Being able to multitask-- doing several things at the same time is considered a welcome skill by most people. But if we consider the situation of the young people    1    from eight to eighteen, we should think again.

What we often see nowadays is that young people juggle (玩）an ever larger number of     2     devices as they study. While working, they also surf on the Internet, send out emails, answer the telephone and listen to music on their ipads. In a sense, they spend a     3     amount of time in fruitless efforts as they multitask.

Multitasking is even changing the     4     between family members. As young people pay so much attention to their own worlds, they seem to have no time to spend with the other people around them. They can no longer     5     family members when they enter the house, nor can they eat at the family table.

Multitasking also affects young people's    6     at university and in the workplace. When asked about their opinion of the effect of modern gadgets(器具)on their performance of tasks, many young people gave a     7     response. However, the response from the worlds of education and business was not quite as positive. Educators feel that multitasking by children has a serious effect on later development of study skills. They believe that many college students now need help to     8     their study skills;     9    , employers feel that young people entering the job market need to be taught all over again, as modern gadgets have made it unnecessary for them to learn special skills to do their work.

Would you wear a computer under your skin?

Forget smartphones and smart glasses. One day, we might have smart tattoos, body modifications. The company NewDealDesign came up with an idea for a product called UnderSkin. The device would look like a pair of tattoos on your arms and the side of your thumb, but it would actually be a very thin computer implanted just below your skin. It would draw power from your body’s energy, and you could use it to unlock doors,     1     your health, exchange and store information, or even express your personality. UnderSkin is just an idea — you can’t go out and get one — but the technology exists to make it work. “We     2     it is about five years from being real,” says designer Gadi Amit.

Writer and technology initiator Amal Graffstra already has a chip called a radio-frequency     3     tag implanted in his hand. “I use it to log into my computer. I also use it to share contact details with people,” he says. The chip is about the size of a grain of rice and responds to radio     4     with a unique number for recognition.

If a computerized tattoo or     5     tag isn’t crazy enough for you, what about a brain chip? The company Intel is working on technology that would let you control your devices with your mind. Dean Pomerleau, one of the researchers, explains, “We’re trying to prove you can do interesting things with brain waves…. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your     6    .”

Do you think these chips sound frightening or cool? Some doctors are     7     about people hurting themselves while getting devices implanted. They argue that medical     8     are meant to heal sick people, and not to give healthy people special powers. Others worry about hacking and     9    . Could someone hack in and steal your identity, or even control your mind? On a more     10     level, if you have a computer inside your body, are you still human? Or are you a cyborg, a being that is part human and part machine, or a machine that looks like a human being?

What do you think — would you want a computer under your skin?

Public image doesn't make money directly. nor is it anything visible. However, excellent public image is such an important thing that it is     1     desired by every company, enterprise, institution, etc. Public image refers to how a company is     2     by its customers, suppliers, and stockholders, by the financial community, by the communities where it operates, and by federal and local governments. Public image is controllable to     3     extent. just as the product, price, place, and promotional efforts are.

A firm's public image plays a vital role in the attraction of the firm and its products to employees, customers, and to such outsiders as stockholders, supplies, creditors (贷款方), government officials, as well as different special groups. With some things it is impossible to     4     all the different publics: for example, a new highly automated plant may meet the     5     of creditors and stockholders. However, it will     6     find resistance from employees who see their jobs     7    . On the other hand, high quality products and service standards should bring almost complete approval, while low quality products and false claims would be widely looked down upon.

A firm's public image, if it is good, should be     8    . It is a valuable strength that usually is built up over a long and satisfying relationship of a firm with publics. If a firm has developed a quality image, this is not easily imitated by competitors. Such as image may enable a firm to     9     higher prices, to win the best distributors and dealers, to attract the best employees, to expect the most favorable creditor relationships and lowest borrowing costs. It should also allow the firm's stock to     10     higher price-earnings ratio (比例) than other firms in the same industry with such a good reputation and public image.

Letters Brought Back to Life

Letters as a way of communication have long given way to phone calls and WeChat messages. But a TV show, Letters Alive, is helping bring this old way to keep in touch back into the     1    .

Letters Alive took its idea from a UK program with a similar name, Letters Live. Both shows     2     famous actors and actresses, but there is no gossip, no eye-catching visual effects. Instead, it’s just one person walking up to a microphone and reading a letter.

But these are not just any letters. They vary greatly in time and subjects. There is, for example, a passionate letter that famous painter Huang Yongyu wrote to playwright Cao Yu 30 years ago to     3     his lack of creativity. There is also a(n)     4     note from Spring and Autumn Period written by two ordinary young soldiers to their elder brother to report their lives in the war zone.

Compared to published texts, letters also come with a personal     5    .

One example from Letters Live was a note of     6     from the mother of a dying child to JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books. It read: “Mrs Rowling, cancer threatened to take everything from my daughter, and your books turned out to be the castle we so     7     needed to hide in.”

According to Guan Zhengwen, the director of Letters Alive, it is this kind of     8     behind every letter that strikes a harmony with the audience. “It’s a thing of the past that entertainment shows     9     themselves only with pretty faces,” Guan told Sohu News. “Entertainment industry is starting to switch to a(n)     10     on wisdom and intelligence.”