1 . You might have heard of the expression “a guilty pleasure”—maybe it’s the chocolate bar you buy on the way home from work, or the new clothes that you don’t really need.     1     . Perhaps we don’t feel we deserved it, or we don’t think it was a responsible way to spend our money. But should we feel like this? Do we really have to feel guilty about treating ourselves?

Perhaps not. Psychologists have suggested that buying things for yourself can make you feel better as it provides an opportunity to take control of your situation.    2     . It may be that as well as lifting your mood, when you buy a treat, you might just be looking after yourself.

Of course, there are also examples of people turning to destructive behaviour when faced with stressful circumstances. People might spend money that they don’t have or turn to dangerous addictions. Psychologist Leon Seltzer considers the difference between self-indulgence and self-nurturing.    3     , while self-nurturing is taking responsible decisions to satisfy our needs and take care of ourselves in ways that don’t have a significant impact.

    4    . So, many universities publish guides with advice for coping with exam stress. Reflecting the difference between self-indulgence and self-nurture, they recommend rewarding yourself for your efforts, doing things that you enjoy and are good at so that you can feel accomplishment.    5     . Thus, perhaps, as long as we make responsible decisions, we shouldn’t feel guilty about our guilty pleasures.

5 . Poverty has forced most Europeans to skip (跳过) meals during the past three years, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the charity French Secours Populaire, which supports people on low incomes. The survey of 10,000 Europeans in 10 nations asked whether money worries had worsened or improved during the past three years. More than half said their situation had worsened, with 29 percent saying they were so short of money that a single unexpected expense would put them into difficulty. The results, published on Monday in the charity’s European Barometer on Poverty and Precariousness, found 38 percent of Europeans were no longer able to eat three meals a day on a regular basis. And 21 percent of parents had skipped meals so they could feed their children.

The survey quizzed people living in France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, and the United Kingdom. The pollsters found the main reason for the poor financial situation in many European families was the fast-rising cost of goods and services, with price inflation (通货膨胀) increasing by three times during 2022 and the cost of housing, water, and fuel rising by 18 percent during the course of a year. At the same time wages remained relatively unchanged.

The survey followed other recent worrying assessments of increasing levels of poverty throughout Europe, with Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency reporting 17 percent of the population of the 27-nation group was “at risk of poverty” and that only 15percent of Europeans had enough money not to have financial worries. Another survey, conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in June, found the UK had 5.7 million low-income households that were so lacking in money that they had no adequate access to food.

And another survey, by the Equality Trust, found the great difference between rich and poor in the UK was actually being worsened by the government, which, it concluded, was spending more money than any other European nation on subsidizing (补贴) the rich through structural inequality. Priya Sahni-Nicholas, the co-executive director of the Equality Trust, told The Guardian newspaper the growing chasm between rich and poor was “causing huge damage” to the economy. As a result, she said, “We have shorter healthy working lives, poorer education systems, more crime, and less happy societies.” The survey released this week for French Secours Populaire found money worries among Europe’s population now mean a significant number of people have turned off heaters, avoided treatment for medical problems, and borrowed money or other things as a result. The survey found one person in 12in Italy is in “absolute poverty” and relies on discounted food and food banks. And the situation was even worse in Greece and Moldova, which had more people at risk from poverty than any other European nation.

In a refreshing shift from conventional methods, some post-90 teachers in China are using memes (表情包), cute comments, and personalized feedback in their grading practices,     1     (receive) praise from parents and students alike. This innovative approach in education is reshaping the way students receive feedback on     2     (they) exams and assignments, making the learning process more engaging and enjoyable.

Gone are the days of impersonal and serious     3     (comment). Teachers are now using more conversational language in their evaluations, addressing students as “you” or “dear” instead of the formal “the students”. This change in tone creates a more personal and direct connection, fostering a positive learning environment.

The use of memes and hand-drawn images in marking papers     4     (be) not just about adding a touch of fun; it serves as a motivational tool for students. This trend has caught the attention of the online community,     5     many expressing their wish to have such creative and supportive teachers

    6     adoption of memes and personalized comments in grading represents a significant shift in educational practices in China. It not only aids in reducing the stress and pressure     7     (associate) with academic performance but also builds a     8     (strong) relationship between teachers and students. This method reflects a broader movement toward more empathetic and student-centered teaching     9     the focus is on encouragement and individual growth rather than solely on grades.

As these innovative practices gain     10     (popular), they promise to transform the educational experience for students, making learning more enjoyable and less frightening.

