2 . Sometimes the stress of work can get to be so high, so it’s nice to get away for a while. However, even on vacation, it can be hard to leave all your worries at the office-especially when you think about the mountain of emails.

Iceland now offers a solution with a service called OutHorse Your Email. The service encourages visitors to disconnect and enjoy the country’s beauty while one of several highly trained Icelandic horses replies to any email. “When visitors travel to Iceland we want them to fully experience everything our nation has to offer,” one official said. “Our OutHorse Your Email service lets them do just that.”

To use the service, you should fill in a form on its website and your personalized out-of- office email will be written by one horse and sent automatically (自动地). The email explains the sender is away on vacation and that they’ve given their email jobs to one of Iceland’s four- legged animals. It then includes the message created by the animal. But how do horses type an email? They’ve got their own specially designed horse-sized keyboards in the fields and are able to walk across the keys. However, that still doesn’t mean coherency (条理性). They’re horses, after all. The result is just meaningless collections of letters.

This might seem like a joke, but is actually meant seriously. Nowadays the line between private life and work has become unclear. The service draws attention to the fact that people have the right to be away from work during their holiday. It also sends a message that Iceland is a unique destination by helping tourists go on a real holiday. It’ll surely put a smile on their face and make them want to vacation in Iceland.

4 . It seems as if social media platforms have taken over our lives. According to a study, there were over 3.6 billion social media users in 2021. And that number is only expected to grow.

Although social media platforms have helped to keep friends and family connected, there is also a dark side to social media. To put it simply, it is a money making machine. This is partially because of social media influencers. A social media influencer is someone “who can shape audience’s attitudes through blogs, tweets, and the use of other social media”. You may be asking yourself, “Why would they want to do this, though?” The answer is simple: to make money. Social media influencers make money by promoting brands among their followers. In fact, influencer marketing is so profitable that the study reported that the industry is expected to reach $15 billion in value in 2022.

Social media influencers are now being called out because some of their actions have started to negatively impact the environment. One man in particular, who goes by Steve to remain anonymous (匿名的), noticed that some online influencers failed to follow rules when they went to national parks or public places. This included things like leaving garbage behind, or using drones (无人机) to take pictures from the sky.

Because of this, Steve made it his mission to stop social media influencers from hurting the environment with their bad behavior in order to get the “perfect shot”. In 2018, he made the account “Public Lands Hate You” to name and shame influencers who failed to follow the rules made to protect the environment. The account now has over 85 thousand followers.

He hoped that it could help some influencers find the light and right their wrongs. Steve said, “If everybody thought just a little bit more about their small actions and the impact those actions have on the environment and the people around them, I think that a lot of our bigger problems would be much more easily solved.”

6 . With smart phones and e-readers becoming more common, some worry that the days of paper books are numbered. But as a recent survey showed, traditional books are still popular among readers.

Industry research company Nielsen found that 7 percent more paper books were sold in the UK in 2020 compared to the previous year, while sales of their digital rivals declined(下降)by 4 percent. It was the sixth year in a row that e-book sales had fallen.

Nielsen’s survey, surprisingly, found that it is young people who preferred physical books to e-reader versions.

In another study conducted in 2016 by the youth research agency Voxburner in the UK, more than 60 percent of 16-to-24-year-olds said they preferred print books to e-books. The most popular reason given was: “I like to hold the product.”

Steve Bohme, research director at Nielsen Book Research UK, explained that young people were using books as a break from their daily connections to electronic devices(设备)and social media. “We are seeing that books are a respite(缓解), particularly for young people who are so busy digitally,” he said.

And it is not just young people in the UK who prefer print books. The story is the same in other countries.

According to a study, 92 percent of college students prefer paper books to e-books, of more than 420 university students from the United States, Slovakia, Japan and Germany.

The main reasons were that when reading e-books, students are easily distracted. Some also ended up with headaches or painful eyes.

In addition, print books can bring a very different reading experience-a sense of accomplishment when finishing reading.

