Grandparents Answer a Call

As a third generation native of Brownsville, Texas, Mildred Garza never pleased move away,. Even when her daughter and son asked her to move to San Antonio to help their children, she politely refused . Only after a year of friendly discussion did Ms Gaf finally say yes. That was four years ago. Today all three generations regard the move to a success, giving them a closer relationship than they would have had in separate cities.

No statistics show the number of grandparents like Garza who are moving closer to the children and grandchildren. Yet there is evidence suggesting that the trend is growing. Even President Obama's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, has agreed to leave Chicago and into the White House to help care for her granddaughters. According to a study grandparents com. 83 percent of the people said Mrs. Robinson ‘s decision will influence the grandparents in the American family. Two-thirds believe more families will follow the example of Obama's family.

“in the 1960s we were all a little wild and couldn't get away from home far enough fast enough to prove we could do it on our own,” says Christine Crosby, publisher of grate magazine for grandparents .We now realize how important family is and how important”” to be near them, especially when you're raining children.”

Moving is not for everyone. Almost every grandparent wants to be with his or her grandchildren and is willing to make sacrifices, but sometimes it is wiser to say no and visit frequently instead. Having your grandchildren far away is hard, especially knowing your adult child is struggling, but giving up the life you know may be harder.

Tips for a Happier Workplace

    You don't have to be friends with your co-workers, but you do need to be friendly. Read on for fresh ways to make your office a kinder, gentler place.

◆Give a happy “Hello! ”in the morning

    Do you walk into the office, eyes down, and immediately start work? If so, you are likely to find that co-workers ignore(忽视)you or avoid you.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}It's really amazing how fast this small gesture can change unfriendly workplace relations.

◆Learn the art of small talk

    Ask your co-workers about their interests—their favorite music, movies, and books, as well as their hobbies {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Once you know what catches their imagination, pick up stories from newspapers or magazines to help start conversations.

◆Ask what they think

    People love to be asked for their opinion, so go out of your way to ask, “What do you think of this report? ” or “How do you think I should deal with this situation? ”{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

◆Avoid gossip(流言飞语)

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}So return the favor. When a co-worker walks towards you bearing a piece of gossip, respond(回应)with, “Really? ”and then change the subject or get back to work. If you don't respond, the gossiper will move on.

◆{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    To win friends at work, start with good office etiquette(礼节). There's nothing more frustrating(令人沮丧的)to busy co-workers than to have their emails and phone messages ignored. Your silence doesn't just make their jobs harder; it also conveys(传达)an unpleasant message: You are unimportant to me.

A. Stop complaining.

B. Return calls and emails immediately.

C. Then give the advice giver a silent thank-you.

D. Always work as hard as anyone working for you.

E. You don't want anyone talking about you behind your back, right?

F. Showing an interest in them will make them feel comfortable around you.

G. Get into the habit of greeting your co-workers with a smile as you arrive in the morning.

    On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of the New York railway station, playing his violin. The music was so great that many people stopped to put some money into the hat of the young man.

    The next day, the young artist came to the same place, and put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different from the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it under his hat. Then he began to play the violin. It sounded more pleasant than ever.

    Soon he was surrounded with people who were attracted by the words on that paper. It said, "Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Please come to claim（认领）it soon."

    After about half an hour, a middle-aged man rushed through the crowd to the violinist and said, "Yes, it's you. I knew that you were an honest man and would certainly come here." The young violinist asked calmly, "Are you Mr. George Sang?" The man nodded. The violinist asked, "Did you lose something?" "It's a lottery ticket（彩票）," said the man. The violinist took out a lottery ticket on which George Sang's name was seen. "Is it?" he asked. George nodded and took the lottery ticket and kissed it, then danced with the violinist.

    The violinist was a student at an arts college and had planned to attend advanced studies in Vienna. Later his classmate asked the violinist, "At that time you needed money to pay the tuition （学费）and you had to play the violin in the railway station every day to make money. Why didn't you keep the lottery ticket for yourself?" The violinist said, "Although I don't have much money, I live happily. But if I lose honesty I won't be happy forever."

    Through our lives, we can gain a lot and lose so much. But being honest should always be with us.

    Hundreds of villages in rural India are using clean energy powered by the sun.

