2 . In 2013, Linda Reddish had to fly alone with her newborn baby from Nebraska to Chicago. However, she could only _________ the cheapest ticket, which meant she couldn’t _________ her seat. She wondered how she would breastfeed without embarrassing the _________ next to her.

But as she felt _________ in her seat on the plane, a woman, who had a really warm smile, sat down and _________ herself. Reddish then learned that her name was Karen Clemson and that she had been a nurse all her life.

“Oh, honey, don’t worry about it, Karen looked at Reddish _________ and said,” I am very happy to have a beautiful mother and baby sitting next to me.

Reddish felt _________ by having Clemson next to her during the journey. At one point, when it was time for Reddish to breastfeed, Clemson offered to _________ the baby’s blanket, to give her some _________.

“I just kept thanking her,” Reddish said. “But she said it’s OK.”

After Clemson said her goodbyes, Reddish thought she’d never __________ her again. But on her __________ flight home, there was Clemson, in the gate waiting area. Once again, Clemson __________ to sit next to Reddish. During the flight, she even helped Reddish hold the baby, so she could have a __________.

Reddish says she still __________ Clemson whenever she flies. “Because of her, every time I get on an airplane. I am __________ to sit next to a family with children if I have a chance to pick my seat.”

During his lifetime (from 551 to 479 BC), Confucius saw     1     (grow) disorder and injustice in the society. Due to the problems he saw, he devoted     2     (he) to developing a new set of moral rules     3     (base) on five virtues: respect, kindness, honesty, truthfulness and loyalty (忠诚). These virtues later became the basis for religious and moral life throughout China.

Respect and loyalty were two     4     (particular) important cornerstones in Confucius’ moral     5     (principle). They have been extended to the living as well as the dead, and paying respect to ancestors has become     6     extremely important Chinese tradition.

Confucius also believed that a good government was the basis for a     7     (peace) and happy society. And the basis for a good government was good officials. In order to become a good official, a person was required     8     (master) the above five virtues.

Although Confucius was a member of the upper class, he believed education and knowledge belonged     9     anyone who had the desire to learn. So he opened a school in his big house, in     10     many of his poor students lived with him.

4 . In the US, there is an old joke: “Tie an Italian’s hands behind his back and he’ll be speechless.” However, Susan Goldin-Meadowin, author of the book Thinking With Your Hands, has a rather different view.

“Almost everyone gestures, not just Italians,” she laughs. “Conference interpreters gesture in their little rooms, though no one is looking at them. Even people born blind gesture when they speak, including to each other. In the TV series, The Crown, Lady Diana is warned that her hands may reveal her real emotions, which could be dangerous and that they have to be tied together so she can learn to speak without gesturing.”

The gesture under discussion is the so-called “co-speech gesture”. It is much more abstract than such symbolic gestures like a finger over the lips for “Silence!” or raising a finger to mean “Great!”. Like words, such symbolic gestures are fixed within cultures (but vary between them). Instead, co-speech gestures that accompany speech are another channel of information and emotion. For example, subjects are asked to watch a film in which a cat runs, but they are told to lie and say it jumped. They may do so in words—while their hands will make a running movement. The co-speech gesture is not sign languages, either. They have clearly defined words and grammar.

And the co-speech gestures have great potential for practical applications. For example, some students who fail at a tricky mathematics problem may gesture in a way that indicates they understand it. Then they should be taught differently from the ones whose gestures suggest that they really understand it.

“Children with language delays caused by brain injuries at or around birth are likely to catch up verbally by the age of about 30 months, if they gesture as much as their peers (同龄人). Those who gesture less are more likely to need intensive early intervention,” Susan Goldin-Meadowin adds. “Co-speech gesturing is not just about a lack of control. It is about thinking and communication, and is an aid to both.”

5 . A recently published paper finds that following a Mediterranean diet for three weeks can help reduce depression and anxiety among young adults.

In the study, participants in the test group were instructed to eat about six more servings of fruits and vegetables per week, compared with the control group. In addition, they were told to get per week three servings of fish besides three recommended servings per day of whole grains. As for milk, the recommendation was three servings per week, unsweetened. Participants were also asked to consume three tablespoons of nuts and seeds per week, as well as two tablespoons of olive oil per day.

