1 . A beautiful mistake made six years ago has turned into a family’s holiday tradition. A grandmother mistakenly ______ a stranger to attend the family's Thanksgiving dinner and ended up making a ______ . Now the two people have ______ the holiday together every year since. This year is no exception.

In 2018, Wanda Dench tried to text her grandson about the family’s Thanksgiving dinner plans, but she added a stranger to the message ______ . Jamal Hinton received the holiday text and jokingly accepted her ______ .

“You’re not my grandma,” Hinton wrote back, including a selfie (自拍照) to ______ he was not her grandson. “Can I still get a plate though?”

Dench, the ever ______ grandmother, answered, “Of course you can. That’s what Grandmas always do— ______ everyone.” Hinton posted about the funny mix-up and it went viral (疯传) . And on Thanksgiving day, he ______ drove from New York to Washington to ______ the Dench family for the holiday. And every year since, Hinton and Dench have got together for the holiday.

In 2022, he informed followers of some sad news that Dench’s husband, Lonnie, had died from COVID-19. So last Thanksgiving, ______ . Lonnie, the family had a small ______ the day after the holiday. They were keeping the ______ alive .

This year, Hinton tweeted, “We are all set for year six!” ______ a screenshot (截图) of their text exchange as usual. Dench’s name is saved in his phone as “Grandma Wanda”. The story of ______ went viral again—spreading some holiday cheer on social media.

3 . Share with us!

Would you like to have your writing published in this magazine? Then let us know! We pay for stories, anecdotes and jokes.

Anecdotes and jokes $50

What’s made you laugh recently? A funny sign? A colleague’s behaviour? Got a joke? Send it in for Laughter is the Best Medicine!

Email: juliet@sws. com

Smart Animals Up to $100

Send us a tale about the strange behaviour of unique pets or wildlife in up to 300 words.

Email: audrey@sws. com

Power of Love Up to $150

Acts of generosity can change lives or just give you that warm feeling full of love. Share your moments in 100 — 500 words.

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My Story $350

Do you have an inspiring or life-changing story to tell? Your story must be true, unpublished, original and 800 — 1000 words.

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For more information, please visit: http: //vww. sws. com/share.

Opening Hours

The museum is open from 10:00 to 16:30 from Tuesdays to Sundays all the year round. We close for just a few days over Christmas and New Year. Besides, we are open on bank holiday Mondays and on the first Thursday of each month we open late until 19:30. The last time to enter the museum is 30 minutes before closing time.

Christmas/New Year 2022~2023: We are open as usual to 23rd December, closed on 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 31st December, 2022. We are open on Wednesday 28th, Thursday 29th and Friday 30th December and on Sunday 1st January, 2023.

Admission Charges

The admission charges are as follows:

·Adults £4.00

Seniors (anyone aged 60 and over) £3.00

Students (with identity) £3.00

Children aged 5~15 £2.00

·Family £10.00 (2 adults +3 children or 1 adult +4 children)

Children aged 0~4 free

We accept:

·The London Pass

·Railway company 2 for 1 vouchers (代金券), with the rail ticket

Museums Association members £2.00

English Heritage Members enjoy a 2 for 1 offer

We accept cash or credit card.

Groups of 10 people or more qualify for special rates and may book refreshments (点心). Groups of 20 or more can have a free introductory talk from a member of staff if pre-booked. We also offer guided tow-path walks along the canal for pre-booked groups at an extra charge. Contact groups @canalmuseum. org. uk to book ahead of time.

5 . In Europe, men do not usually wear skirts. But the Scottish national costume for men is a kind of skirt. It is called a kilt. The Scottish like to be _________. They are proud of their country and its _________ as it is part of the history. That’s why the men still wear kilts at old-style dances and on national holidays. They believe they are wearing the same clothes as Scottish men always used to wear.

That’s what they believe. _________, kilts are not really so old. Before 1730, Scottish men wore a long shirt and a _________ around their shoulders. These clothes got _________ the way when the men started to work in _________. So, in 1730 a factory owner changed the blanket into a skirt: the kilt. That’s how the first kilt was made.

