1 . Anytime I travel on my bicycle across the country, I’m always amazed by how kind people can be to strangers.

One night, my friends and I were camping in a town in Missouri. There was a severe storm and we were getting ______ . A complete stranger came by to ______ us that there were tornadoes(龙卷风)heading our way. The stranger invited us to his home. We were surprised by his ______ for our safety. Later we learned that there had been a lightening strike near the place where we had camped and several cattle had been ______

Fortunately, we spent the night in a nice dry home. We were ______ given the opportunity to take a shower. The next morning we had breakfast with the family and ______ contact information. In a way we felt like the family had become a part of our journey. This was one of the most heartwarming ______ of my life because this family had nothing to ______ by being so kind to us. We were ______ not the type they would usually ______ but they treated us with respect and kindness.

The kindness of a stranger always ______ my faith in humanity. Whatever the person ______ always comes with no strings attached and that’s the most _____ part.

That family _____ us so much that during the rest of the trip, we _____ others out every chance we got. We even bought food with our busking(街头卖艺) tips for the homeless. It’s always heartwarming when giving feels as good as receiving.

Embracing the Magic of Print Media

3 . It’s that time of year, again, somehow time for the list of UK LEGO events of this year 2023. Here is a rough guide.

Discovery Brick Show

Date:30th, April-1st, May

Place: Discovery Museum

Description: This LEGO show in central Newcastle returns, with LEGO models from builders across the UK, activities and a marketplace for LEGO-lovers.

Cost: Some free activities; entry to the marketplace requires a paid ticket.

Thirsk Brick Show

Date:12th February

Place: Thirsk& Sowerby Town Hall

Description: A small LEGO show in this town hall, back for its third year. The money that is made from the show goes to an aged care centre in the town. LEGO displays and some activities.

Cost: A small entry fee in aid of charity.

Hull Brick Festival

Date:13th-14th August

Place: Guildhall

Description: This show is in its seventh year and this time it’s in town for the whole weekend! Awesome

LEGO creations from the best builders in the UK, fun activities plus several specialist

LEGO traders with everything from new bargain sets, loose bricks to custom accessories.

Cost: Free entry; ticket booking is recommended.

Caterham Model Show

Date:17th September

Place: Sacred Heart Centenary Hall

Description: This remarkable LEGO and model show is back again this year. LEGO as well as non-LEGO displays, activities and traders who buy and sell a lot of unique LEGO creations.

Cost: Paid tickets are required for entry; see the event page for details.

4 . Animal volunteering abroad is the perfect opportunity for animal lovers who want to do something good while traveling. Here are several programs.

Leatherback Turtle Ambassador

Our main mission is to protect endangered sea turtles such as the leatherback sea turtle and the green sea turtle. By working with locals and environmental education programs, we will be able to educate people on the importance of protecting the valuable sea ecosystem.

Location: Limon, Costa Rica

Requirements: Age: 18-50; Language skill: basic English

Fee: 266€ per week

Wildlife Shelter Carer

Every year, hundreds of thousands of native animals are injured or become sick, often because of interaction with people or pets. Our wildlife shelters have rescued sick, injured native wildlife and loved them back to health to be returned to the natural environment. Since we receive no funding from governments, the shelters rely on the donations of volunteers and the public.

Location: New South Wales, Australia

Requirements: Age: 18-50; Language skill: fluent English

Fee: 706€ per week

Thai Elephant Sanctuary

Our program helps domesticated elephants rescued from a life of working on the streets or logging and provides care to rescued elephant population. The program has won numerous awards for its ethical contribution to the assistance of Thai Elephants. The team have rescued dozens of elephants and given them shelters in beautiful, open spaces.

Location: Phetchaburi province, Thailand

Requirements: Age: 18-50; Language skill: fluent English

Fee: 647€ per week

Force-free Horse Sanctuary Assistant

Are you passionate about horses and eager to make a positive impact on horse welfare? Join our incredible Force-Free Horse Sanctuary Program, where you’ll become part of a devoted team caring for our beautiful horses. Through positive reinforcement and force-free horsemanship skills, you’ll help improve the lives of these magnificent animals.

Location: Atajate, Spain

Requirements: Age: 14-50; Language skill: basic English or basic Spanish

Fee: 392€ per week

5 . Wang Fang, a Suzhou native, has given her heart and soul to Kunqu Opera. Wang, who has twice won the Plum Performance Award — China’s top award for theater and opera performances-started to learn the traditional art form in 1977.

Born with a melodic voice, Wang loved to sing and dance when she was little. She performed frequently, and was recruited by the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Troupe (剧团) when she was in middle school. However, her parents refused the troupe’s invitation, insisting that she should concentrate on her studies and not drop out of school. After members of the troupe visited the parents repeatedly and showed great sincerity,Wang’s parents finally agreed.

Learning the traditional art form was never easy. She started to learn how to pronounce words, sing them lyrically and make gestures gently. As an actress playing martial artists roles at first, she had to spend extra time practicing kung fu movements. Years later, Wang used the word “unimaginable” to describe how hard the days were when she first learned Kunqu. She was soaked in sweat when practicing movements in summer, while in winter she often had chilblains (冻疮) on her hands when training in shabby classrooms with broken windows. “But I was young and determined at the time. No matter how difficult, I always got up early the next morning to practice,” Wang recalls.

