If you see a group of people dancing and singing on the street or in the railway station, you don't need to feel surprised．They are a flash mob （快闪族）, which is a group of people who come together suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a brief period of time, and then quickly break up．They are usually organized with the help of the Internet or other digital communication network．At a predetermined time, they gather and perform some distractions（消遣） such as waving their hands and exchanging books, Then, they quickly break up before the police can arrive．Using mobile phones, the flash mob can change its location if the first one has been replaced for any reason．
Bill Lasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine, organized the first flash mob in Manhattan in May 2003 and the first successful flash mob came together on June 3, 2003 - after the first try was foiled at Macy's department store．Lasik claimed that the activity was designed to make fun of hipsters （起时髦的人）, and call attention to the cultural atmosphere．
Flash mob gatherings can sometimes shock people．Such an activity might seem amusing and untrue, but it also might frighten people who are not aware of what is taking place．Undoubtedly, flash mobs can serve as good political tools in any direction．They also have great economic potential, such as using flash mobs to advertise a product．
The flash mob is now becoming more and more popular．People use it to do many things．For example, in 2009, Michael Jackson's fans took part in a flash mob to remember him．Hundreds of his fans gathered singing and dancing Michael's famous song "Beat It" together．Flash mobs give people from all walks of life an opportunity to come together to create a memory．
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has welcomed home two paintings by the Dutch master, more than 14 years after they were ripped (抢) off the museum's wall in a nighttime theft. Museum director Axel Rueger called their return “one of the most special days in the history of the museum.”
The paintings were discovered last year by Italian police while they were searching suspected Italian criminals' farmhouse near Naples for evidence of drug dealing. The two paintings were wrapped in cotton sheets. They were stuffed in a box and hidden behind a wall in a toilet when they were found.
The paintings were considered among the artworks most searched for in the world. After years in darkness, they can now shine again. They are back on display at the museum before being taken to the conservation studio for repair. Fortunately, they suffered remarkably little damage as thieves who had climbed up a ladder and broken a window to get into the museum in 2004 rip them out of their frames.
“It is not only a surprise that the works have been recovered but it's even more surprising they are in relatively unharmed condition,” Rueger said.
The museum director was on vacation when the call came last year from Italian authorities who believed they had recovered the paintings. He didn't celebrate right away. He'd had calls like this before.
“I was hopeful but also a little hesitant. Over these years, we had so many occasions when people phoned us, contacted us, claiming that they knew something about the whereabouts (下落) of the works and each time it was false, the trace went cold,” he said. “So...the way has been till of disappointment.” But museum experts sent to Italy to check the authenticity(真实性) of the works quickly turned Rueger's doubts into delight.
Rueger said the paintings are now back permanently at the museum, which is home to dozens of works by Van Gogh. “I'm very confident that everything is safe in the museum from now on,” he said.
Galdwell's book, Blink, is all about first impressions and what he calls “rapid cognition（认知）”. In his own words, “It's a book about the kind of thinking that happens in a short time. When you meet someone for the first time or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions.”
Galdwell points out that most scientific tradition is based on a great deal more than two seconds' thought though years of scientific study can come from a quick observation. As for rapid cognition, Gladwell realizes some first impressions don't seem to be based on anything. He noticed that Americans support taller candidates（候选人）. In fact, since 1900, only four candidates have beaten men who are taller than themselves. With this in mind Gladwell got in touch with 500 companies in the US and found that almost all of their managers were tall. Gladwell said, “That's weird. There is no connection between height and intelligence or height and decision-making…But for some reason companies chose tall people for leadership roles. I think that's an example of bad rapid cognition.”
As an example of good rapid cognition, he tells the story of the Emergency Room doctors at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. A few years ago, the hospital changed the way they diagnosed（诊断）heart attacks. Their doctors took no notice of the patient's age, weight and medical history and gave most of their attention to a few really important pieces of information, such as blood pressure and heart rate. And what happened? Cook County is now one of the best places in the United States for diagnosing chest pain.
Gladwell believes the power of first impressions should be studied further. “The first task of Blink is to show the fact: decisions made very quickly can be as good as decisions made slowly and carefully.”
Mr.Bean is an internationally recognized comedy character on TV and in films. He constantly gets into awkward and absurd situations, which greatly amuses audiences regardless of their nationalities or culture. The humor is always made clear through a series of simple and funny acts that rely purely on body language, which is universal.
