2 . Alarming levels of dangerous chemicals known as Perfluorinated Alkylated Substances (PFAS) were discovered in food packaging at a number of well-known fast-food restaurants and grocery store chains, a new report found. The report comes more than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, when the public has relied heavily on takeout and grocery deliveries.

Often called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment, PFAS are used in food packaging to prevent grease (油脂) and water from soaking through food wrappers and cups. PFAS can also be found in the ink used to print logos and instructions on food containers.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls exposure to PFAS a “public health concern”, citing that the human-made chemicals can harm the immune system and reduce a person’s resistance to infectious diseases.

Regulatory limits for how much PFAS food packaging should contain can vary greatly. For instance, a new law in California set the limit at less than 100 ppm. “Compared to America, Denmark sets a much lower regulatory limit of 20 ppm with great success,” said Xenia Trier, an expert at the European Environment Agency. “It does work to set limits and enforce them. PFAS do migrate from the paper into the food. Even though it was not 100%, we still saw considerable transmission. In general, transmission from packaging to food is increased as the temperature of the food rises. It is the same with the time spent in wrapping materials.” Trier told NBS, one of the major American mass-media companies.

In response to the issue, Whole Foods became the first grocery chain to publicly commit to remove PFAS from takeout containers and bakery paper. Many other companies followed suit. Experts say people who want to avoid PFAS in their takeout and food delivery packaging should favor companies that have promised to remove the chemicals. “As soon as you receive your takeout, you’d better take food out of the container immediately, and never reheat food in its original container. Instead, remove your food and heat it in ceramic (陶瓷的) or glass containers.” Trier said.

3 . AirTag, a small Bluetooth-and-GPS-enabled device, was released by Apple in April 2021. This small device aimed at making our lives easier was originally designed to end the trouble of losing keys, wallets or other little objects. However, it may become the “perfect” tracking tool if in the wrong hands. My ex-husband was an early adopter of the AirTag. He and I had a falling out, leading to a divorce battle. In order to win custody battle, he used the little device to track me.

As a tech giant, the Apple company brought great convenience to the users, including me. I had never given a thought to tracking via AirTag until it happened to me. So I started scanning stories about AirTag. I was surprised to find that I was not alone. There were so many people tracked by these seemingly innocent electronic tags in their daily life. AirTag which was originally launched for a better life should have such a dark side in the wrong hands.

People have found that the digital device has the potential for abuse. What matters is how to avoid its danger. Apple has released updates to the AirTag’s functionality very quickly since they hit the market. Meanwhile, Apple has also improved its customer service to deal with the bugs of this kind. If you find an unwanted AirTag following you, don’t panic. Just disable it. You can follow the prompts on your Apple device to learn more about disabling the device. Once you’ve completed the above step, the tag’s original owner can’t keep track of you any more.

Almost every digital technology creates security issues. Nobody can go and live in a cave to remain unaffected. While enjoying its convenience, you need to be aware of the risks it poses, and know how to deal with them. Prevention is more effective in security issues than fixes. After all, a stitch in time saves nine.

4 . The idea of humans causing earthquakes may seem strange at first. After all, you can run around your backyard and jump up and down all you want, and the ground isn’t going to start shaking. However, scientists have identified over 700 places where human activity has brought about earthquakes over the last century.

While many human-caused earthquakes are mild and don’t cause much damage, some of them can be serious and dangerous. In fact, scientists believe human activity has caused earthquakes with magnitudes as high as 7.9 on the Richter scale.

Scientists believe most human-caused earthquakes are the result of mining. As companies drill deeper and deeper below Earth’s surface to take out natural resources, holes left behind can cause instability which leads to a sudden falling down that causes earthquakes. Building large dams can also cause earthquakes. For example, about 80,000 people died in China in 2008 as a result of a 7.9-magnitude earthquake caused by 320 million tons of water that had been collected in the Zipingpu Reservoir after a large dam was built over a known fault line(断层线).

