1 . Eli walked to school every day, a familiar routine that never failed to bring him a sense of peace. The school day ________ with the bell, and Eli would walk home, his ________ often included a shortcut through a vacant (空着的) lot where beautiful flowers and trees were growing wild.

One particular day, Eli’s eyes were caught by a ________ of blue in the old maple tree on the vacant lot. A blue bird had flown into the tree, ________ loudly as it landed on a low branch. Eli watched as the bird flew up to higher branches and ________ into the distance.

With the bird gone, Eli noticed something ________. The branch where the bird had been sitting wasn’t empty. There was a bright red ________ hanging from it, swaying gently in the breeze (微风). ________, Eli walked towards the tree for a closer look. It was a flat balloon. Eli ________ that balloons were a form of ________ and wondered what if a bird tried to ________ it. He reached out to grab the balloon, ________ to throw it away.

But as he picked up the balloon, Eli noticed a ________ attached to it, which read “these beautiful trees are the home of some special birds. Let’s do our bit to ________ them”. Having seen this, Eli ________ put back the balloon and walked at a brisk pace towards his home.

2 . Politicians, business bosses, and other types of leaders indeed tend to like speaking with their hands, but does the habit influence how others interpret those words? To get to the bottom of it, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics conducted a series of experiments on volunteers who viewed videos of people speaking with and without hand movements.

After showing the volunteers videos of people speaking under different conditions, the researchers asked them questions about what they had heard. Some conditions involved the speaker stressing different parts of words in a sentence. Other conditions involved the speaker making various types of hand gestures, such as pointing and sweeping movements. The team recorded the volunteers as they viewed the video recordings, questioning the volunteers afterward about what they had seen and heard.

Researchers found that the volunteers were more affected by syllables (音节) spoken with the conjunction of hand gestures: In 20 percent of the cases, the viewers were more likely to have heard and interpreted the word spoken with a hand gesture. Interestingly, however, volunteers were 40 percent more likely to hear the wrong sound when a mismatch between the word spoken and the hand gesture occurred.

Body language expert Carol Goman said, “Studies have found that speaking with your hands really can change the view of your character. People who communicate through active gesturing tend to be considered warm, agreeable, and energetic, while those who remain still are seen as logical, cold, and analytic. In fact, a 2015 study that studied TED Talks, which posts international talks online, found that the most popular speakers used nearly twice as many gestures as the least popular speakers used.”

The research team said that their findings suggest that hand gestures are an important part of in-person communication that have a direct impact on what the listener hears. Furthermore, they suggest that our responses to hand gestures may be something we learn as we grow up.

3 . The American robin (知更鸟) is the state bird for Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin because it is a very common, easily seen and handsome bird with a beautiful song. But it is now facing extinction due to the hidden dangers involved in the use of insecticides, a chemical used for killing insects.

Insecticides is usually sprayed on lawns to kill the grass disease. The chemicals used in the US break down into non-poisonous molecules (分子) far faster than DDT did, but most are still highly poisonous to robins for the time that they work on insects. Adult robins hopping on a freshly-sprayed lawn get their feathers coated, and then if they hatch their eggs or babies, the poison can be taken in, to kill the babies.

Elm trees in the United States, like those in Europe, are being attacked by Dutch elm disease. This disease is spread by the elm bark beetle. American scientists have attacked the disease by attacking the carrier. They have treated the trees with a chemical which kills the beetles. But the substance they use sticks to the leaves of the trees. These leaves are a basic food of a certain type of earthworm (蚯蚓) which is itself not attacked by the insecticide. The worms can store up huge quantities of this poison in their bodies. The robin eats these worms and is thus being poisoned by its normal food. The bird is already in danger of dying out in some areas.

It is sometimes difficult to foresee side effects like these, which is why many people object to the use of chemical sprays. They fear that man may be poisoning himself the same way as he has poisoned the American robin and other higher organisms at the top of the food chains.

4 . At every wedding I attended this past year, the event space has been decorated with family portraits-black-and-white photos of grandparents, parents in 1970s hairstyles and family heirlooms (传家宝) passed down from generations.

As a child, I used to cry when looking at those reminders. When my husband suggested making a slideshow of our family photos for our wedding, I realized we barely had any. It was at that time that I understood just why these kinds of items inspired so many complicated feelings.

My grandparents immigrated from Poland to Cuba in the 1930s. During the Cuban Revolution, their business and home were shut down. The family came to the United States in 1968, leaving everything but a few pieces of clothing behind. My grandparents and mother responded to the pain they had experienced by holding on to things.

Today, when my mother comes to visit, she still brings bags full of useful items even if we have plenty of food. A full cupboard, a house stocked with usable objects, is the ultimate expression of love.

