Sacrifice

We got a HUGE task in PE class. HUGE! This was so big that Mr. Dover was basing half of our grades on it.

Here was the task. We were divided into groups of ________. One person stood on one side of the gym, and the other three stood across from him or her. We had to get a baby doll across the gym floor to the fourth member on the other side. But we couldn’t just walk across the gym floor because we had to pretend(假装) the floor was full of crocodiles. And the baby doll couldn’t be dropped on the floor because we were supposed to pretend it was our most beloved baby. If the fourth member ________ to catch the baby doll, the team would not get any grade.

Many solutions we tried, but none of them ________ well without dropping the baby doll on the floor.

The class was almost over, but we were still not getting anywhere. And not even a team got any ________. Suddenly a word “sacrifice( 牺牲)” on a poster caught my eyes. Then I had an idea.

I quickly gathered all the baby dolls of each team and handed them to my team members. Then I walked directly into the center of the gym. After that, I asked my team members to walk to Hudson, who was standing on the other side of the gym. With all the dolls getting across, all the groups could get grades.

I announced, “ While all the crocodiles are busy ________ me, my team members could take all the baby dolls across the gym floor, and at the same time, all baby dolls will be safe and ________. ”

Mr. Dover was shocked. “ Jamie, you are going to let the crocodiles eat you?

Doesn’t that mean you fail?”               

“I already failed,” I answered ________. “But now everybody else passes. And they can get their grades, right?”

Mr. Dover smiled. He said to the whole class, “ She is right. The only solution to this task is for one member to ________ up everything for the rest of you. You got it, Jamie! And all of you will get A-plus!”

Beijing is co-hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics with Zhangjiakou in Hebei province. From culture and food to tourism and the arts, we take you to some of the attractions in these areas for an unforgettable stay. Here are some of them.

	The Beijing Winter Olympic Park is located in Shijingshan district along the Yongding River. It covers more than 11 km2. Improvements to the park have helped the view along the waterway, linking railways and Shougang Industrial Park. The Shougang Big Air project is the highlight of it.
	Shang Brew views both Xiuchi Lake and Shijingshan Hill. Visitors can enjoy a line of hand- made beers and a lot of delicious food. Old machines and other things from the old plant area greet visitors at the entrance, and the stage in the public area is used for live performances.
	Xinshougang Bridge in Shijingshan was named a 2020 Global Best Projects winner by US industry magazine Engineering News-Record. Its main bridge is some 640 meters long, with the widest part of the bridge surface getting to 55 meters. The bridge offers a breathtaking view to the visitors.
	Kappa Shougang Infinite Park, Shijingshan, is a good place for extreme sports. The parks design still keeps the style of the old industrial site while making all kinds of fashionable sports buildings become a big draw for skateboarders.

In the last 25 years, the populations of monarch butterflies have reduced by hundreds of millions, according to the Wildlife Service’s Species report. The black and orange butterflies face insecticides（杀虫剂）, loss of milkweed—the plant monarchs lay eggs on and the caterpillars only food source, and habitat（栖息地） loss.

City people making a difference

The smaller population led Field Museum researchers in Chicago to ask: What makes a successful city monarch garden? Hasle, an ecologist at the Field Museum, and Karen Klinger, a geographer, are working to answer that question. Many stops along the monarchs migratory（迁徙） route are taking an all-hands-on-deck way to help out the butterfly, looking for more places where milkweed might grow. “We think, in one way, cities are providing an important place for a lot of insects,” Hasle said. Although the project is still fairly new, there are already some findings. Unlike some other field work derailed by the COVID-19, the monarch project worked well with more people staying home to watch over their gardens.

According to the weekly reports participants（参与者） sent, more successful gardens had more milkweed and blooming plants or much larger fields. But Klinger said one participant with a single plant watched eggs change all the way to a chrysalis. So, she said, “You just need one plant.”

___________        

In 2020, during the second season of the study, the number of caterpillars dropped, even though the number of participants more than doubled.

Chicago saw a hot, dry summer in 2020, which may have affected the health of the milkweed plants. In 2021, the reports out of Mexico noted illegal logging（非法砍伐）, as well as trees hit by wind and drought. But they also said spring and summer weather conditions were hard for milkweed blossoms（开花） and egg development in the southern U. S., which limited reproduction.

Not giving up

Now is the perfect time to start planning to plant some milkweed, Hasle and Klinger said.

“The best thing to do is what you can do,” Hasle said. “One milkweed plant in a pot on your window board is doing something.” “Probably it gives you something to look forward to during the boring winter in Chicago.”

Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is a kind of illness in which a person does not eat in a normal or healthy way.

In the United States, restrictions for COVID-19(新冠管控) are loosening, however eating disorder cases are on the rise. Experts warn that being alone and feeling anxious can increase the harmfulness of eating disorders.

“We are certainly seeing great increases,” said Jennifer Wildes who is an associate psychiatry professor (精神病学副教授) at the University of Chicago Medicine. She told the reporter that some patients are waiting to five months to get mental health treatment and medical cares. Before COVID-19, she added, wait times were usually only a few weeks. Recently, Wildes’ program treats about 100 patients. Before COVID-19, the number of patients was half that number.

Another treatment program for eating disorders at the University of Minnesota is experiencing the same thing. Daily calls to its program from people asking for treatment have doubled. In 2019, there were about 60 calls a day. “Since COVID-19 began, that number is up to 130 calls a day,” said Jillian Lampert, who is one of the leaders of the program.

Because of COVID-19, some people make themselves eat a lot as a way to deal with the feeling of “out of control”. Other people are doing the opposite of things. They are taking the message of “don’t gain COVID-19 weight” too strictly. They are reducing their meals to the point of anorexia(厌食症). Bulimic (贪食) is also a kind of eating disorder. Bulimic people eat large amount of food and then force themselves to throw it up.

A study of electronic medical records from about 80 U. S. hospitals found a 30 percent increase of eating disorder starting after March 2020, compared with numbers from 2018 and 2019. The leader of the study, Dr. Dave Little said that the COVID pandemic has given society, and in particular young people, a lot of mental health difficulties.

Here are some signs of eating disorder from the U. S. National Eating Disorders Organization.

◎Thinking about weight, body size, and food too much.

◎Seem uneasy eating around others.

◎Restrictions against types of food, for example, bread or sugar.

◎Avoiding usual friends and social activities.

◎Extreme change in mood and behavior.