Two vegetarian meals each day. A monthly budget of 200 yuan. Working just one or two months a year. In April, an Internet     1    (use) posted this brief description of his simple, stress-free life. He described his philosophy     2    tangping. “I can be like Diogenes, who slept in his wine cask (桶) in the sun,” he wrote.

The post spread     3    (crazy). On social media, people showed their approval of tangping by sharing pictures of themselves (and, often, their cats)     4    (lie) in bed. More than 60％ of over 240, 000 respondents to a poll (民意测评) on Weibo, said tangping was their idea of the good life.

Tangping     5    (describe) a longing to escape the pressure of modern life in China, where young people    6    (expect) to work long hours, buy property, get married and have children. Many people in their 20s and 30s grumble (抱怨) that hard work no longer rewards them with a     7    (good) quality of life. They have adopted an academic term, neijuan or “involution”, to describe how extra input no longer produces more output.

    8    academic from Tsinghua University thought of tangping to be “ extremely irresponsible”. “The only way     9    (ensure) a happy life is working hard,” said a commentary in one newspaper, “this attitude disappoints one's parents     10    hundreds of millions of taxpayers as well”.

The impact of pandemic (流行病) on life expectancy (预期寿命), one of the most widely used standards to assess population health, was assessed by a study    1    (publish) in the Informational Journal Epidemiology. The study    2    (conduct) by the Oxford University's Leverhulme Centre for Demographic (人口的) Science.

The study revealed that women from 15 countries and men from 10 ended up    3    a lower life expectancy at birth in 2020 compared to 2015.     4    biggest drops in life expectancy, however, were witnessed in men instead of women in most countries. American men were the worst off, with 2.2 years shaved off their life expectancy at birth. Men in Lithuania faced the second    5    (large) impact on their life expectancy, with a cut of 1.7 years.

Reductions in life expectancy overall    6    (occur) in 27 of the 29 countries analyzed by the study. Only men and women in Denmark and Norway and women in Finland managed to    7    (successful) avoid drops in life expectancy, the study said. Non-pharmaceutical interventions and strong healthcare systems in these countries were cited as    8    (factor) that could help explain this.

All the countries    9    life expectancy dropped had taken an average of 5、6 years    10    (achieve). Just a one year increase in life expectancy. The pandemic wiped out of this progress, the study said.

3 . Would it surprise you to learn that the vast majority of adults—around 75 per cent—tell up to two lies every day?     1    

Why people lie

Over 20 % of lies are told in a bid to avoid other people; 20 % are jokes or pranks; 14 %are told in self-protection; 13 % are attempts to make a good impression; 11 % are told to protect others; and 9% are for personal gain.

How to spot a liar

So, are there any body language giveaways that can help “out” someone who’s lying? Back in 2015, University of Michigan researchers identified some common behaviours among liars, including grimacing(作怪相), looking directly at the questioner in order to appear trustworthy, or looking to the right, and overcompensating by gesturing with both hands.     2    .

    3    

Vocal factors can offer a good clue, too. People who are being deliberately dishonest—or who lack certainty in what they’re saying— tend to speak slower and place less emphasis on the middle of words, according to a previous study.Interestingly, the researchers also found that listeners automatically registered these voice changes as a sign of dishonesty, even when they weren’t being asked to do so.

It’s important to remember though that none of these pointers offer undeniable evidence that you’re dealing with a liar.     4    

How to cope with a liar

Instead of accusing someone outright of lying, try “fact-checking” what they’re saying by asking lots of questions. Deceptive people generally can’t provide specifics and their tales start to unravel(解体). Catch someone out in this way, which at least kickstarts a more honest conversation.

    5    If a friend fakes a headache because they’re afraid you’re going to be angry with them for cancelling a night out, it probably requires a heart-to-heart, rather than an argument. Or ask yourself if you’ve ever done a similar thing to them, and if you have, let it go.

A new report released on Tuesday by Pethadoop said cats accounted for 59. 5% of all the pets among the 30, 000 respondents surveyed for the research. As of last year, there were some 58 million pet cats in China’s urban households,    1    (compare) with some 54 million pet dogs.

