1 . For many young students, the school break is not a time for play, but rather a period of intense working out at weight loss camps. The extreme popularity of these camps is a sign of the alarming trend in China — childhood obesity (过度肥胖). According to a report published by the National Health Commission in 2020, one in five Chinese youth aged 6 — 17 years is overweight or obese, up from just one in 20 in 1995.

This increase is driven by multiple social factors. For instance, heavy coursework at school and a ready availability of digital devices are fixing the country’s younger generations in a more inactive lifestyle. Also, an age-old belief that more food consumption equals better growth has led many parents to spoil their children with an unlimited supply of junk food and late night snacks. Besides, weight gain during their mother’s pregnancy, regularly skipping breakfast, high intake of sweet foods and drinks, and insufficient sleep can all add to the risk of becoming overweight.

Extra weight gained in childhood may likely be carried into adulthood and increase the risks of high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep disorders and cancers. What’s more, the strong feeling of social disapproval related to obesity can also have a dangerous effect on a child’s emotional well-being and self-esteem (自尊). Some of overweight teenagers can’t even finish their primary education.

Therefore, parents should closely monitor their children’s weight from an early age so that they can intervene without delay when signs of obesity show. That does not mean that parents should rely on dietary restriction or slimming pills for dramatic transformations. A balanced diet, regular physical activity, limited screen time and sufficient sleep are enough to help children maintain a healthy weight.

A Beijing “silent” coffee shop is a big hit lighting up the life of hearing impaired (障碍的) youth. The café     1    (call) Beijing’s Rainbow Angel Cafe is founded by Lee Shao-hwa. The cafe trains hearing impaired youth to make snacks free     2    charge. Over the past six years, the coffee shop     3    (train) around 60 young people with hearing impairments. By doing this job, they are accepted by others and live a       4    (meaning) life.

Customers     5     enter the shop can’t miss the colorful, hand-painted signs at the entrance “Our chefs are hearing impaired. Please communicate with     6    (patient).” They can not speak,     7     they can communicate in a special way. Speech-to-text software has been installed on a computer at the front desk, which makes       8     easy for customers to communicate with them. When customers place an order, the hearing-impaired servers use the computer to read their requests. Then customers can     9    (delighted) drink cups of coffee in quiet corners and taste snacks available. If customers wish, they can even consult a booklet about basic sign language. For example,    10     (express) their thanks, customers can bend a thumb twice.

3 . Artificial intelligence (AI) tools designed to operate at human levels have greatly expanded in popularity over the past year. These include OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s AI-powered search engine Bing. Such tools, also known as chatbots or generative AI, are computer-powered systems. They are designed to interact smoothly with humans and perform high-level writing and creative work.

In recent months, these tools have demonstrated an ability to produce high-quality work. This has led some technology experts to warn that generative AI systems could end up replacing workers in many industries.

This year, researchers at Harvard Business School and other organizations carried out an experiment. It aimed to test how well AI tools could help workers perform their usual duties or tasks. It involved more than 700 business advisors, called consultants, from Massachusetts-based Boston Consulting Group.

Harvard Business School recently published the results from the experiment in a working paper. The main findings suggest that AI tools like ChatGPT can greatly improve worker performance. For example, researchers found that, on average, workers who used OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT 4 tool completed 12 percent more tasks than non-ChatGPT users. Tasks carried out with help from the AI technology were completed 25 percent faster. And the team found the quality of work performed by consultants using ChatGPT 4 increased by about 40 percent.

However, the paper also noted areas where the performance of consultants using ChatGPT 4 dropped. The researchers said this was especially true with tasks the AI tool was not good at completing. “Of tasks the AI was good at, the experiment showed it significantly improved human performance,” the paper said. “But for tasks ChatGPT 4 was not right for, humans relied too much on the AI and were more likely to make mistakes.”

The team suggests one of the biggest barriers to companies effectively using AI is not knowing which tasks can be completed best with the technology. Finding this out will require businesses to carry out thoughtful research and training efforts in order to find the right mix of AI and human-level work.

6 . Emoji (表情符号) may be a fun form of communication but it is destroying the English language, a study has shown.

Smiling faces, love hearts, thumbs up and so on--rather than words--are the preferred way of communication by teenagers, who are considered the worst offenders in grammar and punctuation.

