Empathy

    Last year, researchers from the University of Michigan reported that empathy, the ability to understand other people, among college students had dropped a lot over the past 10 years. That could be because so many people have replaced face time with screen time, the researchers said. Today, people spend more time alone and seldom join groups and clubs.

    Jennifer Freed, a director of a teen program, has another explanation. on the TV, and you're showered with news and reality shows full of people fighting, competing, and generally treating one another with no respect(尊重).  Humans learn by example—and most of the examples on it are anything but empathetic.

    There are good reasons not to follow those bad examples. Humans are socially connected with nature. Having relationships with other people is an important part of being human—and having empathy is important to those relationships. Researchers have also found that empathetic teenagers always have high self-respect. Besides, empathy can be helpful for loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and fear.

    Empathy is also necessary for a good leader. In fact, Freed says, many top companies report that empathy is one the most important things they look for in new managers. Social skills—including empathy—are a kind of “emotional(情感的) intelligence" that will help you succeed in many areas of life. “Tests results are important. But if you don't have emotional intelligence, you won't be as successful in work or in your love life,” she says.

    What's the best way to up your EQ(情商)? For starters, let down your guard and really listen to others. “One doesn't develop empathy by having a lot of opinions and doing a lot of talking,” Freed says. To really develop empathy, you'd better volunteer at a nursing home or a hospital, join a club or a team that has a diverse membership, have a “sharing circle” with your family, or spend time caring for pets at an animal shelter.

    Some international languages are widely used for many purposes. Some minority languages will die out and some nations tend to keep minority languages. I reckon that most common used international languages ease our life quality and communication with different nationalities. On the other hand, we need to help improve minority languages.

    There are many languages in the entire world but two or three minority languages die out each year. Some countries try to save dying languages. For instance, Australian Government created a project to save the language and culture of Maori who are Australian aborigines. And there are other projects to keep minority languages such as American Indian language.

    However, the worldwide job market usually requires candidates who can speak English or other international languages. People who cannot speak lingua franca (共通语) could hardly be promoted at work. For example, some companies need an employee who can deal with foreign companies. So most people tend to learn at least one international language that helps them to find a better job.

    Therefore, world needs one common lingua franca that should be spoken in any country. Consequently, one common language should be a required subject in every school. So anyone speaking one common language can travel without worries to any point of the world and trade their products. People will not be forced to learn many languages.

    In conclusion, we should help minority nations to keep their languages for the cultural diversity. To ease the worldwide communication among nations, we should create a common language and provide courses of it. As a result, no one will face a language issue.

    Young people's mental health is of increasing interest and concern to researchers, policymakers, and families alike－but can treating teenagers' mental health problems also improve the wellbeing of their parents? New research suggests that it can. The study, conducted by Kelsey Howard, a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University, found that regardless of which treatment teenagers were using for their depression, the mental health of their parents improved too.

    Older findings say that there is a link between mothers' depression and major depression in their teenagers, although it seems not to be biological. However, the latest research suggests that the relationship between parents' and their children's mental health might work in the other direction too.

    While Howard's research hasn't evidenced a clear reason for this trend, she told The Atlantic: “If the family members interact with (交往) each other well, the kid will be more pleasant to be around and make less negative statements, which will affect how other family members think.”

    Tom Madders, director of campaigns at YoungMinds, told HuffPost UK that for parents, watching their children go through mental health problems can be difficult, especially if they feel responsible. Madders also noted that parents often make big lifestyle changes, say, giving up their jobs, to support their children with depression, particularly in cases where their children have to leave school because of their mental health problems. However, Madders thought this can only make things worse. “Parents' sacrifice adds pressure to the delicate shoulder owners,” he said.

    The process of waiting to get treatment can also be an added stressor: “Every day we get calls to our helpline from parents whose children have been waiting months for an initial assessment, or left on long waiting lists for treatment that they need … that's why it's important that the Government commits to long-term extra investment in children's mental health services.”

    After years of trying, our neighbors convinced my parents that ice fishing would be a fun winter getaway from our dairy farm. Before that, their idea of entertainment involved driving around the countryside to see how the neighbors' crops were doing.

My parents eventually built a fish house and set it up on Wood Lake. We excitedly headed for the lake on many January and February weekends. By the time we arrived at our favorite fishing spot across the lake each day, somebody had usually made a clear path across the ice. The fish houses were together at the best fishing spots, forming some kind of a neighborhood.

    Our house was large enough so all four of us could fish at the same time. Each corner had a square cut out of the floor. We sat in comfort. You'd think ice fishing would be cold, but we had a small woodstove (木炉) inside, and we put snow around the bottom of the house to keep the wind from blowing underneath.

    Besides the thrill of watching your bobber (钓鱼浮标) dip below the water, lunch was always the highlight of the day. Mom would fry pork or hamburgers in a pan. The smell of cooking meat was the envy of every other fish house in the neighborhood.

    Our days passed with a mix of quiet time and family chatter. We talked about the farm or school. And of course, we shared fishing advice. Part of the fun of ice fishing was learning to understand and trust the sounds of the frozen lake. Healthy ice "talks" as it freezes and shifts. You could often hear the sound of a crack traveling through the ice.

    People who have never tried ice fishing may not think it sounds very exciting, but it was for us. Fishing trips were an adventure. We didn't always catch fish, but we always brought home great memories of a day with family and friends.

    Many people have long dreamed of being able to fly around as simply as riding a bicycle. Yet the safety and strength of a flying bike was always a big problem. Over the past 10 years, developments in technology have moved the dream of personal flying vehicles closer to reality. Now, two groups of inventors say such vehicles may be available soon.

    The British company Malloy Aeronautics has developed a prototype (原型) of its flying bicycle. Grant Stapleton, marketing sales director of Malloy Aeronautics, says the Hoverbike is able to get in and out of small spaces very quickly." It can be moved across continents very quickly because it can be folded and packed," he adds.

    Mr. Stapleton says safety was the company's main concern. He says the designers solved the safety issue by using overlapping rotors to power the vehicle.

    The company is testing a full-size prototype of the Hoverbike, which will most likely be used first by the police and emergency rescue teams.

    In New Zealand, Martin Aircraft Company is also testing a full-size prototype of its personal flying device, called the Jetpack. It can fly for more than 30 minutes, up to 1, 000 meters high and reach a speed of 74 kilometers per hour.

    Peter Coker is the CEO of Martin Aircraft Company. He said the Jetpack "is built around safety from the start". In his words, "Reliability is the most important element of it. We have safety built into the actual structure itself, very similar to a Formula One racing car.

    The Jetpack uses a gasoline-powered engine that produces two powerful jet streams. Mr. Coker says it also has a parachute that would be used, if there should be an emergency. "It starts to work at very low altitude and actually saves both the aircraft and the pilot," he adds. Mr. Coker says the Jetpack will be ready for sale soon.