Wang says she did not love Kunqu at first, but in her early 20s,when she watched the show Peony Pavilion performed by Zhang Jiqing, a master of the art form, it clicked. “I was shocked,” Wang says. “Her every movement was full of elegance and delicacy. Each of her lines and songs was perfect. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of Kunqu for the first time in my life, and it has stayed with me since.” Now, Wang has herself become a master of Kunqu. Her performances have impressed generations and helped to promote the art form among young people.

8 . Baidu, a Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence firm, announced its latest electric autonomous driving vehicle, Apollo RT6, on Thursday. The new vehicle is a fully electric vehicle with a steering wheel (方向盘) that can be removed when not required. It will cost ¥250,000 per unit.

“The steering-wheel-free design allows more space for extra seating or other additions and the massive cost reduction will enable us to put tens of thousands of autonomous vehicles into operation across China,” Robin Li, co-founder and CEO of Baidu, said at the firm's Baidu World Conference Thursday. “We are moving towards a future where taking a robotaxi will be half the cost of taking a taxi today.”

Baidu already runs Apollo Go and Apollo Moon, taxi services using self-driving robotaxis with safety staff seated in the driver or passenger seat. They have been in operation in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, although the service is limited to specific areas. The new vehicle will soon join those robotaxis.

The RT6 has reached the industry's Level 4 out of five possible levels of technology. That means its systems can operate without a driver but must be pre-loaded with a detailed map, thus limiting the areas where the vehicles can operate. Lower levels of self-driving technology have been available for decades. For example, many Level-3 vehicles allow hands-free highway driving. Other kinds of self-driving robot vehicles are already widely used in factories warehouses and other tightly controlled settings.

Compared to previous generations where the technology was mainly used on conventional vehicles, the Apollo RT6 was designed specifically with fully autonomous driving in mind.

Baidu is best known for its search engine and online advertising services, but in recent years it has invested heavily in autonomous driving and artificial intelligence technology, including automated personal assistants and AI chips.

9 . CHOOSE YOUR TRIP

Tour A—Dhaka Photography Tour

We design the Photography tour to offer you the best of Dhaka Photo Tour. Bangladesh Eco Adventure is specialized to offer photography tour in Dhaka and also outside of Dhaka. In Dhaka Photography tour we have included the lifestyle photography, general photography and many more.

Per Person(SUSD): 75 USD

Save This Month: $10 USD Per Person($USD)

Tour B—Manipuri Rash Mela Tour

It has a lot of interesting activities and the festival begins from local house yards where the little kids dressed like Krishna start dancing and collecting offerings. Afternoon in the open ground, people will gather and—make several temples by banana tree and dance around the temple. It’s the last daylight in the open air, so it looks fabulous. In the late evening in the central temple, beautifully dressed girls will start dancing in their traditional style.

Per Person($USD): 95 USD

Save This Month: $20 USD Per Person($USD)

Tour C—Sundarbans Tour with Small Boat

Sundarbans Mangrove forest is the single largest mangrove forest in the whole world located in the southwestern part of Bangladesh. The green vegetation gives a fresh feeling to your eyes and for bird lovers. About 270 types of birds have been recorded in Sundarbans which attracts bird watchers from around the globe.

Per Person($USD): 105 USD only

Save This Month: $50 USD Per Person($USD)

Tour D—Fullday Dhaka City Tour

Dhaka city tour is one of the most popular Bangladesh Eco Adventures. This tour includes a visit to all historical sites from Mugul period to our liberation war time, visiting museum, experiencing street life with a cup of tea, meeting locals and exploring locals markets, taking rickshaws in the old town and most importantly a boat tour in Burigonga river.

Per Person($USD): 85 USD

Save This Month: $15 USD Per Person($USD)

10 . Are you relatively skinny but growing a “beer belly”?

Then don’t be surprised at your next checkup if the nurse measures your waistline to determine your healthy weight. That’s because research is showing that a protruding (鼓出的) belly may be a sign of VAT — a dangerous form of fat around organs deep inside your body. “Studies confirm that visceral (内脏的) fat is a clear health risk,” said Dr. Tiffany Wiley, a senior expert at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Unlike the fat just under your skin, visceral fat raises your risk for heart disease. Experts think that’s because visceral fat raises blood pressure and inflames (使发炎) tissues and organs.

However, you can’t assume you’re safe from visceral fat if your overall weight is healthy, experts stress. That’s because you can have dangerous visceral fat even if you’re not considered overweight — and not have any visceral fat even if you are overweight.

How do you know if your stomach is protruding into dangerous size? Do a check. Non-pregnant women with a waist size greater than 88 cm and men with a waist larger than 102 cm, are at higher risk according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you’re Asian, it drops to 80 cm for women and 90 cm for men. But it is only a rough measure. “The only sure way to know is to check your visceral fat levels on a CT scan or MRI,” say experts.

According to the AHA committee, the most salutary physical activity to “shrink” belly is aerobic exercise. Aerobic means “with oxygen”, so aerobic exercise increases your breathing rate and promotes the circulation of oxygen through the blood. This type of exercise makes the heart work more effectively and improves its ability to move oxygen-carrying blood with every beat. Speed walking, jogging, stair climbing, cycling and swimming are all examples of aerobic exercise.

“However, more studies are needed to determine the best physical activity, food and other lifestyle changes to reduce heart disease risk,” Dr. Tiffany Wiley added.