1 . Ann started to work last summer. In order to have a holiday, she saved as much as she could and, this January, she booked a package tour to Spain. She left London airport early on the morning of the first Saturday in August. She was very excited, as this was her first trip abroad. When she arrived at Barcelona airport, the weather was beautiful.

At the hotel, she found that her Spanish money wasn’t in her handbag. All she had was a small purse with ten English pounds in it!

Ann found a place to change her English money for Spanish money. She would stay here for two weeks. After changing her money, Ann bought some cheese, some bread and some oranges. When she got back to the hotel, she told the tour guide that her doctor had told her not to eat much food, so she’d just have breakfast each day. This was all right, as she knew breakfast was included in the price of hotel.

For the rest of her holiday, Ann swam in the hotel or lay on the beach. She also went for long walks with Jane, a Scottish girl. However, when the others went to interesting places, Ann always said she wasn’t well. In fact, her holiday wasn’t bad, except that she was always hungry.

On the last day, Jane asked her why she never ate with them in the hotel restaurant. The food was excellent. Ann told her all about her money problem. Jane looked at her for a minute, and then said, “But didn’t you know? The price of this tour includes everything!”

6 . I recall when I was a young girl back in Canada, I was sitting and watching a baseball game on TV with my father and we started to debate the importance of sports. Different from my father, I argued with all the overconfidence of a teenager that sports is more than just a hobby to keep us physically healthy and went as far as claiming that" There would be more wars if we didn't have sports!"

As an adult, my teenage tendencies of exaggeration(夸张) may have faded but I still firmly believe that sports is more than just a hobby for both participants and audience. The challenging times we are all living through right now with coronavirus is proof to this. The effect of cancelling all sports from professional leagues right down to amateur budding athletic programs, can be felt by millions of people worldwide. To many the social emotional impact is stronger than the physical. The loss of the sense of community, of belonging, and of an extended family is real for many girls, boys, men and women everywhere. Others are feeling physical challenges as well as they are struggling to stay active during these times.

But the human race is incredible and adaptable in tough situations, and sports once again is playing a role. Sports teams are staying in touch online and are a source of much needed support, love and laughter in these times. So many professional athletes are playing vital roles through this crisis by sharing their messages of support and at times, making valuable monetary donations to the cause. Even in areas of isolation(隔离), people are coming out on their balconies and leading their neighbours through a workout programme to help them stay active. Others are turning to online workout programmes to follow. Once again, sports is finding its way.

So, in challenging times such as now, people are still empowered to continue their sports journey and stay strong and healthy.

7 . Sharing is love for a couple in Texas. That's what a popular Facebook post from a woman named Tracy Howell has shown tens of thousands of people. Tracy detailed a four-decade-long tradition she shares with her husband, Clifford, which many have called “sweet”.

Whenever Clifford goes to work，he takes a sandwich that has a small bite on it. The bite symbolized a deep message for the pair, Tracy explained in the post. “Clifford and I have been married almost 41 years and I have made his lunch every working day since day 1,”Tracy wrote at the time. “Sometimes I would join him on the job site and have lunch with him. He told me once that lunch tastes better when you share it with someone you love. Soon after that, while fixing his sandwich one night, I took a bite out of it before putting it away. I told him that since I couldn't often join him for lunch, I took a bite so he knew I was joining him,” she recalled.

The first time Tracy had done this, her husband returned with anger after work and told her that some workmate had taken a bite out of his sandwich.

“I continue to do this frequently and he still says, ‘It's always happy to see you join me for lunch.’”

The post had been shared more than 97,000 times in just one week and had received more than 26 ,000 likes from Facebook users. “That is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard,” a user shared.

8 . An amateur fossil hunter has unearthed a new type of prehistoric “sea dragon” on the beach of the UK's Dorset Coast. The new 2m-long ichthyosaur is named “Etches sea dragon”,after fossil collector Dr. Steve Etches, who found it buried head-first. Ichthyosaurs are called sea dragons for their usually very large teeth and eyes. He thought its teeth were unusual,so he passed it on to experts at the University of Portsmouth to identify(鉴定).There,a Masters student, Megan Jacobs, who has spent several years working on ichthyosaurs, identified it as a new species, which lived 150 million years ago.