7 . Online games are very popular among people. They make a large amount of money and have a large user base, including lots of teenagers. But now, new rules on online games have been introduced, which are aimed at fighting against addiction (成瘾) among underage players.

Adult players need to spend most of their time paying attention to work and family, and cannot play games as often as they want. However, underage players have more spare time, but less responsibility and self-control. Children without a clear purpose in life, where there is less family education and school management, might easily become addicted to all kinds of online games and online novels.

The most direct impact of an addiction to online games among underage players is on their psychological (心理) health. According to psychologists, people seriously addicted to games can become anxious, bad tempered, and avoid responsibility.

However, Chinese parents are more worried that their children will lack interest in studying if they become addicted to online games, as academic success is important for students. Additionally, when their children become addicted to such games, most parents do not know how to deal with the situation.

To carry out the new rules to the best effect, more specific issues need to be solved, such as managing foreign online games, ensuring that facial recognition technologies used by games companies have the wanted effect or making sure online game providers can only offer one-hour services to underage players on Saturdays and Sundays. While there are always loopholes (漏洞) in new rules, authorities should act quickly to close them.

There is no doubt that online games have harmful effects on young people. It is not acceptable for a large number of teenagers or those even younger, to become addicted to these games.

9 . The Power of Fresh Starts

Thirty years ago，I began my first year of teaching in Grade 2.One of the most _______ students was a little boy who had a serious ADD (多动症). I had no _______ in dealing with such a case, and I _______ the year studying how to help him become a successful _______ . There were many disappointing moments, but there was something _______ about the boy who moved excitedly around my classroom.

_______ the end of the school year came near, I heard a talk. The Grade 3 teachers were _______ of having Stephen the following year. I considered it a lot, and I _______ that I would be the best person to _______ Stephen into Grade 3. My headmaster looked at me in ________ , but he agreed to my plan.

I will never forget that day when Stephen came to ask ________ he was in my class again. I looked him in the eye and said, “Well, Stephen, you’re in my ________ because I asked for you.” The little boy looked surprised. “You did? Why?” he asked. “Because I like you and want to keep ________ with you,” I answered.

Stephen just ________ at me. After a few moments, he ________ and walked back to his seat. We never spoke of it again, but the two of us had many ________ learning breakthroughs (突破) that year. I believe those ________ were more of a result of Stephen’s knowing that I had put his previous year’s mistakes behind him.

Now I come to know that when I ________ for one, I can improve his soul. Each season is a new beginning, a new way of thinking. Many students ________ a new start and are determined to act upon it. We need to pay attention to even the smallest ________ that students are looking for help.

10 . Yet although officers will not disappear, it’s hard to imagine that working life will return to before-COVID-19 (新冠肺炎) ways. For more than a century workers have pushed themselves on-to crowded trains and buses, or suffered traffic jams, to get into the office, and back, five days a week. However, for the past one year they have not had to commute (上下班往返), and may enjoy it for a long time.

Employers, for their part, have supported expensive offices in city centers because they need to gather workers in one place. The rent is only part of the cost; there are cleaning, lightning, printers, catering and security on top. Needless to say, in the homeworking era these costs are cut down.

Another part of the homeworking era may be the disappearance of the five-day working week. Even before the COVID-19 many workers became used to taking phone calls or answering emails at the weekend. In the homeworking era, the dividing line between home and working life, a useful way of relieving stress, will be even harder to keep. It may be lost altogether.

What’s more, without the Monday-to-Friday commute, the weekend seems more nebulous, for employees may walk and take breaks freely, with only the company video calls unchanged.

Looking further out, the homeworking era may bring other changes. Some may decide to live in small towns where housing costs are lower, since they have no need to commute. Men will have fewer excuses to skip cleaning or childcare if they are not disappearing to the office.

In a sense, this is a return to normal: until the 19th century most people worked at or close to their homes. But social historians may still regard 2020 as the start of a new age.