1 . The summer holidays have just begun, but it is a busy morning at Cadoxton Primary School, in Barry, an industrial town in Wales. It runs a summer programme for hard-up (拮据的) children, providing meals and activities over the holidays with the aim of helping kids to spend the time more meaningfully. As young people run laughing and screaming into the school cafeteria for breakfast, their parents hung out, some visibly relieved. Just three days into the six-week school holidays one mother says her nine-year-old daughter has already asked five times to go bowling. “Without the school’s help,” she says, “it would be a long and expensive six weeks.”

In the popular imagination, school summer holidays conjure up (使……呈现于脑际) a picture of carefree youthful exploration. But many parents rely on the term-time services that schools give their kids, such as tutors and meals. If the holidays approach, they can suddenly find their schedules and budgets stretched. Researchers also say that the long break often sets back children’s learning, and that children from poorer backgrounds are desperately affected due to their shortage of money.

Many poor children fall behind their wealthier peers over the holidays. “Summer is the most unequal time of the year,” says Matthew Boulay of the National Summer Learning Association. “Well-off parents can fill the gap left by school and consolidate (使巩固) their children’s unfamiliar knowledge well, keeping their children stimulated with summer camps, trips abroad or private tutors. Poorer families, apparently, find this harder, since their income is relatively low and demand for sponsored activities offered by governments,” he adds.

Holidays can be a financial stress, which is absolutely true. In countries where some children receive free school meals, summer means bigger grocery bills for hard-up families. Households where both parents work have to pay for extra childcare, too. The Family and Childcare Trust, a charity, says that in Britain, where childcare costs are the highest in the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries. Parents will spend an average of 33 per child per week on childcare this summer, mainly because of the sharp shortage of governmental funding sponsor.

2 . Authors are upset after tech companies started using their books to train artificial intelligence without letting them know or seeking their permission. They worry about copyright and loss of income, among other issues.

According to CNN, the system is called Books3, and according to an investigation by The Atlantic, the system is based on a collection of pirated (盗版的) e-books including all genres, from fiction to poetry. Books help generative AI systems with learning how to communicate information.

The Atlantic article notes that some of the text that’s training AI on how to use language is taken from Wikipedia and other websites. But high-quality generative AI requires higher-quality input than what is usually found on the internet — that is, it requires the kind found in books.

Many authors apparently don’t view the use of their books to train artificial intelligence as an honor. Rather, it’s a shortcut that robs them of their due, they say. CNN reported that Nora Roberts, who writes romantic novels, has 206 books in the database — “second only to William Shakespeare.” “The database is all kinds of wrong. We are human beings, we are writers and we are being exploited by people who want to use our work, without permission or compensation (赔偿金), to ‘write’ books, scripts, essays because it’s cheap and easy, ” she said in a statement to CNN.

Not everyone is upset, however, by use of their work to train AI. Ian Bogost, author of some popular books, wrote a column for The Atlantic. Bogost claims that successful art is beyond its creator’s plans, noting that an author cannot accurately predict a book’s audience. “To complain this unexpected use for my writing is to decline all of the other unpredictable uses for it. Speaking as a writer, that makes me feel bad.”

3 . 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.”

4 . Two and a half millennia ago, Socrates complained that writing would harm students. With a way to store ideas permanently and externally, they would no longer need to memorize. However, studies today have found that writing on paper can improve everything from recalling a random series of words to better understanding complex concepts.

For learning material by repetition, the benefits of using a pen or pencil lie in how the motor and sensory memory of putting words on paper reinforces that material. The scribbling (涂鸦) on a page feeds into visual memory: people might remember a word they wrote down in French class as being at the bottom-left on a page.

One of the best-demonstrated advantages of writing by hand seems to be in note-taking. Students typing on computers wrote down almost twice as many words directly from lectures, suggesting they were not understanding so much as rapidly copying the material. However, handwriting forces note-takers to process and organize ideas into their own words. This aids conceptual understanding at the moment of writing, resulting in better performance on tests.

Many studies have confirmed handwriting’s benefits, and policymakers have taken note. Though America’s curriculum from 2010 does not require handwriting instruction past first grade (roughly age six), about half the states since then have required more teaching of it. In Sweden there is a push for more handwriting and printed books and fewer devices. England’s national curriculum already includes the teaching of basic cursive writing (连写体) skills by age seven.

However, several school systems in America have gone so far as to ban most laptops. This is too extreme. Some students have disabilities that make handwriting especially hard. Nearly all will eventually need typing skills. Virginia Berninger, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, is a longtime advocate of handwriting. But she is not a purist; she says there are research tested benefits for “manuscript” print-style writing but also for typing.

Socrates may or may not have had a point about the downsides of writing. But no one would remember, much less care, if his student Plato had not noted it down for the benefit of future generations.

