My blind, 94-year-old great -grandmother was sleeping soundly in the hospital bed. As I sat quietly with my family, I listened to the _______ of the machines that kept her alive. Her face was pale and _______ .It seemed that every day she got worse.

I tried to think of a present to give to her. _______ she was blind, I would have to get her a gift that she didn’t have to see to _______ , but that she could feel with her hands. I remembered that when she lived with us she always wanted to touch and _______ with my stuffed animals（填充动物玩具）. I knew right then what to get. I would have a teddy bear made especially for her.

The day came again to _______ my great﹣grandmother. There was my great﹣grandmother, sitting in her bed. Her eyes were wide open. I thought she was sensing that we were coming. A smile grew on her face as we sat on her bed, close to her _______ body hidden under the covers. I placed the bear in her gentle, thin _______ .Once her hands touched it, her face was suddenly filled with joy. She smiled and hugged（拥抱） the bear the whole time we were there. Before we left, she _______ me many times.

From that day on, ________ , my great﹣grandmother started to become better. Several years later, my great﹣grandmother passed away peacefully in her sleep, still hugging the bear.

When life takes you away from home, use technology to help guide you. Apps can help make your trip easier and more fun.

	TripIt is a helpful app to organize travel plans. After signing up for an account （账户）, forward any email confirmations（确认）for your travels to plans@tripit.com. Send TripIt all confirmations for hotel, flight, train, theater, and other bookings.TripIt will create a travel plan that will be shown in the TripIt app on your phone.
	OpenTable is a restaurant﹣booking app to help users discover and make bookings at restaurants.OpenTable includes 31, 000 restaurants around the world. Check the app for restaurants’ information and make bookings within the app.
	Google Maps can be used even when there is no Internet connection around. Maps can be downloaded（下载） for times when you are away from the Internet. Create your own Google Maps that you can use offline.
	Hostel world is where you’ll find more than 17, 000 hotels in 178 countries. The app is great for travelers looking to meet vacationers during their trip, including a Noticeboard that tells activities, and a translator that will help you communicate in up to 43 languages.

China is a country having the largest population in the world, with more than 1.4 billion people. However, it’s shown that China’s birth rate（率） is dropping. Although the government has tried to encourage people to have more children, China’s birth rate in 2021 was the lowest it’s been since 1949.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics （国家统计局） of China, 10.62 million babies were born in 2021, a birth rate of 7.52 per 1, 000 people. This is down from a rate of 8.52 per 1, 000 people in 2020. The 2021 birth rate is also almost equal to the year’s death rate; 10.14 million deaths were recorded, a rate of 7.18 per 1000.

This means the natural growth rate of the population was just 0.34 per 1, 000 people. It is the lowest since China’s Great Famine（饥荒）from 1959 to 1961, which killed about 30 million people and caused a population decline.

Ning Jizhe of the National Bureau of Statistics told state media some of the reasons for the decline in births are that people’s opinions about having children have changed, birth rates are dropping, and young people are taking longer to get married. Also, the high cost of living in cities is discouraging couples from having more children.

Another problem is that the population is aging faster than expected. China’s working-age population is already dropping, which will put stress on the country’s ability to pay and care for an increasingly elderly country. This suggests China’s total population may have reached its peak（顶点）in 2021. It also shows China’s population growth is likely slowing faster than expected.

To increase birth rates, the Chinese government ended its “one child” rule in 2016. In 2021, couples would be allowed to have up to three children.

One pipe (烟斗) in Mr. Dow’s store caught Joey’s eye. He imagined some day he would be a grown man and could smoke a pipe, just like this one. He looked around. Nobody was looking. He put the pipe in his hand. He just wanted to get the feel of it.

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around quickly. It was Mr. Dow, the store owner. “Hello, Joey,” Mr. Dow said. Joey struggled (挣扎) to answer but only smiled weakly as Mr. Dow walked away. Did Mr. Dow see the pipe in his hand? Joey’s thoughts became unclear. He watched his feet begin to move and take him out of the store.

Wandering (徘徊) in the street, he felt something against his stomach. He knew it was the pipe. He had walked out of the store with it. He pulled the pipe out of his pocket. Joey wondered if Mr. Dow had called the police. Perhaps the police were waiting for him at home. He could say he did not take the pipe. No one had seen him do it. Still he himself would know that he did.

