Britons may like to complain a lot, but they rarely do so right now, explains BBC writer Ruth Margolis. They would rather grumble (发牢骚) afterward. This is because Britons hate to put someone out and cause any embarrassment. Margolis writes, “For instance, I'm much more comfortable just leaving that piece of raw chicken on my plate instead of complaining to restaurant staff. But beware: if this kind of thing happens when you're dining with an American, they will most likely speak up on your behalf and not understand why you find this ashamed.”

    In a BBC blog post comparing cultural differences between the UK and the US, Margolis mentions a few other things that Americans like to do that are offensive to Britons.

● Not making introductions

    Margolis says most Britons dislike this approach because “talking to strangers without being introduced gives them a stomachache”. Americans rarely introduce a new friend to their friends at parties. Strangers are supposed to introduce themselves.

● “Quite” good

    Using “quite” to mean “very” happens a lot in the US. But if you are invited to a dinner party in Britain, don't describe the meal as “quite good” if you want to express high praise. To Britons' ears, “quite” detracts from the “good”: the meal was OK but could have been better.

● Money Talk

    Americans can talk about money subjects for hours without feeling uncomfortable. For Britons, says Margolis, “Talking about how much we make is unthinkable — even 1ess so than discussing our feelings.”

● Over-politeness

    “It's not that I want shop assistants to be actively rude. But neither do I want to expend energy responding to someone who's been paid to ask: ‘How are you today?'” says Margolis. In the US, it is not unusual to be greeted by a perfect stranger as “honey” or “sweetie”. But Margolis says Britons find put-on friendliness, especially in stores, deeply irritating.

    The life expectancy is the length of time that a person is normally likely to live. As it increases nowadays, the average person lives beyond the age of retirement. As a result, the elderly make up an ever-increasing percentage of society, which makes it more important to make effort to improve the lives of senior citizens.

    First of all, one way would be to make sure that the elderly have enough money on which to live. Obviously, when a person stops working, they still require a source of income to cover their basic needs such as food, accommodation and heating. A clear solution to the problem is for the government to make sure that the state pension(养老金) is enough for these needs.

    Measures should also be taken to overcome the health problems the elderly face. The government should also provide access to the best health care available, which may necessitate paying for residential homes where the elderly can have round-the-clock nursing, or, at least, providing medication free of charge to all people over a certain age.

    If we try to address the problem of social isolation (社交孤立), the lives of old people could be improved. If we organize trips for the elderly to community centers, visits from social workers, their problem of loneliness can be reduced a lot which marks the lives of so many old people living alone and far from their families.

    The last helpful suggestion is to change the attitude of the community towards its older members, who are all too often seen as a burden on society. We need to be taught from an early age to respect the views of old people, and appreciate their broader experience of life. This would help society as a whole, and encourage appreciation of the role that old people can still play today.

    When the Apollo astronauts (宇航员) landed on the Moon in 1969, millions of people were rather sad. The person to blame for this was an artist named Chesley Bonestell. For many years, Bonestell had been creating beautifully detailed paintings of the Moon and planets. Viewers of his artwork were unhappy because the real Moon did not look like Bonestell's pictures of it.

    As a space artist, Bonestell tried to make his drawings look exciting and as true as the Moon is. He worked closely with astronomers and scientists to get the most up-to-date scientific information available. But in the 1940s and 1950s, no one had ever seen another planet up close. Yet Bonestell's paintings looked so real that some people thought they were photographs.

    Even though Bonestell was interested in astronomy, he did not start out as a space artist. As a young man he studied architecture — the art and science of designing and making buildings. In 1938 Bonestell became a special effects artist in Hollywood. It was here that he learned he could improve his paintings by following the methods used in the movies.

    In 1944, a popular magazine published a series of Bonestell's paintings of the planet Saturn. He drew Saturn as if it were seen by someone standing on each of the planet's moons. The results were dazzling. Within a few years, Bonestell's artwork was appearing regularly in magazines and books on astronomy and space flight.

    Many of Bonestell's artworks had been right all along. But the biggest surprise was the Moon. Someone asked Bonestell what he was thinking when he saw the first pictures from the Moon. “I thought how wrong I was!” he said. “My mountains were sharp (陡峭的), and they aren't on the Moon.”

    But he shouldn't have felt bad. No space artist had ever before taken so many people to so many faraway worlds. In the years just before the first manned space flights, Bonestell's artwork prepared people for the amazing space adventure to come.