Anther human activity leading to earthquakes is hydraulic fracturing (水力压裂) for oil and gas. In this process, water, sand, and chemicals are forced to flow underground under high pressure to fracture rocks to let natural resources out. As those resources, such as oil and natural gas, make their way to the surface, so do the water and chemicals that were injected to begin the process. This wastewater is collected and often transported to deep underground again. Both the fracking process and wastewater have been shown to cause earthquakes.

These aren’t the only human activities that can cause earthquakes, though. Scientists point out that earthquakes can also be caused by other human activities.

5 . It’s uncertain when many offices may reopen, but it’s clear the virtual work revolution that began with the pandemic isn’t going away.

Alexia Cambon,research director at Gartner, says finding the right combination of in-person and virtual work will take creativity and experimentation. Managing director Deborah Lovich stresses that companies should consider that flexibility is not only about location, but also about the hours employees work.

Alexia also points out the importance of finding solutions for a whole team. “What COVID-19 taught us is that flex work cannot be for an individual. It has to be for the team,” she says. “When the whole team is together online versus a whole team together in person,it works.”

Progressive organizations are also reconsidering their workplace culture. “They’re thinking about changing culture and leadership to be much more trust-based, impact-based, instead of input-based,like,I see you,so I think you’re productive,’ compared to, ‘Wow, I see what you’ve accomplished,and I know you’ve been productive,””Lovich says.

Lovich sees remote work as a “win-win” for cmployees who get more flexibility and employers who can hire people from anywhere in the country or even the world. She views it as creating equality in terms of allowing small towns to attract talent and offering more opportunity for women to climb the corporate ladder without having to relocate their families, something that she says often takes a back seat in a dual-career houschold.

Companies that require a return to a fully on-site model could lose one in three employees.Lovich agrees that employers need to be careful. “It’s an employee’s market right now. The world is short of workers,and because of that we should really think about what we need and feel confident and courageous to speak up. And a lot of companies are getting that, and so it’s a real opportunity to either shape the place you work to be the place it needs to be or go someplace else that does,”Lovich says.“For decades,we’ve been contorting(扭曲)our lives to fit around work， and COVID-19 forced work to fit around lives．”

6 . It is nearly dawn, and the yellow moon has just set behind coconut trees. Spots of pink appear in the sky and a glorious red ball of fire slowly rises. Birds have begun to gather in their hundreds in the Changaram wetland in Kerala’s Alappuzha district. George, with binoculars glued to his eyes, is busy recognizing the birds: “Little egrets, garganeys…” He pauses. “But what are those three there? Ah, spot-billed ducks,” he says when he spots the typical band of brilliant jade-green on the wings.

His binoculars are off his eyes now, but his fingers are flying over his phone screen, typing the names of the species he has sighted on eBird, an app where birdwatchers upload real-time information on species. As a citizen scientist, he has been one Bird for three years and takes pride in being the country’s “eighth best eBirder” based on the number of his check-lists.

eBird is just now drawing in ordinary people into the process of ecological (生态学的) science and conservation. Citizen scientists can ask questions, volunteer to collect data, and analyse them. For researchers, citizen scientists are a boon: with their large numbers, they can contribute extensive data over vast geographical areas, something trained scientists could not dream of gathering either individually or in teams.

While it may appear to be a new concept, the public has always participated in ecological science, said a team of American scientists in a 2012 study. Chinese citizens and officials, for instance, tracked locust (蝗虫) a tacks for at least 3,500 years although they did not know their observations would later be used for science.

Today, thanks to smartphones, the Internet and the endless possibilities of apps, citizen science has truly come of age around the world, helping create a vast and valuable collection of data.

7 . Two years ago, I was sitting in my car waiting in a long line for a toll booth (收费站). When I ________ reached the booth, the toll operator told me that the person in front had paid for me and I was ________ to go. I was so ________. I didn’t ________ to save the 5 dollars. I would never know who it was. I was ________ by the traffic and the long line, and that gesture was surprising and unbelievable. It really ________ my heart. I ________ to pay the toll for the next car for life.

