1 . Roosters (公鸡) act differently when faced with another chicken rather than just their own reflection. This may mean that the birds can recognize themselves in a mirror, a key indicator of self-awareness. In the traditional mirror self-recognition test, which originated in1970, researchers place a mark on an animal’s body in a spot that it only see when seeing its reflection. They note if the animal touches the mark while examining its mirror image, which suggests it understands that what it sees represents its own body. Few non-human species have passed this test, but they include some great apes, dolphins, elephants.

However, results from the test are often variable.Sonja Hillemacher and her colleagues from the University of Bonn in Germany wondered if this was because there is little natural reason for many animals to find out such marks. So, they have tried to adapt the test to the natural behaviour of roosters. Roosters usually make loud noises to warn other chickens when they see predators (捕食者) but generally stay quiet when they are alone.

In the lab, they tested 68 roosters one by one in an arena divided by a wire net. They placed a bird on one side, and either left the other side empty or put another rooster in it. Then they added a mirror to the divider for some tests. The results showed that when a rooster was paired with another rooster, it raised the alarm more often than when it was alone, regardless of whether it could see its own reflection. When another rooster was present but hidden behind a mirror, few alarms were raised, showing that roosters can distinguish between reflection and reality through vision rather than smell or sound.

Since the birds acted similarly when alone and with a reflection, they may realize their reflection is of themselves, say the researchers. While the research suggests that roosters may recognize themselves in mirrors, it is too early to claim that chickens possess this ability.

3 . Nowadays, shopping online enjoys great popularity, but my _______ to clothes shopping developed via supermarkets.

With four children, I spent a lot of time in supermarkets. When they started selling fashion, I found myself _______ out fancy items for myself. My wardrobe quickly _________ up. Whenever I felt bored or _________, I bought myself something new to wear. One day, when I _______ the total money I'd spent over the previous month, I got a real _________. So I decided to change.

One New Year, I made a(n) _______: I would stop buying clothes for a full year. My family laughed in _______ because they knew how I loved to shop, but this made me more _______ to do that.

The start of the year was especially ________, as all the sales were on, and I really love the ________. It almost made me ________ to see all the lovely dresses and coats, knowing I couldn't buy any of them. But I got through January, ________ away in February and sorted out my wardrobe in March. That was when I found ________ items of clothing. Some of them still had the tags (标签) on! Then I was re-wearing things that had barely seen the ________ of day since I'd bought them. I even wore the same dress to two parties ________, where I had much fun with my friends and no one ________ my dress. I suddenly ________ that I didn't need lots of new clothes.

I survived my year without ________ clothes, and now think ________ before I buy anything new.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven did not inherit much musical talent from his ancestors, according to a new study. Researchers say the findings are a good example of how     1     (we) DNA doesn’t determine what talents will be developed in life.

The researchers examined Beethoven’s DNA using a hair sample     2     (collect) during a separate study last year. Their goal was to explore his genetic predisposition(倾向) for music,     3     is closely tied to musical ability.     4     (do) this, they compared Beethoven’s DNA with that of nearly 14,500 other individuals in database. With his genetic information, they calculated a polygenic(多基因的) score     5     a sign of his predisposition for musical talent.

“Interestingly, Beethoven, one of the     6     (well-known) musicians in history, had an unremarkable score for general musicality —     7     (rank) around the top 10% of people based on modern samples,” said Tara Henechowicz from the team.

The authors who published the study in Current Biology said it would be wrong to conclude that Beethoven had little talent, but it does highlight the problems in making predictions based     8     (pure) on DNA.

“The mismatch between the DNA-based forecast and Beethoven’s musical genius     9     (provide) a valuable teaching moment because it demonstrates that DNA tests cannot give us a final answer about     10     a given child will end up being musically gifted,” said Ms. Henechowicz.

8 . Almost 40% of all global employment may be affected by AI, according to analysis by the International Monetary Fund. But don’t be alarmed. That doesn’t mean 40% jobs will disappear altogether. Instead, we’re talking about humans working alongside AI tools, not being replaced by them.

Speaking at the 2023 World Economic Forum’s Growth Summit, economist Richard Baldwin said, “AI won’t take your job. It’s somebody using AI that will take your job.” This means that if you don’t know how to work with AI, you’re in a much riskier position — certainly compared to someone who knows how to use it to improve their job efficiency.

So, consider how you could start integrating AI into your everyday work. Can you use it to polish an email, for example? Can you use it as a productivity tool… If not, try your best to get to g rips with it. There are tons of free （and paid） courses out there that can help you.

However, just knowing how to work effectively with AI is far from enough. It’s also important to position yourself in the organization in line with the things that AIs can’t do. Basically, think about how you can take on more responsibilities in the areas where human skills are still needed and will always be needed — areas like creativity, complex decision making, interpersonal relationships and so on. These are the areas where humans will continue to have the edge over machines. Anyone who wants to gain future workplace success should develop the relevant skills.

It’s not surprising that change is uncomfortable. But today’s workplaces are full of rapid and near-constant change. So, if change is something you struggle with, now is a good time to embrace and address that.

9 . The news cycle is driving us to the edge of madness, so why not switch off, unplug and pick up a book? We know you could use a laugh right now — and luckily, several thousands of you told us all about the books, stories and poems that make you laugh.

We took your votes and with the help of our panel (专家小组) of expert judges we created this list of 100 reads designed to make you laugh out loud. Want slice-of-life essays? Loopy poetry? Texts from famous literary figures? Scroll down — we’ve got it all.

As with all our reader polls, this is a curated (精心筹划的) list and not a straight-up popularity contest; unlike last year, you’ll see the books are grouped into categories rather than ranked from one to 100.

And, as always, there are a few things that didn’t make the list — surprisingly, Shakespeare didn’t get enough votes to make it to the semifinals. Then there were books that didn’t quite stand the test of time, or were so new we couldn’t tell whether they’d stand up.

Some of the authors on this list are incredibly popular, and you voted them in over and over again. Because space is limited, we try to hold each author to one spot on the list, but there are some exceptions such as Nora Ephron, who our judges thought was perfect.

And speaking of our judges, you will find a couple of their works on the list this year — we don’t let judges vote for their own works, but readers loved works such as Samantha Irby’s We Are Never Meeting In Real Life, so the panel agreed they should stay.

Laughter is the best medicine. Just click here and start reading!