Tuesday, August 7, 2018
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C H I N A DA I LY
MOSAIC
Going a bit beyond the bitcoin buzz to cash in on reality Tucked away amid the hus tle and bustle of traffic, people and buildings in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, are small kiosks that hardly merit a second look. After all, in a city that sports automated teller machines and currency exchanges at virtually every nook and cor ner like mush rooms after a Ullattil cloudburst, Manranjith why would Second these ordinary Thoughts looking termi nals which do not even offer the privacy of cubicles merit any attention? Little wonder, one would find them deserted most of the time. A closer look, however, tells
a different story altogether. These are no ordinary ATMs, but machines that allow you to trade and dabble in crypto currencies, Bitcoins and Ethereum, Ether, etc, the newage currencies that hold young and old alike in thrall. And considering that there are already 21 of these machines, it is only a matter of time before more sprout and multiply. For many like me from a bygone era, the idea of invest ing in something that is only notional and does not exist physically is beyond compre hension. But at the same time the promise of unparalleled returns has also been tantaliz ing. Though fraught with risks, millions of investors, have already jumped onto the bandwagon that promises a
pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The motto seems to be “speculate if you want to accumulate” in a market that already has a valuation in excess of $800 billion and counting. My quest for a better under standing of the cryptocurren cy universe led me to two interesting studies. The first was a white paper on the role of India and China in crypto currencies prepared by M. Chandra Shekar, an assistant professor, and R. Kumaran, a researcher at the Institute of Public Enterprise in Hydera bad, India, while the second was a recent article by Willi am Zuo, a blockchain expert from China and the founder of Gingkoo, a Chinese fintech company. Zuo says that the Chinese
government has already embraced the development and deployment of block chain technology, while being very cautious about crypto currencies. It has put restric tions on Initial Coin Offerings due to fears of fraud, in order to protect consumers. However, it has also publicly endorsed blockchain technol ogy. “To put it simply, China prefers blockchain to Bitcoin. The Chinese government is showing its support by invest ing heavily in nextgeneration technologies, including AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data.” Shekar and Kumaran in their paper say that investing in crypto coins or other simi lar instruments is highly spec ulative as the market is largely unregulated. “Anyone consid
ering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment,” he said. He mentioned that while countries like China, South Korea, France and Singapore took quick deci sions to stop cryptocurrency trading, many others like India delayed their decisions, until early this year. C. K. Vijaya Prasad, an inde pendent currency trader in Hong Kong, is a devotee of the medium. “Though it is largely used as an investment tool, cryptocurrencies will find vast applications in daily transac tions. The day is not far when one will be able to purchase items of daily necessity using cryptocurrencies rather than common currencies.” Shekar and Kumaran, how ever, add that as long as coun tries such as China and India
Candid camera: Talent spotters
do not permit trading, bit coins will not result in yields even after they are listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Guo believes that rather than promote cryptocurren cies, the Chinese government will help bolster a new gener ation of blockchain giants the same way it has done with the internet giants, Baidu, Aliba ba, and Tencent. “Once this is achieved we may see a new dimension in the Belt and Road Initiative — the addition of One Chain.” Prasad believes that one area where cryptocurrencies would be really useful is in currency markets. “When people travel across interna tional borders, they need to exchange their country’s cur rency into that of the country
that they have entered. This becomes a very troublesome task, and one often loses a sig nificant amount of money due to exchange rate fluctuations. Sooner or rather than later, the majority of countries will be carrying out transactions using digital currencies, he predicted. While the jury is out on the subject, there is one thing that I fail to understand and one that will prevent me from investing in them. Serious doubts linger about the trada bility of such currencies and their valuations. Can some thing that has only an intrin sic value give huge returns? Maybe my Monopoly board has the answers! Contact the writer at
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Bilingual: Recommended book
哈佛学霸荐书 中国日报双语新闻
A talent show is the main attraction at a shopping mall in Beijing on Saturday.
