Dear SJ,

    Losing a best friend is never easy.

    Your problem, is not just that you miss your best friend, it is that you feel empty and lost without her friendship.

    It takes time to get over a lost, and during that time, your mind is getting used to a new way of being. This is usually a good thing, even if it feels like a bad thing.

    Now that you are on your own, you are being forced to learn to be by yourself and to rely upon your own inner voice for guidance. I am sure that this feels strange for you, but if you can hang on for a bit longer, it may work to your advantage.

    Best friends are cool, but it is important to know the difference between missing someone and being too independent upon them.

    At your age, girls do tend to stick together and having a good boyfriend may not yet be the better choice. Your friend is leaving you, her best friend, for a boyfriend. Boyfriends are completely different from best friends. The distinction is that boyfriends come and go, while girl friends often stay in your life throughout high school, and even afterwards. It is a completely different sort of bond.

    I suggest that you take advantage of this period in your life to expand your horizons. Enjoy the freedom of having no best friend for a while, and hang with the group. By the time your former best friend breaks up with her boyfriend, you will be in a completely different place, a far better place.

    And, by the way, next time you feel empty and lost, try to write about it in a diary. In several months, you will look back and read it with curiosity about yourself. “Who was I then, and what could I have been thinking?”

    The Best Time to Visit These Pricey Destinations

    If you're going to shell out on a vacation, then you might as well do it right. With that in mind, we've asked a few experts for tips on when to visit some of the most expensive places across the globe. Here's what they had to say.

    Botswana

    Hotels in Botswana are second only to Dubai in terms of average cost per person, per night, at around $257. To make the most of your time there, consider an autumn visit, suggests Sarah Faith of Responsible Travel. “The heat peaks in October—this is the best time to go and see wild animals as they gather around in the Okavango Delta”, says Faith. While wildlife viewing is incredible in Botswana, there's much to enjoy away from the wilderness, too.”

    New York City

    New York is the second-most expensive holiday destination overall and the most expensive place to dine out, with an average meal for two costing around $67. Garrett, the CEO of Discover New York, suggests, “October and June have gorgeous weather, so outdoor activities are a good choice, with sailing, in-depth neighborhood walks and biking.” For great value, she advises traveling in January and February, when the city offers tons of indoor activities, from art galleries and Broadway shows to indoor sports events and thousands of dining options.

    Sydney

    With its incredible surfing beaches, dining scene and friendly locals, Sydney is always a favorite of travelers. It's also expensive. Generally, the shoulder seasons (fall and spring in the U.S.) have the most comfortable weather and fewer crowds than the December-to-February high season. But some months have particular appeal, according to Stuart Rigg, Australian travel specialist for Southern Crossings. April, for example, falls into the low season, which means you'll find hotel deals along with weather that's typically “very pleasant,” Rigg says. “Sydney also has some great events during this low season period,” he adds.

    London

    Petulia Melideo, who runs Context's London walking tours, advises booking well in advance for lower hotel rates, and suggests a wintry visit. “November is a great time for London. The weather is still tolerable—and if it gets too chilly, there are plenty of cozy pubs to pop into,” she says. Other good times to visit include June, which means fewer tourists.

    The 90-minute documentary, Amazing China, which is co-produced by China Central Television and China Film Corp, opened in theaters nationwide on Friday.

    The film focuses on the major achievements the country has made since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012 under Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era（时代）.

    The documentary focuses on key Chinese infrastructure（基础设施）projects in aerospace, high-speed rail, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the world's largest single-dish telescope FAST.

    The documentary also informs viewers that seven of the world's 10 biggest sea ports are now in China. And that the country now has the longest high-speed rail network in the world.

    Speaking of the significance of the new documentary for the Chinese, La Peikang, the head of China Film Corp, says: “It's not only about showing the achievements, but presenting the status quo of China.

    “The film will help people to know our country better. The moving stories behind the Chinese miracles reflect the people's endeavors and spirit.”

A good documentary is usually a vivid portrayal（描绘）of individual stories rather than slogans, and Amazing China is no exception.

    One of the most touching moments in the film is probably footage from an interview of Nan Rendong, often called the “father of FAST”.

    Amazing China also focuses on common people.

    In the film, you see a young Tibetan woman volunteering in rural areas to help people poverty.

    The movie shows that their work is not easy, but their spirit and unwavering belief make it possible to achieve their targets. And, they are just representative of the many Chinese who work as hard.

    China is the world's second-largest economy. But the country still faces “the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life”, as stated in the CPC's 19th National Congress in November. However, as this cinematic production proves, the documentary is a good way for country to boost self-confidence and to aspire for a brighter future.

What Is Social Media?

