1 . Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy with their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets. When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality.

People have been influenced to become technology addicted. One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to the tablet and similar devices. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol.

The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve our quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease. Consumers willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information, to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern.

What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question. Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask themselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology. When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology.

Mae West is famous for the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful”. But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology. Richard Fernandez, an executive coach acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies”. To break the grand digital connection, people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology.

2 . Two-thirds of the world population lives under conditions where the freshwater demand is more than twice the natural water availability for at least one month per year. According to official statistics, one billion of those live in India and 0.9 billion live in China. Other areas facing this problem for longer periods include Bangladesh (130 million people), the western and southern states of the USA (130 million), Pakistan (120 million), Nigeria (110 million), and Mexico (90 million).

Communities use a range of techniques to overcome this issue. In dry summers, those near the coast can desalinate (淡化) seawater, although the process requires a large amount of energy and expenditure. Some remote inland communities have alternative methods that suit their particular conditions. For example, many high-altitude Chilean communities in the Andes use fog collectors, specialized nets that can gather just a few liters a day.

Elsewhere, there’s another option available. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new device that passively harvests water from the air around the clock. The device is made up of a specially coated glass pane (玻璃板) that reflects solar radiation and also radiates away its own heat. In doing so, it cools down by as much as 15 degrees Celsius below the surrounding temperatures. This difference in temperature between the air and the pane causes water vapor to condense (凝结) on its underside, which can then be easily collected.

Tests so far have been conducted on a university building in Zurich and suggest that the device can produce twice as much water per day as other passive water-collection technologies. Under ideal conditions, researchers harvested 0.53 decilitres of water per square metre of the surface per hour. “That’s close to the theoretical maximum value of 0.6 decilitres per hour, which is physically impossible to exceed,” says Iwan Hachler, a doctoral student who is working on the technology.

The zero-energy input of the set-up could make it suitable for use in developing countries, particularly in remote communities where water shortage is often combined with power shortages. The scientists are hopeful that the device could be used with other water-collection methods, such as desalination, to increase productivity.

Nowadays, it is common that more and more high school students open their own micro blogs on the Internet. For one thing, it can provide a colorful platform to show their talent. For    1    , it is a useful way     2     (release) their pressure. And all these make it more and more popular with high school students.     3     many parents and teachers hold a different view. They think that     4     (manage) one’s micro blog will take a lot of time and energy,     5     should be used to study.

In my view, I am greatly in favor of this activity. Today the Internet is playing    6     important role in our life. Therefore as high school students of the Information Age, we need to learn to make use of this valuable tool to communicate and display ourselves. What’s more, opening and organizing micro blogs need     7     (vary) abilities such as writing, designing, being skillful at computer and so on. Only if we master those abilities can we make a successful micro blog. As a result, we improve ourselves while    8     (organize) our micro blogs.

In fact, micro blog     9     (oneself) is of little harm. It is your attitude towards it     10     matters. We should take the advantages and avoid some bad effects.

6 . The entire country struggled with the unprecedented heat of the July 2022 heatwave, but for the disabled, the heat hit even harder. The climate crisis is a threat to everyone’s health, but according to a report in 2021, people with disabilities are more delicate to the extreme weather events and natural disasters that result from the climate crisis.

Professor Kristie Ebi of the Centre for Health and the Global at the University of Washington, described the topic of heatwaves and disabled people as being an important issue. “Groups at higher risk during periods of high temperature include people with chronic (慢性的) medical conditions, people who take certain medications that can reduce the ability of the body to sweat, and the “disabled”, notes Ebi, going on to describe the different threats that heatwaves pose for different types of disabilities. Ebi notes the difficulty people with mobility issues or blindness may have with accessing services, such as cooling shelters, Ebi also comments on the importance of making messaging on the dangers of high temperatures accessible to those with learning disabilities or to deaf people. “Some studies suggest higher rates of suicide and other mental health issues during heatwaves, requiring targeted help for those with mental disabilities,” she added.

Ailsa Speak, a disability and lifestyle blogger, experiences uncontrollable movements in the heat due to her cerebral palsy (脑瘫). “As you can imagine, when my involuntary movements increase, I get even hotter. It’s just a painful circle really.”

In the absence of a concrete set of plans for people with disabilities during the climate crisis and extreme weather events, people with disabilities continue to be at increased risk of heat-related disease.

To prevent future death and destruction, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), an independent organization tackling climate change, advocates for adaptation planning, as the temperature is set to rise further due to the climate crisis and global warming. The CCC’s 2022 report on the health risks of overheating offers adaptation options to the government to ensure that buildings are fit for future climate change. Nevertheless, the publication does not offer specific advice about people with disabilities and overheating, which thus remains to be discussed promptly and thoroughly.

9 . The idea of Buy Now Pay Later or BNPL, has attracted millions of shoppers with the promise of interest-free credit. An incredible 45 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds in the UK turned to BNPL last year, according to The Money Charity. Lenders say they offer a better deal than credit cards, because they do not charge interest but make money from affiliate deals (关联交易) with retailers (零售商). It may be a new way of borrowing money, but the old rules still apply: unless you repay the debt quickly, you are building up trouble for the future.

Now, BNPLs are growing in popularity and do have upsides — mostly convenient shopping with no interest financing and no strict approval requirements. However, they also make it effortless to overshop, overspend, and get in over your head with credit problems.

Lenders pay the retailer on your behalf, and then you repay over 30 days or three months, spreading the cost to help with your cash flow. They say this is fairer and less expensive than credit cards. That may be true, but BNPL has dangers, too.

BNPL lenders may not charge any interest, but they still want you to pay back the money you have borrowed, so what if you can’t? Typically, you have 30 days to pay. If you don’t, your lender will contact you to chase late payments. If you still don’t pay, they call in the debt collectors.

Citizens Advice says that 14 million used a BNPL product last year, but six million did not understand what they were signing up for. Some 26% of BNPL customers regretted their choice, while 41% struggled with repayment. Younger people were particularly at risk. A quarter of those making BNPL repayments couldn’t afford food, rent or bills as a result.

Another worry is that BNPL lenders only perform soft searches on a person’s credit report, so do not see the borrower’s true credit status. This means they cannot remove people with financial problems and may end up adding to their troubles. BNPL lenders say they do careful checks to make sure they never lend more than a consumer can afford to pay back, and also pause accounts if a single payment is late. Nobody wants to be pursued by debt collectors. If you do use BNPL credit, never borrow more than you can afford to repay.