2 . A new trend called “praise groups” or “in-need-of-praise” chat groups has become popular on Chinese social media. In Chinese culture, where modesty (谦逊) is valued, openly seeking and giving praise is uncommon. These chat groups provide a platform for people to receive compliments (赞扬) and encouragement, which are often lacking in their daily lives.

To join a praise group, users can pay a fee on e-commerce sites, starting at 50 yuan for five minutes of compliments. The group members will then show the person with praises and kind words. The compliments can be designed for a friend or loved one as well. Participants have found that being praised by strangers can help lift their spirits and improve their self-confidence.

For example, Meng Zha, a student at Shanghai’s Tongji University, tried the service and found it amusing and uplifting. She received compliments on her appearance and even quotes (引用) from popular songs. Ms Meng couldn’t help but laugh at the compliments and expressed her desire to post such high-quality praises in the future.

Praise groups have appeared as a way for people in China to seek and receive compliments and encouragement that may be lacking in their daily lives. It provides a positive and uplifting experience for participants, improving a sense of happiness and self-worth.

Those who support the groups, see them as an antidote to extremely bad moods (情绪) which are often associated with things happening on the Internet. “At first, the purpose of this group is to make us learn to praise others and accept others’ praises confidently. Here we can drop everything, and use our heart to praise and support others,” one member said. But the life journey is long and there are some unexpected situations that we can only count on ourselves to face when there is no one out there to offer help.

3 . Including children in the farming lifestyle has many benefits. Sure, it is nice to have the additional help with chores, but it also fosters so much growth, sending our kids down a good path towards who they will someday become. It is possible that our children will grow up to lead lives that do not include farming.     1    

Through caring for farm animals, kids learn that in life others often come before self.     2     It doesn’t matter if we don’t feel like it or if we are sick and tired. What matters is that we take care of the animals that take care of us and do so in a timely manner.

    3     If the work on a farm does not get done, the operation fails. It takes discipline and commitment to get down to business every day, and seeing this in action will give kids a good work attitude. They will know and understand that nothing good comes easy and that they have to work to survive.     4     Functioning as part of a productive team will surely be playing a crucial role sooner or later in all walks of life.

Additionally, farming teaches patience.     5     It’s especially true for the animals. Cattle will be difficult to control. Horses will run away when you try to catch them. Goats will kick over that bucket of hard-earned milk. A rooster will decide you got too close to his hens and give you a run for your money. In spite of all that, kids will learn to be patient and take things easy.

There may not be any instant reward, but in the long-term kids will see the benefit of all their efforts during those hard days.

6 . Twenty-five years ago, most young Britons wanted a career in law, to be a doctor, or, if they were creatively minded, to take up singing. But today, things stand differently.

According to a survey by Tesco Mobile, a UK telecoms company, the “dream job” of young people aged between 16 and 25 in the UK is a video blogger, or “vlogger”. The survey, carried out among 1 , 002 people, found that as much as 40 percent of them put vlogger as their number one choice on a list of ideal jobs.

The only reason for this change is undoubtedly the Internet and social media. They have made it so much easier to reach a global user, without having to get a job in show business in the traditional way.

“In years gone by, the biggest stars were shaped and trained by the Hollywood studios； now, anyone with a computer camera can become an icon (偶像)，" a Tesco Mobile spokesperson said in a news release(发布会).“These self-made stars record their hobbies to an admiring fan-base. Vloggers are the big stars of today because they are normal people interacting with their fans about everyday life.”

However, what people see is only the great side of being a vlogger and they ignore the fact that only those who are successful get fame and fortune. There are the dreams that come true and the dreams that still remain dreams.

This is why although vloggers are popular, some young people choose jobs that don't necessarily earn them fame, but allow them to make good use of the Internet to share their hobbies. Young Israeli David Leshaw, for example, runs a business called the Finishers Club. It's an online platform(平台)for runners to keep a record of their races. He told the website Zippia that his job allows him to express his thought, and is always a learning experience. And that's enough for him.

When I was the child, my parents made me learn to play the piano. I have little time to play with my friends, that made me upset. I hated playing the piano at that time, just because   they forced me do it. Now looked back, I’m grateful to my parents for what he did for me. As a matter of fact, music has enriched my life. It gives me joy, comfort or confidence. I have come to understand why my parents were always pushing me hardly then. Everyone will experience pains, A little hard works and sweat will never hurt us. As the old saying goes to, no pains, no gains.

8 . When students got their textbooks at the beginning of the year at San Mateo High School, they also received the Yondr pouch Youdr (口袋), a locking device for their phones. The phone slides into it and gets locked through a magnetic (磁力的) device. It’s not unlocked again until the final bell rings. The procedure will repeat every day for the rest of the school year.

Adam Gelb, the vice-president, ran a pilot project last year with 20 students and decided to do a school-wide, bell to bell program for this school year. The Yondr pouch is a start-up in San Francisco with a mission to create phone-free spaces, something that is the very thought with Gelb.

“I really think it’s about being present and engaging in the adult that’s trying to teach you, and your peers that might be in your small group. That’s part of the main philosophy that we're trying to spread,” he said.

Brad Friedman, another teacher at the school, said he was becoming concerned with overuse of phones at school. He said he often saw students completely lost on their phones, some not socializing at all with other students.

This week, he’s already seeing the difference. “Everyone else was socializing and eating lunch together. That’s what I wasn’t seeing enough of when phone usage is at its worst,” he said.

A senior at San Mateo High School Djelani Phillips-Diop said he definitely panicked at first when he heard he had to lock his phone. “I panicked, I guess. Last year when we had phones, I was using it every day,” he said.

In case of emergency, every classroom has the unlocking device. Teachers still have access to their own cellphones and desk phones. “We’ve gotten all 1,700 students unlocked with a matter of minutes,” said Gelb.

We spoke to four students who, despite their initial panic, agreed that a phone-free school experience has its benefits.

9 . As computers become all the more popular in China, Chinese people are increasingly relying on computer keyboards to input Chinese characters. But if they use the computer too much, they may end up forgetting the exact strokes（笔画）of each Chinese character when writing on paper. Experts suggest people, especially students, write by hand more.

Do you write by hand more or type more? In Beijing, students start using a computer as early as primary school(小学). And computer dependence is more wide-spread among university students. Almost all their assignments and essays are typed on a computer.

All the students interviewed say they usually use a computer.

It's faster and easier to correct if using a computer. And that's why computers are being applied more and more often to modern education. But when people are taking stock in computers increasingly, problems appear.

"When I'm writing with a pen, I find I often can't remember how to write a character, though I feel I’m familiar with it."

"I'm not in the mood(状态) to write when faced with a pen and paper."

Many students don't feel this is something to worry about. Now that it's more convenient and efficient to write on a computer, why bother to handwrite?

Many educators think differently. Shi Liwei , the headmaster of a famous primary school in the capital said "Chinese characters enjoy both practical and aesthetic(审美的) value. But those characters typed with computer keyboards only maintain their practical value. All the artistic beauty of the characters is lost. And handwriting contains the writer's emotion. Through one's handwriting, people can get to know one's thinking and personality. Beautiful writing will give people a better first impression of them"

To encourage students to handwrite more, many primary schools in Beijing have made writing classes compulsory(必修的)and in universities, some professors are asking students to hand in their homework and essays written by hand.

10 . In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity. Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.

I have taught many children who held the belief that their self­worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life­and­death affairs. In their single­minded pursuit of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.

However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn't matter because I really didn't try.” What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one's self­respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve can we discover a new meaning in competition.