The first time I tried to pay forward the toll, I kept ________ my rear view mirror to see who I’d be paying for. In the mirror, I saw a tired looking Uber driver. I felt satisfied that my ________ would be going to a good place. But before we got to the ________, the Uber driver had ________ lanes (车道) and now there was someone else behind me. She looked ________ and was gesturing angrily in a ________ with her friend. I wasn’t thrilled to be paying for a woman like that and was ________ judging her by what I was seeing in the mirror. Anyway I paid the toll for both of us and left.

Thirty seconds later I was surprised to ________ a honk (汽笛声). It was the woman and her friend ________ at me from the next lane! She looked bright and ________ . She wasn’t what I thought she was like. This was a valuable ________ that I shouldn’t ________ people so quickly... I don’t know their ________.

8 . The engineer’s motto is: “Keep it simple and serious.” But Dr. Arnold, though the fifth woman engineer in history to win the Nobel Prize, is somewhat ________. She always seems to meet something unexpected or have the talent to make things ________.

Here’s a picture of a beaming President Obama, ________ her for winning the National Medal. That should have been a moment of ________. But you can never imagine what happened to her. The minibus that ________ the medal receivers should catch fire at the White House door. The bus filled with smoke, passengers within were gasping and crying and staggering toward the ________, the younger ones carrying the older ones — and all were greeted by a team of Secret Service agents, ________ aimed at the medalists’ heads. They were amusingly ________ as terrorists. What a joke!

Another ________ story! When Dr. Arnold and her little son, landed in London, the border agent asked what brought them to the UK. Feeling very proud and hot-stuff, Dr. Arnold ________ she was going to a reception to meet the Queen. She then ________ shot her mouth off about her next award ceremony at the palace in Italy. The agent skeptically ________ her slightly disheveled (凌乱的) clothes and demanded the invitation letter. But she said it was in her suitcase. Without more ________, she, along with her son, was grabbed to the detention room (拘留室). They spent the next two and a half hours there ________ their story was verified (证实), and ________ made it to meet the Queen. Once again, the should-be ________ engineer was mistaken. Afterwards, she ________, “We should have been simple, sensed the environment and then respond.” Her son replied, “Mom, next time why don’t you keep your mouth ________.”

See what the engineer has ________ ! Yes, indeed we can never tell one’s experiences from their ________.

10 . I tore the top off my meal: spaghetti with beef and sauce. The aroma rushed out of the packet. It smelled like ______ .

Growing up, I always had a(n) ______ for Meals, Ready-to-Eat, or MREs. With their special ______ : airtight and waterproof (防水的), the thick plastic bags can ______ almost any changes in temperature and ______ a minimum of three years with no refrigeration. In my Army household, there was ______ one lying around somewhere: in the back of my dad's car, or in a closet.

My siblings and I weren't ______ to eat them often. They were saved for camping trips or the nights my dad was in charge of dinner. My father could have ______ us anything pizza, Burger King ice cream — but we would ______ MREs. Then we faced a ______ decision. It wasn't just about the entree (主菜) which was printed on the front of the pack: Menu No.12: Meatloaf; Menu No.17: Beef. It was also about the ______ that weren't mentioned on the outside of the package: the dry cake or the brownie; the cookies or the peanut butter…My first experience of ______ came when I had to choose which one I wanted. ______ the packages lying on our counter. I had my heart in my mouth. My hands were ______ before grabbing one.

______ beat eating dinner from those brown plastic bags, and that's why, when I saw MREs for ______ on Amazon, I bought some for $15 a piece. I ______ a picture on social media, and my former military friends laughed. But as I opened the shipment, it felt ______ I'd unearthed a box filled with childhood memorabilia. During my father's 24-year Army career, my family lived in ______ houses in five states. While I never had a hometown, the ______ was — still is — home to me, and MREs are a part of that.