1 . On March 16th I left the offices of The Economist to head home. That was the last day when all editorial staff assembled in our London office. And, at the time of writing, no date for a return to the office is in _______

It is remarkable how quickly we have adapted. The newspaper has been written, edited and produced from couches and kitchen tables. January and February seem like an ancient era — the BC (before coronavirus) to the new AD (after _______).

The shift may _______ great workplace transformations in the 19th and 20th centuries, and it has been a much more sudden transition than occurred with factories, enabled by advanced economies that revolve around services instead of manufacturing. Back in the 1970s, when Britain adopted a three-day week (to commit a miners strike), there were power cub and TV stations had to close down early. This pandemic has not turned the lights _______

Not only that, it has made remote work seem both normal and acceptable. In the past employees who stayed home had to overcome the _______ that they were bunking off (偷懒). Now those who insist on being at the office sound self-important.

Things are _______, of course. Video calls Jack the spontaneity of a normal meeting; no off-the-cuff (即兴的) remarks to lighten the mood. Distance makes it difficult to generate camaraderie. Creativity is probably harder to foster. Experts say new ideas come from weak links in networks — i.e., people you meet occasionally. Such “ _______ collisions” have become rarer.

Yet _________ offices will not disappear, it is hard to imagine that working life will return to BC ways. For more than a century workers have stuffed themselves onto crowded trains and buses to get into the office. For the past two months they have not had to commute. _______, for their part, have maintained expensive offices in city centers because they needed to gather staff in one place. The rent is only part of the cost; there are the cleaning, lighting, printers, catering and security ________.

Another aspect of the AD era may be the disappearance of the five-day working week. Even before the pandemic many workers became used to taking phone calls or answering emails at the weekend. In the AD era, the ________ between home and working life, a useful way of relieving stress, will be even harder to sustain.

In future employees may work and take breaks when they please, with the company video call the only ________. The downside, however, is that the rhythm of life has been disrupted and new ________ are needed. Looking further out, the AD era may bring other changes. Some may decide to live in small towns where housing costs are lower, since they have no need to commute. Men will have ________ excuses to skip cleaning or child care if they are not disappearing to the office. In a sense, this is a(n) ________ to normal: until the 19th century most people worked at or close to their homes. But social historians may still regard 2020 as the start of a new age.

2 . Critical thinkers start by asking questions about whatever is in front of them. They consider ______. If this, then what? lf that, then how is the outcome different? They understand that every action has a ______, and they think about all possible outcomes of decisions before they make them. Asking questions helps this process.

Once you have asked every question you can come up with about a matter, ______ information that will help you answer those questions.____! Do some research. You can learn almost anything on the Internet, but it’s not the only place to do your research. _____ people. I’m a big fan of polling (民意调查).Ask the experts around you. Gather ____ and various opinions you can use to make your own determination. The wider the variety, the better.

You’ve got _____ information, and now it’s time to analyze it all with an open mind. This is the most _____ part, in my opinion. It can be pretty difficult to recognize the filters that were instilled (灌输) in us from our first families. We are products of our environments, of the ways in which we were treated as a child, of the role models we've had throughout our lives, of the opportunities we have said yes or no to, of the sum of all of our experiences.

Try to be as aware as possible of those ______ and biases (偏见), and turn them off. Question everything during this step. Are you being _______? Are you speculating? Assuming anything? This is the time to look at every thought as _____ as possible. Do you know it to be absolutely true? What are the facts? Have you considered the situation from every different point of view?

Critical thinkers are more interested in solutions than in placing ____ complaining, or gossiping. Once you’ve reached a conclusion through critical thinking, it’s time to communicate and ______ a solution if one is called for. This is the time for compassion (同情), empathy (同理心), diplomacy. Not everyone involved will have thought the situation through as ______ as you have. It’s your job to understand that, and to _____ solutions in a way that everyone can understand.

3 . If you are experiencing physical symptoms that could indicate burnout, consider seeing your primary care doctor or a mental health professional to determine whether they are driven by stress or rooted in other physical condition, Dr. Dyrbye said. Don’t just take no notice of the symptoms and assume they are _________.

“It’s really easy to _________ your own symptom, especially in our culture, where we are taught to work hard,” Dr. Gold said.

If it is burnout, then the best solution is to _________ the root of the problem. Burnout is typically recognised when it is job-driven, but chronic stress can have a variety of _________ — financial problems, relationship difficulties, and caregiving burdens, among other things. “Think about the pebbles in your shoe all the time that you have to _________,” Dr. Maslach said, “and brainstorm ways to _________ some of them, at least some of the time. Perhaps you can ask your partner to help more with your toddler’s bedtime routine, or get takeout when you’re especially busy so you don’t have to plan dinner, too.”

