2 . Working at a hotel, I had the pleasure of welcoming a family of five one Friday. As they entered, the youngest child greeted me with a cheerful “hi”. I always _______ well-behaved children like them, as they bring a special joy to the place. _______ around young ones in my own family, I have a talent for understanding their _______, making interactions with them enjoyable. I always like hearing about their plans for the weekend, and our hotel _______ us to engage with young guests.

During the check-in process with the parents, the youngest child _______ announced, “It’s my birthday tomorrow!” I asked how old she would be. “Nine!” she _______ with a big smile. I was impressed by her excitement.

The mother _______ they were in the area for university applications for their eldest child, but didn’t talk about any plans for the little one. As they went up to their room, I felt it necessary to do something for the birthday girl. Though we couldn’t _______ anything extravagant(奢侈的), I decided to give her a children’s book and a handwritten “Happy Birthday” _______ .

I delivered the ________ to the family’s room and later, when they returned, the mother expressed how ________ the birthday girl was with the presents. She mentioned they would read the book together, which ________ my heart.

After my shift ended, I didn’t work until Monday. Upon my return, I found a(n) ________ thank you letter and drawings from the girl directed to me. The gesture nearly brought tears of ________ to my eyes, knowing that a ________ act of kindness had made a difference in their stay.

6 . Fill your free time with these options on offer in New York City this month.

Pop & Rock

Dec. 1 at Webster Hall, Manhattan

On tour in support of her new release of Softscars, the singer and producer Nat Cmiel will play at Webster Hall on Sunday. A frequent subject of her songs is the solution to the tensions between digital and physical existence. Tickets are $25.

Family Concert

Dec. 10 at the Scheuer Auditorium, Manhattan

Joanie Leeds is adding her voice to those calling for children’s books in libraries and children’s classrooms. With a guitar and other musicians, she’ll celebrate the release of her new work, starting at 10: 30 a. m., in an hour-long concert intended to make young listeners first grow up and later sit down and read. Tickets to the concert are required to be reserved online, starting at $14. Children are admitted free.

Jazz

Dec. 20 at the Village Vanguard, Manhattan

Bold and carefree, Johnathan Blake has come to represent certain of present jazz. This week’s Vanguard stand features his My Life Matters, calling for people to let one another live and grow. Watching the performance of the band will have a lasting impression on you. Tickets are $40.

Sketch Comedy

Dec.22 at the Peoples Improv Theater, Manhattan

The Peoples Improv Theater is welcoming comedy troupes (剧团) across the country for a celebration and discussion of sketch comedy, with Birch & Caven as the opening show. Tickets start at $ 15 per show. Four-day passes are $79, and one-day passes are $30. Tickets are to be bought at the ticket office in person.

7 . “I’m sorry, but visiting hours are over,” The nurse said _________. My husband Eric had just got out of surgery. I wanted to stay with him, but the hospital’s visiting policies allowed no _________.

The nurse handed me a piece of paper. “That’s my cell number. You can _________ me tonight if you’re worried or just want a（n）_________.” I knew Eric would be _________ OK, but I couldn’t be with him when he needed me, which still _________ my heart.

I _________ Eric’s nurse once I settled in my room in a hotel. She texted back, saying he was still feeling sick. I sighed, feeling the _________ rush in. Then I turned on the TV to distract myself, which didn’t _________. Around midnight, Eric’s nurse texted me. “He’s fine now and just fell asleep. You should get some __________ now, too.”

When I had checked into the hotel, the clerk said, “We have a cabinet full of books and games in the corner. We’ll feel __________ if you use anything there during your stay.”

I made it to the hall to __________ a book. I was looking through the titles when I heard a sound behind me. It was an elderly woman, who __________ herself as Shirley, adding that she had been there to accompany her husband in hospital. During our talk, her __________ attitude made me feel much better.

The next morning, when __________, I felt much better at that time than when I came into the hotel yesterday.

8 . Long-term exposure to low-frequency noise can cause many health problems, but the solution may be found in an unexpected object, a ping-pong ball. Conventionally thought of as the plastic balls that speed through the air during a fast-speed game of table tennis, with a few changes, ping-pong balls can help absorb the city noise.

Low-frequency noise is everywhere in cities, near roads, and by airports. Though potentially heard as background in the acoustic (声学的) landscape, it can lead to earaches, breathing problems and other long-term harmful effects. Because it is produced by a range of sources and is less affected by structures than higher-frequency sound, low-frequency noise can be challenging to avoid.

