If you ask Chinese young people today what their dream job is, they may answer with    1    number of new occupations you have probably never heard of before, such as virtual artist, shopping assistant or sleep hotline operator. Besides being relatively new, these jobs give people much    2    (flexible)to enjoy life’s many other pursuits.

Jobs like package delivery people    3    (be)all new and unfamiliar to job hunters dozens of years ago, but now have become common. The same will happen with these new professions.

“I didn’t realize I had such potential    4    my friends once randomly mentioned that my voice was really good for doing ASMR(自发性知觉经络反应),” said Mingo, who tries to help clients fall asleep. “I think this job suits me because I’m really into sociology and I like to listen to people’s stories. It has developed my ability    5    (understand)people’s problems and find the root cause behind them.”

Li Xiaorong, 35, who struggled at a traditional Internet company, found new life as a professional organizer    6    helps get people s homes in perfect order. When    7    (face)rooms containing thousands of things messily stacked in piles, Li is able to    8    (rapid)come up with an organization plan and, after a few days, these messy rooms become    9    (organize), giving the entire apartment a completely new look.

The trend toward flexible employment has broadened the possibilities for young people to achieve work-life balance and also fits in    10    their view toward what makes a successful career.

7 . Philipp Kessler and his wife Karin in Austria quit their jobs and planned their around-the-world adventure, but then the pandemic hit the world. They had to quickly_________their plans as borders started closing. “_________taking the train from Russia over Mongolia to China and_________more of Asia, we had to start in Europe. You can’t always_________your plans,” Phillip said.

After travelling across Europe, the_________found themselves in Mexico, where every day became a(n)_________for Philipp to immerse(使……沉浸于)himself in the Spanish language and culture. He began each day_________Spanish grammar and vocabulary and taking chances to put everything he learned into_________.

Everyday_________, like grocery shopping, taking a bus or getting a haircut, became__________experiences for Philipp. When a local market vendor(小贩)__________him about the fruits that he’d never seen before, Philipp realized how rewarding it was to connect with__________in their language. He also__________the barbershop so that he could tell the hairdresser__________what he would like his hair to look like. Philipp said, “People are happy to see you at least__________to speak their language.”

Philipp added, “My Spanish was__________when, recently, we decided to take the second class bus from Oaxaca to Puebla. At the bus station, there was no information about our__________. I had to ask... In Mexico, you often have to ask for information because you don’t always__________it on the Internet.”

After the__________, Philipp has shared advice on learning foreign languages: Whether travelling abroad or at home, find chances to have__________with others in the language you’re learning.

8 . Many people tend to peel(削皮)fruit and vegetables when preparing them. But often, it’s not necessary.    1    What’s more, discarded(被丢弃的)fruit and vegetable peels cause climate change.

Fruit and vegetables are rich sources of vitamins, minerals, fiber and many phytochemicals that protect your cells from harm.    2    In 2017, the World Health Organization reported that around 3.9 million deaths a year worldwide were linked to people not eating enough fruit and vegetables.

Eating 400g of fruit and vegetables a day, as the WHO recommends, is difficult to achieve for many people. So could consuming fruit and vegetable peels help with this issue by adding important nutrients to people’s diets?    3    For example, nutritionally important amounts of vitamins, such as vitamin C, and minerals like iron and zinc, are found in the peel of root vegetables like wild carrots, sweet potatoes and white potatoes. And the US Department of Agriculture shows that unpeeled apples contain 15% more vitamin C than their peeled equivalents.

    4    According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, uneaten food, including peel, generates 8%—10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. New Zealand alone reports an annual wastage of 13,658 tons of vegetable peels and 986 tons of fruit peels.

Given the nutrient content of peel and its contribution to food waste, why do people peel fruit and vegetables? Some must be peeled for different reasons. For example, their outer portions are uneatable, don’t taste nice, are hard to clean or cause harm. Also, peeling may be a necessary part of the recipe, for example, when making mashed potato(土豆泥).

Are you still confused about whether to peel fruit and vegetables?    5    

9 . On TikTok, “#Selfcare” has 28.2 billion views, while the hashtag (主题标签) can be found on over 66 million Instagram posts. Also, books about self-care often top many people s shopping lists.

On the surface, it makes complete sense. Who wouldn’t like the idea of making oneself feel better and taking care of their mind, body and soul? Yet, we have to be careful not to view self-care as a cure-all solution to our problems. Self-care pursued without awareness of your specific needs and consistent evaluation can cause emotional, financial, mental and physical consequences.

According to Zishan Khan, a psychologist with Mindpath Health, self-care can lead to a person becoming overwhelmed (不知所措的) when met with a sea of advice, emerging everywhere from podcasts to self-help books. “So don’t allow what others suggest to cloud your internal voice,” says Khan. “Self-care can only benefit a person if it’s consistent with their goals and values.”

Khan further emphasizes the danger of unregulated physically-centered self-care advice, such as from influencers. “Their content often overly focuses on beauty and improving one’s looks. This can unintentionally lead to body image concerns and thus actually worsen one’s mental health,” she says.

Another danger can come when self-care actions reach the level of obsession or addiction, says Melissa Boudin, a psychologist of Choosing Therapy. “When you spend a large amount of time thinking about or practising a certain self-care behavior, this may be a sign that self-care has gone from beneficial to harmful,” she says, using the example of self-care through healthy eating and then going so far as to develop an eating disorder.

Lena Suarez-Angelino, a licensed clinical social worker, recommends creating a list of activities that make you feel better but don’t overextend you. Worthwhile and beneficial self-care may include anything from time with loved ones to walking. If you can’t really afford to buy dinner for the fifth time this week, that’s not it.

10 . The next time you find yourself in nature, away from the crowded urban environment, take a deep breath of the fresh and clean air. That refreshing breath is made possible by the trees around you.

Today, our cars and machines fill the air with carbon emissions. But scientists imagine a future, where vehicles will clean the air as efficiently as trees do. Euro News reports that the electric car, designed by Dutch students at the Eindhoven University of Technology, is capable of removing a small amount of carbon from the air.

The car’s sporty frame is nearly entirely composed of recycled plastics run through a 3D-printer and the engine is powered by an electric lithium-ion (锂离子) battery. By using 3D printing, the team could produce parts in the exact shape needed, with very little waste. Since nearly 2 billion tires end up in the trash yearly, the students also teamed up with Black Bear Carbon to source recycled black carbon for the tires. Moreover, solar panels fitted to the car’s roof allow it to act as an external solar power source for a house.

According to Reuters, electric vehicles produce near-zero CO₂ emissions as they drive. The drawback of these batteries, however, is that the process needed to create the battery cells for electric cars is still highly polluting. To offset the harmful effect of creating the lithium-ion batteries, the team fitted the car with two filters (过滤器), which can capture (捕获) two kilograms of CO₂ every 18,000 miles or so. That might not sound like a lot, but the team is confident they can make sure the two filters will capture more CO₂.

The team is now on tour in the US to promote their model, which they call ZEM for Zero-Emission Mobility, and to share their vision for the future. They picture electric car charging stations also fitted with the capacity to empty CO₂. “Our end goal is to create a more sustainable future,” said Jens Lahaijie, a member of the team that produced the car.