2 . As a child, I’d spent entire afternoons ________ new worlds in my mind and giving life to ________ in my stories I wished could be my friends. I’d written myself into my favorite stories so I could be part of them. Writing was a part of me; it was who I was.

However, in high school I ________ with writer’s block (阻碍). By the time I was in college, I’d stopped writing entirely, ________ the dream remained. I wanted to ________ a novel one day. It was then that I read an interview with the Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb. She said she’d go crazy if she didn’t write; she needed to do it to stay ________. Her words made me feel ________. She was telling me that I wasn’t really a writer.

Or so I thought. I tried again, and it was like feeling the sun on my skin, or hearing snow lightly fall. I hadn’t realized it, but I hadn’t really been happy until I ________ my pen again. Writing was in my blood after all. Finally, half-hours ________ to writing stretched into hours. Before, I had been upset all the time because I didn’t advance my writing projects. Now, every day was a step forward, and I was ________ with it.

One day, I was reading a story in a library. ________, an idea hit me that I wanted to submit a few stories. I didn’t do it in the hopes they would get published. And then, something ________ happened. The first story I submitted was chosen for publication! When I got the e-mail, I was wild with joy and ________ around my kitchen table.

That moment________me that I must keep writing — not because I’ll go ________，but because I want to keep being crazily happy like that.

7 . I know next to nothing about baseball. When in the right field during P. E. as a boy, I prayed the ball wouldn’t come to me. It took a miracle (奇迹) for me to catch it. Yet I later became the father of two boys, Will and Tim (8 and 5), who were both interested in baseball. On Saturday mornings, I’d take Will out to the playground and play catch with him. Thanks to my weak arm, the ball dropped before he could catch it. After many misses one day, he said, “How am I ever going to make the major leagues?” “You got the wrong dad, kid,” I thought. Baseball isn’t my thing.

Still, I wanted to give my kids confidence on the field. There was an official Little League in our area, but it was super-competitive and primarily targeted older boys. What if we had something more low-key, something that welcomed boys and girls, and younger ones?

I shared the idea with some neighbors. “That would be great!”they said. Now who could organize such a thing? Not me. I tried to put the idea aside, but it wouldn’t leave me. I finally decided that I must do something about it. So I called the city’s recreation department, explaining that some families wanted to start a baseball league in our neighborhood. Were there any fields for that? They bounced me around. Finally, I spoke to the official in charge. I got butterflies in my stomach. What if he said no? “Yes, we have something for you,” the man said, hearing my request. We got two fields for four hours every Sunday morning. Our league was founded. What a joy it was to sit on the benches, watching Will and Tim playing baseball! How grateful I was for other parents who did the coaching! And I became the most unlikely baseball commissioner (专员) ever.

Many years have passed. Now Will and Tim are new dads, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll have to do. I know better than anyone: Parenthood calls you to do the most unlikely things.

8 . Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing promise in earthquake prediction, challenging the long-held belief that it is impossible. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, have developed an AI algorithm (算法) that correctly predicted 70% of earthquakes a week in advance during a trial in China and provided accurate strength calculations for the predicted earthquakes.

The research team adopted a relatively simple machine learning approach. The AI was provided with a set of statistical features based on the team’s knowledge of earthquake physics, and then instructed to train itself using a five-year database of earthquake recordings. Once trained, the AI provided its prediction by listening for signs of incoming earthquakes within the background rumblings (隆隆声) in the Earth.

This work is clearly a milestone in research for AI-driven earthquake prediction. “You don’t see earthquakes coming,” explains Alexandros Savvaidis, a senior research scientist who leads the Texas Seismological Network Program (TexNet). “It’s a matter of milliseconds, and the only thing you can control is how prepared you are. Even with the 70% accuracy, that’s a huge result and could help minimize economic and human losses and has the potential to remarkably improve earthquake preparation worldwide.”

While it is unknown whether the same approach will work at other locations, the researchers are confident that their AI algorithm could produce more accurate predictions if used in areas with reliable earthquake tracking networks. The next step is to test artificial intelligence in Texas, since UT’s Bureau TexNet has 300 earthquake stations and over six years worth of continuous records, making it an ideal location for these purposes.

Eventually, the authors hope to combine the system with physics-based models. This strategy could prove especially important where data is poor or lacking. “That may be a long way off, but many advances such as this one, taken together, are what moves science forward,” concludes Scott Tinker, the bureau’s director.