Have you ever wondered what life is like now     1     (compare) to, say, the 1980s or the 1990s? I went to ask some people I know who were adults in the ‘80s and 90s’, and the answer I got was that “Overall, life is a lot     2     (good) now!” This didn’t really surprise me. I mean, these days we’ve got mobile phones and the internet and so on — but     3    (actual) those weren’t the things they talked about.

So what did they talk about? For     4     start, we don’t have to work physically hard since now there are a lot of things like dishwashers for housework. Then there’s the matter of how, these days,     5     is possible to work at home — it’s mainly     6    (computer) that have made this possible. Not only that, there’s a lot more     7     (equal) now. It’s easier for all people, whatever their social background, gender (性别), colour and so on, to have equal access     8     a variety of career opportunities.

That said, it’s not all a matter of improvement. Quite a few people told me that they feel more stressed these days because they rely a lot on technology and they are always     9    (anxiety) about security on the internet. Plus, we spend a lot of our time     10     (use) smartphones. One person said, “Wouldn’t it be great to be off the grid (不上网) for a few days?”

4 . In the pre-COVID-19 era, children’s personalised books used to be a niche market (小众市 场). Far from their early version that merely had the child’s name stuck on the book cover today’s personalised books feature entire families — including pets. Instead of meeting unknowr characters and new story worlds, the readers meet themselves. With the persuasive power of personalisation, publishers find their way into children’s inner worlds quicker than with non- personalised books

Well-designed personalised books can enhance children’s vocabulary learning. However, it’s also been found that in their talk about the story of a personalised book, they talk about “me, me, me”. Part of this self-centredness is natural at a young age, but part of it is caused by the personalised character of the book. In a recent study, personalised books, as opposed to thei non-personalised versions, do not help children understand the moral of a story or apply it to thei own lives

In most popular personalised books, children are pictured as the heroes and stars of their own stories. What is certain is that in addition to personalised hero books, we need personalised books where the child is a minor character or a character who experiences depression. The problem is that such books are unlikely to be popular and are therefore unlikely to be written. We are thus heading towards a situation where children see themselves in a positive light in their own personalised books and where they see others as failures in non-personalised books. It introduces children to a culture of“me vs you” where shared humanity is replaced by a false narrative of “I am the best!”

The most powerful children’s books are those that hit the sweet spot of personalisation and diversity. Such books teach children out-group empathy (同感) that occurs with story characters whose,experiences are different from their own. Authors can convey such out-group empathy by constructing strong plots that immerse (使沉浸) children in the story, but also challenge them to think beyond their comfort zone. The current personalised books take us from this ideal. They represent an economic interest in individualisation, and might ill prepare young minds for an uncertain future.

6 . Every minute, every hour, every day, we are losing precious time to our devices (设备).Technology has taken over much of our lives,especially over the last two years as school and work went online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    1     No, sadly. But there are things that you can do to make sure you don’t waste your time scrolling (滚屏)in the future.

    2     This is called social economizing, which means you choose how to use your time. You know exactly what you want to do, what brings you joy or closer to your goals, so choose to do those things.

If you feel an urge to jump on social media or scroll websites when you have a few spare minutes, don’t feel bad. This is normal.     3     This can include cleaning your room, organizing your closet or even replying to important messages.

Another great way to help reduce the desire to check your device is to turn off notifications (通 知).In the 1890s, Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov conducted experiments to measure the build-up of saliva (唾液) in the mouths of dogs under a variety of conditions. Like the dogs in the experiments, people are conditioned to respond each time they hear a ping.     4    

As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.    5     Simply put your phone, tablet or computer in another room or away in a desk so that it can’t be seen.

7 . If you want to travel on holiday, the very first question you must ask is, “How much is it going to cost?” With little money, you are not going to get very far.     1     Local transport is used, and sleeping is done in tents(帐篷) or not expensive hotels.

However, it seems that many young people have found a different way to see the world. They usually come from a western country and are from well-off families. They pay for a flight from their home to an Asian country, and then try to beg for money once they arrive.     2     It’s become so popular; it has been given its own name: begpacking. It’s a cross between “begging” and “backpacking”.

