2 . Emily Bhatnagar has always loved reading. “Growing up, I was really shy, so I always turned to books,” she said. “They became my best friends when I didn’t have one.”

In 2019, when Emily was in her second year of high school, her dad suffered from cancer. The news was difficult for the family. Books became an even bigger comfort, and she started thinking about families in similar situations. When her father recovered, she came up with a plan to help others. “The idea came from the fact that there were kids who were facing the same problem,” she said.

Then, Emily started the book drive in her hometown, Gaithersburg, Maryland. The goal was to collect books and give them to kids being treated for cancer in local hospitals. Her father was not surprised by this plan. “She always wants to do things for the neighborhood,” he said. Since the start of the book drive, which she calls For Love & Buttercup, Emily has collected more than 10,000 books.

Emily had no idea how much attention her work would get. She started by posting on social media, asking people in her area to donate. “I was expecting maybe two or three neighbors to do it,” she said. “But it ended up blowing up,” especially when newspapers began reporting it.

The Children’s Inn is one of the places where Emily has donated books. “Donations like Emily’s share a piece of the world with kids and families that they may not experience,” said its director, Aisha Campbell. Emily continues to run the book drive with her parents’ help. She hopes to one day make it reach more kids. The memory of the first time she visited children who’d received her books sticks with her. “It was the best day of my life,” she said. “I realized I wanted to do this type of work forever.”

3 . My mother was a cook. Through her I learned to appreciate how a handful of ingredients could create delicious, nutritious meals on tight budgets. And in our home, nothing was ever wasted, as we shopped for food needs as opposed to wants.

I talk about all this because I’m absolutely shocked by the price of groceries. And, as someone who has been writing about the food industry for decades, and having weathered the economic depression when the price was also high—I have never seen things as bad as they are today.

Just recently, I couldn’t bring myself to purchase three small potatoes for almost $7. I saw cucumbers for $3.99 EACH. Some stores had grapes at a ridiculous $6.99 a pound. Add to that the alarming increase in everyday food, like coffee, milk and dairy, no wonder everyone is feeling the pinch(拮据).

I went shopping on the weekend, and came out with $186 worth of food in three grocery bags. I returned two items immediately. I purchased a liter of milk that had been marked down 50%—but I didn’t catch in time that the cashier forgot to ring in the discount, and charged me full price.

As I just feed my husband and myself, I can afford to purchase more organic proteins, like chicken. But I can also appreciate not every family can afford to do so, which is my major concern.

Can the increase of food prices be slowed down or even stopped? With the increasing consumer demand for foods not in season or readily available, plus people looking for fast convenience, I do believe the answer lies within us: We need to take back control over the foods we eat. Stop listening to all the hype (宣传) that convenience is better than cooking creativity, and just get back to basics.

People need to go back to basics, learn some fundamental kitchen essentials and truly be mindful of cooking practices. Just as an old saying goes, if you give someone a fish, they’ll eat for a day, but if you teach someone to fish, they’ll eat forever.

4 . Standing Indian Campground

For those who want world-class whitewater rafting(漂流)

·Location: Located inside the Nantahala National Forest

·Campground Contact: (828)524-6441

·Park Hours: Open 24 hours

·Campground Website

Standing Indian Campground is one of several campgrounds located inside the Nantahala National Forest. Established in 1920, the Nantahala National Forest got its name from the Cherokee word meaning “Land of the Noonday Sun”. The half-a-million-acre forest is also one of four managed by the United States Forest Service and is settled deep within the mountains.

The National Forest is also home to three appointed Wilderness Areas and two Wild and Scenic Rivers. These famed rivers also offer world-class kayaking, canoeing, whitewater rafting, boating, water-skiing, fishing, and swimming. For hikers, the famous Appalachian Trail runs directly through the forest, so don’t be alarmed if you see a hiker walking on the trail. In addition, like many national forests in North Carolina, camping is free of charge at several spots in Nantahala National Forest. At this campground, you can also camp at a height of 3,880 feet under evergreens near the Nantahala River.

The campground also features several loops (环形) that are perfect for tent camping and large enough for RVs. In addition, Standing Indian is a convenient spot for travellers passing through, yet ideal enough for those who want to stay longer.

Campground Breakdown:

·88 Sites in Total

·Standard Nonelectric Premium Site: $20 per night

·Standard Site: $20 per night

·Group Standard Nonelectric: $75 per night, accommodates up to 25 people

·Double Site: $40 per night

Standing Indian Facilities: Picnic tables, fire rings, toilets, showers

5 . If you’re in the market for a new food or water dish for your cat, you might want to check out Free the Ocean’s Bamboo Cat Bowls. These are made from bamboo fibers and rice husks(稻壳).

The presence of bamboo—used as a renewable filler in the dish’s composition—is part of what makes it greener. Bamboo, which is technically a grass, grows faster than trees. Not surprisingly, it produces more oxygen and absorbs more carbon dioxide than trees.

Rice husk is a byproduct of rice production that poses a challenge to farmers, due to its resistance to decomposition (分解), digestion, and low nutritional value as animal feed. Its use as a filler provides a purpose for an otherwise useless material and, along with the bamboo, reduces the need for plastic fillers.

