【推荐1】

【推荐1】Taihu Tunnel, 10.79 kilometres long and 43.6 metres wide, has been the longest underwater tunnel in China. It stands out as one of the “2022 China’s Top 100 Buildings in the New Era”.

When building Taihu Tunnel, the project team faced many challenges, such as high safety risks and time limit. To deal with them, they made workable plans. They divided the tunnel construction into 19 parts. The construction of each part mainly took four steps.

Step 1 Remove. The team built a cofferdam to remove water from the area, so the workers could go inside and do their work in dry conditions.

Step 2 Clear. The team dug deep into the lake bed, and cleared the soil and stones out in order to make space for the next step.

Step 3 Build. The team built the floor, walls and roof of the tunnel in this step. They used high-quality building materials to waterproof (防水) the tunnel.

Step 4 Backfill. The team put the soil and stones back. Then this part of the tunnel was covered with the lake bed.

The construction of the 19 parts was streamlined. The project team used a new method. The work group of each step moved to the next part and repeated their work after they finished the work in the previous part. Different work groups cooperated well with each other. From part to part, the construction started from the opposite ends, and got connected somewhere in the middle. The construction took about four years to complete, shorter than people had expected.

The drivers’ safety is fully considered in Taihu Tunnel. There are 200,000 LED lights on the ceiling of the tunnel. They show lively pictures of blue sky, starry night and so on. The pictures can help drivers fight tiredness and travel through the tunnel safely. Besides, there are two systems in the tunnel. The police can check the traffic situation through a monitoring (监察) system. If traffic accidents happen, the police can give instructions and warn drivers in the tunnel over an audio (音响) system to prevent further accidents.

The construction of Taihu Tunnel shows great value in engineering and the tunnel brings much convenience to people living nearby.

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【推荐2】   Weather can make a great difference to people’s life. It does have something to do with health, intelligence (智力) and feelings.

In August, it is very hot and wet in the southern part of the United States. People there have heart trouble and other kinds of health problems in this month. In the northeast and the middle west, it is very hot at some time and very cold at other time. People in these states have more heart trouble after the weather changes in February or March.

The weather can also influence (影响) intelligence. For example, in a 1983 report by scientists, the IQs of a group of students were very high when a very strong wind came, but after the strong wind, their IQs were 10% lower. The wind can help people have higher intelligence. Very hot weather, on the other hand, can make it lower. Students in many schools of the United States often get worse on exams in the hot months of the year (July and August):

Weather also has a strong influence on people’s feelings. Winter may be a bad time for thin people. Low air pressure may make people forgetful. People leave more bags on buses and in shops on low-air-pressure days. There is “good weather” for intelligence and health. People feel best at a temperature of about 18℃.

Are you feeling sad, tired, forgetful or unhappy today? It may be the problem of the weather.

【推荐3】Mukbang, a South Korean word, means “eating broadcast”. It is an online broadcast in which a person eats tons of food while talking with the people watching him or her. It began in South Korea around 2014 and has spread all over the world.

Why did mukbang first appear in South Korea? Jeff Yang, an Asian-American cultural critic (批评家), thinks that it is down to “the loneliness of unmarried or uncoupled South Koreans”. He believes that eating on your own can be hard in a country like South Korea where social eating is a tradition with such a long history. However, eating alone is becoming increasingly common. It seems that mukbang gives people the feeling that they are part of something larger.

Alice Stride, a spokeswoman for the Campaign to End Loneliness, says, “It might bring someone great comfort to watch mukbang.” She is worried if younger people prefer to watch people eating rather than eat with friends or family. But for older people, it could be a comfort. “If you can’t go out, if you’re ill, for example, then perhaps that will bring you a great sense of comfort. On the whole, though, we would like more people to have face-to-face communication. It’s something that won’t change.”

“I would always encourage people to do whatever makes them feel better as long as it is a healthy habit,” says Ben Edwards, a relationship expert, “I don’t think mukbang is a healthy way to have a meal. But if people feel like watching others eat, and it gives them some kind of satisfaction, I see no harm.”

【推荐2】Do you like drinking coffee in the KFC? Now here is good news for you. You can eat the coffee cup after drinking.

