1 . I knocked lightly on Mrs. B’s door. “I’m Barbara, a hospice (临终安养院) volunteer.” I said nervously. It was my first week on the job, and my biggest ________ was figuring out how to begin with a patient.

“Please, sit down,” Mrs. B said, indicating the chair beside her bed. We chatted ________ about the framed ________ on her windowsill—her two daughters, many grandchildren, even great-grandchildren. Then she grew ________.

“What were you thinking about when I walked in?” I asked, sensing she might be waiting to see if I would ________ her to the truest place where this conversation could go.

“I know I’m not going to be around much ________. I’m at peace with that. But my grandson called yesterday. He’s ________ that he can’t make it to see me before I pass.”

“Have you thought about writing him a(n) ________?”

Mrs. B seemed to ________ a little. “I can dictate (口述) if you’d write for me,” she said.

I walked down the hall and ________ pens and paper materials. Mrs. B ________ her grandson’s letter and decided to dictate others — for her daughters, the other grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Then she ________ her church community and her bridge club too.

She asked me to put away the letters before I left. “I asked God to send me a(n) ________ this morning,” she said. “Now I know it was you.”

At that very moment I came to realize that we all ________ a loving spark. Kissing Mrs. B on her forehead, I knew simply showing up might be a precious ________.

2 . China is one of the world’s ancient civilizations and has the earliest outstanding bronze casting (青铜冶铸) technology. Here we’ve created a list of 4 museums where you can gain an in-depth understanding of Chinese bronze.

For more information, click here.

3 . When I was a college student, I did a lot of traveling abroad. That was because a professor _________ me to do so. She said, “Now is the time for you to travel around the world, _________ your knowledge through actual experiences and have fun!” I _________ her.

Since I started to work for a food company, _________, I have done most of my traveling through the Internet. By using the Internet, I have seen the _________ of many cities on my computer screen. And I have really made business _________, too. With the help of the Internet, I have also got _________ about food from different countries.

Therefore, I was beginning to feel that actual trips were _________ necessary when I happened to read a famous chef’s comment on the Internet. He said, “It is very difficult to have real Italian food in a foreign country, because we enjoy food and the _________ around us at the same time.” Those words __________ me of my professor’s advice. With information technology advancing, you might be able to do without making some real trips. But this also means that you will miss the various __________ you can get from traveling.

Today, people __________ direct communication with others and spend much of their time on the Internet. I do not think that they are taking good advantage of information technology. We should use information technology as a tool to make our daily communication more __________. Besides, we should never let it __________ our time for face-to-face communication. Let’s make use of information technology more __________ and have great fun in experiencing the actual world.

4 . I had just finished my dance class, and it was a disaster: I started on the wrong foot and couldn’t get the steps that other students seemed to do easily. I began to _________ my talent for ballet.

Just then, my big sister Julissa arrived. She took one _________ at me and asked, “What’s wrong, Lakeisha?”

“Nothing,” I said _________.

“Uh huh,” Julissa replied. “Looks like a (n) _________ ‘nothing’ to me, so tell me what happened.”   

“Well,” I mumbled (咕哝) , “maybe I shouldn’t be taking _________ classes? It felt like I was the only one who couldn’t land her pirouettes (单脚尖旋转) today.”

“Listen,” she said, “not every day is a (n) _________ one, and not everything you try is going to _________ the way you want. The point is to keep _________. Remember that and you’ll be fine.”

“I tried my best, but …” I replied.

Looking at me seriously, Julissa said, “Maybe ballet is not your _________ yet, but dance is. I see how you shake and move all the time. There are all kinds of __________ to dance, so maybe you just need to __________ your own style. Why not stick to jazz dance? You are so good at it.”

I thought about her __________ and my performances carefully. Yes, why had I never __________ that? I wanted to be a ballet dancer, but it may not be a good __________ for me. It seemed as if I suddenly saw the light. “You’re right,” I replied. “Thank you. I’m so __________ to have you to guide me!”