In Journal of Applied Physics, researchers from the University of Lille and the National Technical University of Athens describe an acoustic metasurface (超表面) that uses ping-pong balls to prevent sound passing through.

“Ping-pong balls are well-known, everyday objects, present in large numbers all over the world,” said author Robine Sabat. “Our motivation was to use these easily accessible objects to create a low-frequency soundproof panel structure. Ping-pong balls therefore present a suitable alternative to sound insulators.”

Acoustic metasurfaces are materials specially engineered to handle sound waves. This metasurface uses ping-pong balls with small holes, acting as Helmholtz resonators (共振器). More resonant frequencies meant the device was able to absorb more sound. At the success of two coupled resonators, the researchers added more, until their device looked like a square sheet of ping-pong balls covered with holes, multiplying the number of resonant frequencies that could be absorbed.

By adjusting the number of balls, number of holes, and hole sizes, the researchers could change the metasurface’s acoustic properties, proving it is possible to design a sound absorption panel without expensive materials.

“The potential of this metasurface extends beyond sound absorption,” said Sabat. “It can be broadened to achieve various functions similar to other metasurfaces. These functionalities include sound focusing, unconventional sound reflection and more.”

9 . People in Detroit, Michigan take their sport seriously. Comerica Park, the home of the Tigers, a baseball team, and the Little Caesars Arena, which is home to the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, draw enormous crowds. Far older than both is the Cadieux Café, on the eastern edge of the city. Locals there take part in a game called “feather bowling” most nights.

In the game, developed from Flanders, players roll a wooden wheel along a rough earth lane (路) towards a pigeon feather planted at the other end. The idea is to get your wheel as close as possible—while blocking those of the opposing team or knocking them out of the way.

Everyone in Grosse Pointe in Detroit plays feather bowling. Photos of champions line the wall of the Cadieux Café, which is founded in the 1930s by Belgian immigrants, says John Rutherford, a musician who has co-owned the place since 2019.

Having been preserved for the best part of a century, feather bowling is now spreading. A few other bars in Michigan have set up their own lanes. Having seen a video of people playing feather bowling at the Cadieux Café, Dave Plate decided it was exactly the game to bring to a large space he had rented, and flew to Michigan to learn it. Last year, he opened a bar with the game in a neighborhood in New York City. The lanes are now booked up for weekends in advance. Most of the players are young, and a growing number of parents are bringing their children, too.

Mr. Rutherford welcomes the copycats. The Cadieux Café, he says, could become to feather bowling what St. Andrews in Scotland is to golf: somewhere true fans will always want to play. But he’s critical of what competitors are offering—something like golf court. “For it to be truly feather bowling, you need a real dirt course like ours,” he says. Even worldwide, Detroit may now be a good place to play the game.

10 . Every June, we have a tradition at our house. Our children are given bowls and asked to collect pieces of summer nature. They leave those bowls on the front doorstep and we go for a walk. When we return, we find fairies (仙女) have transformed the bowls’ contents into ice cream.

“When are the fairies coming?” Six-year-old Anna had been asking last June with expectation. Meanwhile, Joshua, nine, was getting wise to fairies and such silly things. As the evening arrived, the children collected leaves, grass and dead insects. We put their bowls on the front doorstep and we were on our walk. After a while, I said that I had forgotten my keys and needed to go back, but then I said I found them. Joshua smiled knowingly, and then was beginning to get a bit confused.

Back near our house, I warned that the fairies might not have arrived—we might need to walk a bit longer. Joshua seemed relieved. “Yes,” he said, “they probably hadn’t come.” Yet when we reached the front door, the bowls were in the same place we had left them—filled with ice cream.

Anna accepted all this with complete innocence. She felt happy, excited and eager to eat. But Joshua was astonished, speechless. He looked up at me, at his dad, then gazed around the neighborhood in amazement. “The fairies must have come,” he whispered as we all sat down to feast. “But was this really magic?”

I kissed Anna and Joshua good night, but at 2:00 a. m., Joshua crawled into bed next to me, whispering, “Mummy, how did you do it?”

I told my nine-year-old boy the truth. I had asked a neighbor to help us. Shortly after we left on our walk, she had slid over to our house and switched the bowls. Joshua smiled in relief and thanked me for telling him. Then he fell asleep. Just at that moment, I believed in magic, too.