Yu Xu, one of China's first female fighter pilots who could fly a J-10 jet, died during a flight training in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province on Saturday. Almost all major media outlets have sung high praise for Yu's spirit. People's Daily said: "She died for the peace and happiness of so many families ... The name of Yu and other heroes will be carved not only in stone, but also in the hearts of millions." However, despite being a news hit, a lot of social media platforms still pay much attention to pop stars, no matter their weddings, problematic marriages or just datings. The day Yu died, she did not even make it to the top-10 hot topics on micro blogs.

Some netizens have criticized such people for being too cold to news about heroes who defend our country. They even quoted from the book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, to express their concerns over people being misled by new media while referring to pop stars as "xi zi", a contemptuous(轻蔑的) term used for entertainment stars in the old days.

However, it is unnecessary to shame those netizens who were busy reading about film stars and other celebrities. We live in the age of social and new media, where the celebrities usually draw greater public attention than real heroes. This is partly because the agents(经纪人) of celebrities(名人) are very skilled at using social tools to expand their fan base for commercial gains.

Of course, we should admit the great influence entertainment has on people's minds and it helps the media industry make money. Pop stars do take up a lot of our time, and especially many young people waste their spare energy on them, their new songs, new movies, even rumors about their love life and other scandals. The domestic media industry needs improvement, some entertainment stars should improve their public images, but it is not right to call them "xi zi".

The media may be encouraging people to pay greater attention to celebrities than military heroes, but that does not necessarily mean people pay less respect to heroes than stars. The increasing number of reports about the pilot shows the heroes are worth people's added attention, and they get it.

For 14 years, Kerry Mellin commuted (通勤) 40 miles to her job. On a good day, the drive took 75 minutes. “On bad traffic days, it was easily two hours,” she says. “The road rage was real. I felt trapped and my back pain was killing me.”

No productivity’ expert advocates the benefits of morning anger and back pain. But exactly how a long trip such as Mellin’s affects the workday hasn’t been fully understood. New research from Dartmouth helps quantify the cost of commuting on performance. “Your commute predicts your day,” says Andrew Campbell, lead researcher of the study.

Before the pandemic, 275 information workers (45% of them were employed by tech companies) across the US were equipped with fitness tracking devices; subjects were monitored around the clock for a year. Most of them, 94%, commuted by car, with trips averaging 40 to 60 minutes. The sensors tracked details such as heart rate and sleep, as well as environmental information like weather.

The data showed that a rough morning commute acts as a first falling domino (多米诺骨), with ill effects felt down the line. “Commuting, especially if it’s not well-planned and predictable, raises stress levels,” says co-author Pine Audia, a professor of management and organizations at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

The researchers found that commutes involving more physical activity, such as walking or bicycling, connected with less stress and better performance at work. Performance was measured by tracking dozens of behaviours both productive (helping co-workers, volunteering for assignments, skipping breaks to finish work) and counterproductive (leaving early, excessive breaks, working slowly).

Participants self-reported, and 110 of the 275 were considered “low performers”. (There was no conclusion for why the connection exists; the researchers’ focus was simply on measuring it.)

Another finding: no matter how a worker commuted, those who left their homes or offices at the same times each morning and afternoon and took the same route performed better than commuters who alternated departures and varied their routes. This confirms the Dartmouth team’s previous findings that higher performers have more consistent daily routines.

Driving each other crazy

There’s a well-known joke: A woman is driving down a motorway and her husband phones her on her mobile. ‘Darling, be careful!’ he screams, ‘I’ve just heard there’s a car driving the wrong way on the motorway near where you are.’ ‘It’s not just one car,’ she says, ‘there are hundreds of them!’

And here’s another one: a man is driving his daughter and they are stuck in traffic. The little girl says, ‘I have a question.’ ‘What is it?’ asks her father. ‘When you’re driving, are YOU ever the stupid idiot?’

【小题1】 Is it because we recognize some truth in them? A lot of people seem to think that men and women do display quite different characteristics when it comes to driving, and in general, both male and female drivers tend to be quite critical of the opposite sex.

‘Men are too confident in their own abilities. They never listen, they never need a map. They’re always sure they know the way,’ says Cathy, whose husband rarely lets her drive the car. ‘They tend to drive too close to the car in front and they’re incredibly impatient. If there’s a car in front, they have to pass it even if it doesn’t make a difference to their overall speed. I think it’s some sort of territorial thing.【小题2】.

What do men think about women?【小题3】‘Women passengers can’t keep quiet,’ says Paul, a retired architect. ‘You know: “You’re going too fast”, “Can you see that pedestrian?”, “Didn’t you see that traffic light?” or “I feel sick. Can’t you go straight?” There’s always some comment.’

Despite men’s generally high opinion of their own driving skills, a report published in 2004 came down firmly in favour of women drivers.【小题4】There included driving within the speed limits, overtaking safety and conducting different strategies successfully, including signaling in good time, reversing and braking quickly. They also had a better awareness of other drivers on the road. There was only one aspect of driving where women did not perform as successfully as men and that was—no surprise—the ability to park their cars.