1 . In our youth-obsessed culture, one would assume that your self-esteem peaks in your 20s—but that’s not the case. Researchers from the University of Bern set out to determine when the average person’s self-esteem is the highest, and the good news is that your peak comes decades later.

Researchers found that self-esteem increases throughout one’s lifetime, with a slight plateau during those awkward teen years. Our self-esteem levels then start rising again and don’t peak until well into midlife. The highest point for self-esteem level happen at age 60 when they can retire and stay there until a slight decline in one’s 70s and 80s.

This news that our self-esteem will continue to rise or stay steady during the majority of our lives is exciting. We often hear of increased stress in the decades of midlife, but there are upsides too. “Midlife is, for many adults, a time of high stability in relationships and work. Moreover, most people further invest in their roles, which might promote their self-esteem,” researcher Dr. Orth told the journalist. “For example, people take on managerial roles at work, maintain a satisfying relationship with their spouse or partner, and help their children become responsible and independent.”

As we age and our roles tend to change, it’s natural for self-esteem to take a small hit. “Old age frequently involves loss of social roles as a result of retirement, the empty nest, and, possibly, widowhood. In addition, aging often leads to negative changes in other possible sources of self-esteem, such as socioeconomic status and health.” Dr. Orth said. However, it’s important to remember that it’s only a slight decrease. Dr. Orth believes that most people maintain a high self-esteem level even into their 90s and beyond.

2 . What were you doing when you were nine years old? Making crafts from a Klutz book? Kicking around a soccer ball? Designing a business plan to deal with plastic pollution and relieve childhood poverty? Zymal Umar showed us the latter. The Pakistan’s youngest businesswoman has started a project entitled Zee Bags, which aims to reduce plastic pollution by providing an environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic grocery bags.

When Zymal was on a shopping trip with her parents three years ago, she was shocked by the number of plastic bags on the streets. Depressed by the plastic pollution, she was reminded of the severe consequences our habits have on the environment. Then, she noticed a shopkeeper handing out newspaper bags. And at that moment, Zymal knew she had to act. Since then she has created beautiful, unique reusable newspaper bags for hundreds of customers.

It’s amazing to see this youngster using her brains and business skills for good. And she should certainly feel proud of the work she is doing. After all, plastic grocery bags are killing thousands of marine animals every year through their contribution to plastic waste. According to The Earth Institute, over one trillion plastic bags are used worldwide annually—that’s about two million bags used per minute around the world.

And those bags certainly don’t disappear into thin air. Instead, they end up in our oceans, putting approximately 700 marine species in danger of extinction due to the threat from pollution. And plastic bags are just one of the many forms of plastic trash that ends up in the oceans—in fact, an astonishing 8. 8 million tons of this material make their way from land to the oceans every single year.

But with Zee Bags, we’re all empowered to make more thoughtful choices about our trash production. And Zymal’s amazingness doesn’t stop there—the profits from her sales go towards helping poor children.

3 . Endangered Species (濒危物种) Books for Kids

Will We Miss Them? Endangered Species

Written from the unique view of a 13-year-old author, this book interests children in the lives and challenges of endangered species, helping other young people learn about these animals as the first step toward saving them.

♦Author: Alexandra Wright

♦Publication Date: September, 2011

Almost Gone: The Worlds Rarest Animals

Have you ever seen a wombat or an Eastern barred bandicoot? Probably not. These animals are almost gone from the earth, and they’re not alone. Simple, informative text and cul-paper paintings introduce basic endangered species knowledge to young children.

♦Author: Steve Jenkins

♦Publication Date: January, 2016

A Poetic Journey into the Wild

Take a journey across land and sea to meet 21 endangered and threatened animals. Lovely paintings and poems introduce amazing animals from around the globe and show the dangers they face. The book also lists activities and organizations that provide more detailed information about endangered species protection.

♦Author: Rachel Allen Dillon

♦Publication Date: February, 2019

Eyewitness: Endangered Animals

This DK Eyewitness book is an exploration of endangered animals around the world, including factors that are driving them toward extinction (灭绝) and ways that we can help them survive. Blocks of text and diverse photographs keep readers turning the pages.

♦Author: Ben Hoare

♦Publication Date: August, 2015

Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Wednesday     1     (official) launched its operating system Harmony OS 2 for smartphones,     2     (provide) customers worldwide with a competitive alternative that works on a diverse range     3     devices. Harmony OS, or Hongmeng in Chinese, is     4     open-source operating system     5     (design) for various devices and scenarios. It was first lunched on Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, including     6     (wearable) and tablets, in August 2019.