Like many who are privileged (幸运) enough not to have to worry about having basic things, I tended to admire the opposite — the empty spaces of yoga studios, the delightful feeling of sorting through a pile of stuff that I could abandon.

Now that my brother and I have come of age, my parents have both expressed a desire to downsize our possessions. I went through the things that mattered most to me: the books I loved as a child; the CDs made by friends; the college textbooks I never remembered to return. They say that we can appreciate the objects we used to love deeply just by saying goodbye to them. But I didn’t want to give any of them up because they filled with memories of a person I once was, and a person that part of me always will be.

5 . Our Summer Internship (实习) Program at the National Gallery is intended to provide a deep dive into the world of art. Our program is open to all who have a passion for art and culture. Your internship experience is more than just an addition to your resume — it’s a summer that’ll shape your future in the arts.

Highlights of Our Program

• Your summer with us is tailored to fit you. We’ll find the project that matches your interests and challenges you to learn and grow.

• As an intern, you’re paired with experienced professionals who provide guidance to enrich your learning journey and sense of belonging. Besides, you’ll become part of an intern community where you can share experiences, and grow collectively.

• We believe in making our internships accessible. We offer paid opportunities to. eliminate financial barriers, ensuring that talent and enthusiasm are the keys to joining our program.

Program Details:

• Duration: From June 10 to August 9, 2024. Full commitment to the nine-week period is essential.

• Hybrid Work Model: You’ll follow a hybrid schedule combining on-site and remote work. Expect to work on-site at the National Gallery three days a week, with the possibility of more depending on project requirements.

Important Notes:

• Applications must be submitted online by February 29, 2024.

• All application materials are accepted only through our online portal. Direct email or postal submissions are not accepted.

• If you’re shortlisted, you’ll be contacted for a virtual interview. Final decisions will be made by late March/early April.

Seeking answers to more specific questions, please click here to visit our comprehensive FAQ page for more information.

6 . You might want to think twice before going to the movies on date night. A new study reveals why.

The UK-based Betway Casino conducted a scientific experiment to determine how much bacteria can be found at movie theaters. Betway swabbed (擦拭) five seats and five cup-holders in five theaters across the United Kingdom and sent these off for testing at a microbiology laboratory. Betway also swabbed and tested three toilet seats for comparison. The average number of bacteria colonies for movie theater seats, cup holders, and toilet seats was then calculated.

The research indicates a shocking presence of 1,864 bacteria colonies on an average movie theater seat, dwarfing (使渺小) the 135 colonies typically found on toilet seats by 14 times. This suggests that the nearly 7.3 billion tickets expected to be sold in movie theaters worldwide in 2024 could contribute to an environment ripe for bacteria growth. Meanwhile, the variation in cleanliness among different theaters and seat materials was noted, with the dirtiest seat harboring up to 3,000 colonies and the cleanest at just 80. Perhaps more shocking is the discovery that cinema cup holders contain an average of 2,396 bacteria colonies. This figure represents 18 times more bacteria than found on a standard toilet seat.

Betway offers practical advice to ensure movie enthusiasts can continue enjoying their outings without taking home unwanted microbial (微生物的) gifts kept as reminders of the outings. Recommendations include washing hands immediately after returning home, and changing clothes to avoid spreading bacteria to furniture. While the cinematic world offers a gateway to unique storytelling and entertainment, it also exposes moviegoers to a hidden microbial universe. By adopting simple practices, moviegoers can minimize their risk and focus on the magic of the movies, free from concern over the bacteria sharing their seats.

10 . What we believe we can become is often shaped by the world we see around us. This is especially true for young children who _______ becoming everything from astronauts to future world leaders. And it’s one of the reasons why representation matters so much. For Asian American _______ and Ph. D. candidate Elaine Shen, she had never _______ herself to be an inspiration for future generations. That is until she received a(n) _______ email from a third-grader in Minnesota who wanted to interview her for a class _______ .

“I’m working on my big year-end project,” the heartwarming message _______ , “I love biology. I did some online research and found your website. I would like to ask if I could _______ you. ”

Needless to say, Shen was immediately _______ by the email—so much so that she shared a screenshot of the child’s inspiring message on Twitter. The post _______ became popular, gaining more than 270, 000 likes and 1, 500 ________ since she first shared it.

Many commenters were just as moved by the email as Shen was. “It’s pretty amazing to witness that children are ________ to achieve as much as you have done.” said one Twitter user. Other readers were ________ of their own experiences with young children growing up. “Representation matters, and it is ________ the third-grader found his role model.”

Now that the story has touched thousands, Shen has a renewed motivation to ________ her Ph. D. and continue creating an environment of ________ for students within her field.