This year, Facebook, the social media website, announced that it would cooperate with several news organizations —including The New York Times, The Guardian, and the BBC —to place news stories directly into users' personal Facebook webpage. Stories published using Facebook Instant will load more quickly and keep the style of the original publisher, who will keep all the advertising income the stories earn —at least for now. The deal shows how important social media has become to news organizations, and it is a clear sign of how the world of news is changing —and has been for a while.

    Many thought of it as the death of the newspaper, when Google News began in 2002. It had no human editor. Instead, Google used, and still uses, a secret computer program that selects and displays news stories according to the reader's personal interests. More recently, Associated Press and Yahoo have been punishing computer-written articles. Both use special software to automatically produce stories about company financial results and sports reports —areas where the quality of writing is felt to be of secondary importance to the accuracy of the data.

    I think we should be concerned about such developments. One concern is that Facebook, Google and other social media websites see journalism as a sideline(副业), a way of putting people in front of advertisements. It isn't their primary function —so if it stops making them lots of money, they're likely to stop doing it.

    There's another concern that computer-written articles are not actually journalism at all, because what a human news team produces is actually quite complex. A well-written news story puts information in context, offers a voice to each side of an argument and brings the public new knowledge.

    Though economics and speed of delivery mean readers will probably choose a computer-written story over a carefully shaped article — at least for daily news —I don't think the computers will be writing any in-depth articles for a while yet.

     The World Meat Free Day for 2017 falls on 12, June, but what would actually happen if the whole world suddenly went vegetarian(素食的) permanently?

     If vegetarianism were accepted by everyone by 2050, the world would have about seven million fewer deaths every year. No meat would lower the chances of some diseases or even some cancers and so save the world 2-3% global GDP in medical bills. Food-related emissions would drop by around 60%. This would be due to getting rid of red meat which come from methane (甲烷) producing livestock (家畜) — from people's diets. Turning former pastures (牧场) into native habitats and forests would slow climate change and bring back lost biodiversity, including some animals which were previously pushed out or killed in order to keep cattle.

    However, farmers in the developing world could really suffer. Arid and semi-arid lands can only be used to raise animals as there's no or little water in these places, such as the Sahel land strip in Africa next to the Sahara; nomadic (游牧的) groups that keep livestock there would be forced to settle permanently and lose their cultural identities if there were no more meat. Losing meat also means that we also lose traditions. There's no more Christmas turkey. We would need to replace meat with nutritional substitutes, in particular for the world's estimated two billion-plus unhealthy or weak people for lack of nutrients. Animal products contain more nutrients per calorie than staples like grains and rice.

    Everybody currently engaged in the livestock industry would need to be retrained for a new career. This could be in agriculture, reforestation or producing bioenergy. Failing to provide career alternatives could lead to mass unemployment and social problems, particularly in traditionally rural communities.

    Have you ever found yourself in this situation：You hear a song you used to sing when you were a child-a bit of nostalgia（怀旧）or "blast from the past，"as we say．But it is not a distant childhood memory．The words come back to you as clearly as when you sang them all those years ago．

    Researchers at the University of Edinburgh studied the relationship between music and remembering a foreign language．They found that remembering words in a song was the best way to remember even one of the most difficult languages．

    Here is what they did. Researchers took 60 adults and randomly divided them into three groups of 20．Then they gave the groups three different types of "listen-and-repeat" learning conditions．Researchers had one group simply speak the words．They had the second group speak the words to a rhythm，or beat．And they asked the third group to sing the words．

    All three groups studied words from the Hungarian language for 15minutes．Then they took part in a series of language tests to see what they remembered．

    Why Hungarian，you ask ? Researchers said they chose Hungarian because not many people know the language．It does not share any roots with Germanic or Romance languages，such as Italian or Spanish．After the tests were over，the singers came out on top．The people who learned these new Hungarian words by singing them showed a higher overall performance．They did the best in four out of five of the tests．They also performed two times better than those who simply learned the words by speaking them．

    Dr．Katie Overy says singing could lead to new ways to learn a foreign language．The brain likes to remember things when they are contained in a catchy 3，or memorable 4，tune 5．

    Dr．Ludke said the findings could help those who struggle to learn foreign languages．On the University of Edinburgh's website Dr．Ludke writes，"This study provides the first experimental evidence that a listen-and-repeat singing method can support foreign language learning，and opens the door for future research in this area．"

    You may need to give first aid. First aid is defined(下定义) as the emergency care given to a sick or injured person. The goals of first aid are to prevent death and to prevent injuries from becoming worse.

