IS EXPLORING SPACE

A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY?

NASA satellite image of Typhoon Goni

Countries around the globe are spending billions of dollars and lots of time on various space missions, whether to Mars or other planets much further away. Some people argue that we should stop wasting time and money exploring space. Instead, we should feed the world’s poor and find immediate solutions to other problems, such as pollution and fatal diseases. However, others feel this is a shallow view which fails to realise how exploring space helps us.

Firstly, exploring space has already made a difference in the fight against world hunger. It has directly resulted in the many satellites that now orbit Earth. A number of the satellites record data on land and weather patterns. Then the data is transmitted to scientists on Earth. After careful analysis, the scientists can provide useful recommendations and advice for farmers. As a result, space-based science has helped farming in its efforts to grow enough food to feed Earth’s increasing population.

Secondly, space exploration has already promoted technological improvements that benefit us all. High-end products around the world are made to a higher standard now because of advanced technology which was first created to meet the requirements for space exploration. For example, space technologies have helped the research and development of different types of new material. They have also helped companies make better heart monitors and other machines that doctors regularly use. Today, space technologies are widely used in all kinds of industries, and everyday products such as GPS, memory foam pillows, and smartphone cameras are changing our lives.

Finally, sending astronauts into space has helped people to think about the world’s problems and even to find ways to solve them. Seeing pictures of our planet as an island in a black sea made people realise that our planet’s resources are limited. In order to provide for such a rapidly increasing population, scientists are trying to find other planets that could one day be our new home. The greatest attention at present is on Mars because it is closer to Earth. In the future, humans may live on both planets.

In closing, exploring space provides the world with many different benefits. Therefore, it should continue so as to provide new and better solutions to people’s short-term and long-term problems.

A teenage girl     1     name is Jennifer Jones was rushed to hospital after passing out in her morning PE class. Jennifer was found to have dangerously low blood sugar levels because she was so concerned about her weight that she     2     (regular) skipped meals. Fortunately, Jennifer would make a full     3    (recover) in a day or two. Her case reminded other teenagers     4    the dangers of such unhealthy weight-loss habits.     5    (struggle) to slim down quickly, teenagers always turn to some extreme methods. According to the survey     6    (conduct) by health experts, almost one fifth of teenagers frequently skip meals, one in ten over-exercise and four per cent even take weight-loss pills. Much attention needs     7    (pay) to these figures. Currently, health experts    8    (increase) their efforts to educate teenagers about the side effects of such extreme methods. They pointed out that     9     healthy balanced diet and regular exercise can help teenagers to stay energetic and fit. Besides, living well is the safest and most     10    (effect) way to get into shape.

5 . TikTok has pushed a new safety update to its app that allows parents to take more control of their teenager’s accounts, as social media companies come under increasing pressure to make their platforms safer for children.

The company said that its Family Pairing now enables parents to turn off comments on their children’s videos entirely or limit them to friends only. Parents whose accounts are linked to their kids will also be able to set their accounts to private ones, turn off the search function for content or users, and limit who can see which videos their children have liked.

The Family Pairing lets parents see how long their children are spending on TikTok each day and limit the content they can see.

TikTok allows children to register (注册) and create an account if they’re over the age of 13. All they need to do is provide their date of birth. However, because TikTok doesn’t require registrants (注册人) to prove their identities, some children under 13 have registered by lying about their age, according to U.K. regulator Ofcom (英国通信管理局)

Alexandra Evans, head of child safety public policy for TikTok in Europe, told CNBC that Family Pairing has “put itself in parents’ shoes”since it was launched. “If we’re thinking of it as a toolbox, we want to offer more tools,” she said on a video call ahead of the announcement.

7 . Smartphone Stress: Are You a Victim of “Always On” Culture?

You are on holiday but secretly check your work emails the moment you wake up.You get anxious if there’s no Wi-Fi in the hotel or mobile phone signal up the mountain.     1     And you secretly worry things will go wrong at work if you’re not there. There are the typical signs of “always on” stress induced by smartphone addiction.

