One day, a teacher went into her classroom with a glass of _________. She wanted to explain stress management to her students. First, she asked her students, “How _________ is this glass of water?”

They gave many _________ answers. Some students said it weighed 200 grams, others simply said they didn’t know.

She smiled and replied, “Actually, the _________ of the glass doesn’t matter. It _________ how long I hold it. If I hold it for a _________, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have a(n) _________ in my arm. If I hold it for a day, I’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it’s the same weight, but the _________ I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

“Just like putting down this glass of water, you have to put your stress down for a while and rest before __________ it again. When we’re refreshed (精神焕发的), we can carry on with our burdens — holding them more __________ each time.”       

As this teacher said, we shouldn’t carry our burdens around all the time. __________ them today and pick them up tomorrow. No matter __________ burdens you’re carrying now, put them __________ for a moment and have a moment. Your mind will thank you for it.

“Wake up, everybody.” Robin shouted, “It is time for us to find another rich guest to pay for our feast.” Little John woke up slowly.

“You go west, and I go east. We try to find the richest man and bring him here!”

Robin walked for miles and saw many people but none of them were rich. But when he was eating, he saw a knight.

Robin said hello to him. The knight stopped, but said nothing. His face was full of sadness. “You need a good feast to cheer you up!” said Robin. “I have no reason to be happy,” said the knight. “My name is Robin Hood. Who are you?” For a moment, the knight’s eyes grew wide. He knew all about Robin Hood’s feasts. “I am Sir Richard Lea,” he said, “but I have no money to give you for your feast.” Robin asked, “You are a knight, and knights are rich men.”

Sir Richard sighed, “My son killed another knight by accident and I had to pay a huge fine. To get the money, I had to borrow from the Priory of Emmet. Now I must return that money to the Priory or lose my land and my castle.” Robin felt sorry for the knight. “Come with me and perhaps I can help you.” he said. Sir Richard agreed and followed Robin back to Sherwood Forest.

When they arrived at the camp, Robin told him to enjoy himself. Then Robin asked Little John, “Did you find a rich guest?” Little John laughed, “Yes, I did.” and brought forward his guest and Robin recognized him at once. “It was The Bishop of Hereford!” Robin said, “We meet again. Welcome to our feast.” The bishop was furious (愤怒的), but he didn’t say anything. He was too afraid of Robin.

Just then Robin saw there was a box tightly held in his hands.

Robin shot the box with his sword. The box hit the ground and thousands of gold coins fell out of it, sir Richard came forward and Robin pointed to him, “Do you know this man?” Robin asked the bishop. “Yes,” replied the bishop. “Does he owe you money?” “He owes money to the Priory of Emmet and I am the bishop for the Priory.”

Robin said, “Many people say you are the richest bishop in England.” Robin started to count the coins and said, “I think you have much money and you want to help Sir Richard.” When there were five hundred gold coins in Robin’s hands, he gave them to Sir Richard. “Take this,” he said, “and pay your fine.”

Soon, Sir Richard left with the five hundred gold coins. He thanked Robin Hood and said, “One day, I hope I can repay your great favour.”

After that, Robin freed the bishop. The bishop left the camp quietly without all his money but when he was far away and no one could hear him, he said, “One day, I am going to make Robin Hood very, very sorry for stealing all my money. Wait and see.”

—Adapted from Robin Hood

Lots of kids don’t have perfect teeth, so don’t worry if yours aren’t straight. You might just need to see an orthodontist（正牙医生）who will tell you if you need braces（牙箍）.

Types of braces

Metal（金属的）braces are still used, but you might get braces that are the same color as your teeth instead. There are even braces that go behind your teeth where no one can see them. The wires（金属线）used in braces today are also smaller, and they can straighten your teeth faster.

________

Braces straighten teeth by putting pressure on your teeth over a period of time. The wires on your braces help to move your teeth, and the rubber bands（橡皮筋）help to correct the way your teeth line up.

People wear braces for different lengths of time, but for most people it’s usually about two years.

