Have you ever run into a careless cell phone user on the street？Perhaps they were busy talking，texting or checking updates on WeChat(微信) without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new “species” of human has kept rising. They have been given a new name－phubbers (低头族)．
    Recently，a cartoon created by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film，phubbers with various social identities bury themselves in their phones. A doctor plays with his cell phone while letting his patient die，a pretty woman takes selfie（自拍）in front of a car accident site，and a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events eventually leads to the destruction of the world.
    Although the ending sounds overstated the damage phubbing can bring is real.
    Your health is the first to bear the effect and result of it. “Constantly bending your head to  check your cell phone could damage your neck，” Guangming Daily quoted doctors as saying，“the neck is like a rope that breaks after long­-term stretching.” Also，staring at cell phones for long periods of time will damage your eyesight gradually，according to the report.
    But that’s not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. At reunions with family or friends，many people tend to stick to their cell phones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere，Beijing Evening News reported.
    It can also cost you your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death，suffered accidents，and were robbed of their cell phones in broad daylight.

Students decide to take a job while being in university because of two reasons, on the one hand，they need money; on the other hand，they want to experience something new and they want to see what working means. But is it good to take a job while you are a university student? There are both advantages and disadvantages if we were to answer this question. If we were to think about the advantages, we could mention the ones I have just discussed. Having a job at an early age helps us gain experience, which will be very useful to our later life. We may become financially independent and donˈt need to ask our parents for money each time we want to go downtown with our friends, or spend the holiday at the seaside or in the mountains.

However, students who take a job might have problems in spending enough time on their study. If they work during the day, they may have to be absent from their classes, and if they work at night they will feel tired the next day. They may choose to stay at home, resting. Whatˈs worse, some students may even get bored with study.

Well, this fact happens every now and then, but there are cases when well-prepared students take a part-time job but at the same time they make time for study, too. And they have good results. Their case is a good example to follow among the students who decide to work while being in university. Anyway, we need to keep in mind that study is the most important job for a student.

They say the average person makes 35，000 decisions a day．Yet in her new book，How Woman Decide，Therese Huston explores a widespread phenomenon that many women fail to notice．“There’s a huge double standard when it comes to how men and women are viewed as decision makers，”explains Therese，a psychologist from Seattle University．Therese decided to write the book after looking at her bookshelf：At one end，there were bestselling books about how to be a brilliant decision maker—all written by men and featuring interviews with men like athletes．At the other end were books aimed at women on gaining leadership skills and confidence．

    “Once those women are at the table，will their decisions be taken as seriously as men’s?”Therese wondered．“Men are respected as decision makers more than women，especially in the workplace，largely because there’s this cultural belief that women are unable to make smart choices at work．”

    So，Therese set out to pick apart the stereotypes(固有印象)to see what scientific research had found．“Scientific research shows that men and women struggle with decision-making equally．The only disadvantage I found was that during the teenage years-teenage girls are more indecisive than teenage boys．Otherwise，there’s little difference between the genders(性别)．”

    However，there are some differences．“Women are more collaborative(协作的)，”says Therese．“A female boss is more likely to ask the opinions of those around her when making a choice．Women ask for input，which helps make better decisions．However，this is often seen as a weakness rather than a strength．”

    Therese also found that during times of stress，men and women make different choices，and the outcomes are often better when women are involved．

    Study after study backs this view up．Neuroscientists Mara Mather and Nicole Lighthall from the University of Southern California studied the way men and women make decisions and found that in times of stress，they react very differently．

    During their study，which involved playing a virtual gambling(赌博)game，they found that when the females became stressed，they made smart decisions—quitting while they were ahead or taking safe bets．But when the men became stressed，they did the opposite，risking everything for a slim chance of a big win．

Many of us live with a roommate at times. Sometimes, there can be problems. Who hasn't had an argument about whose turn it is to take out the trash, or who should be the one to dear up after dinner? However, living with another person also comes with many benefits.

    You know that there's always someone else around that can help you feel safer. There's always someone to talk to, so you need never be lonely. Beside a these obvious benefits, there are some you may not notice. For example, we're actually more likely to eat healthier food when living with others.

    To examine the effect of living alone, Australian university researchers did much research and found that people living alone tended to eat less fresh food including fruits and vegetables, which can have side effects on long-term health. However, those living with others generally got benefits from a more varied diet compared to those living alone.

    What could explain this? The researchers believe the social and cultural roles played by cooking, food preparation and eating may be important considerations, those living with friends have someone else to go shopping with, and thus, they are more likely to buy higher-quality fresh food regularly.

    Cooking skills may be another factor. If people living alone find they don't have the knowledge required to prepare a particular dish or cook a certain food, they may fall back on ready-made, less healthy food. However, if they live with at least one other person, they may be able to ask for help.

