10. —Jane, I have to warn you if you are always ________ from class, you will fail the examinations.

—Sorry, Mr. Donald. I won’t do it again.

13. —Why not choose Uncle Bob’s since this restaurant ________ very delicious food and is inexpensive?

—Good idea!

There are many heartwarming stories on the Internet which make you smile. Since the terrible disease in 2019, we have seen people come together to serve their near and dear ones, and even the community at large.

Recently, a restaurant owner was surprised to see sweet and encouraging messages with an online order. We also saw the news that a kind customer left a tip (小费) for each of seven workers at his favorite restaurant. In another such unbelievable act of kindness, a girl made a birthday cake for her lonely neighbor. The sweet story of the girl will surely leave you smiling. Take a look at it here.

A post (帖子) was shared on the Internet by Genien, who is a food blogger in Chicago. Her post received thousands of likes and hundreds of comments (评论). In the post, Genien shared the story of how her daughter came up with the idea of surprising their next door neighbor, who lived alone. Her daughter Danya went over to talk with the neighbor when he mentioned his birthday. Danya then added it to her calendar. ★

On the neighbor’s birthday, Danya bought the ingredients (原料) for the cake before heading to school. After school, she made the cake and took it over to him. The smiles on both of them were enough to light up a room! “I’m so proud to say she’s my daughter,” wrote the proud mother in the post. “I hope more people can join in helping others.” There are many different ways for us to spread a little kindness. The way we decide on how to show kindness will be up to ourselves, but the results will be the same — we will be spreading joy, love, and lifting spirits!

They hang from trees. They float in rivers and oceans. They are piled up in landfills(垃圾填埋场). Our frequent use of plastic products has, for many years, been a leading cause of serious environmental problems in the world. Last month, China drew up new guidelines(指导方针) aiming to bring plastic pollution under control across the country in five years’ time.

According to the new guidelines, the ban(禁令) on the use of non-biodegradable(不可生物降解的) plastic bags will have been applied to cities including Beijing and Shanghai by the end of this year. Other sources of plastic garbage will have been banned in these cities by the end of 2022. And that rule will have extended nationwide by late 2025.

Fortunately, China will not start from zero. Late last year, the country announced a national standard for biodegradable plastic shopping bags. It is technologically prepared for their production. Some regions have gained valuable experience that others can learn from. For example, Jilin province is leading the way by providing eco-friendly(环保的) shopping bags in some local supermarkets.

Given the size of China’s consumer market, one main obstacle(障碍) is the large number of plastic items that are being used by restaurants and e-commerce(电子商务) platforms. It’s estimated that nearly 25 billion plastic bags were used for deliveries in 2018. Most of them were rarely reused.

However, most Chinese people welcomed the government’s effort to reduce the use of plastics. “Beijing is thinking about the problem seriously,” said Tang Damin, a member of Greenpeace East Asia in Beijing. He added that the policy could be far more effective(有效) by using incentives(激励) such as a deposit(押金) return program on plastic products.

Most adults find it hard to remember the things happened while they were children. Now scientists have found exactly when these memories d    51    .

A new study has found that most three-year-old children can remember a lot of what happened to them a year e    52    , and these memories are still clear while they are 5 and 6, but by the time they are over 7, these memories become w    53     quickly.

Most children by the age of 8 or 9 can only remember 35% of their e    54     from under the age of 3 according to the new studies.

The scientists say this is because at around this age the way we form memories begins to change. They say that before the age of 7 children do not have a s    55     of time and place in their memories. In older children, however, the early things they can remember become more adult-like     56     the way they are formed. Children also have a far faster speed of     57    (forget) than adults. The discoveries also help to e    58     why children can often have clear memories of what they have done, but then forget them just several years later.

The children were organized to the laboratory for the first time at the age of 3 and discussed 6 impressed(印象深刻的) things from their past, such as the first relaxing trip with your family, the first accident you met, and the first day of school. The children then returned for a second period between the     59     (age) of 5 and 9 to discuss the same things. The scientists found that between the ages of 5 and 7, the amount(量) of memories that the children could remember     60     (remain) between 63%-72%. However, between the ages of 8 to 9, the amount of memories that the children could remember fell to between 35%-36%.

Should Teenagers Help with Housework at Home?

Many parents think that teenagers don’t have to help with housework at home.