1 . Recent years have seen a small increase in unemployment rates due to slowing of the economy. The fact that many college graduates are finding it difficult to land a job has sparked online discussions on the cost of education and the returns on it, with many agreeing with the notion that “education is useless”.

Stories like a person with a doctorate’s degree from Zhejiang University is delivering food, and overseas-returned graduates are selling hot-pot ingredients have caused many to question the value of education. Moreover, the fact that about 36,000 fewer candidates have applied to take the postgraduate exam in 2024, the first decline in numbers in years, has also fueled the “education is useless theory.

Is education truly worthless? This question has resurfaced due to several factors.

The wide spread of higher education has significantly increased the number of college graduates, reducing the value of college degrees. As the job market becomes over-crowded with graduates, the scarcity of high-level talents has become apparent, particularly in fields such as the humanities. For example, more than 900 institutions in China offer English major, making it the most common degree program, yet there’s a shortage of top talents who are proficient in English and have a good knowledge about the differences in Chinese and foreign approach to fields such as international relations and journalism.

The declining returns on the investment in education have given rise to the “education is useless” theory. Given the challenging job market, many believe college education does not guarantee any sort of employment, let alone a suitable job. And with various economic opportunities available, the notion that one can become financially successful even without formal education is becoming increasingly acceptable.

In light of these developments, combined efforts need to be made to change the situation. For instance, universities must take measures to integrate education, research and industry, while enhancing cooperation with enterprises through tailored talent training programs. Additionally, the authorities need to pay greater attention to vocational education, an important part of China’s educational system. Students, parents and society, on their part, should abandon their bias against vocational training, because it integrates education with career prospects throughout the learning process, offering targeted, technical and practical training which allows students to master their skills which can get them well-paying jobs in the future.

Developing a correct view of employment and career choice is key to abandoning the notion of “education being useless”. People, especially students, must understand the current employment landscape, their positioning, and strengths and weaknesses. While realizing that a college degree is no longer a ticket to employment, college students should leverage education resources to enrich their professional knowledge and competitiveness. And youths should approach vocational education with an open mind in order to make the most of what the job market has to offer.

Education is not synonymous with earning money, nor does a college degree guarantee financial success. The value of education is knowledge, which we need to make informed decisions not only in our professional life but also in our social and other fields of life.

3 . Time to end Santa’s “naughty list”?

Many of us have magical memories of Santa secretly bringing gifts and joy to our childhood homes — but is there a darker side to the beloved Christmas tradition?

I was — and I’m happy to admit it — a loyal believer of Santa. I absolutely loved the magic of Christmas, especially Santa Claus, and my parents went above and beyond to encourage it. However, as I begin to construct my own Santa Claus myth for my daughter, I can’t help but feel guilty. Could it undermine her trust in me?

    1     Back in 1978, a study published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry (矫正精神医学) found that 85% of four-year-olds said they believed in Santa. In 2011, research published in the Journal of Cognition and Development found that 83% of 5-year-olds claimed to be true believers.

I guess it’s not all that surprising.     2     He features in every Christmas TV show and movie. Each year the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) allows you to track Santa’s journey on Christmas Eve. To reassure children during the pandemic in 2020, the World Health Organization issued a statement declaring that Santa was “immune” from Covid 19. And it’s precisely this effort on behalf of parents, and society in general, to create such seemingly overwhelming evidence for the existence of Santa Claus that David Kyle Johnson, a professor of philosophy at King’s College in Pennsylvania, describes as ‘The Santa Lie’ in his book The Myths That Stole Christmas. He highlights how we don’t simply ask children to imagine Santa, but rather to actually believe in him.     3    

The “Santa lie” can reduce trust between a parent and a child.     4     It is the creation of false evidence and convincing kids that bad evidence is in fact good evidence that discourages the kind of critical thinking we should be encouraging in children in this era. “The ‘Santa lie’ is part of a parenting practice that encourages people to believe what they want to believe, simply because of the psychological reward,” says Johnson. “That’s really bad for society in general.”

4 . A cure for the future in the past?

For over fifty years, the people of Britain have relied on the welfare state to make sure they have adequate health services. But now the National Health Service is sick. Government _____ and underfunding are forcing hospitals to close, and waiting lists for treatment are getting longer. Under such circumstances, it is no surprise that more people are turning to private (but expensive) healthcare.

For some, however, there are _____. They are turning their back on modern pills, tablets and resorting to other conventional medicine. It seems paradoxical, but in an age of microchips and high technology, traditional medicine, the old-fashioned cures that our grandparents relied on, is making a _____.

Consider these case studies:

Maude is 76 years old and has been suffering from arthritis for almost ten years. “The pain in my joints was almost _____, and my doctor referred me to a surgeon at the London Hospital. I was told that I needed _____, but would need to wait for at least two years before I could have the operation. In _____, I started having massage sessions. To my surprise, these were very therapeutic, and while they didn’t cure the disorder, they did _____ it to some extent”.

Ron is 46. His high-powered city job was _____ for a series of stress-related illnesses, and the drugs he took didn’t work well on the nervous strain. “I read about _____ which involve the whole person rather than the individual symptoms, but I had always doubted about such kind of medicine for all diseases. However, my friend _____ a dietician who told me that part of my problem was diet-related. Basically, the food I was eating was _____ to my disorder. She gave me a list of foods that would provide the right vitamins and minerals to keep me in good health. At the same time, she advocated a more _____ lifestyle-running, swimming, that kind of thing. I’ m a bit of a couch potato, and this kind of lifestyle I had lived was _____ the problem. Now I feel great!”

