Gerund

Hi everyone)

1. What if the Internet stopped for a day?

They argued that going offline even for a weekend would prevent them from completing work in other classes, ruin their social lives, and make their friends and family worry that something terrible had happened to them.- NPA

"They don’t even think about not having access to it.”- NPA

Malicious hackers could bring the internet to a standstill by releasing software that aggressively targeted vulnerabilities in routers – the devices that forward internet traffic.  _NPA

Shutting down domain name servers – the internet’s address books – would also cause massive disruption. -NPA

Cutting the deep-sea cables that carry vast volumes of internet traffic between continents would also cause significant disruptions.

Egypt did this during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011 to make it more difficult for protesters to coordinate their activity.  NPA

And American senators have proposed creating one in the US as a means to defend the country from cyberattack. NPA

Building a kill switch is not easy, however. NPA

“The internet service providers and the companies that make the routing equipment have plans and personnel in place for getting things up and running again if unexpected vulnerabilities are exploited.”NPA

Looking at quarterly financial reports from the 20 companies that claimed to be most affected in each case, as well as more general economic statistics, they discovered that the financial impact of an outage was surprisingly insignificant – at least for outages that lasted no more than four days, which is all they studied. NPA

It turned out that losing internet access for a few days just made people fall behind on their work.  NPA

Rather than twiddle their thumbs, employees did things that they would normally put off, such as dealing with paperwork.NPA

“I’ve suggested that people and businesses should have a plan in place in the event of internet loss, but I haven’t heard of anyone doing that yet,”  NPA

“So you have to realise that your reaction to the idea of losing the internet is likely to be based on your socioeconomic status,”npa

“Most people using the internet are actually more social than those who are not using the internet.” NPA

The loss of connection may make people more social in specific situations, such as forcing co-workers to speak to each other rather than sending emails, but overall the experience is likely to be distressing. npa
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And could you live without the Internet at least for a day?;))))


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2. Why millions of Chinese men are staying single?


By 2020, it’s estimated there will be 30 million more men than women looking for a partner npa

In 2015, a Chinese businessman in his 40s reportedly sued a Shanghai-based introductions agency for failing to find him a wife, having paid the company 7 million yuan ($1m) to conduct an extensive search. npa

Part of the problem is that the old – and new – ways of meeting people are not always working. npa


Online dating is growing fast in China, as elsewhere, and messaging apps such as WeChat are increasingly popular ways of getting to know people. npa

Hiring a girlfriend can cost up to 10,000 yuan ($1,450) a day  npa

And to avoid prying questions from inquisitive parents, some are even resorting to hiring “fake” girlfriends to present to their parents using apps such as Hire Me Plz. . npa

“If men want to get married, the future mother-in-law will request that he first buys a house before discussing the next step.  npa

But this financial burden on men is also making it harder for many women to find a partner.npa

“So they pressure their child to find a partner, go dating and to prepare for a wedding”. npa

“Parents face big social criticism if their daughter or son does not get married so normally a girl’s parents are eager to let their daughter go on a blind date and get married before reaching 30.” npa


 The shift in how people meet and how men woo partners, is, above all, putting a greater emphasis on love rather than on practical considerations such as financial security.npa

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3 Travelling 55,000 miles for dessert


When Pichet Ong left the frenetic life of New York restaurants in 2009, he never imagined a career spent making dessert could take shape on the road.

The job comes with intense back-to-back travel, building intricate spreadsheets to keep pace and last-minute prep for restaurant launches that goes way beyond dessert. npa

Between consulting projects, he fills gaps while home in New York by styling food for magazines or cookbooks and catching up with friends, some of whom still work in the city’s kitchens. npa


Clients across regions often have the same concerns, such as using alternative flours, healthy dessert options and how their flavours can translate to a global audience. npa

Ong packs many ingredients that he has trouble finding in opposite corners of the globe npa

For instance, when working in Dubai, he sweetens his sticky toffee pudding with dates and brown sugar but omits alcohol.npa