In KFC, people like fried chicken best. But in some years, people will like different things. Now KFC is working to make and edible coffee cup. We find this kind of coffee cups are cookies and they look like cups. They are from white chocolate. You can eat it too. The food scientists（科学家）from the USA make this kind of cups. They look nice, smell delicious and taste great. Some people say, “These cookie cups have different smells. The smells bring people pictures of nice things like nice stars, relaxing music and delicious food for sure, this kind of cups tastes good and they are good for the environment （环境）, too.” They may come to China some day next year.

【推荐3】Are you shy? If you are, you are not alone. In fact, close to 50 percent of people are shy. Almost 80 percent of people feel shy at some point in their lives. These days, shyness is becoming more and more common. Now, scientists are trying to understand shyness. They have some interesting ideas about why people are shy.

Is it possible to be born shy? Many scientists say yes. They say 15 to 20 percent of babies behave shyly. These babies are a little quieter and more watchful than other babies. Interestingly, these shy babies usually have shy parents. As a result, scientists think that some shyness is genetic.

Family size might cause people to be shy as well. Scientists at Harvard University studied shy children. They found that 66 percent of them had older brothers and sisters. As a result, they became shy. At the same time, children with no brothers and sisters may be shy as well. Growing up alone, they often play by themselves. They are not able to learn the same social skills as children from big families.

You may also be shy because of where you were born. When scientists studied shyness in different countries. They found surprising differences. In Japan, most people said they were shy. But in Israel, only one of three people said so. What explains the difference? One scientist says the Japanese and Israelis have different opinions of failure. In Japan, when people do not succeed, they feel bad about themselves. They blame (责备) themselves for their failure. In Israel, the opposite is true. Israelis often blame failure on outside reasons, such as family, teachers, friends, or bad luck. In Israel, freedom of opinion and risk taking are strongly supported. This may be why Israelis worry less about failure and are less shy.

For shy people, it can be difficult to make friends, speak in class, and even get a good job. But scientists say you can get over your shyness. They suggest trying new things and practicing conversation. And don’t forget — if you are shy, you are not the only one.

【推荐1】When you love chocolate you may also eat a lot of it. But wait just a minute. Isn't that bad for our health?

There are different ways to look at chocolate and health. Some people think that chocolate gives people pimples（痘痘）and bad teeth, has very little nutrition（营养）and makes people fat. But some scientists say that eating chocolate makes people feel happy and excited. They say if we don't eat too much, chocolate is OK.

US researchers（研究人员）also said that dark chocolate is good for the heart. They say something in it can make the heart's arteries（动脉）get bigger and help blood move through your body better.

If people eat too much at once , their teeth will get bad. The sugar in chocolate can be bad for the teeth, but the cocoa butter（可可油）can be good for them.

Chocolate also has a lot of fat in it. The fat gives us too much cholesterol（胆固醇）,and that can be bad for the heart. So it is best to just eat a little at a time.

Dark chocolate is better for the heart than milk chocolate. Also, dark chocolate has less fat. But with over 300 chemicals（化学物质）in chocolate, there is still a lot we don't know.

So feel free to enjoy a chocolate bar, but take it easy. Save the other one for later!

【推荐2】No one wants to be in a life-or-death situation. However, if you are in a dangerous situation, what will you do, fight or flight?

When 13-year-old Joe Rowlands and his dad were in a kayak（皮艇） accident, the brave teenager chose to fight. He not only fought for his own life, but also saved his father's.

On that day, Joe and his father Paul were out on their kayak off the coast of Anglesey in the UK. Suddenly they noticed that the kayak was starting to fill with water. Then they found out there was a hole in the floor of the boat. Without another choice, Paul turned the boat over. He asked Joe to climb on top so that he could push the boat to a nearby island.

However, the rough （汹涌的）waves made it too hard for Paul to push the boat to land. They had to swim without the boat. Luckily, Joe made his way to the island safely. But when he looked back, he found his dad was no longer swimming. Risking his life, Joe jumped back into the cold water and managed to drag（拽） his dad up onto some rocks. Then Joe did CPR（心肺复苏） on his dad until he came around.

“I know I can never pay him back for saving my life and I'm very proud of him. He acted with courage beyond his years, "Paul said of his son.

【推荐3】Gift-giving, table manners: what’s acceptable at home doesn’t necessarily apply in other countries. Here are 8 distinctive customs to use as your passport to new experiences and friendships.