    Imagine one day, the water taps in your house stop running. You have to buy water from shops. And still there isn't enough for everyone. Your mother has to save the family's shower water to do other things. Would you be able to stand that kind of life?

    Probably not. But that's what kids in Yemen are experiencing. Experts said Yemen is going to be the first country in the world to run out of water. According to a report, the capital, Sanaa, will run out of drinking water as early as 2025.

    Because of the shortage, the government often cuts the water supply. Hannan, 18-year-old from Lahej, told the Times: “In a good week, we'll have a water supply all week. But then the following week there will be water only for a day or two.”

    Hannan said only rich people have enough water to use. They can buy water from the shops or from the water truck. Private companies own the trucks. They travel around the city every day to sell water-at very high prices.

    “A lot of people can't afford it,” she said. The average person in Yemen uses 100 to 200 cubic meters of water per year. That is far below the international water poverty line of 1,000 cubic meters.

    The government is thinking of making use of seawater. But it will cost a lot and it may not happen soon enough to help the people of Yemen.

    A new argument has been put forward as to whether penguins are disturbed by the presence of tourists in Antarctica.

    Previous research by scientists from Keil University in Germany monitored Adelie penguins and noted that the birds' heart rates increased dramatically at the sight of a human as far as 30 meters away. But new research using an artificial egg, which is equipped to measure heart rates, disputes this. Scientists from the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge say that a slow moving human who does not approach the nest too closely, is not viewed as a threat by penguins.

    The earlier findings have been used to partly explain the 20 per cent drop in populations of certain types of penguins near tourist sites. However, tour operators have continued to insist that their activities do not adversely（不利地）affect wildlife in Antarctica, saying they encourage non-destructive behavior in tourists, and that the decline in penguin numbers is caused by other factors.

    Amanda Nimon of the Scott Polar Research Institute spent three southern hemisphere summers at Cuverville Island in Antarctica studying penguin behavior towards humans. “A nesting penguin will react very differently to a person rapidly and closely approaching the nest,” says Nimon. “First they exhibit large and prolonged heart rate changes and then they often flee the nest leaving it open for predators（掠夺者）to fly in and remove eggs or chicks.” The artificial egg, specially for the project, monitored both the parent who had been 'disturbed' when the egg was placed in the nest and the other parent as they both took it in turns to guard the nest.

    However, Boris Culik, who monitored the Adelie penguins, believes that Nimon's findings do not prove his own research invalid. He points out that species behave differently – and Nimon's work was with Gentoo penguins. Nimon and her colleagues believe that Culik's research was methodologically（方法论上）defective because the monitoring of penguins' responses needed catching the birds and fitting them with heart-rate transmitters（发射器）. Therefore, argues Nimon, it would not be surprising if they became stressed on seeing a human subsequently.

    His Excellency

    Kim Jong Un

    Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Dear Mr. Chairman,

    We greatly appreciate your time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit (峰会) long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore.

    We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant (不重要的). I was very much looking forward to being there with you.

    Sadly, based on the unacceptable and unfriendly statement, I feel it is not proper, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.

    Therefore, please let this letter to serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.

    You talk about your nuclear capabilities (能力), but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

    I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you.

    In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages (人质) who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated.

    If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.

Sincerely yours,

Donald J. Trump

    President of the United States of America

阅读理解

    Although computers used to be large, expensive and difficult to use, they have been made smaller, cheaper and easier to use. As a result, more people have been buying computers for their homes and businesses. They are used to record information and make difficult things easy.

    Let's look at some of the many ways computers may affect(影响) your life.

    Want to get the best treatment at hospitals? Your doctors at hospitals have been greatly helped by computers to get information about patients. It is possible for doctors from different hospitals to read the records of patients, discuss them and make decisions on the best treatment. It would, at one time, take them hours and days to do so.

    Want to talk to your friends both at home and abroad? Then it's necessary to connect your computer to the Internet and set up your own e-mail letter box. You can then collect and send mails in seconds. It will be a waste of time and money to post your letters.

    Want to get advice from Michael Jordan on how to play basketball like a NBA super star? Now it is possible to find out what it is on the Internet.

    But if you think you have entered the information age because you have the chance to use the Internet, you are wrong. The reason is quite a simple one: over 98 percent of the information on the Internet is in English. The information on-line won't be helpful to you unless you can use English freely.

