It's undeniable: Being among the first to try out a new piece of technology is cool. There's the excitement of doing what has never been done before-the feeling that you're living in the future. And when you're the sole member of your social circle with the latest hot gadget, people stare in fascination. They ask you questions. They see you as the holder of powerful, secret knowledge-for a little while, until the next big thing comes along. People tend to underestimate the costs of this temporary coolness, which they pay in more ways than one. Don't fall into the early adopter trap. Don't join the first wave of consumers who invest in the latest media-hyped hardware; instead, wait and see.
To put it frankly, early adoption is a bad investment. First, the earliest versions of devices are not only expensive, they are also the most expensive that those devices will ever be. Companies are presumably attempting to recover the cost of production as fast as they can, and they know that there are serious tech-lovers who will pay a great deal to be first. Once the revenues from early adopters' purchases are safely in their hands, they can cut the price and shift to the next marketing phase: selling the product to everyone else. This is why the cost of the original iPhone dropped about U. S. $200 only eight months after its release. Plus, electronics hardly ever become more expensive because intense competition in the industry puts downward pressure on prices over time. Prices of gadgets will fall shortly after release, and they will likely keep falling. Many new TV models drop significantly in price as little as ten days after hitting the market. Further, electronics rapidly depreciate because they become obsolete (废弃的)so quickly. This means that early adopters pay the maximum price for an item that does not hold onto its value. The resale price of a cell phone or laptop can drop by fifty percent within just a few months.
Speaking of becoming obsolete, those who are first to leap into a new technology risk (三野志) wasting money and time on something that will never catch on. Another good reason to resist the early-adoption temptation is that the first version of a product typically has defects that cost a lot in time and frustration. Such problems are so common with new technology that early adopters are basically unpaid beta testers and troubleshooters. Unless this sounds to you like a fun way to spend your time, don't be among the first users. If you wait to learn what the problems are with a new electronic gadget, you can look forward to a smoother experience—or choose a less troublesome product.
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Architects have long had the feeling that the places we live in can affect our thoughts,feelings and behaviors.But now scientists are giving this feeling an empirical(实证的）basis.They are discovering how to design spaces that promote creativity,keep people focused and lead to relaxation.
Researches show that aspects of the physical environment can influence creativity.In2007,Joan Meyers-Levy at the University of Minnesota,reported that the height of a room's ceiling affects how people think.Her research indicates that higher ceilings encourage people to think more freely,which may lead them to make more abstract connections.Low ceilings,on the other hand,may inspire a more detailed outlook.
In addition to ceiling height,the view afforded by a building may influence a person's ability to concentrate.Nancy Wells and her colleagues at Cornell University found in their study that kids who experienced the greatest increase in greenness as a result of a family move made the most gains on a standard test of attention.According to another study at the University of Georgia,using nature to improve focus of attention seems to pay off academically.It found that students in classrooms with unblocked views of at least 50 feet outside the window had higher scores on tests of vocabulary,language arts and maths than did students whose classrooms primarily overlooked roads and parking lots.
Recent study on room lighting design suggests that dim(暗淡的）light helps people to loosen up.If that is true, generally keeping the light low during dinner or at parties could increase relaxation.Researchers of Harvard Medical School also discovered that furniture with rounded edges could help visitors relax.
So far scientists have focused mainly on public buildings."We have a very limited.number of studies,so we're almost looking at the problem through a straw," architect David Allison says. "How do you take answers to very specific questions and make broad,generalized use of them? That's what we're all struggling with."
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Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying “curiosity killed the cat.” It’s a phrase that's often used to warn people - especially children - not to ask too many questions. Yet it’s widely agreed that curiosity actually makes learning more effective. In fact, research has shown that curiosity is just as important as intelligence in determining how well students do in school.
