1 . A new trend called “praise groups” or “in-need-of-praise” chat groups has become popular on Chinese social media. In Chinese culture, where modesty (谦逊) is valued, openly seeking and giving praise is uncommon. These chat groups provide a platform for people to receive compliments (赞扬) and encouragement, which are often lacking in their daily lives.

To join a praise group, users can pay a fee on e-commerce sites, starting at 50 yuan for five minutes of compliments. The group members will then show the person with praises and kind words. The compliments can be designed for a friend or loved one as well. Participants have found that being praised by strangers can help lift their spirits and improve their self-confidence.

For example, Meng Zha, a student at Shanghai’s Tongji University, tried the service and found it amusing and uplifting. She received compliments on her appearance and even quotes (引用) from popular songs. Ms Meng couldn’t help but laugh at the compliments and expressed her desire to post such high-quality praises in the future.

Praise groups have appeared as a way for people in China to seek and receive compliments and encouragement that may be lacking in their daily lives. It provides a positive and uplifting experience for participants, improving a sense of happiness and self-worth.

Those who support the groups, see them as an antidote to extremely bad moods (情绪) which are often associated with things happening on the Internet. “At first, the purpose of this group is to make us learn to praise others and accept others’ praises confidently. Here we can drop everything, and use our heart to praise and support others,” one member said. But the life journey is long and there are some unexpected situations that we can only count on ourselves to face when there is no one out there to offer help.

3 . From self-driving cars to carebots (care+ robots) for elderly people, rapid development in technology has long represented a possible threat to many jobs normally performed by people. But experts now believe that almost 50 percent of occupations existing today will be completely unnecessary by 2035 as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to change businesses.

“The next fifteen years will see a revolution in how we work, and a revolution will necessarily take place in how we plan and think about workplaces,” said Peter Andrew, Director of Workplace Strategy for CBRE Asia-Pacific. A growing number of jobs in the future will require creative intelligence, social skills and the ability to use artificial intelligence.

The report is based on interviews with 200 experts, business leaders and young people from Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. It shows that in the US technology already destroys more jobs than it creates. But the report states, “Losing occupations does not necessarily mean losing jobs—just changing what people do.” Growth in new jobs could occur as much, according to the research. “The growth of 20- to 40-person companies that have the speed and technological know-how will directly challenge big companies,” it states.

Another study by Pew Research Centre found 52 percent of experts in artificial intelligence and robotics were optimistic about the future and believed there would still be enough jobs in the next few years. The optimists pictured “a future in which robots do not take the place of more jobs than they create.”

“Technology will continue to affect jobs, but more jobs seem likely to be created. Although there have always been unemployed people, when we reached a few billion people, there were billions of jobs. There is no shortage of things that need to be done and that will not change,” Microsoft’s Jonathan Grudin told researchers.

4 . Was it probable that Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai and Western hero King Arthur meet and fight against each other? Yes. In a game called King of Glory, created by Chinese company Tencent, King of Glory has been one of the most popular MOBA games in China since 2017.

About one in every seven Chinese people plays the game, and 55 million of them play it every day. The game is easy for beginners. Social media like QQ and WeChat have also helped the game’s community grow. New players can be invited to play the game by their WeChat contacts, with some seeing it as a good way to keep in touch with old friends and make new ones.

The game has more than 60 characters to unlock and play as you progress, each with their own special styles and abilities. The characters cover different times and countries. Some are real historical characters, like Li Bai. Some are not. Players use them to fight against each other or team up to fight. The winners can reach higher ranks.

However, some people think King of Glory gives the students incorrect information about events and people in history. For example, the poet Li Bai is described as a killer; Jing Ke, the man who tried to kill the first emperor of China, is a girl in the game. But more people worry about children playing the game too much and spending too much money on it. Most of the players are below the age of 19. It’s reported that a 17-year-old boy had a stroke (中风) after playing the game for 40 hours.

To change the situation, Tencent added a time limit feature to the game to prevent kids from playing too much. From 4 July 2017, children under 12 years old can play the game for only one hour a day, while users between 12 and 18 get two hours. Those who try to play beyond the time limit will be locked out of the game.