China     2    (see) an increase in pet ownership in recent years, with people     3    (increasing) choosing cats. Globally, though dogs are still more common pets, cats have emerged     4    the most popular pet in the European Union lately.

Cats have also turned into a social phenomenon in China and elsewhere, with the cats becoming the subject of popular     5    (video). Many cat lovers online also identify     6    (they) as “cat slaves”, publicly declaring their pet preference.

Researchers owe the fast growth of cat pets to the lifestyle in Chinese cities, with some experts also suggesting that the cat’s     7     (popular) with the young is related to the young generation’s pursuit of individuality.

Liu Yi, the report’s chief editor, said that many people living in the cities have busy lives     8    relatively smaller accommodations, thus     9    (make) cats their ideal companions —it’s easy to raise cats, unlike dogs that require more attention and outdoor activities.

“Our research shows that the majority of the pet owners are people born after 1990 and 1995,” he said. “Young people are looking for freedom in their lives, and     10    habits of cats are more suited to their needs.”

5 . A new computerized study analyzed more than 6, 000 songs from 1951 to 2016, finding that songs were more joyful, optimistic and positive in the 1950s in America, and angrier, more fearful and sadder with each passing decade. It is especially obvious when it comes to the changes in pop music lyrics (歌词). “In general, the results show a clear trend towards a more negative tone in pop music lyrics, with a more significant change around the early 1990s,” stated researcher Kathleen Napier at Lawrence Technological University in Michigan.

My initial reaction to the result is that music from the 1950s was more relaxing and less reflective of daily reality in America than the music of later period, especially compared with much of today’s music, which can reflect our society under unpleasant criticism, with grittier (更坚忍不拔的) topics.

Though this lyrical transition (转变) can come with a chorus of negativity, I think, music, like art, should honestly reflect the emotional mood or political climate of a certain time period, not merely romanticism and optimism of it.

“Music is what we cry to... it’s what we march to... it’s what we react to...” said singer Alicia Keys at the Grammy Awards ceremony earlier this month. “It’s our shared global language, and if you really want to say something, you say it with a song.” I thought she revealed it, so I wrote down her remarks during that show.

I don’t doubt the study’s conclusions. Yet I haven’t noticed if my musical play list through the years meets the study’s conclusions, with my favorite songs getting sadder or angrier. But I’m now paying more attention to what I’m listening to and why. If you begin doing the same thing, I’ll leave you with these lyrics from Semisonic: “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

6 . For young people with autism（自闭症），growing into adulthood can have its own challenges. But students at the non-profit educational program Exceptional Minds prove that autism can also mean special talents.

Madeline Petti is an example of how Exceptional Minds helps students with autism seek and reach their full potential. "I want the world to know that I like designing things and Exceptional Minds is a great place for me. ” Madeline is part of a new wave of digital effects artists. She is a young, talented student who has autism. She is learning all about the entertainment industry with Exceptional Minds， which provides vocational（职业的） training for young adults with autism.

Madeline has played video games since the 4th grade． She has also always loved watching animated（动画的） shows. But she said she had a torturous time learning in traditional settings. “I get bored easily when I’m just sitting there and people are talking around me. I’m not really personally devoted to the material. When you are not personally devoted, you have to force yourself to stay in the moment and pay attention. If you don’t have the motivation to force yourself, you are pretty much going off into your personal La La Land. ”

Exceptional Minds provided the right kind of learning environment for Madeline. More action, less talking. She said, “I like coming here because it’s so hands-on. We get shown examples or we will follow along with the directions. I guess we are doing more. ”

Ernie Merlan is an EM program director. He said, “The heart of our program is a full time three-year vocational program specifically for the entertainment industry. The program teaches the students not only the technical skills they need but the work readiness skills they need in order to get a job. So we focus on how they look and what their attitude is, and then work place conflict which we all have. ”

8 . With researchers suggesting that sitting is the new smoking, sit-stand desks (SSD) have become a common tool to interrupt long sitting in an office or classroom environment. As this furniture becomes popular, conflicting opinions have arisen on whether they can work as successfully as they are intended. Dr. April Chambers from the University of Pittsburgh worked with teammates to gather data from 3 studies and published a review article listing present information on the benefits of SSDs.