    Teachers' Day is, interestingly, not celebrated on the same day all over the world. In some countries it is marked by a holiday; in others it is a working day.

    International Teachers' Day is celebrated on October 5. Being held ever since 1994, it is in honor of teachers' organizations worldwide. Its aim is to encourage supports for teachers and to meet the needs of students.

China — In 1939, Teachers' Day was set for August 27, Confucius' birthday. In 1951, the celebration was stopped. However, it was founded again in 1985, and the day was changed to September 10.

India — Teachers' Day is celebrated on September 5 in honor of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second president of India, whose birthday falls on that day.

    Russia — In Russia, Teachers' Day was celebrated on the first Sunday of October between 1965 and 1994. Since 1994, the day is observed on October 5, just the same day as World Teachers' Day.

    The US - In the US, Teachers' Day is non-official holiday. It is celebrated on the Tuesday of the first full week of May. A number of activities are organized in schools to honor teachers. The celebrations can continue for the whole week of May.

Thailand — In Thailand, National Teachers' Day is celebrated every year on January 16. The first Teachers' Day was held in 1957. The day is a holiday in schools.

    Do you find it difficult to put down your mobile phone?

    If yes, you're not alone. These days, many people suffer from the stress of FOMO (fear of missing out). They reach for their mobile phones when they wake up in the morning, and for the rest of the day, they constantly scroll down (向下滚动) the timelines of their social media apps to get the latest updates.

    Despite the convenience smartphones bring, many people struggle with their digital habits.

    As Sameer Samat, US tech Company Google's vice president of product management, said in his speech at the 2018 Google I/O developer conference on May 8, 70 percent of people don't want to spend so much time on their phones.

    This is why during the conference Google introduced an app called Dashboard for the new version (版本) of its Android operating system. This new app includes well-being functions that aim to help users manage the time they spend on their digital devices.

    It all starts with a bird's-eye view. Dashboard allows users to look at all the details of their phone habits. For example, a user can see how many times they've unlocked their phone and how many times they've checked their social media apps, as well as how much time they spend on each app every day.

    Once the users see this information, they'll be able to make some changes. With the App Timer function, users can set a time limit for how long they can use each app for every day. After they've hit the limit, they won't be able to launch the app until the next day.

    But even if users become more mindful of their usage, they're still likely to be drawn in by notifications (通知). This is where the Shush feature comes in. It automatically (自动地) silences incoming calls and notifications when a user puts their phone face down.

    If people truly want to make full use of their free time instead of losing hours using their smart phones, these new functions are just one way of doing that.

After all, who needs to use an app to stop you from using other apps when the easiest answer would be just to use your willpower?

Welcome to Inspire 21

    Our aim is to provide "Inspiring words for the 21^st century". So, here we offer a unique collection of inspiring short stories, motivational short stories, and humorous short stories for you to read and share.

    If you do care to share, click the "SHARE" button in the bottom left corner of each page. And thanks for telling others about Inspire 21.

    The inspiring stories that are labeled (标记) "TRUE" are done so to the best of our knowledge, but we do not have full proof in some cases. However, all of these stories and messages are provided because of their uplifting content, whether true or not. Many books we've read and movies we've watched were totally untrue, but we enjoyed the inspiration they gave us—especially if they had a happy ending.

    So, please read and share these stories at your own discretion (判断力). Thank you for your understanding!

    Also, many of the inspiring stories used here are used with permission from the author. However, we cannot grand (授予) permission to reuse any of these inspirational stories, as the majority of them are not ours.

    Lastly, many inspiring stories (emailed to us or we came across online) are listed as "Author Unknown". If you happen to know the author's name, to whom credit should be given, please contact us with that information so we can keep our inspiring story collection accurate. Thank you again!

    It's not easy being a teenager– nor is it easy being the parent of a teenager. You can make your child feel angry, hurt, or misunderstood by what you say without realizing it yourself. It is important to give your child the space he needs to grow while gently letting him know that you'll still be there for him when he needs you.

    Expect a lot from your child, just not everything. Except for health and safety problems, such as drug use or careless driving, consider everything else open to discussion to help them grow up more independently. If your child is unwilling to discuss something, don't insist he tell you what's on his mind. The more you insist, the more likely that he'll clam up. Instead, let him attempt to solve things by himself. At the same time, remind him that you're always there for him should he seek advice or help. Show respect for your teenager's privacy (隐私). Never read his mail or listen in on personal conversations.