It is now quite usual to see begpackers sitting on the streets in some of Asia’s popular shopping districts.    3         “I am travelling around Asia without money. Please support my trip.”

In many Asian countries, poverty is never far away. Citizens of popular holiday destinations are asking why visitors arrive on their streets and expect the locals to pay for their travels. When these locals want to travel to a western country, they have to prove that they have enough money to travel.     4    

There have been recent reports that some countries are beginning to tire of begpackers. A law was passed in Thailand recently. The local government can now take action against any foreigner begging on the street.     5     There, western begpackers are taken by the local police to their foreign embassy. And then they are returned to their home.

8 . The mall(购物商场)is increasingly the exception. Dozens nationwide have fallen into disuse in the past decade, and a quarter of the around 1,100 -that remain are projected to follow by 2022, leaving large areas of empty space.

“We built too many malls, and we built them too cheaply,” said Amanda Nicholson, a professor at Syracuse University. “Only the strong will survive, while the weaker ones fold.”

After losing three of its four anchor(主力)department stores, the country’s oldest shopping mall was in need of new life. Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota, is getting it this month in the form of a Life Time “resort(度假胜地),” complete with a rooftop pool and beach club. The new gym—which also has a full-service spa—will take the place of a former J. C. Penney store. Life Time is spending $43 million building the three-story facility.

“Malls have become a great opportunity for growth,” said Parham Javaheri, president of Life Time. “They have great visibility, great access and many of them have been around for a long time, so they’re located at the center of offices and homes.”

Fitness centers and gyms now lease(租用)three times as much space in US shopping malls 12 as they did a decade ago. Chains such as Planet Fitness, SoulCycle and Life Time have become coveted because they draw a lot of rich members who stop in a few times a week. Life Time now has country club-like locations at malls around the country and plans to open more than 30 more mall gyms in the coming years. Each gym attracts about 3,000 people a day, Javaheri said, which amounts to “a lot of consumers”.

Other cities have been even more creative with empty mall space. Simon Property Group, the country’s largest mall owner, recently spent $5 million on Allied Esports and announced plans to create 200 mall gaming rooms for competitive video gaming events across the country. “We believe focusing on gameplay will drive traffic and excitement for our properties,” said Lee Sterling, a senior vice president at Simon.

9 . There is a change of attitude toward the pink and blue divide in toys. Target, the second—largestdiscount retailer(折扣零售店)in the US, announced in 2015 that it would get rid of signs labeling(标记) toys for boys or for girls. A UK campaign called Let Toys Be Toys seeks to get retailers to stop dividing toys and books for one gender(性别)only.

Researchers have worried about the effect of having toys that were sosegregated(分开的) by gender for sometime, says Lisa Dinella, associate professor at Monmouth University.

Clearly divided pink and blue toys—with dolls and tea sets on one side and trucks and building blocks on the other—are actually a pretty recent development. As recently as the 1970s, toys sold in the US were not always marketed with clear gender distinctions. By the 1980s and 1990s, however, toys started to become more gender segregated, though it was still not so sharply divided as today, says Elizabeth Sweet, a lecturer in sociology at the university of California, Davis.

While it may seem like a small issue, toys help children to develop new skills, says Dinella. Dolls and pretend kitchens are good at teaching kids early language skills. Building blocks like Lego and puzzles teach skills related to space, which help set the groundwork for learning math. “Both genders lose out if we put kids on one track and they can't explore” says Dinella.

Some parents try to introduce other types of toys and get away from the strictly pink and blue divide. But it's difficult for parents to ignore the marketing and get their kids toys or costumes meant for the other gender, says Dinella. While some parents try to broaden the toys their children are ex—posed to, there is often a social cost to the child for crossing gender boundaries. “So it is hard for parents to throw out the rules,” she says.

Researchers hope that one day, toys will stop being broken up by gender and will instead be categorized by type, like puzzle toys, dolls or children's bikes. Toy choices, Sweet says, should be based on kids’ personal interests, and not on their gender.