Papa's jaw dropped when Mama told him that Sister had cheated on her final exams—not to succeed but to fail. “It's unbelievable!” he said. “Sister has always been so proud of her good grades!”

    “Yes, she has,” said Mama. “But it's not unbelievable. It just shows how badly she wanted off the swimming team.”

    “Wanted off the swimming team?” said Papa. “She never said anything about that to me.”

    “Of course she didn't,” said Mama. “She was afraid you'd blow your top. You already had her getting a swimming scholarship to college and winning gold medals at the Olympics. Can you imagine how much pressure she must have felt? For her, being on the team couldn't have been much fun.”

    “Oh, my god!” Papa said, clapping a hand to his forehead. “I've been so stupid! I just thought she'd want to be a champion swimmer because she's so good at it.”

    “It's like anything else, dear,” said Mama. “No matter how good at it you are, if it stops being fun, you won't want to do it anymore.”

    Papa put his head in his hands.

    “She must be really mad at me,” he mumbled. “Maybe I should say sorry to her.”

    Sister's footsteps could be heard on the stairs. She came into the kitchen and looked hopefully up at her parents.

    “Honey,” said Mama with a smile, “your papa and I have decided that there's no reason for you to be on the swimming team if you don't want to.”

    Sister's face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Yippee!” she cried.

    “And,” added Papa, “there's no need for any more drills. I'm sure you'll bring your grades back up all by yourself.”

    Sister ran to Papa and jumped into his arms. She gave him a big hug. “I'm going to go play cards with Lizzy!” she said. “See you later!”

    From the kitchen window, Mama and Papa watched their daughter run down the sunny road toward Lizzy's house.

    “It's good to see her happy again,” said Mama.

    “It sure is,” Papa agreed. “As for the swimming team, there's always next year.”

    “If?” Mama prompted him.

    “Oh, right,” said Papa. “If she wants to.”

    Mama smiled. “At least you're learning, dear,” she said. She kissed him.

    “Well, you know what they say,” Papa said. “Better late than never.”

    What's more exciting than having a fresh hot pizza delivered to your door? How about having it brought to you by a robot? Thanks to Domino's Robotic Unit or DRU, that just became a reality! On March 8, the three-foot tall robot delivered its first pizza to some lucky residents in Brisbane, Australia.

    The fully autonomous DRU is the result of a cooperation between Domino's Pizza Australia and Marathon Robotics.The 450-pound machine that travels at a maximum speed of 12.4 miles an hour can traverse a distance of up to 12 miles and back, before requiring a battery recharge. LIDAR, a laser-based sensor technology similar to the one used in self-driving cars, enables DRU to detect and avoid obstacles, while traditional sensors, much like those used in vacuum robots ensure its path is safe as it heads to its destination.   

    The robot can fit up to ten pizzas and even has a separate cold area to accommodate drink orders.To access their fond, customers have to enter the unique code provided by the company.This is not only ensures that they pick up the right pizza, but also prevents the pies from getting stolen.

    Scientists expert additional DRU's to be ready for service in their various Queensland locations within the next six months. But don't expect these super cute robots to replace humans anytime soon. According to Domino's the DRU still needs extensive testing, which the company believes could take up to two years.

    And then there is also the issue of regulations.The public use of autonomous vehicles is still banned in most countries.But Don Meij, the CEO and Managing Director of Domino's Pizza Australia New Zealand Ltd, is not worried.He is “confident that one day DRU will become an   integral part of the Domino's family.”

Are Happy Meals Really Happy?

    Don't we all know a “Happy Meal” when we see one--the famous boxed meal that includes a hamburger, kid-sized French fries, fruits and milk, served with a toy that's extremely popular with children who love to collect them?

    A Happy Meal is a form of kids' meal sold at a certain fast-food chain since 1979. A toy is included in the meal, both of which are usually contained in a box or paper bag. However, collectors of these little toys will not get them any longer, since the company will replace toys with books and each of these books will mainly pass on nutritional messages.

