Kale（羽叶甘蓝）
Leek（韭葱）
Artichoke（洋蓟）
Brussels sprout（抱子甘蓝，球芽甘蓝，比利时小卷心菜）
Asparagus（芦笋）
Parsley（欧芹）
Chard（莙荙菜，唐莴苣）
Beetroot（甜菜）
Kohlrabi（球茎甘蓝）
Parsnip（欧防风）
Fennel（球形茴香）
Basil（罗勒）
Why kids need to take more risks
In the 1930s, Danish landscape architect Carl Theodor Sørensen noticed that his neighborhood’s children loved playing in old building sites. Watching kids swing from exposed beams, scavenge for scrap materials, and hammer together bridges inspired him to transform an abandoned housing estate into a dedicated junk playground. Sørensen’s site became a huge success, and soon countries throughout Europe were making playgrounds out of derelict building yards and even former World War I bomb sites. These environments might look dangerous, especially to 21st century parents who tend to be far more anxious about their childrens’ safety than previous generations. But research has found these seemingly scary setups teach kids important lessons that standard playgrounds don’t.
Play is profoundly important for childhood development. Creating games and following rules helps teach problem solving. Moving our bodies through varied terrain helps hone our motor control. And playing with others lets us practice language and refine our social skills. Since play comes naturally to all of us, children are likely to develop these skills in most environments. But researchers have identified a few factors that can maximize these benefits. Chief among them is freedom. Play is all about experimentation, and kids need the agency to explore and shape their surroundings without adults getting in the way. The next factor is novelty — kids are always hungry for new and unpredictable play elements. Finally, they need time to see their plans through.
While we could all use more time to play, the best play environments offer freedom and novelty that kids can explore as much or as little as they like. But traditional playgrounds don’t offer much flexibility here. Swings, slides, and climbing frames are hardly novel structures. They also have relatively low affordance — a term used by play researchers to indicate how open-ended an object’s design is. Items with high affordance, like a sandbox, can be interacted with in many ways. Meanwhile, objects with low affordance, like a slide, were designed with a single use in mind. Even when kids are creative enough to find new uses for low affordance objects, they’re still more limited playthings. To address these problems, some designers are looking back at Europe’s junk playgrounds to create modern adventure playgrounds — big, open spaces full of high affordance structures and free play possibilities. Berlin’s Kolle 37 features scrap and building tools for kids to manipulate. In Tokyo’s muddy Harapa Park, children shape water slides, sink holes, and splash pools out of the natural landscape. And in London’s Glamis Adventure Playground kids burn things in fire pits, with the help of play worker employees.
While some parents worry these unpredictable spaces are too dangerous, play researchers like Ellen Sandseter would say this so-called risky play is essential. Giving kids the space to experiment with fast speeds, high heights and getting lost helps them develop better judgment and confidence. In fact, risky play is how kids learn to manage risk and keep themselves safe. One study even found that kids were more likely to get seriously injured in traditional playgrounds — perhaps because adventure playgrounds encourage them to be more aware of their surroundings. Risky play also helps develop skills for managing mental health. Experimenting with small doses of uncertainty gets kids used to life being unpredictable, helping them better manage anxiety for years to come.
Adventure playgrounds aren’t the only places for risky play. Nature playgrounds encouraging kids to explore creeks, caves, and tree climbing combine the perks of risk-taking with the health benefits of connecting with nature. Meanwhile, other designers are working to bring more freedom and novelty to traditional designs. This Philadelphia park features a 30-person mega-swing, and Nebraska’s Omaha Riverfront Playground uses a ribbon of multi-layered decking as a play spine, warping up and down to reveal secret tunnels and rope forests.
So the real key is to design a variety of playgrounds, supporting a wide range of activities that promote fun, agency, and a dash of uncertainty — inviting kids to fill in the possibilities.
