WeChat is a social mobile application with voice and text messaging timeline and several social features like ‘Message in a Bottle'. WeChat, a popular instant messaging tool run by Tencent Holdings, aims to help users access mobile services without downloading separate apps, which experts said may challenge the business of smartphone app distributors such Apple Store.

This new feature, named ‘Mini Programs', allows WeChat users to find a variety of services such as ticket buying by scanning a QR (quick-response) code, saving them the trouble of installing a number of different apps on smart devices, according to the transcript of a speech by Zhang Xiaolong, Tencent's senior executive vice president, on Wednesday. The new function is expected to come online on January 9.

    Zhang, known as the father of WeChat, emphasized that ‘Min Programs' is not a mobile app distributing function.

    Still, experts and app developers said that the rollout (推出) of ‘Mini Programs' on WeChat will erode the market share of app distributors like Apple Store in China.

     “‘Mini Programs' will attract lots of start-ups, because a program based on WeChat can help them build up businesses at much lower costs,” a Shanghai-based app developer, told the Global Times Wednesday.

    If a start-up wants to promote its business via a separate application, it has to hire a special team to develop two different apps— one each for iOS and Android.

    Lsiunched in 2011, WeChat has evolved to include services such as ‘Order Taxi', ‘Food Delivery', e-commerce and payments from just an instant messaging app.

    Friends are important to children．Research shows that children who have no friends can suffer from difficulties later in life．Friendship provides children with more than just fun．In making friends，children learn how to get in touch with others and solve problems．Having friends even does good to children for they can help each other during class.

    If the parents are concerned about whether their children make many friends，what matters is that the child is comfortable and happy with his friends．Parents need to understand the steps children take in building friendships．First of all，be a friend to your child．Good friendships start at home．Children begin to develop the necessary ability to go out and meet others through getting along with their parents. Greet the child warmly and let him know you are glad to see him．Children learn a lot from how their parents stay with them and other people.

    Teach children how to solve conflicts(争端)．Being able to work out conflicts is an important skill in getting along with others．If parents know the children have a conflict，let them work it out on their own．Only step in if it is really necessary，for example，an argument is getting physical.

    Give children chances to practice staying together．Have children play games that require cooperation. For example，races are fun and provide plenty of practice in teamwork．“In what ways didn't you work well together? What might you do differently next time?” For these ideas，see books such as Games Book by Telly Orlick and Team—Building by Alanna Jones.

    Encourage children to show thanks to others．The parents can encourage children to do this by setting the example for them．

    There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.

    I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.

    It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.

    From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.

    The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.

    I looked forward to the return journey.

    Running is often tiring and a lot of hard work, but nothing beats the feeling you get after finishing a long workout around the track.

    But while it's long been believed that endorphins (脑内啡）—chemicals in the body that cause happiness — are behind the so-called “runner's high”，a study suggested that there may be more to this phenomenon than we previously knew.

    According to a recent study published by a group of scientists from several German universities, a group of chemicals called endocannabinoids (内源性大麻素）may actually be responsible for this familiar great feeling.

    To test this theory, the scientists turned to mice.

    Both mice and humans release high levels of endorphins and endocannabinoids after exercise, along with many other chemicals. After exercising on running wheels, the mice seemed happy and relaxed and displayed no signs of anxiety.

    But after being given a drug to block their endorphins the change. However, when their endocannabinoids were block with a different drug, their runner's high symptoms seemed to fade.

    “The long-held notion of endorphins being responsible for the runner's high is false. Endorphins are effective pain relievers, but only when it comes to the pain in your body and muscles you feel after working out,”Patrick Lucas Austin wrote on science blog Lifchacker.

    Similar studies are yet to be carried out on humans, but it's already well known that exercise is a highly effective way to get rid of stress or anxiety.

    The UK's National Health Service even prescribes (开药方)exercise to patients who are suffering from depression.

    “Being depressed can leave you feeling low in energy, which might put you off being more active. Regular exercise can boost your mood if you have depression, and it's especially useful for people with mild to moderate (中等的）depression,” it wrote on its website.

    It seems like nothing can beat that feeling we get after a good workout, even if we don t fully understand where it comes from. At least if we're feeling down, we know that all we have to do is put on our running shoes.

    Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote hundreds of poems during her lifetime. She was known around the world for using poetry to increase understanding about black culture in America.

    Her poems described conditions among the poor, racial inequality and drug use in the black community. She also wrote poems about the struggles of black women. But her skill was more than her ability to write about struggling black people. She was an expert at the language of poetry. She combined traditional European poetry styles with the African American experience.

    In her early poetry, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about the South Side of Chicago. The South Side of Chicago is where many back people live. In her poems, the South Side is called Bronzeville. It was A Street in Bronzeville that gained the attention of literary experts in 1945. Critics praised her poetic skill and her powerful descriptions of the black experience during the time. The Bronzeville poems were her first published collection.

    In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She won the prize for her second book of poems called Annie Allen. Annie Allen is a collection of poetry about the life of a Bronzeville girl as a daughter, a wife and mother. She experiences loneliness, loss, death and being poor. Ms. Brooks said that winning the prize changed her life.

    Her next work was a novel written in 1953 called Maud Martha, Maud Martha received little notice when it was first published. But now it is considered an important work by some critics. Its main ideas about the difficult life of many women are popular among female writers today.

    In some of her poems, Gwendolyn Brooks described how what people see in life is affected by who they are. One example is this poem, Corners on the Curing Sky.

    By the end of the 1960s, Gwendolyn Brooks' poetry expanded from the everyday experiences of people in Bronzeville. She wrote about a wider world and dealt with important political issues.

Throughout human history, there is a bottomless well of people who made great contributions so that we can now enjoy a better life. The following are, just four of those great minds.

Joseph Lister(1827—1912)

English surgeon(外科医生) Lister pioneered the use of antiseptic(防腐的)and antiseptic surgery which greatly improved survival rates from major surgery. For this, he is often referred to as the father of modern surgery as his use of antiseptic greatly increased the kinds of operations that could be carried out.

Maximilian Bircher-Benner(1867—1939)

Bircher-Benner was a pioneering Swiss physician and nutritionist. He advocated the eating of raw fruit and vegetables and discouraged eating meat and heavily processed foods. Although he was questioned by the scientific establishment, his healthy eating ideas took off and helped create a diet of processed bread, meat and carbs (碳水化合物). The healthy eating trends he established have continued to grow in popularity with more scientific research showing the health benefits of such a diet.

Paracelsus(1493—1541)

Swiss-German physician and leading health reformer. Paracelsus founded the discipline of toxicology(毒理学)and pioneered the use of chemicals in treating patients. He emphasized practical experience. He was also one of the first doctors to note illness can be psychological in nature.

Peter Mansfield(1933—2017)

English physicist who with Peter Lauterbur helped to develop magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)which gets doctors to see inside a patient's body without needing to cut it open. With MRI, doctors can see far more than with x-ray, which is limited to bones. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2003.