1 . With almost all big employers in the United States now using artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in their hiring processes, the public is considering some urgent questions: How can you prevent discrimination in hiring when a machine is keeping the discrimination? What kind of methods might help?

Some 83% of employers, including 99% of Fortune 500 companies, now use some form of automated tools as part of their hiring process, said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s ( EEOC) chair Charlotte Burrows, at a hearing on Tuesday. She said everyone needs to speak up on the debate over these technologies. “The risks are simply too high to leave this topic just to the experts.”

Last year, the EEOC issued some guidance around the use of cutting-edge hiring tools, noting many of their shortcomings. The agency found that resume( 简历) scanners which prioritize keywords and programs which evaluate a candidate’s facial expressions and speech patterns in video interviews can create discrimination. Take, for example, a video interview that analyses an applicant’s speech patterns to determine their ability to solve problems. A person with a speech problem might score low and automatically be screened out. The problem will be for the EEOC to root out discrimination or stop it from taking place.

The EEOC is considering the most appropriate ways to handle the problem. It’s agreed that inspections are necessary to ensure that the software used by companies avoids intentional or unintentional discrimination. But who would conduct those inspections is a more challenging question. Each option presents risks, Burrows pointed out. A third party may turn a blind eye to its clients, while a government-led inspection could potentially stop innovation.

In previous remarks, Burrows has noted the great potential that AI decision making tools have to improve the lives of Americans, but only when used properly. “We must work to ensure that these new technologies do not become a high-tech pathway to discrimination,” she said.

2 . Many industries are facing a shortage of labour. Warehousing has grown rapidly. And robots are now indispensable, picking items off shelves and helping people pack an exponentially rising numbers of boxes. They are even beginning to walk slowly along some pavements, delivering goods or food right to people’s doors. Having more robots to boost productivity would be a good thing.

And yet many people fear that robots will destroy jobs. A paper in 2013 by economists at Oxford University was widely misinterpreted as meaning that 47% of American jobs were at risk of being automated.

In fact, concerns about mass unemployment because of robots are overblown. The evidence suggests robots will be ultimately beneficial for labour markets. A Yale University study found that an increase of one robot unit per 1, 000 workers boosted a company’s employment in Japan. Another study, by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues elsewhere, looked at Finnish firms and concluded that their use of advanced technologies led to increases in hiring.

For all that, the march of the robots will bring big changes to workplaces. The skills and firms that are rewarded will shift, too. But that need not be the disaster many fear. One supposed example of “bad automation” is self-service checkouts in supermarkets because they displace human workers. Checkout staff who retrain to help customers pick items from aisles may well find that dealing with people in need is more rewarding than spending all day scanning barcodes.

Certainly, some people will be on the losing end of change even as the robots make society as a whole better off. One lesson from the freewheeling globalization of the 1990s and 2000s is that the growth in trade that was overwhelmingly beneficial contributed to a political backlash (强烈抵制) because the losers felt left behind. That’s one more reason why firms and governments would do well to recognize the value of retraining and lifelong learning. As jobs change, workers should be helped to acquire new skills, including how to work with and manage the robots that will increasingly be their colleagues.

The potential gains from the robot revolution have just started. It won’t be the plot in some films where the robots fight against their human masters and cause mass unemployment.

This morning, I saw the shocking headline: “Passenger Dies When Car Crashes in Driverless Mode”. In the article,     1    (vary) people said that the public should oppose the idea of developing driverless cars. They said that some     2    (advance) in technology were unnecessary and could even be dangerous. Hence, we should cease     3    (accept) technology just because it is new. The newspaper reported that the car company had already apologized for the accident,     4     the families of the deceased said it was not enough. Nevertheless, the company still claimed that most people would be travelling in driverless cars one day soon.

    5     the one hand, there are many different groups of people around the world     6     live happily in the absence of new technology. Probably the most well known are the Amish, a group of Christians     7    (live) in rural America. They do not own or drive cars, watch TV, or use the Internet. They     8    (live) mainly as farmers since the 18th century, and they will probably be living the same way in the distant future. They advocate     9     simple life with an emphasis on hard work, family, and community. They think that is better than caring about luxuries or following the lives of the rich and famous. It could even be argued     10     the Amish’s quality of life is better since they live in and appreciate the natural environment rather than living in large, polluted cities.

