3 . When 19-year-old Emily Bhatnagar from Maryland, USA, found out her father had stage four thyroid cancer, her response was a little different than you might expect. To honour her father, who she also describes as her best friend, she decided to start a book drive called For Love and Buttercup, collecting books for kids with cancer.

“It was very much an overnight idea,” she explains. “I posted a message on an app called Nextdoor asking my neighbours for used book donations. I was only expecting a few here and there, but the response was truly incredible and it was just the push I needed to co-exist with my grief rather than letting it consume me.”

“It was absolutely heartbreaking to watch my dad go through cancer and see him lose a little bit of himself each day, but the book drive allowed me to develop a newfound sense of purpose connected with sympathy to help others in any shape or form. I wanted to help kids. They’ve always held a soft spot in my heart.”

Using tips she earns from working at her parents’ bread shop, Emily has bought many books out of her own pocket. In addition, she receives donations through her Amazon wish list, which can be found in the bio of the book drive’s Instagram account, @forloveandbuttercup.

The project has seen a huge success, with For Love and Buttercup donating over l5,000 books and being recognized by The Washington Post, Forbes, The President’s Volunteer Service Award and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.

Wilson’s dog, Jack, was an energetic, six-year-old collie that would meet him every day at the trolley (电车) station when Wilson returned from work. This was a routine that had begun when Jack was a pup (小狗). The dog knew the route to and from the station like the back of his paw-and following that route was the highlight of his day. So when Wilson changed jobs and had to move to California, he thought it best to leave Jack at his home in Philadelphia with a relative. He explained all this to the dog upon leaving and told him that they both would have to adjust to new homes.

But Jack didn’t want a new home. He would not stay with the family he’d been left with. He returned to Wilson’s old house, even though it was boarded up, and there he passed his lonely days beside an abandoned chair in the porch (门廊). But every evening, tail wagging, he trotted (小跑) off to the trolley station. For as long as Jack had been in the world, Wilson had always taken the same trolley home from work, and Jack had been there to greet him. But evening after evening, there was no sign of the dog’s master, Confused and sad, he would return alone to the deserted house.

The dog’s depression grew. He refused the food left for him, and as the days passed, he became thinner and thinner and his ribs (骨) could be seen even through his thick blond coat. But every evening, ever hopeful, he’d go to the station to meet the trolley. And every evening, he’d return to the porch more depressed than before. No one knows why Jack’s new family didn’t contact Wilson.

Jack’s worsening condition did not go unnoticed.

The trolley soon took Wilson to the station.

Best regards,

Li Hua

Surprisingly, in South Korea,Hanghulu has become even more popular than the country’s     1     (tradition) rice cakes. The sweet treat originated in China during the Song dynasty, when Emperor Guangzong’s wife     2     (fall) ill and a doctor suggested she eat hawthorn (山楂) berries fried in brown sugar every day for a week. The candied fruit became popular     3     people across the country when she recovered. It     4     (bring) to South Korea by Chinese immigrants long ago. In     5     2010s, it was commonly sold in Incheon’s Chinatown and Seoul’s popular tourist spots. Over time, it became     6     (increase) popular not only among Chinese but also local people. “Tanghulu enjoys its explosive     7     (popular) because it satisfies South Korea’s interest in pretty food. These candied fruits have a glassy texture. Because they’re so visually appealing, many are eager     8     (post) them on social media,” said Lee Eun-hee, a consumer science professor. Another reason     9     it becomes popular is that Tanghulu is known for its health benefits. It is believed to aid digestion. It is also rich in vitamins and minerals,     10     (make) it a nutritious addition to one’s diet.

9 . Are you an “I person” or an “E person”? These two personality labels in particular are widely discussed online. They are part of a popular personality test called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI. All of the results have four letters, and there are 16 results in total, “I” and “E” refer to “introverted” and “extroverted”, respectively.

Even if someone is typically quiet, many online discussions suggest that an “I person” can still act outgoing at times. For example, when an introverted person is with a group of introverted friends, they might become more social like an “E person”. According to psychologists, this idea of temporarily switching personalities is called “masking”. That is hiding your true personality in specific situations.

“Human beings want to feel they belong, and they might become people-pleasers to do so,” wrote the MasterClass website.

Thinking on this, I may actually be the kind of person that these people are discussing. Most times, I just wish to make the atmosphere more interesting and exciting and show people that I’m easy to get along with. But deep down, I mostly enjoy being alone and quiet.

Using the MBTI result to identify and describe someone’s personality seems fun. However, I went too far at one time. My sister was excitedly making a day-to-day travel plan when I remembered from an article that “P people” don’t like to make or stick to plans, so I said to her, “You don’t seem like a ‘P person’?” “Why?” she asked back, “Since when do I need to follow what my personality test tells me to do?” It was then that I realized I’d taken the result too seriously.

The MBTI personality test may show something you don’t know about yourself and can even be a fun ice-breaker question when meeting new friends. And that’s all it is-for fun. Knowing someone’s MBTI result doesn’t mean you really know this person. And those four letters of yours don’t define who you are.

10 . McCormick Place in Chicago, the largest convention center (会议中心) in North America, is covered in glass that is enjoyable for humans but deadly for birds. On Oct. 5, over 1,000 migrating birds died from colliding with (相撞) its glass walls in a single day.

One key reason for the accident is the glass. During the day, birds fly toward glass as it reflects a perfect image of the sky and nearby trees. As night falls, the bright light from glass buildings attracts birds who fly according to the location of the moon and stars. The collision happened on the night of Oct. 5, when the lights in the building were on for an event.

After colliding with a building, many birds will die on the spot from a broken skull. Others may continue to fly for some distance, but they rarely survive for more than a few hours, as Brendon Samuels, who researches bird window collisions at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, told The Guardian.

Every year, nearly one billion birds collide with glass in the US, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In China, bird collisions are not uncommon, either. In the autumn of 2022 and spring of 2023, the National Anti-bird Collisions Action Alliance reported a total of 190 cases of bird collisions, which included several types of birds listed as second-class protected wildlife.

These tragedies could have been avoided if appropriate measures had been taken. Many places around the world have already put forward bird-related guidelines on building design. These include reducing the use of glass in building walls and applying bird-friendly materials and visual markers to the buildings’ walls. Turning off lights at night during migration seasons can also significantly help reduce bird collisions. Alongside guidelines on bird-friendly building design, people can also do their bit to help birds by putting stickers on glass windows in their homes and closing the curtains at night.