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    These days, young people in some English-speaking countries are speaking a strange language, especially when communicating on social media.

    Look at these words chosen by The Washington Post: “David Bowie dying is totes tradge,” and “When Cookie hugged Jamal it made me totes emosh.” Or this sentence: “BAE, let me know if you stay in tonight.”

    What on earth do they mean? Well, “totes” is a short form of “totally”. Similarly, “tradge” means “tragic” and “emosh” means “emotional”. It seems that, for millennials（千禧一代）, typing in this form is not only time-saving but fashionable.

    As you can see, many millennial slangs（俚语）are formed by so-called “totesing”—the systematic abbreviation（缩写）of words. The trend might have started with “totally” becoming “totes”, but it now has spread to many other English words.

    The origins of other millennial slangs are more complex than “totesing”.“Bae”, for example, has been widely used by African-Americans for years. It can be an expression of closeness with one's romantic partner or, like “sweetheart”, for someone without romantic connection. After pop singer Pharrell used the word in his work, “bae” became mainstream.

    Some people might think millennial slangs lower the value of the English language, but Melbourne University linguist（语言学家）Rosey Billington doesn't agree. She says when people are able to use a language in a creative way, they show that they know the language rules well enough to use words differently. Two other linguists, Lauren Spradlin and Taylor Jones, share the same view. The two analysed hundreds of examples of totes-speak and discovered totesing has complex roots.

    It isn't simply an adult version of baby talk, nor a clever way to minimize your word count. Rather, it is a highly organized system that relies on a speaker's mastery of English pronunciation. It is about sounds, follows sound system of English and has strict rules.

AFTER AMAZON ECHO MISFIRE, WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR OWN PRIVACY

    Revelations that an Amazon Echo smart speaker accidentally sent a family's private conversation to an acquaintance highlights some unexpected privacy risks of new voice-enabled technologies. There's no way to totally avoid these sorts of privacy risks except unplugging them entirely, but you can minimize the unpleasant privacy surprises with these tips:

    KILL THE MIC: Most smart speakers have a physical button to disable the microphone, so a private conversation can't be recorded to begin with. You can hit that when you're having sensitive conversations. It doesn't make sense to keep the mic disabled throughout the day, though.

    LIMIT THE MIC: Disabling the microphone isn't practical on a smartphone, but you can limit what apps have access to it. Go to the settings and turn off mic access to all but essential apps such as voice recorders or video conferencing.

    ABOUT THAT CAMERA: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg famously puts a piece of tape over his laptop's camera to prevent spying if anyone were to hack his device. Buy yourself a roll. Or use bandages. If you have a home-security camera that's connected to the Internet, turn the camera to the wall when you're home.

    BLOCK THE SIGNALS: For smartphones and other gadgets you carry with you, a "Faraday bag" can help prevent unwanted spying. The good ones will block cellular and other signals, meaning privacy-compromising information such as your location won't leak out either. However, your phone won't get any calls while it's in the bag.

    Of course, the safest approach is not to buy a new gadget in the first place. That might not be practical these days, but do you really need a smart speaker or a television set that's connected to the Internet?

    A Japanese telecom company has designed a robot that it says has emotions (情绪). But rather than run in fear from it, we've welcomed it into our homes: Pepper, the "emotional robots" sold out within a minute of going on sale.

    Created by Aldebaran Robotics and Japanese mobile giant SoftBaok, Pepper went on sale to the general public in Japan on June 20. It is "the first humanoid (类人的) robot designed to live with humans, " Aldebaran says on its website. Pepper costs about $ 1, 600. And like all good mobile products, there's a $ 120 per month data fee, as well as an $80 per month damage insurance fee. According to a news report, Pepper can pick up on human emotions and create his own using a "multi - layer neural (神经的) network." Pepper's touch sensors and cameras are said to influence its mood, which is displayed on the tablet-sized screen on its chest.

    Pepper will sigh when unhappy, and can go around your house recording your family's daily activity. Aldebaran says Pepper can feel "joy, surprise, anger, doubt and sadness," but it doesn't say how strongly it can feel these emotions. What happens when Pepper is having a bad day? Will it, like many humans, become uncooperative? Will it ask for some time alone? What happens if it knows that its purpose in life is just to take part in small talk? Thankfully, Pepper is only about four feet tall, with roller balls instead of legs, so if it is angry with and even turns on its owners, you'll be safe if you can make it upstairs.

    Aldebaran says in reality, they're probably quite a few years away from artificial intelligence that could create real emotions. Aldebaran wasn't immediately able to tell when Pepper will be available out of Japan, but additional sales are scheduled for July after the first 1, 000 units sell out. SoftBank currently uses the robots in its stores as greeters, and it plans to offer Pepper to other stores in the future. Hopefully "boredom" is not an emotion Pepper can feel.

