flow of blood to the lungs. The astronaut who had one was treated for the rest of the spaceflight and made it home safely.

What does all this mean? Well, one researcher says these issues have probably been oc- curring since humans first went into space and that they would likely resolve themselves when astronauts came back down to Earth. Knowing about them now gives doctors something else to monitor when people leave our atmosphere.

8 . When I was young, I had a wrong understanding of being great. I believed I was special and different and should be rich and famous because of my talent. I was going to live my dream rather than being a “normal” person. But as time passed, reality set in and my perspective changed.

I am a teacher, married to a salesman with a baby and a mortgage（按揭贷款）. Could my life be more normal? Yet, I am okay with this.

Were I to have a conversation with my twenty-year-old self, she wouldn't understand why I'm not going to NYC to get an audition （试演）. In four years my coworkers have never heard me sing. If I'd bought a house, it should have been in an interesting neighborhood with coffee houses at every corner. She would laugh at the corner house in the neighborhood I now call home.

But I know things she didn't know. Life is so much more complicated, wonderful and terrible. I know what it means to work for love, not just sitting back and letting it happen the way it can when you're young. I know about bringing life into the world, and the complexity of emotions.

My life is simple. It is small, and may seem interchangeable with so many other lives there. I may never make an impact outside my house. But I've learned it is important to be relative. To my little girl, I am irreplaceable. When she cries, she calls for “Mama”. When she reaches out, it's for me alone. So, is it a small life? It's perfectly fine to me. In fact, I think it's what I've wanted all along.

10 . Rap, a style of hip-hop music, was created in the 1980s in the United States. It first became popular among young black people in New York City. By the beginning of the 21st century, it had become a presence around the world. Its performers, called rappers, have their own fashion style. They often wear a baseball cap, large jewelry, brightly colored clothes and oversized jeans. And it’s evident that rap is no stranger to negative stereotypes (刻板印象), but this entertainment medium, is actually a means of human expression. You can find a lot of evidence.

Rapper Chen Jinnan performed her hit song Malice From the World on the reality show Rap for Youth. Chen said that she wrote the song last year after receiving a message from a fan who was battling severe depression and had been ignored by her parents and schoolmates. “I shared my own story with her in the hope of offering her encouragement,” Chen told China Daily. Another rapper who appeared on the show is a well-known rapper TangoZ, who expresses his love for his hometown of Hangzhou — his “heaven on Earth”— and raps in the dialect. “Wu dialect is disappearing at an alarming rate, so I struggle to make the situation a bit better.” he told independent media platform RADII China.

Just as Li Yuchun, a mentor (导师) on the reality show, pointed out that rapping is not defined by anger. “A lot of people think that Diss–or disrespect–is the only definition of rap. But on this show, I’m touched and proud of the fact that you can express gratitude and kindness through music writing and rapping,” she said.

Actually, rapping, for most performers, is a way to express opinions and let their voices be heard. If you dive deep into it, you’ll find that it’s charming. Just as Hannah George wrote on the website Soundigest. “It’s a diary ... someone’s life on display for the world to enjoy, grieve (悲伤) with or be inspired by.”