1 . Five Tips to Boost Your Self-Confidence

The following tips might help boost your self-confidence so you can feel more comfortable with whom you are.

    1     Sometimes people’s criticism can be severe, but our criticism of ourselves is likely the hardest. We all know that no one is perfect, yet most people tend to expect more from themselves than is realistic. To stop this habit, it may help to write down all your strengths and remind yourself of them each time you begin to criticize yourself.

Think about what makes you feel attractive. Make a list of things that make you attractive. You might begin with qualities that make you a good friend, parent, or co-worker.     2    

Set goals for yourself.     3     You don’t have to set large goals; you might begin with small goals that you can easily achieve. It may be helpful to keep a list of the accomplishments (成绩，成就) that have made you feel proud. You can use this list as a motivation to get you to achieve your bigger goals.

Be grateful and helpful. Doing good things for others can make us feel good about ourselves. The smallest gestures, like smiling or holding the door for someone, can make a big difference to someone.     4     Being able to make a positive difference for someone may make you feel good and improve your self-image.

Do something brave once a week. It can be frightening to put ourselves out there, but sometimes the risk can be worth the reward.     5     You can simply do something to step out of your comfort zone. Perhaps you might talk to that person you’re interested in.

2 . What is moderation (适度)? Basically, it means eating only as much food as your body needs. You should feel satisfied at the end of a meal, but not too full.     1     But it doesn't mean saying goodbye to the foods you love.

Take your time. It's important to slow down and think about food as something nutritious rather than just something to eat in between meetings.     2     It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat slowly and stop eating before you feel full.

Eat with others whenever possible. Eating alone, “specially in front of the TV or computer, often leads to mindless overeating. And be careful about the foods you keep at hand. It's more challenging to eat in moderation if you have unhealthy snacks at the ready, like cookies.     3    

Control emotional (情绪的) eating.     4     Many of us also turn to food to deal with unpleasant emotions such as sadness, loneliness, or boredom. But by learning healthier ways to manage emotions, you can regain control over the food you eat and your feelings.

    5     A healthy breakfast can start your metabolism (新陈代谢), while eating small, healthy meals keeps your energy up all day. Avoid eating late at night. Try to eat dinner earlier and fast for 14 — 16 hours until breakfast the next morning. Studies suggest that eating only when you're most active and giving your digestive system a long break each day may help to regulate weight.

5 . Each ARTS FIRST festival is a unique annual celebration of the Harvard community's artistic creativity. We invite you to join us for the coming ARTS FIRST. We look forward to welcoming you as we showcase the creativity of the Harvard arts community through performances, art exhibitions and art-making activities. The festival is a public event for Harvard and community members of all ages.

Learn about the materials and qualities of watercolor paint with experts from the Harvard Art Museums Materials Lab. Try your hand at some of the painting tricks used by artists whose works will be in the upcoming exhibition of American Watercolors 1880-1990: Into the Light.

From webs to cocoons, invertebrates (无脊椎动物) create some of nature's most delicate and beautiful designs. Join Javier Marin from the Harvard Museum of Natural History to learn how insects and other invertebrates dance, inspire fashion and create art, while making your own spineless artists out of craft (手工艺) materials.

Join instructors from the Ceramics Program and great potters from Quincy, Cabot and Mather Houses for demonstrations using the potter's wheel. Then create your own masterpiece!

Join the Harvard Undergraduate Knitting Circle to make pom-poms and tassels out of thread, or pick up a pair of needles and learn to knit (编织).

6 . Overtourism Is For Real: How Can You Help?

Travel promotes understanding, expands our minds, makes us better people, and boosts local economies and communities, but the rapid growth of travel has led to overtourism in certain regions and destinations.     1     Certainly not. The loss of what travel offers would be unacceptable in today’s world. Here are some tips on making wise decisions to minimize pressure on the places we visit and improve our experience.

●Choose mindfully. Overvisited destinations are that way for a reason: they’re special. With so many online posts featuring the same places, it’s easy to feel like you’re missing out. Go somewhere only when the landscape, culture or food deeply draws you.     2    

●Get creative. The best way to ease pressure on over-touristed destinations is to go somewhere else. Though overtourism is described as a problem affecting the entire world, it’s actually concentrated to a small number of extremely popular spots. That means you have tons of less-visited options to choose from.     3     Why not try a regional alternative or check out a popular destination’s lesser-known sights?

●    4     Minimize impact and maximize experience by skipping major holidays or rush hour. You’ll compete with fewer tourists, save money, experience a different side of a popular place, and boost the economy when tourism is traditionally slower.

Visiting a place that others call home is a privilege (荣幸). Do your part to preserve what makes a destination special in the first place.     5     You may be amazed how much closer you’ll feel to the people there.

7 . Given the astonishing potential of AI to transform our lives, we all need to take action to deal with our AI-powered future, and this is where AI by Design: A Plan for Living with Artificial Intelligence comes in. This absorbing new book by Catriona Campbell is a practical roadmap addressing the challenges posed by the forthcoming AI revolution (变革).

