Tonight, my piano recital(钢琴演奏会) was the most important thing in my family. My grandparents were coming by plane to hear me play. Even my busy Aunt Dianne, who is on TV every night reading the news, was coming.

    But one thing was for sure. I would never win an award for my piano playing. And that's just because the more I practiced, the more nervous I got. So there I was，on the stage， in my beautiful dress，and I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play，I hit a wrong note. I told myself to start over. But then I hit the wrong note again. It was as if I hadn't practiced at all.

    Finally the disaster was over. I ran off the stage. I couldn't understand why audience(观众) were clapping. But they were. My mom and dad had flowers for me and we were all supposed to go out for a nice dinner, but I couldn't. I just wanted to go home and cry and never go anywhere again. After we went back home, Aunt Dianne just came in and sat down on the side of my bed.

    “It was my first night on the air,” she said. “I had never been on television before and I made a mistake. I mispronounced my name and the name of the news show. And you know what? No one even noticed but me. Just like tonight, no one noticed—just you.” Aunt Dianne was right. I think we are harder on ourselves than anyone else is. Maybe I will leave my room. And maybe I'll play the piano again.

Sharon，Aged 22

    The most important thing to keep in mind when going into high school is to be yourself．Besides, I don't know what your middle school was like, but high school teachers will not care about things such as how much homework you already have in one night．It's best to just learn to deal with things and manage your time wisely so you can achieve everything you need to.

Frank, Aged 21

    I think almost every kid feels both nervous and excited before their first day．You will probably love it．I know I did．You should join some sports or activities that will make your high school experience more enjoyable．Good luck!

Eddie，Aged 20

    When I started high school I was really nervous too，especially since I had been homeschooled all through middle school and didn't really know anyone．I suppose the best advice would be to just relax．The first couple of days can be a little bit hard，but things will become easier before you know it.

David，Aged 19

    I'm not going to lie．The first day is kind of frightening(令人恐惧的)．But you'll get used to it．Don't be afraid of anyone；upperclassmen will pick on(刁难) you more if you let them know you're afraid．Just take it easy．Making some friends and staying with them will greatly help you get used to high school quickly．After the first week it's really not bad at all．Don't worry.

    Discover

    News magazine of science devoted to the wonders and stories of modern science, written for the educated general reader. Published by Disney Magazine Publishing Co., Discover tells many of the same stories professionals(专业人员) read in Scientific American. A truly delightful family science magazine, each issue(每期) brings to light new and newsworthy topics to make dinnertime and water-cooler conversations interesting.

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    Self

    Published by Conde Nast Publications Inc., Self is a handbook devoted to women's overall physical(身体的) and mental health. Every issue contains usable articles such as "Style Lab", in which wearable clothes are mixed and matched on non-models and the "Eat-right Road Map", with tips on how to eat properly.

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    InStyle

    InStyle is a guide(手册) to the lives and lifestyles of the world's famous people. The magazine covers the choices people make about their homes, their clothes and their free time activities. With photos and articles, it opens the door to these people's homes, families, parties and weddings, offering ideas about beauty, fitness and in general, lifestyles. Publisher: The Time Inc. Magazine Company.

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    Wired

    This magazine is designed for leaders in the field of information engineering, including top managers and professionals in the computer, business, design and education industries. Published by Conde Nast Publications Inc., Wired often carries articles on how technology changes people's lives.

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    Issues: 10 issues/12months

    The Perfect Sleep Chair is designed to be the most comfortable recliner chair. Whether you are sitting upright, relaxing in your favorite TV viewing position, or lying completely flat for sleeping, it's like being on a cloud. A cloud that has built-in heat and massage settings to match your own personal comfort level. It even has a battery backup in case of a power cut.

    With Perfect Sleep Chair, there's a perfect position for everybody, even those that prefer to lie flat but want the additional support that most mattresses(垫子) don't provide. At the touch of a button, the Perfect Sleep Chair gently lifts you to an almost standing position so you can get back on your feet with ease. Some owners use this feature daily, while others use it when recovering from an illness.

    Time and time again, our customers tell us they are tired of having to replace their recliners due to quality issues. We hear you! That is why the Perfect Sleep Chair is handmade in the USA using quality hardwoods and only the highest quality upholster(垫衬物). Each chair is carefully crafted by workers and not just a bunch of robots. Every chair structure is guaranteed for life and the electronic components are generously warranted for three years. Simply put, it's the highest quality chair on the market—but it doesn't end there…

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Forget Cyclists, Pedestrians are Real Danger

    We are having a debate about this topic. Here are some letters from our readers.