    Each emergency condition is different. However, the following rules apply to any kind of emergency.

    Be aware of your limitations. Do not try to do more than you are able to. Nor should you do things if you are unfamiliar with them. Do what you can under the conditions at the time.

    Stay calm. Acting calmly will help the victim feel safe.

    Take a quick look to see if the victim is bleeding, and if there is a pulse.

    Keep the victim lying down and do not move him or her.You could make an injury worse if you move the victim.

    Take necessary emergency steps.

    Call for help or ask someone to make the EMS system（急救系统）start.

    Do not remove clothing unless you have to.If clothing must be removed,tear the clothes along the seams（线缝）.

    Keep the victim warm. Cover the victim with a blanket. Coats and sweaters can be used if a blanket cannot be found.

    Reassure the victim. Explain what is happening and that help has been called.

    Do not give the victim any food or fruits.

    Keep the bystanders away from the victim. Bystanders want to have a look, offer advice, and say something about the victim's condition. The victim may believe that the condition is worse than it really is.

Top Music Festivals in 2021

Coachella

Selling out fast every year, the Indio desert becomes a fashionable place where the coolest bands are watched by trendy people and celebrities. Near the top of everyone's bucket list of festivals, Coachella is a constant source of annual expectation and a hotbed for musical discussion.

When &. where: April 9-11 &. 16-18, 2021; Indio

Ultra Music Festival

Seen as the ultimate gathering for electronic music fans across the nation and globe, the streets of Miami turn into a bold and bumping party with popular DJs playing what will be the sounds of summer.

When & where: March 26-28, 2021; Miami

South By South West

Regarded as the ultimate trend-setter and launcher of careers, SXSW is an annual showcase of music, films and interactive highlights enjoyed through performances, showcases, talks, screenings and more. Virtually taking over the city of Austin, everyone in the world of music from fans to media flock here to discover the next big thing.

When &, where: March 16-20, 2021; Austin

The Governors Ball Music Festival

Another event which proves the music loving potential of Randall's Island Park is Governors Ball, an exciting and infectious mix of rock, hip-hop, electronic, pop and folk. Providing a variety of music and food tastes, whether you look to kick back and relax or dance to the beats, Governors Ball has what you want.

When & where: June 11-14, 2021; New York

Every four or five years, vast quantities of warm water build up along the west coast of South America. This phenomenon, El Nino, creates storms that cause destructive floods. The result is costly.

Modern farmers come to terms with El Nino. They use money saved in good years to rebuild in bad ones. But history suggests it need not be like that. In a paper published recently, Ari Caramanica, an archaeologist at University of the Pacific, in Lima, shows how it used to be done. And the answer seems to be, "better".

Dr Caramanica and her colleagues have been studying the Pampa de Mocan, a coastal desert plain in northern Peru. Pampa de Mocan is not suitable for farming. Its soil contains little organic matter and the annual rainfall in non-Nino years is usually less than two centimeters. Today's farmers therefore depend on canals to carry water from local rivers to their fields.

It had been assumed that ancient farmers had a similar arrangement — and so they did. But Dr Caramanica also found eight canals that could carry water far beyond the range of modern farms. She thinks that they were intended to guide the floodwaters arriving during Nino years. Around a quarter of the ancient agricultural infrastructure of this area seems to have been built only for managing Nino-generated floodwaters.

Evidence from pollen supports this theory, revealing that Pampa de Mocan produced lots of crops in some years, while remaining nearly barren in others. The team also uncovered two cisterns in the area serviced by the extended canals. These, probably, were used to store extra flood-water.

These findings suggest that, rather than resisting El Nino, early farmers in Pampa de Mocan were ready to make use of it when it arrived. Modern farmers might do well to learn from them.