One of the remarkable shows is that Mr.Bean has a meal in a fancy restaurant. After being seated at his table, Mr.Bean takes out a card, writes a few words on it, seals(密封) it in an envelope and places it on the table. After a moment, he looks back at the envelope but this time he looks surprised, as if he did not know it was there. He opens it to find a birthday card and delightedly puts it on the table for everyone to see.
When he looks at the menu, an astonished look swiftly appears on his face. He takes all the money out of his wallet, counts it and puts it in a saucer(茶托)．He then looks from the menu to the money with concern until he finds one thing that makes him smile. Then he orders a dish called "steak tartare". When the dish arrives, he is shocked to discover that "steak tartare" is actually raw hamburger. He makes an attempt to eat it, but it is clear from the look on his face that he finds the taste truly disgusting. He cannot hide his feelings, except when the waiter asks if everything is all right. When this happens, he smiles and nods, indicating that everything is fine. When the waiter is not looking, however, he busies himself hiding the raw meat anywhere he can reach-the sugar bowl, the tiny flower vase, inside a bun(小圆面包) and under a plate. He becomes so desperate in the end that he even hides some inside the purse of a woman sitting near him and throws some down the trousers of the restaurant's violinist!
A Chinese legend—A pretty maiden is trapped by a dragon. A prince must slay（杀死）the dragon to save her. Then, magically, they fall in love and live happily ever after. Traditional stories tend to emphasize the fantastic, magical side of love. Fate plays matchmaker. Strangers see each other from across a room and instantly know that they are destined to be together.
It isn't difficult to imagine two strangers coming together and falling in love despite their differences. It suggests that love is challenging, uncertain, and incomprehensible.
But with more people using online dating services, a very different kind of love has emerged: one that is scientific, convenient, and self-directed. It minimizes risk and provides a choice, like on a menu. There is anonymity（匿名）and the avoidance of immediate rejection. Meeting terms are negotiated online.
Online dating also allows the setting of preconditions. Computer algorithms（推算） exclude undesirable traits such as the wrong hair color, race, or age. But they also exclude randomness. They reduce the chances of meeting someone different, or someone who could challenge one's romantic ideals. Instead, they find the partner we think we want and exclude everyone else. As a result, we could be missing the opportunity of a lifetime, to meet someone we would never have expected to fall in love with.
Perhaps this new way represents a more efficient form of romance. Traditional ideas of love may be enchanting - but are they useful? Loneliness and boredom are less exciting than chance encounters, but they represent the more realistic side of love. All too often people have suffered through bad dates and humiliations. If they could just choose what they wanted, wouldn't it save time and reduce suffering? However, by choosing partners based on our preconceived ideas, we may be indulging in our illusions. Instead of letting ourselves grow with someone, love becomes more about looking for ourselves in the other. What if we don't know ourselves as well as we think? Perhaps love isn't about knowing what we want. Perhaps it's about being open to unimagined possibilities.
A study involving 8, 500 teenagers from all social backgrounds found that most of them are ignorant when it comes to money. The findings, the first in a series of reports from NatWest that has started a five-year research project into teenagers and money, arc particularly worrying as this generation of young people is likely to be burdened with greater debts man any before.
University tuition fees (学费) are currently capped at £3, 000 annually, but this will be reviewed next year and the Government is under enormous pressure to raise the ceiling.
In the research, the teenagers were presented with die terms of four different loans but 76 per cent failed to identify the cheapest. The young people also predicted that they would be earning on average £ 31.000 by the age of 25, although the average salary for those aged 22 to 29 is just £ 17, 815. The teenagers expected to be in debt when they finished university or training, although half said that they assumed the debts would be less than £ 10.000. Average debts for graduates are £ 12, 363.
Stephen Moir, head of community investment at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which owns NatWest, said. "The more exposed young people are to financial issues, and the younger they become aware of them, the more likely they arc to become responsible, forward-planning adults who manage their finances confidently and effectively."
Ministers are deeply concerned about the financial pressures on teenagers and young people because of student loans and rising housing costs. They have just introduced new lessons in how to manage debts. Nikki Fairweathcr, aged 15, from St Helens, said that she had benefited from lessons on personal finance, but admitted that she still had a lot to learn about money.