More than a third of British adults believe emoji is the reason for the fall in proper language usage. Of the two thousand adults, aged 16 to 65 who were asked their opinions, 94 percent thought English was in a state of decline, with 80 percent thinking youngsters as the worst offenders.

The most common mistakes made by British people are spelling mistakes (21 percent), followed closely by apostrophe (撇号) placement (16 percent) and the misuse of a comma (16 percent). More than half of British adults are not confident with their command of spelling and grammar. Furthermore, around three-quarters of adults rely on emoji to communicate.

The use of emoji has affected our culture so much that the Oxford Dictionary’s “Word of the Year’ in 2015 wasn’t actually a word at all--it was the “face with tears” emoji. That shows just what a great effect emoji has.

Meanwhile, research earlier showed that using emoji in emails when delivering bad news can soften the blow. It could help workplace communication, even though it could be seen as unprofessional.

The study found that emoji clearly increased the level of understanding in a message. Emoticons like the “smiling face” or “face with tears imitate (模仿)expressions and gestures and add a new layer of meaning. Interestingly, this only worked for positive emoji. The “sad face” had little or no effect on how people responded to the meaning.

7 . A lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr Olabode Badiru, has called on the government to pay more attention to food security in the country to solve the rising cost of foods.

According to Dr Badiru, farmers need fertiliser and other agrochemicals like pesticides. Insecticides and others to solve the problem of pests. All of these will cost much money. Besides that, we have the problem of insecurity that farmers are being chased away from the farm.

Dr Badiru also called on the government to address insecurity, saying farmers are afraid of going to farm. He, who gave the advice while speaking with journalists in Ibadan, urged individuals to embrace backyard farming to reduce the spending on some food items. Most of the farm machines and chemicals used by farmers are all imported, he emphasised that these may have effects on what they will produce.

Reducing the rising cost of food requires some efforts from individuals and the government at all levels, he advised, and at the individual level, backyard farming could help to re-duce the need for purchase of food. He advised Nigerians to grow vegetables and other eatable plants, raise small animals like sheep and goats and raise domestic animals in their houses. Beyond the backyards, he also said youths should be encouraged to go into farming despite the challenges involved.

The government at all levels, especially the states, must provide an enabling environment for willing citizens to engage in agriculture. Security is the key. Basic facilities, such as road and electricity, should be improved. We can start by pushing practical research products to the farms for adoption to strengthen farm productivity through a functional agricultural extension system. “Essentially, we must look for innovative ways of bringing the unit cost of agricultural production down, among other measures,” he said.

9 . TikTok has appeared as a major starter of food trends — from mushroom coffee and pancake cereal to cloud bread. But there’s another trend dominating TikTok that’s become bigger than any of these viral recipes. That’s the #whatieatinaday trend, which is nearing 9 billion views. These video food diaries are also popular on Instagram — typically featuring a wellness influencer or celebrity showing their foods they ate that day — often with a full-length yoga clothes mirror selfie.

The basic message these posts send is that if you eat like them, then you can eventually look like them. The posts are promoting the idea of a perfect or ideal day of eating, along with a perfect body size.

“Younger audience, especially girls and young women, accept the message that they must eat like these creators in order to achieve and maintain not only health, but also social attraction,” says Cara Harbstreet. “The biggest harm I see with this trend is that it normalizes disordered or restrictive eating behaviors. This could prevent someone struggling with an eating disorder from seeking and receiving support or treatment.”

Even if the #whatieatinaday posts are displaying a balanced day of eating, the message of “eat like me, and you will look like me" is harmful because people would not necessarily achieve the same body size as the Instagrammer even if they copied their day of eating bite for bite.

Rather than a day’s worth of food, many experts suggest posting a single meal instead. Rachael Hartley said an individual meal or recipe could serve as an idea or inspiration versus a full day of eating to copy.

“I occasionally share #whyIateWednesday posts, with the aim of showing a wide range of foods, including fast food, desserts, convenience foods and other foods that diet culture might dislike, as well as showing how to include nutrition in a gentle way,” she said.

Rumsey says diet culture has changed our sense of how much is “normal” to eat at meals or snacks, so it can be helpful to see a full meal that shows a variety of foods.