    In addition, people living alone can eat want at any time of the day. However, it's helpful to have someone around who questions your decision to eat frozen pizza at 3:00 am. In other words, roommates can draw your attention to such an unhealthy routine.

    So, if you now live alone, fighting a losing battle against poor eating habits, why not consider sharing a home with someone rise?"

Many facts suggest that children are overweight and the situation is getting worse, according to the doctors. I feel there are a number of reasons for this.

Some people blame the fact that we are surrounded by shops selling unhealthy, fatty foods, such as fried chicken and ice cream, at low prices. This has turned out a whole generation of grown-ups who seldom cook a meal for themselves. If there were fewer of these restaurants, then probably children would buy less take-away food.

There is another argument that blames parents for allowing their children to become overweight. I agree with this, because good eating habits begin early in life, long before children start to visit fast food shops. If children are given fried chicken and chocolate rather than healthy food, or are always allowed to choose what they eat, they will go for sweet and salty foods every time, and this will carry on throughout their lives.

There is a third reason for this situation. Children these days take very little exercise. They do not walk to school. When they get home, they sit in front of the television or their computers and play computer games. Not only is this an unhealthy pastime, it also gives them time to eat more unhealthy food. What they need is to go outside and play active games or sports.

The above are the main reasons for this problem, and therefore we have to encourage young people to be more active, as well as steer them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.

Bill Gates recently predicted that online learning will make place-based colleges less significant, and five years from now, students will be able to find the best lectures in the world online. I applaud Mr. Gates. But what’s taking us so long?

As early as 1997, MIT(麻省理工)decided to post videos of all university lectures online, for free, for all people. But today, how many students have you met who mastered advanced mathematics or nuclear physics from an MIT online video? Unfortunately, the answer is not many.

The problem is the poor quality of online education websites and the experience they provide to students. Those who go to the MIT website and watch courses online are surely very smart people, but it’s not like playing a video game such as World of Warcraft. Only the most ardent students, those who are highly motivated, will devote themselves to studying these boring online videos.

The real question is why we aren’t spending more to develop better online education platforms. Where is the “Avatar” of education? Think about this. The market forHollywoodfilms per year is worth around 30 billion USD. Education in the world is a trillion-dollar-a-year market, hundreds of times bigger thanHollywoodmovies. Yet the most expensive digital learning system ever built cost well under 100 million dollars.

Bill Gates’ prediction is going to happen. There is no doubt about it. But it will only happen when we create high-level educational content and experiences that engage and excite more than has ever been possible in the real world.

Why does nearly everyone instantly look more attractive with sunglasses on? You know you’re at least a little curious. And so was Vanessa Brown, a senior lecturer of art and design at Nottingham Trent University in the U.K. Her research focuses on the meaning we assign to everyday objects, and in her academic book that’s coming out early next year, she explores the cultural and psychological relationship between sunglasses and our modern idea of “cool”. In an e-mail to Science of Us, Brown explained what her research has uncovered about why most of us look better in shades.

Sunglasses do make your face look better. Put on a pair of sunglasses, and there’ll be instantsymmetry（对称）! The dark lenses cover up any non-symmetrical features around your eyes, and research on facial attractiveness shows a clear link between symmetry and our ideas of beauty.

Many of the snap judgments we form about people come from looking them in the eyes. “The eyes are such atremendoussource of information for the human being,” Brown explained. Eye contact helps us form judgments about someone’s intelligence, confidence, and sincerity, and sunglasses keep us literally in the dark about forming thoseperceptionsabout a person. A recent study showed that people who wore sunglasses acted more selfishly and dishonestly than those wearing eyeglasses, which, the researchers argue, suggests that sunglasses cheat us into feeling more unknown.

Sunglasses are a relatively modern everyday accessory. Sales started to pick up in the 1920s, but they didn’t becomecommonplaceuntil about two decades after that. In their early days sunglasses were primarily used during risky water and snow sports, and were also associated with new technologies like airplane travel, which made them seem “daring and thoroughly modern”.

Soon after that, Hollywood stars of the 1950s and 1960s started wearing sunglasses to defend themselves from being recognized by the public or harassed bypaparazzi（狗仔队）, whose flashbulbs would often explode violently, sometimes literally in their faces. But regardless of practicality, movie stars’ adoption of the sunglasses strengthened the link between sunglasses and attractiveness.

    The sharing economy, represented by companies like Airbnb or Uber, is the latest fashion craze. But many supporters have overlooked the reality that this new business model is largely based on escaping regulations（规则）and breaking the law.

    Airbnb is an Internet-based service that allows people to rent out spare rooms to strangers for short stays. Uber is an Internet taxi service that allows thousands of people to answer ride requests with their own cars. There are hundreds of other such services.

