3 . With the widespread use of smartphones, emojis(表情符号)have become a popular medium for expressing emotions and ideas. Researchers now believe these expressive symbols can play a significant role in medicine, increasing the response rate of health surveys(调查).

Scientists say that employing emojis in healthcare communications has several benefits, such as general recognition across diverse populations. So the study authors strongly support the use of emojis to bolster communication between patients and physicians.

“By promoting more effective communication between patients and care providers, as well as between physicians themselves, an emoji-based language system with a common agreement of meanings can be developed,” says Professor Kendrick Davis, who is an associate professor at the UCR School of Medicine. The professor has been working on creating an emoji-based measurement system for the past two years. And he has even conducted a study using emojis to measure health among college students.

Davis further explains that a significant part of medical communication includes surveys, which are often areas of communication breakdown. “Surveys are usually passed to patients in a variety of different stages of their care. But many surveys are explained with language that can introduce an obstacle. This is where emojis, which are friendly and widely used, come into play by replacing survey language that can be hard for some patients to understand,” he says. The authors also point out that while effective communication is important for successful treatment and care, certain health conditions such as brain injury can cause major obstacles. In such cases, emojis could be helpful.

However, Davis also acknowledges the importance of qualitative(定性的)methods. He expresses an interest in partnering researchers whose methodologies are heavily qualitative.

4 . 100-year-old Alfred Larson has been through a lot in his lifetime, but one thing that keeps him going is bluebirds.

When Alfred retired in 1978, he wanted to find a hobby or something to do that would keep him busy and provide him with a sense of purpose. When he read a National Geographic article about crafting wooden nest boxes for bluebirds to help improve their populations, he decided to give it a try. Alfred explained that he started building nest boxes on his ranch (大牧场) using left-over pieces of wood.

More than four decades later, Alfred is still going strong and promoting bluebird conservation efforts. Alfred is now monitoring nearly 350 nest boxes on six different trails (小路) in Southwest Idaho. He said, “I settled on a simple design that was easy to build and easy to monitor. I kept adding more boxes on these trails, and these birds responded.” Alfred’s boxes give bluebirds a lot of help in survival. “Without his work, we can’t see so many bluebirds now,” said Pearman, the author of Mountain Bluebird Trail Monitoring Guide.

To celebrate his achievements, filmmaker Matthew Podolsky worked with Alfred for weeks to create a 30-minute documentary—Bluebird Man. The film explores how everything led him to the work he does today and his efforts in bluebird protection. “I remember the first trip I took to the bluebird trail with Alfred, and I was very surprised by the speed with which he moved from box to box,” said Podolsky. “He was hiking across difficult and uneven terrain (地形). I often struggled to keep up with him. Sometimes we’d check more than 100 boxes and be driving home in the dark.”

The impact he’s had on the populations of bluebirds in North America will continue.

5 . Power of Perseverance (毅力)

There was once a young man named David. Born into a humble family, David had to _________ to make ends meet(维持生计). However, he was determined to rise above his _________ and achieve greatness.

When David was in high school, he faced bullying (欺负) from his schoolmates, which left him feeling _________. But instead of giving way to the negativity, he chose to see the situation as a chance for _________________________. He _________ throughout the tough times and found strength in overcoming his difficulties.

After graduation, David had a dream of becoming a successful businessman. However, he had no money or _________ in the business world. But he refused to give up.

David _________ his first business project with just a few hundred dollars in his pocket. It was a struggle at first, but he struggled on. Slowly but _________ his business began to _________. As time passed, his company __________ into a multi-million-dollar enterprise (企业). His __________ and hard work paid off. David learned that tough conditions are not a __________ but a powerful driving force that can __________ us to achieve great things.

David’s __________ indicates that we all have the __________ to turn our difficulties into opportunities for growth and success.

8 . Gym class was not considered important at the private school I attended from kindergarten to Grade 6 and the words “movement skill development” would have caused brows to wrinkle.

For Grades 7 and 8, I moved into the public school system. It was the early 1980s and we had to wear green gym shorts and white T-shirts with the school crest (校徽) on them. We had to climb ropes. We had to go for long runs in the valley beside the school and excuses were not allowed.

