2 . You are what you eat and what you eat may be encoded (编码) in your DNA. Studies have indicated that your genes play a role in determining the foods you find delicious or disgusting. But exactly how big a role they play has been difficult to figure out. “Everything has a genetic component even if it’s small,” says Joanne Cole, a geneticist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “We know that there is some genetic contribution to why we eat the foods we eat . Can we take the next step and actually locate the regions in the genome (基因)?”

New research led by Cole has gotten a step closer. Through a large-scale genomics analysis, her team has identified 481 genome regions that were directly linked to dietary patterns (模式) and food preferences. The findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, were presented last month at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual conference.

The team based the new study on a 2020 Nature Communications study. This previous study, conducted by Cole and her colleagues used data from the U. K. Biobank, a public database of the genetic and health information of 500,000 participants. By scanning genomes, the new analysis was able to identify 194 regions associated with dietary patterns and 287 linked to specific foods such as fruit, cheese, fish, tea and alcohol. Further understanding how genetics impact how we eat could reveal differences in nutritional needs or disease risks.

“One of the problems with a lot of these genomics studies is that they’re very small. They don’t have enough people to really be able to identify genes in ways that are credible (可靠的). This study had a huge group of people, so it’s really powerful.” says Monica Dus, a geneticist at the University of Michigan. “The other thing that I thought was really great is that there are so many different features that they’re measuring related to diet including cholesterol (胆固醇), the body and socioeconomic backgrounds.” As the research advances, Dus says, such genome analysis could potentially assist health care providers and even policymakers to address larger issues that affect food access and health.

It’s definitely true that it may contribute to making sure there aren’t food deserts-areas which have limited access to fresh, healthy and affordable food or to making sure that there’s a higher minimum wage so that everyone can afford to eat, although the journey ahead remains lengthy and challenging.

5 . Last year, Doctor Steve Lome came to truly understand what it means to be at the right place at the right time. During a half-marathon, he found himself in the position to ________ not one, but two runners. Things had been going ________ up to that 3-mile mark, but that’s when Steve noticed a (n) ________ runner named Gregory.

Gregory had just reached the peak and was ________ to see that he would run downhill for a bit. This was the last thing he ________ before he became senseless. Meanwhile, Steve saw this happen, and he could ________ it wasn’t a simple fall. Steve stopped immediately to perform CPR (心肺复苏术). Once it was ________ that Gregory was doing well and the medical team took him away, Steve continued the race.

The rest of the race itself was ________ but when Steve crossed the finish line, his life-saving ________ was needed once more. A man named Michael began to feel dizzy moments after crossing the finish line. Then, just like Gregory, he ________.

“I never expected something like that would happen to my life, let alone in the same ________,” Steve said. The ________ of this entire situation is truly remarkable. If Steve had not ________ to help Gregory, he would have crossed the finish line much sooner than Michael, ________ he wouldn’t have been around to save him, too. Thankfully, the events had a happy ________. Now the three remain good friends.

9 . Adaptation and innovation (创新) of traditional opera has been an important trend in Chinese opera circle in recent years. In order to attract young audience of new generation and catch up with the time, traditional opera circle makes efforts to create new works. In recent years, traditional opera has come across the change of time and society. It gradually lost the main elderly audience and was not attractive for the young.

In order to find new opportunities, using modern sound, light and digital stage effects, China’s traditional Peking Opera, also known as jingju, is appealing to young people in a fashionable and innovative way, as the classic art faces an aging audience.

The centuries-old Tianleyuan Theater in Beijing has introduced fashionable performances of Peking Opera. The opera combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime (哑剧表演), dance and acrobatics (杂技).

Tianleyuan has a jingju art experience section and fashionable performances. It has attracted more than 2,000 audience members, mostly young people, according to theater staff.

“Good art should keep pace with the times, so does jingju,” said Zhang Zishang, a22-year-old performer of The Drunken Beauty, one of the classic jing ju plays performed in the theater. “I feel today’s performance is very special,” Zhang added. She was born into a family of jingju performers and has had 10 years of stage experience. “Innovation is good, but we must also carry on the basic elements of jingju,” another young performer Deng said.

According to Deng, innovation is perhaps the best way for jingju to deal with the problem of an aging audience. The theatre has made successful attempts to combine jingju with local opera forms such as ballet when organizing performances abroad. “Innovation can help traditional arts go further. We are happy to see many young faces, and some of them even come twice to experience the ‘new’ art,” she added.