Does your local town have a nickname？If so，what does it say about the area and the people who live there?

    Many cities are recognized across the world by  their unofficial titles.New York is the Big Apple，London is the Big Smoke，and Los Angeles is famously called La La Land.

    Now Britain's National Mapping Agency(规划局)，Ordnance Survey，and the British Linguistics (语言学)Charity，the English Project，are launching an interactive project to uncover the nicknames people use for local places.

    The project，which was launched last week to coincide with English Language Day，is called Location Lingo.It aims to identify the names people use every day，whether it's a term of endearment(昵称) or a hate name.

    The University of Winchester's Professor Bill Lucas is a leader of the English Project.He explains that unofficial place names often show what people think about a place.“The name that people conjure up or create for a place forms an emotional connection，”he says.“So Basingstoke becomes Amazingstoke，Swindon is known as Swindump.Padstow，hometown of chef Rick Stein，is nicknamed Padstein.”

    Basingstoke is a town in central England.The local nickname，Amazingstoke，shows the love that locals seem to have for the area.Swindon，on the other hand，is sometimes called Swindump，showing that local people think it's a big dump.Stanford Le Hope in Essex is called Stanford No Hope by locals.And Padstow in Cornwall is so closely associated with the local celebrity Rick Stein that it's become known as Padstein.

    Since launching the online database (数据库) last week，the creators have already received 3,000 alternative  titles for places and landmarks.

    Some also say that the project could even have a practical use.Glen Hart，Ordnance Survey's head of research，says the information could be very helpful to the emergency services，for example.“By having the most complete set of nicknames，we could help the emergency services quickly locate the right place，and maybe even save lives，”he says.

    Once when I was facing a decision that involved high risk, I went to a friend. He looked at me for a moment, and then wrote a sentence containing the best advice I've ever had: Be bold and brave — and mighty (强大的) forces will come to your aid.

    Those words made me see clearly that when I had fallen short in the past, it was seldom because I had tried and failed. It was usually because I had let fear of failure stop me from trying at all. On the other hand, whenever I had plunged into deep water, forced by courage or circumstance, I had always been able to swim until I got my feet on the ground again.

    Boldness means a decision to bite off more than you can eat. And there is nothing mysterious about the mighty forces. They are potential powers we possess: energy, skill, sound judgment, creative ideas — even physical strength greater than most of us realize.

    Admittedly, those mighty forces are spiritual ones. But they are more important than physical ones. A college classmate of mine, Tim, was an excellent football player, even though he weighed much less than the average player. “In one game I suddenly found myself confronting a huge player, who had nothing but me between him and our goal line,” said Tim. “I was so frightened that I closed my eyes and desperately threw myself at that guy like a bullet — and stopped him cold.”

    Boldness — a willingness to extend yourself to the extreme—is not one that can be acquired overnight. But it can be taught to children and developed in adults. Confidence builds up. Surely, there will be setbacks (挫折) and disappointments in life; boldness in itself is no guarantee of success. But the person who tries to do something and fails is a lot better off than the person who tries to do nothing and succeeds.

    So, always try to live a little bit beyond your abilities—and you'll find your abilities are greater than you ever dreamed.

    Move over millennials(千禧一代), here comes Generation Z, today's youngest group.

    Born in 1995 or later, a lot of Gen Z-ers are entering into adulthood and will soon join the workforce. People of Generation Z have grown up with the internet. Policy makers, sociologists, as well as employers and marketers, are trying their best to understand these young people. So, how should we pin down the Gen Z-ers?

    Most people will agree that the single biggest difference between Gen Z and other generations is how connected they are. This is a group of people who were hooked up to social media as soon as they were born. A recent Guardian article says that the average teenager in the UK has at least 150 followers on Instagram and spends around half an hour a day on Snapchat, an image messaging app. “We are the first true digital natives,” Hannah Payne, an 18-year-old UCLA student and lifestyle blogger. “I can almost create a document, edit it, post a photo on Instagram and talk on the phone at the same time, all from the user-friendly interface(界面) of my iPhone.

    The Guardian also notes that young people in the UK are becoming more active in politics. Voting is just one way of making one's voice heard. Most of Generation Z are still too young to vote, says the Guardian. Instead of party politics, they focus more on single-topic issues such as feminism(男女平等)or climate change. And “much of the civil engagement and organizing they do takes place on social media rather than through traditional political structures,” according to the newspaper.

    It is back to school time in the United States, which for children is bittersweet. The bitter part is saying goodbye to carefree, unscheduled summer days. The sweet part is saying hello to a new school year and school friends.