My mum, also somewhat of a “non-sporty mum”, wrote me notes to get me out of this nightmare once a month. And when she didn’t, I sometimes forged my own. One day I arrived for gym class with my note explaining why I could not participate. It was signed by my “mother”. There were at least two classes of Grade 8 girls sitting on the side of the hill when I boldly (冒失地) presented my note. The PE teacher asked me why my mother’s signature looked so messy. What I said next might be the finest example of just how stupid I was when I was 13: “It’s messy because she signed it while she was driving.”

My classmates giggled (咯咯笑) nervously. I thought maybe I had pushed things too far but wasn’t prepared for what happened next at all. The teacher grabbed my ear and dragged me all the way up the millions of stairs, through the miles of hallways, and into the principal’s office. That was where my memories from junior high gym class ended.

The next year I went to the first day of Grade 9 gym with a positive outlook, high hopes, and good intentions. But all I ended up developing was the habit of hiding in the girls ‘bathroom for the duration of the class.

When my counsellor (辅导员) called a meeting between me and the gym teacher later that year, I remember the teacher looking at me and saying, “I wouldn’t know this girl was in my class if I hit her with my car.”

9 . The Silk Road is arguably the most famous lung-distance trade route of the ancient world. This passage connected Europe in the West with China in the East, and allowed the exchange of goods, technology, and ideas between the two civilizations. Although merchants could make huge profit travelling the road, it was not without risk.

The main Silk Road started in Chang’an (known today as Xi’an), the early Han capital. Travelers commencing their journey from this city could take a northern route that would take them across China’s northwestern provinces. After this, they would face the Gobi Desert, arguably the greatest danger of the Silk Road.

The Gobi Desert, the largest desert in Asia, consists-mainly of rocky, hard earth. This feature made it easier for traders to travel across, compared to sandy deserts like the neighboring Taklamakan Desert. Like other deserts, the Gobi Desert is dry and hot, and therefore the biggest challenge travelers faced was obtaining enough water for themselves as well as for their camels.

So, rest stops were created along the route, allowing travelers to rest, cat and drink. These places also promoted the exchange of goods, and even ideas, amongst the travelers who stopped there. Usually, the rest stops were placed within a day’s journey of each other. In this way, travelers could avoid spending too much time in the desert, which would make them targets for robbers, another danger of the Silk Road.

Once through the Gobi Desert, travelers would continue their journey into Iran, Turkey, and finally Europe. Whilst this part of the journey may have been less dangerous, it is not entirely without its perils.

10 . A new study suggests that long periods in space can cause the human heart to shrink (缩小). The study—by a team of American researchers—comes as the U.S. makes plans to build a long-term base on the moon and prepares to send astronauts to Mars.

Part of the study was based on the experiences of the retired astronaut Scott Kelly. The U.S. space agency NASA says that during his career, Kelly spent more time in space than any other American astronaut. One of Kelly’s stays aboard the International Space Station (ISS) lasted 340 days. Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern) in Dallas collected and analyzed the physical data during Kelly’s long stay aboard the ISS. The goal was to learn the effects of weightlessness on heart health and performance. The team found that during Kelly’s stay in space, the left ventricle (心室) of his heart shrank about 0.74 grams per week.

Dr. Benjamin Levine is a professor at UT Southwestern. He was the leader of the research. In a statement, he explained that because of the conditions in space, the heart does not have to work as hard to pump (输送) blood uphill from the feet. Over time, this can cause shrinkage. In an effort to keep their hearts and bodies healthy in space, astronauts are required to perform different kinds of exercises throughout their stay.

Reductions in heart size are also seen in patients who spend long periods in bed because they are lying flat and the heart does not have to work as hard to pump. A second part of the study examined data from a long-distance swimmer who spent nearly a year trying to cross the Pacific Ocean. The swimmer, Benoit Lecomte, was chosen because he swam more than 2,800 kilometers over 159 days. Levine says long-distance swimming has similar effects on weightlessness. The study showed that during Lecomte’s swim, his left heart ventricle shrank about 0.72 grams per week.