Marathon fever is sweeping this country. In recent years, China's ever-growing passion for marathons has been triggered by its economic development and health-conscious middle class. A large number of marathon runners are white-collar workers, civil servants and business people that are keen on leading a healthy lifestyle. Government support, social participation and strong marketing by the sports industry have gradually led to the rapid development of the marathon industry, which is currently valued at 70 billion yuan ($10. 77 billion). Due to its large participation and nationwide media report, marathons are considered by local governments an important part of marketing their cities. Thus, many cities list unique routes across local scenic spots and historical attractions, not only to boost people's fitness, but also to promote local tourism.
For many runners, marathons are a way of life." As we get older, the places and opportunities to meet new people decrease. I find that participating in marathons is a simple way to make friends," said Wu, who made many friends in the Xstop Running Community, a running club with 48, 000 members established by Xtep, one of the leading distributors of sports merchandise in China.
"The sense of belonging and the mutual encouragement that exists within the running community are very attractive to many people. We easily befriend one another, since we have the same goal: to keep running and never stop," Wu said. Besides, a marathon can be a great way to explore new places. For a runner who also loves traveling, marathons are a solid choice. "Competing in an international marathon is a chance to experience a city or a country you've never visited before," said Meng, an experienced runner from north China's Tianjin Municipality, who often runs in London, New York and Melbourne.
There's a unique perspective that people get running through the streets of a city, distinct ancient buildings or amazing natural settings, he explained, things that somehow just can't be seen by rushing in a car. In addition, during a race, streets are often closed off so you don't have to battle traffic.
Sandi Patty has been a name synonymous (同义的) with Gospel music because of her singing ability since she released her first album in 1979.
Patty's newest book. The Voice, takes a deep dive into parts of her life she's kept private for years. Surprisingly, The Voice is not primarily concerned with Patty's singing voice. Patty was always a talented singer. However, she struggled to find her inner voice and speak up for herself. "I was a shy kid. Words were hard for me," Patty said.
One of the reasons why Patty found it so difficult to use her voice was a traumatic childhood experience. At age six, she was abused by a friend, an experience she opened up for the first time in the book.
She is sharing the story of her experience now, hoping it will help other people feel less alone. "Feeling alone keeps everybody silent about the tough times in our lives, so we think we're the only ones," Patty said. She wrote in The Voice that she felt like it was her job to make everyone feel better.
Friendships were essential for helping Patty find the courage to speak up. They reminded her that she didn't need to make others feel better because the people she loved didn't doubt she cared for them.
Friends and family were crucial for helping Patty confront another struggle she faced—shame. She felt unpleasant for insecurities about her weight and her divorce. "I've heard it explain that guilt tells us we have done something wrong and shame says we are wrong," Patty said.
"I want people to know that their stories and their voices matter," Patty said. "We have to figure out a way to take our pain away and put it where it needs to be, without letting it guide our lives. Pain is a part of our story. It describes us, but it doesn't need to define us."
Imagine a school where self-awareness is celebrated, students are encouraged to solve maths problems by writing on the walls and applying learned lessons to real life is more important than homework. These are a few of the concepts that makes Space of Mind School unique.
Located in a home built in 1896 in Florida, US, the program serves students in grades 2 through 12 and will accept kindergarten students next year. It also offers an after-school program for students who attend traditional schools, as well as evening programs for adults and educators and weekend events for families.
There is a different atmosphere from that of a traditional school building. Tables and brightly colored walls are white boards. In the science room, students are studying climate changes at a weather station, while in the music room, a student is solving an equation (等式) with his academic coach while he connects music theory and maths.
The daily schedule at the school also stands out. "We don't assign boring or exhausting homework." said Space of Mind founder and CEO Ali Kaufman. "Instead of homework, we ask that they go home and take a video of themselves applying a lesson they learned or cooking a meal for their family that they learned how to make at school."
For lunch, instead of traditional cafeteria dishes such as pizza, the school offers organic meals made out of products from local gardens and farms. "Our students also run a business at the Delray Beach Green Market on Saturdays so they can understand sustainable living practices and how to run a business," Kafman said.
" We are also the first school program in Florida to start and end each day with 15 minutes of meditation (冥想)," Kaufman said. "The positive results we have been seeing in the students from meditation are amazing. We are really about infusing social, emotional and creative skills with academic and life skills."
