1 . As a traveler with a disability, I have always avoided cruises. This expedition-style small-ship cruise changed my mind.

When our expedition leader ________ we would make a Zodiac (卓迪船) ________ at Jan Mayen, a tiny island in the Arctic Ocean, I stepped out onto my balcony aboard our ship, ________ to find clear skies and calm seas. ________, I was met with a gust of wet wind and a view of mist-covered mountains in the distance. Jan Mayen wasn’t on our itinerary (行程), and due to its ________ location and often unpredictable weather, very few people ever ________ the island. I knew the ________ weren’t ideal, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

In fact, the possibility of ________ adventures was one of the reasons I chose this small-ship cruise. So I ________ joined my shipmates in the mud room, where we put on waterproof clothes and life jackets before hopping in the Zodiacs for a bumpy ________ to a black-sand beach. Even the fierce wind and rain couldn’t ________ our excitement as we ________ our way to the beach and hiked to a viewpoint, pausing to photograph little purple flowers ________ the volcanic rocks.

Our visit there wasn’t about what we could do or see. It was an opportunity to just be—to exist in a brief ________ on a tiny, often inaccessible, volcanic rock in the Arctic. And that’s something I never thought I’d ________ in my lifetime.

2 . As its name suggests, online therapy (心理治疗) allows people with mental health disorders to connect to a licensed therapist over the Internet. Five years ago, large scale online therapy providers started offering their services to the public.

    1    . Anyone who has access to a smart device and an internet connection will have the ability to talk to a therapist online. Many providers ask potential clients several questions prior to signing up. These questions can range from how old they are to what their current relationship status is.     2    , their algorithm (算法) then pairs them with a licensed therapist for personalized therapy sessions. Clients generally then proceed to a secure and dedicated chat room that is only accessible to them and their therapist.

There are a large list of benefits to this type of therapy. People who use an online therapy service frequently mention that they can manage the monthly payments, which generally do not exceed £200 per month.     3    . Additionally, it reduces the stigma (污名) surrounding therapy.

For all the love online therapy has received lately, it doesn't come without its flaws. The main issues many people have with online therapy are the absence of verbal or facial cues and moral implications. Due to these reasons, professional organizations are hesitant to fully support online therapy.     4    .

There are many considerations to take into account prior to joining an online therapy platform. It's important to keep in mind that though many people are already using one of these services, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a good option for you.     5    , understand the risks and potentially limited impact it can have.

3 . BOLOGNA CHILDREN'S BOOK FAIR ILLUSTRATORS EXHIBITION 2024-58^TH EDITION

A BCBF highlight, the Illustrators Exhibition is a unique international showcase for state-of-the-art illustrations for children and young adults.

WHO CAN ENTER

Illustrators, both professionals and beginners, can enter unpublished artwork, or artwork published in the previous 2 years.

Art schools can enter the projects by students who have attended their Institute.

Publishers can enter illustrators they work with.

FEATURES OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustrators must enter their artworks exclusively online by December 31, 2023.

The 5 artworks must be based on the same theme, and must be numbered, as preferred, from 1 to 5 on the digital format file.

The 5 illustrations—5, no more, no less—may be unpublished artwork or artwork published after 1 January 2022. The work can be in black and white or colour and be produced using any technique.

The digital format must be: jpg or png, maximum size 5 MB, resolution 150 DPI.

SELECTION PROCESS

All works shall be examined by the international Jury comprising five members (from publishing houses, art schools, or illustrators) appointed by BolognaFiere. The Jury's decision shall be final.

WINNERS

Being selected will give illustrators great visibility with the publication of their works in the Illustrators Annual and the 2-year world tour of the exhibition.

Winners under 35 will automatically be shortlisted (入围) for the International Award for Illustration Bologna Children's Book Fair, which consists of a prize of 15,000 Euro and the assignment to illustrate a children's book to be published by Grupo SM, Spain.

Unpublished winners under 30 will also compete for the ARS IN FABULA scholarship, which covers the entire Masters course fee.

CONTACTS

If you have problems or need assistance: bf＠archimedia. it

4 . Jokes and humor are often thought of as unimportant. If the lawyer defending you in court couldn’t stop joking, you’d be understandably alarmed.