    Teach your teenager that the family phone is for the whole family, which can make them more mature. If your child talks on the family's telephone for too long, tell him he can talk for 15 minutes, but then he must stay off the phone for at least an equal period of time. This not only frees up the line so that other family members can make and receive calls, but teaches your teenager moderation (节制). Or if you are open to the idea, allow your teenager his own phone that he pays for with his own pocket money or a part-time job.

    Foreign visitors to the UK might be disappointed when they learn that not everyone there speaks like Harry Potter and his friends. Usually, there's an assumption by many non-Brits that everyone in Britain speaks with what's known as a Received Pronunciation (RP, 标准发音) accent, also called "the Queen's English". However, while many people do talk this way, most Britons speak in their own regional accents.

    Scouse, Glaswegian and Black Country—from Liverpool, Glasgow and the West Midlands—are just three of the countless non-RP accents that British people speak with. There are even differences in accents between towns and cities just 30 kilometres apart. What is even more disappointing is that not speaking in an RP accent may mean a British person is judged and even treated differently in their everyday life.

    In a 2015 study by the University of South Wales, videos of people reading a passage in three different UK accents were shown to a second group of people. The group then rated how intelligent they thought the readers sounded. The lowest-rated accent was Brummie, native to people from Birmingham, a city whose accent is considered the working class.

    However, there is no need to be disappointed though you are not speaking in an RP accent. In fact, doing the opposite may even give you strength.

    Kong Seong-jae, 25, is an Internet celebrity from Seoul. After studying in the UK, he picked up several regional accents. He is now famous for his online videos, where he shows off the various accents he has learned. "British people usually get really excited when I use some of their local dialect words, and they become much friendlier. I think it makes a bit of bond between local people and foreigners to speak in their local accent," he said.

    So if you're working on perfecting your British accent, try to speak like someone from Liverpool, Glasgow or Birmingham. You may not sound like Harry Potter, but you are likely to make more friends.

    Mice and rats have long been used in medical research because of their biological similarities to humans. Recently scientists at the University of Richmond in Virginia have trained rats to drive small vehicles.

    The research team built tiny cars out of plastic and other materials, which had an opening at one end to which electrical wires were attached. By touching one of three different wires, the rat could control the car in different directions-left, center and right. Sweet treats were placed inside the containers in an attempt to get the rats to drive the vehicle for the food. After several months' training, the animals could drive to get to the treats.

    Kelly Lambert, who has long been interested in the way the brain changes to react to different experiences and difficulties, led the experiment. She told the French news agency AFP the research suggested rat brains might be more complex and flexible than once thought. The driving activity seemed to help the rats relax and the rats kept in what was called "enriched environments" performed far better than those in labs.

    The researchers examined levels of two hormones (荷尔蒙) in the rats — one that causes stress and the other that counters it. All the rats that took part in the training had higher levels of the hormone that reduces stress. The research suggests the increased relaxation levels could be linked to the enjoyment of successfully completing a new skill. The team also found the rats that drove themselves showed higher levels of the stress-fighting hormone than those that simply rode in small cars controlled by humans.

    Lambert's team is planning to further the research to learn more about how the rats learned to drive. This research may open new areas of non-drug treatments for people suffering from mental health conditions.

    When our Scottish puppy reached doggie adolescence, she suddenly stopped obeying my commands. Previously, if I called “come,” Annie would fly across our yard to my arms. Now, the 8-month-old gave me an aggressive “make me” look and ran the other way.

    Our dog trainer advised us to stop complaining. “She's a teenager,” she said. Now, a new study is backing that up: Dogs, it says, experience an oversensitive period just like human teenagers. “There is abundant folk knowledge that the behavior of adolescents differs from younger or older dogs,” says Barbara Smuts.

    Puppies bond with humans much as children do. “But owners often feel like they're failing when their puppies reach adolescence,” about 8 months for most dogs, says Lucy Asher. Like teenagers, adolescent dogs can disregard and disobey their owners. Indeed, teenage dogs are the most likely age group to land in U.S. shelters.