“We     7     (surround) by more and more smart devices these days, and are now in a world     8     all things are connected,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group. “Every single one of us     9     (be) a part of this fully connected world, as is every device.” “We look forward to working with more partners and developers     10     (build) a thriving HarmonyOS ecosystem,” he said.

6 . When you think of a typical American, who do you picture? A pretty blond white American like Taylor Swift? Or a handsome black American like basketball star Kobe Bryant? In fact, there was a time when the average American looked like neither of these people.

Back in the year 1500, the average American was a brown-skinned hunter-gatherer who probably rode a horse and wore clothing made from animal skins. Today, the ancestors of these people—who usually identify themselves based on their individual tribes such as Iriquois. Apache and Navajo—are broadly referred to as “Native Americans”, “American Indians” or simply “Indians”.

There’s a chance that you’ve never even heard of American Indians. That’s because there aren’t very many left. When the European settlement of North America began, there was intense (激烈的) conflict between settlers from overseas and these native people. After the British government and military were expelled in the Revolutionary War, conflicts with natives continued as the states were created that would later make up the US.                           In these conflicts, millions of natives were killed.

In 1830, former US president Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. This act required all Indians to migrate to west of the Mississippi River to allow for the expansion of the US. American Indians were treated as a military “enemy” until 1924, when the few Indians still alive at that point we granted US citizenship. That was the first time that the US government formally recognized the rights of Indians.

While the story of the American Indians has been a sad one, their legacy is still felt every day in the US. Many US geographical names come from Indian languages, such as Ohio, Topeka, Kansas and the Potomac River. At the same time, there are many successful academics and other important US leaders who are descended from Indians. And nowadays, more and more history classes in US public schools are educating students about how Indian suffered during the settlement of the US.

Although what happened can not be undone, we can learn at least one thing from the sad history of the Indians: If we want a better future, we must look carefully and honestly at the past.

Yours,

Li Hua

You may think you cannot live through summer without air conditioners. But in ancient China, hand fans were almost the only help for people       1     (drive) the heat away.

Chinese people started to use hand fans over 2,000 years ago. The fans came       2     different shapes, such as round and square and they were made from various materials. Palm leaf fans were cheap and easy to make. Feather fans showed the owner’s high status. Sandalwood fans     3     (send) out a fragrant smell.

    4     (late), hand fans became more than something     5     could cool you down. They developed into art works, in which tuanshan and zheshan were the most common.

Shaped like     6     full moon, tuanshan was usually made of silk. They had beautiful embroidery(刺绣) featuring birds and flowers on them. Females, especially     7    (woman) in the royal palace,liked to use them. Poets in ancient China often compared a woman’s abandoned fate to tuanshan. A poet wrote during the Qing Dynasty, “If only life were as     8     (beauty) as when we first met, why should the autumn wind bother to pity deserted painted fans?”

Meanwhile, men, especially the literati (文人), used zheshan. The literati liked them because they could paint and write poems on them.     9     was a way for them to show off their talent in literature, painting and calligraphy. Almost anything could     10       (paint) on zheshan, but the most popular ones usually featured landscapes.

10 . Should you listen to music when you work? Some will say they love it, claiming that it improves their performance; others will say they cannot work effectively with music playing in the background.     1     It just depends on what sort of work you’re doing.

In a recent study, we brought participants into our lab with a variety of tasks. They included an easy task — searching through word lists and crossing out words containing the letter “a” and a more difficult task — memorizing word pairs and recalling the partner to each word. Some participants completed all of the tasks in silence, whereas others completed the tasks with instrumental music that was either loud or soft, and either simple or complex, the latter meaning music with more instrumental tracks.     2    

We found that participants who listened to simple music or no music performed about the same on the easy task.     3     Contrarily, participants performed worse on the more difficult task when they listened to any music, regardless of complexity or volume, compared to those who didn’t listen to any music.

    4     Not surprisingly, we typically need to use fewer of our mental resources when we perform easy tasks, whereas demanding tasks require more brainpower. However, because we might be less engaged during easier tasks, there’s a greater risk of drifting off to sleep. Music might give us the extra boost we need to get refreshed.     5     Listening to music can become overkill (过犹不及). So we have to strike a balance between the type of music and the type of task.