1 . Not long ago I saw the following headline: “Anti-homework trend goes global.”

Anti-homework? Where was this trend when I was in school? And if I tried to “forget” that English ________ or history report, my dad was there to ________ me: “Don’t you have homework to do?” In short, my teachers and my parents put great ________ on the significance of homework.

No longer. From what I have read, there are powerful parental forces ________ to make homework a thing of the past. The reasoning: It stresses children and it ________ “precious family time.” As a teacher, one of the problems I often encounter is that students ________ far too little importance to their studies.

When I was a kid, homework ________ created precious family time. I still remember, after supper, clearing the table and ________ the dishes with my schoolbooks. And then my parents would sit down with me and, to the best of their ________ , help me when and where they could.

I’ve often thought that the homework problem could be ________ if one thought of homework in terms of learning to play a musical instrument. For me, this was the clarinet (单簧管), which I began learning at age 9. “Practice an hour a day,” was Mr. Markiewicz’s no-nonsense ________ .

Because my ________ was strong, I did practice an hour a day, and I made great progress. And so let’s get rid of homework, but only the word “homework,” and replace it with “________ ”. As a teacher, it’s all I ask: that my students listen ________ in class and then go home to practice, so that when they return to me to show how much they understand, I — and their parents — can be proud of them.

What could be ________ than that?

2 . Binge-watching (刷剧) is when a person watches more than one episode of a show in a row. With developments in the speed and connectivity of the Internet, increases in technology and the rise of on-demand entertainment companies, people can now have their favorite shows stream (流播) directly to their television at their convenience.

This behavior is nothing new. In fact, binge-watching has been officially listed in dictionaries since 2015. The entertainment companies recognize this behavior and many take steps to encourage it. Often, instead of releasing each episode on a week-by-week basis, an entire series will become available concurrently. Once the episode finishes, many platforms will display pop-ups with “you might like” suggestions, or will automatically play the next episode.

However, recent research suggests that out of the more than half of British adults who watch more than one episode of a show back-to-back (一集接一集地), almost a third have admitted missing sleep or becoming tired as a result; and 25% have neglected their household chores (家务活). Next we’ll be missing work!

Bingeing has other connections — binge eating, binge drinking and binge smoking. All of them are often associated with a lack of control and a possible route to addiction. Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director, said, “The days of waiting a week for the next episode are largely gone, with people finding it hard to resist (抗拒) watching multiple episodes around the house or on the move.” If people find binge-watching hard to resist, are we witnessing the birth of a new type of addiction?

The countless number of information and entertainment that television and online media can bring us is, many would say, a good thing. However, when the activity begins to bleed into other areas, causing us to stop functioning, then it becomes a problem. So, what’s the answer? Moderation! Neither a tiny amount, nor too much. After all, as the old proverb says, “A little of what you fancy does you good.”

6 . It is a general belief among academics that the humanities(人文学科) are in crisis. According to Harvard historian James Hankins, part of the problem is the dominance of “critical” reading over “primary” reading. Primary reading takes a text at face value and simply tries to understand what the author intended to say. Critical reading assumes an author’s statements can never be taken at face value. Instead, they must be “seen through” to expose the text’s real meaning, which is determined in line with this or that fashionable theory.

Mr. Hankins says primary reading “must be recovered” for higher education in the humanities to be effective. I would go further. Primary reading isn’t important only for the humanities, but for education more generally. The restoration of primary reading could be a crucial weapon in fighting the “idle talk” that troubles American society.

Idle talk was philosopher Martin Heidegger’s term for inauthentic discourse(话语). It involves adopting and circulating others’ opinions about something without ever personally engaging that thing for yourself. People engaged in idle talk speak in line with expectations for their particular role. They hold and express the opinions a person in their role is expected to hold.

Idle talk can be harmless. Each year my mother forms strong opinions about which films should win Academy Awards without seeing any of them, after reading articles by critics she favors. But idle talk can also be dangerous. Consider journalism. The norm nowadays is for one reporter to break a story, followed by dozens or hundreds of journalists recycling that content. They may add a little spin of their own but rarely look into the issue for themselves—even when this would require but a few clicks. Some journalists even just search social media for the story of the day and rewrite it in their own words.