    To see exactly how adolescence changes dog behavior, Asher and her team monitored 70 female dogs being raised as potential guide dogs. They asked caregivers to score the puppies on separation-related behaviors, like trembling when left behind. Dogs with high scores on this behavior entered adolescence earlier-at about 5 months, compared with 8 months for those with lower scores. Various factors cause human teenage girls with poor parental relationships to also enter adolescence at a younger age. Thus, similar to humans, dogs that have bad relationships with their caregivers see changes in their development.

    According to Smuts, adolescent dogs that were stressed by separation from their caregiver also increasingly disobeyed that person, showing the insecurity of human teenagers.

    Because of the similarity between adolescent pups and humans, dogs can serve as a model species for studying adolescence in humans, the scientists say. The temporary nature of dogs which disobey the owners may make us worry less when our pups suddenly get minds of their own.

Some people think only school children do not agree with their parents, however, it is not true. Communication is a problem for parents and children of all ages. If it's hard for you to communicate with your parents, don't worry about it. Here are some advice for you to bridge the generation gap (代沟).

Don't argue with your parents. Don't get to parents when you are angry. Your parents probably won't consider your ideas if you are shouting at them. And you can't express yourself well if you are angry. Go someplace to cool off. Make sure you understand why you are unhappy. Then think about what you want to say to your parents. If you don't think you can speak to them at the moment, try writing a letter.

Try to reach a compromise (和解). Perhaps you and your parents disagree on something. You can keep your disagreement and try your best to accept each other. Michael's mother didn't agree with him about buying a motorcycle. They argued over it. But they finally cane to a compromise. Michael bought the motorcycle, but only drove it on certain days.

Of course, your parents might refuse to compromise on something. In these situations, it is especially important to show love and respect to them. Showing respect will keep your relationship strong.

Talk about your values. The values of your parents are probably different from those of your own. Tell your parents what you care about, and why. Understanding your values night help then see your purposes in life.

A good relationship with your parents can make you a better and happier person. It is worth having a try!

The Internet has opened a new world of opportunity for even the smallest home­based business owner. There are a great number of self­made millionaires (百万富翁) that have achieved their success on the Internet. Do you want to know their secrets of being successful?

If a company doesn't care enough about its own domain name (域名), customers may not feel comfortable when doing business. A company with its own domain name and a professional­looking website will have a much higher rate of success.

A website can present both you and your business directly. Creating a professional website takes a lot of time and efforts, as there are many more things to think about than the website's design. You must give your visitors a reason to visit and continue to visit your website in the future; just provide your visitors with fresh contents.

Your words are the foundation (基础) of your business. Your product, website and marketing strategies all depend on your words. You must learn how to write persuasive (有说服力的) words especially for your customers. You must feel your customers' needs and write with passion, excitement and consideration.

As an Internet business owner, it is your personal responsibility to make sure that your visitors feel very comfortable with you and your website. In order to gain confidence and your visitor's trust, you first have to build your credibility (信誉).

Your attitude is the most important factor in determining your success. You must think positively and be willing to deal with any difficulties that come along. All you must do is to believe that you can do whatever you put your mind to.

Candy comes in many flavors. Some taste like fruit. Some taste like flowers. Some are chewy, like taffy (太妃糖) and gum. Hard candies are, well. hard! So, they last a long time.

But, in spoken English, there are some types of candy that you cannot eat. For example, you can't eat eye candy. Eye candy is a person-man or woman-who is very good-looking. So, looking at this person is a treat for the eye, just like candy is a treat for the taste buds.

Do you hear of candy coat? Of course it is not a coat made of candy. But you can say I don't candy coat the truth. What does candy-coating something mean? Well, some pills are covered with a coat of thin, sweet candy. The coating makes swallowing the pill easier, and it may hide a bad taste. So, candy coating a difficult truth or situation means you don't directly discuss its bad parts.

After talking about candy you may want to eat some candies. However, some people dislike things that are very sweet, especially adults. But even if you do not like candy, you can still be called a kid in a candy store. This expression means a person is very happy to do something or to simply be somewhere. Imagine a child going from one candy display to the next, not knowing which candy to choose!

Talking about children brings us to another expression: as easy as taking candy from a baby. Think about a small, helpless baby holding a piece of candy. Taking it would be very easy—mean, but easy. So, use this expression when you are talking about something that may be simple to do, but probably not right.