    Happy Meals are extremely popular with kids, especially for their collectable toys, when you consider that over 1.3 billion of these packages are sold each year. These packages have been very controversial. Health supporters believe that drawing kids to these meals with toys is a clever way of promoting unhealthy food choices. They see it as an advertising a strategy of “catching its customers young”--a move that has paid off very well for the fast-food company.

    Child development experts say that food habits get formed in children by age six and continue through to their adult life. Fatty and sugary foods such as those served in Happy Meals are believed to play a big role in growing health problems such as obesity and diabetes. Public health care costs have gone up and untold amounts of money have been spent on coping with these health problems. On November 2, 2010, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a law requiring that children's meals sold in restaurants must meet certain nutritional standards before they could be sold with toys, to overcome the problem of childhood obesity--in other words, the State of California tried to ban the toys in Happy Meals. However, it was strongly opposed by some as being heavy-handed, and the ban was thrown out by the government.

    While some people believe that the fast-food company, with its large following of children, can create a powerful message through the books, others believe its actions are contradictory. Anyway, the company is trying to spread the message of nutrition while it is serving food that is anything but healthy.

    A new study by the British government has discovered the mental well-being of the country's teenage girls has worsened.

    The survey, which included 30,000 14-year-old students, showed 37 percent of the girls with psychological stress, rising from 34 percent in 2010. British boys' stress level was actually seen to fall over the same period, from 17 percent to 15 percent. The report's authors pointed out the "arrival of the social media age" could be a major contributing factor for increasing stress among teenage British girls.

    "The adolescent years are a time of rapid physical, cognitive and emotional development," Pam Ramsden, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, wrote in a recent blog post. "Teenagers interact with people in order to learn how to become competent adults. In the past, they would engage with parents, teachers and other adults in their community as well as extended family members and friends. Now we can also add social media to that list of social and emotional development." Throughout adolescence, girls and boys develop characteristics like confidence and self-control. Since teenage brains have not completely developed, teens don't have the cognitive awareness to keep from posting inappropriate content. Furthermore, this content can easily be circulated far and wide with disastrous implications.

    "Social media can also feed into girls' insecurities about their appearance," Ramsden said. These sites are often filled with images of people with body type unattainable to the normal person. However, these images and the messages tied to them creep into social standards.

    "Social media allows girls to make comparisons among friends as well as celebrities and then provides them with 'solutions' such as extreme dieting tips and workouts to reach their goals," Ramsden said. "Concerns about body image can negatively impact their quality of life preventing them from having healthy relationships and taking up time that could be better spent developing other aspects of their personalities."

May 20th has become a popular date for marriage registration among young people in China, as "520" sounds like "I love you" in Chinese, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}has promoted the sales of related products and services such as wedding banquets, roses, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}hotel reservations. According to media reports, many Chinese newlyweds queue up overnight outside the marriage registration office to get married. 

Experts point out that the number of marriage registrations for a specific date may {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(influence) by multiple factors such as the connotation of the date, the population base of young people of marriageable age, and people's general {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(will) to get married. Although the proportion of young people unwilling to get married is increasing, the proportion of never getting married is still below 10%. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (compare) with last year, the number of marriage registrations in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Sichuan, Fujian and other places dropped {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (significant) this year. 

Song pointed out that this may be caused by the COVID-19. In the past two years, the COVID-19 has hindered personnel mobility and communication. Although May 20th this year is{#blank#}7{#/blank#} Saturday, considering that most couples hope to choose an auspicious day to get married, some civil affairs departments have announced that they will work continuously for 48 hours {#blank#}8{#/blank#} weekends, as May 21st, the traditional Chinese solar term of Xiaoman (Grain Bud), is also an auspicious day in the Chinese lunar calendar. Last week, the State Council of China {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (approve) the expansion of the pilot program for cross provincial marriage registration to 21 provincial-level regions across the country, which is the latest measure to promote long-term balanced population development. This measure is particularly popular among mobile populations, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} no longer need to return to their hometowns to register for marriage.

Are you a sports lover looking for skill development in the off­-season (淡季)?

Joy of the Game (JG) has been working for the past 10 years. Come and join JG to develop skills as you prepare for next season.