The find is the UK's fifth known ichthyosaur from the Late Jurassic periods,and by far the smallest so far.

The fossil was found near Kimmeridge Bay—part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. When it died, the seafloor would have been very soft mud, allowing the front half of the animal to sink into the mud, before other animals came along and ate the tail end.Being buried in a bed of soft mud meant it was preserved in exceptional condition and even some of its soft tissues were preserved.

Megan said, “Fossils of Late Jurassic ichthyosaurs in the UK are extremely rare. I did some research,comparing it with those known from other Late Jurassic fossils found around the world. It was very exciting that I didn’t find a match. Steve's extraordinary collection contains many new and exciting animals, and it was a real honor to have the chance to describe this ichthyosaur.”

Professor David Martill,who leads the palaeontology(古生物学)research,said, “Steve is an exceptional fossil collector and although he is sometimes referred to as an amateur collector, he has done so much for palaeontology that he has been awarded an MBE, Member of the British Empire, and is truly a professional.”He added, ^“If it were not for collectors like Steve,scientists would have very few specimens(样本)to work on. ’’

9 . Fired bricks are a universal building material, produced by thousand-year-old technology, which throughout history has seldom served any other purpose. But researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have found a new use for bricks:as energy storage units. A team of engineers and chemists have found a way to transform an ordinary house brick into a battery (电池) — allowing it to conduct (传导) and store electricity.

The researchers connect an LED light bulb (灯泡) to the bricks. They are powerful enough to illuminate it and cost only about $3 to make.

“I love the idea of adding value to things that are inexpensive, things that are affordable, things that we see every day,” said Julio D'Arcy, an assistant professor of chemistry at Washington University and one of the researchers on this project.

The new invention relies on something known as iron oxide, a form of matter in bricks that gives them their red colour. The scientists pumped the bricks with several gases that react with iron oxide to produce a network of plastic fibres. These fibres coat the empty spaces inside the bricks — and conduct electricity.

“What we’re trying to do is:we're trying to make specialized plastics and then we can actually put those plastics inside construction materials,”D’Arcy says. “In the future, a brick wall could potentially serve two purposes at one time:providing structural support and storing electricity produced from renewable energy sources,such as solar panels.”

The technology is still at least a few years away from being ready for the market. And right now the energy that the bricks can store is still not much. Hut the team is now testing ways to improve brick performance — because it looks like you can find a new purpose for an old brick.

10 . At least three times a week. Louise and David Sample prepare three-course meals in their home and then give them away.

Louise prepares the meats the night before she cooks them. Vegetables matter, too.She once spent an entire Saturday cooking greens. Each “regular”(which is how the couple refers to those their meals are intended for) gets a fresh salad. This means David needs to shop multiple times a week.Together the couple prepare,cook,clean, package,and deliver containers full of food to their neighbors in need.

“They're always making food for people,making sure everybody is taken care of,always giving,said Sha’Laina,35. “It’s just something they do.^”The Samples, who are retired（退休的）,say it’s no big deal spending hundreds of dollars and unknown hours each month in service to others.

Louise got a dangerous cancer in November 2018, and there were moments when those around her worried she wouldn't make it. Last year on Valentine's Day, she was very sick. But right up until she received her operation last August at Albert Einstein Medical Center, she made food for the regulars and for every employee who took care of her. “I was cooking the night before my transplant (移植).David took me to the seventh floor of the hospital” —to her patient room—“then took the food to them,’’she said. Even during her post-transplant hospital stay, Louise found a way to help others. Shekel separate the untouched food from her meal, and give it to David to take home. “We’d give it to the regulars,so she didn’t have to waste it,” said David.

Two months after leaving the hospital, Louise was back in the kitchen.“When someone goes through something traumatic (创伤的),continuing any part of your life where you know what you're doing is very beneficial. It puts you in a place where you're in control,’David said. “She loves cooking. Just doing it gave her part of her life back.”