Recently, Chongqing Three Gorges University has held an activity named “Cell Phone Ninja” (手机忍者). They would like their students not to use cell phones for 21 days. It is really a challenge (挑战) for most students.

    The activity started on April 12. Each student who volunteered to take part in this activity got a bracelet (手环). If the students did not use their cell phones, there would be a photo on the screen of the bracelet to show that. If they used their cell phones, a different photo would appear on the screen of the bracelet. After the last class of each day, the students sent the photos to the school's public WeChat.

    More than 800 students wished to take part in this test, and 400 were chosen. After seven days, only 103 students remained. The test was set for 21 days because some scientists believe that 21 days is long enough to help form (形成) a habit.

    According to the teachers in the university, the activity was not a competition. It depended on students themselves to make the decision. The teachers hoped their students could form better study habits through activities like this one.

    Our feelings influence almost every decision we make. Instead of living a boring life, positive (积极的) feelings can help us a lot. The pity is that sometimes become victims of feelings.

    In one of my latest books, I compare people's ability to controls (控制) on a media player. Just like the controls can help you enjoy wonderful songs, these methods will be choices for you to manage feelings successfully.

⒈Pause.

    Take time to stop and think before you speak or act. Of course, you may feel sorry if you like doing something without thinking-like sending an angry email or posting something bad on social media. If you feel your feelings getting out of control, pause. If possible, go for a short walk. Once you've calmed down, decide how you want to move forward.

⒉Volume control

    Have you ever noticed that when speaking with someone, your style or tone is a mirror (镜子) of the person's you are speaking to? If you stay calm or quiet, they'll follow you. Shout or scream, and they'll do just like you. If a discussion starts to become worse, try to change it by softening your tone or lowering your voice.

⒊Record

    If you want to learn more about another person's thoughts, recording, one way of careful listening, may help. You don't need to reply at once; you're listening to understand. Through careful listening, you often see things you didn't see before and can even discover misunderstandings you didn't know. Don't judge or offer advice before you know more about others and the topic.

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    Amazing news! There are robot cooks in Hunan Province. They started cooking local(当地的) dishes at a restaurant in Changsha on May 1.

    The cooking robots get cooking skills and recipes(食谱) for 40 kinds of Hunan dishes. They are (A)a      to cook fried meat in two minutes. (B)We want our customers to enjoy the dishes and the amazing robot cooking." said Li Zhiming, the inventor of the robots and owner of the restaurant.

    Li hopes that Hunan robot cooking restaurants can open worldwide in the future, like KFC and Mc Donald's." In Changsha, the restaurants, which are similar to ours in size, need 8 to 10 cooks and kitchen helpers. (C)      we only need two kitchen helpers to help three robot cooks in our restaurant," said Li.

    Kitchen helpers at Li's restaurant put materials(材料) into special boxes, and press the button "ON", The robot cooks then begin to cook. It is not an easy job to invent these robot cooks. Li and his group spent round four years and nearly ten million yuan inventing such a robot cook. At present, Li's restaurant can sell more than 800 bowls of rice with Hunan local dishes on top per day. Li plans to open up brunches

(分店) in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and even abroad.

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Abingdon School Open Day

    The Open Day this year will be on Saturday, 1 October 2011. The Open Day is for all the family, with activities and displays(展示) about all aspects(方面) of the school. All the teachers, students and parents will attend. The day starts at 9:30 a. m. and finishes at 2:30 p.m.  You are welcome to arrive at any time during the lessons in the morning and afternoon. Please read the outline of Open Day events.

    If you can't come to the Open Day, that's all right. There are many other chances(机会) to visit Abingdon School

    St Helen School and St Katharine School Open Day will be on the same date, so you can also visit those two.

    Parking at the school on the Open Day may be limited(有限的), so you can also park your cars in Lotus Supermarket's car park.  It's just a three-minute walk away.

The map of Abingdon School can be found on the school website-www. abingdon. edu.