The traditional Chinese solar calendar divides the whole year into 24 solar terms. “Cold Dew”, also     1     (know) as “Han Lu”in Chinese, falls on October 8 or October 9 each year. Temperatures are much lower and the dew (露水) is     2     (great) at this time.

Here are three things you should know about Cold Dew. Firstly,     3     (eat) pomegranates (石榴) and hawthorns (山楂) that are both ripe during Cold Dew is a tradition. Pomegranates     4     (treasure) for their health benefits while hawthorns are thought to improve blood flow. Besides, Chrysanthemum (菊花) is the symbolic flower of Cold Dew.     5     (prevent) autumn dryness, people in China have the custom of drinking chrysanthemum wine. This is also a tradition of the Double Ninth Festival,     6     often falls around Cold Dew. Finally, it is     7     great time for fishing.     8     the Cold Dew period, temperatures decrease quickly and sunshine doesn’t reach deep water entirely. So fish usually swim to the area where the water is not deep and the temperature is     9     (relative) high. That is why people always say that fishing in shallow water areas in autumn     10     (make) sense.

4 . Dexter lives in Ouray, Colorado, where, for the past few years, the two-footed dog has been turning heads wherever he goes. His owner, Kentee Pasek, says ________ on two legs isn’t a trick she taught him. Rather, it’s a(n) ________ he made after a near-death experience.

When Dexter was a puppy, he escaped his yard, dashed into the ________ and got hit by a car. He lost his front legs. Everyone ________ he would need some kind of adaptive equipment to get around. He did use a ________ for a while until one day when Pasek set the dog at the foot of her porch (门廊) without it.

Pasek ran in to get a cup of coffee, came out and ________ found that her dog had climbed the stairs. She ________ her cellphone, put Dexter back at the bottom of the stairs and ________ him walking up the stairs on two feet without the wheelchair.

In the six years since, Dexter has become a full-blown celebrity, ________ in parades and building a group of social media ________, who now come to the dog’s hometown just hoping for a glimpse of Ouray’s most ________ “citizen”.

The whole thing isn’t considered as a ________ for many people. People praise Dexter for his option to stay ________. He shows where humans see ________, dogs sometimes beg to differ. And Dexter’s action has proven that sometimes getting ________ is the only way to see how tall you stand.

5 . If a pancake could dream, it might long for legs so it could jump off your breakfast plate in pursuit of a better, unchewed life. But legs aren’t necessary for something as flat as a pancake to jump around. A group of scientists have designed a pancake-shaped robot that can jump several times per second and higher than seven times its body height. The new robot named Hop, which swiftly jumps without feet, is an important contribution to the soft robotics.

Many ground robots move by rolling or walking. But it’s more efficient for robots to jump over obstacles (障碍物) than to go around them. Although jumping can offer some robots a competitive edge, engineering that ability has been a challenge for robotics researchers. Some soft robots that store energy can perform a single impressive jump very infrequently. Some lightweight soft robots that don’t store energy can jump frequently but can’t jump high or far enough to successfully cross an obstacle.

For inspiration, the researchers looked to gall midge larvae (瘿蚊幼虫) that miraculously throw themselves across distances 30 times as long as their loglike bodies. A gall midge larva bends its body and squeezes the liquid in its body to one end, making it rigid (僵硬的). The accumulation of liquid builds up pressure, and releasing the pressure sends it soaring (飙升). The robot’s body doesn’t resemble (像) that of a gall midge larva, but it jumps like one. Its body is made of two small plastic bags printed with electrodes; the front bag is filled with liquid and the back one is filled with the same volume of air. The robot uses electricity to drive the flow of liquid, which causes the body to bend and generate force with the ground, resulting in a jump. And the air bag imitates the function of an animal’s tail, helping the robot keep a stable position.

While the robot is currently restricted to Earth, it might be right at home exploring another planet. If this is true, the researchers robot might jump over dusty rocks and large holes on the moon or Mars, going where no pancake has gone before.

8 . Twelve-year-old Catherine has a lot of friends—632, actually, if you count up her online friends. And she spends a lot of time with them.

But is it possible that Catherine’s online friendships could be making her lonely? That’s what some experts believe. Connecting online is a great way to stay in touch, they say. However, some experts worry that many kids are so busy connecting online that they might be missing out on true friendships.

Could this be true? During your parents’ childhoods, connecting with friends usually meant spending time with them in the flesh. Kids played Scrabble around a table, not words with friends on their phones. When friends missed each other, they picked up the telephone. Friends might even write letters to each other.

Today, most communication takes place online. A typical teen sends 2,000 texts a month and spends more than 44 hours per week in front of a screen. Much of this time is spent on social media platform.

In fact, in many ways, online communication can make friendships stronger. “There’s definitely a positive influence. Kids can stay in constant contact, which means they can share more of their feelings with each other,” says Katie Davis, co-author of The App Generation.

Other experts, however, warn that too much online communication can get in the way of forming deep friendships. “If we are constantly checking in with our virtual world, we will have little time for our real-world friendships,” says Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University. Rosen also worries that today’s kids might mistake the “friends” on the social media for true friends in life. However, in tough times, you don’t need anyone to like your picture or share your blogs. You need someone who will keep your secrets and hold your hand. You would like to talk face to face.

Notice

10 . What makes a person a giver or taker? The idea of “give vs. take” take shape in all interactions and relationships of our lives. We’re either giving advice, making time for people, or we’re on the receiving end. We keep changing between the two based on different situations on a daily basis, if not a hourly one.

According to Adam Grant, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, most people are matchers. They make careful observations on takers and make it a point for them to pay something back. They hate to see people who act so generously towards others not receive any rewards. Actually, most matchers will try hard to promote and support givers so that they can get the good they should get.

Is there a gender factor (性别因素) that plays a part in this?

A study led by Hannah Riley Bowles, a professor at Harvard University, focused on this question. She asked 200 senior managers to sit down in pairs where one person would act as the boss and the other as a worker to discuss salary promotions. Male “workers” asked for an average salary of $146k while the females asked for only $141k. But why did they not bargain as hard as the men? Simply because they were more likely to be givers.

As a woman, I do enjoy the act of giving up my time, my knowledge, and my care and attention to others. I don’t expect anything in return, but I do tend to pull myself away when I feel like I’m being taken for granted (理所当然). I also tend to get upset when I see a loved one’s continuous actions of kindness go unnoticed. So, it’s safe to say I’m 50% giver, 35% matcher and 15% taker.

I do know someone, however, who is 99% giver. They’re constantly giving their time, sharing valuable ideas and going our of their way for everyone who crosses their path. Although they’re changed the lives of many people , they rarely see any of it returned. But the universe is slowly repaying them; they’re now extremely successful, well known for what they do.