    Not many people ask the question “what is social media?” anymore. Social media has been around for years now, and most of us would probably describe it as any Internet medium that can be used to share information with others, including blogs, forums, applications, games, websites and other stuff.

    But let me ask you this: what exactly is so “social” about sitting before a computer setting up a blog and blogging for days without anybody reading it, or scrolling through your Facebook feed of information from 500 friends you barely know? If you ask me, it can be way more anti-social than anything.

    Social media is not a “thing”. It's not just Facebook, WeChat and Weibo It's more of a frame of mind and a state of being. It's about how you use it to improve your relationships with other people in real life. However, we tend to rely on technology and social media so much that it can actually tear apart those relationships.

    Social media isn't about numbers. When someone says “social media,” web giants like Facebook, Twitter, WeChat and Weibo instantly pop into our minds, often because they have more updates, more friends, more followers, more links, more photos, more everything. We tend to get distracted by the number game, thinking “volume, volume, volume”. It's led to a lot of meaningless noise and information overload. As the old saying goes, quality over quantity is usually the way to go. So, social media is not just about lots of people aimlessly pushing around lots of information.

    Social media needs to have an “IRL” factor-an Internet slang standing for “In Real Life”. It should affect how a person thinks or acts offline. After all, social media shouldn't be an end in itself. It was built to enhance your actual social life, in real life. Take for example an event that a person attends because they are invited by the host on Facebook through a Facebook event page. Something like that definitely has the IRL factor. Likewise, a WeChat photo that touches someone so much that they feel the need to bring it up and describe it to someone else during a dinner date also has the IRL factor.

    So, is it really considered to be social to spend an hour scrolling through photos on Weibo, with no thoughtful or emotional effect and no interaction with others? In fact, there is no wall between real life and Internet life where true social media exists. Social media is not a specific place on the Internet or just a thing you use to see what other people are doing. It's all about creating meaningful experiences and relationships wherever you may be.

    Feel nervous on the first day of school? You are not alone! Here is some advice on how to make you feel comfortable.

    Get ready the night before. Plan out what you're going to wear and what you will need for class. Then get a nice, long sleep. There's nothing worse than looking terrible on the first day of school. If you don't want to oversleep, set an alarm on your phone, or alarm clock to wake you up on time.

    Eat a good breakfast. You'd be surprised at how much happier and more focused you'll be after eating a good breakfast. Have a healthy breakfast. A rich breakfast may make you feel lazy and sugar rich foods may affect your ability to stay focused.

    Decide whether to take the bus, walk, or have a ride from your parents. It's your call. If you want something familiar, take a bus ride and sit next to someone you already know. However, if you are really nervous, you can ask your mom or dad to drive you to school, but expect that there will be heavy traffic.

    Smile and be friendly! You want to seem easy to get along with and that you had the best summer. Smile and be friendly. Instead of coming up as a boring person, compliment people. Everyone needs a little confidence and is happy when praised on the first day of school.

In the past decade ocean oxygen levels have taken a dive — an alarming trend that is linked to climate change, says Andreas Oschlies, an oceanographer at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Germany, whose team tracks ocean oxygen levels worldwide. "We were surprised by the intensity of the changes we saw, how rapidly oxygen is going down in the ocean and how large the effects on marine ecosystems are," he says. It is no surprise to scientists that warming oceans are losing oxygen, but the scale of the drop calls for urgent attention. Oxygen levels in some tropical regions have dropped by an astonishing 40 percent in the last 50 years, some recent studies reveal. Levels have dropped less significantly elsewhere, with an average loss of 2 percent globally.

A warming ocean loses oxygen for two reasons; First, the warmer a liquid becomes, the less gas it can hold. That is why carbonated drinks(碳酸饮料) go flat faster when left in the sun. Second, as polar sea ice melts, it forms a layer of water above colder, more salty sea waters. This process creates a sort of lid that can keep currents from mixing surface water down to deeper depths. And because all oxygen enters the surface, less mixing means less of it at depth.

Ocean animals large and small, however, respond to even slight changes in oxygen by seeking refuge(避难所) in higher oxygen zones or by adjusting behavior, Oschlies and others in his field have found. These adjustments can expose animals to new predators or force them into food-scarce regions. Climate change already poses serious problems for marine life, such as ocean acidification, but deoxygenation is the most pressing issue facing sea animals today, Oschlies says. After all, he says, "they all have to breathe."

Aside from food web problems, animals face various other physiological challenges as their bodies adjust to lower oxygen levels. Chinese shrimp(虾) move their tails less vigorously to preserve energy in lower oxygen environments. Some creatures, such as jellyfishes, are more tolerant of low oxygen than others are. But all animals will feel the impact of deoxygenation because they all have evolved their oxygen capacity for a reason, says Oschlies. "Any drop in oxygen is going to damage survivability and performance," he says.