6 . We all know that unpleasant feeling when we’re talking about something interesting and halfway through our sentence we’re interrupted (打断). But was that really an interruption? The answer depends on whom you ask, according to new research led by Katherine Hilton from Stanford University.

Using a set of controlled audio clips, Hilton surveyed 5,000 American English speakers to better understand what affects people’s perceptions of interruptions. She had participants listen to audio clips and then answer questions about whether the speakers seemed to be friendly and engaged, listening to one another, or trying to interrupt.

Hilton found that American English speakers have different conversational styles. She identified two groups: high and low Intensity speakers. High intensity speakers are generally uncomfortable with moments of silence in conversation and consider talking at the same time a sign of engagement. Low intensity speakers find it rude to talk at the same time and prefer people speak one after another in conversation.

The differences in conversational styles became obvious when participants listened to audio clips in which two people spoke at the same time but were agreeing with each other and stayed on topic, Hilton said. The high intensity group reported that conversations where people spoke at the same time when expressing agreement were not interruptive but engaged and friendlier than the conversations with moments of silence in between speaking turns. In contrast, the low intensity group perceived any amount of simultaneous (同时) chat as a rude interruption, regardless of what the speakers were saying.

“People care about being interrupted, and those small interruptions can have a massive effect on the overall communication,” Hilton said. “Breaking apart what an interruption means is essential if we want to understand how humans interact with each other.”

7 . Sometime in the early 1960s, a significant thing happened in Sydney, Australia. The city discovered its harbor. Then, one after another, Sydney discovered lots of things that were just sort of there — broad parks, superb beaches, and a culturally diverse population. But it is the harbor that makes the city.

Andrew Reynolds, a cheerful fellow in his early 30s, pilots Sydney ferryboats for a living. I spent the whole morning shuttling back and forth across the harbor. After our third run Andrew shut down the engine, and we went our separate ways — he for a lunch break, I to explore the city.

“I’ll miss these old boats,” he said as we parted.

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“Oh, they’re replacing them with catamarans. Catamarans are faster, but they’re not so elegant, and they’re not fun to pilot. But that’s progress, I guess.”

Everywhere in Sydney these days, change and progress are the watchwords (口号), and traditions are increasingly rare. Shirley Fitzgerald, the city’s official historian, told me that in its rush to modernity in the 1970s, Sydney swept aside much of its past, including many of its finest buildings. “Sydney is confused about itself,” she said. “We can’t seem to make up our minds whether we want a modern city or a traditional one. It’s a conflict that we aren’t getting any better at resolving (解决).”

On the other hand, being young and old at the same time has its attractions. I considered this when I met a thoughtful young businessman named Anthony. “Many people say that we lack culture in this country,” he told me. “What people forget is that the Italians, when they came to Australia, brought 2000 years of their culture, the Greeks some 3000 years, and the Chinese more still. We’ve got a foundation built on ancient cultures but with a drive and dynamism of a young country. It’s a pretty hard combination to beat.”

He is right, but I can’t help wishing they would keep those old ferries.

We all know that cycling is a greatly exercise. A doctor tells me people who lives the longest are dancers and cyclists. Maybe it is because the combination of fresh air, smooth movement and exercise. Whether you ride a bicycle, you don’t use petrol. So they are not producing carbon dioxide and not cause air pollution. Just see how cars have been taken over our cities. They often run at high speeds, what may put our lives in danger. And there were traffic jams, too. Our cities will be better places if we replace cars with bicycle.

Nowadays, social networking addiction has become a rising concern. Social networking addiction is a phrase sometimes used     1    (refer) to someone spending too much time using social media and it     2    (influence) their daily life profoundly.

Addiction usually refers to habitual     3    (behave) that is difficult to control and it may lead to negative effects. In most addictions, people feel forced to do certain activities so often that they become harmful habits,     4     then affect other important activities such as work and study.

In that context, a social networking addict could     5    (consider) someone with a powerful inner drive to use social media repeatedly—     6    (constant) checking status updates or following people’s     7    (profile) on Weibo, for example, for hours on end..

But it is hard to tell when fondness for     8     activity becomes dependency and crosses the line into a damaging habit or addiction. Does     9    (spend) three hours a day on Weibo reading random information of strangers mean you’re addicted     10     Weibo? How about five hours? You could argue you are reading headline news or need to stay current in your field for work, right?