When you write a text message or an email, you might put a smiling face or other pictures at the end to make the message more fun. These pictures are emojis. The first emojis were on Japanese mobile phones in the 1990s. Later, they were used on Apple’s iPhone and Android phones. 【小题1】

Emoticon or emoji?

Before emojis, there were emoticons. The word is a blend (合 成 词) of emotion and icon. Emoticons are made of the signs you can find on your keyboard, for example :-) for a smiley or @);-- for a rose. The first documented use of :-) dates back to 1982 and it was called “joke marker”.

Emoji is a Japanese word which means pictograph: e (“picture”)+ moji(“character”). 【小题2】 According to Emojipedia, there are 1,851 emojis that can be used on mobile phones and other devices. There are all kinds of emojis, from faces and weather to things in the kitchen and animals.

What are emojis for?

In English, we have a saying: A picture paints a thousand words. For many people, an emoji is like a punctuation mark or smiling at someone across the room. 【小题3】 It’s like the tone of voice when we speak on the phone, or hand movements (gestures) used in conversation.

Emojis are also changing the way we write. The more we use emojis, the less we use slang, such as LOL, IMHO or OMG.

【小题4】

When someone speaks and looks serious, we try to look serious, too, and when someone smiles, we smile as well. This is how we show empathy and make friends (and enemies!).

But when we’re online, we can’t see the person’s face and there’s no emotion. The invention of emojis changed that! Scientists in Australia have discovered that when we look at a smiley face online, the same parts of the brain start working as when we look at a real smiley face. Our mood changes, and we try to change our face to match the emoji. This is something which we are not born with, it’s something we learn as we get older. Our brains have developed this ability over the last two or three years. 【小题5】

A．How do they affect us?

B．Now they are everywhere!

C．But where did they come from?

D．Emojis are real pictures, for example, Or.

E．The “face with tears of joy” is the most popular emoji of all.

F．This means that emojis have created a new brain pattern in us!

G．A written message is black and white, but an emoji adds emotions to our messages.

A new study shows that getting half of American 8-to 11-year-olds into 25 minutes of physical activity three times a week would save ＄21.9 billion in medical costs over their lifetimes.

The increase from the current 32 percent to 50 percent of kids taking part in exercise, active play, or sports would also result in 340,000 fewer overweight teenagers.

“Physical activity not only makes kids feel better and helps them develop healthy habits, it’s also good for the nation’s bottom line,” says Bruce Y. Lee, executive director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center at Johns Hopkins University. “Our findings show that encouraging exercise and investing in physical activity when kids are young pays big dividends as they grow up.”

The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, suggests an even bigger advantage if every 8 to 11-year-old in the United States exercised 75 minutes over three times in a week. In that case, the researchers estimate (估计), ＄62.3 billion in medical costs over the course of their lifetimes could be avoided and 1.2 million fewer youths would be overweight. And the money would increase if not just current 8-to-11 year olds, but every future elementary school child joined their game.

Exercise at least 25 minutes a day, three days a week, is a guideline developed for kids by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. An overweight person’s lifetime medical costs average ＄62,331. For the overweight person, these amounts are great.

“Even a little increase in physical activity could cause billions of dollars in savings,” Lee says. He also says there are other benefits of physical activity that don’t affect weight, such as improving bone density, improving mood, and building muscle.

Lee says “We need to be adding physical education programs and not cutting them. We need to encourage kids to be active, to reduce screen time and get them running around again. It’s important for their physical health and the nation’s financial (经济的) health.”

At noon, the Tongxin Cafeteria near the Jing’an Temple downtown has a queue that exemplifies its multi-generational popularity. The menu, with over 60 dishes rotated daily, is liked by a series of tastes.

“Compared with food ordered for lunch online, this place is much better.” said Chen Luo, an accountant from a nearby office building. Chen, who lives alone, formerly depended heavily on delivered meals ordered online until her parents raised concerns about the nutritional value and what they called “bad food materials.”

Cooking for herself is too time-wasting, she said. “I used to spend two hours cooking and washing dishes, only to eat for 10 minutes,” Chen said. “The nearby community canteen (餐厅) is a perfect solution. These cafeterias, once known as ‘senior canteens’, were originally built to provide healthy meals at affordable prices to older folks who might not be getting enough nutrition at home. From 2019 to 2021, the Shanghai government set a goal of building 200 new community canteens, bringing the total at the end of last year to 1,608.

A basic meal with one meat dish and two vegetables costs less than 20 yuan (US$2.70), far cheaper than prices in mainstream downtown restaurants. And all meals are prepared on site with fresh materials. The government supports these cafeterias—sometimes with rent-free space; sometimes with reduced water and electricity charges.

Li Jiajun, the manager of a local community canteen, said the prices of the dishes are 20 percent lower than popular market rates because of the government assistance. His canteen provides elderly diners from 10:30—11:30 am and 4:30—5:30 pm. Apart from those hours, people of all ages are welcome.

Li said cafeteria managers are required to maintain detailed records, including 48-hour food samples and daily uploads to food safety platforms. This approach ensures the paths of all materials. Some community cafeterias have become so popular that they appear on WeChat and other lifestyle sharing platforms.