1 . Sometimes we fail to give enough attention to the heroes closest to us. That was the case with my family. My family knew my father had been a WWII soldier. But because he didn’t discuss his experience, we didn’t dig too deeply.

We lost him this past Christmas and when sorting out (整理) his things at home, we discovered what a truly great hero he was. He was once in college and majored in engineering. At the beginning of the war, he was drafted into the army, responding to the call. Just a few years later, he honorably left the army and returned home. He had also been awarded the Purple Heart Medal, the Silver Star Medal and the Bronze Star Medal.

How I wish we had taken the time to learn more about his stories in the war! He would have answered questions if we had done a little research and known what to ask. Fortunately, there was one family member who took time to do just that. This cousin was interested in WWII. And he researched the areas where my father served. We now know a small part of my father’s story from this cousin. We learned that the Silver Star Medal was awarded to my father because he carried a wounded soldier to safety through a minefield (布雷区). And he was once in several well-known fights.

This year, Memorial Day has a deeper meaning for my family because we have known more about my father’s service in the army. Many activities were held by my family in memory of my father. We’re also grateful to that cousin who took the time to find out more.

I hope you can do the same while your heroes are still with you. Find out as much as you can. Even if they don’t like to talk about their experiences and sacrifices (牺牲), chances are that they’ll answer direct questions if you do a little digging. You’ll be richly rewarded with a family story for generations to come.

2 . Soda bottles and sour cream containers—these plastics (and many others) typically arrive at recycling plants mixed together in the same bin. But because they are made of different molecular (分子的) building blocks, called monomers, they must be sorted into different streams before they can be melted to make new products. Otherwise, their various monomers tend to separate from one another like oil and water.

“Until about a year ago, everybody thought the only thing you could do is take a plastic, break it down to a monomer and then reform it,” says Sanat Kumar, a chemical engineer at Columbia University. “Now we’ve come up with a different way of doing it.” His team has developed a process that allows different kinds of plastic to be recycled together. Their findings, reported recently in Nature, could give new life to many items that end up in landfills.

The new process solves the problem by adding chemicals called universal dynamic cross-linkers to the mix. Just as soap brings together oil and water, these cross-linkers form covalent (共价的) molecular bonds that tie the diverse monomers together. This process creates materials that can keep certain useful properties of each plastic, such as keeping oxygen from passing through. These materials can then be melted and remade again and again because the cross-linkers can break and re-form their bonds.

The researchers hope the technique could eventually help repurpose more plastic waste, and Kumar says the process consumes less energy than breaking plastics down into their original monomers—but it’s not yet cheap enough to be widely used at existing recycling facilities. Still, showing that it works could lead to profitable markets for less expensive recycled plastics, which Kumar says would be one way to help recyclers eventually address the plastic waste crisis. “The plastics problem is huge,” he says, “and you’re going to have to look for multiple solutions.”

8 . Some people worry that there’s too much technology in our lives.And they may have a point, given how countless people now carry the internet around in their pocket and use it as a primary form of communication. It’s practically difficult to shun technology in our world. There are computer microchips(微芯片) in our watches, our cars, light switches, even our pets! Where will it end?

Well, if certain people have their way, it’ ll go even further. We’ll have microchips implanted(植入) into our brains that can interact with the computers by thought alone. It may sound like something from the science fiction, but in many ways, things look quite promising. Thanks to the ability to send and receive information remotely via computers microchips and other related devices have long been put into brains.

For example, electrodes have been implanted in the brains of epilepsy patients to better record and even predict the abnormal neurological activity. Similarly, deep-brain stimulation, through implanted devices that cause activity in key brain regions, is an established treatment for things like Parkinson’s disease, and is even being looked into for illnesses like depression.

However,it’s another thing to place such devices in healthy individuals. There are the practical concerns,not least of which is what these chips will be made of. The inside of the brain is a mass of highly reactive chemicals and electrical activity. Implants would need to be inert(静止的) enough to not upset the delicate processes by their presence, but also sensitive enough to read and process the activity around them.Current technology has made impressive progress with this, but if it were to be rolled out to millions of people, we’d need to be 100 per cent certain that it’s safe.

How many people will actually want to have technology literally put into their brain? A surprising 60 per cent of Americans say they’d be okay with it, but that’s when it’s purely theoretical. In reality, the possibility of having strangers stick chips in your brain is likely to prove unattractive, especially for a population where millions get mad at fictional microchips in vaccines(疫苗), and even more are frightened of dentists.

Ultimately, the technology of computer-brain interface(接口) implants is still far away from us.

9 . Sam Shepler was not surprised the first time he was asked to make a video resume (简历) in 2021. The 32-year-old had noticed the trend growing in the previous year, and was applying for a video-editing role. The role did not require any public speaking, and Shepler had no experience talking about himself on camera. Even though he got the job, the process felt more burdensome than usual. “I honestly prefer the old-fashioned resume and interview, ” he says.

A recent survey showed that 79% of hiring managers thought that video resumes had become “more important” than before for vetting (审查) candidates, and 61% of job seekers thought “ a recorded video could be the next version of the traditional cover letter”. As remote work has made video an increasingly common part of life at work, are video resumes the future—whether candidates want them to be or not?

Chloe Chioy, 22, believes a video resume was crucial in helping her secure her first job after university. “It was a decision on my part to submit a video resume,” says the Taipei-based digital marketing coordinator, who works remotely for a UK-based company. The job advertisement only stated that a resume was required. “Being a fresh graduate, I knew experience was my major disadvantage. I think showing my personality and attitude in the video helped my application.” She also made sure to emphasise skills relevant to the role, including screenshots of articles she had written, clips (片段) of her public speaking, and showing off her video-editing abilities.

Chioy’s approach made use of some of the distinct benefits of video resumes, says recruitment (招聘) specialist Jan Tegze. This can be particularly helpful for applicants with little experience applying in competitive fields who need an extra edge to secure a role. He also mentions that he cannot see the video resume replacing its written counterpart (相对物) any time soon. “Recruitment really hasn’t changed for decades. We are using different tools that are a little bit faster, but it’s still about human interaction,” he says.

10 . On June 18, 2018, Tim, who lost his hearing and sight, was aboard (在飞机上) a flight from Boston to Los Angeles. He needed ______ with a cup of drinking water, but couldn’t ______ his needs through sign language for a long time.

Even worse, nobody could ______ his hand gestures (手势), and even if they tried to relay something by sign language, Tim’s ______ impairment (障碍) made it challenging.

Several flight attendants gathered around Tim, ______ to help. After none of their efforts succeeded, one of them ______ aboard if anybody knew American Sign Language.

Clara Daly, 15, and her mother, were on the ______ flight. Clara heard it loud and clear and ______ the call button. She’d learned American Sign Language a year ago to deal with her reading disability and ______ took action.

Everyone around watched the girl in ______ as she approached Tim and knelt (跪) in front of his seat. She held both his hands and used fingerspelling to ______ him by signing each letter of every word.

In no time, the two became friends instantly. They chatted just like ______ people and shared their backgrounds and interests.

Tim and Clara’s chance ______ made the headline (成为重要新闻). Tim shared his ______ on the experience through an interpreter. He said, “I was in a bad ______ before Clara helped and she was very sweet. She had very clear communication, and we had a nice conversation. Best trip I’ve ever had.”