The concept of “gap days”     1     (appear) on a variety of social media platforms recently. Unlike a gap year, a gap day means an     2     (extreme) brief period of relaxation and escape from everyday routine. After resting, people will continue to devote     3     (they) to the busy pace of normal life.

Apart from “gap days”, other similar expressions have made     4     hit on the Internet, such as “city walk”, “da zi (activity partner)” and so on. This growing trend of creating new phrases or euphemisms (委婉语) for something otherwise ordinary and common has caused     5     (heat) discussion.

Some people think that these kinds of new phrases better cater to (迎合) people’s mindsets,     6     (show) their optimism. For example, the common expression “taking a walk” is neutral (中性的). But “city walk”     7     (be) the positive version of it, meaning “to explore the city with a curious mind”.

Others disagree, however, and think that it’s simply just a kind of “sugaring up”, satisfying one’s need for showing off. For example, “city walk” is the same as “taking a walk”     8     general. But by calling it a “city walk”, people feel like they are doing something fancier than it actually is.

But no matter how we think of these phrases, they have taken root in our daily lives and have already gained wide     9     (recognize) among the younger generation. So     10     we need to do is not make them out to be bigger than they actually are.

2 . Taking a vacation may be the last thing on the mind of a cancer patient. ________ can be expensive, time-consuming and sometimes hard work. While people facing illness may be ________ of resources for vacation, they are ________ a stress-free time away. I’m one such ________.

I’m suffering from lung cancer. Diagnosed in March 2017, I was ________ beyond belief. At that time, I was ________ 60 hours a week as a billing clerk. Due to my medications’ side effects, I ________ my career and what I thought made me who I was, though I now discover that ________ is what matters.

Through the Internet, I ________ Little Pink Houses of Hope, a nonprofit that provided a free week-long ________ to cancer patients and their families. After applying and being ________, we drove from Houston all the way to Hatteras Island in North Carolina. It rained most of the time, so I ________ the beauty along the way. I had no idea what to expect and was ________.

Looking back, I am so glad I went. I hadn’t felt such ________ love and such a sense of family. We went to the beach, had wonderful meals and went surfing which I had never thought I would get the chance to do. We ________ in a way that I thought was impossible, not only with the other ________ but also with the volunteers. It was nice to see my husband get along with the other husbands. Being a(n) ________ and the breadwinner,” he had a lot on his plate.

I’ve suffered from the cancer for many years and I undergo ________ every year. I want people to know that though I am living with a serious disease, I am still living ________. So don’t feel sorry for me, but make the ________ of life with me.

7 . The following small European villages will provide you with a chance to experience the beauty of nature and a sense of adventure, from climbing a mountain to taking a dive in the ocean.

Deià, Spain

Hidden between the towering Tramuntana Mountain and the blue Mediterranean, the village’s natural beauty inspires not just writers and painters, but adventure-seekers, too. From this peaceful village, cyclists can ride across this mountainous but bike-friendly region. After working up a sweat, they can go to the best beach, Cala Deià, in Spain. Its waters are perfect for giving the tired muscles a break with a relaxing dive.

Mürren, Switzerland

In Mürren, the fun starts before you arrive. This beautiful Swiss village sits on a Bernese Oberland mountain shelf so high that travelers must arrive by cable car. Like many mountain resort towns these days, Mürren offers year-round activities. Besides downhill skiing in winter, brave climbers can enjoy themselves from June to October, with or without a guide.

San Gimignano, Italy

In the Middle Age, wealthy families of this hill town went on a tower-building competition. At one point there were more than 70 towers, some of which were nearly 200 feet in height. Initially built as defenses in wars with neighboring villages, the towers became symbols of wealth and fame. Today, the village draws both history and wine lovers. Visitors can enjoy the famous white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, at the tasting centers which overlook the surrounding grape hills.

Chipping Campden, England

Arguably the loveliest village in England, Chipping Campden isn’t just a photographer’s dream. It is also known for the annual Olympic Games in summer, a 400-year tradition that copies the Greek Olympics. It includes horseracing, coursing, jumping, backswords and country dancing. But the highlight is the wrestling that thankfully has never caught on anywhere else.

9 . Whom should you marry? Where should you live? How should you spend your time? For centuries, people have relied on their gut instincts (直觉) to figure out the answers to these life-changing questions. Now, though, there is a better way. We are living through a data explosion, as vast amounts of information about all aspects of human behavior have become more and more accessible. We can use this big data to help determine the best course to chart.

There has long been overwhelming- and often surprising- evidence that algorithms (算法) can be much better than people at making difficult decisions. Researchers have collected data on various kinds of choices people make, the information they base those choices on, and how things turn out. They have found, for example, that a simple data-driven algorithm would have been better than judges at deciding whether a defendant should stay in jail (监狱) or be released; better than doctors at deciding whether a patient should get a procedure; and better than school principals at deciding which teachers should be promoted.

The power of data analysis has been proved in the sports and business worlds, too. As made famous by the book and movie Moneyball, baseball teams found that algorithms were better than scouts (物色优秀运动员的人) at picking players, and better than managers at picking strategies. In finance, the hedge fund (避险基金) Renaissance Technologies dramatically defeated competitors by seeking out patterns in stock market data and using them to inform its investment strategy. Tech firms in Silicon Valley have found that data from experiments provides better insights into how to design their websites than designers could.

These are the early days of the data revolution in decision-making. I am not claiming that we can completely outsource (外包) our lifestyle choices to algorithms, though we might get to that point in the future. I am claiming instead that we can all dramatically improve our decision-making by consulting evidence mined from thousands or millions of people who faced dilemmas similar to ours. And we can do that now.

10 . A new study finds that less than seven percent of the adult population in the US have what health experts consider good cardiometabolic (心脏代谢) health.

Using information on roughly 55,000 people over the age of 20, the results show just 6.8 percent of American adults reached optimal (最佳的) levels of health in 2018. Moreover, the study found American health has been in sharp decline over the last 20 years. In 1999, one in three adults had a healthy weight. By 2018, that number fell to just one in four Americans. At the same time, three in five people were free of diabetes in 1999. By 2018, however, more than six in ten adults had the condition!

“These numbers are striking. It’s deeply problematic that in the United States, fewer than 1 in 15 adults have optimal cardiometabolic health,” says Meghan O’Hearn, one of the researchers from Tufts University. “We need a complete overhaul (革新) of our healthcare system, food system, and living conditions, because this is a crisis for everyone.”

Instead of just looking for signs of disease, the team focused their study on the signs of good, moderate, and poor cardiometabolic health. “Disease is not the only problem,” O’Hearn explains. “We don’t just want to be free of disease. We want to achieve optimal health and well-being.”

Researchers also found large health gaps between US adults of different genders, ages, and education levels. Specifically, the study found Americans with less education were half as likely to be in peak cardiometabolic health.

O’Hearn adds, “Identifying these individuals and addressing their health conditions and lifestyle early is critical to reducing growing healthcare burdens. Its impacts on national healthcare spending and the financial health of the entire economy are enormous. And these conditions are largely preventable. We have the public health and clinical interventions and policies to be able to address these problems.”