【推荐2】Where is the better place to live? City or countryside?     1     Leaving the noise and rapid pace of city life and entering the peace and quiet of the countryside is surely beneficial. There are big, open space where you can get close to nature.    2    

People know each other better, and there is often a real sense of community in small towns that is seldom found in big cities.

However, for someone who has lived in large towns and cities for long, like me, country life takes quite some adjusting to.    3     You have to get used to the town becoming completely dead from about 12:00 to 2:00 p.m., when everyone takes a long lunch break. Transport is often a problem as well.    4     And it’s even more difficult to leave the town, as usually the closest neighbouring town city is miles away.

What’s more, the sense of community in small towns can sometimes make visitors feel a little unwelcome. So far, no one has been unfriendly towards me, but the fact that I’m clearly foreign in this small community makes me feel uncomfortable.

    5     It’s hard to find people with whom I have things in common, and who I can talk to!

Yet, despite all this, I’m trying hard to take advantage of the beauty, simplicity, and ease of the country lifestyle in France.

【推荐1】California’s Water Resources Control Board recently approved new regulations in a unanimous (一致同意的) vote — toilet or shower wastewater will be recycled and pumped into the public drinking water system.

In 2023, more than 97% of California has been in moderate to severe drought, while water suppliers are struggling to keep up. A 2022 water supply and demand report indicated that around 18% of water suppliers were at risk of facing potential shortages. “The reality is that anyone out there on Mississippi River and on Colorado River, and anyone out there taking drinking water downstream is already drinking ‘toilet to tap’,” said Esquivel, a director of the Board.

Early in the 1990s, the state was struggling to overcome the distaste its residents had toward drinking recycled water. Their efforts fizzled out when the phrase “toilet to tap” caught on and met with fierce resistance. The idea became too unpopular to be implemented. Despite the negative name, the regulations are the key to ensuring the supply of drinking water.

California’s new regulations would let water agencies to treat wastewater, and then put it back into the drinking water system. It has taken officials more than 10 years to develop these regulations, a process that included several studies by independent groups of scientists. To put the scheme into effect and build huge water recycling plants, however, water agencies say they will need to prove to people that recycled water is not only safe to drink but also under monitoring.

The new regulations require the wastewater be treated for all bacteria and viruses. In fact, the treatment is so intense that it removes all of the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good. That means the minerals need to be added back at the end of the process. “What we have here are standards, science, and importantly monitoring that allow us to have safe pure water, and probably better in many instances,” said Esquivel. He added that it takes time and money to build these treatment centers. So, they will only be available for bigger cities at first.

【推荐1】“The new normal” is one of those phrases that can accurately apply to a wide variety of life situations, including a medical diagnosis, death or change in life and work. The phrase implies both the newness of each of those circumstances, as well as the necessity that they will need to be normalized, integrated into the reality of our daily lives. Once we’ve settled into new routines and emotional patterns, our “normal” won’t be quite so new anymore, will it? The question is a subject of debate.

There is a large middle ground between the event that increases the need for “the new normal” and its final acceptance. Some people think it can’t handle tragedies. But the phrase keeps coming up in conversation, and it has made me realize that“normal”is the last word I would use to describe the fragile place I currently occupy. I find myself there as I mourn the loss of my grandfather, who died in September. For example, the new normal is to have Thanksgiving without Grandfather, then to remember him on what would have been his 75th birthday just a few days later. In other words, during this year of firsts, the new normal is a time of transition, not of arrival.

It strikes me that this is something to be celebrated, not worried over. Part of living positively is meeting ourselves wherever we are. And as I continue to navigate this in-between time, this period of slowly accepting my father’s absence from the Earth, I recognize that each step along the way is a worthwhile part of a healthy grieving process.

The same idea would apply to more positive changes, like a new home or job, as well as the challenges of the end of a relationship or a difficult medical reality. The new normal isn’t something any of us step into all at once. It’s something we become, move toward, and, eventually, accept. Let’s not be in a rush to reach that destination. The journey has much to teach us.

【推荐2】I still remember the days my grandmother used to take me on long walks along the summer grass. The sun was always shining on the small roots of the grass on the ground. I remember noticing how, even though the roots were small, they still managed to stick out. Even though there were other things that could attract people to the parts of the grass, somehow the mind always seemed to lead to the roots, or, more precisely, where it all started its origins.

I have learned to realize early on that if you come from a culture that is different from the mainstream culture, eventually you will have to choose. And sometimes, choosing isn’t an easy process. Growing up as a Korean American in the US, I have often felt the need to have to choose between the two cultures that I live by. Even with friends, I would be the outsider that is stuck somewhere in the middle.

On some days, I would choose to be the “white” version of myself, dyeing my hair blond, On other days, I would feel the need to relocate(迁移)to the Asian part of me. The part of me, also known as the “roots” of the grass, has always been kept hidden for whatever reason. Whenever I redye my own hair black, I get the feeling that I am preserving some of the roots that I may have left behind.

Sometimes, we just want to preserve those roots that we have kept hidden. We try extra hard to become “a part of”something we might have left behind. However, it is more meaningful if we allow that thing (culture in thin case) to become part of our daily lives. This way, we will become learn likely to forget “this” part of ourselves.

【推荐3】My first newsroom was in a grand building with tall arched windows that dominated a street corner in the small Midwestern city where I worked. Inside, there was a high ceiling. Did this use to be a bank? Many visitors would ask. But it had. in fact, always been a newsroom.

I was young and shy when I first went to work there, and it probably took me a month before I talked to any of the other reporters. But eventually, they became my best friends, the core of my social life.

My second newsroom was the airy top floor of a historic building in the state capital of Maryland. It was smaller and less grand but far more energizing. My colleagues were older. I learned so much about how to be a reporter from overhearing their phone interviews.

This past summer, several American newspapers announced they would be closing their newsrooms. Many local newspapers have gone out of business in recent years, victims of declining circulation and shrinking advertising dollars. Then along came the coronavirus pandemic, and so many of us were sent home to work from there. The pleasant surprise is that we have all succeeded brilliantly in working remotely. But some managers have looked at this success and thought: "Why would we need to return to the newsroom?" I worry that they are making a big mistake. A physical newsroom sends a powerful message to a community： We are here for you. At my first job. strangers could walk right through the door and straight up to my desk. We treasured that visibility.

But I also think about the collaboration—of the times I would overhear colleagues talking about a story and realize that I had some useful information for them. Sometimes, a colleague would see me in the hall and give me a story idea. I can't wait to get back to my newsroom.