近日，一名叫约翰·费什的哈佛学霸分享了一本由匈牙利 裔 美国心理学家米哈里·契克森米哈赖写的书《心流： 最优体验心理学》。他运用这本书的方法，将一天的时间 拆分为不同的小目标，把学习变成一件快乐的事情。下面 双语君带着大家跟着哈佛学霸学习下这本书的秘诀吧！
DAI XUMING / FOR CHINA DAILY
In the 1990s, the psycholo gist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi introduced the term “flow”. 20世纪90年代，心理学家 米哈里・契克森米哈赖提 出了“心流”这一概念。 Since his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Expe rience was published in 1990, it has been translated into more than 30 langua ges. 他的作品《心流：最优体 验心理学》自1990年出版 以来，已经被翻译成30余 种文字。
This Day, That Year
years on The item from Aug 7, 1988, in China Daily showed that the Capital Taxi Company in Beijing kept a fleet of 40 Red Flag limousines to rent to for eign visitors. Hongqi, or Red Flag, is Chi na’s flagship sedan. The first Red Flag limou sine rolled off the assembly line in July 1958.
Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and openingup policy. The brand made its debut as a parade sedan at Tian’anmen Square in Beijing during the 10th National Day celebrations in 1959. Since then, the Hongqi sedan has long been featured in parades during major national celebrations. The sedan has also been regarded as China’s prime
protocol car. It was frequently used by top leaders such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping in State celebra tions and receptions for important foreign guests, including US president Rich ard Nixon during his land mark visit in 1972. However the brand did not sell well in the consumer market. Currently it only sells the L5, which costs over 5 million yuan ($732,000), and H7 sedans. However, the brand has
recently experienced a resur gence. In January, FAW released its new Hongqi branding strategy, aiming to become a leading brand in China and a renowned marque in the world. The carmaker will roll out
its first electric car model this year and in the years leading up to 2025, it will introduce another 14 electric car models to meet market demand. It set an annual sales target of 100,000 units in 2020, 300,000 units in 2025 and 500,000 units in 2035.
The newspaper and beyond On our Sina Weibo Running gives your brain an excellent workout Running is not only good for your body, but also boosts your brain power, according to a new study. Researchers from the United States found that aerobic exercise increases the neuron reserves in the hippocampus area of the brain, responsible for learning. They found that physical exercise (in the form of running and other aero bic activities) won the day, on the basis of brain scans showing a lower rate of brain shrinkage and cognitive decline in elderly test subjects who were physically active. If you’re feeling stressed out, lace up those running shoes and take them for a spin. Ice cream festival serves up a treat in Tianjin The first International Ice Cream Festival was launched at Wudadao (or Five Avenues) in Tianjin, on Fri day. The famous tourist hotspot will host the event until Sunday. Visitors can taste differentfla vored ice creams of leading brands from home and abroad. The event is expected to attract about 200,000 tourists every day. Networking privacy tips will help your security People tend increasingly to post photos of their daily lives on social media platforms. But such postings may come at a cost through online fraud. These key tips may help secure your data. On WeChat, use cau tion when using a thirdparty app. Review the privacy policy and terms of service for Online the app and consider pruning your friends’ Scan to read list on a regular basis. Set your moments as more on our “Only three days available”. Sino Weibo page Check out more posts online.
On chinadaily.com.cn
World: Art turns Greek ruins into rainbow A new installation from German artists Thomas Granseuer and Tomislav Topic, known collec tively as Quintessenz, has given 400yearold Greek ruins in the town of Kagkatikas a colorful temporary makeover. Located on the Greek island of Paxos as part of the Paxos Contemporary Art Project, Kagkatikas Secret features spraypainted textiles hung in the ruins. Gransaur and Topic’s work is inspired by graffi ti art and chromatics, among other sources, and their over arching aim is to produce art that “makes/creates space for its color,” according to their web site. People: Granny stops young cybergamers A granny in Sichuan province has been labeled a “busybody”
after volunteering to patrol inter net cafes in order to dissuade youngsters from playing online games. Jiang Yongxiu, 66, lives in Yibin, Sichuan province. After she retired in 2005, she joined the local residents’ committee as a volunteer, often taking part in service activities caring for children. In 2013, she offered to be a member of the newly estab lished internet cafe supervision team and since then has insisted on patrolling the cafes in her community every day. Rankings: Top popular overseas destinations This summer, Ctrip, a major online travel agency, saw book ings for overseas luxury hotels surge nearly 50 percent yearon year. Tokyo tops the list of the most popular overseas destina tions, with the number of book ings for hotel rooms in the city expanding by nearly 100 percent over the same period last year. Meanwhile, customer bookings for rooms at childfriendly hotels witnessed significant growth as young families are traveling more, Ctrip found. Visit our web site to have a look at the top 10 overseas destinations that
received the largest number of hotel bookings from outbound travelers from China.
