1 . We are all surrounded with the thought of having desirable relationships that will bring some meaning to our lives and make us happy. We are so busy finding true happiness that we often forget that true happiness lies within us.

We have to love ourselves first to love someone else. One of the reasons for our failure to love ourselves is that we have been taught to be selfless from the start of time. But there is nothing wrong with putting our needs first. Self-love is not selfish. It helps you have a better understanding of what sacrifices are worth making! It is the root of all your healthy relationships. The stronger your roots are, the more difficult it will be for winds to knock down the branches. The first important key element of self-love is self-acceptance. You have to truly accept who you are, including your weaknesses. They are a part of you, making you who you are.

The expectation of waiting for someone else to care for you is impossible. Only you can care for yourself most in a way nobody else can. Look after your relations and yourself. You can only give something you have in abundance.

Self-love is the very core of any healthy relationship. Self-love plays a very important role in conflict settlement in a relationship. You can be only emotionally available when you do not have inner conflicts. When you are constantly fighting your own feelings, it leads to confusion and frustration, and a lack of availability emotionally for your partner. Empathy (同理心) results from self-love. When you have the capacity to take care of your own emotions, you become emotionally stable. This stability allows you to better understand your partner’s experiences and emotions. Therefore, you can offer them genuine care and support.

So, self-love and healthy relationships are practically inseparable. One cannot work well without the other because they depend on each other for growth. They are interconnected with your happiness because self-love will motivate you to have better boundaries, a healthier understanding of your own self, and better emotional intelligence.

2 . When you are dissatisfied with your current situation, sometimes you doubt yourself. Maybe you reflect on yourself from time to time: What kind of person am I? Have I become the person I want to be?     1    

Take a good look at yourself. When you do, you might realize that you aren’t what you want to be in life.    2    , but you shouldn’t stay stuck where you are anyway. Take ownership of the person you are and accept your unique qualities. Commit yourself to personal improvement, whether it’s through learning new skills, developing new interests, or simply taking better care of yourself.

    3    . You may feel disconnected from yourself as you are busy taking care of the needs of others in your life. Go back to the interests and activities you overlooked and reflect on your personal goals and achieve them. Schedule time on your calendar to reacquaint yourself with your passions. And remember to see how they influence you.

Make significant changes. When Gretchen Rubin, the former chief of the Yale Law Journal, realized her true dream was to become a writer, she quit her job. And, today, she is a best-selling author, with her website attracting 275,000 visitors per month.    4    . “One reason why people don’t find their true selves is that they aren’t willing to make changes,” said she.

Find support. In the journey of life, support is often what keeps us going. It helps us stay strong and move forward. Life coach, author and motivational speaker Tony Robbins has said, “    5    .” Find a person who is willing to guide and support you as you start to switch things up in your life.

6 . It was a busy morning and I had several things to do. As I was walking by the side of a busy _________, I saw an old lady in her 80s standing _________ close to the traffic. When I approached her, I _________ that she was trying to get the attention of passersby who were too busy to take _________ of her. She kept _________ to the middle of the road. When I tried to gently move her back further away from the _________of the busy road, she said that she had _________ her key in the middle of the road. I _________ and realized that no one seemed to be interested in us two. I knew I was getting _________ but decided to help.

The traffic was busy on the road. It was the __________ time of the day to cross a busy road without a traffic light. I asked the old lady to __________ at a safe distance and cautiously stepped onto the road __________ my hands.__________, the traffic on one lane stopped and then I moved further on to the middle of the road. Just then a school bus was __________ me and I boldly (大胆地)__________ in front of it to stop it. The school bus stopped so I __________ up the key right away, ran back to the old lady and __________ the key to her.

The school children who were watching my __________ from the bus let out a cheer and clapped. I felt so __________ to have helped this lady. I hope the school children watching me and cheering will do the same when their __________ comes in life.

7 . The deep and dark night sky is filled with wonder. Looking up at the bright stars, mysterious planets and ancient constellations (星座) brings a timeless feeling. Today, populated areas around the globe are enveloped in a type of fog that disconnects people from that amazing night sky, but reducing light pollution can help to restore the wonder.

After the sun sets, cities and suburbs across the globe are lit up with artificial lights. They glow along roads and highways and flood fields in sports stadiums. They also shine light on skyscrapers, malls, and flashing electronic signs. However, these lights negatively impact wildlife.

Artificial lighting has caused the firefly population to completely disappear in some areas, while lighthouse beams (光线) negatively impact marine species. In fact, in the US and Canada, 18 species of firefly are now classified as being threatened with a high risk of extinction in the next ten years.

Just leaving that light on affects the behavior of nocturnal pollinators (夜间传粉者) like moths, causing them to fly towards the light and not the flowers. This, in turn, negatively affects plants’ abilities to bear fruit and reproduce.

Many people are aware of many types of pollution including air, water, and land, but few realize that strong artificial lighting is harmful to all mammals, including humans. In order to make people aware of the importance of darkness, researchers wrote a world atlas (地图册) of artificial night sky brightness, which is published in Science Advances. Their findings reveal that 80 percent of the world populations live under a sky glow, with more than 99 percent of Americans and Europeans living under light-polluted skies.

Although individuals cannot control the highway and city lights, they can make a difference at home. And if everyone were to “turn off the switch”, it could help to bring back natural darkness in some areas. Light areas where light is needed and aim the light beams downwards. Try to use low-level lighting and be aware that some surfaces reflect more light into the sky.

9 . Women’s sport is experiencing growth. This season, the Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) league kicked off with a campaign to transform ideas of women’s rugby. Here are the stories of four remarkable women who are powered differently — born to break the stereotypes (刻板印象).

Abbie Ward, 30, Bristol Bears

Abbie has marked a successful return to the rugby field this season playing her first match since the Rugby World Cup Final in November 2021, just four months after giving birth to her daughter, Hallie. Abbie’s journey showcases a ground-breaking shift in the sport’s approach to motherhood. Abbie is eager to integrate Hallie into her playing life, maintaining a balance between being a mother and a professional sports person.

Jodie Ounsley, 22, Exeter Chiefs

Jodie attracts audiences as a deaf athlete. As the first deaf person to be selected for the England 7s squad, she in 2020 won Young Deaf Sports Personality of the Year. Jodie detailed, “I’ve had parents messaging me saying ‘My daughter with a cochlear(耳蜗的) implant hasseen you online playing rugby, and wants to do it, too.’”

Rachel Lund, 29, Gloucester-Hartpury

Rachel is a proud member of the “dual career club”, a nickname Rachel has given to the PWR players taking other regular jobs around their training and match days. She devotes herself to a full-time role as a physiotherapist (理疗师) with her commitment to female sport extending beyond the field. According to Rachel, “Research on female health is minimal at best. I’m keen on improving female health.”

Amanda Swartz, 23, Leicester Tigers

Amanda’s journey from a professional figure skater to a professional rugby player shows the determination that defines her athletic journey. Seeking a new challenge beyond skating, she discovered rugby. The discipline and goal-oriented drive experienced during her figure skating days became invaluable in her rugby change. Amanda has accepted her new sporting path and takes pride in promoting the visibility of rugby in Sweden.

10 . 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.