1 . It’s well-known that facial recognition is widely used in shopping, home security, and law enforcement and millions of us use it to open our smartphones. But privacy advocates are raising alarms about the growing use of facial recognition technology.

The American administration recently proposed a rule to use facial recognition to identify and photograph all people entering and leaving the United States, including American citizens. That idea was scrapped after big objections from lawmakers and activists, but the administration is moving ahead with more limited use of the technology in a number of airports and other ports of entry say it makes the public safer and so far, they’ve had very few complaints from travelers.

However, a growing number of, both in and out of the government, say any type of facial recognition is just like illegal surveillance (监视). They say it exchanges too much freedom for too little security. Many note that once the government has a database of Americans with their photographs, there’s no telling what it could be used for. Beyond the privacy concerns, security experts are also worried that a huge government database could be a major target for a data breach (数据泄露). Some say it could give hackers access to data from millions of Americans.

Mike Howell, a former consultant of the Department of Homeland Security, suggests a possible solution: simply erase the information after it used. “The big question for,” says Howell, “is how the government largely will protect the data. We want the data we collect to keep us safe from threats, not to, you know, make unsafe. “Finally, the administration may have the final say on the future of facial recognition, with more regulations being advised to keep it in check.”

4 . Who is a genius? This question has greatly interested humankind for centuries.

Let’s state clearly: Einstein was a genius. His face is almost the international symbol for genius. But we want to go beyond one man and explore the nature of genius itself. Why is it that some people are so much more intelligent or creative than the rest of us? And who are they?

In the sciences and arts, those praised as geniuses were most often white men, of European origin. Perhaps this is not a surprise. It’s said that history is written by the victors, and those victors set the standards for admission to the genius club. When contributions were made by geniuses outside the club—women, or people of a different color or belief—they were unacknowledged and rejected by others.

A study recently published by Science found that as young as age six, girls are less likely than boys to say that members of their gender(性别)are “really, really smart.” Even worse, the study found that girls act on that belief: Around age six they start to avoid activities said to be for children who are “really, really smart.” Can our planet afford to have any great thinkers become discouraged and give up? It doesn’t take a genius to know the answer: absolutely not.

Here’s the good news. In a wired world with constant global communication, we’re all positioned to see flashes of genius wherever they appear. And the more we look, the more we will see that social factors(因素)like gender, race, and class do not determine the appearance of genius. As a writer says, future geniuses come from those with “intelligence, creativity, perseverance(毅力), and simple good fortune, who are able to change the world.”

As of June, China had about 285 million Internet users living in rural areas,     1     (account) for over 30 percent of the country’s total, according to a recent report on China’s Internet development. The number of rural Internet users in China     2     (grow) by over 30 million in the last few months.

The report said the Internet is playing a     3     (great) role than ever in the country’s poverty(贫困) reduction efforts, with the public’s participation in and recognition of relevant campaigns on the rise. It said as of June,online promotions of     4     (agriculture) products from remote areas had reached more than half of the Chinese Internet users,     5     that more than one third of netizens had bought such products via online platforms.

Meanwhile, the report shows that e-commerce livestreaming(直播) grew     6     (increasing) active in the first half of the year. As of June, the number of e-commerce livestreaming users in China had hit 309 million, up 16.7 percent from March. China saw over 10 million livestreaming marketing activities in the first half of this year, attracting over 50 billion     7     (view), the report noted.

The report said the Internet can contribute significantly     8     China’s anti-poverty goal by providing jobs, social security and medical service information for     9     poor and allowing children in poverty-stricken areas     10     (access) better education.

6 . When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline (座机)?

These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.

Still, 55 percent of Australians have a landline phone at home and only just over a quarter (29%) rely only on their smartphones according to a survey (调查). Of those Australians who still have a landline, a third concede that it’s not really necessary and they’re keeping it as a security blanket — 19 percent say they never use it while a further 13 percent keep it in case of emergencies. I think my home falls into that category.

More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor (因素)— only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.

Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone (using Caller ID would take the fun out of it).

How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?

8 . Facebook is a habit forming activity， but users who spend a lot of time on the site say they feel less happy with their lives.

Researchers from University of Gothenburg say that many users log in as soon as they turn their PCs on and that the behavior can develop into an“addiction”. People in low income groups and the poorly educated are particularly at risk. Up to 85% of users say that they use Facebook daily and half say they start up Facebook as soon as they open their web users. Half fear that they are not“on top of things”if they are not logged into the site, and 25% say they feel”ill at ease”if they can't log in regularly.

The Swedish survey showed the network had its dark side.“Face-booking may become an unconscious habit. A majority of the respondents(受访者) log in every time they start their web browser(浏览器). This may even develop into an addiction,” says Leif Denti, doctoral student of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg.

People with low income and low-educated individuals spend more time on Facebook. Women are generally more active than men on Facebook. Users with low income and low education use Facebook more than other groups. Within these groups，users who spend more time on Facebook also report feeling less happy and less content with their lives.

The other surprise about the network is that although a huge amount of personal “ news”is traded through the site,it tends to focus on the positive.“ Most of the content they share has something to do with major events, positive events and when feeling good,”says Leif Denti.