诗中有画
早春呈水部张十八员外
韩愈
天街小雨润如酥，草色遥看近却无。
最是一年春好处，绝胜烟柳满皇都。
莫道官忙身老大，即无年少逐春心。
凭君先到江头看，柳色如今深未深。
春夜喜雨
杜甫
好雨知时节，当春乃发生。
随风潜入夜，润物细无声。
野径云俱黑，江船火独明。
晓看红湿处，花重锦官城。
忆江南
白居易
江南好，风景旧曾谙。
日出江花红胜火，春来江水绿如蓝。
能不忆江南？
绝句
杜甫
两个黄鹂鸣翠柳，一行白鹭上青天。
窗含西岭千秋雪，门泊东吴万里船。
渔歌子
张志和
西塞山前白鹭飞，
桃花流水鳜鱼肥。
青箬笠，绿蓑衣，
斜风细雨不须归。
三衢道中
曾几
梅子黄时日日晴，小溪泛尽却山行。
绿阴不减来时路，添得黄鹂四五声。
小池
杨万里
泉眼无声惜细流，树阴照水爱晴柔。
小荷才露尖尖角，早有蜻蜓立上头。
晓出净慈寺送林子方
杨万里
毕竟西湖六月中，风光不与四时同。
接天莲叶无穷碧，映日荷花别样红。
山行
杜牧
远上寒山石径斜，白云生处有人家。
停车坐爱枫林晚，霜叶红于二月花。
枫桥夜泊
张继
月落乌啼霜满天，江枫渔火对愁眠。
姑苏城外寒山寺，夜半钟声到客船。
逢雪宿芙蓉山主人
刘长卿
日暮苍山远，天寒白屋贫。
柴门闻犬吠，风雪夜归人。
My Monthly Digest List - April - 2026
Positive.News
Issue 124 / January-March 2026
Romania’s recycling revolution lifts off
A deposit return scheme for drink bottles and cans in Romania has proved a game-changer, with an astonishing 94% of containers now recycled
“You go to Romania now, you don’t see a bottle anywhere”, said RetuRo CEO Gemma Webb. “It was the impossible made possible. Everybody’s very proud”.
China’s emissions flatline amid solar boom
Crop yields soar thanks to solar panels
solar can boost harvests rather than hinder them.
inventive teens will always find ways to dodge the ban.
Waterloo Region Record
Monday, April 20, 2026
Researchers find traces of opioids in Ontario fish population
Drugs like fentanyl, methadone and antidepressants are showing up in freshwater fish
PM lands on Time’s most influential people list
his frequent nickname in the banking world, “George Clooney of finance”
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
‘Waddleloo’ map offers students safe passage from nesting geese
University of Waterloo student Anirudh Dabas created Waddleloo to help students navigate areas where geese have been spotted. He likens the birds to an “unofficial final boss.”
Opinion
What will it be like when Premier Ford’s regional chair doesn’t care what you think?
Luisa D’Amato
Ford has consolidated and expanded his influence to the point that Ontario has become a kind of flawed democracy, with no balance of power
51st-state talk gets put on ice — for now
Donald Trump’s views on Canadian sovereignty appear to be constantly in motion, weaving back and forth like his social media feed.
Thanks to a British author, we learned this week that all the 5lst-state talk is now on the back burner for two reasons: one lies in Trump’s respect for King Charles, and, maybe more significantly, the president doesn’t have enough time to annex this nation. In a book excerpt published in the U.K. by the Daily Mail, author and royalty expert Robert Hardman recounts a conversation he had with Trump late last year.
It’s worth pausing here to flag a couple of things. If this really was the first time Trump had reflected on the monarchy’s status in Canada, he missed some large signals sent last year. Most notably, King Charles read the throne speech last May and politely underlined that Canada was to remain “the true north, strong and free.” That was largely interpreted as the King telling Trump to cut it out on the annexation talk. Perhaps Trump wasn’t listening that day.
Similarly, perhaps the president’s attention was elsewhere when King Charles made a flurry of symbolic gestures in the months after the 5lst-state talk seemed to be on the rise - planting a Canadian maple tree at Buckingham Palace, for instance.
So maybe Canada can thank Hardman for reminding Trump that when he threatens Canada, he threatens the British monar-hy he so admires. But it should be also pointed out that the resident has not stopped taunting Carney as the “future gover-or of Canada,” which he did as recently as last month, a good few onths after he talked to Hardman.
