"Some secrets are hidden from health," wrote John Updike in his poem "Fever".

    I have experienced the truth of Updike's observation. My excellent health kept me from seeing some things—things that became secrets of sort.

    One relates to my son Chris. When I lost my health in March, I discovered something I had missed about him.

    Christopher has been a scholar and athlete through high school. He has behaved responsibly, engaged in community service. He has had an impressive peer group of  serious students.

    While I saw these things, I had missed before what I experienced while in hospital. Early on, Christopher offered the clearest and most forceful words about my need to be positive and to fight acute leukemia(急性白血病). He never left the room after a visit without making me promise that I would be mentally tough and positive.

    During the first week, he showed his own mental toughness, researching leukemia and learning what the chances were. He even stopped my doctor outside the room, introduced himself and asked directly what he thought of my chances. He processed the answer without overreaction.

    Christopher did admonish(劝告) me against my choice of words the first week at home. I had moved back into my room from weighing myself, discovering a thin figure I did not know. I announced to him and my wife, “dead man walking”. I thought it was a way to lighten the obvious. He saw it as negativity and was strongly against such thinking and talking.

    When I resisted taking medicine sometimes, Christopher formed a “good-cop-bad-cop” team with his mother. Betsy gently and patiently encouraged. He directly and forcefully insisted. He always made the logical arguments for why I needed to take some awful pills.

    My health had hidden something from me; my ill-health helped me to see it.

    Ocean Dome

    Leave it to Japan to create the largest indoor theme park on the beach. The beauty of it is that it can be enjoyed no matter how warm or cold is outside. You can see power from waves, a volcano that erupts every hour. The dome clear sky ceiling makes you think you are enjoying hot weather even in winter.

    Nitendo Amusement Park

    Like it's not strange enough to be a grown up addicted to Nintendo games, here comes a park ready to let you experience exactly the same games live. It may sound cool and it may be safe. But surely spending time in such a place can only show that you have a funny taste in experiencing gaming.

    Alien Apex Resort

    Located in Roswell, a known spot for alien related events, this one is the place for the fans of alien life to enjoy themselves. One can get abducted(绑架) here, enjoy seeking help and have fun. Strange enough is that anybody would want to……

    Suoi Tien Park

    Buddhist theme park, this one comes with Bible like story, heaven and hell, a lot of real thrills and of course some unusual fun including bats, crocodiles and crazy rides. It is a cool experience for crazy fans and it can really be something you would like to visit as a young person

    Digger Land

    Seeing the hard work of the digging machines can be actually full of education for kids. This park has everything any amusement park would have but dirt is dominant(最突出的). You can be sure your kids will enjoy getting dirty by doing crazy things involving digging with excavators(挖掘机) or operating heavy machines.

    At times my mom has been uncomfortable seeing these qualities in me. For example, when I was 12, I went to Puerto Rico all by myself to stay with my grandmother for the summer. My mom was extremely nervous about it. She kept telling me how things were different in Puerto Rico, to always put on sunscreen， not to wander away from my grandmother, and other warnings. She helped me pack and did not leave the airport until she saw my plane take off.

    But despite her worries, she let me go on my own. As I moved into my teens, she continued to give me space to grow and learn, even when it might have been difficult for her. When I reached my senior year, I decided to move away for college. Once again I found that I differed from my peers. While many of them wanted to stay close to home, I couldn't wait to be out in the world on my own. While my mom may not have been happy at the thought of my going away, she was supportive and excited for me.

    One big thing I realized during my senior year, as my mom granted me more freedom, was that she actually believes in me and trusts me. That means a lot. Most of my life, and especially when I was little, the main person I tried to impress in my schoolwork or other things was my mother. I knew she expected nothing but the best from me. Sometimes it was hard to live up to her standards: getting a single B on my report card would make me feel bad because I knew she wanted me to have all As.

    I know that her high standards have helped me stay focused on what's important, like education, and made me who I am. I am thankful for her support and involvement in my life. Most of all I respect her. She is the strongest woman I know and that's why I have turned out so strong and independent.

    Play time is in short supply for young children these days and the lifelong consequences for developing children can be more serious than many people realize.

    An article in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Play details not only how much children's play time has declined, but how this lack of play affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety, depression, and problems of attention and self control. “Since about 1955, children's free play has been continually declining, at least partly because adults have applied ever-increasing control over children's activities.” says the author Peter Gray, Ph. D, Professor of Psychology at Boston College.