How do you spend your time？To get it, Paul T. Rankin asked sixty-eight individuals to keep an accurate, detailed record of what they did every minute of their waking hours. He discovered that 70percent of their waking time was spent on one thing only-communication. Put that evidence alongside the research findings uncovered by the Human Engineering Laboratories, they discovered that, vocabulary, more than any other factor yet known, predicts financial success. New words make us better thinkers as well as communicators. What better reason for beginning right now to extend your vocabulary？But how？
Hybrid (杂交产生的) corn combines the best qualities of several varieties to ensure maximum productivity. A hybrid approach to vocabulary should, in the same way, ensure maximum results. That's why you should use the CPD formula.
Through Context. When students in a college class were asked what should be done when they came across an unknown word in their reading, 84percent said, "Look it up in the dictionary. "If you do, however, you short-circuit the very mental processes needed to make your efforts most productive.
But there's another reason. Suppose someone asks you what the word "fast" means. You answer, "speedy or swift". But does it mean that in such context as "fast color "or" fast friend"？And if a horse is fast, is it securely tied or galloping at top speed？It could be either. It all depends. On the dictionary？No, on the context. After all, there are over twenty different meanings for "fast" in the dictionary. But the dictionary doesn't tell you which meaning is intended. That's why it makes such good sense to begin with context.
Through Word Parts. Now for the next step. Often unfamiliar words contain one or more parts, which, if recognized, provide definite help with meaning. Take the word "monolithic" for example. Try to separate the parts. There is the prefix mono-, meaning "one", and the root-lith, meaning "stone". Finally, there's the suffix-ic, meaning "consisting of". Those three parts add up to this definition："consisting of one stone".
To speed up your use of word parts, you will be introduced to the fourteen most important words in the English language. The prefix and root elements in those few words are found in over 14, 000words. With those amazingly useful shortcuts, you can build up vocabulary, not at a snail's pace, one word at a time, but in giant leaps, up to a thousand words at a time.
Through the Dictionary. Now you can see why you should consult the dictionary last, not first. You've looked carefully at the context. You've looked for familiar word parts. Now you play Sherlock Homes. In light of context or word parts, you try to solve a mystery. What exactly does that strange word mean? Only after you go through the mental gymnastics to come up with a tentative （不确定的） definition should you open the dictionary to see if you're right.
You are now personally involved. Your increased interest will lead to a better memory of both word and meaning. It also encourages your development of the habits needed to accelerate your progress. And when you see in black and white the definition you had expected, what a feeling of accomplishment is yours. In that way, the CPD Formula provides the exact approaches for maximum effectiveness.
Well, there it is, your new formula-Context, Parts, Dictionary. Use it! The results will be like the money in the bank.
Growing up, we are constantly reminded that young people are heavily affected by technology. We are the“antisocial club”，those who prefer to text our friends in the same room rather than make eye contact with them. And even though never-ending studies reveal to us the extent of our social media addiction, we should at least consider that it's not only our young people's problem any more.
There's the rise of the Instagram mums, who like to post an abundance of cute baby pictures, share their mom feelings along the way and show their wonderful lifestyles. They are the so-called“Facebook mum generation”，a growing group of parents that like to overshare.
While all of this might be fine, and even a little humorous, new research suggests that parents' technology addiction is negatively affecting their children's behavior. According to the study,40%of mothers and 32%of fathers have admitted having some sort of phone addiction. This has led to a significant fall in verbal interactions within families and even a decline in mothers' encouraging their children.
There is no denying that I get annoyed when receiving the words“I'll be with you soon” from a parent, when all I want to do is ask one question. But, at the same time, every day leaving the room to wait until my father is finished with his“serious business”(Farmville),has now become the norm. Whether you want to escape your disturbing children for a bit, or want to stay up late flicking through Twitter, know that wanting to do all of these is normal. We-your children-know how addictive it can be and how difficult it is to switch off. But before telling us to put our phones away at the table or even worse, listing statistics of how damaging social media can be for us, maybe lead by example, considering how much time you spend on the phone and how this is impacting your children and your relationship with us. Maybe in this way we can work on our addiction together.
Asia has long tradition of tea-drinking. And China is no exception.
However, lately more and more Chinese people are turning to a different drink. Coffee has become an increasingly popular choice of Chinese people living abroad and in the country's huge cities. It is also a popular crop among those living in the mountains of southern Yunnan Province.
In big cities such as Beijing, coffee shops seem to be on nearly every major street corner. These shops are not just selling drinks from Starbucks, the world-famous coffee company. Coffee businesses from South Korea, Taiwan, HongKong and Britain are also operating in China.
