1 . A growing number of Chinese young generations are looking for new methods to relieve (缓解) stress, which include raising unusual “pets”, hugging (拥抱) trees, watching stress relief videos and playing other stress-relieving toys.

A new toy called “mango dog” recently is becoming popular among young people.     1    . The process of making “mango dogs” allows them to free themselves from the anxieties of work and study. This is not the first time that young people have raised unusual “pets”. For example, college students have shared online their experiences of raising stones and paper box “dogs”. These “pets” share similar characteristics—they don’t cry, make noise or get sick.

    2    . “You may think you are hugging the tree, but in fact, the tree is hugging you,” says a young man. The same feeling is shared by those who have experienced tree hugging. They say that their anxiety has been relieved.     3    . In some big cities, some people have even organized tree hugging interest groups and regularly plan tree hugging activities.

At the same time, a young media worker finds the joy in watching fun videos before sleeping. “I especially enjoy watching stress relief videos, like washing blankets and cutting soap.     4    . It helps me fall asleep more easily.”

The popularity of these stress relief methods reflects young people’s need to relieve emotional pressure. According to public data, there are more than 800 companies in China with names, businesses, products, or services with the term “stress relief”.     5    .

2 . The family unit of parents and children is the most important in our life. However, a common complaint (抱怨) nowadays is “my parents have no time for me” or “my children prefer to spend time with their friends”. So what is the reason for such complaints?

One of the basic parenting rules is that parents should spend time with their children. This is the time when parents can show their love and care for their children, physically and emotionally. Similarly, the children can show that they appreciate their parents’ love and this brings about a strong parent-child relationship. Both parties get advantage.

Busy work is one reason why parents don’t spend time with their children. They are the bread winners, wanting their children to have the best. Often both parents had to work to support the family. So, the children turn to their friends who are there to offer a helping hand and a shoulder to cry on. They open up to their friends more than their parents. Another choice for parents is the maid (女佣) who is always there.

When parents get home from the office and the children from school, they are on their own-one parent prepares a meal, the other and children either in front of the computer or their iPhones. They spend time together at a meal but each is more buried in his own thoughts rather than what the others are thinking about.

What can be done to correct the situation? Both parents and children can reschedule their activities with the purpose of spending more time together. Have common interests like watching a football game. This will help develop a close and healthy relationship. Having quality time together takes effort, but it’s worthwhile.

China’s top online sales host Li Jiaqi     1     (apologize) on Monday after he blamed viewers who found the price of an eyebrow pen expensive     2     not working hard enough to make more money during a live-streaming session.

Li,     3     has about 75.76 million followers on Taobao Live, Alibaba’s live-streaming platform, was promoting an eyebrow pen on Saturday evening. He then read out a comment from   a viewer     4     (say) the product priced at 79 yuan ($10.8) has become     5     (expensive) than before.

“The product is expensive? Sometimes people need to find the reasons why they haven’t received a pay rise after working so many years. Have they worked hard enough?” he said.

Many people then said Li’s comments were   inappropriate and had made them     6     (annoy). His comment became one of the most discussed     7     (topic) on social media on Sunday.

“The consumers have the right     8     (question) the price of a product, but Li shouldn’t judge the consumers by people’s spending power.     9     he said was shocking,” a Sina Weibo user said on Sunday.

Around 1 am on Monday, Li published a statement on   social media apologizing for his comments and making people disappointed.

He added that he started his career as     10     cosmetic sales assistant, so he understands people’s struggles. He also promised to learn to better control his emotions in the future.

6 . Like social media giants before it, TikTok hasn’t just contributed to the cultural conversation. It’s literally changed how entire industries operate and affected how we live, eat, watch and buy. In fact, even if you’ve never spent a single second on the app, there’s likely something in your life that has been changed by TikTok’s powerful influence.

Social media, like Youtube, Instagram and the now-defunct short video platform Vine, has always been a pipeline to fame for a few lucky people. However, because of the way TikTok’s algorithm (算法) works, learning users’ interests and preferences in real time as they interact with content, it’s not unusual for videos created by everyday people to suddenly get millions of views as they are pushed into users’ feeds.