Despite popular culture coverage of the issue, burnout can’t be “fixed” with better self-care, Dr. Maslach said — in fact, this _________ only worsens the problem, because it lays the blame and responsibility on those with burnout and implies that they should do more to feel better, which is not the case, she said. However, some lifestyle _________ can make burnout less likely. Social support, for instance, can help, Dr. Gold said. This could include talking to a therapist or meeting with friends (even if over Zoom). It may also help to _________ mental health or exercise benefits offered by your employer. Sleeping more can help too — so if you’re __________ from a lack of sleep, talk to a doctor about possible treatments, Dr. Bennett suggested.

When burnout __________ job-related difficulties, it may help to request better working conditions. Dr. Maslach suggested brainstorming with co-workers and presenting your __________ with ideas that would help — like providing quiet areas for breaks and personal phone calls, creating “no meeting” days so that employees can have more time to __________, or ensuring that there’s always coffee in the break room. Even small changes like these can reduce the risk for burnout if they fix a problem people __________ at work every day. “It’s the lasting job stressors that make people really __________ after a while. They don’t have the right equipment, they don’t have the things they need, they don’t have enough people to do the work,” Dr. Maslach said.

4 . I once got lost on East Nanjing Road in a boiling sea of people. Music blared from every store. Having nowhere to sit and nowhere to stand, I was begging to be teleported to some deserted island. Even for extroverts (性格外向者) like me, who get energy from the _________ , Shanghai is overwhelming (令人难以招架的). I can’t imagine what it’s like during the holidays when the party animals, who have a fear of missing out, hit the streets to have fun. 

At times like these, I truly envy people who are introverted (内向的) and prefer their own thoughts and _________ world to being around other people. Introverts are self-sufficient and don’t need other people to be happy. They can be happy by themselves. It’s a _________ belief that introverts are lonely or shy, and that they would be much happier if they _________ their comfort zones and became more talkative. 

It is, therefore, fitting that January 2 is World Introvert Day. Following _________ full of glittering lights, bright colors and small talks, introverts might feel in need of some alone time to recharge. The day also _________ the positive points of introverted personalities, emphasizing that being the quiet one is not only acceptable but something to be _________.

Yet, society in general prefers _________ because, among other reasons, they tend to go out more and spend more money, which is good for the economy. For this reason, families often pressure their introverted kids to attend large _________ and fake being social butterflies to improve career prospects (前景). __________ this is sometimes necessary, to be happy, it is essential to be accepted for who we are.

5 . My father decided to start learning French when he was 57. On the surface, his retirement hobby seems a little random — our family has no connection to French-speaking countries — but his ______ ran deeper than a passion for cakes. My grandmother developed signs of Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔兹海默症) in her early 70s, and studies suggest that being bilingual, that is, being able to speak two languages equally well, can ______ the start of the condition by up to five years. Drawn by that ______ benefit, many people have attempted to pick up a new language in adulthood.

Lots of activities are linked to better brain health in old age, like getting more education when you’re younger and physical activity. Experts say regularly speaking multiple languages may be especially ______ though. “We use language in all aspects of daily life, so a bilingual brain is ______ working,” said Mark Antoniou, a professor at Western Sydney University who specializes in bilingualism.

The age at which you learn another language appears to be less important than how ______ you speak it. The cognitive (认知的) benefit is from having to ______ your mother tongue, which your brain is forced to do if you’re trying to recall the right words in another language. So if the second language is used a lot, you’re getting that cognitive ______. That process is called cognitive inhibition. In theory, by improving these types of processes, the brain becomes stronger to the ______ caused by diseases like dementia. The stronger your mental power, the thinking goes, the longer you can function normally, even if your brain health starts to ______.

However, evidence for the benefits of learning a second language as a hobby in your 60s is ______. Research by Dr. Antoniou and colleagues found that while Chinese adults 60 and up improved on cognition tests after a six-month language learning program, people who played games like Sudoku did as well. Two more recent studies on the topic found virtually no ______ in cognitive performance after people took part in language-learning programs.

The scientists who conducted those studies offered a few potential ______. One is that the participants were highly motivated volunteers, who may have already been at peak performance for their age, making it hard to see any ______. Another is that the language interventions were perhaps too short. The handful of studies looking into the issue have used language lessons that were very different in their ______ and frequency. Some studies taught participants for eight months, others for just one very intense week.

6 . In a culture obsessed with measuring talent and ability, we often overlook the important role of inspiration because of its complicated nature. Its history of being treated as supernatural hasn’t helped the______. But as recent research shows, inspiration has a major effect on important______.

