If someone said they’d pay you 1,800 dollars to stay off social media for six years, would you do it? Could you? Sivert Klefsaas did just that.

In 2016, Lorna Goldstrand Klefsaas challenged her 12-year-old son Sivert to stay off social media until he was 18. If he completed the challenge, she     1     (award) him the cash on his eighteenth birthday. On February 19, 2022, Sivert claimed his prize.

Lorna got the     2     (inspire) from a challenge she heard on the radio called the “16 for 16”, where a mother gave her daughter 1,600 dollars when she turned 16 if she stayed off social media.

Sivert said it wasn’t too difficult to live     3     social media, and he didn’t think about it much during the six years. As a 12-year-old Sivert said he wasn’t using social media much anyway.     4     only app he had before the bet was Snapchat,     5     he deleted a day after trying it out.

Lorna said she never had to check for any of the apps probably     6     (download) secretly on his computer. “He’s so     7     (compete) a boy.     8     (definite) it was more for proving a point.” she said.

After Sivert’s success, Lorna took to Facebook     9     (share) the challenge. She said it was some of the best money she’d ever spent. Other parents have seemed interested in trying it out too.

“We are certainly not against social media,” Lorna noted. “It’s about not letting yourself get weighed down by it, addicted     10     it, or affected by things that people post.”

Litter is everywhere, doing great harm to the environment and life on our planet. Jeff Kirschner, who wants to build a litter-free world, started a global community named Litterati     1     (settle) this problem.

The story began with his 6-year-old daughter. One day they were going on a hike     2     the girl noticed a broken plastic tub in a river. She said, “Daddy, that doesn’t go there.” That took Kirschner by surprise. He, like many adults, bad become so used to the rubbish around them that he hadn’t given it     3     second look.     4     his daughter said reminded him of the serious problem our planet faces.

Jeff started to take action. He created Litterati, an app that makes it fun to pick up litter. The idea is     5     (fair) simple: Spot a piece of trash, take a photo, post the photo online and then put the litter into dustbins.

    6     that Jeff was keeping a record of the positive impact he was having     7     the environment, people worldwide started participating in it. Up to now, over 2,500,000 photos posted by 3,500 people from over 40 countries     8     their way to Litterati’s digital landfill.

Litterati is more than an app,     9     is a highly effective solution to a pressing issue. Wherever you live, whatever you do and whoever you are, join Litterati to make the world a cleaner and     10     (health) place to live in!

TV Drama Puts Spotlight on Ancient Tea Art

A Dream of Splendor, a 40-episode TV drama     1    (broadcast) on Tencent Video platform, has become a hit recently. The series features China’s traditional tea acrobatics(技巧), which is also one of the intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产)     2    (item) in China.

Chinese tea culture has witnessed a long history     3     the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It flourished throughout the Song Dynasty,     4     the popular way of having tea became dian cha—a kind of tea art. It is     5     delicate technique that starts from pouring hot water over fine powdered tea to make it mushy(糊状的). Then more hot water is added slowly while the tea is     6    (constant) stirred by hand with a bamboo stick to create froth(泡沫), which can be used     7    (draw) patterns on the surface of it. This action of pouring hot water is called dian, giving this art the name dian cha, while the art of using water to draw on the tea is called chabaixi.

This old practice not only makes drinking tea more     8    (enjoy), but also enhances the taste of it. It’s common to see coffee art in modern society,     9     tea art is relatively little-known. This popular TV series brings this intangible cultural heritage to more audiences and     10    (spread) traditional Chinese tea culture.

Yungang Grottoes(石窟)in Datong, Shanxi Province, are a world cultural heritage site with a history that goes back more than 1,500 years. In Yungang’s 45 big grottoes and more than 200 small grottoes,     1    (rough) 59,000 figures of the Buddha     2    (be) a priceless treasure of human culture.

    3     because of the effects of climate change and natural disasters, the grottoes face damage year after year. Thanks to     4    (advance) digital technology, researchers are busy “duplicating (复制)” the Yungang Grottoes in an attempt     5    (preserve) the precious cultural relics.     6    (employ) 3D laser scanning technology, the researchers digitally record the shapes, colors and other fine details of the grottoes and later reproduce them by using 3D printing technology.

    7     new technology could enable more people to have access to the cultural relics     8     the distance. In June, 2020, the Zhejiang University Cultural Relics Research Institute and Yungang Grottoes Research Institute together “copied and pasted” Cave No. 12 of the Yungang Grottoes for exhibition in Hangzhou. There, people could see the world’s first 3D-printed l: l “copy” of a grotto.

The Yungang     9    (researcher)attempt is a good example of technology helping to preserve cultural heritage. It is hoped     10     the new digitized technologies will facilitate the “rebirth” of the cultural relics, and bring them to more places worldwide.