1 . German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has dismissed concerns that growing Chinese competition is a threat to the local automotive industry, while welcoming Chinese carmakers to Europe’s largest auto show, IAA Mobility 2023, in Munich.

The six-day event officially opened on Tuesday. Scholz said increased competition from China was good for the German auto industry. “Fair competition stimulates business. It is in the interest of consumers,” he said, “as Chinese electric vehicle companies show eased several new fully electric models, out shining some German automotive giants.” Competition should stimulate us on, not scare us.

“The countries that have achieved great prosperity in the course of globalization, the workers there, have no less right and no less claim to the opportunities of modernity than we do,” Scholz said of China.

“In the 1980s, it was said (that) Japanese cars would overrun the market. Twenty years later, it was cars made in South Korea and now supposedly Chinese electric cars,” Scholz, who wore a black eye patch due to an injury from a jogging accident on Saturday, said.

The German chancellor also expressed confidence in his country’s strengths. “There is no question about the international competitiveness of Germany as a car country,” he said, adding that “Germany is still the linchpin of the auto industry and will remain so.”

Jun Jin, an auto industry expert, said the international market provides great opportunities for Chinese EV (电动汽车) makers, given their strength in technology and costs. “But this does not simply mean repeating their China success story; they need to succeed by adopting local practices,” Jun told China Daily.

Chinese companies, he said, still count on exports and have a long way to go before manufacturing vehicles overseas, arranging global supply chains and improving services for local customers.

3 . Booksellers have run their trade along the banks of the River Seine for about 450 years, their time-beaten green boxes a Paris tradition as treasured as freshly baked baguettes (法棍面包).

But this piece of French history is now at the center of a storm after the city’s police ordered that the booksellers and their stalls (排位) be relocated for “safety reasons” to make way for the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in 2024.

One plan was for booksellers’ boxes to remain in place but they must be examined by the police first and sealed off (封锁) during the Olympic event, which would attract millions of visitors to the city—including many who would potentially visit their stalls. Another plan, considered even worse by booksellers, was to move the boxes elsewhere. As booksellers pit on, many bores have been is place for 30 or 40 years. Most are mused and all their parts are not strong enough.

Although the city’s government has offered to relocate the bookstalls and cover the cost of the move as well as repairing damaged stalls, booksellers say the lack of consultation over a decision affecting a Paris landmark has left them fearful about the future.

Plus, there’s concern about what will happen when the Olympics are over. “Are they even going to offer us the same spots again after the games?” asked a bookseller. “I’m afraid that we get our boxes back either in a year, or maybe never, or with someone else’s things in them,” he said.

Booksellers worried that not only would moving the boxes be much more expensive for the capital, but a relocated book market wouldn’t work. “The stalls only make sense when they are on the banks of the Seine,” they said. The attraction and culture of the boxes is their age-worn character, their poetic shades of green.

4 . Elm Professional Services owner Mia Van Tubbergh had plenty of business smarts—but no social media know how. So she turned to the younger generation and took on the two high school students who knew their stuff.

“Social media is foreign to many older professionals—but very important for connecting with today’s customers,” Ms Van Tubbergh said. “We have this workforce sitting in schools doing this already but they’re doing it for fun.” Ms Van Tubbergh’s company, which helps launch products to market, took then Year 10 students Braith Mansfield and Tahmana Rudolph on for two weeks’ work experience.

Ms Van Tubbergh said with a bit of guidance and help with spelling and presenting in a professional environment, the boys now do about 80% of Elm’s social media marketing work for online customers. The pair work one day a week with Elm at Gosford and the rest at Kariong High School. Their duties include stand-alone posts on social media platforms, videos, stories and website headers. They recently finished a hard copy flyer（传单）for a major retailer that will be seen by every consumer who visits the website.

“I am so impressed by the performance of the two teenagers, who have helped grow the company’s social media following by 600%,” said Ms Van Tubbergh. “Braith, 17, and Tahmana, 16—now in Year 11—came into the business with a lot of unexplored social media experience. Working at Elm has provided them with a ‘digital platform of work that is worth its weight in gold’—a valuable resource they can show other employers when starting a full-time career.”

Braith and Rudolph are among 42 NSW Central Coast students doing Year 11 and 12 as part of a School-Based Apprenticeship and Training（SBAT）program. NSW Education SBAT strategic officer Cecile Oakes said they needed more companies like Elm to take on students and give them the benefit of real world experience.

10 . The kitchen is not just where we prepare meals. In many places, the kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s where we connect with our family and friends. We have open talks about our pleasures and problems we met during the day while we make dinner or have a bite to eat. So, it can be a very busy room in the house.

Sometimes you need order in the kitchen for things to run smoothly. And sometimes you need one person to be in charge. Imagine you are cooking dinner for your friends. As you are making the soup, your friend Sara tastes it and says, “This needs more salt.” So, she adds more salt. Harlan comes to taste your soup and throws some fresh black pepper into the pot and some dried herbs. Cecilia tastes the soup and pours in some vinegar. What will the soup be like?

You are happy to spend time with your friends. But, quite frankly, all their opinions about your soup are becoming annoying. Worst of all, you taste the soup and it’s awful! And that is where we get the expression “too many cooks spoil the soup”.

This expression describes an age-old problem: If too many people help to complete a task, it may not go very well. But, you may think, “If many people are trying to get something done, the task will get done faster.” After all, American English also has the expression “many hands make light work”.

To answer that point, I will draw your attention to the word “cook”. Now, the cook is the leader in the kitchen. They may have assistants to help them. But the cook has the final say. So, what if a kitchen has many cooks? Who is the leader? Everyone! And that’s where the trouble comes.