Online shopping has become more and more popular these years. Women have jumped ahead of men for the first time in using the Internet to do their holiday shopping, according to a study published last week in the US.

For years men have been more likely to shop on the Internet than women, but during the 2013 holiday season 58 percent of those shopping online were women.

“It shows how popular the Internet is becoming,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project group, which carried out the study. Rainie said it was only a matter of time before women shoppers caught up with men. This is because women traditionally make decisions about spending.

Users were more likely to shop online to save time. Internet users between the ages 18 and 29 were responsible for some of the surprising increase in the online gift- buying population this time around.

However, three-quarters of the US Internet users did not buy holiday gifts online in 2013. They worried about credit card security(安全），or just compared online prices with off-line prices, thendashed off to the shops to get the best deals.

“But even if shoppers don’t buy online, websites are becoming promotion(促销）tools for stores”，said Dan Hess, vice president of Com Score Network Inc. Hess said that actually most stores，websites can make customers fully believe the security of their credit card numbers. And most are able to ensure that gifts arrive on time.

It’s all about making the shopping experience more efficient, more reliable and more comfortable,” Hess said.

A

Uncivilized behavior by passengers unacceptable

For the first time, airline passengers have been blacklisted for uncivilized behavior. Their names will remain on the blacklist for one or two years, according to an announcement by the China Air Transport Association on Saturday. The blacklisting means they will not be able to travel by air until their names are removed from the list.

Blacklisting passengers who disobey the rules for travelling by air and so place their own interests before everything else, including safety, has long been overdue (迟到的，延迟的).

There have been frequent reports of passengers making a scene when their flight was delayed or when they believed that they were not treated as they should be on a flight.

Yet it is natural for some flights to be delayed because of reasons such as bad weather or mechanical problems that need to be solved. However, some passengers seem to take it for granted that their flight must take off at the time stated on their ticket, and they even assume that the members of the cabin crew are simply there to do their bidding(吩咐).

They forget that they should behave themselves in the first place and that respect is reciprocal (互相给与的).There is no reason for them to be respected when they do not show enough respect for others.

Observing rules can never be over-emphasized when it comes to flight safety. No one has the right to disregard the rules for any reason. Of course, airlines should provide quality services to meet the needs of passengers. Yet, even if passengers are not satisfied with the service provided, there is still no reason for them to flout the rules that are designed for the safety of all.

The blacklisting of these three passengers should serve for others to know they have to toe the line (顺从集体).

C

Parents whose children think the latest Nike or Adidas shoes may be better than buying old-fashioned plimsolls (橡胶底帆布鞋) because they encourage a healthier style of running, researchers said.

Big companies, like Nike and Adidas, make millions of dollars from selling highly-cushioned shoes（厚增高的运动鞋) both as fashion and sports shoes. The researchers warn that wearing such shoes from an early age can make it difficult to run in a healthy way. Once we have grown used to running in this kind of shoes, it is very difficult to change our technique, even if we remove our shoes, it can raise the risk of injury.

Children should be encouraged to wear shoes with thin soles such as plimsolls from a young age to help them develop a natural “barefoot” running style, experts said.

Dr Mick Wilknson, who did the research, told the British Science Festival in Newcastle, “If I would advise someone on what to give their child, I would say don’t go and buy them expensive Adidas or Nike, just get them a pair of flexible, flat shoes. Give them basic foot-ware, nothing fancy, nothing particularly cushioned.”

Running in flat shoes, barefoot, encourages the runner to use the front of their foot which is a better technique for running, especially long distances as the human was designed to do.

Around the world, and in particular in the US, running barefoot is becoming more and more popular with many long distance runners training without shoes.

Dr Mick Wilknson believes that training and running barefoot or in flat running shoes can help reduce injuries to runners, he said: “Injury rates in running have not changed since the 1970s, despite claims of improvements in running shoes. That has led some to conclude that barefoot running is better.”

While income worry is a rather common problem of the aged, loneliness is another problem that aged parents may face. Of all the reasons that explain their loneliness, a large geographical distance between parents and their children is the major one. This phenomenon is commonly known as “Empty Nest Syndrome”（空巢综合症）. 