While plastic is still needed to make the cat bowl, the rationale behind their increased eco-friendliness is that less actual plastic is required when more natural fillers are used. The total amount of plastic required to make each product is reduced, because the bamboo fibres make up a significant percentage of the overall composite(合成) material.

Plastic cat dishes harbor bacteria even if pet owners clean them regularly, which can put your cat’s health at risk. However, the bamboo cat bowl is BPA-free and will not release harmful chemicals into your pet’s water the way that conventional plastic can. Bamboo is naturally antibacterial. And, of course, you can throw it in the top rack of the dishwasher for easy cleaning.

One customer said, “I prefer these cat food bowls and so do my cats. The cats like the low lip that makes it easy to eat out of and I like the fact that they’re made of bamboo and that purchasing them makes a difference for plastic pollution! Easy to wash in the dishwasher.”

Chinese archeologists have successfully unearthed an animal bronze statue at the Sanxingdui Ruins in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province.     1     (weigh) more than 300 grams, the mythical beast is about one meter tall and one meter long and it is also the largest animal bronze statue ever     2     (see).

The bronze statue looks like a mythical beast     3     a large mouth, slim waist and four feet. Of note, a human figure wearing a long coat stands     4     (exact) on the head of the beast. Researchers think that it may show that the person is riding or controlling the beast.

Zhao Hao, the researcher in charge, explains that since the excavation of the Sanxingdui Ruins first started in 1986, all the animal statues     5     (be) small, around 20-30 centimeters long, but the     6    (discover) of the new bronze statue sets a new record, and as of now, is     7     only large-sized animal statue.

The chest of the beast also sports the image of a tree. “This tree,     8     was directly cast on the beast, reflects a fact that indicates that the Sanxingdui people regarded     9     (tree) as a kind of remarkable thing,” Zhao said.

So far, nearly 14,000     10     (culture) relics have been extracted from the sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui.

7 . A food allergy (过敏) is a medical condition that occurs when the body’s protection system perceives certain foods as a threat and responds to them with an allergic reaction.

Symptoms (症状) of a food allergy

    1     However, a severe reaction can take up to a few hours following exposure. Symptoms can range from mild to severe. And they may differ each time a specific allergen appears. Symptoms can include: a skin rash or hives, swelling of the face or lips, or feeling lightheaded or dizzy.     2     That can send the body into shock or make it difficult to breathe.

Judging a food allergy

Doctors consider a number of factors when investigating a food allergy. Those include both a patient’s symptoms and family history of allergies. A physical examination may be performed to rule out any other conditions.     3    

Treating a food allergy

It may not be possible for a patient to completely avoid foods that induce (导致) an allergic reaction. For minor reactions, you can take some medicine. For severe reactions, however, turn to doctors for help.

    4    

The only sure way to prevent an allergic reaction to food is to carefully avoid the allergens. This can be a difficult process. That requires patients to carefully study food labels to ensure the food is safe for them.     5     So it’s necessary to inform family or friends of the food that can cause a food allergy.

8 . Graduation Day is a memorable experience for all who participate. Families and friends _________ to celebrate the accomplishment, and students are _________ about what the future holds and nearly can’t wait to hug tomorrow. But when duty calls—it doesn’t matter what _________ it is, you answer the call.

Six Long Island High School students recently graduated, but they’ll _________ more than getting their graduation certificate. As they were taking photos excitedly after the ceremony, they _________ to a garage fire.

Often during an _________, one never knows what they are heading into. In this case, the students _________ responding to a structure fire at one of their fellow graduates’ home. _________, the fire was put out quickly.

The six students who controlled the fire have been _________ for this type of scene for years since they became junior volunteer __________. But this was the first time they had got involved.

All are grateful for the students’ __________ and wish them well.

The students admitted the night before that they __________ about what would happen if a fire occurred on their graduation day. The punchline (笑点): it actually __________. And they handled it very well.

Their graduation day didn’t end in the __________ way, but it will still be one to remember according to Ryan, one of the heroes. He said, “We definitely remember it as a __________ memory.”

10 . What makes a word real? Who has the power to make those kinds of official decisions about words? Those are the questions many people have in mind. When most people say a word isn’t real, what they mean is that it doesn’t appear in a dictionary. That, of course, raises some other questions, including, who writes dictionaries?

Now, dictionaries are good resources, but they are changeable. If you ask dictionary editors, what they’ll tell you is that they’re just trying to keep up with people as people change the language. They’re watching what people say and what people write and trying to figure out what’s going to stick and what’s not going to stick.

Every January, dictionary editors go to the American Dialect Society Meeting every year, where among other things, they decide on the word of the year. There are about 200 or 300 people who come. Some of them are the best known linguists(语言学家) in the United States. In the past, some of the winners have been “staycation” to describe a vacation spent at home and “tweet” to describe a post made on the social networking service Twitter.

So how does a word get into a dictionary? It gets in because people use it and people keep using it, and dictionary editors are paying attention to people. If a community of speakers is using a word and knows what it means, it’s real. That word might be informal and that word might be a word that you think is illogical(不合逻辑的) or unnecessary, but as long as people are using the word, it is real. I hope that what you can do is to find language change not annoying but fun and interesting, just the way dictionary editors do. I hope you can enjoy being part of the creativity that is continually remaking our language and keeping it alive.