    Yes, many cyclists behave dangerously. Many drivers are disrespectful of cyclists. But pedestrians are probably the worse offenders.

    People of all ages happily walk along the pavement with eyes and hands glued to the mobile phone, quite unaware of what is going on around them. They may even do the same thing while crossing a road at a pedestrian crossing or elsewhere. The rest of us have to evade (避让) them or just stand still to wait for the unavoidable collision.

    The real problem is that some pedestrians seem to be, at least for the moment, in worlds of their own that are, to them, much more important than the welfare of others.

——Michael Horan

    I loved the letter from Bob Brooks about cyclists (Viewpoints, May 29). I am afraid they seem to think they own the roads.

    I was walking across Altrincharn Road one morning when a cyclist went round me and on being asked what he was doing he shouted at me.

    The government built a cycle lane on the road but it is hardly used.

    The police do nothing. What a laugh they are!

    The cyclists should all have to be made to use the cycle lanes and wear helmets, fluorescent (发荧光的)jacket and tights at night and in the morning. They should pay some sort of tax and be fined for not wearing them.

——Carol Harvey

    Cyclists jump on and off pavements (which are meant for pedestrians), ride at speed along the pavements, and think they have a special right to go through traffic lights when they are on red.

    I was almost knocked down recently by a cyclist riding on the pavement when there was a cycle lane right next to him.

    Other road users, including horse riders, manage to obey the rules so why not cyclists?

    It's about time they had to be registered and insured, so when they do hit a pedestrian or a vehicle, or cause an accident, at least they can be traced and there might be an opportunity to claim.

——JML

    Write to Viewpoints of the newspaper.

    Microsoft announced this week that its facial-recognition system is now more accurate in identifying people of color, touting (吹嘘)its progress at tackling one of the technology's biggest biases (偏见).

    But critics, citing Microsoft's work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, quickly seized on how that improved technology might be used. The agency contracts with Microsoft for cloud-computing tools that the tech giant says is largely limited to office work but can also include face recognition.

    Columbia University professor Alondra Nelson tweeted, "We must stop confusing 'inclusion' in more 'diverse' surveillance (监管)systems with justice and equality."

    Facial-recognition systems more often misidentify people of color because of a long-running data problem: The massive sets of facial images they train on skew heavily toward white men. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study this year of the face-recognition systems designed by Microsoft, IBM and the China-based Face++ found that facial-recognition systems consistently giving the wrong gender for famous women of color including Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, Michelle Obama and Shirley Chisholm, the first black female member of Congress.

    The companies have responded in recent months by pouring many more photos into the mix, hoping to train the systems to better tell the differences among more than just white faces. IBM said Wednesday it used 1 million facial images, taken from the photo-sharing site Flickr, to build the "world's largest facial data-set" which it will release publicly for other companies to use.

    IBM and Microsoft say that allowed its systems to recognize gender and skin tone with much more precision. Microsoft said its improved system reduced the error rates for darker-skinned men and women by "up to 20 times," and reduced error rates for all women by nine times.

    Those improvements were heralded(宣布)by some for taking aim at the prejudices in a rapidly spreading technology, including potentially reducing the kinds of false positives that could lead police officers misidentify a criminal suspect.

    But others suggested that the technology's increasing accuracy could also make it more marketable. The system should be accurate, "but that's just the beginning, not the end, of their ethical obligation," said David Robinson, managing director of the think tank Upturn.

    At the center of that debate is Microsoft, whose multimillion-dollar contracts with ICE came under fire amid the agency's separation of migrant parents and children at the Mexican border.

    In an open letter to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella urging the company to cancel that contract, Microsoft workers pointed to a company blog post in January that said Azure Government would help ICE "accelerate recognition and identification." "We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits," the letter said.

    A Microsoft spokesman, pointing to a statement last week from Nadella, said the company's "current cloud engagement" with ICE supports relatively anodyne(温和的)office work such as "mail, calendar, massaging and document management workloads." The company said in a statement that its facial-recognition improvements are "part of our going work to address the industry-wide and societal issues on bias."

    Criticism of face recognition will probably expand as the technology finds its way into more arenas, including airports, stores and schools. The Orlando police department said this week that it would not renew its use of Amazon. com's Rekognition system.

    Companies "have to acknowledge their moral involvement in the downstream use of their technology,"

    Robinson said. "The impulse is that they're going to put a product out there and wash their hands of the consequences. That's unacceptable."