In the wrong hands, such a book could prove as complicated to process as the computer code (代码) that powers AI but, thankfully, Campbell has more than two decades’ professional experience translating the heady into the understandable. She writes from the practical angle of a business person rather than as an academic, making for a guide which is highly accessible and informative and which, by the close, will make you feel almost as smart as AI.

As we soon come to learn from AI by Design, AI is already super-smart and will become more capable, moving from the current generation of “narrow-AI” to Artificial General Intelligence. From there, Campbell says, will come Artificial Dominant Intelligence. This is why Campbell has set out to raise awareness of AI and its future now — several decades before these developments are expected to take place. She says it is essential that we keep control of artificial intelligence, or risk being sidelined and perhaps even worse.

Campbell’s point is to wake up those responsible for AI-the technology companies and world leaders—so they are on the same page as all the experts currently developing it. She explains we are at a “tipping point” in history and must act now to prevent an extinction-level event for humanity. We need to consider how we want our future with AI to pan out. Such structured thinking, followed by global regulation, will enable us to achieve greatness rather than our downfall.

AI will affect us all, and if you only read one book on the subject, this is it.

8 . We all know fresh is best when it comes to food. However, most produce at the store went through weeks of travel and covered hundreds of miles before reaching the table. While farmer’s markets are a solid choice to reduce the journey, Babylon Micro-Farm (BMF) shortens it even more.

BMF is an indoor garden system. It can be set up for a family. Additionally, it could serve a larger audience such as a hospital, restaurant or school. The innovative design requires little effort to achieve a reliable weekly supply of fresh greens.

Specifically, it’s a farm that relies on new technology. By connecting through the Cloud, BMF is remotely monitored. Also, there is a convenient app that provides growing data in real time. Because the system is automated, it significantly reduces the amount of water needed to grow plants. Rather than watering rows of soil, the system provides just the right amount to each plant. After harvest, users simply replace the plants with a new pre-seeded pod (容器) to get the next growth cycle started.

Moreover, having a system in the same building where it’s eaten means zero emissions (排放) from transporting plants from soil to salad. In addition, there’s no need for pesticides and other chemicals that pollute traditional farms and the surrounding environment.

BMF employees live out sustainability in their everyday lives. About half of them walk or bike to work. Inside the office, they encourage recycling and waste reduction by limiting garbage cans and avoiding single-use plastic. “We are passionate about reducing waste, carbon and chemicals in our environment,” said a BMF employee.

9 . “I didn’t like the ending,” I said to my favorite college professor. It was my junior year of undergraduate, and I was doing an independent study on Victorian literature. I had just finished reading The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, and I was heartbroken with the ending. Prof. Gracie, with all his patience, asked me to think about it beyond whether I liked it or not. He suggested I think about the difference between endings that I wanted for the characters and endings that were right for the characters, endings that satisfied the story even if they didn’t have a traditionally positive outcome. Of course, I would have preferred a different ending for Tom and Maggie Tulliver, but the ending they got did make the most sense for them.

This was an aha moment for me, and I never thought about endings the same way again. From then on, if I wanted to read an ending guaranteed to be happy, I’d pick up a love romance. If I wanted an ending I couldn’t guess, I’d pick up a mystery (悬疑小说). One where I kind of knew what was going to happen, historical fiction. Choosing what to read became easier.

But writing the end — that’s hard. It’s hard for writers because endings carry so much weight with readers. You have to balance creating an ending that's unpredictable, but doesn’t seem to come from nowhere, one that fits what’s right for the characters.

That’s why this issue (期) of Writer’s Digest aims to help you figure out how to write the best ending for whatever kind of writing you’re doing. If it’s short stories, Peter Mountford breaks down six techniques you can try to see which one helps you stick the landing. Elizabeth Sims analyzes the final chapters of five great novels to see what key points they include and how you can adapt them for your work.

This issue won’t tell you what your ending should be — that’s up to you and the story you’re telling — but it might provide what you need to get there.

10 . The Saint Lukas train doesn’t accept passengers — it accepts only the sick. The Saint Lukas is one of five government-sponsored medical trains that travel to remote towns in central and eastern Russia. Each stop lasts an average of two days, and during that time the doctors and nurses on board provide rural (乡村) populations with basic medical care, X-ray scans and prescriptions.

“People started queuing to make an appointment early in the morning,” says Emile Ducke, a German photographer who traveled with the staff of the Saint Lukas for a two-week trip in November through the vast regions (区域) of Krasnoyarsk and Khakassia.

Russia’s public health care service has been in serious need of modernization. The government has struggled to come up with measures to address the problem, particularly in the poorer, rural areas east of the Volga River, including arranging doctor’s appointments by video chat and expanding financial aid programs to motivate doctors to practice medicine in remote parts of the country like Krasnoyarsk.

The annual arrival of the Saint Lukas is another attempt to improve the situation. For 10 months every year, the train stops at about eight stations over two weeks, before returning to the regional capital to refuel and restock (补给). Then it starts all over again the next month. Most stations wait about a year between visits.

Doctors see up to 150 patients every day. The train’s equipment allows for basic checkups. “I was very impressed by the doctors and their assistants working and living in such little space but still staying focused and very concerned,” says Ducke. “They were the best chance for many rural people to get the treatment they want. ”