Thursday, April 2, 2026
Mac to the future
Apple’s 50-year odyssey has redefined technology, pop culture and comeback stories
by Michael Liedtke
A scrawny hippie and a nerdy engineer who became prank-playing friends vowed to change the world when they founded a Silicon Valley startup on April Fools’ Day 50 years ago and then - no joke - pulled it off.
Eye on the area photos
Trumpeter Swan - It’s beautiful when you go on a trail walk and get a surprise seeing over 20 trumpeters swans at Mill Pond in Cambridge.
Holy Bible
Origin of the Bible
No book in the history of the world has wielded as much influence on civilization as the Holy Bible. The Bible is unique in that it had God as its Author, while all other books were composed by human beings. It is indeed, the Book of Books.
The End Of The Certain World
p12
“The loveliest feast” of the year was Christmas, complete with presents and a tree that the four hildren decorated with their own handiwork of gilded apples, long paper chains, and strings of raisins and almonds. For the children, at least, assimilation vas a fact.
Still, he wanted them to know the Bible because so much of western culture was infused with its images.
My English Phrases List - April - 2026
not bad
Even missing the cheese, the tacos were not bad.
They won twice in a row. Not bad for beginners.
THe food was OK. Not bad. Nothing special.
nothing else
There’s nothing else to say.
My English Words List - April - 2026
fleabane
noun
Those volunteer zinnias or the fleabane that popped up in the middle of your roses may add to the wild garden aesthetic, so consider leaving them there. — Leanne Potts, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 Feb. 2026
violet
noun
When to Skip Mowing in May If your backyard looks more like a tapestry lawn—patches of violet, yellow, and white mini blossoms—than an uninterrupted blanket of green that resembles a golf course, then No Mow May is for you. — Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 8 Apr. 2026
trillium
noun
Come in spring when migratory warblers fill the trees and trilliums bloom along the Heron Rookery Trail. — Alexandra Gillespie, AFAR Media, 19 Sep. 2025
goldenrod
noun
Milkweed and moths at screens, fields of corn and goldenrod and Queen Anne’s lace. — Karen Brown, The Atlantic, 31 Aug. 2021
touch-me-not
noun
The leaves and petals of the touch-me-not have been traditionally used by Korean girls and women to dye their fingernails in the summer, and there’s even a superstition that if there’s still some dye left on your fingernails by the time the first snow falls, then your first love will come true. — Regina Kim, Forbes, 7 Oct. 2024
black-eyed Susan
noun
Pick colorful, feel-good plants such as summer coleus and petunia, fall aster and black-eyed Susan, winter’s fragrant golden Mexican orange and camellia sasanqua, and your favorite spring flowers. — oregonlive, 8 Sep. 2021
milkweed
noun
Monarchs rely on one group of plants on which to lay their eggs: the milkweeds. — Molly Marquand, Good Housekeeping, 28 July 2016
lily
noun
The trail takes visitors along Rottenwood Creek where, at this time of year, thousands of dimpled trout lilies (Erythronium umbilicatum) create bright yellow carpets on the hillsides and stream banks. — Charles Seabrook, AJC.com, 7 Mar. 2026
weasel
noun
rinse
verb
rinse out the mouth
I rinsed my face in the sink.
laser
noun
laser beam
laser printer
doctors using a laser to perform delicate eye surgery
maser
noun
In 1960, physicist Ted Maiman developed the laser by building on its 1950s predecessor, the maser. — John Ballato, The Conversation, 24 Mar. 2026
In fact, observations of these masers have proved that our Milky Way is a magnificent example of a spiral galaxy. — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2025
dusk
noun
The park closes at dusk.
adjective
beginning to grow dusk outside
verb
the dusking room
dissipation
noun
Insulation helps prevent the dissipation of heat from houses in the winter.
hippie
noun
Why are acorn woodpeckers the hippies of the bird world? — Kelcie Pegher, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2023
But a lot of things were happening in the 60s, like the hippie movement. — National Geographic, 10 Mar. 2018
embodiment
noun
Mother Theresa was often regarded as the embodiment of selfless devotion to others.