Tea-drinking is steeped in the culture and traditions of many countries, like China and Japan. But is that changing? Are young people from Asia now choosing a cup of coffee instead of tea?
BeiBei Su is from China. She has been living in the United States for the past eight years. Before that, she lived in Italy for two years. Ms. Su says she likes tea better than coffee. But she adds that may not be true among the young generation in China. Many young Chinese people drink coffee socially —when meeting with friends. Yang Lin lives in the U.S. but comes from an area in China famous for growing tea. She used to only drink tea while in China. But now, she says, she drinks both and for different reasons.
Yang Lin says that drinking coffee for her is a social event. She and her co-workers like to sit in a cafe and talk over a cup of coffee. Voyo is another Chinese woman who now lives in Washington, D.C. She says that after moving to the U.S. her tastes changed. We would call her a coffee convert, someone who now chooses to drink coffee.
With more people drinking coffee, many see an economic(经济的) opportunity for Chinese-grown beans. China-grown coffee could be a money-maker even if most of the coffee on sale in China is imported(进口的).
Facebook and other social media companies should make children aware that their online activity is monitored by their parent or carer, under a code to improve child Internet safety in the UK.
Turning off the "like" function, and limiting data collection and geolocation tools on popular platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, are among a 16-point list of recommendations for age-appropriate design released by the Information Commisioner's Office (ICO).
It said some techniques, which platforms employ to encourage users to use them, including Facebook "likes", should not be used to try to keep under-18s online for longer. Other recommendations under the ICO's code of practice for Internet companies, which platforms would be responsible for carrying out, include:
*Limiting how children's personal data is collected, used and shared by social media companies.
*Making "high privacy" the default (默认) setting for children using social media platforms unless there is a convincing reason not to.
*Requiring social media companies to show that all staff involved in the design and development of services likely to be used by children obey the code of practice.
*Introducing age checks on platforms or treating all users as if they were children.
Companies that do not stick to the code could face fines of up to 4% of their global turnover, around $1.6 bn for Facebook. The consultation ended at the end of May, and the final version of the code of practice, regarded as a new international standard is expected to come into effect by 2020.
Elizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, said, "This is the connected generation. The Internet and all its wonders have been a part of their everyday lives. We shouldn't have to prevent our children from being able to use it, but we must demand that they should be protected when they do. This code does that."
The ICO sought views from parents and children while developing the code of practice, as well as those of designers, app developers and academics.
The NSPCC children's charity said social networks had "continually failed to put child safety first in their design", resulting in "bad consequences". "That's why it is vital this code requires children to be given the highest privacy settings by default and forces companies to act in the best interests of children," the NSPCC's associate head of child safety online Andy Burrows said.
Lady Beeban Kidron, the chair of the 5Rights Foundation and who led the debate about the creation of the recommendations, said, "For too long we have failed to recognize children's rights and needs online. I firmly believe in the power of technology to transform lives, be a force for good and rise to the challenge of promoting the rights and safety of our children. But in order to fulfill that role, it must consider the best interests of children, not simply its own commercial interests."
Of the estimated 2, 224 passengers and crew aboard the Titanic when it struck an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, a mere 700 people lived on. Here is one story of the Titanic survivors whose stories are still haunting more than a century after the ship's sinking, revealing the true facts of the disaster.
A junior wireless officer aboard the Titanic, Harold Bride was one of the two people responsible for sending SOS messages to nearby ships, thus allowing the Carpathian to rescue the Titanic survivors.
He and another man on duty, Jack Phillips, raced to send SOS signals to nearby ships－but as the communications specialists, they knew that the closest, the Carpathian, would likely not arrive until alter the Titanic sank. They worked wildly until Captain Edward Smith came and told them they were relieved of duty；the ship had nearly lost power, and only two lifeboats remained.
They made a run for Collapsible B and were just getting it into the water when a wave swept across the deck (甲板), throwing both Harold Bride and the upturned boat into the ocean.
Bride and 15 others struggled onto the waterlogged, sinking Collapsible B and survived until other lifeboats collected them and conveyed them to the Carpathian.
Once aboard the Carpathian, Bride got back to work and began helping the ship's wireless officer send messages from the other Titanic survivors.
When the Carpathian made land, Bride had to be carried ashore: he had injured one foot in the plunge into the ocean, and the other was frostbitten after a night in the Atlantic's icy waters.
