1 . Becky Turney lost her 19-year-old son two years ago. Turney _______ her son terribly and wanted to make him part of her big day. She _______ photos of her late son in her wedding party and left a chair _______ where he would have sat had he been alive.

Turney didn’t _______ that her husband had flown in a special _______, Jacob Kilby, for their big day, and had not told her until moments before she walked down the aisle (过道) to start her new life with him.

When Turney’s son, Triston, _______ at 19, he donated his _______ to save the lives of other people in need. One of the people he _______ was a young man named Jacob Kilby, who _______ his heart.

After Triston’s heart was donated to Kilby, Turney and Kilby exchanged __________ online but had never met __________ until Turney’s big day. Turney’s husband had __________ flown Kilby out to Alaska to stand in as a groomsman (伴郎), but Turney had already reserved a __________ for her son.

However, when Turney arrived at the aisle, her husband stopped the __________ to introduce Kilby to her and tell her why he was there. Turney was __________ that her husband had done something so __________ and said she responded like a little girl __________ up and down.

Turney’s husband __________ that hiding Kilby from his wife took some effort until he introduced him as a groomsman. He joked there was no __________ eye in the room and that he got __________ for ruining people’s make-up.

2 . 2023 was a good year for archaeological discoveries. Here are some of the most interesting new finds.

A moai

In February, volunteers unearthed a stone head called a moai on Easter Island. The statue is small for a moai — a little over five feet tall, while others of the roughly 900 statues on the island are up to 33 feet tall.

Most of the moai were created between 1250 and 1500, and local people regard them as the living faces of their ancestors. But nothing is known about this new moai, including which ancestor it represents.

Two mummy workshops

Archaeologists announced in May that they discovered two more workshops near the ruins of the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis. One of the workshops features stone beds meant for the preservation of human bodies, while the other one has smaller beds that were used to mummify animals.

A Maya city

In June, Mexican archaeologists discovered a lost city called Ocomtun. They thought it was a major center from about AD 250 until it was abandoned when the Maya civilization collapsed between 900 and 1000, possibly from drought and civil wars.

Ocomtun covers more than 120 acres and features well-preserved homes, raised platforms and pyramid temples. The remains of the largest pyramid are more than 80 feet high.

Roman jewelry

In June, dozens of precious stones were discovered by archaeologists in the ruins of an ancient pipe system that carried water away from public baths in the third and fourth centuries. It’s thought they were worn by wealthy bathers. Some of these precious stones are carved with images of Roman gods, such as Apollo, Venus, and Mars, while others show animals, such as rabbits and birds.

The public baths were found at Carlisle in England. The city was a regional center in Roman Britain, when it was known as Luguvalium.

3 . Four Powerful US National Parks

Glacier

Montana

The Crown of the Continent is a playground of peaks, lakes, hiking paths and, of course, glaciers. Twenty-five of the original 150 remain, and scientists warn they may begone by 2030. Don’t miss Going-to-the-Sun Road, with a stop at Logan Pass to stretch your legs on the 2. 8-mile Hidden Lake Overlook Trail.

Yosemite

California

Not only is Yosemite home to the world’s tallest granite monolith (花岗岩巨石), but also North America’s largest waterfall (Yosemite Falls). The park has many 3, 000-year-old giant sequoia trees, so it’s easy to see why this 1, 100-square-mile wilderness is Eden for nature lovers.

Grand Canyon

Arizona

The power of nature on display at the Grand Canyon both humbles and excites the park’s 5 million annual visitors. There are many heart-stopping overlooks on the South Rim, but don’t miss the descent (斜坡) into the mile-deep gorge (峡谷) for adventures on foot, by mule or in a white-water raft.

Denali

Alaska

Travel to this remote park, which celebrated its 100th birthday in 2017, and mark two major items off your list: North America’s highest peak: 20, 310-foot Denali; and Alaska’s “big five”: moose, Dall sheep, caribou, wolves and grizzlies. See it all from the comfort of a bus tour, or explore 35. 5 miles of official hiking paths.

4 . Make me a chili pepper lover! People who often chow down on chili peppers may live for longer and have a significantly reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease (心血管疾病) or cancer, research from Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute suggests.

Previous studies have found that capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their characteristic kick, can have anti-inflammatory (消炎的), antioxidant, anti-cancer and blood-glucose regulating effects when eaten. To further investigate the effects of consuming chili peppers, the researchers gathered together the health and dietary records of more than 570,000 patients in the US, Italy, China and Iran, published in four previous large-scale scientific studies.

They found that those who ate chili peppers regularly had a 26% reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) death, a 23% relative reduction in cancer death, and a 25% relative reduction in all-cause death, compared to those who rarely or never ate them.

“We were surprised to find that in these previously published studies, regular consumption of chili pepper was associated with an overall risk reduction of all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality. It highlights that dietary factors may play an important role in overall health,” said senior author Dr. Bo Xu, a cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute.

“The exact reasons and mechanisms that might explain our findings, though, are currently unknown,” he added. “Therefore, it is impossible to convincingly say that eating more chili pepper can prolong life and reduce deaths, especially from cardiovascular factors or cancer. More research, especially evidence from randomized controlled studies, is needed to confirm these new findings.”

Additionally, as the precise amount and type of chili pepper consumed varied across the four studies used in the research, it’s tricky to determine exactly how much and what type of chili peppers may provide the health benefits. However, the researchers are continuing to analyze the data in the hope of uncovering more concrete evidence.