Pittsburgh-based developer Kevin Holesh was so worried about how much he was ignoring his family and friends that he developed an app — Moment — to monitor his usage.The app enables users to see how much time they’re spending on the device and set up warnings if self-controlled usage limits are offended. His website explains, “    2     Some time on your phone; some time off it, enjoying your loving family and friends around you.” And some employers are acknowledging that getting the work-life balance right isn’t so easy. They need help.

    3     You are not giving your body time to recover, so you’re always stressed. And the more tired and stressed we get, the more mistakes we make.     4     The fact that we can stay connected to the workplace wherever we are in the world is feeding deep-rooted insecurities.

We now consume media for more hours than we sleep.     5     It actually makes it more difficult to make decisions and many are becoming less productive because they’re overwhelmed by it all and feel they can never escape the office.

9 . For centuries, in the countries of south and Southeast Asia the elephant has been an intimate part of the culture, economy and religion, and nowhere more so than in Thailand. Unlike its African cousin, the Asian elephant is easily domesticated (驯化). The rare so-called white elephants have actually lent the authority of kingship to its rulers and until the 1920s the national flag was a white elephant on a red background. To the early Western visitors the country’s romantic name was “Land of the White Elephant”.

Today, however, the story is very different. Out of work and out of land, the Thai elephant struggles for survival in a nation that no longer needs it. The elephant has found itself more or less abandoned by previous owners who have moved on to a different economic world and a westernized society. And while the elephant’s problems began many years ago, now it rates a very low national priority.

How this reversal from national icon (圣像) to neglected animal came about is a tale of worsening environmental and the changing lives of the Thais themselves. According to Richard Lair, Thailand’s experts on the Asian elephant and author of the report Gone Astray, at the turn of the last century there may well have been as many as 100,000 domestic elephants in the country. In the north of Thailand alone it was estimated that more than 20,000 elephants were employed in transport, 1,000 of them alone on the road between the cities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Saen. This was at a time when 90 percent of Thailand was still forest — a habitat that not only supported the animals but also made them necessary to carry goods and people. Nothing ploughs through dense forest better than a massive but sure-footed elephant.

By 1950 the elephant population had dropped to a still substantial 13,397, but today there are probably no more than 3,800, with another 1,350 roaming free in the national parks. But now, Thailand’s forest covers only 20 percent of the land. This deforestation is the central point of the elephant’s difficult situation, for it has effectively put the animals out of work. This century, as the road network grew, so the elephant’s role as a beast of burden declined.

10 . High-quality customer service is preached (宣扬) by many, but actually keeping customers happy is easier said than done.

Shoppers seldom complain to the manager or owner of a retail store, but instead will alert their friends, relatives, co-workers, strangers and anyone who will listen.

Store managers are often the last to hear complaints, and often find out only when their regular customers decide to frequent their competitors, according to a study jointly conducted by Verde group and Wharton school.

“Storytelling hurts retailers and entertains consumers,” said Paula Courtney, president of the Verde group. “The store loses the customer, but the shopper must also find a replacement.”

On average, every unhappy customer will complain to at least four others, and will no longer visit the specific store. For every dissatisfied customer, a store will lose up to three more due to negative reviews. The resulting “snowball effect” can be disastrous to retailers.

According to the research, shoppers who purchased clothing encountered the most problems. Ranked second and third were grocery and electronics customers.

The most common complaints include filled parking lots, cluttered (塞满了的) shelves, overloaded racks, out-of-stock items, long check-out lines, and rude salespeople.

During peak shopping hours, some retailers solved the parking problems by getting moonlighting (业余兼职的) local police to work as parking attendants. Some hired flag wavers to direct customers to empty parking spaces. This guidance eliminated the need for customers to circle the parking lot endlessly, and avoided confrontation between those eyeing the same parking space.

Retailers can relieve the headaches by redesigning store layouts, pre-stocking sales items, hiring speedy and experienced cashiers, and having sales representatives on hand to answer questions.

Most importantly, salespeople should be diplomatic and polite with angry customers.

“Retailers who’re responsive and friendly are more likely to smooth over issues than those who aren’t so friendly,” said Professor Stephen Hoch. “Maybe something as simple as a greeter at the store entrance would help.”

Customers can also improve future shopping experiences by filing complaints to the retailer, instead of complaining to the rest of the world. Retailers are hard-pressed to improve when they have no idea what is wrong.