Inspiration is the springboard for creativity. Being in a state of inspiration ______the creativity of writing samples across scientific writing, poetry and fiction. Inspired writers are more ______and productive, and spend less time pausing and more time writing. The link between inspiration and creativity is in line with the surpassing aspect of inspiration, since creativity involves seeing possibility beyond existing restrictions.

Inspiration facilitates progress toward goals. In a recent study conducted by Marina Milyavskaya and her colleagues, college students were asked to report three goals they intended to_______ throughout the course of the semester. They then reported on their progress three times a month. Those who scored higher on the Inspiration Scale displayed increased goal progress, and their progress was a ______of setting more inspired goals. ______, people who were generally more inspired in their daily lives also tended to set inspired goals, which were then more likely to be successfully achieved. ______the relationship between inspiration and goal progress was mutual: goal progress also predicts future goal inspiration. Finally, inspired individuals reported experiencing more purpose in life and more gratitude.

Inspiration increases______. In another study, those who were exposed to Michael Jordan’s greatness experienced higher levels of Positive Affect, and this increase in Positive Affect was completely explained by their score on the Inspiration Scale. This inspiration was not______ though, foretelling positive well-being (e.g., life satisfaction) three months later!

Inspiration was more strongly______ future than to present satisfaction. The extent to which inspiration lasted was explained by self-reported levels of purpose and gratitude in life.

These findings show that inspiration______ a lot, which may put the burden on someone to become inspired and helpless to do so. The writer Elizabeth Gilbert rightly expresses this ______in her inspiring TED talk. I agree with Gilbert that one should not put______ on oneself to become inspired. These key scientific findings suggest that inspiration is not______— it happens. Knowing this should free you from the pressure to make inspiration happen.

7 . Sandhya Sriram is impatient. The stem-cell (干细胞) scientist wanted to put her knowledge to use, developing cultivated seafood. Yet no one was doing that in Singapore. So four years ago, she set up a company to create lab-grown crustacean (甲壳纲动物) meat. ______, she registered her company, Shiok Meats in August 2018. “Nobody was doing crustaceans,” says Sriram, Shiok’s Group CEO and co-founder. “What do Asians eat the most? Seafood. It was a simple answer. And they’re so delicious.” A lifelong ______, she had never tried real shrimp, but she sampled it the week she registered the company.

Today, the results of her ______ can be seen at the headquarters of her company. During a fall 2022 visit, a bio-process engineer looked into a microscope carefully. He had taken samples from a bioreactor in the room next door, where the company is   ______ crustacean cells. Under the lens, he was checking to see if the cells were ready to harvest.

Shiok Meats has already revealed shrimp, lobster, and crab prototypes (最初形态) to a select group of tasters, and it plans to   ______ regulatory approval to sell its lab-grown shrimp by April 2023. That could make it the first in the world to bring cultivated shrimp to diners, putting it at the leading position of the cultivated-meat   ______. As of this writing, only one company has gained regulatory approval to sell lab-grown animal-protein products: Eat Jus’s cultured chicken is ______ but only in Singapore. Shiok Meats still needs to submit all the paperwork necessary and get regulatory approval, but the company hopes to see its products in restaurants by mid-2024, offering foodies a more environmentally friendly option free of ______ than crustaceans from farms.

But even if that ambitious   ______ is met, it will likely be a while before the average person is eating cultivated crustaceans. It will require not just regulatory approval but also more funding and a bigger factory, along with ______ consumers and governments around the world to accept lab-grown seafood.

“We’re at an interesting stage of a startup; it’s called the Valley of Death,” says Sriram. “We are in the space where we haven’t submitted for regulatory approval yet, but we’re looking to commercialize in the next two years.” Nevertheless, the impatient entrepreneur is   ______. Sriram hopes to have the company’s next manufacturing plant ready by the end of 2023, where a 500-liter and a 2,000-liter bioreactor will be a major   ______ from its current 50- and 200-liter bioreactors. The goal is for her products to enter the mainstream in Singapore in five to seven years.

______ these products could help tackle some of the environmental impacts of crustacean production. Organic waste, chemicals, and antibiotics from seafood farms can pollute groundwater. Shiok Meats says the way it produces crustacean meat minimizes animal cruelty, as growing protein in a lab helps avoid ______ animals. And cultivating shrimp closer to where it’s ______ cuts emissions from fishing-boat fuel and shipping products around the world.

In a word, when science meets seafood, many wonderful things happen naturally.

8 . The way of recording things has never ceased to develop. In the 1980s, as sales of video recorders went up, old 8mm home movies were gradually replaced by VHS (video home system)tapes. Later, video tapes of family holidays lost their appeal and the use of DVDs ______. Those, too, have had their day. Even those holding their childhood memories in digital files on their laptops now know these files face the risk of ______.