It could be argued that social media has contributed to the popularization of idle talk. Authentic discourse requires time, effort and good-faith engagement, but social media tends to encourage the opposite. Social media raises this voice, pushing it into user feeds 24/7. We hear about everything, and we can’t hear about anything without also being told what opinion we should have about it. Opinions before facts; know what to think about something before actually looking into it for yourself. And really, why even bother with that?

Primary reading isn’t only something the humanities need. Our entire culture needs its value to be recognized and restored.

7 . Lonely? You’re hardly alone. Since COVID-19 struck, people of all ages have struggled with this. But even before the pandemic, loneliness was becoming a growing problem for teens — especially girls. That’s the finding of a new study. And that appears throughout industrial nations across the globe. The study linked rising loneliness to greater use of smartphones and the Internet over the same years.

Jean Twenge, a psychologist, took part in the study. Her team has found that since 2012, US teens have been spending less time together face-to-face.

The new study pulled its data from a survey. Some 1 million 15- and 16-year-old students from 37 countries took part in this survey in 2000, 2003, 2012, 2015 and 2018. Its questions mostly dealt with education. But they also included six statements about loneliness, such as “I feel awkward and out of place in my school”. Students could strongly disagree, disagree, agree or strongly agree with each statement.

“Smartphones can help keep us connected with friends,” says Twenge. “But they can also make people feel excluded (排斥).” Girls, especially, may feel this way. One reason may be that they like to post more photos and selfies (自拍照) than boys. Studies have shown that if those images don’t get a lot of “likes”, it can affect a teen’s mental health.

And there’s “phubbing”, a combination of “phone” and “snubbing (冷落)”. It’s that moment at which a friend or family member takes out a phone and keeps looking at it, paying no attention to everybody else, including you. Phubbing is one way technology can affect you, even when you’re not the one using it.

If technology causes loneliness, should we stop using it? “No, not at all,” argues Twenge. “Everybody of all ages is trying to figure out how we can best use technology and stay mentally healthy.” Her advice is to “use your smartphone for what it’s good for. Then put it away.” That includes putting it away overnight — ideally in another room.

8 . Going against the tide of flocking to well-known tourist destinations on vacation, a growing number of holidaymakers in China tend to spend their leisure time at lesser-known attractions. Reverse tourism (逆向旅游) has appeared as a   new trend among young holidaymakers in China.

According to data from an online travel agency, the number of rooms booked at hotels in less-traveled cities during the holiday was up 30 percent year-on-year. Bookings for four-star or five-star hotels in less-traveled places all increased ten times at a minimum. Some lesser-known scenic spots posted double-digit (两位数的) growth during the holiday. Baimaiquan Park in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, received 52,100 visits in the seven days, up to 15.78 percent year-over-year.

Besides crowds, some vacationers chose less-traveled places to save on the cost of trips to popular destinations. In addition, lesser-known attractions are not as “commercial” as developed ones and are able to offer more actual experiences and natural encounters.

Essentially speaking, total relaxation is becoming a real expectation for many people when they travel. Changes in demand may be the fundamental reason for the popularity of reverse tourism. COVID-19 is another key factor fueling reverse tourism. As preventive measures continue, traveling has an unpredictable quality. Travelers have thus become more cautious and tend to choose local attractions or places with fewer tourists.

“The rise of reverse tourism is not a bad thing,” said Zhengzhou Daily. It means that vacationers now have more options, which brings more possibilities to the tourism market. More importantly, it noted, the trend is set to force popular destinations to improve themselves instead of resting on their past honor.

Jiang Han, a senior researcher, said that reverse tourism will become one of the future directions for the market. To give a real boost to the tourism market, Jiang suggested that more efforts be made to tap the potential of underestimated, lesser-known destinations. It is necessary to dig deeper into the local customs and highlight the local characteristics to improve the quality of local tourism.