Have you felt annoyed when a cell phone rings during the class? Something must be done to stop this. Now in New York City, USA, a rule is carried out in schools. Students can't even bring cell phones to school. Is it a good thing or not?

    Anxious parents say that cell phones are an important tool in holding New York City's families together.

    "I worry about it." said Elizabeth Lorris Ritter, a mother of a middle school kid. "It's necessary in our everyday life. We have a washing machine. We have running water, and we have cell phones."

    Many American parents think cell phones connect them to their children on buses, getting out from subways, walking through unknown places.

    "I have her call me when she gets out of school," said Lindsay Walt, a schoolgirl's mother. "No one in New York is going to let their child go to school without a cell phone."

    What about the cell phone owners, the students? Most of the students said cell phones were essential and the cell phone was like an extra hand or foot for them.

    "I feel so empty," said May Chom, 14. There is also no way to listen to music on the way to school without my phone. It will be a really, really boring trip."

    Against the assumption that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia warm the climate, scientists have discovered that cooling may occur in areas where burnt trees allow more snow to mirror more sunlight into space.

    This finding suggests that taking steps to prevent northern forest fires to limit the release of greenhouse gases may warm the climate in northern regions. Usually large fires destroyed forests in these areas over the past decade. Scientists predict that with climate warming, fires may occur more frequently over next several centuries as a result of a longer fire season. Sunlight taken in by the earth tends to cause warming, while heat mirrored back into space tends to cause cooling.

    This is the first study to analyze all aspects of how northern fires influence climate. Earlier studies by other scientists have suggested that fire in northern regions speed up climate warming because greenhouse gases from burning trees and plants are released into the atmosphere and thus trap heat.

    Scientists found that right after the fire, large amounts of greenhouse gases entered the atmosphere and caused warming. Ozone（臭氧）levels increased, and ash from the fire fell on far-off sea ice, darkening the surface and causing more radiation from the sun to be taken in. The following spring, however, the land within the area of the fire was brighter than before the fire, because fewer trees covered the ground. Snow on the ground mirrored more sunlight back into space, leading to cooling.

    “We need to find out all possible ways to reduce the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” Scientists tracked the change in amount of radiation entering and leaving the climate system as a result of the fire, and found a measurement closely related to the global air temperature. Typically, fire in northern regions occurs in the same area every 80 to 150 years. Scientists, however, found that when fire occurs more frequently, more radiation is lost from the earth and cooling results. Specifically, they determined when fire returns 20 years earlier than predicated, 0.5 watts per square meter of area burned are soaked up by the earth from greenhouse gases, but 0.9 watts per square meter will be sent back into space. The net effect is cooling. Watts are used to measure the rate at which energy is gained or lost from the earth.

    “Get your hands off me; I have been stolen,” the laptop, a portable computer, shouted. That is a new solution to laptop computer theft: a program that lets owners give their property a voice when it has been taken.

    The program allows users to display alerts on the missing computer's screen and even to set a spoken message. Tracking software for stolen laptops has been on the market for some time, but this is thought to be the first that allows owners to give the thief a piece of their mind.

    Owners must report their laptop missing by logging on to a website, which sends a message to the model: a red and yellow “lost or stolen” banner pops up on its screen when it is started. Under the latest version of the software, users can also send a spoken message.

    The message can be set to reappear every 30 seconds, no matter how many times the thief closes it. “One customer sent a message saying, 'You are being tracked. I am right at your door', said Carrie Hafeman, chief executive of the company which produces the program, Retriever.

    In the latest version, people can add a spoken message. For example, the laptop's speaker will say: “Help, this laptop is reported lost or stolen. If you are not my owner, please report me now.”

    The Retriever software package, which costs $29.95 but has a free trial period, has the functions of many security software programs. Owners can remotely switch to an alternative password if they fear that the thief has also got hold of the access details.

    If a thief accesses the Internet with the stolen laptop, Retriever will collect information on the Internet service provider in use, so that the police can be alerted to its location.

    Thousands of laptops are stolen every year from homes and offices, but with the use of laptops increasing, the number stolen while their owners are out and about has been rising sharply.

    Other security software allows users to erase data remotely or lock down the computer.

    Children who spend more time reading with their parents have a greater chance of becoming better readers than those who don't. With the help from their parents, children can learn techniques to improve their reading skills.

    "A lot of parents think after their child learns to read, they should stop reading to them," Donna George said. "They are sadly mistaken."

    George offers her services to parents at the Title I Learning Centers. She said reading aloud to children may be the most valuable thing parents can do. "It is better for children to hear things at a higher level than where they are," George said. "Parents are their child's first teacher." Parents help their children build listening, phonics, comprehension and vocabulary skills when they read aloud to them.

    Before parents can identify reading problems, they should escape the enemy —television and limit the time their children spend watching television. George suggested not allowing kids to have a TV in their bedrooms, setting a schedule of when kids can watch or keeping a list of how many programs children watch. Louise Joines said while her 14-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son enjoy reading, the television sometimes becomes a distraction. So she tries to build the situation by suggesting books the entire family will enjoy reading together, like the Harry Potter series.

    Parents who do not read themselves should not count on their children being interested in it. If parents would read to their children at least 15 minutes every day, children would not have so many problems in school. It is the parents' job to help build that desire in their children, and of course to know what kind of books to read is also important.

How was 2019 for you? Was it pleasant and full of joy? Or was it unpleasant and full of sadness? Either way, some good things happened this year that can warm your heart. Let's take a look.

Strategies to Overcome Self-Doubt Once and For All

Being self-confident is not easy and not everyone can do it, but it doesn't need to be that difficult. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Going through life can be very challenging at times. When we were young, no one told us how hard it will be in the future but here we are {#blank#}2{#/blank#} And it is unpleasing and can kill your confidence levels if not controlled from the beginning.

We will all experience some self-doubt, which is natural. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It happens to us during normal days or whenever we are going to start a new job, a new task, or a new relationship, anything new in life will make you self-doubt. This sort of feeling puts you into dark days when nothing seems to go right and you might feel like giving up, and that is the time to be strong.

 {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Self-doubt is when you are unsure about one or more aspects of yourself. For example, when starting a new job, you might feel inexperienced or might think that you are not fit enough for the job, and this is a prime example of self-doubt.

 {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Low-level of self-criticism is actually good for you. It motivates you and pushes you to be better in life, to become greater than yesterday. This type of feeling will push you to work harder and faster than before and will also increase your productivity, but it should be a low level of self-criticism. You don't want to punish yourself over things that are beyond your control.

A. We needn't take it seriously.

B. It's impossible for us to deal with it.

C. One of the big problems of adult life is having self-doubt,

D. Self-doubt isn't all that bad, let us tell you why.

E. Let's explore to find ways to remove self-doubt forever.

F. It will take long for us to solve this problem.

G. There are some people mistaking self-doubt for something else.