Tanghulu, a conventional Chinese snack     1     (basic) made of sugercoated haws (山楂) or other fruit on a stick, has drawn more and more teenagers around the world. According to the data covering social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, tanghulu     2     (be) the most searched term in the frozen and convenient food category in the first half of 2023 in Korea.

The sweet treat arose in China during the Song dynasty,     3     Emperor Guangzong’s favorite concubine (妃) fell ill and a doctor suggested she eat hawthorn berries     4     (fry) in brown sugar every day for a fortnight. When the concubine miraculously (奇迹般的) recovered, the candied fruit gained instant popularity across the country,     5     (late) becoming one of the best-selling street — food snacks in China.

Because of its glassy texture and marble like appearance, it is so visually     6     (appeal) that many like to post     7     (video) featuring the treat being consumed and share the new recipes for it. According to CCTV, unlike the tanghulu made of haws in China, the most popular one in Korea is made of orange slices, whose price amounts     8     22 yuan.

Tanghulu’s recent surge in various countries can be attributed to multiple factors, including the social media     9     (expose) among teenagers and its catering to their affection with pretty food. All in all, who would refuse such     10     awesome flavor?

2 . Tricks To Preparing For Winter SADness

Have you felt tired and sleepy recently? Or do you experience a mood shift as it turns to winter?     1     Actually, these common symptoms can be owing to Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, a type of depression that typically arrives in winter because of the change of the seasons. Here are some recipes for you to predict its onset and ward it off.

    2    

There’s been a fair bit of research supporting light therapy (疗法) as being effective for seasonal kinds of depression. So don’t withdraw like the hibernating bear but walk outside to expose yourself to the sun every day.     3    

Choose essential foods to boost mood.

When the temperature drops, our body loses more heat and requires high calorie food to supplement this loss.     4     Instead of giving in to such high carbs (碳水), it is important to consume foods such as dark chocolate that can cheer you up.

Engage in more social interaction.

    5    . Not only can it help you stay on track with regular activity but also stay connected, which furthermore lifts your spirits. After all, being alone is never consistent with your goal of getting rid of winter sadness.

Too nervous to enter winter? Not every mild blue feeling in winter is SAD. It may be just a psychological response that everyone could experience seasonally. If winter comes, can spring be too far behind?

3 . Dopamine (多巴胺), known as the “source of pleasure”, is a chemical that is released in the brain and provides people with a feeling of reward and motivation. Now, China’s young people are seeking to wear that joyfulness on their bodies, giving rise to the fashion craze—“dopamine dressing style”. Mainly characterized by bright colors, this dressing style is described by many Chinese netizens as “healing” and “a mood booster”. It is part-fashion, part-mindfulness.

Dopamine dressing is nothing new. In fact, a study published in 2012 found that when participants were asked to wear clothing that held some symbolic meaning, their perceived (感知的) confidence increased. The study determined that clothing can have a direct impact on their psychological process.

Another 2015 study found that the outfits we wear can directly influence how we think. It suggested that dressing in a certain way can influence the way we make decisions. “What we wear is how we show ourselves to those we interact with—we are influenced by their reaction to it. If we are well received, it builds up our confidence and can eventually affect our wellbeing.” one of the leading researchers, Mair added.

Actually, dopamine dressing is different for everyone. It’s about wearing the clothes that make you feel good. It could be joggers and a sport shirt; it could be your favorite pair of jeans; or it could be that dress you were saving for a special occasion. In a word, it’s ok to wear anything that can boost your mood.

Color psychologist Karen Haller said: “Color is a great way to lift our spirits and boost our moods in an instant. Our confidence can be boosted when we wear colors that we love and feel good in. We instinctively feel and behave differently when we take the colors in through our eyes and through the part of our brain where our emotions reside.” Ultimately, dopamine dressing is whatever makes you feel good.

5 . We are often told that there’s no _________ limit when it comes to pursuing our goals, but it’s truly _________ to see someone achieve them later in life-especially if they are 95 years old.

Angela Alvarez is a Cuban-born singer and songwriter who finally _________ her first album in 2021. Now, she has just won the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist.

Growing up surrounded by music, Alvarez once told her father she wanted to become a (an) _________ singer. However, life wasn’t easy for their family then and she had to _________ her dream of pursuing a career in entertainment for decades, but music was always there to keep her company and bring her _________.

With time, her kids had kids, and one of her grandchildren, Carlos Jose Alvarez, _________ found out that his grandma had _________ over 50 songs throughout her life, he knew that something had to be done. He asked her if she would be interested in going to a studio and _________ her songs. “And her answer was ‘Carlos, my dream is to __________ this life knowing that somehow my music would emerge and last.’ And that was the __________,” Carlos said in an interview.

Alvarez’s story __________ caught the attention of actor Andy Garcia, who decided to become the producer and narrator of Miss Angela, a documentary about this amazing woman. “Her story just blew me away. She __________ a generation, perhaps our generation of Cubans,” said the actor.

The dream reached new __________ as she became nominated (被提名) for a Latin Grammy. When she took to the stage to accept her award, she gave an inspiring speech, “To those who have not achieved their dream, I promise, with __________ and love you can achieve it, it’s never too late.”

6 . For Cruz, who grew up in Peru’s mountainous region of Cuzco, fog represents a massive opportunity. As a boy, he had to hike for more than an hour every day across hills to collect water from the nearest source. But over time, he realized that during the rainy season, droplets of water would gather in the large leaves of banana trees. So one day he and his father tried to build a canal system with the leaves to collect water and it turned out a success. But afterwards, he moved to Lima at the age of 25.

There, shocked by the water shortages and expensive water supply that some of the city’s poorest residents were faced with, Cruz set up El Movimiento Peruanos sin Agua in 2005. The idea was to deploy the method he learned in his hometown on a larger scale, which would provide free, independently sourced and easily accessible water to those who needed it most. He began installing (安装) a traditional fog catcher model developed in the 1980s.

At the highest point of Los Tres Miradores, there is a curious set of large structures that resemble a fleet of ships in the sky. They are so-called “fog catchers”. Netted devices, made of high density Raschel polyethylene and spanning several meters wide, are lined up at the top of a misty mound and linked by a network of tubes that lead to storage containers. The 40 fog catchers there provide enough water for 180 families, whether to bathe, clean, drink or to irrigate crops on small garden patches.

Supporters believe that fog catchers have the potential to improve water supply for communities around the world among the ever-challenging circumstances. German researcher Lummerich says, “They are cheap, easy to construct.” In a world searching for water supply systems, it is one important puzzle piece that can make an essential difference locally.

However, there are some issues. For one, fog catchers require space, which is not always easy to come by in cities, let alone urban slums. At the same time, fog catchers must be properly cleaned and maintained to stay effective. Most crucially, appropriate climate conditions are required. Fog isn’t everywhere.

I’m Li Hua. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________