    Working with a stressed mind is like swimming with a jacket on, while a mind free from work stress is light like the wind and it can help you accomplish your daily tasks easily. To relieve (缓解)stress and lighten your mind, you must first understand the nature of stress and the reasons why it builds up. Then you can easily beat stress.

    Talk it out

    Talking to others helps relieve work stress especially when you and the person you talk to are in the same boat and under the same work stress. Your worries will be divided! If you are your own boss, you need some good advisers around you, who know your trouble and talk sense. If there is no such persons at your workplace, let there be one at home, who is a friend, a family member or a guide that you can talk to.

    Let music calm your mind

    Music has the power to take you into a new world, away from your worries. Taking a break to listen to some favorite music is also a great way to relieve stress.

    Take a walk

    If there is a park around, go and have a walk there. You can eat some snacks sitting on the grass. Move around, look at the world around you and forget your work for a while. Let your body get some exercise. A walk works as it also clears your thoughts. You can listen to music while going on a walk.

    Have a life beyond the workplace

    If you keep thinking about nothing other than work all the time, there is bound to be stress. So, throw away your thoughts about work after you leave your office and get a life beyond it. Have a life beyond the workplace, and you can relax after work.

I didn't go to Santiago,Chile to look for friendship.In fact,Chile was not even on my wish list.

A mid-life crisis woman,I got a chance to study abroad.I only wanted to learn about global business,taste South American  cuisine,and  check"study  abroad"off my  wish  list.

On the fifth day,I joined a group for a neighborhood work project aided by the anti-poverty(扶贫)organization. Our tasks were to build a water tower and paint the community center.Upon arrival,I couldn't believe my eyes.It was like a scene out of a horrible film.That moment redefined poverty for me because I had never seen such terrible living conditions.As advised,I showed no signs of the emotional battle going on inside me.

Just as I was about to start work on painting,a request came through for a few volunteers to help Nadia,a local resident who volunteered to cook for us.I raised my hand to help because I wanted to spend time with the people of the neighborhood despite my shortage of Spanish speaking skills.  Nadia had a sincere smile but not overly friendly.Even without speaking each other's language,we started to learn about one another.We chatted about our children,our upbringing,shared pictures of our family,struggled to instruct each other to communicate in the other's language,and laughed many times.

After we fed everybody and the dishes were washed,my day was over.But I found myself hesitant to leave.It was as if I had known her my entire life.I had not predicted the unselfishness of heart I would encounter,and it was moving.

As we were waiting for the car to pick us up,Nadia showed me her plants that are well-maintained.I could see that despite the hard conditions she was passionate about life.She made me long to be a stronger person.She showed me that poverty was external,but happiness was internal.I was seeking to give 100 percent for a well-intentioned cause,but I left receiving 200 percent from her.

It was a rainy windy October afternoon. Garth stood outside his house with a wide smile. This was 1 weather for testing his new invention—Umbrella Hat. He could hardly wait to see whether it could keep the rain off. He carefully 2 the hat on his head and started walking 3 along the street. It worked!

Suddenly, three boys in his neighborhood appeared and 4 him. Todd, the biggest one, pulled his Umbrella Hat off his head.

"What's THIS?" he asked.

"It's an Umbrella Hat. You can wear it on rainy days and…" Garth said.

The boys 5 , "Will anyone wear that stupid thing?" Todd threw the hat onto the ground and they ran off.

Garth picked up his Umbrella Hat from the ground in tears. "Maybe Todd was 6 …in reality, who would ever need his invention?" He lowered his head and thought to himself.

Suddenly he 7 and saw a lady looking at him. "I was just leaving my house 8 I saw you and those boys. Are you okay?"

Then she saw the 9 Umbrella Hat and asked, "Er… what's that?"

"It's my Umbrella Hat. I thought of it and made it myself…" answered Garth.

"What a creative 10 you have! Don't ever let stupid boys put you down! Keep inventing and one day you will 11 something really great!" said the lady.

"And you have given me a wonderful 12 ," she continued, "I have a gadget (小器具) shop—Gadgets4U—and I'd like to hold a 13 to find the best young gadget inventor in our town. I will display (展示) three best inventions in my shop. I'm sure you will have a(n) 14 of winning a prize."

Garth was very 15 . Gadgets4U was one of his favorite places and the thought of having his invention displayed in that wonderful place was too exciting for words. He suddenly felt much better and could already feel lots of new ideas coming out, waiting to spring into life!