Welcome to the Electronic Village to explore new ways of language teaching and learning.

    It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and Maggie and I were returning from our walk through the woods. We were only a couple of blocks from home when I spotted a cell phone and a credit card sitting on the road. We took them home. We always find amazing things on the street and she looks upon them as a movable feast-a chicken wing here or a barbecue rib there.

    I found another cell phone a few years back, too, and called a number in its phone book. I explained the situation to the guy who answered. He said it was his sister's and that he'd come to pick it up, which he did.

    And that was that. No verbal thank-you, no written thank-you, no “here's a box of chocolates” thank-you.

    I didn't have time to call anyone on my latest found cell phone. I was pouring myself coffee when it started to vibrate(震动) and dance across the kitchen counter.

    “Who's this?” someone asked when I picked up.

    “Who's this?” I countered（反问.“Sarah?”

    She was surprised at my knowing her name until she realized her name was on the credit card. “Could you send them to me?” she asked.

    She lives in Arlington, which is 2 miles from my house.

    “Hmm, no, ”I replied, adding that I thought she could come to get them, and that if I wasn't at home, they would be in my mailbox.

    A day later, when I was out for a run, someone retrieved(取回) them. There wasn't even a piece of paper put in the mailbox with “Thanks” on it. In this age of e-mail and cell phone, there's really no excuse. Years ago, I found something more precious than a $100 bill on the street: a driver's license. I saw  that its owner lived a couple of blocks from me, so I called him up. He asked whether I could slip the license through his front door.

    “I guess I could, ”I replied.

    And that was that.

    The online takeaway industry is growing in China along with the rapid development of the Internet economy. But environmental activists complain that the huge volume of plastic utensils (用具), wrapping and containers presents a great challenge to the environment, and that the heavy use of throwaway wooden chopsticks is reducing natural resources.

    On September 1, the Beijing No.4 Intermediate People's Court accepted a lawsuit filed by the Chongqing Green Volunteer League, an environmental non-government organization (NGO), against the country's three largest food delivery platforms—Baidu Waimai, Ele.me and Meituan. The NGO stated that the companies failed to provide customers with the choice to not receive throwaway plastic utensils along with their food deliveries. Meanwhile, these utensils have created large amounts of rubbish and caused serious ecological damage.

    In response, both Meituan and Ele.me, which acquired Baidu Waimai in August, have promised to take measures to reduce plastic waste. Meituan announced that it would appoint a chief environmental officer to oversee environmental issues from plastic waste and upgrade its smartphone app to provide consumers with the option of ordering food without single-use chopsticks, spoons or napkins. Ele.me followed by offering a similar choice and putting forward a plan to introduce suppliers of degradable (可降解的) plastic utensils to restaurants in the long term.

    Is there a possible way out? Combined efforts by delivery platforms, consumers, restaurants and government departments are required to address plastic waste pollution.

    For platforms, promoting environmental protection and introducing this idea to consumers are a meaningful move. Moreover, in the future, they should also make strict rules on the use of plastic utensils. For example, no more than one plastic bag should be used to wrap soup dishes, and all plastic products should be degradable. It is a long and difficult task for them, and the recent reactions from Ele.me and Meituan are just beginnings.

    Considering most takeout food packaging is thrown into garbage bins and then taken away along with other household garbage, sorting of waste also becomes more important. Government departments could play a major role in this, and by recycling some materials, waste pollution could be reduced and resources saved. Furthermore, there have been growing calls that the government should also invest more in developing degradable plastic products or environmentally friendly alternatives.

    Though consumers enjoy the convenience yet also suffer exposure to the pollution, many of them have paid little attention to the plastic waste problem. Environmental groups suggest that consumers change their habits a little by using their own utensils and dishes and refusing unnecessary plastic containers.

    Once an Englishman named Jack Brown went to Russia for a holiday. He stayed there for several months and then came home again. Some of his friends visited him a few days after he got back. "I had a very dangerous trip while I was in Russia," Jack said to them. "I wanted to see a friend of mine in the country and the bad weather made me very late. So I was still traveling through a forest in a sleigh(雪橇) when the sun went down. It was a long way from my friend's house when about twenty wolves began to follow my sleigh. It was very dark in the forest. There was thick snow on the ground. It was cold, and there were no houses for miles and miles. First I heard the wolves. The noise was terrible! The horses heard them, too. They were frightened and began running faster. Then I saw long, gray forms among the trees, and soon the wolves were near us. They were running very fast, and they didn't seem to get tired like the horses."

    "What did you do?" one of Jack's friends asked.

    "When the wolves got very near," Jack answered, "I put up my gun and shot the first wolf. The sleigh was moving about, but I hit the animal and killed it. Then all the other wolves stopped and ate it, so our sleigh got away from them for a few minutes."

    "Then they finished their meal, and I heard them coming again. The moon was shining brightly on the snow now, and after a few minutes I saw them running among the trees once more. They came nearer again, and then I shot another of them, and the others stopped once more to eat it."

    "The same thing happened again and again, and my horses became more and more tired and ran slower and slower until, after about two hours, only one wolf was still alive and following us."

    "Wasn't it too fat to run?" one of his friends asked.

Young people are spending more time in digital spaces. The Internet allows us to connect with people, share ideas, be creative, have fun and discover new things. Unfortunately, young people also face risks online. Common problems include cyberbullying（网络欺凌）, receiving unwanted messages, seeing images and content you don't want to see, or having your private information or photos shared without your permission.

Safer Internet Day（SID）is organized in the second week of February every year, and over 180 countries take part. The aim is to raise awareness of online issues and make the Internet a safer place. SID invites everyone to be part of a big conversation about online issues. This is particularly important for teenagers because they often experience unpleasant situations online, but they don't always feel they can talk about them.

Cyberbullying is when someone uses the Internet to embarrass, threaten or hurt another person. If you experience cyberbullying, talk to an adult you trust as soon as possible. Don't reply to any messages but save the evidence.

Going online often means spending time alone. When you feel down, social media can make you feel lonelier. Using social media might be related to higher levels of depression. So you need healthy social media use.

Whatever app you use, make sure you know who sees your posts and personal information. Limit what people can see, decide who can comment on your content and thwart other users' comment. It may be illegal to share a photo or video of someone without their permission. The SID's website has advice about what to do if someone shares pictures of you that you feel embarrassed about.

There is still a lot we don't know about how time spent online affects people's well-being. But talking about all the issues helps everyone understand common problems and know how to deal with them.