4 . Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, public health and government officials have put social distancing rules in place and advised people to stay at home as much as possible. Many schools around the world started online learning.

Do teenagers have it easy being home all the time? Not necessarily. They can’t connect with teachers and friends in person and do outdoor activities. They are even concerned about the deadly disease. These have caused a rise in anxiety among young people.

In a study of about 1,500 teens last spring, 70% kids said that they were struggling with anxiety and 45% had felt more stressed than usual. Poncin, a professor of clinical child psychiatry (精神病学), said that it’s difficult to show exactly what is causing the increased stress. Some factors focus on our communities and families, while others are individual (个别的). “There are many stress factors that teens are worried about, like their parents losing jobs, family members getting sick, parents not being home, not talking with friends, and more,” Poncin said. “Teens need to learn how to be together and how to talk and be with people.”

Thinking about something over and over also builds stress. To help ease (缓解) their worries, teens can bike, walk the dog or even pick up a new hobby.

In my home state of North Carolina, Roy Goode, head of the local educational agency, is especially concerned about students who don’t have the resources they need to learn at home. “Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders,” he said. “We need to make sure they all have a chance to succeed so we can overcome any challenge that comes our way.”

6 . When learning a foreign language, most people use traditional methods: reading, writing, listening and repeating. But people can also remember the vocabulary better by making gestures while studying. Linking a word to brain areas that are responsible for movement can strengthen the memory of its meaning. "Our results provide evidence for why learning techniques”, Mathias said.

As Mathias and his colleagues described, they had 22 adults learn a total of 90 invented artificial words over four days. While these adults first heard the new vocabulary, they were shown a video of a person making a gesture that matched the meaning of the word. When the word was repeated, they performed the gesture themselves. Five months later, they were asked to translate the vocabulary they had learned in a multiple-choice test. The researchers found that the motor cortex contributed to the translation of the vocabulary learned with gestures. This applied to concrete words, such as "camera," as well as abstract ones, such as "thought."

“There have been quite a lot of studies showing that gestures play a role in learning. I think this study takes a step further as it is trying to understand why," says Susan Goldin-Meadow, a psychologist at the University of Chicago who studies the effects of gestures on learning. Research like this, as well as brain imaging, suggests the activation of the brain's motor areas could contribute.

Children — unlike adults — seem to benefit from pictures as much as gestures in the long run. In an experiment published in 2020, the Leipzig research group had young adults and eight-year-old children listen to new vocabulary for five days, sometimes paired with matching pictures or videos of gestures. After two months, the two methods were still tied. But after six months, the adults benefited more from the gestures than the pictures, while the children were helped equally by both.

7 . The Chinese version of the French book, Pourquoi les Chinois ont-ils le temps (Why Chinese People have Time), has been recently published by SDX Joint Publication Co. The author, Christine Cayol, who has lived in China for more than 20 years, shares her observations in her writing on Chinese wisdom towards "time".

In the western world, the concept of time is often measurable, which can date from the Industrial Revolution. This view of time always reminds people of progress, improvement and efficiency.

Unlike the western "race mode", the Chinese view of time is more like a "flowing water mode". In Cayol's eyes, Chinese people can become friends with time. "For the Chinese, time is neither a flying arrow at the target nor an hourglass measuring quicksand, but running water," she said. "Water can devour us, but it carries us and holds us as well; it seems weak, but is strong actually, and nothing can stop it from flowing into the sea."

Cayol used to be uncomfortable with the way Chinese dealt with time when she first came to China: They never make appointments, and always change the time for a meeting. However, as she became more familiar with Chinese culture, Chinese wisdom has been gradually understood by her.

Life in China led Cayol to experience a different view of time, which invites people to listen to their heart, to think and to love. Time in China seems to be internal, beneficial and cherished. It is life itself: It can be solid and liquid, fast and slow, hard and soft at the same time.

