1 . Ice cream is especially popular in the United States. In fact, Americans eat more ice cream than people in any other country. Ice cream is a frozen treat that comes in hundreds of flavors. What’s your favorite flavor? Is it vanilla? That is the most popular flavor by far. Chocolate ranks second in popularity.

Making ice cream is pretty simple. It’s usually made from milk, cream, sugar, and flavorings (调味品). Mix them all together as you freeze them and you get ice cream. As the mixture begins to freeze you can then add fruit, nuts, or chocolate. Soft ice cream is just the ice cream that isn’t fully frozen yet. Some people make ice cream at home in an ice cream mixer, a special kind of home freezer. But nearly all ice cream produced today is made by machines in ice cream factories.

There are many other popular frozen desserts that are similar to ice cream. Sherbet is made from fruit syrup (糖浆) that has milk or egg white added to it. Spumoni is an ice cream with fruits and nuts. Ice milk, also called low-fat ice cream, is a sweetened frozen food made of skimmed milk.

You can even get ice cream made without milk or cream. Soy ice cream and rice ice cream are made without dairy products. They’re made using soy bean milk or rice milk instead.

Ice cream comes in countless flavors. You’ve probably eaten vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Other favorites include strawberry, cherry, peach, butter pecan, and chocolate mint. But have you ever eaten ice cream flavored with garlic or green tea? Some people do. You can even buy ice cream flavored with rose petals.

2 . A program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is hoping to fight against loneliness brought on by the pandemic by forming friendships between students and seniors in the community. They’re making it possible through weekly calls.

“It’s been a thing I look forward to every week,” Miranda Savioli, a VCU medical student said.

The program is run by students involved with the American Geriatrics Society and pairs medical and health science students with seniors in the community.

VCU education administrator for the School of Medicine, Chuck Alexander, says it was formed to fight against loneliness and give students valuable interaction with that age group — something that’s been missing since training programs stopped earlier this year. “It’s mostly just social — just chatting,” Alexander said. “A lot of times they just need someone to talk to. A lot of times they feel that they have a connection with someone younger who is just entering a new phase in their career and that they have some wisdom to impart to them — medically and socially as a friend.”

So far, the volunteer program has paired around 40 students with seniors.

Every week, Savioli video calls retiree Joan Kerby, who lives in a retirement community in Henrico.

“It’s a really good connection because in lockdown you really don’t have long conversations with anybody,” Kerby said. Those long conversations soon turned into a visit. The two participants decided to meet in person back in November and Kerby said it was a special moment. “We talked for two hours. We probably could have gone on longer but we had to stop,” Kerby said.

Savioli says they plan to keep the program going, and encourages others to pick up the phone and call a loved one who may be isolated. “It was developed to help seniors with isolation, but mean, we all got isolated during this pandemic,” Savioli said. “It’s been nice to talk to someone every week.” The group has no plans to stop the program. “We’re going to keep the program going and as for Joan and I, we’ve established ourselves as lifelong friends,” Savioli said.

The high-profile China-Laos Railway opened to international passengers on Thursday, showing how the Belt and Road Initiative （BRI） is a win-win situation. The D887 train,     1     （depart）from Kunming, Yunnan province, at 8: 08 am and arrived at Vientiane, capital of Laos, at 6: 38 pm.

It is the first international cross-border passenger train service that China has put into operation since the COVID-19 pandemic. "The service not only     2    （far） facilitates the flow of people and trade between: China and Laos,     3     promotes the recovery of tourism and other     4     （industry）, and brings vitality to the development between these two countries." said Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a news conference on Thursday, "It is a model project of China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations （ASEAN） countries working on the BRI and promoting     5    （region） economic integration. "

According to a World Bank estimate, the gross domestic product in Laos will be increased     6     21 percent as a result of the construction and operation of the China-Laos Railway.     7     will also create more jobs for Lao people.

This year     8    （mark） the tenth anniversary of the BRI.     9    （promote） the initiative, China will continue to cooperate with ASEAN members,     10    （benefit） two billion people in the region.

9 . A study expands positive evidence for a new screening tool that directly engages preschool children during clinic visits to assess their early literacy skills. The tool, called The Reading House (TRH), is the first of its kind. It has the potential to identify reading difficulties as early as possible, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

TRH is an assessment developed by John Hutton and his team for kids aged from 3 to 5. Screening takes just about five minutes and assesses performance levels for kids aged from 3 to 5. It addresses a significant gap in ways to screen early literacy skills efficiently and directly. The tool, which is fun for kids, could be used in places like primary care or preschool settings. The screening measures core skills typically appearing in the preschool age range, including vocabulary, rhyming, alphabet knowledge and print concepts. All are skills predictive of reading success and often associated with reading difficulties.

The study involved 70 healthy children – 34 boys and 36 girls---between 3 and 5 years old from various socioeconomic background. The children completed standardized tests of important literacy skills: vocabulary, rhyming arid rapid automatized naming. Fifty-two of these children also successfully completed MRI (磁共振成像), including the measurement of the gray matter surface of their brains. The thicker cortex (皮质), particularly in left-sided areas supporting language and reading, has been associated with higher skills that are predictive of reading outcomes.

Many children arrive at kindergarten unprepared to learn to read, especially those from minority and economically poor backgrounds---estimated at over 50% of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the U. S. and over 25% overall. “By screening early during clinic visits, we can target effective interventions that help these children better prepare for kindergarten and improve reading outcomes –literally, snaping thein brains to read. ” said Hutton.

10 . It’s obvious that our society favors the outgoing personality, so being introverted (内向的) has always been seen as something that needs to be “fixed”. However, there is no fault in being introverted.     1    

Introverts have hidden powers.     2    . While others are busy chatting, introverts observe things most-people are unaware of. Sometimes we can even read people. While it may seem introverts are always zoned out, we’re actually analyzing and thinking of creative ideas to one day share with you.

Introverts also keep the world balanced. In a world that can’t stop talking, the ability to listen to what each other has to say is an important virtue that will assist us in building peaceful relationships of understanding.     3    . By listening to whatever people pour out, introverts help maintain the order of the world.

Introverts can self-recharge. Though the outgoing may gain their energy through mixing in crowds, introverts are self-recharging powerhouses.     4    . Their energy is found through loneliness.

    5    . In the noise of chatterboxes, their voices often get drowned out. There’s nothing more disappointing to an introvert than finally taking advantage of a moment to speak, only to be interrupted by the extroverts (外向者）. While extroverts may speak every thought that comes to mind, an introvert will choose their thoughts carefully and only speak of the ones they think their best to share. So next time, all you have to do is to be willing to listen.