How to Develop Courage by Overcoming Daily Fears

    Sometimes when thinking of courage, we think it only applies to rare and uncommon situations. Yet our ordinary lives can also be full of courage, even if we are not facing the end of a gun, a wild animal or a dangerous criminal. Courage doesn't just mean doing heroic  acts.  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} In fact, where there is fear on a daily basis, there are opportunities for you to show your courage. Here are some suggestions to develop courage by overcoming daily fears.

● Recognizing your fears.

    By realizing that you're fearful, you are more likely to get to the bottom of what your fear is. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You might come to understand that you're afraid of failing or taking chances. You may be fearful simply because you don't have confidence in yourself. The key is not to dwell on your fear, but rather to understand what it is what you're worried about.

● Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen.

    If you hesitate to take action, ask yourself this: What's the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then go on to improve on the worst. Is failure the worst thing that can happen? No, absolutely not. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Doing nothing is actually the worst thing that can happen. When you take no action, you are assured of getting nowhere.

● Take action.

    Courage comes from taking action. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You need to act to overcome your fear. Your action may put you into discomfort, but you have to just do it. And your action can prevent you from being stuck.

● {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

  To build up your confidence, you need to do the same thing over and over again. Soon you will discover that less courage is needed because you have already gained mastery. You are able to move decisively forward.

A. Share your fears with others.

B. Practice, practice and practice.

C. So you are already in a comfort zone.

D. You cannot think courage comes just in one day.

E. Each undesired result is just one more step towards your goal.

F. Finding out what is truly holding you back.

G. You needn't wait for an emergency to occur to develop courage.

    A man had a dream in which he was told where he could find fantastic wealth in a remote place. When he awoke, he immediately set off to find it. After a long journey full of danger and hardship, he arrived at the place in his dream. A local man who had heard about the dreamer's purpose laughed loud and long, saying that he had dreamed three times about a house where great treasure was buried under a fountain. It made the dreamer realize that the place the local was describing was his very own yard. He returned home and found the treasure.

    Like the man in this tale, the Chinese movie industry has been on a long journey to find its place in the world. In 1994, “The Fugitive” became the first major Hollywood film to be shown in the country in decades. Audiences were attracted by the movie's fast pace and sound effects, and it proved to be a great success. Since then, the Chinese film industry has balanced a complex (复杂的) relationship with Hollywood.

    Although there has been a sharp slowdown in China's box-office numbers—movie-ticket revenue rose just 3.7 percent in 2017 after growing by an average of 35 percent per year from 2011 to 2016~the country still has a huge movie market, with theaters continuing to expand into more rural areas and audiences proving that they have a strong desire for Hollywood action films. So much so that recently, Hollywood has even started to make movies with China in mind, casting Chinese movie stars with great box-office power and changing the plots of films to win over Chinese moviegoers.

    Many in China's film industry, from young scriptwriters (编剧) to senior critics, know Hollywood's dramatic structure all too well and support its styles. And many American offerings introduced in the Chinese market, regardless of quality, continue to do well among Chinese audiences, especially with young people, whose tastes and viewing habits have been shaped by Hollywood movies and TV shows. Like audiences in other developing countries, those in China tend to have a worldview filtered (过滤) by and focused on the United States, even though the United States doesn't mean the whole world and Hollywood isn't the world's only movie industry.

    Like an ocean that refuses no rivers, China's movie industry will continue to influence and allow itself to be influenced by its international counterparts (对应的人或物). China needs the United States, and the United States needs China. But at the moment, a large difference exists in that very few Chinese movies are able to enter the American market and attract a significant audience. Chinese audiences provide Hollywood with huge profits, but what does China's film industry gain in return?

    I have been flying since I was three years old. I am now 27 and cannot ever remember being afraid of flying until I was around 20. Suddenly, it seemed to come from nowhere. I began to be afraid of flying.

    Two weeks before I was to fly I would have nightmares every night, all of which were centered on a plane crash. This would obviously add to my anxieties. The turning point for me was when I had to go on a business trip to Germany. My boss and my husband were with me, but nobody was allowed to talk to me. I was quiet and on the verge of (濒于) tears right up until boarding. On the flight I was even worse. I was crying, shaking and my palm were sweaty. It sounds so ridiculous, but if you have a fear of flying you will understand my distress.

    I got home and my fear was getting out of control. It was upsetting for my husband when we were going on holidays together. I would never be excited because I didn't want to fly as I was certain the plane would crash, or we would be hijacked, or there would be a bomb on board, etc.

    I thought about paying for expensive hypnotism (催眠术) to see if that would help me but I also wanted to try and help myself first. That was when I found this book.