Life will probably be very different in 2050. First of all, it seems that TV channels will have vanished by 2050. Instead, people will choose a programme from a "menu" and a computer will send the programme directly to the television. By 2050, music, films, programmes, newspapers and books will come to us in the similar way.

In many places, agriculture is developing quickly and people are growing fruit and vegetables for export. This uses a lot of water. Therefore, there could be serious shortages of water. Some scientist predict that water could be the cause of wars if we don't act now.

In the future, cars will run on new, clean fuels (燃料) and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed and there won't be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. Also, by 2050, space planes will fly people from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just two hours.

Some big companies now prefer to use robots that do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and work 24 hours a day. They are also easy to control. And they never argue with people. They can be easily used in a variety of places—factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.

Scientists will have discovered how to control genes (基因). Scientists have already produced clones (克隆) of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look and how they behave. Scientists will be able to do these things, but should3hey?

Recently the term "climate anxiety" has been used to better describe our growing concerns about climate change. While there is evidence that climate anxiety can be identified and reliably measured, what's less clear is how it relates to mental illness. Mental health providers across the world are noting the presence of climate anxiety in their patients; however, the degree to which it is influencing mental illness is not yet clear, though evidence addressing this question is slowly growing.

For years now, mental health clinicians have seen climate anxiety influencing presentations of mental illness in a variety of ways, some extreme. Recent studies are starting to look at links between climate anxiety and mental illness in larger samples to help better understand the directionality of their relationship. In a U.S. survey of more than 340 people published in 2018, climate concerns were associated with depressive symptoms (症状). Ecological coping, which includes pro-environmental behaviors such as reducing energy consumption, appeared to be protective against depression, indicating that climate concerns and the poor coping skills used to address them could be causing depressive symptoms.

So who might be more at risk of mental illness secondary to the uncertainties around climate change? Unsurprisingly, climate anxiety appears higher in individuals with more concern about environmental issues at baseline and those already experiencing direct effects of climate change. Climatologists also face increased risk given their in-depth knowledge on the issue coupled with the upsetting task of trying to convey it to individuals and governments that often deny or downplay it. People with high levels of neuroticism, a personality trait that increases susceptibility to mental illness, are also likely to be at high risk.

Some individuals report adaptive responses to climate anxiety like adopting pro-environmental behaviors and participating in collective action, while others are unable to respond behaviorally at all. It's not yet clear how these varying reactions manifest (呈现) on a population level and how they're influencing humanity's response to climate change. However, a recent survey of nearly 200 people found that, while climate anxiety was associated with an emotional response to climate change, it was not correlated with a behavioral response.

If this is true for humanity as a whole, we must urgently help motivate the anxious among us. Doing so successfully will require many approaches, such as delivering cognitive-behavioral therapy (认知行为疗法) to the most severely affected and demonstrating to entire populations that change is possible by better publicizing productive efforts by organizations to reduce their carbon footprints. We can't let climate anxiety stop us from responding to climate change, because now, more than ever, we need action, not inaction.

A simple gesture can be formed into a child's memory so quickly that it will cause the child to give a false answer to a question accompanied by that gesture. A new finding suggests that parents, social workers, psychologists and lawyers should be careful with their hands as well as their words.

Gestures can be as informative as speech, but hand gestures are so common that we rarely notice we're using them.

While the recall of both adults and children are easy to react to suggestion, the memories of children are known to be particularly influenced，said lead researcher Sara Broaders of Northwestern University. Kids are used to looking to adults to tell events for them and can be misled even if not intentionally (故意地).

Previous research, for example, has shown that detail-loaded questions often cause false answers; when asked, say "Did you drink juice at the picnic?" the child is likely to say "yes" even if no juice had been available. It is not that the child is consciously lying, but rather the detail is quickly formed into his or her memory.

To avoid this problem, social workers have long been advised to ask children only open-ended questions, such as "What did you have at the picnic?" But an open-ended question paired with a gesture, briefly meaning a juice box, is treated like a detailed question. That is, children become likely to answer falsely.

And it isn't just a few kids: 77% of children gave at least one piece of false information when a detail was suggested by an ordinary gesture. Gestures may also become more popular when talking with non-fluent language users, such as little kids, Broaders said as hand movements can impart meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. "It certainly seems reasonable that adults would gesture more with children."

In general, Broaders advises parents and other adults to "Try to be aware of your hands when questioning a child about an event. Otherwise, you might be getting answers that don't reflect what actually happened. "