In order to find better chances outside their countries, many young people have gone abroad, leaving their parents behind with no clear idea of when they will return home. Their parents spend countless lonely days and nights, taking care of themselves, in the hope that someday their children will come back to stay with them. The fact that most of these young people have gone to Europeanized or Americanized societies makes it unlikely that they will hold as tightly to the value of duty as they would have if they had not left their countries. Whatever the case, it has been noted that the values they hold do not necessarily match what they actually do. This geographical and cultural distance also prevents the grown-up children from providing response in time for their aged parents living by themselves. 
   The situation in which grown-up children live far away from their aged parents has been described as “distant parent phenomenon（现象）”, which is common both in developed countries and in developing countries. Our society has not yet been well prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome”（空巢综合症）. 

A

   A beach in Bodrum, a resort city in Turkey, saw the horror of human tragedy on Sept 2. A little boy, dressed in a red shirt and blue shorts, lay face down in the sand. Sadly, 3-year-old Alan Kurdi would never wake up again.

   Alan drowned along with at least 12 Syrians, including his 5-year-old brother and mother. They were on a journey from Turkey to Greece. Trying to make their simple but dangerous dream of a safe home a reality, they paid with their lives.

   The tragic photographs of Alan’s lifeless body shocked the world. “What has drowned in the Mediterranean (地中海) is not only the refugees, but humanity,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

   Refugees, according to the UN, are people escaping war or persecution (迫害). Their situation is often so dangerous that they cross national borders to look for safety in nearby countries. The Kurdis wanted to head for Europe by crossing to the Greek island of Kos from Bodrum by boat.

   Escaping to Europe

   The Kurdis’ tragedy was just one story from over 1,800 people who have died in the first six months of this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, according to statistics released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), on July 1. Together with refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia and Nigeria, “migrants who are journeying to Europe from Africa and the Middle East have seen a sharp climb this year”, reported ABC News.

   Migrants, however, are not necessarily refugees. A migrant may leave his or her country for many reasons apart from war, terrorism (恐怖主义), and persecution. They may seek employment, life with their family, or study in another country.

   European countries have taken different approaches to the crisis. Germany and France are opening their doors to more asylum (避难) seekers, those who say they are refugees but the status has not been decided by the UNHCR or a government. On Sept 8, reported the Associated Press, German’s vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said his country could take in 500,000 refugees every year for the next several years. According to Fox News, Germany, the largest economy in Europe, is expecting to take in 800,000 refugees in 2015. And on Sept 7, France said it would take 24,000 refugees over two years. Other countries, such as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, have been unwilling to take a large number of refugees for various reasons including economic problems and safety concerns.

   Despite disagreements among EU members, the UN’s Refugee Chief Antonio Guterres said the crisis was “manageable” if member states could agree a joint plan.  

B

       You might think that good-looking men have every advantage in life. But a new study suggests being handsome may not always work in a man’s favour – at least when it comes to his career.

    The research claims that attractive men are less likely to be given a job in a competitive workplace because they intimidate bosses.

    “It’s not always an advantage to be pretty,” says Marko Pitesa, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland. “It can backfire if you are thought of as a threat.”

    Interestingly, in Pitesa’s study, it was male attractiveness in particular, rather than female beauty, that made the most difference.

    If the interviewer expected to work with the candidate as part of a team, then he preferred good-looking men.

    However, if the interviewer saw the candidate as a potential competitor, the interviewer discriminated in favor of unattractive men.

    In the first experiment, 241 adults were asked to evaluate fictional job candidates based on fake qualifications and experience, in an online setting.

    Men evaluated men and women evaluated women. Interviewers were primed to either think of the candidate as a future co-operator or competitor, and they were given a computer-generated headshot that was either attractive or unattractive.

    A second experiment involved 92 people in a lab. They were asked to evaluate future competitors or partners in a quiz game, based on credentials that included sample quiz answers, and they saw similar headshots.

    There was still a preference to cooperate with the attractive man and compete against the unattractive man.

    A final experiment used photographs of actual European business school students, vetted for attractiveness, and found the same pattern.

    The results suggest that interviewers were not blinded by beauty, and instead calculated which candidate would further their own career.

    “The way we explain it here, pretty men just seem more competent, so it is actually subjectively reasonable to discriminate for or against them.” Pitesa says.

    On a deeper level, she adds, the behavior remains unreasonable, since there’s no evidence that a real link exists between looks and competence.

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 (消遣), 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 steering them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.