3 . Certainly, a well-rounded(全面的) education is the foundation(基础)from which all of us spring forth. I am grateful to the many great teachers who have inspired me to do greater things, and have fired my enthusiasm(热情)for everlasting learning!

But, sometimes I wonder if the outline of our educational plan is lacking (缺少)something. I watched the movie Easy A with my daughter. The main character's parents were loving, supportive, and built great confidence in their children and developed their ability to handle their own problems.

There was a scene where the mother was speaking to the younger child who announced that he received an "A" on his spelling test. She replied, "That's great, honey, but everything has. spell check these days. "It was funny…. but TRUE! I don't mean that we shouldn't teach our children how to spell, but maybe some of our time should be spent educating them about the dangers of posting things on Facebook. Maybe we might want to spend time showing them how real life works—the credit card(信用卡)isn't free money—you will have to pay it back at sometime. Oh, and get this—they charge you for borrowing that money. Perhaps, we should spend some time on interpersonal relationships. I worry that our kids do not know how to relate to one another.

Choosing a career(职业)is a daunting task. My daughter is in her second year in college and has changed her major(主修课程)twice. It's not that she didn't know what she wanted to do. What she "wanted to do" and the course she chose did not match.

I have learned many college students do not know what they want to do because they haven't seen what it looks like in the real world. Being a journalist (记者)in the real world looks very different from writing stories. Maybe if we spent some time exposing them to real life experience—maybe two or three courses in areas of interest in high school that give them a feel "for what that particular field would look like, they might be better prepared. I do not know the solution, but it seems that it should at least be a topic of discussion.

4 . Magical box

In the 1994 film Forrest Gump, there’s a famous saying, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get.” The surprise is part of the fun. Now blind box toys are bringing the magic of surprise to online shopping.

A blind box toy is hidden inside uniform packaging (统一的包装)and cannot be seen from the outside. You don't know what will be inside, although the toys typically come from pop culture, ranging from movies to comics and cartoons.

Blind boxes have caught on since they were first introduced from Japan to China in 2014. According to a 2019 Tmall (天猫)report, the mini-series of Labubu blind box, designed by Hong Kong-born Kasing Lung, was named Champion of Unit Sales with 55,000 sold in just 9 seconds during the Singles Day shopping event. Most customers for these magical mystery (神秘)boxes are young people aged 18 to 35.

According to the report, blind box toys are popular partly because of their cute appearances. The typically cute cartoon figurines (小塑像)conic in very small sizes, making them suitable for display almost anywhere. There is another main reason why people buy blind boxes one after another. “Fear of the unknown is always a part of the box-opening process,” said Miss Cao, 24, who loves buying blind boxes. Speaking to Sina News, she said, “Until you open all the boxes, you cannot know what it is inside.”

Opening a blind box is a delightful little surprise for our boring daily lives, something small but fun to wait for each day, week or month. When people open this simple little box, they may be disappointed, but the uncertainly is part of the fun. People will open more blind boxes and hope for a better outcome.

When someone remakes the film Forrest Gump, don't be surprised if he says, “Life is like a blind box ...”

5 . A campaign (活动) is being launched to encourage children to surrender 30 minutes of screen time a day to head for the great outdoors.

The Wild Network — a collaboration (合作) of nearly 2,000 organisations — is attempting to attract youngsters away from the television and computer screen and to fields, woods and parks. Members of the network include the National Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Play England and the National Health Service (NHS) sustainable development unit. Organisers say it is the UK’s biggest ever campaign to reconnect children with nature and outdoor play, and claim it could help improve fitness, mental alertness (机敏) and general well being.

A documentary film, Project Wild Thing, which forecast the launch at more than 50 cinemas across the UK also looked at the increasingly fragile link between children and nature.

Andy Simpson, chairman of the Wild Network, said, "The tragic truth is that kids have lost touch with nature and the outdoors in just one generation. Time spent outdoors is down, roaming (漫步) ranges have fallen largely, activity levels are declining and the ability to identify common species has been lost."

Suggestions of how to get more time in nature include collecting conkers (七叶树果), camping or snail racing, and observing autumn colours on trees.

The network also aims to make suggestions to politicians on how government can do more to get children muddy and bright-eyed.

This is not the first time the message of “less screen, more play” has been brought up. Children in the 1980s were requested to do the same by the BBC TV series Why Don’t You, which somewhat confusingly called on its viewers to “switch off your TV set and go to do something less boring instead”.

6 . In today's world, online social media' has become more powerful and the most destructive thing over worldwide, although with time all generations have come to accept the changes social network has brought about, teenagers and young adults are the most enthusiastic users of these sites. According to various research studies in the field of online social networks, it has been revealed that these sites are impacting the' lives of the youth greatly. When using these sites such as Twitter, Facebook or Myspace, there are both positive and negative effects on the youth.

Firstly, social media helps the youth and any other user updated with what is happening around the world, and helps the teenagers stay connected and interact with each other even if they are many miles apart. This strengthens their relationship. Even if they finished school and moved to different locations, they stay connected and update one another.

In addition, social media sites have provided a platform whereby the youth can create groups and pages based on their common discipline and end up building connections and opportunities for their respective careers by updating different topics to discuss. Youth who have been interviewed say that social media has become their lifestyle and it makes their lives easier and more efficient.

