Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, the attitudes to dirt are always changing.
In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, and washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. The king of England did something similar in 1546. Thus began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. France’s Henry IV was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.
Though the belief above was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbour ever since the 18th century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War II. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea; clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?
Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children off touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist(免疫学家) , encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Human beings are smart. However, it seems that people are gradually losing their smartness as smartphones become more and more important assistants in their lives, reported news website Record Japan on Oct. 22. As we rely too much on technology instead of our brains, many people have lost three basic abilities, said the website.
The first skill many people have lost is remembering phone numbers. Because phone numbers are stored in smart phone contacts, there's no need to dial a number or look at it again.
And some people may also have lost their sense of direction because navigation apps can guide people anywhere they want to go. These apps can even find shortest routes for you and avoid traffic jams. But the worst lost skills may be social ones, meaning that some people are becoming socially inept(无能的）. People often bury themselves in their smart phones. As we're too addicted to what's happening in the virtual world, some of us have lost conversational skills and sometimes can't even tell whether a person is happy or not.
In August, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied 51 students aged 11 and 12 who had over five hours' screen time every day. Their task was to tell the emotions of 48 pictures of faces that were happy, sad, angry or scared. The children made an average of 14.02 mistakes at the beginning. But after a five-day camp without electronic (电子的) products, they made only 9.41 mistakes on average. “If you’re not practicing face-to-face communication, you could be losing important social skills,” concluded professor Yalda Uhls from the research.
Luckily, people still have a chance to get these abilities back. You should try to keep your parents' numbers in mind for emergencies. You should also pay more attention to street signs and stores, which will help you to draw a mind map and stop you from getting lost. And the easiest solution to social skill loss is to take a break from electronic devices because we are social creatures. We need device-free time.
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While many of us go to sleep before midnight, some teenagers choose to stay up much later. They are not driven by the burning desire to write a better essay or achieve a higher grade. Instead, they are busy playing online games. Known as young Internet addicts (有瘾的人), they have long been a problem in China. A report released (发行) in 2016 by the China Youth Association for Network Development showed that there were over 24 million young Internet addicts among China’s young urban Internet users. The report also said that over 18 million youths had a tendency to develop Internet addiction.
To deal with the problem of Internet addiction among teenagers, the Cyberspace Administration of China has released draft (草案) regulations which carried out a ban on online gaming. If the regulations are adopted under-18s would be banned from playing online games between midnight and 8 am.
As soon as the government’s draft law surfaced, it drew great attention from the public. Some support the law as a way to better protect teenagers, saying that too much overnight gaming is harmful to teenagers’ health and believing the period between midnight and 8 am to be important to human physical functions. However, others wondered whether it would be practical if it came into effect, as teenagers could just borrow their parents’ IDs to register (注册) accounts to play online games. The Guangming Daily suggested that parents should help their teenagers find a balance between the cyber world and the real world.
China is by no means the only one trying to fight against teenager gaming addiction. Germany introduced a regulation in 2002 in an attempt to stop teens from playing online games from 10 pm to 6 am. Meanwhile, the UK, the US and Australia have forced a rating system on computer games to make sure that teenagers cannot access “adult” content such as violence, sex or bad language.
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If you're worried that too much “screen time ”could badly influence your child's intelligence， new research suggests you might be right. By analyzing the data gathered from over 4，500U. S. kids aged 8 to 11 between 2016 and 2017，Jeremy Walsh，a postdoctoral fellow with the CHEO Research Institute in Ottawa， found that too much “screen time” could be harming your child's intelligence.
Kids with the sharpest intellects spent less than two hours a day on their cellophanes， tablets and computers coupled with 9 to 11 hours of sleep and at least an hour of physical activity. Too much screen time could be affecting kids ability to focus， especially if they are switching between apps on a device or between different screens at the same time， Walsh suggested. “ One leading theory is that much time on screens is spent multitasking using multiple apps or devices at once，” he said. “This can interfere with a child's ability to focus and keep interest on a task. It can be damaging the building blocks for good cognition(认知).”
Sleep is important for brain development， since that's when the brain reorganizes itself and grows， Walsh added. Besides， exercise has been shown to increase blood flow to the brain and oxygenation of brain tissues， and increases the connectivity of networks in the brain. Too much screen time could lead to a“ cascade”(瀑布) effect where kids don't get enough sleep and then are less active during the day.“ You can see how this would have an impact on brain health，” Walsh said.
