2 . In October, Mediterranean fruit flies were discovered in an area of Los Angeles. California is a big farming state, and this was serious news for farmers. The key to the problem may seem a little unusual: releasing millions more of the flies.

The Mediterranean fruit fly, often known as the “Medfly”, is one of the most serious threats faced by farmers worldwide. Once the pest makes its way into an area, it can be very hard to remove. The flies lay their eggs in over 300 kinds of fruits and vegetables. When the eggs hatch, they turn into worm-like larvae (幼虫) that can destroy these products.

Three Mediterranean fruit flies were discovered in a Los Angeles neighborhood called Leimert Park in October. To stop the problem from spreading, the government set up a large quarantine (隔离) area, which means that no produce (fruits, nuts, or vegetables)can be moved out of that area. The quarantine area is 90 square miles.

That may seem extreme, since only three Medflies were found, but experts believe there are probably more out there. “It’s really important to get on top of this fast,” said Jason Leathers. Luckily, California has developed a program to control Medflies, and it’s been working well for 30 years. The plan involves using planes to drop millions of Medflies over the area. That may sound like a bad idea, but it’s actually a good way to make sure that Medfly numbers go down.

The airplanes only drop male flies, and all of them have been treated so that they can’t help produce new fruit flies. The males are sterile (不育的). This means that even though they can mate with female fruit flies, the eggs produced will never grow or hatch. The plan has worked well in the past. The government says that the number of flies has been cut by over 90%. To deal with the problem near Leimert Park, the government will be dropping two airplane loads of sterile Medflies every week.

3 . In recent years, extreme weather has been on the rise. From wildfires in California, US to record-breaking rainfall in northern China this summer and most recently the flood in Libya which claimed thousands of lives, Earth seems to be whipped by extreme climate and weather patterns.

Climate whiplash (气候鞭打), or weather whiplash, refers to a quick change from one extreme weather pattern to another. It is caused by global warming. A warmer atmosphere can hold more steam. As the Earth gets warmer, more water is contained in the atmosphere. Once the temperature gets colder, it often rains more heavily. This explains why a drought is often followed by extremely heavy rain.

The region hit hardest by climate whiplash is California. Over the past decade, California has experienced lasting droughts, wildfires, heavy rainfalls, and floods. It seems that the state is either on fire or in flooding with little in between. Researchers estimate that by the end of this century, the frequency of climate whiplash will jump by 25 percent in northern California as Earth continues to become warmer.

Apart from wildfires and floods, studies showed that climate whiplash also has an impact on water quality. During dry days, the fertilizer (肥料) farmers use for plants cannot be absorbed by thirsty and dying plants. Then the following heavy rain washes the remaining fertilizer into rivers, polluting the water.

How can we deal with climate whiplash? The key lies in fighting global warming. That is to say, humans have to largely reduce the use of fossil fuels (化石燃料). Climate whiplash would happen more frequently in the future, should we fail to fight global warming effectively. Therefore, it is urgent that nations around the world double down on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

5 . Simple Sports Themed Activities

Kids love learning about sports and engaging in sports themed activities! This free simple activity plan includes doable (可做的) sports activity ideas that are perfect for preschoolers.

Draw a football outline on a sheet of paper. Label it with letters including letters in your child’s name. Write your child’s name on the page and then have them hunt to find and dot all the letters in their names on the football.

Cut out multiple colored paper flags. Label each with a number from first to tenth. Lay the flags flat on the ground or stick on the wall with painter’s tape. Have your child order the flags. Say things like: The second flag is blue. Where is the green flag in the line? What flag is the 4th in the line?

Draw a painting of a sports shirt on a large sheet of paper. Set out various supplies for decorating like markers, paint sticks, stickers, etc. Ask your child to design and decorate their very own sports shirt! I had my girls include their own name and sports number.

Use tapes, chalk, balls and bats and so on to create your own sports themed obstacle course. Add things like making a basket jumping, swimming under the rope, swinging the bat 5 times, etc. Get creative and have fun! This is such a great way to get your kids moving!

6 . I stood at the departure gate in Boston, preparing to cross the Atlantic. Although I had made the journey countless times before, it never really got much _________ to leave my home and family. I looked at my mother, our eyes full of _________ and as we wondered when we would see each other again she handed me a _________, saying it might help me feel better. Little did I know that it would not only help me feel better, but would also teach me one of life’s greatest lessons.

Now, back in Switzerland, I opened my mother’s package. It was a book of recipes; I laughed out loud as I _________ through it. All the sections were _________ but the one section on _________ was full. Here were handwritten cards _________ things like “Double Chocolate Fudge,” many of which were created by my mother. Then my heart _________ as I noticed what she had written:

Make some desserts. Remember all the wonderful times we have had together, and have them now with your family.

