【推荐2】How many afternoons have you slowly moved over to the office coffee machine and wondered: Is this really my fourth cup of the day? Or wait, is it my fifth? We've all been there, but a new study shows refilling your cup too often could be hurting your health.

The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that drinking six or more cups of coffee per day may increase your risk of heart disease by up to 22%. Researchers from the University of South Australia analyzed the health records and self-reported dietary patterns of 347,077 participants between the ages of 37 and 73. They also looked to see which study participants possessed a specific gene, called CYP1A2, which enables people to consume caffeine faster than those without it.

Overall, the researchers found that people who drank six or more cups of coffee a day were 22% more likely to develop cardiovascular(心血管的)disease during the study period, compared to those who drank one to two cups daily. The study authors believe that coffee(in large quantities)and heart problems may be linked becauseexcesscaffeine consumption can cause high blood pressure, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Most people would agree that if you drink a lot of coffee, you might feel nervous and irritable(易怒的).That's because caffeine helps your body work faster and harder, but it is also likely to suggest that you may have reached your limit for the time being. That doesn't mean that any and all coffee is bad for your heart, however. In fact, the researchers also found that participants who didn't drink coffee at all- and those who drank decaf(脱因咖啡)---also had higher rates of heart disease(11% and 7% higher, respectively)than those who drank one to two cups per day. Previous research has found coffee is rich in antioxidants(抗氧化物质)and may reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. That is, if it's consumed in moderation.

【推荐3】Franco Bergamino is like a surprise “hidden recipe” among young people in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, where the 62-year-old Italian chef runs a dessert house called Mimosa.

The dessert house serves wine jelly with green pepper cheese, jasmine mousse and peach-Oolong cake—fusion (融合) desserts that combine Italian specialties with local Chinese ingredients.

Bergamino used to run two dessert houses in his hometown of Turin, both having a history of 90 years. In 2016, he settled in Chongqing and set up a dessert workshop. “I especially like Chongqing, where the food and culture are completely different from my hometown. Life here is like ‘the other side of the coin’,” he said.

With the help of his local English-speaking friends, he overcame the language barrier and even learned some Chongqing dialects (方言). More importantly, he has got used to the Chinese table culture of “sharing food together”.

Bergamino said, back in Turin, frequent customers to his shop would buy the same desserts and they would be disappointed if they were sold out. The situation in Chongqing, however, is very different. Customers expect different desserts each month, and they would be disappointed if the dessert menu stayed the same, he said.

From 2016 to 2022, Bergamino felt a huge change in the taste of Chinese customers. “In the past, Chinese guests always said that my desserts were too sweet. Now more and more people have accepted the authentic Italian tastes. Mimosa’s consumers are mainly between 25 and 35 a group that is more willing to try overseas tastes partly due to China’s continued opening to the outside world,” he said.

“I hope I can live to 95 and still work,” he said, so that he can, besides bringing authentic Italian desserts to more customers having a sweet tooth, let more people feel the fusion of Chinese and Italian cultures in his desserts.

【推荐2】The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place

Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us.    1    

Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale (秤) instead.     2     On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

    3     Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients (营养成分). Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional.     4     Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them to reduce weight.     5     Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the harm that comes from using them.

【推荐2】I love snakes. My mom definitely does not. When she was a kid, snakes used to hide in warm spots under the furniture. So she grew up afraid she’d step on a snake. I grew up hoping I’d see one... outside! Lots of people who are afraid of snakes have never even seen one. So where does our fear come from?

Scientists wonder about this too. Their experiments with adults, kids, and even babies show that it’s complicated. People may not be born afraid of snakes, but we are born able to see them quickly. In tests with pictures, people picked out snakes faster than they could find flowers, frogs, and caterpillars. It wasn’t just snakes, though. People also found spiders and angry faces faster than “safe” things like flowers. It seems like we find things that might be dangerous to us faster than things that aren’t

People also learn to fear snakes faster than we learn to fear many other things. We take our hints from other people’s scared voices and faces. Some scientists think we’ve evolved this way—faster to see snakes and faster to learn to fear them. After all, if we had to be bitten by a snake to learn that it’s dangerous, we might learn our lesson too late.

So why does it matter if we’re afraid of snakes? It may not matter much to us, but it matters to snakes. People protect animals they like, not animals they fear. Snakes may not be as cute as dolphins, but they’re just as important to the environment. Snakes eat insects that are pests to humans. Snakes are also food for other animals, so when we kill snakes, we’re hurting other creatures too.

How do we get past our fears to give snakes a chance? Scientists did a study recently where students of your age went on a field trip, Guides helped them find and capture snakes in the forest. Everyone could safely touch and hold a snake. It turns out that snakes aren’t so bad when you get to know them. Most people who were afraid of snakes before the field trip weren’t afraid afterward. In fact, snakes even became some students’ favorite animal. Hmm, maybe I should take my mom on the next field trip.

Remember：Always respect snakes, whether you’re afraid of them or not.

【推荐3】Bing Dwen Dwen, the cute mascot(吉祥物)ofthe Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, has been selling like hotcakes. Why is the ice-glazed panda so popular? What are the fantastic ideas behind its design?

Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts professor Cao Xue, who is in charge of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics mascot design team, told the China Media Group(CMG)the story.

Now, Cao Xue still clearly remembers that the exciting day came on the 17 of September, 2019, when the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympic Games officially announced the mascot designed by Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts as the mascot of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. After discussion by many experts and scholars, the mascot got a new name —“Bing Dwen Dwen” .

The 14-member design team led by Cao Xue all work as teachers and graduate students from the School of Visual Arts and Design of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. During that time, there were almost no holidays, and the whole team needed to revise and discuss every day, and they ended up completing over 10, 000 manuscripts(稿件) . In the end, Bing Dwen Dwen, based on a panda, was selected from nearly 6, 000 entries from 35 countries and regions.

Bing Dwen Dwen is a panda with a high sense of science and technology. It captures attention with its full -body“shell”made out of ice . Cao told us that the inspiration(灵感) came from traditional Chinese snack“ice-sugar gourd, ”also known as tanghulu, while the shell also is similar to a space suit — a nod to embracing new technologies for a future of infinite possibilities. Although the tanghulu idea was widely praised, it wasn’t enough to represent the image of a big country. So the team tried again and again, changing the image in the ice shell into elk, tiger, rabbit . …