1 . Will your job be done by a robot in the future? Bank of England economist s predict that almost half of all UK jobs are under threat of automation. But could even the admired profession of teaching soon have to compete against powerful electronic educators?

At first glance, teaching might seem impossible to be replaced by robots. Teachers use a range of soft skills that machines find hard to copy exactly. They judge pupils’ needs and tailor feedback accordingly. They adapt materials to make them more engaging and effective. And they provide kind care: looking out for students who drop behind or disturb the class.

Despite that, some believe the future of education will be technological. Futurist Thomas Frey, from Business Insider magazine, predicts that “by 2030 the largest company on the internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven’t heard of yet.”

He thinks that ‘bots’— online robot teachers will make education so efficient that students will be able to compress (压缩) an entire undergraduate degree into six months of learning. A bot learns what your “idiosyncrasies” “interests” and “reference points” are, “and it figures out how to teach you in a faster and faster way over time,” according to Frey.

Whether or not such incredible speeds will be reached over the last decade, there has been a huge increase in online learning platforms. Companies such as Udemy and Khan Academy produce courses that allow millions to learn at home for free at their own pace. But there are limitations. Without the face-to-face inspiration of a classroom environment, the majority of students fail to complete online courses. How to keep motivation to learn is one more skill that online teachers will need to master.

Indeed, Frey admits there is some way to go: “Nobody has quite cracked the code for the future of education.” What do teachers themselves think about this? Professor Donald Clark from Derby University in the UK thinks that we should accept change, even though people will lose their jobs.

Many parents don’t know how much exercise their children need to do every day to stay     1     (health). The National Health Service guidance states that children     2     are aged from five to eighteen should do one hour of exercise every day, which about seventy percent of adults in the UK never mind. The research of 2,000 adults     3     (find) that only a quarter knew the exercise time recommended for young people.

The Youth Sport Trust leader, Ali Oliver said, “We have seen a drop in young people’s physical activity in recent     4     (year).” It is often     5     (report) that pupils are taken out of PE lessons to prepare for exams.

Meanwhile, figures from Sport England show only 17.5% of children are doing sports continuously. There is also a     6     (differ) among children from various economic (经济) backgrounds, with 39% of those from poor families doing     7     (little) than thirty minutes of exercise a day, compared with 26% from rich families.

This week thousands of people will get together     8     (celebrate) National School Sport Week, with     9    aim of promoting (推进) the importance of exercise and bringing great benefit     10     young people.

5 . Walking in the city is very different from walking in the park. A small psychology study suggests urban(城市的) environments can slow your step and possibly increase your mental load. A walk through nature, on the other hand, appears to ease your mind and quicken your pace. The findings show that natural settings may potentially reduce cognitive (认知的)tiredness and improve reaction times straight away. The study, which includes two experiments with two different approaches, was conducted among 65 university students in the lab.

The first of the two experiments in the new study focused on people’s way of walking and cognitive load. During this trial, participants were fitted with sensors and a dozen motion control cameras were set up to watch them repeatedly walk down a 15-metre room at their natural speed. The wall opposite them showed an image of either a nature scene or a city scene. After each walk, participants were asked to rate their feelings of discomfort in the visual environment. On the whole, when walking in city settings, people reported more discomfort and they walked at a slower pace, indicating a higher cognitive load.

The second experiment dug into some of the higher-level cognitive processes that might be at play. In the trial, participants were asked to distinguish between basic visual shapes on the computer while also in the presence of a natural or urban image(the same ones from the first experiment). Measuring reaction times in both natural and urban settings, the team found results to support their idea. In urban environments, participants were slower in distinguishing between simple shapes. The authors think this is because urban environments are more distracting(令人分心的) for our brains and take longer to process, but more research is needed to prove that idea.

6 . Are you a moviegoer? If so, then there’s no better place to watch something than on the big screen at the cinema. You enter the dark hall and take your seat, ready to be entertained.     1    

Over the last few years, cinemas have seen a resurgence (复兴). Customers have been attracted by comfortable seats, and lots of choice of things to watch. Multiplexes (多放映厅影院) can screen up to twenty films at the same time, catering for all different tastes.       2     So, what’s not to like about a trip to the cinema?

One answer to that question is convenience. Rather than going out, it’s so much easier to stay in and watch a movie on a high-definition TV screen via a streaming service.     3     But, personally, I find there are too many distractions, and watching at home is not such an event.

    4     And in the UK, it’s brought about a boost in TV watching and online streaming, according to media watchdog, Ofcom. It also found that half of UK adults will keep and continue using their new streaming subscriptions.

    5     They rely on the release of a big blockbuster to bring the crowds back, but the launch of new films, such as James Bond: No Time To Die, are being delayed. And Disney has released its $200m blockbuster, Mulan, online instead of in movie theatres.

7 . One of the most curious features of the modern world is the manner in which design has been widely transformed into something meaningless. But I want to argue design should be the crucial block on which the human environment is shaped and constructed for the betterment and delight of all.

Not surprisingly, in the absence of widespread agreement about its significance and value, much confusion surrounds design practice. In some subject areas, authors can assume common ground with readers. Other subject areas can be so difficult that no such mutual understanding exists.

Design sits uncomfortably between these two extremes. As a word it is common enough, but it is full of disharmony, has innumerable manifestations (表现), and lacks boundaries that give clarity and definition. As a practice, design generates vast quantities of material, much of it ephemeral, only a small proportion of which has sustained quality.

So how can design be understood in a meaningful sense? Design is one of the basic characteristics of what it is to be human, and an essential determinant of the quality of human life. If things are a necessary part of our existence, why are they often done so badly? There is no simple answer. Cost factors are sometimes advanced, but the remove between doing something well or badly can be exceedingly small, and cost factors can in fact be reduced by appropriate design inputs.

This book is based on a belief that design matters profoundly to us all in innumerable ways and represents an area of huge, underutilized potential in life. It sets out to explore some reasons why this is so and to suggest some possibilities of change. The intention is to extend the range of what is understood by the term, and examine the depth of design practice as it affects everyday life in a diversity of cultures.