So is there still a place in our lives for modern medicine? While it is true that some infections and viruses may be _____ by turning to traditional medicine, more serious illnesses such as cancer need more extreme measures. We do need our health service at these times, and we shouldn’t stop _____ in its future. But we mustn’t forget that for some common illnesses, the cure may lie in the past.

Wedding Bills

Growing up, little girls are brainwashed into believing that their wedding is the most important day of their lives. You’re supposed to dream about it since childhood and when your big day finally arrives, walk like a princess with all your friends and family dressed to the nines, watching     1     in the audience. But real life isn’t directed by Disney and in reality, weddings are anything but the fairy tale day that we were taught to believe. In China, weddings are     2     and more often than not, it’s a money-making event not just for the wedding planner, but also for the bride and groom. It’s all a transaction     3     in a white veil (面纱).

So how’s a typical wedding in China different? First of all, in China, the groom’s family is expected to pay for the wedding. Weddings in China tend to be massive events, and the     4     culture and local belief that the more people come to celebrate the more luck the couple will have plays a huge part in that. In the US, it’s common for the couple to have a gift     5    . But in China, you bring cash in red envelopes. In recent years some bridesmaids have even been seen wearing QR codes around their necks for wedding guests to scan to     6     their wedding gift money. Online, some have praised this trend as providing safety and convenience for the couple. Others call it tacky (俗气), comparing it to     7     an admission fee to watch a spectacle (壮观的场面). One bride admitted to me that her guest list for 40 tables consisted of friends, family and acquaintances she knew would be generous. It’s also an unspoken custom in China that even if you can’t     8     attend someone’s wedding, your money is expected to make an appearance.

Moving on to the wedding photos. In China when you arrive at the     9    , you’ll most likely see a giant poster of the couple in their wedding clothes. Here, there’s no such thing as bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the big day so most couples would take their wedding photos in advance. To be frank, I find this the most reasonable way to do it. There’s already enough     10     on the wedding day, so why add to it by throwing a photo shoot in there too?

In the 1920s, the American economy was very strong, and life was good. World War I     1     (end). So people were interested in peace, not war. They had jobs and were making a lot of money. There were new technologies     2     (create) and people could afford to buy them. They began moving to the suburbs and living in houses. People had leisure time, so they could go out and enjoy     3    .

Then, on october 24, 1929, the stock market crashed. Suddenly, life changed for millions of people. Instantly, people lost billions of dollars in stock. Companies went bankrupt.     4    they went out of business, millions of people lost their jobs. The unemployment rate climbed. The president at the time, Herbert Hoover, was blamed    5    the economic problems. Only by resigning     6     he relieve people’s anger.

In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt was elected the new president of the United States. Roosevelt had a plan to end the Great Depression. His plan was called the New Deal. He increased the influence of the government on the economy. He tried to have the government     7     (give) people jobs. During the 1930s, life in the U.S. Was very difficult. It was only in 1941    8     the Great Depression ended. Then the U.S. Economy began to recover.

10 .

Life without access to energy is simply miserable. Accessing energy is the single most important factor in improving the lives of individuals and increasing the economic opportunities available in their communities. Access to lighting transforms education from outdoors during the day, to indoors and anytime! A simple refrigerator can transform a fruit stand to a grocery store. Reliable electricity allows businesses to stay open and ultimately provides the cornerstone that allows industries to form.

There is a dominant school of thought that energy access can be achieved around the world with only carbon-free sources. This paradigm envisions effectively “leapfrogging” traditional development patterns, skipping industrialization, and transforming economies with green energy and a service economy. While compelling in theory, this vision lacks several critical factors; the need to manufacture the goods that will build the economy, the scalability of energy sources, and the affordability of that energy.

This transformation is currently underway and its progress is inevitable. The urgency is created by individuals current, difficult conditions and the availability of abundant, affordable energy, particularly coal. All new energy demand will come from the developing world. Without a thoughtful conversation about the projected doubling of world energy demand, energy consumption will continue as it is currently underway, in two parallel paths. One path prioritizes carbon-free sources, and sets goals and policies that incentivize those. The other path responds to the supply and demand inherent in a world economy and is resulting in the massive development of coal-fired electricity generation.

The reality of energy development can be summarized in the example of India’s projected energy development. By 2022, India is planning 100 GW of new solar and a relatively tiny 50 MW of new coal. However, a simple calculation of the likely emissions of these two new sources of energy conducted by a colleague at Stanford indicates that if all this new electricity generation came from natural gas, the result would be 20 percent fewer emissions. This is a conversation worth having.

Although not a carbon-free source, natural gas has a transformative role to play in the energizing of developing nations. Abundantly available around the world, and more transportable than ever, a world natural gas market is creating a more stable, affordable supply. As an electricity generation fuel, it is both a base load alternative to coal and a backup for renewable generation. In this capacity, natural gas provides carbon and non-carbon air emissions benefits. When used as a transportation fuel, natural gas provides significant air quality benefit to traditional fuels and can be equally affordable. When deployed as a cooking fuel, liquefied petroleum gas(LPG), provides dramatic health benefits and could reduce the unnecessary 4 million annual deaths attributed to cooking over inefficient, biomass fuels. As an economic cornerstone, natural gas can empower industrial development as a chemical feed-stock fertilizer component, direct energy source, and electricity provider.