Life with braces

Braces act like magnets（磁体）for food, so you need to keep your teeth clean. You’ll have to stay away from some foods that are problems for braces, such as popcorn and candy. Sugary sodas（苏打水）and juice can cause a problem too, because the sugar stays on your teeth and may cause tooth decay（蛀牙）. Be sure to brush your teeth after meals.

Shenzhen Daily, 2023-02-28

Getting a pie from the sky is becoming a reality in the city as online delivery platform Meituan has been allowed to start drone delivery service (无人机送餐服务), Shenzhen Evening News reported.

At Galaxy World in Longgang District, a reporter from the newspaper watched how a meal has been delivered by the drone on Thursday. The drone slowly landed and a door above the Meituan Intelligent Dining Cabinet(储藏柜) opened slowly, where the drone put the meal box inside the cabinet.

“It takes about 15 minutes to place the order and receive the meal. A lot of people have tried the drone delivery service here,” said a woman who just took her meal box out from the cabinet.

During the year 2022, food and drinks such as noodles, fruits, coffee and milk tea and even flowers have been delivered through Meituan’s drone delivery system, the report said.

The company said that it had completed over 100, 000 drone deliveries last year. Meituan started to explore drone delivery service in 2017 and started the try in early 2021. The service has an average delivery time of 12 minutes, which is less than traditional delivery methods, the company says.

There are only a few cities in the world with the advantages of drone delivery service, and Shenzhen is taking the lead in China, the report says. However, there are still some problems with this kind of service.

The world has lost a great translator. Xu Yuanchong, one of the world’s most famous Chinese translators, died at the age of 100 on June 17, 2021.

Xu devoted himself to translation for more than 60 years. He published more than 100 translated novels, anthologies (选集) and plays in Chinese, English and French, reaching millions of readers around the world.

A translated work should be as beautiful as the original (原作), Xu said. He used his creativity (创造力) to make this possible. Instead of directly translating words from one language to another, he changed the translated wording when necessary to make the text readable and relatable to readers. He translated Chinese poems into rhyming verses (押韵的诗句) in both English and French.

Thanks to his translations, English and French-speaking readers are able to better understand Chinese literature.

In 2014, Xu became the first Asian winner of the Aurora Borealis Prize for Outstanding Translation of Fiction Literature (北极光杰出文学翻译奖), one of the world’s highest prizes for translators.

Xu was a hard worker. He lived in an old house near Peking University. Every day, he would translate about 1, 000 words, working until 3 to 4 a.m., then sleep for about three hours and get up at 6 a.m. to continue working.

He often quoted (引用) a verse from English poet Thomas Moore’s The Young May Moon: “And the best of all ways to lengthen (延长) our days is to steal a few hours from the night”.

There are many ways to help improve your health like eating healthy food, taking exercise and getting medical help. But the easiest and cheapest way to improve your health is just to sleep eight hours or more every night. The general sleeping rule is that the younger you are, the longer sleep you need.

The problem with sleep is that more and more people in the world are not sleeping enough. The World Health Orientation (WHO) says, over half of the people in the world may be sleep-deprived (睡眼不足的). Having less sleep not only makes people feel tired but also causes accidents. In the United States alone, sleepy drivers cause at least 100, 000 traffic accidents a year.

Also, sleep problems can cause medical problems, such as high blood pressure.

Why are so many people sleep-deprived? Part of the reasons may be cultural. In the American culture, people put a higher value on work than on sleep. In fact, people who sleep a lot are usually seen as “lazy”. Also, you can sometimes hear some people say proudly that they don’t have much time to sleep. They only sleep four or five hours a night. It seems that the less you sleep, the more work you’ll do.

How do we teach these people to learn the value of sleep? Perhaps they may listen to the advice of Dr. James Maas, an expert in sleep. He says, “Sleep is like a credit (信用) card. When you sleep less, you are only borrowing time. You always have to pay it back. The more hours you don’t sleep, the more hours you should sleep to ‘pay back’ the hours on your ‘sleep credit card’. ”

For those who value work more than sleep, they should listen to what a famous person once said, “Don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the night. That is a foolish idea which is held by people who have no imagination. You will be able to do more. ”