Then, it was time to go home. His mother would look at him and she would know. She always knew. A hot tear ran down his cheek. He remembered the way she said, “You are a little man now, Joey.” Thinking of it made him sad. “She trusted me,” he kept saying to himself. The pipe and his dreams of growing up meant nothing.

He knew what he had to do. And he was in a hurry to get it done. When he reached the store, Mr. Dow was just inside the door. The big man smiled. Joey’s feet felt heavy. Suddenly, he held out the pipe.

“Mr. Dow,” he said, “I didn’t mean to take it.”

“Thanks, Joey.” Mr. Dow said gently.

“How about staying around and helping me close up shop?”

Joey felt Mr. Dow’s big hand on his shoulder. And Joey felt his shoulders had become a little adder and stronger.

On 3 June 2017, Alex Honnold did something that many people thought was impossible. He climbed more than 900 metres up a rock face in Yosemite National Park, in the US, using only his hands and feet. He had no ropes or safety protections for the climb, which took three hours and 56 minutes.

Honnold’s ropeless climbing up the rock face known as EI Capitan was record﹣breaking. One of Honnold’s friends and also a climber, Tommy Caldwell, described the achievement as “the Moon.ding of ropeless climbing” .

“It was great. It’s cool when you’re up there, “Honnold told The Week Junior.” Yosemite is one of ：most beautiful places on Earth.”

Yosemite is where the best climbers take on some of the world’s most difficult climbs. But for Honnold, who is 33 years old, it is a very special place. He grew up in Sacramento, near Yosemite, and used to go camping there as a child. When he was around 10 years old, Honnold started climbing at an floor gym（体育馆）.He loved climbing up trees and playing on the monkey bars, although he wasn’t try good at either. In his late teens, he began breaking speed climbing records. Then in 2015, he decided it was time to try the world﹣famous EI Capitan. “I spent two years remembering every hand and foot placement, “he says. “I could tell you right now all the moves.”

For many people, it might seem too risky to climb without ropes, but not Honnold. “If you fall off, you will die. But the chances of you falling off depend on how prepared you are.”

Honnold’s impressive achievement can be seen in the new award﹣winning documentary, Free Solo, which is on the National Geographic channel （9pm, Sunday 3 March）.

Getting enough sleep is important for your health. Not having enough sleep can increase a person’s risk of developing serious diseases. So when life gets so busy that you can’t get enough sleep, being able to take a nap （小睡） can work wonders for your health. However, after a nap people often feel sleepy and more tired than they did before.     33    

Find nap length（长度）

Every person has a different perfect nap length. For most people it’s between 10 and 20 minutes long. Anything longer than that increases your chances of waking up during a deep﹣sleep cycle.     34     So try out naps of different lengths up to 20 minutes long, and find out what works best for you.

Set an alarm（闹钟）

    35     Setting an alarm can avoid the worry of accidentally oversleeping, which can often keep people awake. Also, make sure you have a dark, comfortable, quiet place to take your nap.

    36    

If you know you are unable to get a good night’s sleep because of a coming night﹣shift（夜班）or party, it’s important to nap in the afternoon beforehand.     37     But avoid naps in the late afternoon or evening.

Not saying a word, 14-year-old Ann walks towards the door, with her backpack in hand. Her mom looks at her and asks, “Where are you going?”

Ann answers, “It’s none of your business.”

“You promised to put away your clothes first, but the clothes are still in the basket. Please finish that task before you leave.”

Ann throws her backpack on the floor and shouts, “They are my clothes. I should be able to do what I want with them. You are damaging (破坏) my life. I hate you!” She runs into her bedroom, closing the door.

“That’s it! You’re forbidden (禁止) to go out today, young lady,” her mom shouts back. Her mom is left alone, not knowing if she’s done the right thing.

Does it sound familiar? This scene happens in different homes every day. Teenagers, just like adults, get angry generally when they don’t get their way. So how do parents deal with their teenager’s anger?

Parents should deal with their own anger properly in front of their children. What are some good ways to do that? They should tell themselves, “I’m getting angry. I’m going to take a break” or “I can’t talk to you right now. I’m really upset so I’m going to wait until I’m calm” and then talk to their children later.

62. 疫情期间，刘畊宏的健身直播引发一股运动风潮。Teens英文报刊现组织以 “Sports in my eyes” 为题的征文活动，请你用英语写一篇短文投稿。

Sports in my eyes

There are many kinds of sports that I’ve tried before. Among them, I like_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________