Then, in the late 1700s Scottish soldiers in the _________ Army began to wear kilts to be different from the English soldiers. The Scottish soldiers _________ very hard and became famous. The kilt was part of that fame, and in the early 1800s men all round Scotland began to wear kilts.

These kilts had colorful and _________ stripes (条纹) going up and down and across. In the 1700s and early1800s, the colour of the stripes had no __________ meaning. But later the colours became important to the Scottish families. Most families had their own colours for their kilts. __________, each family just chose the __________ they liked best.

This is not the __________ you will hear today if you are in Scotland. Most Scottish people still __________ that kilts are as old as Scotland and that the colours are also as old as the Scottish families. Sometimes feelings are stronger than __________!

6 . For some people, music is no fun at all. About 4% of the population is what scientists call “amusic”. People who are amusic are born without the ability to enjoy musical notes. Amusic people often cannot tell the differences between two songs.

As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. In fact, most people cannot understand what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping center can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics have to stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in social loneliness. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.

Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from those of people who can enjoy music. The difference is complex, as it is not connected with poor hearing and has nothing to do with intelligence. Amusics can understand other non-musical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding common speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.

Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed (诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her music problem. Now she knows that she is not alone. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say ‘No, thanks. I’m amusic,’” says Margaret.

9 . On a cold December morning, my mother and I were walking home from a pizza store. We were dressed warmly and equipped with the video we had been dying to watch. I was feeling a little _________, as I was carrying our shopping bags of snacks and the video.

They were so heavy that I decided to _________ some things. So I started to walk towards the garbage can when I noticed a poor man walking his bike out of the restaurant in front of us. Holding a paper bag in his dirty hand, he _________ over to another nearby garbage can and started _________ it.

I suddenly felt very _________. I knew this man would take all he could get, _________ I walked up to him and _________ the drink and some snacks over to him. The man, with lines on his face and wrinkles on his forehead, looked up in _________ and took what I gave him.

A huge smile _________ across his face and this caused me to feel indescribable __________. I felt like I couldn’t be happier with myself, but then he said, “Wow, first someone gives me this sandwich, then this drink, and now some __________ food; this is my daughter’s lucky day!”

He thanked me happily and started off on his bike. I __________ heard him whistling a song as he rode away.

I now understand what is meant by the saying “giving is getting”. Everyone in the world needs help, everyone can __________ help and everyone will be helped by others’ __________.

The image of that man’s happiness caused by my small gift appears in mind every time I have the __________ to do something nice.

10 . ChatGPT is an amazing artificial intelligence tool that has recently been released, along with other mind-blowing generative (生成性的) AI tools like Midjourney and DALL-E. These tools have the potential to revolutionize the way we create digital content, making it faster and cheaper.

However, there is a downside to these AI tools that cannot be ignored. What happens when they start replacing copywriters, journalists, customer service agents, and digital marketers? For years, experts have been warning that AI could threaten white-collar jobs, which were once considered safe from automation (自动化). Some even predict that up to 47 percent of jobs in the US could be at risk.

While no one can say for sure whether generative AI will cause mass job loss among highly educated workers, it is clear that it has the potential to disturb the employment landscape. Companies will always choose machines over humans when they can, and AI has the ability to perform tasks currently done by copywriters, digital content producers, and other professionals. This means that these jobs may soon undergo significant changes. However, it is important to note that AI cannot replace certain aspects of these jobs. It cannot conduct interviews, find historical documents, or assess the quality of studies. It lacks authority, understanding, and the ability to correct itself or generate genuinely new ideas.

This implies that while AI may create a vast amount of simpler content, it could also make original journalism more valuable and investigative journalists more productive. AI may be able to make summaries of public meetings, but it is humans who will write in-depth stories. Experts believe that AI will ultimately help people use their professional knowledge more effectively, and allow them to focus on areas where human intelligence is crucial.

While there is a risk that AI technologies could lead to sudden changes in the labor market, it is important to recognize the benefits of having such technology.