1 . During the first weeks of his retirement from the fire service, Max had felt lost. And that’s when Polly, a library manager, helped him sign up as a _________ , for Robot Club in the library.

Max hadn’t volunteered before and he didn’t know anything about _________ . He opened the packs containing the robots, nervously staring at the mess of parts. A dozen primary-age children gathered around the table, _________ eagerly. Almost double the number of adults crowded around them, watching.

Glancing around the _________ at the many parents and carers accompanying the robot builders, Max knew he had to face this _________.

“Okay, team,” he started _________, adopting the tone he’d used to _________ his unit during his firefighting days. “We’re going to build these robots one step _________.”

The children nodded, their hands busy with screws (螺丝) and plastic limbs. Max wandered from table to table, _________ words of encouragement, and slowly but surely, __________ the instructions in his mind.

An hour passed, and the room was filled with the sound of chatter and clinking parts. As the final minutes of Robot Club ticked away, Max stood back and __________ the room. Robots of all shapes and sizes stood on the tables. The children were excited, __________ their creations to anyone who would look.

As they began to leave, many children stopped to thank Max. Each “thank you” and “see you next week” chipped away at the sense of __________ he had felt since retiring. He hadn’t put out a fire today, but perhaps he had __________ something far more important — a new __________ for himself.

2 . Growing up in Ukraine, Vadim didn’t know what it was like to live in a safe, stable home. His parents were alcoholics who would often beat him. They’d even stuff him into a wine container, breaking his little body and leaving only a small opening at the top so he could breathe and see—but only just a little.

By the time Vadim turned 9, he was living in an orphanage (孤儿院). Unfortunately, as is the case with far too many little ones, his life only got worse there. Not only was he hurt, but he was placed in a room on the third floor, making it impossible to get downstairs in a wheelchair.

This left Vadim crawling up and down the stairs, an activity that was both physically and mentally exhausting. He’d often be late for meals. If the food wasn’t already gone by the time he arrived, other kids would steal from him.

Then, a chain effect began when some special folks visited the orphanage. They told him a story about a spiritual figure who advocated love and forgiveness. This conversation helped the 14-year-old find his faith and, in turn, he had more hope than he ever had before.

Today, Vadim is no longer the boy subject to fate. He is a father to his own kids, and his life couldn’t be more different or better. Over the years, he’s discovered a gift for expressing himself through art. This inspired Tim Tebow Foundation, an organization fighting for the most vulnerable (脆弱的) people around the world, to ask if he`d like to create a piece that represented what it looked and felt like for him to have gone from “darkness to light.”

The result? A truly remarkable painting that features Vadim, in his wheelchair, leaving behind his old home, including the wine container his parents stuffed him into. His new direction includes a beautiful forest full of fall leaves and bright light, showing the hope he is said to have found in the inspiring story.

4 . Odors (气味) are complex and often have changeable structures, and can show meaningful information about an animal’s surroundings, like the location of food sources. But it has previously been assumed that mammalian (哺乳动物的) brains can`t fully process these temporal changes in smell because they happen so rapidly, much faster than an animal can smell.

Using behavioral experiments, researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and UCL(University College London)found that mice can, in fact, detect very rapid variations within odors, at rates previously not thought possible. They also showed that mice can use this information to distinguish whether odors are coming from the same or different sources, even if they are very close to each other.

This suggests that the mammalian olfactory (嗅觉的) system is also key in processing the awareness of physical space and surroundings, guiding decisions important to survival.

Andreas Schaefer, group leader of the Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory at UCL says: “From an evolutionary (进化的) point of view our findings make sense as they help to explain why there is a lot of computational power within the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain where the nose sends signals to. It’s not only processing chemicals from odors but also calculating information about physical distance and sources. It would have been strange for evolution to create such processing power in this part of the brain if it were not being used to help the species survive.”

In one key experiment, the scientists trained mice to detect whether two odors were coming from the same source or separate sources. The mice were able to correctly distinguish this difference.

As part of the study, the scientists designed new technologies including a high-speed odor delivery device and equipment that can measure several odors with extremely high precision. These innovations will enable more complicated work on the olfactory bulb, increasing our knowledge of how this brain region processes information about the environment and influences behavior.

Yours,

Li Hua

Seeing Math on the Page

Math and literature are probably two of the subjects that bring students headaches. However, scientists wonder     1     the beauty of math can be found in literary works. A UK mathematician Sarah Hart, who presents some interesting thoughts about “three” in her book,     2     (argue)that the beauty of this number is indeed evident in many works of western literature and languages.

“Three” is the minimum number with     3     a two-dimensional shape can be defined. For example, three sticks can create     4     triangle, a stable structure. Many common phrases are in three words, such as “ready, set, go”. Some nursery rhymes have a word     5     (repeat) three times, such as “row, row, row your boat”. In stories, there are usually three main characters and for a series of     6     (novel), there are usually three books rather than four.

Why is it always the third son who behaves differently from his two older brothers, thus     7     (win) the princess? Hart explains that obviously we require two repetitions to get to know the pattern, so that the breaking of the pattern in the third character can surprise or amuse us.

    8     (similar), another study by researchers at the University of Vermont also connected math and storytelling. They analyzed more than 1,300 fiction books and arranged for 10,000 words from the books to be rated by 50 participants on a happiness scale of 1 to 9. Then the ratings     9     (categorize) into different graphs, which showed how the readers’ emotions changed while reading. It turned out that each story fit perfectly into one of six basic graphs, a mathematical pattern.

“The idea that one would have to choose between mathematics and literature is something     10     a tragedy,” Hart says, “The two fields are fundamentally linked”.

10 . Sweating may not be your favorite thing to do, but it is a necessary process for maintaining the health of the human body.     1     Here are four research-backed reasons why this salt-based fluid can benefit you.

Sweat is known to cool the skin, bringing toxins (毒素) to the surface and giving the skin a healthy glow. Research shows that sweating can increase and maintain skin hydration. However, leaving sweat on the skin for too long can cause skin diseases such as acne (痤疮).     2    

When you are hot, your heart beats faster to cool the body, releasing endorphins that cause feelings of joy.     3     In a recent study, people who smelled “joyful sweat” displayed tendencies associated with happiness. However, those exposed to fear-induced sweat showed characteristics of terror.

When sitting in a sauna (桑拿), your body temperature rises, so your body works overtime to   cool itself down by sweating.     4     A 20-year Finnish study found that people who sweated it out regularly in a sauna had a lower rate of sudden cardiac (心脏的)deaths.

If you sweat heavily during exercise, that’s usually a positive sign. Athletes tend to sweat sooner and more than inactive people. Their bodies have learned to cool down more efficiently during physical activity. A study conducted by the Public Library of Science supports this, showing that long-distance runners not only got sweatier sooner, but also activated more sweat glands (汗腺), resulting in more sweat than their non-active counterparts.