Curiosity can also lead us to make unexpected discoveries, bring excitement into our lives, and open up new possibilities. In science, basic curiosity-driven research can have unexpected important benefits. For example,one day in 1831, Michael Faraday was playing around with a coil and a magnet when he suddenly saw how he could produce an electrical current. At first, it wasn't clear what use this would have, but it actually made electricity available for use in technology, and so changed the world.
However, curiosity is currently under the biggest threat, coming from technology. On one level, this is because technology has become so advanced that many of us are unable to think too deeply about how exactly things work any more. While it may be possible for a curious teenager to take a toaster apart and get some sense of how it works, how much do you understand about what happens when you type a website address into a browser? Where does your grasp of technology end and the magic begin for you?
In addition to this, there’s the fact that we all now connect so deeply with technology, particularly with our phones. The more we stare at our screens, the less we talk to other people directly. All too often we accept the images of people that social media provides us with. Then we feel we know enough about a person not to need to engage further with them.
That means we end up inside our own little bubbles, no longer coming across new ideas. Perhaps the real key to developing curiosity in the 21st century, then, is to rely less on the tech tools of our age.
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Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal. Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.
Different cultures emphasize (强调) the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries -like the UK or France -people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.
Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realized that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment (多元文化环境)will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.
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A new function that allows users to show Wechat Moments for just the last month has been added to the platform as part of the Wechat app update date on May 5, 2019, adding to the previous time limits of three days, six months and all moments.
Netizens voiced their opinions on this new function. Some criticized the function as being neither meaningful nor necessary, and that hiding content could make relationships more distant. Others gave recommendations on how to improve this function further, such as allowing users to choose their own custom time that posts are displayed for. More hoped that other new functions could be added, such as posting videos longer than ten seconds, notice for when contacts unfriend, posting moments at a fixed time, and alums that can be edited by more than one user.
For many, Wechat Moments has become part of their daily lives, whether it’s to catch up with friends, follow hot topics or just to pass the time. So why do we want to hide our moments after posting? Wechat servers as a platform to present ourselves to others, whether it’s through pictures of our achievements, or reaching out to others to express our feelings and receive comfort. But with a growing number of friends kept in Wechat, including friends, relatives. colleagues, and teachers, the pressure not to post anything embarrassing is lifting. Unless uses play with their privacy setting, each post can be read and commented by every Wechat friend. That brings a huge pressure to express personal feelings while also maintaining a healthy public image.
In a poll(调查), more than 15,000 netizens said they will use the new Last Month option, as fills a gap between three days which is too short and six months which is too long The rest nearly 3,000 netizens, said they wouldn’t use it, as the original options already meet their demand.
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Where are the bees?
Bees are essential to the production of food we eat. Bees make honey, but they also pollinate large areas of crops, such as straw berries, apples and onions. About a third of the food we eat is a result of pollination of the bees. Unfortunately, bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate.
In 2006, bee keepers started reporting about something called Colony Collapse Disaster (CCD).The main sign of CCD is the loss of adult honey bees from a hive. In October of 2006, some beekeepers reported that they had lost between 30 and 90 percent of their hives.
There were many theories for the disappearance of the bees. But the most convincing one has to do with pesticides and lifestyles of bees today. Nowadays, beekeeper get most of their income not from producing honey but from renting bees to pollinate plants. This means that the life of the typical bee now consists of travelling all around the country to pollinate crops as the seasons change. That means a lot of traveling on trucks, which is very stressful to bees. It is not unusual for up to 30% of the hive to die during transport due to stress. In addition, bees that spend most of their time locked up on trucks are not exposed to what they usually live on. Instead, they live on a sweet liquid from corn, usually polluted with pesticides.
The exact reason for the disappearance of bees is not sure, but losing bees is very costly to the economy. The bee pollination services are worth over $8 billion a year. With no bees, pollination will have to be done by hand, which would have effects on the quality of food and increased food priced. We hear a lot about big environmental disasters almost every day. But one of the biggest may just be the less of that tiny flying insect.
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