My mother and her best friend Martha were in their mid-80s when they saw each other for the last time.
They had been friends since they were 18, both of them students at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. My mother was the dreamy one, who loved to read and dream herself as an actress. Martha, however, was more practical. I'm not sure what they had in common except that they trusted each other, helped each other, and stayed in touch even when life separated them.
Martha spent most of her adulthood in Atlanta, where she raised three kids. My mother, meanwhile, raised eight children, and moved many times during her financially and emotionally troubled marriage, which included several months living with her family in seedy motels.
I sensed my mother hid her troubles from most people, but not from Martha, and I knew from my mother that Martha carried her own sorrows. Their willingness to share sorrow without judgment was part of what bond them.
The best friendships can also withstand (抵挡) periods without communication. They didn't communicate a lot — this was before the ease of emails and texts and yet I knew they were always in each other's minds.
One day in 2008, 1 drove my mother to Martha's house for their final visit. The moment my mother hobbled (蹒跚) into Martha's house, they threw their arms around each other and went to sit out in the garden, laughing until they were dizzy. I snapped a photo, and spotted something joyous, young and free on my mom, which existed only in the presence of her best friend.
Two years later, my mother died. Of all the people I had to tell, Martha was the hardest because I felt it erased her past. After that, we lost touch. But I still think of her and how that friendship strengthened my mother.
In the middle of the 19th century, a fever dream of riches beyond measure drew countless explorers west to the mountains of central California. Although the gold rush ended up being a bust for many who sought a fortune, some of those explorers discovered a natural treasure that would draw permanent settlers to Yosemite Valley in the following decade.
Vast wilderness, beautiful mountains, countless waterfalls, and abundant wildlife drew Native Americans to Yosemite roughly 10, 000 years ago. The first non-native tourists arrived in the mid-1850s after reports from gold seekers told of an area of breathtaking beauty that no words were able to describe.
Fortunately, some of Yosemite's earliest settlers recognized that Yosemite's natural beauty and resources needed to be preserved for future generations. In the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a grant to protect Yosemite permanently, thus making it the nation's first land to be dedicated to recreation and setting the stage for what would become the national park system.
One of Yosemite's earliest ambassadors was Scottish-American naturalist and writer John Muir. After living in Yosemite for a few years, he helped define its proposed boundaries. He also wrote articles that helped lead to its official title as a National Park in 1890. He later co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892 to advocate for its continued preservation and protection.
Located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in central California, Yosemite National Park runs across nearly 748, 000 acres, almost 95％of which is wilderness. Around four million visitors come to Yosemite each year to camp, hike its miles of trails, climb its rock formations, and photograph its impressive sights. Are you ready to visit Yosemite National Park? Which of Yosemite's sights would you most like to experience?
If you have failed in the past to try to make big changes in life, try again now, one tiny step at a time.
Every year it's the same. As December comes to an end, you think about the new year and all the ways you want to improve your life. But as you start to write down your hopes for the new year, you think about the last year. You excitedly write down all the changes you are going to make, but by the end of January those ideas get lost in your busy life.
Here's a suggestion: Forget the too big, hard-to-achieve goals and just think about the small ones. "We often think that we have to do everything in big steps. Even though it's so hard for us to reach it. " said Robert Maurer, who recently wrote the book One Small Step Can Change Your Life. "What we try to do is to begin with such a small step that we can't find any excuse not to do it. "
"Kaizen", a Japanese word, is used to mean to change behavior and attitudes(态度). During World War Ⅱ, American factory managers were able to increase productivity by trying small continuous improvements instead of sudden changes. After the war, the idea was brought to a rebuilding(重建) Japan. It made Japan develop fast. The Japanese called it "Kaizen", which means" improvement".
Maurer studied the idea and did some experiments with it: "Kaizen" could possibly help people succeed in doing everything.
Traffic jam is a problem for cities around the world, with some looking to electric
scooters(踏板车) to ease the problem, and others to AI-enabled traffic lights. But one company believes the solution is to build a network of driver-less higher-speed pods(吊舱) that ride around cities suspended(悬挂) from a steel track.
In June, Belarus-based u Sky Transport opened a 400-meter test line in Sharjah( 沙加). From the outside, the electrically powered pods are white while the inside is designed to feel like a first-class airline suite, including mood lighting, music and floor-to-ceiling windows. With two padded armchairs and two fordable seats, the vehicle being tested can carry up to four passengers. A complete city-wide network could support 10, 000 passengers per hour, uSky says, with vehicles at present able to travel up to 150 kilometers per hour.
