In the center of Reykjavik, Iceland, stands a museum     1     (create) by Lillian Hopps, which symbolizes the friendship between Icelandic and Chinese people. A passionate admirer of Chinese heritage, Lillian began her journey to learn about China in the 1990s, a time     2     she deeply engaged herself in exploring China’s rich culture. Her passion transformed her home into a place filled with Chinese artifacts, which     3     (eventual) led to the establishment of a museum in Reykjavik.

The museum     4     (house) an extensive collection of cultural relics, from ancient clothing     5     contemporary art, displaying thousands of years of Chinese civilization. Lillian’s work goes beyond just     6     (exhibit) these items; she brings the culture alive through highly     7     (interact) activities like tea performances, calligraphy classes, and traditional medicine talks, promoting the Icelandic understanding of China’s rich traditions.

Lilian’s museum, attracting thousands of visitors annually from around the world,     8     (recognize) by the Icelandic government in 2021 for its impact. As Marta Jonsdottir, a director at Iceland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, put it in an interview, “Lillian, with her enthusiasm and expertise, has developed diverse cultural     9     (link) between Iceland and China. Her museum has not just enabled both peoples to better understand each other     10     strengthened our relations.”

Stretching from east to west for over 60 kilometers, Songshan Mountain is acclaimed in folklore (民俗学) as the “origin of all mountains”. Its well-preserved angular rock shapes     1    (form) by three violent movements in the earth’s crust, and the most recent happened 570 million years ago,     2     the Himalayas and the entire Qinling Range were submerged under the sea.

However, it is the 1,529-year-old Shaolin Temple,     3    (locate) in a mountain forest near Dengfeng, and its style of kung fu that have left the biggest impression on the world. Today, Shaolin Temple attracts     4    (rough) 7 million Chinese and international tourists and martial arts enthusiasts every year.

While the area is famous around the world for Shaolin Kung Fu, it is also becoming known for other cultural     5    (aspect) including Chan Wu Yi, which combines Zen meditation, kung fu and traditional Chinese medicine, and has been promoted by Master Shi Dejian for 30 years.

In 1994, Master Shi Dejian, under the     6    (guide) of his teacher, started the restoration of the academy’s damaged buildings     7    (study) and promote Chan Wu Yi. Eleven years later, with Shi Dejian     8    (work) as its director, the Songshan Chan Wu Yi Research Institute was established. “It has become     9     normal part of our lives to practise internal cultivation, and     10     can be said that Chan Wu Yi is our basic way of life.” he said.

5 . Mosquitoes can carry various diseases and one of the most popular is dengue (登革热). Dengue is caused by any one of the four related viruses spread by mosquitoes, because of which numerous Filipinos died. One of the easiest ways to prevent mosquitoes is to use repellents. In the market, there are many commercial mosquito repellents available. The commonly used repellent in the Philippines is quite unaffordable. Meanwhile, it contains chemicals that may cause irritation (刺激). These account for why researchers seek to develop an alternative mosquito repellent.

The researchers plan to use natural components. Since the component is natural, the new mosquito repellent to be made from it is effective yet inexpensive and poses no risks to health or environment. One of the major components being explored is from lemongrass.

Lemongrass has natural anti-microbial features, suitable for use on various types of skin infections, usually as a wash, and is especially effective on skin diseases. It has mosquito repelling effects and is used to make a mosquito repellent. In using this product, you will spray it over all exposed skin areas. Contact with eyes should be avoided. If irritation occurs, wash off immediately and discontinue using. The very importance of this product is to prevent the spread of multiple diseases caused by mosquito bites. The new mosquito repellent containing lemongrass extract (提取物) also helps control the outbreak of other insect-borne diseases such as Malaria, Lyme Disease and West Nile Fever. After all, lemongrass is a popular plant found commonly in the country and its extract is used for medicinal and food products.

The new study is significant because there’s an increasing number of deaths concerning mosquitoes. While there are alternative solutions, Filipinos cannot deny their brothers and sisters living in poverty cannot afford to buy repellents. Yet, currently the researchers aim to test how effective their natural product is in repelling mosquitoes within households. This initial study will evaluate the product’s effectiveness before further trials in broader applications.

6 . In the town of Riverbridge, life was simple. The townsfolk knew each other, and the most exciting event was the weekly _________ written by a 15-year-old boy named Kally Mahzoo.

One day, a hobo (流浪汉) arrived and _________ a camp under the bridge. Before long, local stores began reporting _________. The townsfolk were quick to point fingers at the stranger. Kally, however, was not _______. He decided to investigate, visiting the stores. He noted the items stolen— _______ food and necessities. He then went to the hobo’s _________ and asked him about the thefts. The hobo   _______ any involvement, his eyes reflecting sincerity. Kally believed him but needed _______.