Now, Cayol likes spending five hours with friends making dumplings or noodles. She believes it's a way to get along with each other, and no one will measure the time it takes. "I'm not introducing a method; I just want to reveal a new view of time, which is completely different from that in the West. Adopting it will be just like using a foreign language - it gives us greater freedom in the modern world," Cayol said. She hopes that Pourquoi les Chinois ont-ils le temps can be a cure for Westerners' worried hearts.

Pingyao Ancient Town, added to the UNESCO's World Heritage List on December 31st, 1997, is known as one of the "Four Best Preserved Ancient Cities" in China. Legend has it that the original city of Pingyao     1     (found) in the 9th century BCE. This ancient city was once the banking capital of China, as important during the Qing Dynasty as Wall Street is today.

    2     the fading (衰退) of its economic power, the city's historic architecture as well as its impressive city wall is     3     (good) preserved. However, many of the city's unique ancient     4     (relic) have been damaged in recent decades. Pingyao is in danger of losing part of its historic sites     5     have made it so unique. Besides, it is also facing new challenges from modernization and     6     rapid growth of tourism.

To protect Pingyao's unique cultural history and attract more tourists     7     (admire) its beauty, at present, organizations such as Global Heritage Fund     8     (work) with local authorities and UNESCO to create guidelines that allow residents to restore their homes through a program involving planning,preservation,and development.

9 . Have you ever anxiously looked for your glasses only to find out they are on your nose all the time? Maybe you’ve struggled to keep your focus, or feel like you’re walking in a dream. The good news is you are not alone and there’s a name for this feeling: brain fog.

Brain fog feels like it takes hours to complete a 10-minute task or that you’re struggling to listen and understand what is being said. It is not a medical condition or a diagnosis (诊断). It’s simply a term to describe the inability to remember and concentrate on things, use logic, or solve problems. Some people with brain fog experience problems with speech and language; it can be hard putting their thoughts into words and finding the right words, and their speech might be slow and confused.

Everyone can experience brain fog if you have poor sleep habits and are getting less than 7 hours of sleep each night. Secondly, the lack of enough vitamin and the eating of certain unhealthy foods, like alcohol and caffeine, play a role in brain function and can be one of the causes of your brain fog symptoms (症状). Additionally, high levels of stress, or long-term stress, can cause a series of health problems, including brain fog.

If you’re wondering how to get rid of brain fog, I have good news: you can get rid of it by making a few lifestyle changes. First, you need to change your diet. If you are experiencing brain fog, there is a good chance your diet is the cause of your brain fog. Besides, just attempt to relieve your stress. It’s important to make time every day for doing activities you love to get away from the stress, such as exercise, taking baths or meditating with an app on your phone. Also, you shall get enough sleep since studies show that quality sleep can make you eat more healthy and get rid of your brain fog.

10 . Wildlife conservation is the preservation and protection of animals, plants, and their habitats. By conserving wildlife, we’re ensuring that future generations can enjoy our natural world and the unbelievable species that live within it. To help protect wildlife, it’s important to understand how species interact within their ecosystems, and how they are affected by environmental and human influences.

Plants and animals have life events that seemingly occur like clockwork every year. Birds can migrate, mammals may hibernate (冬眠), flowers bloom, and leaves change colors. The study of how the biological world times these natural events is called phenology. Scientists now understand that plants and animals are strongly influenced by their local climate (long-term weather patterns). Climate is affected by non-biological factors — temperature, precipitation (降水), and available sunlight. Species use the predictable yearly changes in the climate to determine when they start natural events such as breeding or flowering.

Climate change is slowly increasing average annual temperatures. One of the most noticeable ways that climate change is influencing wildlife is by changing the timing of natural events. With warmer temperatures, flowering plants are blooming earlier in the year and migratory birds are returning from their wintering grounds earlier in the spring. Phenology is an important subject for conservationists to study because it helps us understand the patterns of specific species and overall ecosystem health. Every species has an effect on those in its food chain and community, and the timing of one species’ phenological events can be very important to the survival of another species.