“There has been a great deal of scientific research about sit-stand desks in the past few years, but we have only scratched the surface of this topic,” said Chambers. I want to gather what we’ve known so far to figure out how we can use these desks to better benefit people in the workplace.

This work was done with Dr. Nancy A. Baker from Tufts University. The review examines the effects of a sit-stand desk in the following aspects: behavior, physiological(生理的), work performance, psychological, discomfort, and posture. Their work showed that using an SSD effectively got participants to sit less and stand more and that the device made users more comfortable at work. However, many frustrations (沮丧) with SSDs came from the physiological outcomes. According to the review, physiological effects were the most studied, but there were no significant results with regards to fatness.

There are many considerations about using an SSD most effectively, such as desk height, monitor height, and the amount of time to stand. Chambers believes that the overall arrangement of the workplace or study place and the amount of work are two factors that should be further studied.

Chambers noted that present research is limited because many of the studies were done with young and healthy subjects who were asked to use the desk for a week or a month at most. Since some of the significant benefits are with heart health or muscle discomfort, it may be beneficial to perform additional studies with middle-aged or overweight workers.

9 . I remember when Kamala Harris became Joe Biden's running mate. It seemed funny how many people pronounced her name incorrectly. On one occasion, a news host became upset when being corrected, and purposely called her Kumbaya.

I am no stranger to this issue as many of my students are from Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and sometimes their names are difficult for me to pronounce, even after asking them how to say it. Many students seem unwilling to correct me when I attempt to learn their names correctly. The other thing I’ve seen in growing numbers is students “adopting” an English name.

It's much more common than many think, for people to change their names in order to fit in.

This is especially the case when it comes to seeking jobs. Racial and cultural minorities often attempt to avoid discrimination hiring by hiding racial cues on the resume including changing their name. This is referred to as “resume whitening”. Research shows almost 50 percent of black and Asian job applicants did so.

Xian Zhao from the University of Toronto researches ethnic (种族的) name pronunciation, saying that many people don’t understand that habitually pronouncing an unfamiliar name inaccurately is a form of indirect discrimination. It sends a message that “you are the minorities” says Zhao. “You are not important in this environment, so why should I take time and my effort to learn it?”On the other end, those with ethnic names frequently don’t correct people, even when their name is pronounced wrong repeatedly, feeling it is better just to keep the peace and not stand out for being difficult.

It is important to try to pronounce everyone’s name as they pronounce it. This communicates respect of them as a person and their culture. There is nothing wrong with asking someone to repeat their name so that you can learn to pronounce it properly. This is usually appreciated.

10 . It’s a connected world, and nearly every device, appliance, and machine with some sort of computer running inside it can be connected to others through the Internet of Things (IoT). What a great leap forward in this journey we call human civilization! But does this recent advancement come with a dark secret that can someday turn on us? Are smart devices spies around us?

Many smart appliances today, particularly smartphones and virtual assistants are equipped with voice command capabilities. They can, therefore, listen to and record your comments and conversations even after they’ve carried out your original command. Concerns about devices turning on voice command by themselves and listening even when you do not enable the feature have also been raised. The question then is: What actually happens when your smart device is listening? How much information gets recorded, and where does this eventually end up in?

Take a listening app called “Alphonso” as an example. You can’t download it directly from the App Store, but it comes with some games and apps that you can fix. While you are playing games on your smartphone, Alphonso comes to life and listens to what you are watching on TV. It then records this information and sends it to some server somewhere, and the data is analyzed to build a profile about your TV-viewing habits. Alphonso proves that devices can listen to what you say and do.

Alphonso proves that devices can listen to what you say and do. Now, what’s to stop devices from gathering other data? They can be made to look at chat and text messages or your calendar, for example, everything about you would be fair game. Some popular smart home platforms can control the platforms to fall silent but still remain active, capturing every word you speak that can potentially land you in some sort of phishing (网络欺诈) trouble. This seems to be the price we have to pay for the convenience that technology gives us. Privacy seems non-existent. So we should thus take steps to protect ourselves from this eventuality.