2 . Being in nature is really good for you. Even just seeing nature on your way to school will brighten your day. This is the experience that is being recreated in Birmingham, England.

Once the area around Birmingham was filled with orchards (果园), resulting in its being called “a city surrounded by blossoms (花朵)”. However, by the 1900s, industrialization (工业化) had begun to take hold, and the orchards were destroyed to make room for buildings and factories. And according to the National Trust, Birmingham has lost 85% of its trees since the beginning of the 20th century.

But on January 17, 2023 that began to change. According to the website Secret Birmingham, a number 11 bus left its stations filled with trees instead of people. All along its 27-mile path, the bus dropped off those trees to citizens, schools, and community groups, who then planted them. All in all, about 600 trees have been handed out.

“Blossom is not only beautiful, but it’s also important for the wellbeing of the environment,” says Lucy Reid, who’s leading the Birmingham project. “It’s also great for pollinators (传粉者), such as bees, which help trees produce fruit, and the trees also help to clean the air.”

This isn’t the first time the National Trust has helped Birmingham blossom. The Trust created “blossoms pop-ups” as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival. According to the project, blossoming tree installations (装置) were set up in various well-known Birmingham locations such as St. Philip’s Cathedral Square.

The National trust has also started blossoming tree projects in other UK cities. In 2021, it created the London Blossom Garden, and now the Trust is planting fruit trees in Plymouth, Newcastle, and Nottingham. Its work is important for the protection of the country’s wildlands and climate. However, their Blossoming Birmingham project shows that protecting a country’s nature not only helps the environment but brings joy and beauty to people as well.

3 . Lucy Flores’ father, Luciano Flores, grew up in Mexico and moved his family to the United States when Lucy was only three years old. Her father, who speaks Spanish, shared that his family had few resources, just like the school he attended. He stopped going to school after the first grade and started working to provide for his family.

In spite of this, Lucy did well in school and became the first person in her family to graduate from college. After that, she took up a job of teaching preschool students how to read letters and write their names. “I was thinking to myself, since I’m able to teach these children how to read and write, why am I not doing the same for my own father?” Then she started teaching her father to read and write.

After four months of working together, Lucy’s father can now write a lot of words and is reading some books on his own. As she taught her dad, Lucy shared their journey by posting videos on TikTok. “I don’t know if he understands how many people are watching him and following him,” said Lucy. “But I took it as a chance to encourage him.” Followers on TikTok share lesson plan ideas and have sent school supplies and books to the family.

Apart from watching her dad’s progress and inspiring others to never give up on their dreams, the most satisfying part for Lucy of teaching her dad has been the change in the family atmosphere (气氛). “In the past, we did not get along as my dad was quiet and not someone who liked to share his feelings or sit down and play with me when I was a kid,” said Lucy. Luciano said because of his daughter, he’s excited to continue to focus on learning letters and numbers and to spend time with his family.

According to historical records, the well-known historian Sima Guang from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) used a part of a round wood     1     his pillow throughout his life. This unique pillow had an unusual function.     2     Sima Guang moved a little during his sleep, his head would slide down off the pillow, causing him to wake up     3     (immediate) and continue his studies. This particular type of pillow came to be known as an “alarm pillow”.

The Chinese word for “pillow”, zhentou,     4     (believe) to be created by Cao Cao, a famous strategist and ruler during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280). One night, while Cao Cao was reading in his tent and     5     (become) sleepy, there was no extra space useful to place several books stored in wooden     6     (box). In response (回应), a servant momentarily placed the books at one side of the bed, upon     7     Cao Cao fell asleep quickly, experiencing a deep and restful sleep.     8     (impress) by the comfort provided by this short-term arrangement, the servant then created a padded (有垫的) headrest using soft materials, copying     9     shape of the wooden box that held the books. When Cao Cao asked about the name of this new item, the servant referred to it as “headrest bedding”. Cao Cao     10     (late) named it zhentou, and from that point on, the use of pillows became popular among the common people.

6 . Two weeks ago, 93-year-old Joy Ryan set a world record. In her words, “I’m the _________ lady to ever visit every national park.”

In just eight years, she and her 42-year-old grandson Brad Ryan _________ to go to all 63 national parks, an adventure they’ve written on Instagram. Their _________ stop was the National Park of American Samoa in the South Pacific, some 6,700 miles from their home in Duncan Falls, Ohio. The pair received certificates (证书) from the park in _________ of their achievement.

In a way, the journey began 21 years ago when Brad’s parents got divorced (离婚), and he became _________ from Joy. It wasn’t until 2008, at his sister’s wedding, that he _________ her again. She was 78 and she didn’t look good.

“She came into the church and she was dry,” Brad _________. “Very unsteady (不稳定的). It was hard to see this woman that was so important to me in my growing years on the side of _________, knowing that there was so much _________ between us.”

But over a period of months, Joy __________. And Brad, who’d just finished hiking the Appalachian Trail where he’d been thinking through what mattered to him, __________ the courage to call Joy and __________ they make raisin-filled cookies together.

__________, “there was a little too much awkwardness for my liking,” he says. “You can’t pick up where you left off, I learned that quickly.” Still, they __________ in touch. Over the last eight years, Brad and Joy have had little dust-ups (吵架) to be sure. And this tour of the national parks has __________ the crack (裂缝) that once separated them.

9 . Antarctica (南极洲) is a great, icy land mass, surrounded by the huge Southern Ocean. The ice in Antarctica doesn’t just cover the land. There’s also a huge area of sea ice which floats (漂浮) on the ocean’s surface.

However, scientists have reported that Antarctica’s sea ice is at a record low level. That’s worrying because the sea ice is an important part of the Earth’s cooling system. When it’s frozen, sea ice throws sunlight back out into space. But when the sea ice melts (融化), the water left behind is darker, and takes in and keeps more heat.

Every year, the sea ice at the South Pole goes through a cycle of melting and freezing. In summer, the huge masses of sea ice melt to their smallest point. Over the colder winter months, the sea ice grows and grows until it covers an extremely wide area. For most of this time, Antarctica has seemed to be almost unaffected by the changing weather conditions. In fact, until recent years, Antarctica’s sea ice area mainly set records for growing. That began to shrink.

This year, Antarctica’s sea ice was at a new record low — not just by a little bit, but by a lot. The last time Antarctica’s low sea ice set a record at the end of winter was in 1986. And this year, there’s about 398,000 square miles less sea ice than in 1986.

Scientists are working hard to better understand Antarctica. It’s not yet clear if the low sea ice level is a short-term problem, or part of climate change. The concern is that the melting sea ice could start a cycle that might cause even more ice to melt.

The ice loss problems in Antarctica are fairly recent, but the same is not true at the North Pole. where the low level of sea ice has been a concern for years. But the present situation is now similar in both places.