BookTok-TikTok’s communities of readers-has become a major driving force in book sales, even influencing how major retailers, like Barnes Noble, market and display their products. The effect, in some cases, has been unbelievable. Colleen Hoover, an author of young adult fiction, has become a huge name thanks to the app. In 2021, Hoover sold nearly 1.9 million copies of her books, according to Publishers Weekly. In 2022, that number rocketed to 14.3 million-and that’s just physical copies.

TikTok began, and is still largely defined as, a music and dancing app. Unsurprisingly, perhaps no industry has been as affected by its power as the music industry. Olivia Rodrigo’s hit song “drivers license” is a perfect example of how far this phenomenon can go. The song first appeared on the app back in 2021, when a video of someone copying Rodrigo’s music video went viral. Soon, thousands of people were posting their own versions of the video.

Regardless, it speaks to the power of TikTok that it has the ability to not only influence, but completely redirect, longstanding billion-dollar industries.

7 .                                                                                                                  Best Educational Apps for Kids

Kids love screen time. But if you want your child to do a little less Pokémon chasing and a little more learning, there’s good news. Many of today’s apps for kids are combining technology and education to make learning more interactive, and—dare we say—fun than ever before.

We have highlighted the four best learning apps for kids loved by parents and youngsters.

Khan Academy

Price: Free

Ages/Grades: Grades K – 14

Apple/Android: Both

Why We Chose It: Suitable for beginners and advanced students, Khan Academy offers learning opportunities for students of all ages across many subjects, including math, economics, and history.

Busy Shapes

Price: $3

Ages/Grades: Ages 2 – 5

Apple/Android: Both

Why We Chose It: Your toddler will love moving the shapes around in this app, and you’ll love that it’s secretly teaching them spatial recognition and object awareness.

ABCmouse.com

Price: $ 13 per month

Ages/Grades: Ages 2 – 8

Apple/Android: Both

Why We Chose It: ABCmouse.com has more than 10,000 activities available to play on its app or website. There are games for traditional subjects, like math, science, and language arts, as well as art activities, song sand puzzles.

Prodigy

Price: Free for basic; premium memberships cost $ 10 to $ 15 per month and $ 75 to $100 per year.

Ages/Grades: Grades 1 – 8

Apple/Android: Both

Why We Chose It: Prodigy helps students learn math while having fun by providing interactive games that align with(与……一致) the curriculum they’re learning at school.

9 . Companies in China are welcoming a hybrid work model, which brings opportunities to creativity. And it is also a passive method for disease control and prevention, industry officials said.

About 45 percent of companies in China are providing remote (远程的) work opportunities, higher than the average level in the Asia Pacific region of 41 percent. Over 57 percent of employees like the hybrid work idea, with the preferred choice as three working days in the office and two at home, according to a survey from Linkedin, a workplace site with 50 million users in China.

Hybrid work offers benefits such as reduced time and energy spent commuting (通勤) and opportunities to hire from a global talent pool, said Wendy Purcell, Research Scholar at Harvard University. He shared opinions with Chen Yubo, Tsinghua professor and top executive of Trip Group.

Shanghai-based Trip com, the country’s biggest online tourism service provider, has already begun a hybrid work model. It asks employees in different departments to come to the office on certain dates, which may become a company-wide policy, said Jane Sun, Trip’s CEO.

As long as productivity is not negatively affected, employees may save two hours of commuting time, and engineers can have flexibility (灵活性) in their work, and it “strengthens our culture and gives them more job satisfaction”, Sun said.

Hybrid work helps connect employees spread across different regions. It also promotes social equality. “Talented employees who are working in Shanghai and Beijing now may go to work in relatively less-developed big cities like Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi’an, and Chongqing in the future,” Tsinghua professor Chen said.

But there is no one-size-fits-all model in hybrid work, especially in China. Chen agreed to embrace hybrid work but not give up the traditional model, as many jobs in China need trust and relationship that are built in an office.

Hybrid work is “the biggest change to how we work in our generation,” according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.