Travel Light

    Getting away for a short time always seems like a great idea—until you have to pack. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}The rule is: pack light. Here are some tips to help you pack.

    Make a list. Think of what you need from your head to your toes.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} When you've done this once, it'll be easier next time.

    2). Consider buying small-size samples of shampoo, toothpaste, and other items at your local drugstore. You can reuse the plastic containers next time you go away too.

    3). Choosing which clothes to bring is probably the hardest packing decision to make. Think once again from head to toe — hat, shirts, jeans, sneakers, etc. Once you've picked out what you want to bring, think carefully. Do you really need that extra pair of jeans? If so, fine.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Don't try to fool yourself. You are the one who will be left holding the bag.

    4). Weather is an important factor in your packing. If it's cold, you could wear a jacket, a sweater, a regular shirt, and a T-shirt. Putting them on will keep you warm. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Remember how much easier it will be to carry your bag! As for shoes, you may want to call ahead to see if dress shoes are necessary. If so, one pair will be enough, along with one pair of comfortable shoes. Remember that it is you who have been invited somewhere, not your things. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} So, do it right—pack light.

    Many people think only professionals—engineers, accountants, teachers, etc.—have careers.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Even if you've never had a paid job, you still have a career. Your career is the sum of your life and work. It includes all your activities and experiences. Your schooling, your volunteer work, and even your relationships with your family are all big parts of your career.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    During your career, you will have a variety of jobs, occupations and roles. People used to think of a job as full-time, permanent, paid work done for an employer at a work site. But in our changing world, a job is a set of duties or tasks. It can be paid or unpaid{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Even someone who is self-employed has a job.

    An occupation is a group of jobs with similar responsibilities that require a common set of skills.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Programmers may have permanent or temporary jobs working for specific employers, be self-employed, work full-time or part-time, be paid for their work or volunteer their services. They may change jobs or hold several jobs at one time but, until they change the type of duties or tasks they perform, they are still computer programmers.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} We all play a number of roles in our lives and our roles often change over time. For example, Kris works four days a week as a receptionist in a clinic and takes evening courses in social work. She also sews gymnastic wear for her neighbor who sells it at summer markets. Now Kris has at least three roles.

A. A role is a part you play.

B. Actually everyone has a career.

C. In other words, your career is your life story.

D. For example, computer programmer is an occupation.

E. As a matter of fact, a job is different from a role in some way.

F. It can be completed at a work site, at home, or somewhere else.

G. The following is about your work, your family, and your life story.

Ways to protect eyes from screens

    Too much screen time may cause serious eye strain(眼疲劳) and even a sharp decline of eyesight. That's a big problem a lot of people are faced with nowadays, especially those who work on a computer. The following tips may be helpful.

Get regular eye tests.

    Experts recommend having a comprehensive eye exam every year to detect (探测) problems before they develop. During this test, you should tell the doctor how often you use your phone and your computer. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Tell your doctor about it, and your eyes can be tested more accurately at that distance.

Give your eyes space

     {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Studies on computer-related eye strain suggest that screens should be no closer than 40cm from your face. If this makes it hard for you to read, consider increasing the size of the text rather than moving the screen closer.

Take breaks

    This may not always be practical if you're quite busy, but it's important not to stare directly at a screen for too long.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#} While surveys have shown that many office workers take no more than half an hour a day away from their computer, it's recommended that you take a 15-minute break after every two hours spent at your screen.

     {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Staring at a screen continuously for hours on end may make it difficult for you to focus. To avoid this, many eye experts recommend the “20-20-20 rule” --looking away from your phone/computer screen every 20 minutes and focusing on an object at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. The science behind his trick is that looking at objects at a distance relaxes the focusing muscle in the eye.  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

AlphaZero--an Updated Model of AI

    Soon after Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, lost his rematch against IBM's Deep Blue in 1997, the short window of human-machine chess competition slammed shut forever. Unlike humans, machines keep getting faster, and today a smartphone chess app can be stronger than Deep Blue. However, as people see with the new AlphaZero system, machine dominance has not ended the historical role of chess as a laboratory of cognition.

    Much as airplanes don't flap their wings like birds, machines don't produce chess moves like humans do. Based on a generic algorithm (算法), AlphaZero incorporates deep learning and other AI techniques like Monte Carlo tree search to play against itself to develop its own chess knowledge. Unlike the traditional program Stockfish, which employs many preset evaluation functions as well as opening and endgame moves, AlphaZero starts out knowing only the rules of chess, with no preset human strategies. In a few hours, it plays more games against itself than have been recorded in human chess history. It teaches itself the best way to play, reevaluating the relative values of the pieces. It quickly becomes strong enough to win 28, draw 72, and lose none in a victory over Stockfish. Since AlphaZero can program itself, this superior understanding allows it to outclass the world's top traditional program despite calculating far fewer positions per second. It's the typical example of the cliché, "work smarter, not harder".

    AlphaZero shows that machines can be the experts, not merely expert tools. Explainability is still an issue—it's not going to put chess coaches out of business just yet. But the knowledge it produces is information humans can learn from. AlphaZero is surpassing humans in a profound and useful way, and researchers are working on transferring the knowledge acquired from AlphaZero to other fields.

    Machine learning systems aren't perfect. Even though great progresses have been achieved, AI algorithms are still struggling on open problems such as computer vision, natural language understanding... There will be cases where an AI will fail to detect exceptions to its rules. Therefore, as Kasparov writes, "We must work together to combine our strengths. I know better than most people what it's like to compete against a machine. Instead of raging against them, it's better if we're all on the same side."

Who's in control of your life? Who's pulling your strings? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us. As Oscar Wilde puts it, most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry (模仿), their passions a quotation.”

So when people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this good feeling like a drug一we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their fix (成瘾物), we worsen our own existence to get our own constant fix of approval.

But just as with any drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom-the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot control what other people think. People have their own schedule and they come with their own baggage and, in the end, they're more interested in themselves than in you. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Everyone has different way of thinking, and people change their opinions all the time. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted and probably pleasing no one in the process.

So how can we take back control? {#blank#}4{#/blank#}We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values-not values imposed from the outside by others, but innate values which come from within. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others, we will live a more authentic, effective, purposeful and happy life.

A. I's the inner self born in our mind that is keeping us under control.

B. Furthermore, if we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand.

C. As a matter of fact, people sometimes fail to understand who they are and where they are going.

D. For the most of us, it's other people-society, colleagues, friends, family or our community.

E.I think there's only one way-make a conscious decision to stop caring what other people think.

F. Therefore, we are so eager for the approval of others that we live unhappy and limited lives, failing to do the things we really want to.