5 . We’ve all been there — staring at a pile of books, desperately hoping that what we study will stick in our mind. Many of us have probably asked if there’s any way that we can get better at remembering things.     1    

Every student who has made flashcards knows that it can be helpful to go back over what they’ve studied before. The Learning Scientists, a group of cognitive scientists, have made a new discovery.    2     They say that trying to retrieve (找回) something from your memory after you have had some time to forget it will make it easier to remember in future.

    3     The Learning Scientists say this can help you build links between different ideas. Now, linking ideas and relating them to each other or to images are often suggested as good ways to memorise something. Former world memory champion Jonathan Hancock highlights how picturing pieces of information in different physical locations or linking them to memorable images makes them easier to remember. Linking new information to things that are easier to remember is a technique that many people use.    4    

There are also more general things that we can do to improve our memory. Hancock says that being generally organised makes things easier for your brain, while many other experts also recommend avoiding stress, alcohol and smoking, and that we should get a lot of rest and exercise.    5    

6 . Keeping your home neat and tidy is a continual process that takes a lot of emotional energy and time. Here are some useful decluttering (清理) strategies.

    1    

If you have a lot of clutter in your house, ask yourself what has made it hard to get rid of. In many cases, it is due to the fact that you hope to hold on to the past or want a different reality than the one you’re living in.

Take the emotion out of it

Then comes the hardest part: figuring out what to get rid of.    2    . Go through it as though you’re helping a friend and none of your stuff means anything to you.

Start small

Don’t try to tidy up all your clutter in one afternoon. Instead, start with something less challenging, like one single bathroom drawer.    3    . This kind of work often takes the most time and emotional energy.

You can also work within short time periods. If you only have an hour to declutter your home this week, divide that time into three 20-minute periods. For the first 20 minutes, look for trash to throw away. For the next 20 minutes, identify anything you want to give away or donate.    4    .

Make it easy to stay organized

It’s easy to be organized the day after decluttering. But what happens when you come home from a trip and are too tired to unpack your luggage? Or when you get the flu and are too sick to clean up?    5    . For example, label storage containers on all four sides so they’re easier to spot. Make sure your most used items are always the easiest to reach.

8 . About a decade ago, I attended a dinner in Guangzhou. The bird’s nest soup was gentle and delicious, the fish fresh and perfectly steamed. The most memorable dish, however, was the plain soup served at the end. Made from chicken, probably with ham as well, it was simple but perfect.

Ending a banquet with soup may seem odd to Westerners, accustomed as they are to sweets at a meal’s close. But, as Fuchsia Dunlop, an English food writer, explains in her new book, Invitation to a Banquet, “The transparent soup is an ideal conclusion to a meal.”

Invitation to a Banquet is Ms Dunlop’s seventh book. Unlike those for which she is best known, including The Food of Sichuan, Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper, and Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook(about Hunanese cuisine), this is not a cookbook. Instead, she has chosen 30 dishes and used each to illustrate different aspects of Chinese cuisine—and, in turn, Chinese life and history.

“Westerners have traditionally assumed that the Chinese eat animal parts because they are poor, when in fact turning up one’s nose at pigs’ heads and legs shuts the door on a wide range of foods that are really wonderful,” Ms Dunlop argues in the book.

In short, Ms Dunlop has made a convincing case for the superiority of Chinese cuisine, but in a delighted and expansive rather than chauvinistic (沙文主义的) way. She shows how it has absorbed foreign influences(as other cuisines have, too), how it has changed with China’s increasing wealth and how central it is to the country’s intellectual and cultural history.

She makes an equally good case in this book that the Chinese food most Westerners can find at their local takeaway is neither inauthentic nor wrong. Instead, it reflects local tastes which are as representative of the cuisine’s diversity as a frozen pizza is of Italy’s adventurousness. The local takeaway has made the real thing more accessible than ever outside China.

9 . On February 15, 2024, OpenAI, the maker of Chat GPT, released a new AI tool that can make instant short videos from written commands.

The new text-to-video generator, Sora, isn’t the first of its kind. Google, Meta and Runway ML are among the other companies to have demonstrated similar technology. But industry analysts are deeply impressed by the quality and length of the videos shared so far. Fred Havemeyer, head of AI and software research at Macquarie, said that Sora’s launch marks a big step forward for both OpenAI and the future of text-to-video generation technology.

“Sora’s videos not only run up to 60 seconds in length, but also look so natural that it seems to actually respect physics and the real world,” Havemeyer said. “The length and consistency of the videos represent new opportunities for creatives to generate videos from one or a few written commands.”

Although Sora’s abilities have amazed observers since its launch, anxiety over potential problems of AI-generated video uses also remains.

“Having a potentially magical way to generate videos that look and sound realistic may present a number of issues for the society,” Havemeyer added. “It’s a serious issue that every business and every person needs to face.”

However, tech companies are still calling the shots when it comes to controlling AI and its risks as governments around the world are still struggling to catch up. Last year, the European Union reached a deal on the world’s first comprehensive AI rules, but the act won’t take effect until two years after final approval.

OpenAI promised to take important safety steps before making Sora widely available. “We are working with experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias,” OpenAI’s Vice President of Global Affairs Anna Makanju said at a conference. “We’re also building tools to help detect misleading content such as a detection classifier that can tell when a video was generated by Sora.”

While Sora can create complex, incredibly detailed scenes, OpenAI admits that there are still some weaknesses. For example, a person might take a bite out of a cookie, but afterward, the cookie may not have a bite mark.