While on the one hand social network sites seem to bring people together and stay connected, on the other hand it causes many physical and mental health problems such as eyes infection, back problems, etc. Other negative effects of social networking various people suggested included encouraging poor spelling and grammar, exposing underage to online predators (捕食者), allowing spread of misinformation that is seen as fact, decreasing productivity as those who are supposed to be working spend time in the sites to chat, providing a perfect platform for cyberbullying and providing details that increase risks of identity theft.

“The more social media we have, the more we think were connecting, yet we are really disconnecting from each other.” One researcher said.

In conclusion, social networking clearly portrays both positive and negative effects on the youth. It is the decision of individuals whether to use it in a right way or wrong.

7 . It probably won’t surprise you that teens are texting more than ever before. Experts show great concern for teen texting. Students might not learn correct grammar and spelling if they write a lot of text messages. Also all that texting takes away hours that could be spent studying, exercising, pursuing hobbies, or talking with others face to face. Some kids even sleep with their phones beneath their pillows and wake up several times during the night to text.

Dr. Elizabeth Dowdell points out teens need to learn that they can—and should—turn off their phones sometimes. She and her team had two teenagers, Kenny and Franchesca, carry out an experiment. They should obey the rules: No phone for 48 hours. No computer or Internet either, unless it was for schoolwork. Would these be able to do it?

“I think I’m going to feel really alone,” Kenny worried. Franchesca was nervous but brave. “I’m excited for the challenge,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.” They handed their phones to their mothers for safekeeping. The challenge was on.

The team caught up with Kenny and Franchesca after 48 phone-free hours. “Wow, it was pure suffering,” Kenny joked. “Though life with no phone wasn’t easy,” he admitted, “it had benefits. I felt less stressed because I didn’t have to be involved. ” Sure, Kenny missed his friends, and he was sad at times. But he also felt relief from the constant texting. Instead of texting, Kenny went to the gym and caught up on schoolwork. He said that the first night he slept for 10 hours. He also spent time sitting with his family and talking. “I felt closer to my parents,” said Kenny.

Franchesca had an even happier result when she put away her phone. “I loved it!” she said.   “I was going to the gym and hanging out with friends and playing basketball. I had a wonderful experience. ” She slept better too, and she decided to continue the experiment fora while. “I think I’ll be so much smarter and healthier,” she explained. “Everybody in the world should try it.”

Kenny doesn’t plan to give up his phone again. But he now knows that he can live without it. “It was a reality check,” said the teen.

9 . As online learning becomes more common and more and more resources are converted to digital form, some people have suggested that public libraries should be shut down and, in their places，everyone should be given an iPad with an e-reader subscription.

Supporters of this idea state that it will save local cities and towns money because libraries are expensive to maintain. They also believe it will encourage more people to read because they won't have to travel to a library to get a book; they can simply click on what they want to read and read it from wherever they are.

However, it would be a serious mistake to replace libraries with tablets. First, digital books and resources are associated with less learning and more problems than print resources. A study done on tablet vs book reading found people read 20-30% slower on tablets, retain 20% less information, and understand 10% less of what they read compared to people who read the same information in print.

Second, it is incredibly narrow minded to assume that the only service libraries offer is book lending. Libraries have a multitude of benefits, and many are only available if the library has a physical location. Some of these benefits include acting as a quiet study space, giving people a way to converse with their neighbors, holding classes on a variety of topics, providing jobs, answering patron questions, and keeping the community connected. A survey conducted in 2015 found that nearly two-thirds of American adults feel that closing their local library would have a major impact on their community. People see libraries as a way to connect with others and get their questions answered, benefits tablets can’t offer nearly as well or as easily.

While replacing libraries with tablets may seem like a simple solution, it would encourage people to spend even more time looking at digital screens, despite the various issues surrounding them. It would also end access to many of the benefits of libraries that people have come to rely on. In many areas, libraries are such an important part of the community network that they could never be replaced by a simple object.

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10 . The Case for Classics

Many high school students complain when they look at a course syllabus for Chinese and know they should read The Story of the Stone and other pieces of classic literature.     1     But there are some good reasons why reading the classics is an important part of a 21st century education.

    2     As students explore texts that were written hundreds of years before, they know the world as it was in those days. Being able to hear those voices from the past is a good chance young people should be grateful to have.

Furthermore, as students read classic works, they begin to see history in a new way. Living in the modern world, most teens don't think about that human civilization has been around for a longtime.     3     Yet the experiences of those people can help students deal with the challenge today. The wording and writing style may have changed, but the deep themes (love, loss, and courage) are as true today as they were for the authors of these early works.

One of the most important reasons to study classic literature, however, is to expand one's mind.     4     To prove this, a group of scientists gathered volunteers who agreed to have their brains canned while reading phrases from classic literature in both their original form and in modern translations. The result of the study showed a significant increase in the brain activity of people reading the original literature works.

    5     It connects students to history, helps them solve today's problems and improves their thinking. Therefore, if today's teens are going to grow as readers, writers, and critical thinkers, it is important that classic literature remains a part of their education.