5 . The latest data shows the population of wild Asin elephants in southwest China’s Yunnan Province has increased from around 150 to more than 300 from the 1980s to the end of 2021, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

With the growth in the elephant population, conflicts between humans and elephants have become frequent. In order to fundamentally and peacefully solve the issue and protect the elephant’s habitat at the same time, construction of the Asian elephant National Park is picking up speed. Experts suggest that national parks are not intended to be entirely free of people. Instead, they should offer a method for coexistence.

Asian elephants play an important role as engineers of the rainforest, said the expert. Their migration (迁徙) can speed up the replacement of forest ecosystems along the way. Elephant waste remains not only food for insects, but also attracts insectivorous birds, allowing plant seeds to spread. Therefore, protecting the elephants and their habitats guarantees the shelter to other wildlife in forest ecosystems.

To cope with human-elephant conflicts, Yunnan took the lead in introducing a commercial insurance model into its compensation (补偿) system: local residents will be paid with the amount of money for the crops destroyed by the elephants by the insurance company. In the past 10 years, Yunnan has paid a total of 173 million yuan for losses caused by Asian elephants.

“The standard of compensation is constantly being adjusted, and the amount of insurance coverage for compensation is also increasing,” said Yang Hua from the Forestry and Grass Bureau of Yunnan Province. “At present, the insured amount in Pu’er City and Xishuangbanna Prefecture alone has already gone beyond 50 million.”

9 . Liverpool, my hometown, is a unique city. It is so unique that in 2004 it became a World Heritage Site.

I recently returned to my home city and my first stop was at a museum on the River Mersey. Blanketed in mist, Victorian architecture rose from the banks of the river, responded to the sounds of seabirds, and appeared unbelievably charming. When I headed toward the centre, I found myself surrounded by buildings that mirror the best palaces of Europe. It is not hard to imagine why, on first seeing the city, most visitors would be overpowered by the beauty of the noble buildings, which are solid sigs of Liverpool’s history.

As if to stress its cultural role, Liverpool has more museums and galleries than most cities in Britain. At Walker Art Gallery, I was told that it has the best collections of Victorian paintings in the world, and is the home of modern art in the north of England. However, culture is more than galleries. Liverpool offers many music events. As Britain’s No. 1 music city, it has the biggest city music festival in Europe, and its musicians are famous all over the world. Liverpool is also well-known for its football and other sports events. Every year, the Mersey River Festival attracts thousands of visitors, making the city a place of wonder.

As you would expect from such a city, there are restaurants serving food from around the world. When my trip was about to complete, I chose to rest my legs in Liverpool’s famous Philharmonic pub. It is a monument to perfection, and a heritage attraction itself.

Being a World Heritage Site, my home city is certainly a place of “outstanding universal value”. It is a treasure house with plenty of secrets for the world to explore.

10 . Digital mindfulness is the application of mindfulness practices in your digital life. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medicine School, mindfulness is “a means of paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”. Here two main key points are stressed when it comes to mindfulness as a practice in your digital life.

The first point is that you must learn to do things on purpose. For example, you use your phone as a habitual escape from boredom or stress, which is thought by many as a quick solution to all those negative feelings. But what if you get only negative responses from your phone-the news or posts are negative? Instead of finding peace, you find more boredom and more stress. The solution that mindfulness provides is purposeful and intentional choice. Therefore, you are empowered to choose how to respond to the stimulus (刺激) behind such feelings as boredom, loneliness, and stress and not just treat the symptoms (症状).

The other key is going through the experience non-judgmentally. When you feel sad or angry because of a post on social media, all you ever do is to go through the experience and let it flow. At its heart, mindfulness involves the acceptance of your memories, feelings, and thoughts minus any judgment on yourself or others because of those things. These feelings, memories, and experiences come and go. After they have passed, you are still you and in control. You will become more aware of your inner world. It's this internal monologue (独白) that pushes you to grab your digital technology (phone, Alexa speaker, TV, etc.).

Digital mindfulness is not about avoiding the negative things in life. Through mindfulness practice, you regain the power to learn from these experiences and healthily deal with the negative. Mindfulness will also teach you to be aware of all your emotions, so you learn to deal with the things that you used to avoid. Finally, digital mindfulness brings you peace of mind in an ever-changing and increasingly connected world.

Now, I would rather prefer to think of it as one of many tools that we can use in our daily life.