Over the next few days, Kally kept a close eye on the stores. He noticed the stolen items were always from the _______ shelves, easily accessible to a child. Hiding behind a barrel, he watched as a group of children entered the store. As the store owner was busy __________ to customers, one of the children slipped a loaf of bread into his bag. Kally had found the suspects. The children, ________ red-handed, confessed to the thefts. Their families were too poor to afford even the __________. Kally wrote about his findings in his column, clearing the hobo’s name. The townsfolk, __________ of their quick judgement, apologized to the hobo. The store owners, __________ the children’s dilemma, decided to help their families.

Life returned to its simple rhythm, but with a newfound respect for the young boy. And under the bridge, a sign was fixed that read, “Never __________ a book by its cover.”

7 . Ariel Procaccia has thought a lot about how to cut a cake over the last 15 years. As the father of three children, he knows how hard it is to divide a birthday cake to everyone’s satisfaction. But it’s also because Procaccia’s work focuses on exploring the mathematical rules for dividing stuff up fairly. One way to do that is to think abstractly about dessert.

For decades, researchers have been asking the seemingly simple question of how to cut a cake fairly. The answer reaches far beyond birthday parties. A mathematical problem at its heart, cake cutting connects strict reasoning to real-world issues of fairness, and so attracts not only mathematicians, but also social scientists, economists and more. “It’s a very elegant model in which you can distill what fairness really is, and reason about it,” Procaccia says.

The simplest approach is called the “divider-chooser” method, where one person cuts the cake into two equal pieces in his view, and the other person picks first. Each receives a piece that they feel is as valuable as the other’s. But when personal preferences are taken into account, even the easiest rule becomes complicated. Suppose Alice and Bob are to divide a cake, and Alice knows Bob prefers chocolate, she may knowingly divide the cake unequally so the smaller piece contains more chocolate. Then Bob will choose according to his preference, and Alice will get the larger piece. Both of them are satisfied with what they get, but the meaning of fairness changes in this situation.

The cake is a symbol for any divisible good. When cake-cutting principles are employed to settle disagreements, they are potentially helping the world find solutions. Procaccia has used fair division algorithms (算法) to model food distribution. Social scientist Haris Aziz is exploring situations ranging from how to divide up daily tasks to how to best schedule doctors’ shifts in hospitals.

Even after decades of investigation, cake cutting isn’t like a simple jigsaw puzzle (拼图) with a well-defined solution. Instead, over time, it has evolved into a kind of mathematical sandbox, a constructive playground that brings together abstract proofs and easy applications. The more researchers explore it, the more there is to explore.

8 . To better understand the ocean’s overall health, researchers hope to utilize some simplest creatures as tools to assess aquatic ecosystems. All they need is stunning $20 worth of materials, a 3D-printer, and some natural jellyfish.

Although it’s extremely dangerous, technologically challenging, and expensive for humans to reach the ocean’s deepest regions, jellyfish do it all the time. Jellyfish first began dancing through Earth’s ancient oceans at least half a billion years ago, making them some of the planet’s oldest creatures. In all that time, however, their biological appearance has remained pretty consistent — a bell-shaped, brainless head attached to a mass of tentacles （触须）, all of which is composed of around 95 percent water. Unfortunately, that same steady state can’t be said of their habitat, thanks to humanity’s ongoing environmental impacts. “Since they don’t have a brain or the ability to sense pain, we’ve been able to cooperate with bioethicists to develop this biohybrid robotic application in a way that’s ethically principled,” a lead researcher of this study, John Dabiri said in a recent profile.

Previously, Dabiri’s lab implanted jellyfish with a kind of electronic pacemaker that controls the speed at which they swim. This time, the team went a step further, adding what they call a forebody to the jellyfish. It is like a hat that sits on top of the jellyfish’s bell. This 3D-printed, hat-like addition not only houses electronics and sensors, but makes its wearer even faster. In a specially built, three-story vertical aquarium, a jellyfish equipped with a combination of the swimming pacemaker and forebody can swim up to 4.5 times faster than its all-natural counterpart.

“It’s well known that the ocean is critical for determining our present and future climate on land, and yet, we still know surprisingly little about the ocean, especially away from the surface,” Dabiri said. “Our goal is to finally move that needle by taking an unconventional approach inspired by one of the few animals that already successfully explores the entire ocean.”By controlling their jellies’ vertical ascent and descent, Dabiri’s team believes the biohybrids could help gather deep ocean data previously obtainable only by using extremely price y research vessels and equipment.