Nvidia, the leading maker of AI chips, is the embodiment of the AI boom. — Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 22 Jan. 2025
He was once cheered as the embodiment of the Chinese dream. — New York Times, 8 July 2021
confide
verb
He confided that he was very unhappy with his job.
My heart is open to anyone who needs someone to confide in. — Jake Adams, The Courier-Journal, 7 Oct. 2022
Who wants to confide in someone who doesn’t understand you? — Jessica Marie Garcia, refinery29.com, 13 July 2020
reserved
adjective
She is a very reserved young woman.
The front row is reserved for faculty.
sob
verb
sobbed out her grief
She could not stop sobbing.
“I hate you,” she sobbed.
noun
He’s one arrogant/tough/greedy SOB.
I hate that miserable SOB.
glow
verb
The coals glowed in the fireplace.
This toy glows in the dark.
noun
We could see the glow of the lamp in the window.
Their problems were all forgotten in the glow of victory.
slim
adjective
She looked slim and fit for her age.
verb
She started exercising to slim her thighs.
I’ll skip dessert; I’m slimming.
lovebird
noun
Artemis
noun
rough
adjective
a rough draft
The design is still a bit rough around the edges. = the design needs refinement
Don’t be so rough on them for the mistake. = don’t criticize or punish them so harshly
we’ve had some rough times
The First Step to Take When You’re Having a Rough Day
unprecedented
adjective
The team has enjoyed unprecedented success this year.
scam
noun
Financial scams and fraud come in many different forms, including text messages, emails, or phone calls, and often these fraudulent communications are designed to look like they are coming from your bank. - TD Bank
brain rot
noun
This meme gave me brainrot. - The Brainrot Industrial Complex
As a result of too much screen time, brain rot might be associated with symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, reduced attention span and an inability to self-regulate. — Sarah Jacoby
People are assigning themselves homework to combat brain rot and improve their attention spans. There are no grades and no hard deadlines, just the satisfaction that comes with enriching your mind … — Daniel Wine
Just like teenagers or young adults who can display physical and cognitive signs when they consume an overload of brain rot, so do young children. — Lindsay Freiberger
insolvency
noun
inability to pay debts
bankruptcy
unless the economy improves, many resorts in the area face insolvency
This means more retailers may soon be on the brink of insolvency. — Sommer Saadi, Bloomberg.com, 9 Feb. 2023
Youth
by Gwilym Fielden Hughes
People are always talking about ‘the problem of youth’. If there is one – which I take leave to doubt – then it is older people who create it, not the young themselves. Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human beings – people just like their elders. There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.
When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain – that I was a new boy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.
I find young people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things. All this seems to me to link them with life, and the origins of things. It’s as if they were, in some sense, cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures. All that is in my mind when I meet a young person. He may be conceited, ill-mannered, presumptuous or fatuous, but I do not turn for protection to dreary cliches about respect of elders – as if mere age were a reason for respect. I accept that we are equals, and I will argue with him, as an equal, if I think he is wrong.
- from BBC radio The Listener(in the Out of the Air series, mid-20th century)
- Gwilym Fielden Hughes (1899-1989) British Schoolmaster, Writer, Broadcaster and Father of Writer David Hughes.
Children, Sex, and the Media - 3 Ways for Parents to Gain Control
by Nancy Shute
Limiting screen time and talking about what they see are two places to start.
Kids get more sex education from TV, music videos, and the Internet—let’s make that Jersey Shore, 50 Cent, and XXX-rated websites—than they do from their parents and teachers, and that’s not a good thing, according to the nation’s pediatricians. They’re calling on parents to step up and help children learn how to become responsible sexual human beings.
Teens and Sex: How to Help Your Kids Dodge Pregnancy and STDs
Clearly we parents aren’t doing a very good job of that now. The United States boasts the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the developed world, and 25 percent of American teenagers have a sexually transmitted disease (STD). But we parents could really use some help. Many moms and dads shy away from talking about sex with their children. So instead, teenagers learn about sex from TV, where 70 percent of teen shows contain sexual content, and less than 10 percent of those shows give examples of responsible sexual behavior, such as delaying sexual activity or reducing the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, according to a new report on teens, sex, and the media from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Why Teen Pregnancies Are on the Rise
The AAP is encouraging pediatricians to ask two questions at every well-child visit in order to judge how a child’s media use may be affecting his or her health: whether a child has a TV or computer in the bedroom and the amount of screen time a child takes in daily.
