1 . When making choices, people assume that they pick what they like. However, research suggests that we like something strictly because we have chosen it. In other words, we dislike things we don’t choose. And this phenomenon has existed since we were babies.

In an experiment, US researchers brought several 10 to 20-month-old babies into a lab and gave them two same bright and colorful soft blocks to play with. They set each block far apart, so the babies had to crawl to one or the other—a random choice. After the baby chose one of the toys, the researchers took it away and came back with a new option. The babies could then pick either the toy they didn’t play with before, or a brand-new toy.

It turned out that the babies reliably chose to play with the new toy rather than the one they had not chosen.

In follow-up experiments, when researchers instead helped choose which toy the baby would play with, the phenomenon disappeared. “As if they were saying, ‘Hmm, I didn’t choose that object last time, because I guess I didn’t like it very much” said Lisa Feigenson, co-author of the study.

This is a very important phenomenon in life, Feigenson noted. Adults will less like the thing they didn’t choose, even if they had no real preference in the first place. It looks like babies do just the same.

It shows that the act of making choices changes how we feel about our options. The random choices might become our preferences. “They are really not choosing based on whether they are novel or what they prefer,” said Alex Silver, co-author of the study.

This new finding explains why adults build unconscious preference when they make choices between the same things. Justifying(证明有道理) choice is somehow fundamental to the human experience. “I chose this, so I must like it. I didn’t choose this other thing, so it cannot be so good. Adults make these inferences unconsciously,” Feigenson said.

Such tendency makes sense to us as we live in a consumer culture and must make so many choices every day, between everything from toothpaste brands to styles of jeans.

Next, researchers will look at whether too many choices could be a problem for babies as they certainly are for adults.

Many young boys and girls had the habit of smoking, though they are middle school students. As we all know, smoking does harm of human beings. More and more people have realized that how serious this problem is. But they are never boring with it. Some people think smoking is a kind of fashion, and other think smoking can refresh himself. In fact, smoking causes many illness. The most serious illness causing by smoking is lung cancer. Meanwhile, smoking is waste of money. What's worse, careless smokers may cause danger fires.

5 . The continuous increase in the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has had a deep and broad effect on how we live and interact with one another, resulting in many changes that are likely to be long-lasting.

For example, to reduce contact during COVID-19, shaking hands, a standard style of greeting used by officials and businessmen has been replaced. In the US, the country hardest-hit by the outbreak, with over 36 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 610, 000 deaths, the top health official said such social gatherings should end, even when COVID-19 is over. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The Wall Street Journal, “I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you.” Neel Gandhi, a professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, told ESPN, a US sports broadcaster, “When we talk about transmission, the hands are the place that I focus on the most.”

If such advice from health experts is followed, it will produce a big shift in human behavior. However, some people are finding alternative ways to greet one another at a time when direct contact is disapproved of. In South Korea, bowing deeply has become popular. In Australia, officials have suggested that people pat each other on the back instead of shaking hands.

Handshakes are just one form of contact that has largely ended during COVID-19, along with hugging and high-fives. As many people worldwide rebuild their social lives, experts are predicting that some degree of social contact will disappear for good.

Chen Xuefeng, deputy director of the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said, “In the post-COVID-19 era, people are likely to behave more discreetly for a while. They will pay more attention to themselves, such as caring for their health, spending more time alone, moving offline activities online, socializing less and saving more.” Chen added, “This new way of life means that some industries where old habits are deep-rooted will face challenges in upgrading.”

6 . Studies have shown most people fail to realise how much time they spend on their smartphones each day.

Frank and Amelia’s family were put to a test, using a free app called “Moment-Screen Time Tracker”. The Vascellaros—Frank, Amelia, 14-year-old twins Frankie and Joe, and 17-year-old Sam—all said they did not really know they were spending so much time on their phones each day.

“Honestly, I don’t feel like I’m on my phone a lot,” Amelia Vascellaro said. Amelia was on her phone far less often than Frank, according to the app. While Amelia spent about an hour per day on the phone, Frank spent closer to four hours on his phone, which came as a shock to him. The children’s times varied but they often spent more than a couple of hours on the phone as well.

Minneapolis-based Dr. Kirsten Lind Seal sees phone usage come up lot among families. Lind Seal said many family members’ phone use has become problematic.

“If we hear more than once, ‘Do you have to be on your phone right now? Can you please put your phone down? Did you hear what I said?’ it may be a sign that it is negatively influencing our family relationships and our daily lives,” she said.

Lind Seal said actually paying attention to how much time one spends on the phone is a good first step in deciding when to put it down.

She asks parents to encourage more face-to-face communication for teens and young adults as they continue developing their social and emotional skills. “What we find is that we are really losing out on empathy—the ability to understand other people’s feelings and problems—when we spend a lot of time on our smartphones to communicate with other people,” she said.

9 . Money is the root of all evil(邪恶)and new study shows that there may be some truth behind the saying. Scientists-at the University of California Berkeley, US, announced on February 27 that rich people are more likely to do immoral(不道德)things, such as lie or cheat, than poorer people. The scientists did a series of eight experiments. They published their findings online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They carried out the first two experiments from the sidewalk near Berkeley. They found that drivers of newer and more expensive cars were more likely to cut off other cars and pedestrians(行人)at crosswalks. Nearly 45 percent of people driving expensive cars ignored a pedestrian compared with only 30 percent of people driving ordinary cars.

In another experiment, a group of college students was asked if they would do immoral things in everyday situations. Examples included taking printer paper from work and not telling a salesperson when lie or she gave back more change. Students from higher-class families were more likely to act dishonestly.

According to the scientists, rich people often think money can get them out of trouble. This makes them less afraid to take risks. It also means they care less about other people's feelings.

Finally, money just makes them have more desires. Higher wealth status seems to make you want even more, and that increased want leads you to bend the rules or break the rules to serve your self-interest, said Paul Piff, lead scientist of the study.

Piff pointed out that the findings don't mean that all rich people are untrustworthy or all poor people honest. He said the experiments were to show how people living in different social situations express their instincts(本能)and values in different ways.

10 . For years, my time spent in the shower could have got me a mention in Guinness World Records as the shortest time taken to bathe. I hurried up during this process.

One day, however, while at a party, I heard an artist friend telling everybody that his idea came while he was having a shower. "What about you? Don't you get your creative thoughts from the same place?", he asked.

"I'm in and out in a hurry", I told, him proudly. I have no time to waste!"

"What a pity! That's the place where you need to slow down; plenty of great thoughts come from there!" he said. I tried it out. I slowed down the whole process, started enjoying the warm water, taking a little longer to soap myself and even spending more time just enjoying the process, and realized how much I had missed in hurrying up all these years.

A woman told me how much stress her friend was suffering from and how she tried to convince her that she needed to find ways to relax. She gave her a videotape on stress management and relaxation techniques, and encouraged her to watch it right away. Fifteen minutes later, her friend returned the tape and said: "It was good but I don't need it".

"But it's a 70-minute video. You couldn't have watched the whole thing," the woman replied. "As a matter of fact, her friend put it in, fast-forward!"

A major social problem of the 21st century is Hurry Sickness. We hurry through work. We swallow fast food. We complain that we don't have enough time. We race through the days and weeks until one day we look back in amazement and comment: My god, how time flies! Then we realize the heavy price we have paid for traveling fast.

Symptoms of Hurry Sickness include stress and anxiety, bad relationships, lowered work performance and even disease. Some people don't survive it. What's the cure? Slow down, for life is so short and precious that we must live it well.