Jin Ying, 25, is a lover of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). She took part in a three-month training course on acupuncture and tuina (针灸推拿) in the winter of 2023 at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.

Jin’s life has been different since the training. She changed her life habits after learning the Five Elements theory. For example, she avoided sweating too much during exercise in winter because the cold of winter means people should slow down, according to TCM. For her, learning these skills and theories was not about becoming a TCM doctor but rather about holding a new lifestyle.

She is not an unusual example of young people becoming interested in TCM. A survey by China Youth Daily showed that 93.3 percent of the 1,000 young people who took part had tried different TCM treatments.

“I have seen a rising number of young people come to me for neck and back pains, which are usually related to the elderly,” said Ma Huifang, a TCM doctor at Guoyitang, a TCM hospital.

Between Western medicine and TCM, young people often choose TCM “because of its efficacy,” according to Ma. Some people question why TCM treats the same illnesses with different prescriptions (处方). “This is actually an advantage of TCM, rather than a shortcoming, as it can be a more accurate treatment (精准的治疗) for different patients,” Ma explained.

Younger age groups are accepting TCM, and, at the same time, TCM is also benefiting young people. As Jin noted, “It helps young people understand Chinese medicine well.”

You may think that having less water is because of having less rain, but it is now a problem in southern China, an area in which it rains often.

The government said that Shenzhen was facing its most serious water shortage ever. Other cities in the southern part of China, like Chengdu and Guangzhou, are also becoming “thirsty” though they have more rain and are close to more rivers and lakes, The Paper reported. So why are they still short on water?

In these big cities, populations are growing fast. As a result, people and factories need more water.

Climate change is making the water problem worse. Most cities in Guangdong province depend on the Dongjiang River as their main source of water. In 2021, the river was reported to be drying up.

Water pollution also makes it harder to get clean drinking water. Factories and farms don’t use water well. Some cities have enough rain but don’t have big lakes or reservoirs (水库) to store water, so the water goes out into the sea.

But there is a hidden water resource (资源) right under our feet. That’s “groundwater”. We can’t see it. However, it plays an important role in our lives. About 98 percent of Earth’s fresh water is groundwater. It is 60 times as plentiful as the fresh water in lakes and rivers. But in many places, people overuse and pollute groundwater. We should pay more attention to this hidden water resource.

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There was a time when I had to count every penny (一分钱) I spent. I had to count the cost in my head while ________. I would stand there and add up each item over and over.

I remember on a Christmas Eve when I was shopping at Trader Joe’s. I stood by the refrigerators and counted up the ________ of the things I wanted to buy.

The total was too ________ and I couldn’t buy everything. I looked through each of them trying to decide what to put back. I kept everything that everyone else in my family loved but had to ________ the one thing I loved—a bag of chicken tamales. That bag pushed the total over budget. I hated the feeling of not being able to afford it but it was ________.

That night, the doorbell rang. It was strange because it was very cold and late. I went to the door, opened it, and found bags of food on my front steps. ________ was there. On the top of the first bag, I saw the bag of chicken tamales, the same kind I had put back hours before.

I cannot describe the feeling of learning that even at my loneliest, I wasn’t ________. The feeling that I mattered, and the gratitude (感激) I felt. I ________ don’t know who left all that food on my doorstep, but I will never ________ that feeling. It shows me that while there may not be a real Santa Claus, there are ________ among us, bringing love and kindness to the world.

This week, our topic is pollution. We asked     31     (second) experts to give their views.

Forest Smith is a member of Green First, an environmental group:

“Our future on Earth looks     32     (terribly). We’re filling our country with waste. We can’t breathe the air, and the sea     33     (pollute) too. I visited some relatives in a small village     34     (recent). They grow their own food and cycle everywhere. They’re not rich, but they’re happy and healthy. We have too many possessions. Most of us have more things than we would ever need. It’s such a waste! Another big problem is that we live in big     35     (city) that are crowded with people. It’s time for us to go back to a simple way of life.”

John Green is a scientist at a university:

“Things are not as bad as Forest says. We all have     36     bright future. We don’t need to give up cars,     37     we do need to invent better, cleaner cars that do not pollute the environment. Traffic will still be bad, however, so we need better public transport. We should also recycle more. But some things are     38     (get) better. My sister returned last month after living abroad for five years. She said, ‘    39     (we) city looks different from before—it’s cleaner and greener now.’ ”

Science has made life better in so many ways. A hundred years ago, most people died     40     the age of fifty because life was so hard. We can’t go back to a world like that.

45. 善良、勇敢、勤奋、记忆力超群……你想成为一个什么样的人？假如你是李辉，请写一篇演讲稿，参加学校的英语演讲比赛。

My name is Li Hui. Today, I’d like to talk about what kind of person I want to be. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________