3 . Time travel is a favorite plot device in science fiction stories and movies. Perhaps the most famous recent series is Dr. Who, with its traveling Time Lords who whisk himself away throughout time as if traveling by jet. In other stories, the time travel is due to unexplainable circumstances such as a too-close approach to a very massive object like a black hole. However it is described in stories, it seems that traveling through time can always trigger people’s interest and ignite their imaginations. But, is such a thing possible?

It’s important to remember that we are always traveling into the future. That’s the nature of space-time. This is why we remember the past (instead of “remembering” the future). The future is largely unpredictable because it hasn’t happened yet, but everyone is headed into it all the time. To speed up the process, what would or could anyone do to make it happen? It’s a good question without a definitive answer. Right now, no one has built a working time machine to travel temporally. While it’s not possible (yet) to travel to the future faster than the rate at which we’re doing it now, it is possible to speed up the passage of time. But it has only happened so far to very few people who have traveled off Earth’s surface. For them, time moves at an extremely small different rate. Could it happen over longer time spans?

It might, theoretically. According to Einstein’s theory of special relativity, the passage of time is relative to an object’s speed. The more quickly an object moves through space, the more slowly time passes for it. The classic example of traveling into the future is the twin paradox. It works like this: take a pair of twins, each 20 years old. One takes off on a spaceship on a five-year journey traveling at nearly the speed of light. The traveling twin ages five years while on the journey and returns to Earth at the age of 25. However, the twin who stayed behind is 95 years old! The twin on the ship experienced only five years of time passing, but returns to an Earth that is much farther into the future.

Similarly, intense gravitational fields can have the same effect. Time passes more slowly for an observer inside a massive object’s gravitational well. The stronger the gravity, the more it affects the flow of time.

Astronauts on the International Space Station experience a combination of these effects, though on a much smaller scale. Since they are traveling quite quickly and orbiting around Earth (a massive body with significant gravity), time slows down for them compared with people on Earth. The difference is much less than a second over the course of their time in space. But, it is measurable.

Until we can figure out a way to approach the speed of light, or travel near black holes without falling in, we won’t be able to do time travel any significant way into the future.

4 . Suppose you find a bright yellow bike on a street corner in the city. You hop on (跨上) it and _______. But wait — isn’t this stealing? No, it isn’t._______ shouts, “Stop! Thief!” That is _______ this free ride is just fine with the city.

You _______ find hundreds of free yellow bikes in some US cities. The idea began in Portland, Oregon, in 1994. People saw a need for _______ transportation, and they wanted to help _______ pollution. So, to get citizens (市民)_______ their cars and onto pollution-free bikes, they _______ the Yellow Bike Project.

The _______ bikes are painted bright yellow and placed throughout the city. People can hop on the yellow bike and ride to run errands (短程差事), to work ________ to school. Then, they leave the bike for the ________ rider. There have been times when bikes have been stolen, but most people ________ the rules, because they think it is not wise to ________ the bike that’s already free.

Portland’s ________ was quickly loved by a lot of people. Within two years of its starts, similar programs were ________ in cities in six other states.

6 . China announced the establishment of the first — ever five national parks during the COP15 biodiversity summit.

Sanjiangyuan National Park

Located on the Qinghai — Tibet Plateau, the Sanjiangyuan area is home to the headwaters of the Yangtze. Yellow and Lancang rivers, which help to raise billions of lives. The glaciers and snow mountains are beautiful and animals such as snow leopards and blue sheep are tough. In Sanjiangyuan National Park, ecological protection and development of animal — farming areas are carried out.

The Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park

The Siberian tiger and the Amur leopard are endangered speciesunder global protection. The Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park is important for the survival of these animals and restoring and keeping stable populations. Tigers and leopards can walk around freely in the mountains.

The Giant Panda National Park

The Giant Panda National Park on the borders of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces is home to 1,339 wild pandas, 70 percent of China's total. As an umbrella species, countless creatures which share the habitat with the pandas also gain a better living environment. Rare animals such as golden snub-nosed monkeys and takins also thrive in the area.

Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park

Hainan black — crested gibbons, listed as the world’s most endangered primate (灵长类的) species, are found only in the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. To preserve the tropical rainforest ecosystem, the people in the core area moved out to leave an undisturbed environment for ecological restoration.

Wuyishan National Park

UNESCO described Wuyi Mountains as the most outstanding area for biodiversity conservation in southeast China. It is a lotus land of rare wildlife, with many species only found in China. For the past one hundred years, biologists from China and abroad have researched and discovered more than 1,000 new species in the mountains.

7 . Films to watch this December!

Don’t Look Up

People are often slow to react to a disaster, whether it’s a climate emergency or a global pandemic—and that is why Adam McKay has made his new satire (讽刺) —Don’t Look Up. Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio play two astronomers who have figured that a “planet killer” comet is going to crash into the Earth, killing everyone. But the US president is just one of the people who refuse to face the facts.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Now that Marvel’s superheroes have saved the universe, their next job is obvious: they have to save the multiverse (多元宇宙). You’re going to see characters that you love go through things that you would never wish them to go through.

West Side Story

The original 1961 film of West Side Story is known as one of the finest Hollywood musicals ever made. It was the biggest box-office hit of the year, and went on to win 10 Oscars. Why should anyone watch a new take on the same material? One answer is that Stephen Sondheim speaks highly of it—“For those who know the show, there are going to be some real surprises in it.”

Nightmare Alley

Nightmare Alley is a dark crime thriller based on a 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham. Bradley Cooper stars as The Great Stanton. He performs a mind-reading act in modern nightclubs with his loyal girlfriend, but an attractive psychologist is onto his game.

9 . Ecuadorian writer Veronica Bonilla has received the Special Book Award for 2021, the highest recognition by China for a foreign writer.

At an emotional ceremony held Monday at the Chinese embassy in Ecuador, Bonilla received a golden statuette for her outstanding contribution to promoting Chinese culture.

“I feel-happy, honored and pleased to be the first Ecuadorian to receive this award and also to be the first Latin American to receive it. It is a very important thing. It fills me with pride and happiness,” said Bonilla, visibly moved.

“I am writing about China, a country that I fell in love with when I had the opportunity to get to know it because I want the children of the world to get to know China,” Bonilla said, adding that all the work and effort she has put into her work pays off.

The China Special Book Award has been awarded since 2005 to foreign translators, writers and publishers who have made significant contribution to promoting Chinese culture in the world.

Monday’s ceremony in Quito was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Ecuador Chen Guoyou, and Acting Ecuadorian Vice Foreign Minister Augusto Saa.

Saa said that Bonilla’s work is an example of the value of culture as’ a means of union between peoples. “Our countries have managed to develop an active cultural diplomacy and a powerful soft power tool that has contributed to mutual understanding.”

In congratulation, Chinese Ambassador Chen Guoyou said that Bonilla received the well-deserved award thanks to her long-term dedication to promoting Chinese culture to Ecuadorian children.

“Recent years have witnessed the growing dynamism in the cultural exchange between the two nations through contacts in culture, science, technology, sports, education, among others,” Chen said, noting that relations between China and Ecuador are at the best moment in history.

The Ecuadorian writer has so far translated three of her 83 books into Chinese.