Dec.11 marked the 15th anniversary of China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). On that day in 2001, China formally became a member of the WTO. Now the country has grown into the world's second-largest economy and the largest trading country, while millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty. And 15 years on, it's evident that being a WTO member has transformed the nation's everyday lives for the better.

    Imports are now a common sight in Chinese stores and supermarkets, while they were previously rarely seen on shelves. The Chinese now have access to many imports varying from luxury goods like high-end cars and famous brand watches, to daily necessities. China's WTO membership has also made imports less expensive for the Chinese public.

    For instance, since 2005, no tariffs (关税) have been imposed (施加) on Chinese imports of digital cameras and other devices.

    Our education industry has also benefited from China's WTO membership. Many top global universities have joined forces with Chinese ones to establish cooperative education institutions, bringing foreign teaching concepts to Chinese students. For example, New York University Shanghai was jointly founded by New York University and East China Normal University. In addition, an increasing number of Chinese students are furthering their studies abroad, while many foreign students are coming to China to carry out their higher education. According to the Ministry of Education, 523,700 students studied overseas last year, and the number is expected to keep growing this year.

    China's WTO entry has brought benefit not only to the country's people, but also for the rest of the world.

    We all know the feeling: looking at the computer screen, pretending to be interested in our homework, even though we really feel bored. But such feelings may soon be at an end, says Dr. Harry Witchel, head of the Essex Medical School. He believes that computers of the future will notice when people feel bored and even take action to stopit.

    Before you get concerned, the machine won't be reading your mind. It will be observing the many movements you make while using a computer. It's not interested in the big movements needed to use the machine — like moving a mouse or touching a screen — but small, barely noticeable movements like closing your eyes, moving in your seat or rubbing your face. Witchel calls these “boredom movements" and says they show how interested the person is in what they are reading or watching. The higher the interest level, the less movement!

    To test his theory, Witchel invited 27 people to perform various computer-based tasks. The activities ranged from playing online games (an interesting task) to reading documents like government laws that most people would find boring.

A special video camera followed the participants' movements as they completed each task. Just as the researcher expected, the “boredom movements" greatly decreased, by as much as 42%，when the subjects were very interested in what they were reading or seeing.

    Fortunately, Dr Witchel isn't planning to use his results to create machines that report students who are not paying attention at school. Instead, he wants “movement sensing” technology to be built into future computers in order to improve students' computer-based learning experience.

    The scientist says that by measuring the students' interest level as they work, educators will be able to adjust their materials in real-time to keep students focused. Witchel also believes that the technology can provide filmmakers with honest audience opinions and in the future, help to develop more intelligent robots.

    The United States Postal Service(LISPS)is offering a way to people who are interested in seeing tomorrow's mail today. The postal service will send consumers images(图像)of their letters, magazines and other mail before they arrive. The new service is called Informed Delivery. It is an attempt to remain competitive in an ever—changing world.

    Postal service officials say the increased use of email, digital messaging services and social media has made it difficult to stay relevant. David Rupert is a media relations specialist who spoke about the competition the agency now faces. Whether you turn on a television or your computer, or people come to your door with different products and services, all of those are competing for consumers' time and energy, he said.

    Interested users are first required to sign up for Informed Delivery. Once registered, the consumer receives a daily email with virtual(虚拟)images of letters or other things to be delivered. The US Postal Service says it can especially help those who have a mailbox at their local post office, so they know when to get their mail：

    Another postal offering is a service that seeks to make advertising-related mail-often called junk mail—more fun. The service uses virtual and augmented reality(虚拟现实和增强现实)to let consumers interact with their junk mail. Many companies put special coding on their advertising, which can give users an interactive experience. Some companies even put virtual reality eyeglasses in the mail to make their ads come to life. Consumers have mixed reactions to virtual and augmented reality advertising. “You can find some good things within junk mail. It is a good idea. We'll see how it works, ”Postal service user Victor Teah said. But Jocelyn Coatney doesn't think it would change her mind about junk mail. “For some, that might be fun. But for me, it would be useless, ”she said.

    You're out to dinner. The food is delicious and the service is fine. You decide to leave a big fat tip. Why? The answer may not be as simple as you think.

    Tipping, psychologists have found, is not just about service. Instead, studies have shown that tipping can be affected by psychological reactions to a series of different factors from the waiter's choice of words, to how they carry themselves while taking orders, to the billl's total.

Even how much waiters remind customers of themselves can determine how much change they pocket by the end of the night.

    "Studies before have shown that mimicry (模仿)brings into positive feelings for the mimicker, "wrote Rick van Baaren, a social psychology professor. "These studies show that people who are being mimicked become more generous toward the person who mimicks.

    So Rick van Baaren divided 59 waiters into two groups. He requested that half serve with a phrase such as, "Coming up!" Those in the other half were instructed to repeat the orders and preferences back to the customers. Rick van Baaren then compared their takehome pay. The results were clear-it pays to mimic your customer. The copycat (模仿者)waiters earned almost double the amount of tips to the other group.

    Leonard Green and Joel Myerson, psychologists at Washington University in St Louis, found the generosity of a tipper may be limited by his bill. After research on the 1,000 tips left for waiters, cabdrivers, hair stylists, they found tip percentages in these three areas dropped as customers' bills went up. In fact, tip percentages appear to plateau (稳定期)when bills topped $100 and a bill for $200 made the worker gain no bigger percentage tip than a bill for $100.

    "That's also a point of tipping," Green says. "You have to give a little extra to the cabdriver for being there to pick you up and something to the waiter for being there to serve you. If they weren't there, you'd never get any service. So part of the idea of a tip is for just being there."

    E-Sports, short for electronic sports, is one of the growing industries in the world, with prizes totaling around $25 million up for grabs in some tournaments. E-Sports are professional multiplayer video game competitions. Any video game with a strong competitive element is considered e-Sports. The competition models itself after traditional professional sports in several ways: it uses corresponding tournament formats, involves player contracts, and is governed by regulations. The athletes who compete in e-Sports competitions are gamers．

    The history of e-Sports dates back to 1972 when some Stanford University students competed in the Intergalactic Space War Olympics for the opportunity to win a one-year subscription to the Rolling Stone Magazine. E-Sports pretty much continued on the rather quiet path until the 80s when competitions like the Space Invaders Championship shot them to the spotlight. 2002 marked the beginning of a new era for the sport and laid the foundation for what e-Sports would become thanks to the release of the Xbox live, which brought online play to consoles. Halo Ⅱ became the first game to be shown on national television for Major League Gaming in 2004, paving the way for e-Sports to become a global phenomenon.

    Today, e-Sports are growing at a rapid pace thanks to advance in technology and the arrival of streaming services like Twitch which have exposed video game competitions to a new audience due to their extensive reach.

    To understand how much impact Twitch has made, data from gaming analyst group Newzoo show that e-Sports global audience increased 43 percent from 204 million to 292 million between 2014 and 2016. Interestingly, this coincides (一致) with Amazon's acquisition of Twitch in 2014 and its effort to make the competition a spectator sport.

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.