However, regarding humour as insignificant is a mistake. Humour, jokes and laughter, have a vital role to play in human behaviour and interaction. They are a powerful part of social bonding and are genuinely beneficial for health via their stress-relieving properties.

Why do we respond, in such powerful and rewarding ways, to things that objectively make little sense? A substantial amount of data has been generated regarding how humour works in the brain and on the various types of recognisable jokes that trigger it.

Verbal puns, the most familiar type of joke, involve words that convey two meanings at once. For example, “Why did the golfer wear two pairs of trousers? In case he got a hole in one.” Here “hole in one” has two possible interpretations. Their simplicity and familiarity mean most people recognise the humour in puns. So, the brain’s humour processes are still engaged.

But where does humour arise from in the brain? Considerable research points towards a specific system in the brain for recognizing humour. This system seemingly detects and resolves incongruity (不和谐). Our brains know how things, like language and behaviors, should work. But, in the real world, many things don’t match our expectations. It seems our brains have evolved a system to recognise when this happens.

If normality is subverted, it means we don’t know what’s going to happen, which creates cognitive (认知) tension. However, the system that recognises incongruity seemingly also resolves it, by providing an explanation, or at least a confirmation that the incongruity has no negative consequences. This removes the uncertainty, relieving the tension. So, we experience a rewarding feeling. If the incongruity is not resolved, however, humour is absent. If the answer to “Why did the golfer wear two pairs of trousers?” is “in case the metal owl that lives in his gold bag attacks him”, that’s not funny. There’s unresolved incongruity.

Humour is essentially our brain going, “This isn’t how things usually work... but I’m okay with it!”

Qingtuan, or sweet green rice balls, is     1     typical and popular Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day ) food in China’s eastern provinces.

Qingtuan     2     (make) of a mixture of glutinous (黏的) rice flour and green plant juice, and stuffed with sweetened bean paste. A green plant called mugwort, or “Ai Cao” in Chinese, is     3     brings the color to the delicacy. This time of year is when the plant has just jumped out of the earth and is at its     4     (fine).

With some soda     5     (add) to the water, the plant is boiled into a state of paste. Normal rice flour is mixed into glutinous rice flour to make the rice ball sticky,     6     not too soft to be shaped. Next, the liquid is poured into the powder. This rice dough is then kneaded (揉) into little green balls.

The green rice balls can have various fillings, most traditionally being sesame (芝麻) or bean paste. But nowadays some people also make     7     (one) filled with pork meat, pickled vegetables and bamboo shoots.

    8     (date) back to the Tang dynasty, the sweet green rice balls have been around for some 1000 years.     9     (original) a food to sacrifice to ancestors, they have gradually become a dish of the season. For people who leave their hometowns for work elsewhere, the sweet green rice balls are a delicacy reminding them     10     home.

7 . Most adults view human life as especially precious. For example, a survey of millions of people in 233 countries, most of them in their 20s and 30s, found they largely agreed that self-driving cars should crash into dogs or cats instead of people if they had to choose.

However, growing evidence suggests many young children feel differently. Using a toy railway and Lego figures, Matti Wilks and her colleagues at the University of Edinburgh presented 170 children aged 6 to 9 in an urban part of Poland with scenarios (场景) based on a thought experiment called the trolley problem.

The children had to decide whether to direct a runaway rail car down one of two tracks so that it crashed into a Lego person or a Lego animal — either a dog or chimpanzee (大猩猩). Surprisingly, children were likely to save a dog over a person. About 42 percent of the children wanted to save the dog and make the rail car collide with the person, compared with just 17 percent of adults. About 28 per cent of children also prioritized the chimpanzee over the person, compared with 11 percent of adults.

“Children learn from their parents, teachers and others that it’s morally (道德上) important to care for others, but it may be easier for them to learn this as a blanket rule,” says Karri Neldner at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. As a result, they don’t show a strong preference for saving one over the other, she says. “However, as they get older, they might pick up on cultural narratives that tell us it’s really important to care for other people,” says Neldner.

