Ye Shiwen, 28,     1    (participate) in the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris for the Chinese national swimming team after securing     2    (qualify) in late April. It has been eight years since her last appearance at the Games.

Ye became an Olympic gold medalist in 2012,     3     she won the women’s 200-meter individual medley (混合泳接力) and 400-meter individual medley titles at the London Games.

Four years later,     4    , Ye suffered one of the biggest setbacks in her career. She failed to reach the 400-meter individual medley final at the Rio de Janeiro Games.     5    (feel) frustrated, Ye stayed away from the swimming pool and became a full-time student at Tsinghua University Law School in 2017 and graduated this year. She says she grew     6    (mature) during this period, and returned to the pool with     7     better mindset in 2019.

Ye     8    (complete) the women’s 200-meter individual breaststroke event in 2:22.55 at China’s Olympic trials in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, in April. But even though she qualified for the 2024 Olympics in that event, she failed to advance beyond the preliminary competition in her     9    (favor) 400-meter individual medley.

Nonetheless, Ye didn’t let the failure bring her     10     her knees. Instead, she took three days to shake off the frustration, and then secured her spot in Paris.

4 . There is a strong smell that comes off Ratna Raju’s farm in the southeastern Andhra Pradesh state of India. The smell comes from a mixture of natural materials, like cow waste and untreated sugar. The natural materials help grow and protect crops in an area often hit by extreme weather and heat.

Farmers like Raju say natural materials protect their crops from climate change because the soil can hold more water. And they stress the crops’ stronger roots help plants deal with strong winds. Supporters say natural farming is successful in the state because of government support. Now, these methods should be spread across India’s agricultural lands. Without government support for natural farming, most Indian farmers still use farm chemicals and fertilizers. That puts them at risk when extreme weather hits. Many farmers are calling for greater state investment to help them deal with climate change.

Last December, a storm brought heavy rainfall across India’s southeastern coast. It flooded towns and fields. Early studies showed more than 240,000 hectares of crops were destroyed in Andhra Pradesh state.

Raju said the rainwater on their farms flowed into the ground in one day. The soil can take in more water because it is less solid than soil with farm chemicals. Soil with farm chemicals is dry. He added that planting different crops throughout the year helped keep the soil healthy. However, Raju’s neighbor, Srikanth Kanapala, said his farm was flooded for four days after the storm. Kanapala often uses farm chemicals and fertilizers on his farm. And he said seeing Raju’s crops held strong while his crops failed made him want to learn about other farming methods.

Kanapala expected a potential financial hemorrhage of up to $600 as a consequence of the storm, a sum that constituted a significant economic burden for a farmer in India. “For the next planting season, I plan to learn from other farmers to give up farm chemicals,” he said.

5 . A charity club, funded entirely by a man, was established in Chengdu in the early 2000s. It first served as a “home away from home” for rural students attending a sports school in neighboring Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture.

The club provided free meals and accommodation as well as training facilities. Gradually, it became known as a Wushu school for children from rural areas and began to attract a steady flow of students, especially from underdeveloped areas in Sichuan.

Some children had already dropped out of school before joining the club, the funder revealed to media in 2017. As these students could not be officially registered as residents of Chengdu, they were not qualified to attend public schools there. Consequently, he employed four teachers to teach academic subjects in the students’ spare time such as on nights and weekends.

A boy, born in Aba in 1999, joined the club in 2009. Before that, he was in third grade at a local elementary school. His father passed away before he was born, and the family had been struggling economically ever since. He heard about the club from his headmaster and decided to go there.

Starting from scratch, the boy spent two years getting ready to represent the club in Sanda competitions. In 2015, the club introduced MMA (综合格斗) and he switched from Wushu Sanda to MMA in 2015 and won his first match at a competition run by Henan TV. “I was not sure whether I was suitable for Wushu when I first joined the club,” he told news media in May 2021. “But when I raised my arms and shouted in happiness after winning the match, I knew immediately that MMA was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

7 . Whether you’re a fitness coach or a beginner, making fitness part of your daily life definitely benefits your health and well-being.     1    .

Figure out why you exercise

It means identifying your deeper reason for getting healthy. For example, do you want to be able to keep up with your workout partners or friends? Are you sick of being tired all the time in the classroom? Do you want more energy and confidence?     2    .

Pay attention to your thoughts

    3    . They can push you forward when things get tough. Also, they enable you to feel energetic when you achieve your fitness goals. Do you encourage yourself with body positivity or hold yourself back with negativity? Changing your mindset could be all it takes to get your health on track.

    4    

Make sure you have at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week to keep yourself healthy! Break it down to 40 minutes 4 days a week, 30 minutes 5 days a week, or whatever you’d like. Choose what works best for your lifestyle, whether it’s yoga, walking, or anything else that gets your heart rate up.

Keep a fitness diary

Writing down your progress helps you stay connected with yourself during moments of doubt.     5    . At the same time, it makes you clear about what lies ahead if you remain committed (坚定的) over time.

9 . How to Talk Without Offending (冒犯) Anyone

If you feel like conversations are a potential minefield and you’re worried about unintentionally offending someone, you’re not alone. Here are some ways for you to avoid offending others.

THINK is an acronym (首字母缩略词) that stands for the 5 things any constructive criticism should be: True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, and Kind.     1    . If what you have to say meets all the 5 criteria, it’s unlikely that the person you’re talking to will be hurt.

This approach lets the person know what to do in the future.     2    . What is necessary is making sure they don’t do the same thing again, and you can often accomplish this without criticizing them for something negative they did.

Words that you have no problem with might be hurtful to others. Usually, when you’re talking to someone, you don’t know what experiences they’ve had or what trauma they’ve gone through. If someone is hurt by something you’ve said, accept that—don’t question it or insult them over it.

Show that you’re willing to listen to other ideas and viewpoints. Not everybody is going to agree with you and there’s nothing wrong with that.     4    . In this way, you can learn something about yourself and other people.

If you do offend someone, learn from your mistake. It takes courage for someone to stand up for themselves when they’re offended by something someone else said.     5    .

Mango sticky rice is one of Thailand’s most beloved summer     1     (dish). Slices of sweet, ripe mango     2     (set) next to a pile of glutinous rice that’s topped with a coconut-based cream sauce and a light sprinkling of yellow mung (绿豆) beans. If     3     (do) right, the dish is pure magic, the perfect balance of flavors and textures. And few have perfected that balance as well as 63-year-old Varee Jeensuwan, the undeniable queen of mango sticky rice in Bangkok. Her shop in Bangkok’s busy downtown, Mae Varee,     4     (function) well since 1981. “We focus     5     the quality of the raw materials, and even the salt used in the cream, we order it from Samut Sakorn,” she says,     6     (refer) to a coastal province south of Bangkok. Thailand’s nam dok mai (water of the flower) mangoes are     7     most popular variety for the dish, as they possess a sweet flavor and smooth texture.     8     mangoes play the starring role, the other ingredients are just as important, says Varee. In her shop, they use sticky rice grains     9     (special) selected from Thailand’s northernmost province, Chiang Rai. For those     10     just want to buy whole, uncut mangoes, Varee allows its suppliers to set up outside the shop and sell their products.