    The good thing about the sharing economy is that it promotes the use of underused resources. Millions of people have houses or apartments with empty rooms, and Airbnb allows them to profit from these rooms while allowing guests a place to stay at prices that are often far less than those charged by hotels. Uber offers prices that are competitive with standard taxi prices and their drivers are often much quicker and more trustworthy（值得信任的）.

    But the downside of the sharing economy has gotten much less attention. Most cities and states both tax and regulate hotels, and the tourists who stay in hotels are usually an important source of tax income. But many of Airbnb’s customers are not paying the taxes required under the law.

    Airbnb can also raise issues of safety for its customers and trouble for hosts’ neighbors. Hotels are regularly inspected（检查）to ensure that they are not fire traps and that they don’t form other risks for visitors. Airbnb hosts face no such inspections.

    Since Airbnb is allowing people to escape taxes and regulations, the company is simply promoting（引起）theft. Others in the economy will lose by bearing an additional tax burden or being forced to live next to an apartment unit with a never-ending series of noisy visitors.

    The same story may apply with Uber. Uber is currently arguing over whether its cars meet the safety and insurance requirements which are accepted by standard taxis. Also, if Uber and related services flood the market, they could harm all taxi drivers’ ability to earn a minimum wage.

    This downside of the sharing needs to be taken seriously, but that doesn’t mean the current tax and regulatory structure is perfect.

Thousands of taxi drivers in Shenyang, Liaoning province, reportedly blocked streets with their vehicles on Sunday in protest against unlicensed vehicles using taxi-hiring apps (打车软件) and apps-based car rental companies providing passenger services, including high-end cars. Although the drivers also complained about the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy by the government, their main complaint was the loss of business because of the rising number of Internet-based car services companies.

On Wednesday, news reports came that Beijing transport authorities will take measures to stop the illegal“taxi business” of private cars through the newly rising Internet apps, following the footsteps of Shenyang and Nanjing.

It is not yet clear how the Shenyang city government will handle the issue and whether it will declare the services offered by market leaders such as Didi Dache, a taxi-hiring app provider backed by Tencent Holdings, and Kuaidi Dache illegal. But Shanghai transport regulators have set a rule, by banning Didi Zhuanche, or car services offered by Didi Dache in December.

Such regulations will cause a setback to the car-hiring companies and investors that are waiting to cash in on the potentially booming business. Just last month, Didi Dache got $700 million in funding from global investors, including Singapore state investment company Temasek Holdings, Russian investment company DST Global and Tencent. Besides, the market i s uncertain that Kuaidi Dache is about to finalize its latest round of funding after getting $800 million from global investors.

Regulatory uncertainties, however, could cast a shadow on the future of the Internet-based car-hiring services, which have become popular in most of China’s big cities. To be fair, these companies’business model is anything but bad. For example, Didi Zhuanche works side by side with established car rental companies to provide high-end car service mainly for business people through the Internet and mobile phone apps.

Every link in this business model chain has legal companies and services. Hence, it is hard to define it as illegal and ban it.

One of our expectations about education is that it will pay off in terms of upward mobility. Historically, the relation between education and income has been strong. But in the early 1970s, a contradiction developed between education and the economy. Our value of education and our average educational attainment（获得）run faster than the capacity of the economy to absorb the graduates.

Since the 1970s, high-school graduates have experienced a striking decrease in earnings, making them the first generation since World WarⅡ to face a lower standard of living than their parents had. Experts have argued that this contradiction is at the heart of the problem of public education today. It is not, as business leaders claim, that the schools are failing to properly educate students, that they are turning out young people who are inadequately prepared to function in the workplace. The real problem is a shortage of economic opportunities for students who are not continuing on to college. College graduates also are having difficulty finding jobs. Even when they do, the jobs may not be consistent with their training and expectations. Part of the problem is that too many young Americans expect to have professional jobs, making disappointment and frustration unavoidable for some.

Many students assumed that what was true of an individual— that the higher the education, the better the job opportunities — would also be true for an entire society. But when the numbers of better-educated young people became too great, the economy could no longer absorb them. Another part of the problem is the assumption that greater educational attainment guarantees career advancement. In fact, employers do not routinely reward educational attainment; rather, they reward it only when they believe it will contribute to the employee’s productivity.

We should not overlook the fact that there is still a strong relationship between education and occupation and income. College graduates have a strong advantage over those with less education. But the payoff is neither as large nor as certain as it once was. Unfortunately, Americans have focused so strong on the economic payoff that many consider their college education useless if it does not create a desirable, well-paying job. Only in this sense can we speak of an “oversupply” of college graduates. 

We could argue that all or at least the majority of Americans would profit by some degree because higher education can enable the individual to think more deeply, explore more widely, and enjoy a greater range of experiences.