What should parents do? Walsh advised setting firm rules about the use of screens including how long children are using the screens， the kinds of apps they are using and how many screens they are using at once. Concerned parents also should preview games or apps before letting their child play， seek out more interactive(交互的)options that engage the child's mind， and use parental controls to block or filter content and limit screen time.
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Without water, your body would stop working properly. Water makes up more than half of your body weight, and a person can’t survive for more than a few days without it. Why? Your body has lots of important jobs and it needs water to do many of them. For instance, your blood, which contains a lot of water, carries oxygen to all the cells of your body. Without oxygen, those tiny cells would die and your body would stop working.
Most people think they can get water only from drinking water. However, they can get enough liquid through the drinks they consume every day. These include water, fruit juice, coffee, soda, iced tea, and other drinks. Your body doesn’t get water only from drinking water. Any liquid you drink contains water. Lots of foods contain water, too. Fruit contains quite a bit of water, which you could probably tell if you’ve ever eaten a peach or a plum and felt the juice dripping down your chin! Vegetables, also, contain a lot of water.
How much water should people drink? Many people believe they are supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day, or about two liters. Why? Because that is what they have been told all their life. But a new report offers some different advice. Experts say people should obey their bodies; they should drink as much water as they feel like drinking. The report says most people meet their daily needs for liquid by letting thirst be their guide.
You lose water when you breathe, sweat and so on. So you need to supplement (补充) enough liquid to stay healthy. If you don’t get enough water, you could become dehydrated (脱水). If you get very dehydrated, your body will no longer have enough liquid to circulate. This is very dangerous. Dehydration also can keep you from being as fast and sharp as you’d like to be. Serious dehydration can even make you sick.
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Look inside any family home in the evening, and you might see a typical enough scene: Mom and Dad, each on their own laptop or tablet, streaming movies, catching up on work or maybe answering emails on their smartphones. Meanwhile, one child is chatting online with one school friend while texting another. The other is playing a video game with a friend on the other side of the city at the same time. Each member of the family is totally absorbed in his or her own piece of technology.
According to some experts, the effect of technology on human relationships is worrying as technology becomes a substitute for face-to-face human relationships. It appears to be the case that many people would much rather spend time with their electronic gadgets(电子产品) than with one another. Young people say it is difficult to get their parents’ attention and they have to compete with smartphones, tablets and other technology.
However, a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project offers a more helpful and encouraging view, suggesting that far from replacing human contact, technology can actually better family relationships. Just over half of the 2,253 people surveyed agreed that technology had enabled them to increase their contact with distant family members and 47 percent said it had improved the communication with the people they lived with. Moreover, even the closest members of families need time away from each other at some point to seek their own interests. Family members who might otherwise have sat in separate rooms can now be in the same one while still occupying a different mental space.
Look back at our typical family scene above. Is it any different from four people reading their own books? Or is it driving families apart? Where technology will lead us remains to be seen. Yet there is no need to worry. As a matter of fact how it affects our family relationships depends on our attitude toward technology.
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Over the past few years, there has been a big increase in the number of people sharing information online. In this article we will learn about some positive factors for people to share information online.
We often share information with our friends in the office or at home to educate, entertain or pleasantly surprise them. In this way we can connect with others. This is also true while sharing information online. If you look at the Facebook wall posts of your friends, you will realize that most of their updates are usually famous quotes, entertaining videos, inspirational images, funny jokes, etc. 94% of those who responded to a survey by the New York Times said they put a lot of thought into how the content they are sharing will be beneficial to others.
A lot of people share information online to represent their true self to the outside world. Some people, especially those who are shy and not comfortable talking about their areas of interest in the presence of others, find it extremely convenient to share that information online with like-minded individuals.
78% of the respondents in the study of The New York Times said they shared information online because it helps them develop better relationships. Today, a lot of people do not have the time to meet each other in person and the Internet has become a great substitute. A lot of people now “meet” each other online, rather than in conventional places like restaurants and pubs.
Lastly, when we share our thoughts online, we are actively engaging with the vast community of people who are a part of the World Wide Web. Sharing information will make a difference to the viewpoint of others, or add to their understanding about the world.
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