6 . There is a popular saying in the English language: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Well, that is not true. Unkind words, name-calling or even the so-called “the silent treatment” can hurt children as much as being physically hit, sometimes even more so. A recent study of middle school children showed that verbal (言语的) abuse by other children can harm, the development in the brain. The study was a project of researchers at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. Researcher Martin Teicher and his team studied young adults, aged 18 to 25. These young men and women had not ever been treated in a cruel or violent way by their parents. The researchers asked the young people to rate their childhood exposure to verbal abuse from both parents and other children. Then the researchers performed imaging tests on the brains of the subjects.

The images showed that the people who reported suffering verbal abuse from peers in middle school had underdeveloped connections between the left and right side of the brain. The two sides of the brain are connected by a large bundle of connecting fibers called the corpus callosum. This was the area that was underdeveloped.

The middle school years are a time when these brain connections are developing. So, unkind, hurtful comments from children or adults during this period have the greatest effect. The researchers tested the mental and emotional condition of all the young people in the study. The tests showed that this same group of people had higher levels of fear, depression, anger and drug abuse than others in the study.

The researchers published their findings online on the American Journal of Psychiatry's website.

Parents cannot control what other people say to their children, but they can prepare their children.

7 . Below are the future optional majors for you to take into consideration before entering college.

Architecture

Degree: Bachelor of Arts

Architecture is the design of the built environment: buildings and their surroundings. As a profession, it is an art, science, and business with careers available in schools of architecture, and in architectural research.

Department of Architecture Design, 101 Alumni Hall, Phone: 513-529-7210

Accountancy

Degree: Bachelor of Science

Accountancy is the language of business. Accountants prepare profit and loss statements, cost studies, and tax reports. They can work for firms of any size, ranging from a large international firm to a small local accounting practice, and government.

School of Business, Student Services Office, Phone: 513-529-1712

Journalism

Degree: Bachelor of Arts

Journalism includes the fields of Media & Culture, and Interactive Media Studies. In addition to essential reporting, writing, and editing skills, journalism combines the art of communication with the science of digital technology. Graduates may become magazine editors, reporters, or copywriters.

Department of Media, Journalism &Film, 206 Williams Hall, Phone: 513-529-5893

Anthropology

Degree: Bachelor of Arts

Anthropology is the study of humans. Individuals and societies are complex and dynamic, which means anthropology covers a lot of ground. The study of people can lead to almost any career path, including education, health care, social work, international development, government and human relations.

Department of Anthropology, 120 Upham Hall, Phone: 513-529-8399

8 . How cool can libraries be in an era of iPods and Kindles? More than you think. Only if you know where to go.

Central Library: Seattle, Washington, United States

The Central Library in Seattle is modern and fashionable and has tourists from around the world paying visits and taking tours. It was designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and American designer Joshua Ramus. Tours began in 2006, two years after its opening. The library holds various art exhibitions, book signings and other events, while visitors can stop by the Chocolate cart for a coffee and scan through the gift shop anytime.

Trinity College Library: Dublin, Ireland

The Trinity College Library in Dublin is the oldest library in Ireland, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It is the largest single library in the world, also known as the Long Room, which contains more than 200,000 of the library's oldest books. The Long Room houses one of the oldest harps (竖琴) in Ireland. Dating to the 15th century, the old harp is the model for the symbol foreland.

Geisel Library, University of California: San Diego, United States

At first glance, it looks like a spaceship. Architect William Pereira, who helped design actual space launch facilities at Cape Canaveral in Houston, Texas, designed the library in 1970. It has been featured in sci-fi films, short stories and novels. The library hosts “Dinner in the Library”,   which invites readers for cocktails, and also a special speech from distinguished authors.

TU Delft Library: The Netherlands

The library at the Delft University of Technology was constructed in 1997 and has more than 862,000 books, 16,000 magazine subscriptions and its own museum. The building itself exists beneath the ground, so you can’t really see the actual Library. What makes it interesting is the roof, which is a grassy hill. The roof covers 5,500 square meters. And it has become one of the most striking and greenest structures in the area.