4 . After their six-month orbital journey in the Tiangong space station, the three astronauts of Shenzhou XIV mission shared their experiences and feelings with the public on Friday in the first news conference.

Faced with domestic reporters at the Astronaut Centre of China in Beijing, mission commander Senior Colonel Chen Dong said that every day during their mission was full of work. For example, they were tasked with preparing for and monitoring the arrival of the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules, and making three spacewalks.

Chen recalled the moment he and his teammates—Senior Colonel Liu Yang and Senior Colonel Cai Xuzhe—met their fellow astronauts in the Shenzhou XV flight inside the Tiangong station. “We had paid a lot of attention to news about the Shenzhou XV mission and the crew several days before they set out. When their spacecraft actually launched, we were watching the live broadcast and we were so happy that we kept clapping our hands for a long time. In the hours before their spacecraft arrived at the station, we were supposed to have a sleep but none of us really went to bed. The moment I was about to open the hatch after their spacecraft connected with the space station, I saw them through the window and I waved my hand to welcome them to our home, and theirs,” he said.

Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman in space, said the Shenzhou XIV was her second spaceflight and she made a paper “lucky star” each day in the mission. She said she often stared at China when the station flew over the country. “I know that there are numerous females in our nation working hard to pursue their dreams with courage and determination,” she said. “I wish that each of us could realize our ambition.” Cai Xuzhe, who made his first spaceflight, recalled that eating the vegetables they grew in the space station brought a lot of happiness to the crew, though taking care of the plants was never easy.

5 . Around 50 million acres of forests in Russia were almost swallowed up by enormous fires two years ago, the country’s worst fire season on record. Now, researchers are more aware of just how significant the north forest fires were in terms of emissions. The fires produced more planet-heating carbon dioxide than any other extreme fire event that has occurred since the turn of the 21st century, according to a study.

North forests grow where it is very cold. The trees that live in this type of forest grow slowly and store carbon in their trunks and roots for hundreds of years, comprising a collection of trapped emissions that researchers call a carbon sink. But rising temperatures and related drought in these historically cool regions have led to an increase in extreme wildfire activity and threaten to release the carbon stored in the trees that grow there, transforming a carbon sink into a carbon source.

In all, fires in north forests released the carbon sink and produced nearly half a billion metric tons of carbon in 2022. That’s more carbon than the entire continent of Australia produced the same year, though some of the emissions produced by the fires will be sucked back up as forests regrow.

The researchers obtained the data for their study by tracking concentrations of emissions in the atmosphere using satellites, and then they put that information into a computer model to determine where, geographically, those emissions came from. They found that north forests, which typically produce about 10 percent of the globe’s annual wildfire emissions, accounted for 23 percent of the world’s wildfire emissions in 2022—more than twice as much as normal.

Canadell, who led the study, is most concerned about the study’s main takeaway, north forests have served an important and underappreciated role in isolating carbon emissions, but climate change threatens to release that carbon. “We need to be very careful with these systems in terms of their future development,” he said.

6 . A little girl was enjoying the beautiful garden in her home. Her father had a good collection of rare and prized plants, which he _________ with great care.

The girl was _________ by a plant full of delicate flowers. She approached it and admired its striking beauty. Suddenly she _________ that the plant was in a pile of filth (污秽). She could not tolerate the _________ of dirt with such fantastic flowers.

She worked out a plan to clean the plant. She _________ the plant with all her might from the dirt and washed its _________ in running tap water till all traces of dirt were washed away. She then placed the plant on a clean stone and went away, proud that she had done a great _________.

Later her father came to the garden and spotted the uprooted plant, which had lain _________ in the baking sun. His little daughter ran over to _________ her achievement. “I have cleaned it, Daddy,” she reported __________

The father showed her how her treatment had nearly killed the plant and told her that the filthy soil was the best __________ to grow that plant. Hearing that, the girl felt guilty that the plant had suffered by her cleaning.

A great gardener mixes the __________ soil for each plant. __________, God provides each of us with the best __________ required for optimum (最佳) spiritual growth. But it may appear to be __________ and we may even complain to God about our difficulty.

7 . The Amazon rainforest, is as undisturbed a place as most people can imagine, but even there, the effects of a changing climate are playing out. Now, research suggests that many of the region’s most sensitive bird species are starting to evolve in response to warming.

Birds are often considered sentinel (哨兵) species —meaning that they indicate the overall health of an ecosystem — so scientists are particularly interested in how they’re responding to climate change. In general, the news has not been good. For instance, a2019 report by the National Audubon Society found that more than two-thirds of North America’s bird species will be in danger of extinction by 2100 if warming trends continue on their current course.

For the new study, researchers collected the biggest data set so far on the Amazon’s resident birds, representing 77 non-migratory species and lasting the 40 years from 1979to 2019. During the study period, the average temperature in the region rose, while the amount of rainfall declined, making for a hotter, dryer climate overall. According to the report on November 12 in the journal Science Advances, 36 species have lost substantial weight, as much as 2 percent of their body weight per decade since 1980. Meanwhile, all the species showed some decrease in average body mass, while a third grew longer wings.

Because of the study’s long time series and large sample sizes, the authors were able to show the morphological (形态学的) effects of climate change on resident birds. However, the researchers themselves are unsure and wonder what advantage the wing length changes give the birds, but suppose smaller birds may have an easier time keeping cool. In general, smaller animals have a larger rate of surface area to body size, so they dissipate more heat faster than a bigger animal. Less available food, such as fruit or insects, in dryer weather might lead to smaller body size.

8 . My friend Keith, a keen animal lover, found a baby squirrel in his garden. Deeply attracted by him, he decided without hesitation to ________this cute little thing and named him Joey. He and his children all loved Joey and did different things with him, feeding him and playing games. Joey, ________, loved each and every one of them. In just a few months, he became a family member.

“He was just the most lovable squirrel. He’d let anybody ________ him,” says Keith. “Right up until the fellow broke in.” That was the rainy day Keith came home to discover some obvious signs of a(n) ________. Strange, muddy footprints tracked around the ________ . His safe was scratched up (刮擦). A couple of items of value were ________. He called the police to make a ________ about the break-in, and soon officer Kate arrived at the house.

“Joey had run in the bedroom … and kind of ________ her,” says Keith. Kate asked if Joey bites. Not usually, Keith explained, but he is, after all, a ________ animal. You never know.

Hours later, Kate returned with a remarkable story: She’d ________ a suspect, based in part on the cuts all over his hands.

“She asked him, ‘Did you get that from a________?’ and he says, ‘Yeah, it kept ________ me and wouldn’t stop until I left,’” says Keith.

The attack “scared” him, apparently, because he wasn’t ________ to have a squirrel come flying out of nowhere at him,” says Kate. “So basically he said he took ________ what he could and left as fast as he could.”

Keith’s family got their stuff back, and Joey got his favorite ________: nuts.