Although those questions may help identify when a child has a problem with media use, dealing with it will be up to the parents. Parents have the most control over their child’s media use, and the biggest potential for positive impact. Here are three recommendations for parents on how to handle sex and the media from Victor Strasburger, lead author of the new report and chief of adolescent medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine:
Limit all screen media time to a maximum of two hours a day. This not only reduces the dose of sexually inappropriate content a child gets daily, but leaves time for other things, like homework, sports, friends, and family.
Get the TV and computer out of children’s bedrooms. Parents can’t know what media children are consuming if their kids are holed up in their rooms. Having a TV in the bedroom is linked to lower grades and higher rates of obesity, too.
Use sex in the media to do on-the-spot sexual education on a regular basis, rather than having one big talk. A parent can watch TV with a teenager and note that sexual relationships don’t work that way in real life, or that the reason the girl with the tight T-shirt is in the commercial is to sell more beer.
That last point may sound terrifying, but Diane Levin, coauthor of the book So Sexy So Soon, says that asking teenagers why they like certain shows or songs can provide a great opportunity to talk about sexual issues in a way that’s fairly comfortable. Parents can watch with a child and point out specific images or acts, and explain why they find those sexual or violent images disturbing or inappropriate. As a result, teenagers gain a better understanding of sex in the real world, as well as of their parent’s ethical and moral standards.
The pediatricians also put in a plea for less sexual imagery on TV, and a ban on ads for erectile dysfunction drugs until after 10 p.m. Good luck on that one, doctors. But it would be nice to not have to try and explain to children why the gray-haired people get all cuddly after popping blue pills.
Tags: sexual health, sex education, media, sex, parenting, children’s health, internet, television
Children, Sex, and the Media: 3 Ways for Parents to Gain Control
- Boys will be boys.
- Boys will be men.
- Why “Boys Will Be Boys” But Not “Girls Will Be Girls”?
arXiv papers
My Monthly Digest List - March - 2026
Psychology Today
November/December2025, Volume 58, No. 6
The philosopher of patterns
How we discover the world around us, according to Douglas Hofstadter.
By Tyler Woods
Now 80 and retired after five decades as a professor at the University of Indiana, he’s also turned his focus to a related project he’s been engaged in his entire adult life: ambigrams.
“It’s how we come to understand. Analogy is how we do everything.”
The emerging problem of ‘AI Psychosis’
Chatbots may amplify people’s delusions.
By Marlyn Wei, M.D., J.D.
a paper in preprint, titled “Delusion by design? How everyday AIs might be fueling psychosis(and what can be done about it)” by an interdisciplinary team of researchers
Reader’s Digest
February/March 2026, Large Print
My Heart will go on
A medical journalist’s surprise heart attack reveals how much she didn’t know about the No.1 killer of women - and men
By Melinda Lawrence
The New Yorker, March 23, 2026
The Price of Independence
Who bankrolled the American Revolution?
By Adam Gopnik
“Money makes the world go round,” the cynical old maxim, and Broadway show tune, runs. “Follow the money,” a maxim minted in the film “All the President’s Men,” has become just as familiar.
Canadian Geographic
Martial arts master, Holleywood actor Chuck Norris dies at 86.
The CBC: How Canada’s Public Broadcaster Lost Its Voice (and How it Can Get it Back)
by David Cayley
Preface
This book goes to press at a moment when the election campaign of 2025 is still in progress and its outcome still uncertain. The Conervative Party has pleged to “defund” the CBC, excepting Radio Canada, and its leader, Pierre Poilievre, has even threatened to turn the CBC’s English language headquarters into a hoursing project. The Liberal Party has said it will increase funding to the CBC and “renew” its mandate. Both parties assume they know what the CBC is and what it’s for.