The reason children value dogs so highly is probably due to familiarity, says Wilks. Her studies have found that children who spent more time with dogs were more likely to say they would save a dog over a person.

Harbin has witnessed a significant boom that has caused it to trend on social media this winter. By December 20, 2023, the city airport’s annual passenger throughput (接待人数)     1     (go) beyond 20 million. According to a news report, during the three-day New Year holiday, Harbin received 3.05 million tourists and made     2     income of 5.91 billion yuan, both of     3     reached record high.

Harbin, which is also known     4     China’s “ice city”, is famous for its ice and snow culture. For more than 60 years, the city has had a tradition of holding an annual ice lantern exhibition,     5     (present) the creativity and skill of its artists. Recently, the Ice and Snow World,     6     (recognize) by the Guinness World Records as the largest ice and snow park, is just one of many     7     (attraction) in the city. It features     8     (amaze) ice and snow sculptures, including replicas (复制品) of famous landmarks, animals, and cartoon characters.

“For individual travelers, a city’s infrastructure and public services form the foundation of tourism competitiveness. It is only when tourists feel the     9     (warm) of the city and the goodwill of its citizens     10     they blend into the lives of a travel destination,” said Dai Bin, president of China Tourism Academy.

9 . The morning commute (通勤) is never fun. But if you pass through Stevenage on your way to work, your morning might be a little ________ thanks to the cat Nala.

Dragging yourself out of bed in the morning and off to work is hard, ________ on dark winter mornings. However, you might ________ to come out of the house with a spring in your step if your commute started at Stevenage station, where you’d be ________ by a cat called Nala.

Usually found sitting on a ticket gate, four-year-old Nala lives close to the station with her owner Natasha Ambler, and often ________ the station at rush hour to enjoy attention from commuters. Ambler ________ a Facebook page called The Adventures of Nala where hundreds of people have voluntarily ________ photos of the adventurous cat.

Recent photos posted by commuters include Nala ________ in line for her canned food at a supermarket, napping on newspaper stands and ________ with commuters at the station barriers to get their attention.

Nala wears a GPS tracking device so that her ________ can be kept track of, and is usually found at the railway station or the ________ leisure park. As well as the usual collar with her name and owners’________ information, Nala wears a tag to let people know that she’s not ________.

According to the BBC, Ambler reported that she’s not ________ about Nala in the slightest: “She’s obviously ________ and she’s very happy doing what she does — I just hope one day she doesn’t actually try to get on a train.”

10 . Hip hop is a subculture and an art movement that emerged (出现) from the Bronx in New York City during the early 1970s. Its development reflected the negative effects of post-industrial decline, political discourse, and a rapidly changing economy.

Looking back to New York City during this era, we see an economic collapse. The city’s economy was falling apart due to the decline of the manufacturing industry. Much of the middle class moved to the suburbs to escape the social and economic challenges.

Consequently, businesses closed their doors, causing many economic opportunities and sources of entertainment to disappear. As a result, urban youth turned to the streets for recreation and self-expression. The abandoned buildings and parking lots set the stage for block parties. These block parties laid the groundwork for early hip hop culture. DJs and MCs brought the music by setting up mobile “Sound Systems” introduced by Jamaican culture. Sheets of cardboard became dance floors for break-dancers, and brick walls transformed into canvases for graffiti. The emerging hip hop culture also became an outlet to deal with despair, abandonment and even violence.

Several people were influential in creating hip hop. Among the most famous ones is DJ Kool Herc, the “founding father of hip hop.” The Jamaican American made history in 1973 when he and his sister hosted the “Back to School” party in their apartment building. This historical party is recognized for launching the hip hop movement. Herc was also famous for creating a DJ technique called “break beat”-a mixing practice he adapted from Jamaican music. He noticed that people often waited for drum breaks of a record to dance. This took place when every instrument stopped playing except for the drums. Then the DJ would use two turntables (唱机转盘) to switch back and forth between two copies of the same record. The break section was also the most anticipated part of a song where people danced the most.

The DJ kept growing in popularity throughout the 1970s. He moved on to larger parks, played in clubs and inspired other DJs who helped this type of dance music to develop.