In its reaction to reports that its Kindle business is exiting the Chinese mainland market, Amazon said customers can still buy Kindle devices through online and offline, while some of its devices have been sold out in the mainland.

No one knows whether customers bought all its products or the company produced too few, leading to the sellout, but it is obvious that Kindle has shut down several online sales channels, forcing many in China to put their Kindles up for sale.

On the other hand, Data shows the number of digital readers was higher than before. The total market value of the digital reading industry grows 21.8 percent over that in 2019.

The reason for the industry’s growth even as Kindle drops is the popularity of smartphones. When it can take care of most daily needs, why would one want a Kindle device? In fact, all electronic devices that specialize in single functions are fading out, be it Kindle, MP3 or MP4 players. Even tablets account for only one-tenth of mobile devices sales because one cannot use one to make a phone call.

Besides, Kindle itself has problems. The electronic books that can be bought are expensive, while Kindle Unlimited, a program that allows customers to read any number of eBooks for a monthly subscription fee, seldom includes new titles .

In a nutshell, while electronic reading is a booming (繁荣的) market, the market for electronic reading devices is becoming smaller. That’s why many people joke that the only function left for a Kindle device is to act as a cover for a steaming cup of instant noodles.

Of course, Kindle offers some very good professional resources for scholars, while also allowing users to install an electronic dictionary to let them read in different languages. That’s why many users are saddened and hope Kindle does not disappear forever. Maybe Kindle can find a way to reinvent itself and continue serving its customers.

Twenty years ago, the idea of sharing our lives so openly with the world was unheard of. However, for young people today it is considered completely normal to share pictures of their lives and interact (互动) online every day. Fans of social media point out that the world has never been so connected as it has allowed people to make friends, learn about the world and celebrate life.

However, many people have concerns about the effects of this new way of living, particularly around the amount and type of information that is shared so openly. Recently researchers have found that too much time on social media may have some negative (消极的) effects. They measured people’s attitudes and feelings before and after watching social media sites. They found that the more time people spent on social media, the more unhappy they became.

There are a number of reasons for this. When watching social media, people often see photographs and stories showing beautiful holidays, fun parties and fashionable clothes. People seldom post negative stories or bad pictures, so it can be misleading (误导). For those looking at these pictures and comparing them to their own lives, they can end up feelings ad and depressed. They might think their lives are worse in comparison. Even for those people who post positive stories and pictures, they too can feel stressed and worried. The number of “likes” and comments on their posts can make them anxious about their popularity. Of course, there is also the problem of “cyber bullying” where people become victims (受害者) of bullying online when others make negative or cruel comments about them.

The reality is that social media is a part of modern life and it is not going to go away. This research shows us that it is important to find a balance between our online and offline lives. We don’t have to disconnect from the Internet to live a happy life, but we should realise that the pictures we see and stories we read are only part of a bigger picture. If we can do that, we can protect ourselves and enjoy our lives.

Former Irish President Mary Robinson was just making a polite conversation with an Ethiopian teenager about her wedding day. The 16­year­old had already been married for a year. “She looked at me with the saddest eyes and said, ‘I had to drop out of school.’ ” Robinson said in a telephone interview. “That conveyed to me the reality.” said Robinson, the first woman to serve as Ireland’s president and former U. N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Her life, as far as she is concerned, had more or less ended.”

Robinson said keeping girls in school was one of the most important things policymakers could do to address the coming challenges of an ever­increasing population, predicted by the United Nations to reach 7 billion soon. “European countries are concerned about aging populations, but this is much less of an issue than the huge number of people which we are going to see over the next 40 years when the population goes from 7 billion to 9 billion,” she said. “Almost all of that increase will be in poor developing countries, so that we have a very big challenge.”

Family planning experts worry in particular about the future population explosion in Sub­Saharan Africa. In May, the United Nations projected the world population would reach 9.3 billion in 2050 and 10.1 billion by 2100. Much of that growth will come from Africa, where the population is growing at 2.3 percent a year—more than double Asia’s 1 percent growth rate. If that rate stays consistent, which is not certain, Africa’s population will reach 3.6 billion by 2100 from the present 1 billion.

Joel Cohen, a professor of population studies at Rockefeller University and Columbia University in New York, said universal secondary education offered a way to reduce population in high birth rate regions. In addition to providing information about birth control, a secondary education teaches women to reduce their own fertility, improve the health of their children and allows them to move from a mindset of having many children in the hope that some will survive to improve the quality of each child’s life, Cohen wrote in the journal Nature.