    We can describe the unstructured freely-chosen play as a testing ground for life. It provides critical life experiences without which young children cannot develop into confident and competent adults. So kids need more of it, not less. Because play is how young children learn important social and emotional skills such as sharing, cooperating, communicating, and empathizing. It helps them develop fit bodies, strong minds, and brave hearts, so they can take on new challenges and risky situations.

    Gray's article is meant to serve as a wake-up call regarding the effects of lost play. We must know that lack of childhood free play time is a huge loss that must be paid attention to for the sake of our children and society. But parents who keep a lookout over and disturb their children's play are a big part of the problem. It is hard to find groups of children outdoors at all, and, if you do find them, they are likely to be wearing school uniforms and following the directions of coaches while their parents dutifully watch and cheer.

    Actually, when children are in charge of their own play, it provides a foundation for their future mental health as older children and adults. Play gives children a chance to find and develop a connection to their own self-identified and self-guided interest. It is through play that children first learn to make decisions, solve problems, improve self-control, and follow rules. Play helps children make friends and learn to get along with each other as equals. Most importantly, play is a source of happiness.

When parents realize the major role that free play can take in the development of emotionally healthy children and adults, they may wish to reassess the priorities ruling their children's lives. The needs for childcare, academic and athletic success and children's safety is important. But perhaps parents can begin to identify small changes——such as openings in the schedule, backing off from quite so many supervised (有监督的) activities, and possibly slightly less keeping watch on the playground that would start the slow returning to the direction of free, imaginative-directed play.

    Sales of Apple's new iPhone 11 in China began on Friday, but were met with a cooler welcome from customers than in previous years. Unlike in previous years, no long lines were seen outside Chinese shops on Friday for the new iPhone, and the product release (发布) only made the headlines in a few media.

    Huawei released its Mate 30 smartphone series on Thursday night. Its new devices(设备) have won consumers' hearts at home and abroad. Many compared it with Apple's new iPhone 11, saying that beats the new iPhone because of innovation and quality. One customer named Zhao Kai, an IT specialist who pre-ordered a Mate 30 Pro on Friday, said that he chose Mate 30 without hesitation. Zhao said, "It's clear that Huawei's new phone with its advanced 5G mode would lead the future global telecommunications market, too."

    In contrast with iPhone 11's poor sales, Chinese netizens (网民) have joined in discussions on Mate 30 and iPhone 11. An online poll on the Mate 30 and iPhone 11 on Weibo on Friday showed that more than 60 percent of netizens chose the Mate 30, while less than 20 percent chose the iPhone 11. Many chose Huawei as a result of its technology.

    Overseas customers also joined in the heated discussions on Huawei's new flagship devices on sites. On Twitter, many netizens said "nice", "best phone ever" and "my favorite one" on Huawei's Twitter account. Some netizens in countries like the UK, the Netherlands and Argentina asked when Huawei's new devices would be released in their countries.

Let's face it. You're likely reading this article in an effort to avoid some other tasks you're procrastinating (拖延) to learn how to stop procrastination, but the clock is ticking. So why can't you seem to get rid of that?

Though the psychological causes are still debated, there's a human tendency to over or underestimate the value of a reward based on its temporal proximity (时间接近). This is often referred to as temporal discounting. For example, if I offered you $100 today or 110 in a month, most would take the hundred and run. But what if instead I offered you 100 dollars in a year or 110 in a year and one month, you might say to yourself if I can wait a year, I can wait the extra month.

But the time and value difference are the exact same in each example. It turns out that human motivation is highly influenced by how near the reward is meaning. The further away the reward is, the more you discount its value. So being online is more appealing than preparing for your test. The problem is surfing the Internet provides many small quick and continuous rewards unlike your test scores which are a future one.

So how do you overcome the urge to put off so many tasks?

Unfortunately, there is no definite answer, but try rewarding yourself with a timely snack or other enjoyable activities. The Pomodoro Technique makes use of a timer to work for 25 minutes straight and when you've done, this gives yourself the reward with a 5-minute break. Then start the working clock again. Gradually increasing the amount of work time you put in will improve your time management skills.

It's been shown that creating a costly deadline is also an effective way to manage your working habits. And try to enjoy the process of achieving something instead of thinking only our minutes of suffering.