The company says its aim is to free up roads and ground spaces that could be used for greenery, walkways and public leisure spaces." The ground space is completely over-saturated, and people are tired of traffic jams. People are tired of emissions," says Oleg Zaretskiy, uSky Transport's CEO.
According to uSky, while one kilometer of subway can cost up to $ 150 million to construct, this system costs around $ 10 million. And by using less structural materials, it reduces carbon emissions. The company has also developed a similar technology to transport goods containers, carrying up to 48 tons at a top speed of 90 kilometers per hour.
Although she cautions that it would require careful planning to avoid traffic jam in a busy city-wide network, Haag believes it could still be a widely adopted solution if the promises of improved mobility and sustainability(持续性) are kept.
Zaretskiy says u Sky is also looking beyond Sharjah. "We can see that the most promising areas for us are in the Middle East and Asia- places where there is natural growth of population, such as India and Pakistan," he says. Haag adds that pods are more suited to countries where public transportation is under-developed and there is increasing demand for mobility solutions. The company hopes to finalize its first commercial contract(商业合同) by the end of the year in Sharjah, Zaretskiy adds, meaning u Sky pods could be running properly by 2024.
Sometimes, you just can't help it. Maybe you're watching a sad movie, or thinking about the friend who moved away. Next thing you know, you feel pressure in your throat, your eyes are watering, and you have tears running down your cheeks.
According to Ad Vingerhoets, a professor of psychology at Tilburg University, in the Netherlands, who is one of the few scientists in the world who have studied crying, there are three types of tears. Basal tears are the first type. They act as a protective barrier between the eye and the rest of the world. Next are reflex tears. They wash your eyes clean when something gets in them. Finally, there are emotional tears. "These are released in response to emotional states, "explains Vingerhoets.
Scientists believe crying has something to do with how humans developed and learnt to depend on each other. "Humans are very complex social creatures, "says Lauren Bylsma, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania. "It seems that tears serve to arouse help and support from others, "she says.
Vingerhoets agrees, "I think that the reason why humans shed tears(流眼泪) has something to do with our childhood, "he says. "that's the time when we are still dependent on adults for love and protection and care. The major advantage of emotional tears is that you can target them at a specific person. "Vingerhoets says this ability could have come in handy in prehistoric times, when humans were living among dangerous animals. Tears were a safer way to get attention. "In this case, it is better to use a silent signal to ask for help, " he says.
Vingerhoets and Byhma do frequent studies to better understand why humans cry. According to Byhma, there is still much more to discover. "It's surprising, "she says, "How much we still don't know. "
Self-driving cars have been backed by the hope that they will save lives by getting involved in fewer crashes with fewer injuries and deaths than human-driven cars. But so far, most comparisons between human drivers and automated vehicles have been unfair.
Crash statistics for human-driven cars are gathered from all sorts of driving situations, and on all types of roads. However, most of the data on self-driving cars' safety have been recorded often in good weather and on highways, where the most important tasks are staying in the car's own lane and not getting too close to the vehicle ahead. Automated cars are good at those tasks, but so are humans.
It is true that self-driving cars don't get tired, angry, frustrated or drunk. But neither can they yet react to uncertain situations with the same skill or anticipation of an attentive human driver, nor do they possess the foresight to avoid potential perils. They largely drive from moment to moment, rather than think ahead to possible events literally down the road.
To a self-driving car, a bus full of people might appear quite similar to an uninhabited corn field. Indeed, deciding what action to take in an emergency is difficult for humans, but drivers have sacrificed themselves for the greater good of others. An automated system's limited understanding of the world means it will almost never evaluate a situation the same way a human would. And machines can't be programmed in advance to handle every imaginable set of events.
Some people may argue that the promise of simply reducing the number of injuries and deaths is enough to support driverless cars. But experience from aviation(航空) shows that as new automated systems are introduced, there is often an increase in the rate of disasters.
Therefore, comparisons between humans and auto-mated vehicles have to be performed carefully. To fairly evaluate driverless cars on how well they fulfill their promise of improved safety, it's important to ensure the data being presented actually provide a true comparison. After all, choosing to replace humans with automation has more effects than simply a one-for-one exchange.
