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Studies have shown most people fail to realize how much time they spend on their smart phones each day.

Frank and Amelia's family were put to a test, using a free app called "Moment-screen Time Tracker". The Vascellaros—Frank, Amelia, 14-year-old twins Frankie and Joe, and 17-year-old Sam—all said they did not really know they were spending so much time on their phones each day.

"Honestly, I don't feel like I'm on my phone a lot," Amelia Vascellaro said. Amelia was on her phone far less often than Frank, according to the app. While Amelia spent about an hour per day on the phone, Frank spent close to four hours on his phone—which came as a shock to him. The children's times varied but they often spent more than a couple of hours on the phone as well.

Minneapolis-based Dr Kirsten Lind Seal sees phone usage come up a lot among families. Lind Seal said many family members' phone use has become problematic.

"If we hear more than once, ‘Do you have to be on your phone right now? Can you please put your phone down? Did you hear what I said?' it may be a sign that it is negatively influencing our family relationships and our daily lives," she said.

Lind Seal said actually paying attention to how much time one spends on the phone is a good first step in deciding when to put it down.

She asks parents to encourage more face-to-face communication for teens and young adults as they continue developing their social and emotional skills. "What we find is that we are really losing out on empathy—the ability to understand other people's feelings and problems——when we spend a lot of time on our smart phones to communicate with other people," she said.

Fifty years ago I had a young family of three boys. My husband Johnny and I left them with a friend while we made a rare trip to the cinema in Liverpool.

It was dark and pouring with rain but with the headlights shining on the road we saw something ahead of us. Johnny pulled to a stop and I jumped out, ran to the grass edge and grabbed a small, wet, and frightened creature. I wrapped it safely in my woollen hat and insisted that my husband turn back and head for home. We thought it was a baby rabbit because it had long ears and was grayish-brown in colour. Once home, we filled a box with torn-up newspaper and a warm towel. We named our new animal Bobsy as we had no idea of its sex.

Sadly though, on the third day with us, it caught its back foot in a door and we quickly realized it was broken. We rushed to the vet(兽医), who said, "It's only a rabbit, I'll put it to sleep." Our response was a very determined, "No way!" We found another vet and told that she was a baby hare. We were told we should continue to keep her in her box for a week and her foot would heal.

After her recovery, Bobsy learnt to use the kitty litter tray. She would comb her long ears with her front paws. The local paper heard about this and came to our house to take her photo and write a story about her. We had her for seven wonderful years before we moved to New Zealand and we will never forget her.

Festival of Light, Longleat Safari Park, Wiltshire

Longleat is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Giant lanterns take the shapes of some of the park's animals, and there are also lots of fictional characters in Beatrix Potter's books, such as Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Squirrel Nutkin to mark the 150th anniversary of the author's birth. There is also a 20-metre-high birthday cake.

￡27.85, adult/ ￡20.65, child/ under-threes, free.  15 Dec.to 2 Jan.

Festival of Light, Enchanted Park, Gateshead

Enchanted Park is an interactive walk through Saltwell Park, just south of the town centre, along a trail (小径) of light with performances and sculptures. The story being told is a Midwinter Night's Tale, inspired by the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. Visitors can join stories and songs with Santa, and attend decorating workshops.

￡8,adult/ ￡2,child/ under-fours, free.  11-27 Dec.

Christmas Glow, RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey

The garden is glowing with giant lighted flowers. Some of the trees are brilliant, too. The glasshouse is decorated like a gingerbread house, and displays (陈列) seasonal plants. There are lanterns around the lake. The cafe serves hot chocolate and apple juice.

￡9.90,adult/ ￡3.60,child.  20 Dec.to 2 Jan.

Christmas at Kew Gardens, London

Kew is a special place to visit at any time of the day or year, but the festive light show gives it a magical twist, as the mile-long trail through the garden is decorated with 60,000 lights. Some of the garden's oldest and tallest trees are also beautifully lit along the way.

￡16,adult ￡10,child ￡48,family/ under-fours, free.  24 Dec.to 2 Jan.