    This exciting time is filled with smells of new books, paper and pencils. Children might be dressed in a new set of clothes and wear new shoes.

    However, going back to school can also be a stressful time for children and families. Everyone must make the change from easy summer life to routines, schedules and homework. Families might also feel stress about spending extra money for a new school year.

    Back-to-school stress is different for different grades of students. Younger children may feel scared to leave their families. Making new friends and dealing with bullying(欺负) can also cause stress for students. Older students may feel stressed about their appearances, grades and getting into college.

    However, teachers and children can all help to make the transition back to school easier. Lori Bambina has been a teacher for 22 years. She focuses on the class routine during the start of the new school year.

    "Well, for the students, I have my classroom set up with a very clear system. So I will introduce the system. Then I will revisit the system because at this young age they enjoy structure and predictability. And that routine is very comforting and will not cause them to feel stressed if they know exactly where things are located and what type of behavior is expected. That really reduces the stress and the anxiety because they have their own comfort level now," she said.

    Whether you are in the 1st grade or 10th grade, knowing what your teachers expect is a good way to reduce stress.

    In the years ahead, AI will raise three big questions for bosses and governments. One is the effect on jobs. Although bosses publicly praise the broad benefits AI will bring very much, their main interest lies in cutting costs. One European bank asked a technology company to find a way of reducing the staff in its operations department from 50,000 to 500. This special report has shown that AI-enhanced tools can help reduce staff in departments such as customer service and human resources by a large amount. The McKinsey Global Institute finds that by 2030 up to 375m people, or 14% of the global workers in companies or countries, could have their jobs automated away. Bosses will need to decide whether they are prepared to offer and pay for retraining, and whether they will give time off for it. Many companies say they are all for workers developing new skills, but not at the employer's expense.

    A second important question is how to protect privacy as AI spreads. The Internet has already made it possible to track people's digital（数字的）behaviour in extremely small detail. AT will offer even better tools for businesses to monitor consumers(客户) and workers, both online and in the physical world. Consumers are sometimes happy to go along with this if it results in personalised（个性化的）service. But AI probably brings privacy violations (侵犯) that are seen as shocking and morally unacceptable. In the wrong hands, useful technology could be against fair and equal treatment. Countries with a record of the careful watching of a person place, especially by the police or army and human-rights abuses already using AI to monitor political activity. The police around the world will use AI to spot criminals, but may also look on ordinary citizens secretly, in order to discover things or find out information about them. New rules will be needed to ensure agreement on what degree of monitoring is acceptable.

    The third question is about the effect of AI on competition in business. Today many firms are competing to provide AI-enhanced tools to companies. But a technology company that achieves artificial intelligence could race ahead of competitors, put others out of business and lessen competition. This is unlikely to happen in the near future, but if it did it would be of great concern.

    At least 12 other murders since 1997 have been linked to an addiction to violent video games. This year, the parents of a 14-year-old murder victim in the UK blamed the killer's addiction to the game Manhunt, causing a government review of legislation (立法) to protect children.

    But is there any scientific evidence that mere games can make children and young adults more aggressive, or possibly have the desire to murder? There is no doubt children are being exposed to more games violence than ever: around a quarter of all games released in the US contain some violence. And the violence is becoming more obvious as increases in computing power make the games look ever more realistic.

    Psychologists think there may be many reasons why violent games are more harmful to children than violent movies. Firstly, players are actively involved in violence, and may begin to use weapons as second nature. Secondly, violent games provide repetitive aggressive experiences that are rewarded by more killing.

    Many studies have shown that people who play violent games regularly are more likely to show high levels of aggression. For instance, in 2000, Craig Anderson of Iowa State University in Ames and his colleague Karen Dill found that people who played violent games were more likely to admit to aggressive behaviour, including attacks or robberies.

    Earlier this year, Krahe and her colleague Ingrid Miller reported a study of 13 to 14-year-old children. More than half had played games recommended only for over-18s. The more violent the games they played, the more they considered physical aggression to be acceptable. Other authors in the same edition report that children who play violent games more likely to argue with teachers and fight with others.

    Experimental studies have also pointed out a possible link. In one, Anderson and Dill asked a group of students to play a violent game, Wolfenstein 3D, while another group played the non-violent Myst. Those who played the violent game were faster to react to aggressive words flashed on screen and appeared more aggressive.

    The issue is controversial, however. Jeffrey Goldstein, a psychologist at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and a consultant to some video games publishers, agrees that there is good evidence that children, who are exposed to violent media, including video games, are more aggressive. But he warns it might not be a simple case of cause and effect: aggressive kids might be most attracted to violent games.