    I read the book as soon as it arrived. It answered the questions I had. After that, when I had a flight coming up, I read a few chapters of the book every night for 2 weeks before the flight. I also took the book in my hand luggage so it was there to refer to if I felt fearful during a flight.

    This book is AMAZING and a MUST-HAVE for any nervous flyer.

    Here is a record of the discussion about AI (artificial intelligence) conducted by several scientists.

    Scientist A: I would say that we are quite a long way off developing the AI, though I do think it will happen within the next thirty or forty years. We will probably remain in control of technology and it will help us solve many of the world's problems. However, no one really knows what will happen if machines become more intelligent than humans. They may help us, ignore us or destroy us. I tend to believe AI will have a positive influence on our future lives, but whether that is true will be partly up to us.

    Scientists B: I have to admit that the potential consequences of creating something that can match or go beyond human intelligence frighten me. Even now, scientists are teaching computers how to learn on their own. At some point in the near future, their intelligence may well take off and develop at an ever-increasing speed. Human beings evolve biologically very slowly and we could be quickly substituted. In the short term, there is the danger that robots will take over millions of human jobs, creating a large underclass of unemployed people. This could mean large-scale poverty and social unrest. In the long term machines might decide the world would be better without humans.

    Scientists C: I'm a member of the campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Forget the movie image of a terrifying Terminator stamping on human skulls and think of what's happening right now: military machines like drones, gun turrets and sentry robots are already being used to kill with very little human input. The next step will be autonomous “murderbots” following orders but finally deciding who to kill on their own. It seems clear to me that this would be extremely dangerous for humans. We need to be very cautious indeed about what we ask machines to do.

    With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most controversial issue across the United States today is the death penalty. Many argue that it is an effective deterrent (威慑) to murder, while others maintain there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty reduces the number of murders.

    The principal argument advanced by those opposed to the death penalty, basically, is that it is cruel and inhuman punishment, which is the mark of a brutal society, and finally that it is of questionable effectiveness as a deterrent to crime anyway.

    In our opinion, the death penalty is a necessary evil. Throughout recorded history there have always been those extreme individuals in every society who were capable of terribly violent crimes such as murder. But some are more extreme than others.

    For example, it is one thing to take the life of another in a fit of blind rage, but quite another to coldly plot and carry out the murder of one or more people in the style of a butcher. Thus, murder, like all other crimes, is a matter of relative degree. While it could be argued with some conviction that the criminal in the first instance should be merely separated from society, such should not be the fate of the latter type murderer.

    The value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime may be open to debate. But the overwhelming majority of citizens believe that the death penalty protects them. Their belief is strengthened by evidence which shows that the death penalty deters murder. For example, from 1954 to 1963, when the death penalty was consistently imposed in California, the murder rate remained between three and four murders for each 100,000 population. Since 1964 the death penalty has been carried out only once, and the murder rate has risen to 10.4 murders for each 100,000 population. The sharp climb in the state's murder rate, which began when executions stopped, is no coincidence. It is convincing evidence that the death penalty does deter many murderers. If the bill reestablishing the death penalty is banned, innocent people will be murdered—some whose lives may have been saved if the death penalty were in effect. This is literally a life or death matter. The lives of thousands of innocent people must be protected.

Coding(编码) apps and programming apps for kids are becoming increasingly popular. Here are some of the best apps for teaching kids to code.

Scratch

Scratch is by far the most popular coding app for kids, and it is now used in many schools all over the world. It is available for free on the web as well as for Android and iOS, which is why it is so popular. Created in 2003 by MIT students and staff, its coding language is designed for children aged 7 to 16.

The language employs visual blocks or bricks that can be dragged and dropped on a workspace to construct logical chains. As a result, the child will have a better understanding of the fundamental principles of coding.

Daisy the Dinosaur

Daisy the Dinosaur is a free iPad and iPhone programming app. What distinguishes it from the rest is that it is designed specifically for children aged 4 to 7. The app was developed by the same team that created the Hopscotch coding app for kids. If you've ever used that app, Daisy the Dinosaur has a similar user-friendly interface with limited features that is best for beginners.

Cargo-Bot

Cargo-Bot is a free coding app that is available for both Android and iOS devices. It is appropriate for children aged 10 and up. This app specialises in puzzle challenges involving a robotic arm that must be programmed to perform various tasks, most notably moving coloured boxes to create a specific design or pattern.

Kodable

Another relatively well-known coding app for kids is Kodable.' It is free for: both the iPhone and iPad, but there is no option for Android or the web. Kodable is appropriate for both younger children and older teenagers(from 8 years old and up). It is also remarkable for guiding users from a basic to a complex level of coding.

The approach is very game-like, with users able to select a character to guide them through the levels.