She was telling me: we must grow up and _________ our own lives, even when it sometimes __________. But there was more to be enjoyed. Recipes in hand, I remembered Christmases of joy and __________ homemade treats. Now, years later, Mom was telling me about what really __________ in life: the only real gifts we can __________ for our children are the beautiful memories of our time together. It is never too late or too early to create beautiful memories and it is now my __________ to give them to my children.

I hope that my girls will marry the boy next door. But wherever they may be, I hope that they will one day open my mother’s recipes. And like me, they will find a recipe for __________.

7 . Undoubtedly, music can comfort the soul for some, and it could also be a temporary reliever for physical pain. Listening to favorite songs could reduce people’s sensibility of pain, according to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Pain Research. And the most effective pain relievers were songs describing bittersweet experiences and causing strong feelings.

The study invited 63 young adults to bring two of their favorite songs, which were required to be at least 3 minutes and 20 seconds long. One selection represented their favorite music of all time, and the other was the song they could use to comfort loneliness. The researchers also had the young adults pick one of seven songs that the team considered relaxing and were unfamiliar to the study participants. Each person experienced 7-minute blocks (隔音) where they were instructed to stare at a monitor screen while listening to their favorite music, or one of the seven relaxing instrumental songs, or a scrambled (打乱) version of both songs and the relaxing song chosen. One 7-minute block had people sitting in silence. All the while, the researchers stuck a hot object to the participants’ left inner forearms. When assessing their experiences, people were more likely to report feeling less pain when listening to their favorite songs compared with hearing the unfamiliar relaxing song or silence.

After interviewing the participants about the song they brought and their rating of pain, the researchers found people who listened to bittersweet and moving songs felt less pain than when they listened to songs with cheerful themes. People who listened to bittersweet songs also reported more chills — the thrill and tremble you get on your skin from listening to pleasurable music. “When people are listening to music they enjoy, by our measurements it can reduce the pain that we’re feeling by 10%,” said Patrick, a professor of biomedical and molecular sciences.

8 . Nine-year-old Abdulwal Abdula lifted his right arm and waved guests goodbye as they left his house. What appeared a simple gesture was only possible because people from different walks of life raced against time to save the boy’s severed right arm more than two years ago.

On April 30, 2021, Abdulwal’s right arm was severed when it got caught in the motor of a running tractor. Realizing the complexity involved in reattaching the arm, the local hospital decided to transfer the boy to the traditional Chinese medicine hospital of Urumqi, about 1,400 kilometers away, for a surgery that had to be performed within eight hours. But by the time Abdulwal was sent to the airport in Hotan, the last flight to Urumqi that night was already on the runway and ready for takeoff.

Everyone knew that if Abdulwal missed the flight he would lose his right arm, and possibly his life. Air traffic control workers immediately contacted the pilots and asked them to wait, while officials at the airport rushed to arrange permission for the plane to return to the terminal and pick up the boy. With permission granted, Abdulwal and his severed arm, packed in a medical bag, were carried onboard. None of the passengers complained about the delay.

Once the plane landed in Urumqi, a series of green channels ensured Abdulwal reached the hospital in the shortest time. The surgery started seven-and-a-half hours after the accident. His severed limb was successfully reattached and the broken bone fragments rearranged.

The story went viral (走红) on social media, touching all people who could not stop praising the efforts made by so many people to save the boy. The extraordinary story inspired a film, Ordinary Hero, in 2022.

Abdulwal said he had watched the movie twice. “It reminds me of how many people have helped me. They aren’t ordinary people, but superheroes to me.” His mother said that the doctor who reattached Abdulwal’s arm often calls to check on him and give advice on recovery. “I want to be a doctor when I grow up, so that I can help others,” Abdulwal said.

10 . With ADD (注意缺陷障碍), I could look straight into your eyes and not hear a word you’re saying. I could _________ to be listening to you but my mind was somewhere miles away.

In middle school, I took Language Arts with Mrs. Smith. That first day, she told us her rules. Then I knew I had better “_________” myself. So I told her I might need to take home some reading assignments because my _________ is better in a quiet setting and asked her if I could use my word processor at home to do written assignments because my “fine motor skill (精细动作技能)” problems made my _________ look messy. However, she refused, saying it was _________ for my classmates. The result was that each paper came back with Mrs. Smith’s flaming red X’s.

One day, again I asked her for _________ to complete the written assignment at home. But she still refused my _________. Therefore, to prove to her, or rather to myself, that I could do the work under the right conditions, I took the assignment home __________

That night, the story, which had seemed so _________ in class, became quite clear to me in the __________ of my room. It was about Louis Braille, a __________ boy. During his time, society prevented the blind having much of an education, but Louis Braille “defended” himself. He developed a reading system of raised dots for the blind, __________ him to read like his peers.   I was like Louis in my class. I was made to learn like the other students.

I used my word processor to set down my thoughts and explain myself __________Louis and many other famous people different in their learning styles and abilities, hoping Mrs. Smith would finally understand me.

As Mrs. Smith handed my paper back, I found an A instead of her usual X. Below were her __________ red penned words, “See what you can do when you __________ yourself?”