1 . The big French pet care company AgroBiothers Laboratoire will no longer sell very small containers for raising fish.

The company has a 27 percent share of the French market for products used by people who raise animals at home. But it said it would no longer sell any fishbowls that hold less than 15 liters of water. They will only offer four-sided ones.

The company said it was animal abuse (虐待) to put fish in small bowls without added oxygen and filtration. Filtration is the process of removing small waste from the water with a device.

AgroBiothers chief Matthieu Lambeaux recently used the term “impulse”—meaning a sudden strong desire to do something—to describe why many adults buy goldfish. “People buy a goldfish for their kids on impulse, but if they knew what torture it is, they would not do it. Turning round and round in a small bowl drives fish crazy and kills them quickly,” Lambeaux added.

Goldfish can live up to 30 years and grow to about 25 cm in large aquariums (养鱼缸) or outdoor ponds. But in very small bowls they often die within weeks or months. Lambeaux said goldfish are social animals that need other fish, lots of space and clean water. He added that having an aquarium requires some special equipment and knowledge.

Germany and several other European countries have long banned (禁止) fishbowls, but France has no laws on the problem.

Lambeaux explained the company’s decision further by saying, “We cannot educate all our customers by explaining that keeping fish in a bowl is terrible. We consider that it is our responsibility to no longer give customers that choice.”

“There is demand for fishbowls,” he said, “but the reality is that what we offer children is the possibility of seeing goldfish die slowly.”

In the north of China, nowadays, it is not only going to the seaside that becomes a trend, but also the group barbecue takes the fashion lead. According to CCTV.com, it was young people on the Internet     1     first sparked the Zibo barbecue craze.”

The high-speed railway trains are packed with visiting tourists and the air smells of cumin.” This is how netizens described Zibo,     2     city in East China’s Shandong Province. Zibo city recently went viral on Chinese social media for its local specialty food, Zibo barbecue.     3     (feature) a small stove at each table, barbecue from Zibo is unique and offers a special dining experience. When the skewers (串肉扦)     4     (serve), customers have to process them themselves and wrap them in a thin pancake, usually with a spring onion     5     (add).The immersive experience of making customized (特制的) “Zibo barbecue” offers diners a sense of     6     (participate) and leisure time.

Since March, the search volume of “Zibo barbecue” on the whole platform     7     (increase) by over 770 percent year-on-year. The local government also took advantage     8     the Zibo barbecue trend to bring more tourists to the city,     9     (particular) young people. It is said that they have set up a specially customized “barbecue map”     10     added 21 new barbecue bus lines so that tourists can “get on the bus to rest, get off to eat”.

5 . Nearly half of all employees are close to “breaking point” at work due to increased stress levels. A survey of 2,000 professionals found the average working adult feels stressed for almost a third of their working day.

The mounting pressure faced in their job also contributes to five hours of lost sleep per employee every week. Checking work emails after hours, last-minute deadlines, having to do a speech or presentation and an overly demanding manager were named as some of the biggest causes of workplace stress.

It also revealed that in the average week, employees will complain about their boss for 31 minutes and their job in general for another two hours and 45 minutes. Richard Jenkins, psychologist and spokesman for well-being charity CABA, said: “Everyone will experience pressure day-to-day.”

“A level of pressure can actually make us work better, however too much pressure that rises to an unmanageable level leads to stress. The working public needs to know how to manage their pressure to avoid reaching boiling point. Some people cope by blowing off steam through physical activity like the gym or going for a run while for some, things like breathing exercises can help. Everyone will have a strategy that they find works better to help them release the pressure. Unfortunately, in many cases we don’t introduce these decompressing (减压) moments in our lives which can help release the pressure and reduce stress. Finding ways to manage your stress is essential, it is also worth addressing the root causes of your stress to try to manage the source rather than just treat the symptoms.”

The study also found seven in 10 adults have vented about their workplace to a colleague, partner, family member or friend. 46 percent of those who have felt stressed at work didn’t end up doing anything about it, hoping the problem would go away on its own. Of those who do take action, 38 percent have told their manager about it, while 51 percent have gone for a walk to cool down.

7 . We know that bully (欺凌) happens a lot and that it can make people feel miserable. And school violence happens all the time.

    1    

Bully is where a person or a group exercise control over another against their will, often leaving the victim feeling powerless and alone. Bullying can take many forms. Children, young people and adults can instigate bullying and be bullied in schools. Bullying is harmful to all involved, not just the person who is bullied, but to those who do the bullying and those who stand by. It can lead to self-doubt, lack of confidence, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, self-harm and sometimes even suicide. Children might bully because they may not have been taught that it is wrong to bully.     2     They are copying older brothers and sisters, friends or people they observe. They don’t know of more appropriate ways of mixing with their school friends.

How does bullying affect people?

New research has found that more than half of young people in the UK have been bullied. Of those who have been bullied, 58 % said it made them want to miss school, 44 % said it made them avoid social events, and 37 % said it had affected their school work.     3     Racism is when people are treated badly because of their skin colour, culture or nationality. Around 32 % of students said that they had heard something racist at school.

What can I do to help?

    4     If someone you know is being bullied it is important to tell a teacher. You could also talk to your parents or an adult whom you trust. If the person doing the bullying is some-one you know, you could talk to them and explain what they’ re doing is wrong. It’s important to support the person being bullied.     5    

9 . How do you spend your Sunday? For many, this traditional day of rest and churchgoing has become a day to shop, but it may be taking a toll on happiness. Researches from Depaul University tracked church attendance and levels of happiness among some Americans. Those people live in states that had cancelled so-called blue laws which once required most shops to stay closed on Sundays.

The research found that allowing stores to open on Sundays was linked with a reduction in church attendance among white women, which led to a reduction in happiness. Among black women, the cancel of the blue laws had no measurable effect, although that may be because the sample size was too small to draw any statistically meaningful conclusions.

But the finding was true only for women. For men, the cancel of blue laws didn’t seem to influence church attendance or levels of happiness. Since the end of blue laws, women are about 17 percent less likely to report being “pretty happy, and more likely to report being “not happy” according to the study. A professor of economics at Depaul said, “People know there is a connection between religiosity and happiness, and our paper tends to provide more conclusive evidence that religiosity among women does affect happiness. ’’

So why would Sunday shopping make women less happy? Part of the reason may be that some of the women were required to work on Sundays after the end of blue laws. Or the reduction in women’s happiness may be linked to the behavior of their children, once Sunday shopping is allowed, many of whom may start hanging out at shopping malls on Sundays. Or it may simply be that the attraction of shopping is more powerful than the longing to attend church, even though it brings less happiness.