“One of the shortcomings of nutrition science is that it often relies on asking people to recall what they ate and how they felt in the past. Given our failing memories, these data can be unreliable,” says Heather Francis, one of the researchers. “But our study included a device, called spectrophotometer, which can detect the degree of yellowness in the skin, which can precisely monitor the intake of carotenoids (类胡萝卜素), which the participants get from their food.”

“We have highly consistent and extensive evidence from around the globe linking Mediterranean diets to reduced depression risk,” says Felice Jacka, a professor at Deakin University in Australia who was not involved in the study. “I think the next step is to show how diets can reduce depression.”

However, it’s almost impossible to unravel how diet changes may help improve mental health according to the strict standard in medical research, where participants do not know that they are part of the group assigned to take the medicine or the placebo (安慰剂).

“In a diet study, there’s no way to ‘blind’ the participants so that they don’t know if they’re getting the ‘medicine’ or ‘placebo’,” says Heather Francis. “And research has shown that if people are told that they’re doing something that may make them less depressed, they will indeed report less depression. That’s known as the placebo effect.”

6 . Deep in a forest of France’s Burgundy region, a group of enthusiasts have been building a castle with tools and methods from the late 13th century since 1995. Some of those working here are very skilled heritage people, and others are history lovers. But all of them share a deep respect for nature and a desire to return to simpler times.

The idea to build the castle was born in 1995 among three residents of the region. One of them, Maryline Martin, owns a nearby 17th-century house and is involved in work to restore different castles in the area.

“We thought that it would be amazing to imitate (模仿) how people did things in the past,” Martin tells public radio station France Culture. “We decided to use other ancient castles in this area as examples and get inspiration from descriptions in old books.”

On the construction site, the workers are all dressed in ancient clothing. The smell of fire is coming from a nearby blacksmith’s shop, where 20-year-old Matisse Lacroix is burning a piece of iron in a stove to make tools needed to build the castle.

“The temperature in the stove is around 1100℃, so the iron can be softened to make these nails,” Lacroix explains to a group of fourth-graders, who are watching him bending and shaping the iron into nails.

“Part of the project’s mission is to rediscover and pass along skills and knowledge from the past,” Martin tells reporters. “That learning aspect of the project is one reason why its construction is taking so long.”

Initially, the project was funded by European Union. Now it is financed through more than 300,000 visitors a year who pay between 12 and 15 euros each. The income is more than enough to cover the construction costs and payments for the 100 staff members.

As for the project’s future, Martin says it could take 10, 15, or even 20 more years to build. “But we’re OK with that. It’s not about finishing the project. It’s about the things we learn and discover while building,” he says. “I believe the way we’re working here is more sustainable. The future is low tech.”

10 . The list of music festivals seems to double each year, so we think we’d save you some time by presenting our picks that reflect a deep sense of place.

New Orleans Jazz Festival

This week-long festival was established in New Orleans, America in 1970 to celebrate the city’s status as the birthplace of jazz. Headliners that attended the first celebration included singer Mahalia Jackson and pianist Duke Ellington. Over the years, this festival has grown to showcase much more than jazz. Attendees have long enjoyed the latest hit-makers alongside booths and exhibits featuring Louisiana’s native cuisine, arts, and crafts.

Newport Folk Festival

Founded by George Wein in 1959 and best known for introducing the world to the likes of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, Newport Folk Festival is one of the oldest music festivals in America. Like New Orleans Jazz Festival, this Rhode Island event gives a false impression about the types of music one can expect to find, although it has been remaining true to its roots.

Interceltic Festival

When most people hear the word “Celtic”, they think of Ireland. But this festival takes place each summer in the heart of the seaport town of Lorient in northwestern France. While emphasizing music and dance, the ten-day festival also provides a platform for colorful expressions of Celtic art, food and drink, theater, literature, and sports.

Roskilde Music Festival

England’s Glastonbury, Hungary’s Sziget, and Denmark’s Roskilde are Europe’s three biggest music festivals. Roskilde stands out not only for its impressive and eclectic music, but for its nonprofit approach. All concert incomes are donated to support charities, music and cultural programs since its founding in 1971. With lake swimming, an on-site skate park, and an annual “naked run”, the event has earned a name for being a week-long summer camp for adults.