Digitising historical documents brings huge benefits—files can be ______ and distributed, reducing the risk of their entire loss through physical damage caused by fire or flooding. And developing digital versions reduces ______ on the original items. The International Dunhuang Project, ______, has digitised items like manuscripts (手稿) from the Mogao caves in China, enabling scholars from around the world to access records easily without touching the real items.

But the news that the Ministry of Justice of the UK is proposing to scan the 110 million people’s wills it holds and then destroy a handful of ______ after 25 years has shocked historians. The ministry cites this as a way of providing easier access for researchers. But that only justifies digitisation, not the ______ of the paper copies. The officials note the change will be economically efficient (saving around £4.5m a year) while keeping all the essential information.

Scholars ______. Most significantly, physical records can themselves carry important information — the kind of ink or paper used may be part of the history that historians are ______. and error s are often made in scanning. Besides, digital copies are arguably more ______ than the material items, just in different ways. The attack from the Internet on the British Library last October has prevented scholars from ______ digitised materials it holds: imagine if researchers could not return to the originals. Some even think digitised information can easily be lost within decades no matter what ______ are put in place.

The government says that it will save the original wills of “famous people for historic record”, such as that of Princess Diana’s. However, assuming that we know who will ______ to future generations is extraordinarily proud. Mary Seacole, a pioneering nurse who now appears on the national school course in the UK, was largely ______ for almost a century.

The digitisation of old documents is a valuable, even essential measure. But to destroy the originals once they have been scanned, is not a matter of great ______, but of huge damage.

9 . Charity in Action

In a busy city like Shanghai, the hustle and bustle often overshadow the needs of those less fortunate. However, amidst this chaos, there are still stories of _________ and kindness that warm our hearts.

One such story unfolded one sunny afternoon in the heart of the city. Li Hua, a high school student, was walking home from school, _________ by the noise and crowds. Suddenly, her attention was caught by a small group of people gathered around a street corner.

Curious, she approached and saw an elderly woman sitting on the ground, _________ and alone. Her clothes were tattered, and her face showed signs of _________. Li Hua’s heart went out to her, and she knew she had to do something.

Without _________, Li Hua reached into her pocket and handed the woman all the money she had. The woman’s eyes lit up with gratitude, and a _________ smile spread across her face.

Inspired by this encounter, Li Hua decided to take action. She organized a charity event at her school, _________ awareness about the situation of the homeless and poor in the city. She _________ flyers, made posters, and even gave a speech to her classmates, urging them to contribute whatever they could.

To her surprise, the response was _________. Many students donated their pocket money, while others donated clothes and food. Even teachers and staff got involved, __________ their support.

The charity event was a huge success. Not only did it raise a significant amount of money and goods, but it also __________ a sense of community and unity among the students and staff. More importantly, it __________ the importance of helping others and the impact one individual can have on those in need.

Li Hua’s actions not only __________ the elderly woman that day but also inspired countless others to do their part in making the world a better place. Her story is a reminder that charity is not just about giving money; it’s about __________ a hand to those who need it, about showing compassion and kindness in even the smallest of ways.

In the busy and often impersonal world of Shanghai, Li Hua’s story is a beacon of hope, a reminder that amidst the noise and crowds, there is still room for __________ and compassion.

10 . 5 Ways to Determine Website Reliability

For every trustworthy website, there is tons of information that’s inaccurate, unreliable or just crazy. For the inexperienced journalist or researcher, such sites can _________ a wide range of possible problems. With that in mind, here are five ways to tell if a website is _________.

The internet is full of websites that were _________ five minutes ago. What you want are sites associated with _________ institutions that have been around for a while and have a proven track record of reliability. Such sites may include those run by government agencies, nonprofit organization or universities.

You wouldn’t go to the hospital to have your car repaired. This is an obvious point: _________ websites that specialize in the kind of information you’re seeking. _________, if you’re writing a story on a flu outbreak, check out medical websites, such as The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sites run by companies and business—their websites usually end in. com—are often trying to sell you something. And if they’re trying to sell you something, chances are whatever information they’re presenting will be tilted (偏向) _________ their product. That’s not to say commercial sites should be _________ entirely. But be cautious.

As a reporter, you need the most up-to-date information available, so if a website seems old, it’s probably best to keep distance from it. One way to check: Look for a “last ____________” date on the page or site.

Respected ____________ often link to each other. You can find out which other websites link to the site you’re researching by conducting a link-specific Google search. Enter the following text into the Google search field, ____________ “[WEBSITE]” with the domain (域名) of the site you’re researching: link: http://www.[WEBSITE].com. For example, link: http://www.baidu.com.

The search ____________ will show you which websites link to the one you’re researching. If lots of sites are linking to your site, and those sites seem reliable, that’s a good ____________. Then it seems that you don’t need to worry about them too much