Live streaming (直播) has gone popular in China. Many have turned     1    (they) into live streaming users or followers. But many problems come along. Many minors have ever spent large amounts of money     2     (tip) and buying virtual gifts for their idols during live streams. Some live streams promote online games, poor products with misleading claims, and even something illegal     3     affects underage (未成年的) followers.

Chinese authorities have introduced a set of updated regulations (管理) on live streaming industry     4     (protect) the interests of minors. The new rules, issued by a central department, including the National Radio,     5     (publish) on Saturday. A source told China Daily, “I know that     6     (probable) means the days are gone when live streamers were often rewarded without inspection.” Besides, those under the age of 16 will be prohibited to perform as live streamers under the new rules. For those     7     (applicant) aged between 16 and 18, the     8     (approve) of their guardians (监护人) is necessary.

The document also calls for cooperation to carry     9     further inspections (检查). Online game enterprises and platforms, like Tencent and NetEase, have also been required to follow     10     stricter regulations to manage the services of live streaming games.

It all began with a video showing a professor at a Chinese university several months ago. Standing before a classroom which     1     (fill) with eager students, she humorously said, “Princesses, please take your seats.” This video swiftly went viral on social media,     2     (cause) a fresh wave known as “princess literature”.

Actually, the word “princess” carries much     3     (important), especially for Gen Zers,     4     were brought up on “princess” stories and films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Frozen.     5     (traditional), a princess was seen by the public as     6     irresponsible and proud figure. And they were even considered as the “the Lost Generation”.     7    , many of today’s “princesses” are independent, struggling for self-worth and exploring positive values.

“The popular phrase, ‘Princesses, please xx’, was appreciated by the youth, not only for its humor but for the     8     (emotion) value it offered to us”, said a college student when interviewed.

While many of recent Chinese Internet phrases     9     tangping, or “lying flat”, and foxi, or “Buddha-like”, reflects the discouraging attitude of young people, this phrase serves as a positive way     10     (adapt) to various pressures in their lives.

Chinese coffee giant Luckin Coffee hit 10,000 stores in China in June, surpassing (超过) Starbucks     1     the largest coffee chain brand in the country following rapid nationwide     2     (expand) this year.

Founded in 2017, Luckin Coffee burst onto the Chinese coffee scene to challenge Starbucks through     3     (afford) coffee options and mobile ordering. It is very common to buy a drink from Luckin for $ 2 or less after heavy discounts. Meanwhile, a cup of coffee from Starbucks     4     (price) at $ 4.1 or more.

In the quarter ended June 30, Luckin Coffee opened 1,485 new stores,     5       (average) 16.5 new stores daily. China is traditionally a tea-drinking market,     6     over the last few years, coffee sales have been increasing     7     (steady), especially in urban areas and among younger     8     (professional). China’s overall coffee sales will rise at     9     rate of 8.7% annually from 2022 to 2027, according to GlobalData.

The Chinese coffee chain expanded to Singapore in its first international attempt and has opened 14 stores in the city-state so far.     10     (make) things even more impressive, all the coffee is specially crafted by an international team of World Barista Championship winners, so you won’t find a bad cup of Joe.

9 . Going to the Basque Country of Spain, linguistically (就语言角度来看), a Briton may feel he is entering not just another country but perhaps another continent. Familiar world languages — Spanish and French — suddenly give way to Basque, with its strange-looking words of tongue-twisting (绕口的) length. Basque is unrelated to the Indo-European family that includes almost all European languages.

Its survival has not been assured. The rule of Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975 centralised the state and he insisted that citizens speak Spanish. Public use of Basque was forbidden. When Franco died, the Basque-speaking population was mostly old and rural. For a language, this usually means extinction.

Since the 1980s the number of speakers has grown by almost 350,000, out of a regional population of 2. 1 million. In 2017 two-thirds of pupils were studying in schools where Basque was the language of instruction, up from around 14% in 1984; 87% of 10 to 14-year-olds are estimated to know the language. This is why, in the most recent big survey, the Basque-speaking population (41%) almost matched the non-Basque-speakers (44%). The other 15% are said to understand Basque but struggle to speak it.

But there is another side to the story. In the Basque Country, just 376,000 people have the language as their first, passed down to them in the home. Basque is weakest in the three provincial capitals, where the population is dominated by people from Spanish-speaking homes. Even as the knowledge and influence of the language are growing, actual usage outside schools still seems to be reducing. A similar story could be told of Irish, Welsh, and Maori.

What would it take to get people to live with these languages, as opposed to merely acquiring them? Some Basques say sadly that in a mixed group in which just one person is uncomfortable in Basque, the rest quickly switch to Spanish. They say that in Catalonia, a similar group is more likely to insist on continuing in Catalan, which, for this and unrelated historical reasons, is far more widely spoken in its territory than Basque.