1 . For lots of kids, toddlerhood (幼儿期) is an important time for friendship. Studies show that the earlier kids learn to form positive relationships, the better they are at relating to others as teenagers and adults. Playing together also helps these kids practice social behaviors, such as kindness, sharing, and cooperation.

Even so, how quickly your child develops into a social creature may also depend on his temperament(性格). Some toddler s are very social, but others are shy. In addition, the way that toddlers demonstrate that they like other children is markedly different from what adults think of as expressions of friendship. Research at Ohio State University in Columbus found that a toddler’s way of saying “I like you” during play is likely to come in the form of copying a friend’s behavior.

This seemingly unusual way of demonstrating fondness can result in unpleasant behavior. Regardless of how much they like a playmate, they may still grab his toys, refuse to share, and get bossy. But experts say that this is a normal and necessary part of friendship for kids this age. Through play experiences, toddlers learn social rules. That’s why it’s so important to take an active role in your toddler’s social encounters by setting limits and offering frequent reminders of what they are. When you establish these guidelines, explain the reasons behind them.

Begin by helping your child learn sympathy (“Ben is crying. What’s making him so sad?”), then suggest how he could resolve the problem (“Maybe he would feel better if you let him play the ball.”). When your child shares or shows empathy(同理心) toward a friend, praise him (“Ben stopped crying! You made him feel better.”).

Another way to encourage healthy social interaction is by encouraging kids to use words- not fists-to express how they feel. It’s also important to be mindful of how your child’s personality affects playtime. Kids are easy to get angry when they’re sleepy or hungry, so schedule playtime when they’re refreshed.

2 . In his 1936 work How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie wrote: “I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way to get the best of an argument — and that is to avoid it.” This distaste for arguments is common, but it depends on a mistaken view of arguments that causes problems for our personal and social lives — and in many ways misses the point of arguing in the first place.

Carnegie would be right if arguments were fights, which is how we often think of them. Like physical fights, verbal (言语的) fights can leave both sides bloodied. Even when you win, you end up no better off. You would be feeling almost as bad if arguments were even just competitions — like, say, tennis tournaments. Pairs of opponents hit the ball back and forth until one winner comes out from all who entered. Everybody else loses. This kind of thinking explains why so many people try to avoid arguments.

However, there are ways to win an argument every time. When you state your position, formulate (阐述) an argument for what you claim and honestly ask yourself whether your argument is any good. When you talk with someone who takes a stand, ask them to give you a reason for their view and spell out their argument fully. Assess its strength and weakness. Raise objections (异议) and listen carefully to their replies. This method will require effort, but practice will make you better at it.

These tools can help you win every argument — not in the unhelpful sense of beating your opponents but in the better sense of learning about what divides people, learning why they disagree with us and learning to talk and work together with them. If we readjust our view of arguments — from a verbal fight or tennis game to a reasoned exchange through which we all gain respect and understanding from each other — then we change the very nature of what it means to “win” an argument.

3 . The most obvious dog fetish (迷恋) today is the longing for cuteness. Almost every day you can see adorable pictures of dogs and other animals that will make you smile and say, “How cute!”

It is a cultural phenomenon that the media scholar James Meese calls the “cute economy” which exists primarily on social media, is user-generated, and is heavily dominated by pictures of animals, especially pets. The goal is to generate a positive response, probably followed by a tap on the screen to “like” and “share”. We can click through image after image of cute animals doing cute things, feeling a little boost of good cheer.

The marketing researchers have identified some of the most common categories of cuteness in online pet content: animals doing silly things; animals of extreme size; animals with unusual looks; and animals behaving in ways that seem human-like. Dogs and other animals in the “cute economy” are often further humanized by being dressed in clothing and accessorized (装饰) with hats, jewellery, nail polish and fur dyed a rainbow of colors. Users who post successfully and with some strategies can make money by doing so. Thus, certain dogs have become cuteness celebrities, with millions of devoted followers and paid content from advertisers.

Unfortunately, the price of the “cute economy” comes at a serious cost. The cutest and most popular breeds tend to be those with the most significant risk of health and behavioral problems. Cuteness is often coupled with their discomfort. People are drawn to the cuteness of dogs with extremely foreshortened skulls and extremely short legs and awkwardly long bodies, such as the French bulldog and the corgi.

Actually, there are well-established health issues. We should treat the “cute economy” with caution, like resisting the commodification (商品化) of appearance by opting out of social media channels promoting the “cute economy”. We can also choose not to “like” or “share” images of dogs whose cuteness is linked with discomfort. Although we are biologically attracted to dogs that are super cute, we should be mindful in our “impulses”.

5 . Some pals and I were in the midst of a pinball competition at a bar the other night when the machine kept breaking down. We called over a very busy employee who’s responsible for helping keep the place running. He put everything aside to fix our problematic pinball machine twice.    1    A couple of the guys immediately objected, saying the employee was just doing the job he was paid to do. I insisted and got the group to agree to the plan, although somewhat reluctantly.   

My pinball wizard didn’t stretch out his hand, but how many times have we run across those payment screens that suggest a 20% tip for being handed a sandwich we ordered?    2    There is data to back up the trend: 66% of American adults have a negative view of tipping, and 32% say they’re sick of those payment-screen hints, according to a recent Bankrate survey.   

    3    I admit there are times I suspect the tipping thing has gone too far - say, when I’m at a self-checkout line and there’s still request to leave something extra. But I’m generally willing to err on the side of caution: If someone is expecting a tip, I’ll assume they have financial reasons to do so.     4    

Plus, tipping is good karma (因果报应). It’s always worth it to tip in unexpected situations- ones that don’t necessarily involve a hint on a payment screen.       5    He was so grateful for the $10 tip that later that night, he rewarded our group with well more than $10 in free tokens (代金券) for future play.   

So next time, there must be no arguments with my friends when times come to tip.

7 . Imagine that you could go into outer space, take your helmet off, and take a breath—without dying instantly, that is. Would the surrounding universe have a smell?

We think of space as a huge empty, pitch-dark and dead silent place without air. A place like that couldn’t possibly have a smell, right? As it turns out, space actually does have a clear smell. While we can’t smell anything in outer space because, as we mentioned, anyone attempting to do so would almost instantly die, what we can smell are the things that have come back from space.

Space suits, for instance, smell differently after they’ve returned from space than they did before launch. Astronauts returning from space say that their suits smell, in a word, burnt. The remaining scent of space reminds the astronauts of unpleasant burnt meat or metallic smoke.

What causes this rather unpleasant smell? Scientists believe that it could come from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a chemical compound (化合物). These things are basically high-powered materials released into space during the nuclear reactions that power stars and supernovae.

However, this smell is one of many scents that space could have. The universe is massive, after all, filled with many different elements and compounds. Scientists do have a pretty good idea of what a lot of “space stuff” is made of, giving them better ideas about what it might smell like. Most memorably, the dust cloud at the center of the Milky Way contains large amounts of ethyl formate (甲酸乙酯). This is the compound that, on Earth, gives raspberries (覆盆子) their scent. Yes, raspberries. What’s more, ethyl formate itself is created from a reaction between acid and a type of alcohol, which gives it a smell similar to a strong alcohol. (Ironically, alcohol is one of the foods that are banned from space.) The smell of space—or at least that part of space—doesn’t seem so bad anymore.