    This month, 61 households in the village of Baripatha in eastern India were given two solar lamps. Villagers had been using kerosene lamps at night. Kerosene produces pollution and can lead to fires.

    The Indian government wants to increase the use of solar energy by 500 percent in the next seven years. If it is to reach that goal, 100 gigawatts of power must come from solar by 2022.Now,just 4 gigawatts of power created in the country come from the sun.

    Officials say they want to slow the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. India is now the third largest producer of this gas. The gas contributes to climate change.

    Arunabha Ghosh is the head of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a policy research group in New Delhi.

    He says“in terms of the share of electricity capacity that Germany achieved through renewables, that transition took about 22 years for Germany. In India's case, which is a much poorer economy, India is planning to have a similar shift towards renewable energy and non-fossil energy” within 15 years.

    India's goal may be helped by the decreased cost of developing solar energy. The government says it wants investors to spend $ 100 billion over seven years in solar power. It is reducing taxes for some solar-related investments. And it is permitting non-Indians to invest.

    This week, Germany said it would spend more than $ 2 billion on solar projects in India. SunEdison, an American renewable-energy company, says it wants to invest $ 15 billion. SoftBank, a Japanese company, has announced it will partner with companies in India and China to spend up to $20 billion on solar energy projects. Trina Solar, a Chinese company, plans to spend $500 million to make solar panels.

    Some people in India are worried that there is not enough land for some of these projects. Many of the projects need large plots of land.

    Inderpreet Wadhwa created a company called Azure Power. It was one of the earliest investors in solar projects. He said most of them are being built in dry areas of the country, on land that cannot be farmed.

    HANGZHOU-Chinese internet giant Alibaba on Tuesday opened a hotel loaded with artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, automating a series of procedures like check-in, lights control and room service.

    FlyZoo Hotel, opened in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, where Alibaba is headquartered, is known as the company's first "future hotel". Customers can check into the hotel by simply scanning their faces. The facial recognition system installed in the hotel also enables customers to use their faces as key cards to open doors and access another hotel service. Users can also control the lights, televisions and curtains in the room via Alibaba's voice-activated digital assistant, while robots are deployed to serve dishes, cocktails and coffee. Hotel bookings and check-out can also be done with a few clicks on mobile through an app. The Al-based solution can help customers save time and relieve hotel employees from repetitive work," said Wang Qun, CEO of FlyZoo Hotel. The hotel is the latest example of Chinese tech companies1 attempt into traditional industries such as the hotel industry.

    E-commerce giant JD.com announced in October its strategy to put smart home and electronic devices sold on its platform into hotels, in an effort to improve online sales.

    In July, Baidu teamed up with Intercontinental Hotels Group in Beijing to allow guests to use its voice-controlled assistant to adjust room temperature and order room service at ease.

    Before that, social media giant Tencent introduced QQ family, a similar tech solution for hotel operators, in the southern city of Zhuhai last year.

    "We want to install a 'smart brain' for hotels, " said Wang, "In the future, we will continue to make hotels smarter and more automated, as well as create more personalized experiences for consumers."

    A new study shows students who write notes by hand during lectures perform better on exams than those who use laptops.

    Students are increasingly using laptops for note-taking because of speed and legibility(清晰度).But the research has found laptop users are less able to remember and apply the concepts they have been taught.

    Researchers performed experiments that aimed to find out whether using a laptop increased the tendency to make notes "mindlessly" by taking down word for word what the professors said

    In the first experiment, students were given either a laptop or pen and paper .They listened to the same lectures and were told to use their usual note-taking skills. Thirty minutes after the talk, they were examined on their ability to remember facts and on how well they understood concepts.

    The researchers found that laptop users took twice as many notes as those who wrote by hand. However, the typists performed worse at remembering and applying the concepts. Both groups scored similarly when it came to memorizing facts.

    The researchers' report said, "While more notes are beneficial, if the notes are taken mindlessly, as is more likely the case on a laptop, the benefit disappears."

    In another experiment aimed at testing long-term memory, students took notes as before but were tested a week after the lecture. This time, the students who wrote notes by hand performed significantly better on the exam.

    These two experiments suggest that handwritten notes are not only better for immediate learning and understanding, but that they also lead to superior revision in the future.