2 . A study by University of Michigan researchers found that about mine out of ten people in New York City were exposed to noises that were high enough to harm their hearing. Some of the risk comes from traffic and other environmental sounds, but we suffer a lot of punishment on our ears by simply attending sports events and concerts. Listening to music through earphones and turning up the volume also do damage.

Hearing aids may have seemed not comfortable to wear for some people. But today, you might not even realize that the person next to you is wearing a pair of earphones so small and thin that they’re mostly hidden inside the ears. You might be even more surprised to discover that the person can adjust those hearing aids on a phone app — to make it easier to hear what you’re saying in a crowded, noisy environment.

“There’s a cool factor for hearing aids,” explains Dr. Hope Lanter. “They’re significantly (显著地) better and smaller.” Lanter is the lead audiologist (听力学家) for hear. com, an online source for hearing aids from various producers, which also offers access to a nationwide network of audiologists who can provide in-person testing and help.

Hear. com has started its own product, which is named the Horizon, together with engineers from hearing aid maker Signia, according to a news report. In addition to producing clear speech, the Horizon is also designed to interact with phones and other tools, make phone calls, stream podcasts, read e-books and so on.

Throughout the United States, the number of hearing aids and earphones is on the rapid increase. Though they have brought much benefit for those who have difficulty in hearing, they really do great harm to people with normal hearing when they listen to music or talk with others.

5 . Hotels Where Wild Animals Wander Free

Check in to one of these hotels where wild animals wander free, and you could be sharing your breakfast table with giraffes, relaxing poolside with elephants, or viewing out from your hotel room window penguins.

Located within the Madikwe Game Reserve, the Makanyane Safari Lodge offers guests up close views of the surrounding bush and the wildlife that resides within it. The suites have floor- to-ceiling glass windows perfect for watching passing elephants, and the main lodge is conveniently located next to a water hole visited by a variety of wildlife.

A stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort in Orlando will feel more like a visit to Africa than Florida. Take a walk around the grounds, and you’re likely to spot more than 30 species of African wildlife. The lodge is home to 200 resident animals and birds, including gazelles, flamingos, zebras, and giraffes.

This hotel outside of Nairobi lets you get up close and personal with Rothschild giraffes. The original place was built in 1932 and has served as a giraffe shelter since the 1970s. Today, Giraffe Manor has six bedrooms and offers guests the chance to share their breakfast table with the eight resident giraffes. All of the hotel’s profits go to support the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife.

Despite the name, it isn’t sea lions you should look out for here: A group of Gentoo penguins has been known to set up camp next to Sea Lion Lodge, a comfortable 3-star hotel in the Falkland Islands. Aside from penguin spotting, the lodge offers expansive views of the South Atlantic Ocean where nothing but water separates you from Antarctica.

8 . Self-discipline is the ability to control your behavior in a way that leads you to be more productive and have better habits. Whether you are trying to study for a test, lose weight, or kick a bad habit, self-discipline always plays a part. Wondering how to develop it? Here are some tips for you.

    1    

Figuring out what does and does not work for you is key to understanding how to be more self-disciplined. Some people succeed when working around others, while others do better working alone. Some people are motivated by rewards, while others prefer consequences to keep them in line.

Share your goals with someone

Telling your goals to people you respect is directly related to a better chance of achieving them. You can simply let your friends know that you have decided to work on your self-discipline in general, or you can share some of your goals with them.     2    .

Start small

Don’t begin your daily work with self-discipline by trying to achieve something huge.     3    .   Instead, work on daily, weekly, and monthly goals. You just need to make sure that they are moving you in the right direction.

Forgive yourself

    4    . We all make mistakes, and that’s okay! When you behave in a way that cannot realize your pursuit of self-discipline, forgive yourself.     5    . And if possible, change your environment so that it doesn’t happen again.

9 . Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you’re talking to someone but they keep looking at their phone? This is called “phubbing” — a mix of the words “phone” and “snubbing”, which is the act of ignoring someone in favor of the phone. It can happen in any conversation — whether it’s with a friend, family member, or even a business associate. When someone is “phubbing”, they’re using their phone to look through the online news, check messages, play games and so on, instead of focusing on the conversation or spending time with the people they’re with.

The word was first used back in 2012, when fewer people had smartphones. And now that most people have smartphones, phubbing is a common problem. Most people would agree that it’s rude to be focused on your phone when you’re spending time with another person. The expert William Hanson thinks so, too. “Phubbing is a no-no!” he says. “If you have planned to go out with friends, focus on them and not your friends on your phone.” Studies have found that phubbing can damage your relationships with others. Eye contact is super important in bonding and developing oxytocin, the chemical that builds trust and connection. A lack of eye contact due to phubbing can make people feel like you don’t care about them or value their time.

Phubbing can make people feel disregarded, and those who “phub” are thought of as less polite and caring. So science has shown that phubbing is not good for us — but why do we do it? It might be because we are feeling bored, worried or stressed. Or it might be because we are addicted to checking our phones, especially social media. Whatever the reason may be, phubbing is a bad habit and can make us miss out on real moments with the people around us. So the next time you’re spending time with a friend or family member, try and keep your phone out of sight!

10 . Jon Fosse has won the 2023 Nobel Prize in literature, “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable”. The 64-year-old playwright is not well-known outside his home country of Norway. But the author is internationally celebrated in literary circles and has been called “the most produced living playwright”.

Fosse grew up on a rural farm near Strandebarm, Norway, where his grandparents lived in one house while he, his parents, and two sisters lived in another. His father worked as a manager of Strandebarm Cooperative, a local grocery store, and his mother was a caregiver. Fosse started writing at age 12 or 13, first composing song lyrics and later trying poems.

In 1979 Fosse graduated from high school and moved to Bergen, where he began working for the newspaper Gula Tidend. That same year he became a father, and the following year he married the mother of his child. In the next decades he married twice more and had five additional children. Meanwhile, throughout the 1980s he studied at the University of Bergen, receiving a Master of Art in comparative literature in 1987.

Also during the 1980s, Fosse published his first novels, namely Red, Black, whose topic is suicide, and Stringed Guitar, about a mother in a difficult situation after locking herself out of her house where she has left her baby.

The playwright began as a novelist, and did not break through as a theater writer until he was in his 40s. His international reputation as a playwright was confirmed in 1998, with a Paris production of his first play Someone Is Going to Come, which had been written in 1992. Since then, his work has been performed in more than 60 countries around the world, according to his translator, Ann Henning Jocelyn. According to his publisher, Fosse’s work has been translated into more than 40 languages, and there have been more than 1,000 different productions of his plays.