2 . Every Saturday night, all through that lazy spring, I used to take a rose to Miss Caroline Wellford. Every Saturday night, rain or shine, at exactly eight o’clock.

Miss Caroline was abandoned by her future husband Jeffrey Pinniman, who married Christine Marlowe, a younger and prettier girl. It almost became a scandal (丑闻) in our town. Miss Caroline could hear unkind things about her everywhere she went. For six months she had shut herself up in her house and seemed determined to turn herself into an odd old maid. She looked like a ghost that night when I delivered the first rose. “Hello, Jimmy,” she said listlessly (无精打采地). When I handed her the box, she looked shocked — “For me?”

Again the next Saturday, at exactly the same time, I found myself delivering another rose to Miss Caroline. The third time she opened the door so quickly that I knew she must have been waiting. There was a little color in her cheeks and her hair no longer looked so straggly (散乱地).

The morning after my fourth trip to her house, Miss Caroline played the organ again in church. She held her head high with the rose pinned to her blouse. Week after week I delivered the rose, and gradually Miss Caroline returned her normal life.

When I made my final trip to Miss Caroline’s house, I said, as I handed her the box, “This is the last time I’ll bring this, Miss Caroline.” She hesitated and invited me to come in and handed me a model of a sailing ship, exquisitely (精巧地) carved. She said. “I’d like you to have it. You’ve brought me great happiness, Jimmy — you and your roses.”

Fleeing back to the shop, I looked in the file where Mr. Olsen kept his untidy records, and I found what I was looking for. “Pinniman,” it said.

The years went by, and one day I came again to Olsen’s flower shop. My old boss and I talked a while. Out of curiosity, I asked, “D’you suppose that Mrs. Pinniman ever knew her husband was sending flowers to his old flame?” “Jeffrey Pinniman never even knew about it.” Mr. Olsen smiled, “It is a lady who said she wasn’t going to sit around watching Miss Caroline make a martyr (长期受折磨者) of herself at her expense.”

4 . When the first digital emoticon “:-)” was posted on Sept 19, 1982, by professor Scott Fahlman at Carnegie Mellon University, US, internet history was made. Now, there are more than 3,600 emojis available for us, noted CNN.

“They offer things that words aren’t saying. They clarify that when you say ‘okay’, what kind of okay that is.” Jennifer Daniel—head of the Emoji Subcommittee for the Unicode Consortium, an organization in charge of choosing official emojis—told CNN. Daniel went on to say that emojis add natural elements of face-to-face communication to conversations, such as body language, intonation, volume and eye contact.

But the meanings of emojis are quite different geographically. For example, people in the West prefer to express their feelings through the mouth and chin; so, to show happiness, they often put great emphasis on the corners of the mouth turning up. But in the East, people are more emotionally restrained and their emotions are shown through the eyes instead.

Emojis can be used differently even within the same country. A smiley face with a waving hand is one such example. For most people, this kind of emoji is friendly while some young people use it to show the breakup of a relationship.

Just as language develops, so do emojis. The Unicode Consortium brings out new emojis every year, showing care when it comes to race, gender and other sensitive aspects in new emoji sets. In 2015, it released different skin tones. In 2016, different job emojis were added, such as teacher and firefighter—along with female versions for these jobs. In 2019, emojis of disabled people were added, including emojis of blind people and people in wheelchairs.

What is the future for emojis? They are already shaping social media as existing and new platforms evolve to respond to their expanding uses. Will the emoji evolve to become an international language with the growth of digitalization (数字化)? Or is technology changing so fast that emojis could go the way of the emoticon and fade in popularity after the next big thing comes along? It is hard to predict—even technology and language experts are divided on the subject.

6 . From going to work to traveling, here are some backpacks you can use in several different situations.

SZLX backpack       

This backpack is described as “designed for travel” and you can see why—as unzipped and open, it looks a bit like a carry-on bag. It has two zip pockets and an inside compartment (隔层). With a shoe compartment and a bag for wet clothes, it is a great choice for traveling and regular use.

Della Gao backpack

This backpack will have you feeling safe, with lockable zips (拉链). It has three main compartments and at 17 inches, has a large overall space for keeping important items. It’s a wise choice for business travel, university or if you’re going on holiday with high-value items.

Lekesky backpack

Looking like a cross between a lunch bag and a backpack, the Lekesky bag is actually a bit of both, with two pockets alongside a main compartment. The bag also has a separate lunch compartment, able to store food for nine hours with an ice bag. The bag comes in black/white as well as green/white.

Maxtop backpack

If what you’re after in a backpack is a lot of space, then this bag will be the one for you. It comes with metal zippers and a USB port, plus it can be folded up when not in use. It also has a D-ring for you to hang a key or other items if desired.

If you wake up in the middle of the night, you’re likely to check the time and see how many more hours you have     1     (leave) before morning. But this is a bad idea.

Looking at any source of light     2     (send) signals to the brain to wake up and turns off the     3     (produce) of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin (荷尔蒙褪黑激素).

Biological clocks help regulate the timing of bodily processes, including circadian rhythms (昼夜节律). Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles     4     are part of the body’s internal clock. One of the most important circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle, which is     5     (easy) influenced by light. Even a quick look can make falling back to sleep     6     (difficult).

But even more importantly, checking can cause     7     (addition) stress. Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, a physiologist, sleep and stress management expert suggests that checking the time every time you wake up will just lead     8     a more disturbed night.

“Never check the time if you wake during the night — it is completely normal     9     (wake) during the night.       10     you’re a sensitive sleeper, then checking the time can send you into a whirl of calculations (一连串的计算) and make you worry about how much sleep you will or won’t be getting.”