1 . Suppose you come across two doctors. One is handsome while the other looks plain. Who would you trust with your surgery? Most people would probably want to get treated by the handsome one. And most people are likely to be wrong about that.

When you look at the sun, you sometimes see it clearly. But sometimes you’ll see it shining way bigger than its actual shape. That circle of light called a halo makes it look bigger. This effect, known as the halo effect, also happens when a person, product, or company shines like the sun. Then we don’t see them clearly and associate all sorts of unrelated qualities to them.

The halo effect was once studied by the psychologist Edward Thorndike, who asked flight commanders to evaluate their pilots in various distinct aspects such as physical appearance, intelligence, and leadership. He found that the pilots who got high scores for their physical appearance, also got rated high on intelligence and leadership skills — a link that seemed wrong. It appears that the commanders were unable to evaluate specific qualities independently of others. They thought of their pilots in broad terms, either “good” or “bad”, and allowed this general feeling to influence the specific qualities they credited to their pilots. Some pilots profited from their halo.

The halo effect also explains why some teachers give better-looking students higher grades. One study looked at the grades of 4,500 pupils, who were sorted by volunteers into three groups: below-average, average, and above-average looking. The researchers then compared students’ grades between classes taken in conventional classrooms with those taken online where there was no face-to-face interaction. The researchers found that students who were rated as good-looking earned significantly lower grades in online courses compared to conventional classrooms.

Since the physical appearance of good-looking people seems to naturally make them also appear intelligent, strong, and trustworthy, here is one good rule. If you meet with an accident and have to choose between two equally qualified doctors, ignore their halo and choose the less handsome one. He might have worked twice as hard to gain the same reputation and is likely better at his job.

4 . With millions of people visiting China’s mountains every year, keeping them trash-free is quite difficult. That’s where Spiderman cleaners come in.

Spiderman cleaners get their name from the dangerous nature of their job. They dangle (悬荡) thousands of feet above the ground on the side of steep mountain cliffs (悬崖), supported only by ropes, as they try to collect hard-to-reach trash. To show the danger of their work and make tourists think twice before littering, some of them actually exchanged their regular uniforms for Spiderman costumes. This has made them a hit with visitors, who often stop to watch these real-life versions of their favourite superhero, rewarding them with applause and cheers when they complete their task.

Spiderman cleaners really risk their life every time they go after a piece of trash left in popular scenic spots by tourists who never stop to think about the impact their deed may have on nature or the people tasked with cleaning up after them. To them, injuries are frequent and the stress is so great that they sometimes faint (晕倒) on the job. Because of the dangerous nature of the job, few people have the courage to work as Spiderman cleaners and those who do are rewarded generously. For example, the Guimeng Scenic Spot put up an ad for a Spiderman cleaner, offering 10,000 yuan a day, but also mentioned that the work was to be performed “at your own risk”.

Spiderman cleaners all around China pick up tons of litter from the scenic mountains every year. Some of them have been doing it for over a decade and they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Luckily, after the job has been reported by the national media during the past few years, more people have begun to think twice before littering. Less and less trash has been found in recent years, which means Spiderman cleaners don't have to risk their life as often as they used to.

So the next time you feel like throwing a piece of trash in a scenic spot, spare a thought for these unsung heroes and how they risk their life to keep the world clean for everybody.

5 . Bullying (欺凌)can happen to anyone. A great many children around the world are bullied every year, but there are things that can be done to help.

What is bullying?

Bullying is when someone makes you feel bad of hurts you again and again. Bullying can happen at school, out of school and online. Bullying includes:

·calling people mean (恶意的)names

·laughing at people

·telling lies about people

·taking someone’s things without permission

·not telling someone play in a group

·hitting people

What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying includes:

·sending bad messages online

·sharing photos online without permission

·not letting someone be part of an online group

·spreading lies online

What can you do?

If someone is not kind to you, tell an adult that you know and like. For example, talk to a parent or a teacher.

If you get bad messages, don’t reply. You should save them and give them to your teacher, your family, or the police. Ask an adult for help. Don’t share something before you make sure it is true. That will help stop the cyberbullying.

Talk to your parent or teacher or an adult if you see bullying or if you are worried about a friend.

Say sorry if you are not kind to someone. You can write a message or talk to the person.

And always remember: think about how to be kind in the future.

For more information, visit our home page at www.kidsword.com.

6 . If you were to rate the most walkable cities in the world, what would you look for? Would it be how shaded the sidewalks are? How many benches there are along the way to your destination? Or maybe how close you are to shops or local attractions?

Well, the researchers at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), located in New York. US, wanted to know which of the world’s cities were the best for pedestrians (行人). So, they did just that.

To determine which cities were the most walkable, they rated cities based on factors such as how close citizens were to car-free areas like public parks, how close citizens lived in relation to schools and hospitals, and how short their journeys were overall.

According to the study, they found that the most walkable cities in the world are London, Paris, Bogota and Hong Kong. Overall, London was at the top of the list, outranking (超过) nearly 1, 000 cities around the world on these key factors.

“In order to provide safety and inviting walking conditions for all city residents, it is essential to shift the balance of space in our cities away from cars, providing more travel options for people,” CEO of ITDP Heather Thompson told the magazine Cities Today. She continued, “We have so much to gain-from cleaner air to better health to stronger local economies and deeper bonds within communities, and we all need that now more than ever. ”

Unfortunately, it seems that very few cities make pedestrians a priority, though.

“Our city streets across the planet are already full of cars. If you really want to see the worst for walkability, it is the really sprawling (杂乱无序伸展的) cities of the US, ” commented Taylor Reich, a research associate at ITDP and the primary author of the guide to making cities more walkable.

So, what can cities do to make their streets friendlier for pedestrians?

“There’s no one secret sauce; there’s no one thing you can do to make a city walkable, ” Reich said. “It’s many decisions that are made at all levels from individual streets all the way up to the city design.”

7 . If you’re an Instagram user, you may have recently seen a pop-up (弹出窗口) asking if you want the service to “use your app and website activity” to “provide a better ads experience.” This is an example of a dark pattern; design that manipulates (操纵) or heavily influences users to make certain choices. Instagram uses terms like “activity” and “personalized” instead of “tracking” and “targeting,” so the user may not realize what they’re actually giving the app permission to do. Most people don’t want Instagram to know everything they do and everywhere they go. But a “better experience” sounds like a good thing, so Instagram makes the option it wants users to select more attractive than the one it hopes they’ll avoid.

Harry Brignull coined the term “dark patterns” in 2010. Dark patterns existed in the physical world long before the Internet came along, but the Internet has made dark patterns so much more powerful, Although you may not have heard the term before, you've surely seen countless examples of them and experienced their effects, such as the trial streaming service you signed up for, only to be automatically charged when the trial ends.

Dark patterns have for years been tricking Internet users into giving up their personal data. But if some lawmakers get their way, they may not be able to do that for much longer.

Some of the more obvious and scammy (欺诈的) dark patterns — sneaking extra items into shopping baskets or adding unexpected charges — have been made illegal. But the law isn’t so cut and dried when it comes to privacy and data.

Harry Brignull and a growing number of advocates and lawmakers feel that legislation (立法) is necessary to stop these dark patterns to consumers can use the Internet without constantly being manipulated into spending money, signing up for services they don’t need, or giving up their data.