7 . Your social circle may be the reason you are overweight, a study has suggested. Experts have warned that obesity can spread through communities like a “social contagion (接触传染)”

Researchers studied hundreds of military families—who can’t choose where they lived—across the US. Their results revealed if you move to an area with a high rate of obesity. it increases your risk of becoming obese, too. For every percentage-point increase in the local obesity rate, the chances a person would be overweight or obese increased by up to six percent.

The researchers said people adopt behaviors of others subconsciously. Dr Ashlesha Datar and colleagues recruited families of US Army personnel at 38 military bases across the country. Their rates of obesity were reflective of the national rates. The study showed when assigned to bases in countries with higher rates of obesity, residents were more likely to become overweight or obese. For every single percentage-point increase in obesity rate of local people, the chances that a teenager would be overweight or obese went up by four to six percent, while the odds that a parent would be obese went up by five percent. The longer the families lived there, the more likely they were to see the weight pile on.

Dr Datar said, “Social contagion in obesity means that if more people around you are obese, then that may increase your own chances of becoming obese. Subconsciously, you are affected by what people around you are doing. We accounted for things that researchers in this field typically measure and found that shared environments did not play a critical role in explaining our results.”

Co-author Dr Nancy Nicosia said, “Although we could not measure social contagion directly, our findings support a role for social contagion in obesity.”

Obesity can be caused by many variables, and the association has been challenging for scientists to explain. One possibility is that people with similar interests and backgrounds tend to locate in similar areas. Another explanation may be that people are all influenced by the shared environment, such as opportunities for exercising and healthy eating. A third explanation may be that obesity is transmitted through social influence.

8 . During my first year in China, some friends who’d been around a little longer than me introduced me to the concept of “House Plant Syndrome”.

Imagine you are at a party at someone’s house. You’re hanging out when suddenly a house plant starts talking to you. Now, there are several ways you could respond to this. Perhaps you would ignore it. Perhaps you would ask the person next to you if they heard it as well. Perhaps you would try talking back to the house plant and engaging it in conversation.

I am that house plant.

The story of the talking house plant explains what can happen here when a white person unexpectedly speaks Chinese. It’s especially true with Chinese who haven’t met foreigners before.

Over time I learned to deal with House Plant Syndrome by talking without being looked at. I visited a restaurant at least once a week. Waitresses there would often stare blankly at me, not even hearing what I was saying when I tried to ask for things. So I leaned to speak clearly while looking in another direction. Without the “foreigners don’t speak Mandarin” filter, the waitresses heard and understood me easily and responded immediately.

A few years later, as my Mandarin became more fluent, and my foreign accent diminished (减少), people could hardly realize I was actually a house plant. This happened a lot with taxis. A lot of the time after I called a taxi, I would get a call from the driver, who would confirm my location. This meant I had a short conversation with the driver long before they saw me. Then I would get in the taxi, say where I wanted to go, and we would drive off in silence. Twenty seconds later, he would burst out “You speak such good Mandarin: I thought you were Chinese!”

I am rarely seen as a talking house plant anymore. The more I work on my accent and fluency, the less I am seen as a house plant. Definitely a good reason to keep working on my language!

9 . Initial conversations can have a huge impact on how relationships develop over time. People are often stuck in the impressions they think they might have made the minute they finish speaking with someone for the first time: “Did they like me or were they just being polite?” “Were they deep in thought or deeply bored?”

To find out whether these worries are necessary, we have conducted nearly 10 years of research. In our studies, participants in the UK talked with someone they had never met before. Afterward, they were asked how much they liked their conversation partner and how much they believed that their conversation partner liked them. This allowed us to compare how much people believed they were liked to how much they were actually liked.

Time and time again, we found that people left their conversations with negative feelings about the impression they made. That is, people systematically underestimate how much their conversation partners like them and enjoy their company — a false belief we call the “liking gap”.

This bias (偏见) may seem like something that would occur only in initial interactions, but its effects extend far beyond a first impression. Surprisingly, the liking gap can constantly affect a variety of relationships, including interactions with coworkers, long after the initial conversations have taken place. Having a larger liking gap is associated with being less willing to ask workmates for help, less willing to provide workmates with open and honest feedback, and less willing to work on another project together.

There are numerous strategies to minimize your biased feelings. One place to start is shifting your focus of attention. Try to direct your attention to your conversation partner, be genuinely curious about them, ask them more questions, and really listen to their answers. The more you’re zeroed in on the other person, and the less you’re focused on yourself, the better your conversation will be and the less your mind will turn to all the things you think you didn’t do well.