Yours

Li Hua

In Chinese culture, there is a deep-rooted belief that even the     1     (healthy) individuals should never leave their belly buttons(肚脐) uncovered. This curious tradition      2     (gain) significant attention online so far.

Many people believe that regardless of the hot heat, they must protect their belly buttons at all costs. Some even playfully claim that if     3     (abandon)on a deserted island without any clothing, they would still find a way     4     (cover) their belly buttons, even if it means using a simple leaf.

The belly button is a weak area of the body with thin skin. Moreover, there are no muscles     5     fat tissues underneath. Additionally, there are abundant nerve endings, making it particularly sensitive to external stimuli and requiring special protection.

Therefore, it is     6     (science) sound for Chinese people to be cautious     7     protecting the belly button. If one doesn’t pay attention to keeping the belly warm and     8     (expose) the belly button directly to air conditioning or fans, the cold air can easily enter the body through the belly button,      9      leads to stomach upset.

Many people find that adding a blanket to their sleep routine helps to reduce stress and promote calm. The practice of covering the belly and keeping the feet warm when sleeping     10     (suggest) to keep healthy according to traditional Chinese medicine.

Yours,

Li Hua

Many teenagers have difficult getting along with their fathers. I can fully put myself your shoes, as I once experienced the same problem. You can try the followed suggestions.

Be patient with your father. You two must have misunderstood each another. The key to solve the problem is regular and honest communication. Explain your actions and feelings calmly, listen carefully, and address her concerns. Besides, you should try your best to seeing things from his point of view. Only in these ways can your misunderstandings be clear up. You will learn to back down and how your father will relax. With a little bit of patience and communication, much of these problems can be solved.

Kang Yu, a 24-year-old volunteer teacher in a remote town in the mountains of Yunnan province, was teaching calligraphy to the eighth graders when all of    1    sudden, the clouds seemed to burst and the electricity went out.     2    (see) that the students were staring at the rain, Kang    3    (instant) got a burst of inspiration.

She told them to go outside, under a shelter, to enjoy the rain and come back to write something like a poem. Much    4    her surprise, the works written by the students were far beyond her expectations!

Inspired by that class, Kang founded the non-profit organization, Enlighten Our Future, to help Chinese youngsters improve their mental well-being and their exam grades through poetry composition and    5    (appreciate). She managed to persuade 13 schools    6    (adopt) the “Four-Season Poetry Lessons” project, with a teaching plan, content and methods she provided. So far, the poetry lessons    7    (design) by the organization have helped 68,000 students in 823 primary and middle schools, mostly in poor areas. Now Enlighten Our Future    8    (run) by three full-time workers, including Kang, 60 part-time workers, 280 backups and more than 1,000 volunteers.

What’s great about poetry is that it can help one to find an    9    (effect) way to communicate with oneself, she says. “    10    they need is not sympathy, but recognition, which I think will influence their whole life.”

9 . In the blue-green depths of the sea off the coast of Tuscany, Italy, an unusual seafloor sculpture park is defending its watery setting.

Since fisherman Paolo Fanciulli’s teens, he has been heading out daily to fish in these coastal waters along the Maremma coastline. It was in the 1980s that he began to notice the clear signs: a seabed that was becoming barren (贫瘠的), with exhausted fish stocks. Until recently, he has been forced to share catches with a threatening part: illegal “bottom trawlers (拖网捕鱼的人)”, who randomly spoil a large quantity of ocean life as they fish, dragging a weighted net along the seafloor behind their boats.

Fanciulli’s style of artisanal fishing (手工捕鱼), in contrast, needs to be friendly to nature as damaging the ecosystem could reduce fishermen’s income. Fanciulli understood that the success of his fishing activity was linked to the good state of the environment. The underwater “House of Fish” sculpture park, which was started in 2015 was encouraged by this fisherman. “One of the most effective solutions is to physically prevent trawling through artificial reefs…so I started working on this project, trying to combine the protection of the seabed with something that could also give an added value to our environment, something as beautiful as a sculpture,” he said.

Rocks or sculptures can break weighted trawler nets. They can also play a role as artificial reefs, giving corals and other sea life a place to live. Thanks to the underwater sculptures, some species not seen in a long while such as groupers and lobsters have returned. The sculpture park represents both an artistic statement and a physical barrier to seafloor trawling.

Today, 39 huge stone sculptures dot the seabed along an area of Tuscan coastline near the town of Talamone. In the immediate future, Fanciulli hopes to continue his great solution in coastal waters. “Man is still destroying the seas,” he says, “and my task continues.”

Anthony, a 11-year-old boy, became famous after a video of him dance in the rain outside his home in Nigeria was put on the Internet. He impressed people from his enthusiasm. An Oscar-winning actor saw the video of Anthony and put them on his social media. He wrote, “We can be greatly passionate despite of the great difficulties that have put in front of us.” Anthony is a student at a dance academy in a poor district in Africa. The academy gives freely lessons to poor children that have somewhere to practice. The academy’s founder said, “We are changing people’s attitude towards male dancers.” Anthony said, “There are not male ballet dancers like me here. While people see ballet, they think it is only for girls, but I want to tell them there are also male ballet dancers.”