Students’ Time Spent on Physical Exercise Weekly

Nowadays, many students are aware of the significance of physical exercise, although the time they spend on it varies.

2 . You see a shopper trip over in a busy street. Someone else can help. That’s what you tell yourself. This is the bystander effect in action — the dilution (淡化) of responsibility in the presence of others — and it has been demonstrated in many past studies.

But life is complicated and psychologists have seen exceptional circumstances. Two experiments were conducted by Marco van Bommel and his team using an online chat room for people with extreme emotional problems. Eighty-six students were logged into the forum (论坛) and shown five messages from troubled users. They were told to write a reply if they wanted, but it was entirely up to them.

Basically, participants could see their names on the screen alongside others’ names. A counter also told them if the forum was quiet, with just one other person logged in, or busy, with 30 others online. This arrangement reproduced the classic Bystander Effect-participants were less likely to post replies with more people logged in. However, when the researchers cued (提示) self-awareness by highlighting participants’ names in red on the screen, they posted more replies on a busy forum.

A second study was built on these findings, but this time self-awareness was raised by the presence, or not, of a computer web-camera. Over 100 participants took part. Although told the camera wouldn’t be used until later, those with cameras were asked to check the camera’s indicator-light during the study. The Bystander Effect was reproduced when web-cameras were absent-on busy forums participants posted fewer replies to needy users. By contrast, those cued to be self-aware by the web-cam actually wrote more replies.

Nearly any online community can benefit from the research. The ability to turn hesitant bystanders into eager helpers is a recipe for engagement and collective benefit. As in the research, simple design cues could be integrated to help online users remember they are visible to the community. For example, the size of profile images and specific on-site reminders can be used to highlight how users see themselves within the community.

3 . A middle-aged woman playing by herself in the snow is an undeniably odd sight, but maybe it shouldn’t be. New research suggests that modern adults are suffering from overmuch depression, so play may be as essential to our health as sleep. We’ve been in our nature to play, which is causing all kinds of problems—for ourselves, our children, and our planet.

It’s believed that adult play can lead to useful discoveries, which is supported by a study on Bali’s long-tailed monkeys. For her doctoral paper at the University of Lethbridge, animal researcher Camilla Cenni left two types of puzzle boxes for the monkeys to solve. To get the food inside, they had to drop a rock into the container or use it to hit the box. She found the monkeys that previously had been observed dropping rocks for fun were more likely to solve the rock-dropping puzzle, while those that had discovered the joy of tapping rocks together think of the answer to the tapping puzzle.

This finding also suggests that somewhere, deep in our evolutionary history, a playful proto-human(原始人) came up with the concept of stone tools. Even today, the urge to play underlies most of humanity’s greatest inventions, artworks, and scientific breakthroughs, Brown says. “When I interviewed Nobel winners, I was struck by how most of them didn’t separate work and play. Their labs were their playgrounds”.

“The opposite of play isn’t work; it’s depression,” says play researcher Stuart Brown, “Play is all about looking at a tough world with creativity and optimism. It gives us the ability to cooperate and get along with people who differ from us,” He goes so far as to declare that “adult play is necessary for our survival as a species.”

The next time I’m caught playing, I know exactly what I’ll say: “I am not wasting time, or acting immature. I’m doing nothing for the benefit of all humanity. You’re welcome.”

4 . 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.

7 . Programs that drive the digital experiences today seem to turn to contents that are popular, and they are unable to tell facts from fictions. And due to the fact that anyone can post anything they want online, unconfirmed reports and irresponsible and unchecked contents are common in the online world.

The problem is so common that the British newspaper The Independent has a whole page contributed to news about fake news, along with Mashable’s social media and a growing number of others.

During the past days when most kids used textbooks that had been edited and reviewed responsibly before they were used, the need for students to check their sources was not great. Today, it’s different. Students use the Internet for research, and teachers and parents can’t keep them away from bad contents all the time. And they’re on their own as they get older. They have to master information literacy, the skills of recognizing bad information, identifying good information, and understanding the difference between the two.

There are people and organizations dealing with the problem and developing information for Internet searchers, both adults and children. The website of Encyclopedia Britannica, for example, has provided Internet searchers with extra information at the top right of their results page. The move was intended to make people slow down and think twice before accepting search results as facts.

Fake news is here to stay. We all need to fight. We can start with awareness and a few rules: don’t make the web full of bad information: don’t spread or share information if you aren’t sure about it. And be mindful of how we use information: practice information literacy. And human curiosity is of great importance in this fight against misinformation. Curiosity drives learning and makes people question information. We need everyone to join in researching and questioning for the truth.

8 . Cyber bullying (网络霸凌) is a form of bullying but because it happens online or on mobile phones it can happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are being bullied at school you can usually get away from the bullies when you are at home.     1     Cyber bullying can be done anonymously(匿名). Cyber bullying is very serious. It can make you feel afraid and uncomfortable. You might feel like it will never end.

    2     We want you to know there are things you can do to make it stop. You shouldn't have to deal with bullying alone, so think about talking to someone you trust like a parent, carer or teacher.     3     Having someone to talk things through with is really important—it can make you feel more confident about dealing with the situation.

It is a good idea to keep a copy of the abusive (辱骂的) texts, emails, comments or messages that you receive and record the date and time they were sent.     4    

You should not reply to any messages you receive because it can encourage the bullies and end up worrying you more. In addition, you must never give out any personal details on the Internet.     5     You can block email addresses or chat users if you are being bullied by email or instant (即时的) messenger.

9 . 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.

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?”