注意： 1. 写作词数应为80左右； 2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。

Getting to Know the Plants Around Us

Record-breaking  (freeze) temperatures and snowfall in Texas have left Texas' wildlife stunned (昏迷) by the cold. This week, thousands of sea turtles (海龟) were washed ashore on the Gulf Coast and couldn't move.  (lucky), by Monday evening, nearly 2,000 cold-stunned turtles were rescued. Sea Turtle, Inc.,  is a non-profit turtle rescue organization, saw the numbers rise by Wednesday morning when they received 3,500 turtles in an unconscious state after volunteers raced to save them.

In  typical year, Sea Turtle, Inc.'s facility will receive between 12 and 100 cold-stunned turtles in winter months, but nothing  what they are currently experiencing.

When water temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the turtles fall unconscious. In this immobilized state, the turtles risk  (lose) their lives. Therefore, when turtles are stunned, they need a place  (warm) up.

When Sea Turtle, Inc.'s facility reached maximum capacity, they  (start) to send the overflow of turtles to South Padre Island Convention Center. As the week went on, volunteers continued to drop off turtles with increasing  (frequent).

Once sea turtles recover and if water temperatures are safe, they will usually  (release) back into the wild. Until then, the Texan turtles will receive warmth and any medical attention they need during their stay at the convention center.

Travel is not a reasonable activity. It makes no 1  to squeeze (挤) yourself into a small seat to go to a distant place where you don't 2  the language or know the customs. All is at great 3  . If we 4  to do a cost-benefit analysis, we'd never go anywhere. Yet we do.

That's one reason why I'm 5 about travel's future. In fact, I'd argue travel is an essential activity, like books and hugs, which are food for the 6 . Right now, we're between courses, enjoying where we've been and anticipating where we'll go.

In our rush to 7  to the world, we should be mindful of the impact of mass 8  on the planet. Now is the time to accept the fundamental values of 9  tourism and let them guide our future 10 . Go off the beaten path. Stay longer in destinations. And 11  that the whole point of getting out there is to see the differences that make the world so 12 .

So go ahead and 13  that trip. It's good. Plotting a trip is 14  as enjoyable as actually taking one. Anticipation is its own reward. I've 15  first-hand the happiness of anticipatory travel. My wife, not usually a fan of travel photography , now spends hours on Instagram, staring longingly at photos of mountains and rice fields. "What's going on ?" I asked one day. "They're just absolutely amazing ," she replied. "They make me remember that there is a big, beautiful world out there."

The many benefits of sharing jokes as a family

A well-chosen joke can have a big impact when speaking to a crowd or attempting to redirect a tense meeting.  Our family started regularly enjoying jokes when my son began sharing the "Joke of the Day" read on the morning announcements at his school with us at dinner. A burst of laughter prevents us from complaining about the menu.  The benefits of sharing jokes definitely go beyond mealtime conversation matter, though. Here are some reasons to make joking around a regular family habit:

 Knowing a good joke can help a kid connect with other kids at the cafeteria table or start a conversation on the school bus. Enjoying jokes and practicing the art of humorous delivery in the safety of their home can give kids tools for social situations.

Jokes improve language skills.  Consider the learning potential in these samples from Funology.com: "What do you call a cow that eats your grass? A lawn (草坪) moo-er." "When is a door not a door? When it's ajar (半开着)."

Jokes encourage reading and learning. Many parents and teachers report that joke books help motivate their reluctant or struggling readers to read more. Since jokes, by design, are for sharing, reading them aloud is particularly good practice for kids who struggle with reading fluently.  If your child needs help remembering a difficult concept, a joke might do it. For instance, try another joke from Funology.com: "Two atoms (原子) are playing together when one tells the other, 'I lost an electron (电子).' The second atom asks, 'Are you sure?' The first atom replies 'I'm positive!'"

A. Jokes help kids build social relationships.

B. Jokes aren't just for the public stage, though.

C. Humor can even help a person deal with mood disorders.

D. Studies show humor can make information more memorable, too.

E. Jokes arc quick lessons about sounds in words and word meanings.

F. But humor encourages family connection and helps ease kids' anxiety.

G. Also, it's been a good chance to explain jokes he didn't quite understand.

For eight months up to this April, a French bookstore chain had video in a Paris shop fed to software that examines shoppers' movements and facial expressions for surprise, dissatisfaction, confusion or hesitation. When a shopper walked to the end of an aisle (走廊) only to return with confusion to a bookshelf, the software immediately messaged clerks, who went to help. Sales rose by a tenth.

