When Will Life Return to Normal?

If 2020 felt hellish, be warned that we aren’t out of the fire yet, even if we are moving in   the right direction. Welcome to 2021, aka purgatory.

There is little doubt that vaccines hold the key to ending the pandemic. A recent modeling study predicted that vaccinating just 40 per cent of US adults over the course of 2021 would reduce the coronavirus 【小题1】 rate by around 75 per cent and cut hospitalizations and deaths from covid-19 by more than 80 per cent.

But all this is still some way off. In the meantime, we will have to【小题2】 to a middle ground where some people are protected but not others. As Adam Kleczkowski, a mathematical biologist at the University of Strathclyde UK, 【小题3】 out, supplies of the various vaccines are limited, distributing them is【小题4】, immunity takes a few weeks to develop and the protection they offer isn’t 100 percent.

In the northern hemisphere, he says, the most likely scenario is a third wave of covid-19 in the new year, requiring further lockdowns and【小题5】 for up to five months. “ Realistically we’re in for a longer ride than we hope for.” he says.

Tim Spector at King’s College London, who leads the Covid-9 Symptom Study in the UK,   also predicts a third wave. But if lots of healthcare workers and【小题6】 people have been vaccinated, the mortality rate will be lower and the pressure on the healthcare system【小题7】 , he said at a recent Royal Society of Medicine seminar.

The upsides of ever-widening vaccination will kick in around April. He said, “I’m【小题8】 that if we can just get our mental state together until Easter, we can hang on in there.”

There are still many things we don’t understand about this virus, however, and we may well be in for some surprises in the coming year that throw that trajectory（轨）off course. As this magazine went to press, for example, there was widespread speculation about the 【小题9】 of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus circulating in the UK that may be more highly 【小题10】.

In Australia, the goal will be to keep the virus from resurging as the summer fades into autumn, says epidemiologist Catherine Bennett at Deakin University in Melbourne. A recent outbreak in Sydney has led to new restrictions.

I Am What I Am (also known as Lion Dance Boy), a Chinese animated feature released on Dec 17,2021, has found itself in the eye of a social media storm---about eyes.

The film revolves around three teenagers from Guangdong province who set out to master the traditional lion dance. While ancient culture is 【小题1】 to the plot, the setting is very much the real-world China of today. This alone sets the film apart from most recent Chinese animated 【小题2】: works of high fantasy related to mythology.

Pushing the realism, the filmmakers opted to give the characters relatively small eyes. The idea was to break away from the "beauty standards of online 【小题3】 and filter aesthetic (审美) and to try "to explore the aesthetic in animation-from an angle of reality," writes The Global Times, paraphrasing producer Miao Zhang.

For some, though, the designs don't represent Chinese people so much as 【小题4】 stereotypes of them. Viewers have taken to social media to condemn the film.

"This is how Chinese people were exaggeratedly portrayed during the 【小题5】 period. We've been discriminated against for so long that this doesn't look so strange to some people" reads one Weibo user comment. Another wrote an essay arguing that "narrowed" eyes is a greater 【小题6】 to a Chinese person than imagining a Black person eating watermelon and fried chicken in the United States. Large eyes are very common in Chinese cg films. For Zhang, this reflects absorption of foreign ideas, not the small eyes his film contains. The Global Times continues:

The response to narrowed eyes" of the character shows that we lack aesthetic 【小题7】 and our aesthetic view of animation has been homogenized (统一化) given the huge influence of Japanese and American animation and the selection of such an ordinary boy perfectly depicts his spirit of strengthen and 【小题8】 to life.

I Am What I Am is popular with those who have seen it, earning user scores of 8.3 and 9.5 respectively on film reviewing platforms Douban and Maoyan. Its Chinese box office to date is 164.6 million yuan, according to Entaroup.

The question of racism aside, this controversy shows how 【小题9】 to character design can become deep-rooted in the industry, to the point where even a subtle difference makes 【小题10】.

Today’s students have a problem. They were born into a world where smartphones, social media, and immediate access to the internet are hurting their ability to focus.

Now teachers have a problem too. They find it particularly exhausting to ask students to read complex or long texts without taking 【小题1】 breaks. Smartphones have clearly affected the younger generation, but how education should 【小题2】 for digital-native students was not something that was 【小题3】 when they were getting certified.

A common idea among teachers is that short is good. When students can’t seem to pay attention to long lectures, many teachers simply 【小题4】 lessons into smaller chunks. In fact, students need time to 【小题5】 with a topic once the teacher introduces it before moving on. Switching between small lessons too quickly could rob them of valuable 【小题6】.

A study from educational publisher Pearson found that students aged between 10 and 24 tend to stay away from 【小题7】 books. Therefore, some tech-forward teachers choose to “meet kids where they are” on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.

Still, while those educators are embracing technology in the classroom to meet students’ needs, they are also finding value in traditional methods, and so suggest a mixed learning approach. Direct 【小题8】 from them will never be replaced in their classes. Technology will be 【小题9】 only when it improves a lesson in ways that are impossible offline.

Teachers are making an effort not only to ensure that students take advantage of new technologies, but to teach students valuable skills that can help them succeed in a world constantly trying to 【小题10】 them.