As computers become all the more popular in China, Chinese people are increasingly relying on computer keyboards to input Chinese characters. But if they use the computer too much, they may end up forgetting the exact strokes （笔画）of each Chinese character when writing on paper. Experts suggest people, especially students, write by hand more.

    Do you write by hand more or type more? In Beijing, students start using a computer as early as primary school. And computer dependence is more wide-spread among university students. Almost all their writings are typed on a computer.

    All the students interviewed say they usually use a computer.

    It's faster and easier to correct if using a computer. And that's why computers are being used more and more often to modern education. But when people are taking stock in computers increasingly, problems appear. "When I'm writing with a pen, I find I often can't remember how to write a character, though I feel I'm familiar with it."

    "I'm not in the mood to write when faced with a pen and paper."

    Many students don't feel this is something to worry about. Now that it's more convenient and efficient to write on a computer, why bother to handwrite?

    Many educators think differently. Shi Liwei, the headmaster of a famous primary school in the capital said "Chinese characters enjoy both practical and aesthetic(审美的) value. But those characters typed with computer keyboards only maintain their practical value. All the artistic beauty of the characters is lost. And handwriting contains the writer's emotion. Through one's handwriting, people can get to know one's thinking and personality.

    Beautiful writing will give people a better first impression of them."

    To encourage students to handwrite more, many primary schools in Beijing have made writing classes compulsory(必修的)and in universities, some professors are asking students to turn in their homework and essays written by hand.

    Mid-afternoon on a particularly busy Tuesday, I took leave of my desk at work and walked into a local Starbucks only to find a space where neither my clients nor my children would ask me to do something.

    Inside, I ran into Kate, a co-worker of mine. The topic of parenthood came up. I complained about how packed my schedule was. From the minute I woke up to the minute I fell asleep, I was constantly in demand and always had someone knocking at the door. But a bit of sadness seemed to come over Kate's face.

    "Well, my daughter's in San Francisco and she doesn't seem to need me at all these days," Kate said. It was in that moment that I realized although I might often feel in high demand, there will come a day when I will actually miss that same stress I then complained about.

    And as our conversation continued, it turned to our children's younger years, with Kate smiling proudly, thinking of the little boy and girl she raised who are now a man and a woman. But I noticed her smile was marked with regret. She explained that she often wondered about what she could have done differently when her children were in their earlier years.

    This got me thinking. Is regret an unfortunate footnote (注脚) to parenthood? With that in mind, I asked six older parents one question: What is your biggest regret from your early days as a parent?

    It turned out that all of them thought they could have done it better. But, each of them also has a strong, healthy relationship with their kids. Whatever regrets their parents might have had about their upbringing, one thing is clear —— it didn't affect them in a meaningful way.

    The bottom line is, we all feel like we could be doing this parenting thing better. And quite clearly, years later, we're still going to look back and wish we tried things differently. But the past can't be changed, and neither should it.

    Most heroes are not super. They don't appear in comic books, on television, or in movies. They just do what they believe needs to be done to make their world a better place. Bike Batman is one of them.

    Bike Batman is a 30-year-old married engineer who lives in Seattle, Washington. He's a cyclist who also buys and sells bikes as a hobby.

    About three years ago, he was looking for a bike for his wife. He found one on Craigslist, a website where people list things they want to sell. As he often does, he also looked at Bike Index, a popular website that allows users to register their bikes and post reports when they're taken. The bike, which he was considering purchasing, clearly matched one reported stolen on Bike Index.

    Then he called the person who claimed to be the bike's owner and arranged to meet him— supposedly to complete the sale. When the two men met, Bike Batman told the thief, “You've got two options. You can wait until a police officer gets here, or you can just get out of here.” You can imagine what the thief did.

    After that first success, Bike Batman developed a safer routine. When he sees questionable bike ads on Craigslist, he cross-references the image with bikes reported on Bike Index. Once he has confirmed it with the owner, he arranges a meet-up with the thief and will call the Seattle police department so that officers can participate in the action. In more than half of the 22 cases in which he has got back and returned bikes, the thieves have been arrested. In one case, Bike Batman even helped a family recover a wide range of prized possessions that suspects had stolen during a home burglary.

    His nickname came from a discussion with a police officer who suggested he be called “Robin Hood”. Since he wasn't exactly stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, “Batman” seemed a better fit. The idea of a superhero punishing criminals feels pretty silly to him, but the main reason he continues his work is to keep up Seattle's reputation as a friendly city.