This could be a chance, some say, for physical retailers (零售商) to trim the advantage that data have long given online sellers. A race is on to work out how best to collect and use emotions data, be it to improve packaging, displays, music, or the content, says Rana June, chief executive of a firm in New York called Lightwave. It measures shoppers' emotions for consumer-goods firms.

Not everyone is impressed. Nielsen, a consumer research company, views using technology to work out shoppers' emotions unfavorably. "It is a little annoying," says Ricardo Gutierrez, head of shopper insights at Nielsen Colombia in Bogota.

But it is much cheaper. Nielsen charges roughly $10,000 to interview 25 shoppers about three products. Angus.ai, the Paris startup behind the technology, charges just £59 ($66) a month per camera. What's more, conventional market research can mislead. People typically "edit" responses to make themselves sound sensible, when purchases are often driven by subconscious (潜意识地) emotions. And surveys can also ask the wrong questions - such as how much people like a product when what really matters is whether, say, it makes them feel attractive.

The notion of "retail therapy (疗法)", consumers driven to spend when they are feeling blue, is an obvious example of shopping's emotional side. Whichever store is the first to work out how to spot mildly depressed customers could make big money.

New York is among the slowest cities during rush hour in the world, according to a report published in January. Crossing midtown by car is soul-destroying. The average speed is 4.7 miles per hour, not much quicker than a quick walk. But relief is in sight. On April 1st, state lawmakers agreed to introduce road charges, making New York the first big American city to do so. By next year vehicles will have to pay to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.

The details of the new rule, including how much drivers will have to pay, how they will pay and how often they will pay, have yet to be decided. A "traffic mobility review board" will be set up to work all this out. New Yorkers living in the fee zone who make less than $60,000 a year will be exempt (豁免权). Other drivers, including motorcyclists, the city' s civil servants, disabled drivers and the trucking industry, all want discounts or exemptions, which might not be a good sign.

If done right, road pricing could be expanded beyond Manhattan. New York can learn from other cities. Singapore, for instance, which has had pricing for decades, adjusts prices regularly. It can also learn from mistakes. London, which rolled out its pricing in 2003, is only starting to charge on-demand car hires like Uber. Stockholm exempted too many vehicles, which caused a drop in revenues (收入).

Other cities considering road charges, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle, are watching New York. "We really have to make a good example," says Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute, a New York think-tank.

We use a huge amount of single-use plastic each year － we buy one million plastic bottles each minute around the world. Plastic waste, a material that can take centuries or more to disappear, is causing irreparable damage to the planet. However, plastic waste generated in many countries typically ends up in open, uncontrolled landfills (垃圾填埋池) － most of which eventually enters the ocean either transported by wind or through waterways.

Now, Nzambi Matee, a 29-year-old woman from Nairobi, Kenya, is dealing with this global crisis by recycling bags, containers, and other waste products into bricks used for construction projects. Before launching her company, Gjenge Makers, Matee worked as an oil-industry engineer. After encountering plastic waste along Nairobi's streets, she decided to quit her job and created a small lab, testing sand and plastic combinations. Matee eventually received a scholarship to study in the materials lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she ultimately developed a prototype (原型) for the machine that now produces the new bricks.

Made from a combination of plastic and sand, the bricks have a melting point higher than 350℃ and are more durable than concrete bricks. Matee and her team source much of the raw product from factories and recyclers, and sometimes it's free, which allows the company to reduce the price point on the product and make it more affordable for schools and homeowners.

"There is that waste recyclers cannot process anymore. That is what we get," Matee said. Her factory produces 1,500 bricks each day, made from a mix of different kinds of plastic. These are high-density polyethylene, used in milk and shampoo bottles; low-density polyethylene, often used for sandwich bags; and polypropylene, often used for ropes. But she does not work with polyethylene terephthalate or PET, commonly used for plastic bottles, which can be made into the same form easily again and again.

The plastic waste is mixed with sand, heated and then pressed into bricks, which are sold at varying prices, depending on thickness and colour.