Marlene Dietrich is finally to be honored by her home city, Berlin.

    For more than half a century, the famous film star won huge fame in Hollywood, but remained a highly controversial（引起争议的） figure in Germany.

    When the city's new film museum is opened on September 26, three of its 15 rooms will show the star's possessions collected over a lifetime.

    In addition to various collections by Marlene, visitors will be able to see all Marlene Dietrich's movies. There will also be key except for a vast range of Germany-made films.

    Dietrich became a world star after her wonderful performance in a movie. After that, she turned her back on Germany, horrified by the sudden movement of Nazi in her hometown.

    A few years after the war, the star was persuaded to pay a short visit to Berlin. But the trip proved a disaster. At a city hall gathering in West Berlin, crowds turned out to see her, but not all friendly.

    She was attacked at times. She found herself being blamed for wearing an American uniform during the war to please U.S. troops in Europe. She was also scolded for "turning her back on the country".

    Dietrich, deeply hurt, decided she would never return to Berlin again. But she softened her judgment.

    When she died in Paris in 1972, it was at her express wish that her body should be sent back to Berlin for burial alongside her mother in a local cemetery.

    As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remember less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.

    In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood that the computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.

    In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information an the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder (文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location (位置) better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called “transactive memory (交互记忆)”

According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn't mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.

    Jimmy is an automotive mechanic, but he lost his job a few months ago. He has good heart, but always feared applying for a new job.

    One day, he gathered up all his strength and decided to attend a job interview. His appointment was at 10 am and it was already 8:30. While waiting for a bus to the office where he was supposed to be interviewed, he saw an elderly man wildly kicking the tyre of his car. Obviously there was something wrong with the car. Jimmy immediately went up to lend him a hand. When Jimmy finished working on the car, the old man asked him how much he should pay for the service. Jimmy said there was no need to pay him: he just helped someone in need, and he had to rush for an interview. Then the old man said, “Well, I could take you to the office for your interview. It's the least I could do. Please. I insist.” Jimmy agreed.

    Upon arrival, Jimmy found a long line of applications waiting to be interviewed Jimmy still had some grease on him after the car repair, but he did not have much time to wash it off or have a change of shirt. One by one, the applicants left the interviewer's office with disappointed look on their face. Finally his name was called. The interviewer was sitting on a large chair facing the office window. Rocking the chair back and forth, he asked. “Do you really need to be interviewed?” Jimmy's heart sank. “With the way I look now, how could I possibly pass this interview?” he thought to himself.

    Then the interviewer turned the chair and to Jimmy's surprise, it was the old man he helped earlier in the morning. It turned out he was the General Manager of the company

    “Sorry I had to keep you waiting, but I was pretty sure I made the right decision to have you as part of our workforce before you even stepped into the office. I just know you'd be a trustworthy worker. “Congratulations!” Jimmy sat down and they shared a cup of well-deserved coffee as he landed himself a new job.

    Fourth-grade teacher Tori Nelson allowed one of her students to shave her head in the schoolyard, after bullies（仗势欺人者） teased him about his own buzz cut. Ms. Nelson got the idea after noticing that Matthew Finney, a shy boy from her homeroom at Winlock Miller Elementary School in Washington State, was standing outside his classroom crying and wearing a winter hat.

    Ms. Nelson could see the back of his neck had been shaved, and since Matthew usually had very thick curly brown hair, she realized that he'd had a haircut over the weekend. She asked him what was wrong， and he said he'd gotten a buzz cut for the summer. But this morning, a fifth grader on the bus made fun of him, and he didn't want to come to class and get laughed at by other kids. Ms. Nelson tried to convince Matthew to come inside, but since school rules banned kids from wearing hats indoors he refused—explaining that he was afraid of showing his haircut to the other children in case they also made fun of him.

    "Finally I said, 'If you take your hat off and come to class, I'll let you give me a buzz cut too,' Ms. Nelson told Yahoo Parenting." I figured it's just hair, and mine is already short anyway. I might as well get it shorter in time for the warm weather.

    Matthew excitedly took her up on the offer, and Ms Nelson and another teacher gathered all the fourth graders together during break time. A school employee brought in scissors, which Matthew used to the cheers of his classmates, excitedly watching as their teacher's hair fell away onto the ground in the schoolyard.

    "It was a lot of fun for the kids, and it helped Matthew feel better about himself." said Ms Nelson." You have to do what it takes to reach children. Teaching isn't just about reading and writing: it's about self-worth and accepting differences.

    It's nice to have people of like mind around. Agreeable people boost your confidence and allow you to relax and feel comfortable. Unfortunately, that comfort can hinder the very learning that can expand your company and your career.

    It's nice to have people agree, but you need conflicting perspectives to dig out the truth. If everyone around you has similar views, your work will suffer from confirmation bias (偏颇).

    Take a look at your own network. Do your contacts share your point of view on most subjects? If yes, it's time to shake things up. As a leader, it can be challenging to create an environment in which people will freely disagree and argue, but as the saying goes: From confrontation(冲突) comes brilliance.

    It's not easy for most people to actively seek conflict. Many spend their lives trying to avoid arguments. There's no need to go out and find people you hate, but you need to do some self-assessment to determine where you have become stale(疲沓的) in your thinking. You may need to start by encouraging your current network to help you identify your blind spots.

    Passionate, energetic debate does not require anger and hard feelings to be effective. But it does require moral strength. Once you have worthy opponents, set some ground rules so everyone understands responsibilities and boundaries. The objective of this debating game is not to win but to get to the truth that will allow you to move faster, farther, and better.

    Fierce debating can hurt feelings, particularly when strong personalities are involved. Make sure you check in with your opponents so that they are not carrying the emotion of the battles beyond the battlefield. Break the tension with smiles and humor to reinforce the idea that this is friendly discourse and that all are working toward a common goal.

    Reward all those involved in the debate sufficiently when the goals are reached. Let your sparring partners (拳击陪练) know how much you appreciate their contribution. The more they feel appreciated, the more they'll be willing to get into the ring next time.

    People in Japan tend to live longer and stay healthier in their later years, with an increasing number of old people living alone. Japan is on a fast track to "ultra-age" with people aged 65 or above accounting for 28 percent of its total population in 2019；it was 26.7 percent in 2017. On the other hand, the number of births in 2019 fell to its lowest (about 941,000) since records began in 1899.

    Demand for care services for elderly people has increased. A shrinking (缩小) working population means fewer able-bodied adults are available to look after the elderly. State-provided facilities for the elderly are not enough which causes elderly people to turn to private ones but they are expensive.

    The country will be short of 380,000 of health nurses by 2025. The government has to turn to advanced robots to meet the shortage. A study found that using robots encouraged one third of the people to become more active and independent. Yet there is no robot that can provide the emotional support to the elderly.

    Japan provides a case study for China, which is also faced with a fast aging population. 17.23 million babies were born in China in 2019, about 630,000 fewer than in 2018. People aged 60 accounted for 17.3 of China's population in 2019. With a shortage of elderly care facilities and unbalanced supply, China may find it hard to deal with the rapidly increasing number of senior citizens.

    To meet the challenge, the Chinese government should make policy changes, which Japan is unwilling or unable to do or even consider. China should pay attention to the signals its aging population is sending and take proper and timely action.