1 . In the past decade, the use of social media has grown in a way that no one could have guessed. It has turned some teenagers into celebrities and turned the famous into the infamous, overnight.

A key feature of social media, however, is its volatility. Trends come and go, disappearing almost as quickly as they appeared.

Short video apps such as TikTok and its Chinese equivalent (等同物) Douyin, took the world by storm. The Telegraph reported that TikTok was ranked 8th on Apple’s App Store in April. And Douyin had more than 300 million domestic monthly active users in June, CNBC said.

Why are these short videos — which are rarely longer than a few minutes — so popular? Jiang Yige, Singapore-based analyst at FengHe Fund Management, has a theory. “Short videos are just right to fill in the little gaps in our busy schedules,” he told CNBC.

These videos — apart from being very convenient — are important to teenagers because they allow them to express themselves, according to Teen Vogue.

Liza Koshy, a user of the US app Musical, who has over 2 million followers, said, “The sense of community that users of short video apps get is another appealing feature.”

Live streaming (直播) is a feature of our social media life that now seems as natural as sunrise. It’s a pretty neat idea: You can watch anyone, anywhere, live. However, China has taken live streaming to a whole new level. In China, more than 100 million viewers monthly watch a live streaming video. Forbes thought that a number of factors had led to the popularity of the live streaming. Among them is viewers’ ability to interact with unknown names.

However, the quick development of social media may be having side effects too. Fake news is one serious problem it causes. Materials shared on these platforms are often not checked for accuracy. The most basic content can be false and can mislead users one way or another. We use social media all the time, which doesn’t mean that we understand the influence it is having on us. We should be mindful of both the time we spend on it and its impact on our minds.

2 . If it had not been for Fan Jinshi and her team, the world cultural heritage of Dunhuang Mogao Caves in a remote Chinese desert might have long been destroyed by sand, weather or humans.

Born in Beijing and raised in Shanghai, Fan has spent half a century fighting an uphill battle to preserve the ancient Buddhist wall paintings at Dunhuang, in Northwest China’s Gansu Province. The 1,653­-year­-old Dunhuang Mogao Caves are a huge collection of Buddhist art—more than 2,000 buddha figures and 45,000 square metres of paintings spread among 735 caves. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Archaeologist Fan was sent to Dunhuang after graduating from Peking University in 1963. While in Dunhuang, a remote village in the desert then, Fan lived in an abandoned temple. At first, she did not even dare to go out to the toilet at night. To protect the treasures from sand and dampness, Fan and other workers put doors on the caves, planted trees and started monitoring temperature and humidity in the caves. They also controlled the number of visitors.

In the late 1990s, with tourism booming nationwide since national holidays were extended, the local government planned to go public with Dunhuang Mogao Caves, but found Fan firmly in_their_way.   “The heritage would have been destroyed if it had been listed，” she said.

Dunhuang Academy has now photographed and cataloged online all the sculptures and paintings. “Despite our efforts to minimise damage, we can’t completely stop them from being eroded. But the digital database will last.”

Fan was grateful when her husband joined her in Dunhuang in 1986 after 19 years of separation. Her two sons grew up seldom with her accompany. “I have not been a good mother or wife. With regard to my family, I’m full of guilt，” she said. Fan, 81, retired four years ago as the director of Dunhuang Academy but continues her efforts as a national political adviser.

3 . The Intelligent Transport team at Newcastle University have turned an electric car into a mobile laboratory named “Drive LAB” in order to understand the challenges faced by older drivers and to discover where the key stress points are.

Research shows that giving up driving is one of the key reasons for a fall in health and well-being among older people, leading to them becoming more isolated and inactive.

Led by Professor Phil Blythe, the Newcastle team are developing in-vehicle technologies for older drivers which they hope could help them to continue driving into later life.

These include custom-made navigation (导航) tools, night vision systems and intelligent speed adaptations. Phil Blythe explains: “For many older people, particularly those living alone or in the country driving is important for keeping their independence, giving them the freedom to get out and about without having to rely on others.”

“But we all have to accept that as we get older our reactions slow down and this often results in people avoiding any potentially challenging driving conditions and losing confidence in their driving skills. The result is that people stop driving before they really need to.”

Dr Amy Guo, the leading researcher on the older driver study, explains, “The Drive LAB is helping us to understand what the key stress points and difficulties are for older drivers and how we might use technology to solve these problems.”

“For example, most of us would expect older drivers always go slower than everyone else but surprisingly, we found that in 30mph zones they struggled to keep at a constant speed and so were more likely to break the speed limit and be at risk of getting fined. We’re looking at the benefits of systems which control their speed as a way of preventing that.”

“We hope that our work will help with technological solutions to ensure that older drivers stay safer behind the wheel.”

After the Tangshan earthquake, a story was told that a fox had saved a man life. The man worked at a power station. He liked fishing in its spare time. He usually keeps the fish he had caught in a tank. But the fish often was missing. Then he caught a fox when it was eating the fish. Instead punishing the fox, he let it go.

One night, the man was woken up by loudly noises outside. He went out and found the fox standing here. Surprisingly, it stood in the front of the man to prevent him from going back into the room. Suddenly a big earthquake happened but then the house was destroyed. It was the fox’s help which saved his life.

5 . I’d driven down to Los Angeles to interview a well-known artist. After that, I saw a ________ across the street. When I walked in, a waiter ________   me to a table. It was a nice place—open, clean. A waitress ________ “Coffee?” she asked me with a smile on her face.

She ________ me one of those over-sized, plastic-coated menus covered with ________ of dishes and left. I ________ it, looking for something simple, something not in those photographs. At the bottom of the page, I found a line of ________: “Senior Special—one egg, two pancakes and bacon. $5.99,” Right. That should do it.

When I was ________ there,just like at home — more awake, more open — it was hard to know where my state came from.

Now my waitress was ________ . I ordered the Senior Special. “Don’t you want the ‘Fast Start’?” she asked. l hadn’t ________ that one. Then she turned the menu skillfully, and ________ another one—“See this one? Fast Start. ” I took a quick ________ : $4. 99, two eggs, two pancakes and bacon.

“You get more, and save ________,” she pointed out. I looked at her ________ to see if there was some hidden trick (花招). No. I didn’t think so. The Fast Start was ________ a better choice. The same thing, plus one ________ egg and one dollar less! Why not? I ________ the Fast Start at last. As she walked away I watched her and couldn’t help feeling her ________ .

Then, I began to think about the tip (小费) I would leave. Certainly, I’d give the waitress the ________ dollar. I’d add it to my usual tip. But why not more? The ________ filled me with a little charge of happiness. I’d leave a ten-dollar bill!