Fashion: Bitten lips, ancient yet popular A costume drama set in the Qing Dynasty (16441911), Story of Yanxi Palace, has become a hit on the small screen this summer. Apart from the plot, the makeup in this TV series has drawn much attention, especially the lips of the concubines. To those unfamil iar with ancient Chinese women’s makeup, the “bitten lips”, with heavy lipstick in the middle, look modern. In fact, decorating lips in such a way is not a new thing and dates back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC220).
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He described flow as a men tal state during which peo ple become wholly immersed in the activity they are doing and their per ception of time and space is altered and their entire being is filled with enjoy ment. 书中是这样定义心流的： 心流是指做事时全神贯 注、忘我的状态。在这种 状态下，你甚至感觉不到 时空的推移，而是被一种 快乐的满足感充盈。 When you’re in flow, you feel completely immersed and engaged in what you are doing. A sense of ecstasy overwhelms you and you experience inner clarity and intrinsic motivation. 在心流状态下，你会全身 心地沉浸在所做的事情中， 周身被一种愉悦感包围。 你会感觉自己内心澄明， 充满动力。 Here are five tips that may help you get a flow experi ence. 下面的五种方法也许可以 帮助你t 进入心流状态。 Seek out struggle You actually have to fight to get into flow and struggle against the myriad disrup tions and distractions that prevent us from getting there — emails, texts, social media, phone calls, etc. 实际上，要想进入心流状 态，你必须和种种破坏和 干扰因素进行抗争，包括电 子邮件、短信、社交网络和 电话等。 Unplug, unwire, and unwind The struggle will be a lot less difficult if you actually dis connect, and a critical pre cursor to flow is taking time to unplug from the stress and strain, to unwire our selves from our technology and devices, and to truly let ourselves unwind. 如果你真正从干扰因素中 抽离一段时间，挣扎的过 程就会变得容易许多，而 心流出现的先导因素就是 从压力和焦虑中脱离出 来，与各种技术设备切断
联系，真正让自己沉下心 来。 Be here now Flow only happens when you are in the present. In fact, that‘s the very nature of flow — being absolutely lost in the present. 只有专注于当下，你才能 进入心流状态。事实上， 这也是心流的本质 — 完全 沉 浸 于当下。 If an anxious or stressful thought pops into your head, write it down and put it aside for later. Minimize distractions so you stay in the present and stay in the flow. 如果脑海中产生了一种令 你焦虑或紧张的想法，先 记下来，放一段时间再处 理。这样才能够最大程度 地减少干扰，专注当下， 保持心流状态。 Embrace the funk of recovery Flow is draining. During flow, our brains go crazy, produc ing neurochemicals to cre ate a hyperfocused, creative, expansive state. 心流会使人筋疲力尽。在 心流状态中，我们的大脑 会高速运转，产生出神经 化学物质，从而进入一种 高度专注、富有思维创造 力和延展性的状态。 As the neurochemicals recede don’t expect to feel great. Sleep, sunshine, and nutrition are essential, so when you’re out of your flow, go for a walk and then take a rest. 当这些神经化学物质减退 时，你会感到身心俱疲。 这时候，睡眠、阳光和营 养非常重要，记得到阳光 下散散步，休息一下。 Flow whenever you can Turns out the more we get into flow, the easier it becomes to get there. Flow is like a muscle or habit; it gets easier over time. 事实证明，我们越经常进 入心流状态，这个过程就 越容易。就像锻炼肌肉或 形成习惯一样。 So if you crave more flow at work, spend more time at weekends in flow doing what you love — gardening, cook ing, dancing, etc. 所以，如果你渴望在工作 中收获更多美好的心流体 验，可以尝试周末多花点 时间，通过做一些你喜欢 的事情，如园艺、烹饪、跳 舞等，训练自己进入这种 状态。 Online Scan for more bilingual news