    Have you ever complained, "I remember reading it, but I can't remember what it said? " then you should try the SQ4R reading method.

    S = Survey. The first step is to take a few minutes skimming the chapter. Don't read it yet, just look at topic headings, key words, and read the summary.

    Q = Question. As you prepare to read the chapter, turn the first topic into a question or two. As you read, seach for the answer. This will help you organize your reading-find the parts that answer your question, give an example, consist of related information or that may answer a later question. Most importantly, this gives you a reason to read the next paragraph.

    R = Read. Read in short "bites" (部分), then determine how that answers question(s) you originally posed (提出). Often as you read other questions will arise.

    R = Recite. Now can you answer your question(s) in your own words? If you can't, reread the material to find the answers or determine if you need to change the question. You are rehearsing (重复，默诵) for the time when you will need o know the answer. A good technique for rehearsing answers is to briefly jot down (草草记下) the key words that remind you of the essence of the answer without writing down every detail.

    R = Relate. Most of us try to relate what we are reading to what we already know. It is always easier and more satisfying to remember information that is personally meaningful. Everything has a context. Some information may take more reflection before you are able to grasp its relationship with what you already know while other information may simply require more research, to understand how it fits with other data.

    R = Review. One way to minimize memory decay (衰退) and to store the material you have studied firmly in your mind is by reviewing it. After you finish reading the entire chapter, skim back over it and any note you made.

    Effective studying requires effective reading. Rather than getting "intellectual indigestion" while reading straight through a chapter, instead you should stop to survey, question, read, recite, relate, and review so as to improve your reading comprehension.

    The world is a truly strange place waiting to be explored. In addition to offering a lot of extraordinary locations and people, it also offers interesting festivals celebrated by people in various parts of the world. Here is a list of the oddest festivals that can be found around the world.

    Cheese Rolling Festival: A festival that is surely going to leave you with a sore neck if not a broken one! Celebrated in England, the Cheese Rolling Festival is something that you would rather watch than take part in.

    Okay! Here's how it goes. Officials set a big cheese wheel to roll down a steep hill and participants run after it. The first one to catch it wins the competition and the cheese. Simple? Well, try it out and you will know!

    The Monkey Buffet: Now here's a country that actually feeds monkeys to their hearts' content instead of chasing them away. Celebrated in Thailand, the Monkey Buffet is an annual event that brings together a lot of locals who offer fruit and vegetables to over 600 monkeys. It's a great feast as the monkeys dig into almost 3, 000 kilograms of fruit and vegetables. The people of Thailand believe this is a way to honor the Monkey King called Hanuman.

    La Tomatina: Here's your golden chance to get even with your friends who sprayed(喷洒)paint on you on your birthday. Celebrated in Spain, the month of August has nearly 250 pounds of tomatoes go down the drain(被浪费掉)in what is perhaps the largest tomato fight in the world. The event is conducted in the town of Bunyol and attracts nearly 30, 000 tourists around the world in addition to locals. Truckloads of tomatoes arrive and you are ready to go. The entire area is covered with slush and tomatoes within minutes. It's a good time to have fun with friends and family.

    Robots are now being employed not just for dangerous tasks, such as discovering mines or rescuing people in disasters. They are also finding application as household helps and as nursing assistants. As increasing numbers of machines, equipped with the latest artificial intelligence, take on a growing variety of specialized and everyday tasks, the question of how people see them and behave towards them becomes ever more urgent.

    A team led by Sari Nijssen of Radboud University and Markus Paulus, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU), have carried out a study to determine the degree to which people show concern for robots and behave towards them based on moral principles.

    According to Sari Nijssen, the study set out to answer the following question:" Under what circumstances would adults be willing to sacrifice robots to save human lives?" The participants were faced with a hypothetical (假设的) moral dilemma: Would they be prepared to put a single person at risk in order to save a group of injured persons? In the situations presented the intended victim was either a human, a humanoid robot that had been humanized (人性化的) to various degrees or a robot that was clearly recognizable as a machine.

    The study suggested that the more the robot was humanized, the less likely participants were to sacrifice it. Situations that included vivid stories in which the robot was described as a merciful being or as a creature with its own understandings, experiences and thoughts, were more likely to stop the study participants from sacrificing it in the interests of anonymous (无名的) humans.

    "This result indicates that our study group attached a certain moral status to the robot," says Paulus. "One possible suggestion of this finding is that attempts to humanize robots should not go too far. Such efforts could come into conflict with their intended function—to be of help to us."