1 . Twins may be more common today than at anytime in history. Researchers analyzed records from 165 countries and found a significant rise in twin birth rates since the 1980s, with one in 42 people now born a twin. According to the survey, the global twin birth rate has risen by one-third, on average, over the past 40 years.

“The trends are really quite striking,” said Christiaan Monden, a professor at Oxford University. “Over the past 40 years we’ve seen a strong increase in twinning rates in rich and developed countries. Globally, twinning rates have risen from nine to twelve per 1,000 births since the 1980s, but the picture varies from country to country. The greatest rises are seen in North America (71%), Europe (60%) and Asia (32%). In the UK, twinning rates rose about 62%. In the Oxford study, a decrease of more than 10% was found in only seven countries over the dates surveyed. “The absolute number of twin deliveries (分娩) has increased everywhere except South America,” Monden said. “In North America and Africa, the numbers have increased by more than 80%, and in Africa this increase is caused almost entirely by population growth.”

Raj Mathur, a doctor at St. Mary’s Hospital in Manchester, said, “It doesn’t surprise us that twinning rates have increased because the availability of assisted reproduction (生殖) has increased and also because women are slightly older when they have their first children, and both those things will increase the twinning rate.”

“The majority of twin babies are completely fine, but there is no doubt that a twin pregnancy (怀孕) carries greater risks for the mother and the baby. So when we can avoid it, we should avoid it. The principle we follow is simply summed up by the phrase ‘one at a time’,” Mathur said.

3 . Human activities have caused severe narrowness in over half of the world’s largest lakes in the past 30 years, causing risks to health, economies, and the environment, according to a study in the journal Science. The global decline in water storage equals to 17 times the capacity of Lake Mead, the largest lake in the U.S. Overuse of water for agriculture, development, and human-caused climate change are the main factors driving the decline, particularly in natural lakes. The accumulation of dirt and sand behind dams also contributes to the fall of water levels in lakes.

The findings showed “significant declines,” stated Fangfang Yao, the lead author of the study. “Roughly one-quarter of the world’s population lives in a basin with a drying lake,” Yao said. “So the potential impact could be significant.”

At least half of the decline in natural lakes was driven by human-caused climate change and overconsumption, which should remind water managers to improve protection and water efficiency, according to Yao. “If you know a lake is falling and that loss resulted from human activities, can we attach more importance to protection and improving water efficiency?” she said.

A climate change-driven drought and an ever-growing human thirst have continued to consume the two largest lakes in the U.S. Lake Powell and Lake Mead, which the Colorado River feeds. Lake Chad, one of Africa’s largest freshwater lakes which supplies nearly 40 million people with water, has shrunk (收缩) by an estimated 90% since the 1960s.

The United Nations regards access to safe drinking water as a universal human right, yet around 2 billion people lack access to it, and half of the global population experiences severe water shortage annually.

“Uncertainties are increasing,” said Richard Connor, the editor-in-chief of a U.N. water report published earlier this year at a press conference in late March, where world leaders met to try and find better strategies for managing the planet’s rare freshwater. “If we don’t address it, there will definitely be a global disaster.”

7 . Colleen and Terence have known each other for more than 35 years and have been out fishing together more than 500 times. On a freezing ________, they went fishing by boat as usual. And their ________ began when their boat hit a semi-submerged (半沉的) tree on the northern side of Motuihe Island about 4:30 a.m.

After the 4.8m boat ________ in 10 to 15 seconds, Terence, 42, who lost his brother in a boating accident in 1975, said “Oh God, you can’t do this to me twice in my life — losing two people I ________.”

The last bag of air on the boat was almost gone. “But Colleen remained amazingly ________ in the ________ water. We made the decision that I was the ________ swimmer, and I should go for help!” said Terence.

He swam against the tide for more than an hour. He ran into rocks and ________ two toes to get help to save a ________ friend. Meanwhile, Colleen, 53, said she ________ stars to kill time and thought of her family. “I wasn’t afraid because I had ________ in Terence. I knew he would do ________ to save me.”

Colleen was ________ found and picked up by the Marine Rescue Centre. She was ________ by ambulance to hospital. “When they came back and I asked if she had been found alive — they said yes — I just broke down. All had been ________ it,” Terence said.

8 . As schools around the country reopen after winter break, their students are being reminded of the lunch debt they’ve racked up this school year.

Congress ended the free-lunch-for-all program in June, reverting to a system in which low-income families had to fill out paperwork to qualify for aid based on their income. But some families have been left behind because they do not understand the application process.     1     For some kids, the debt can get so big that schools stop giving them a full meal.     2     According to the national campaign No Kid Hungry, students who eat school breakfast have been shown to achieve 17.5% higher scores on standardized math tests.

    3     The nonprofit Tusk Philanthropies’ Solving Hunger is funding four organizations focused on promoting policy change on free school meals. In another, Sarah Stusek recorded herself calling Mount Vernon Community School in a viral TikTok video to pay off the Virginia school’s nearly $1,700 lunch debt.

Some states choose to continue free-lunch-for-all programs, including Massachusetts, Nevada, Vermont and Pennsylvania. California, Maine and now Colorado are the only states with laws ensuring permanent universal meal programs for all children, regardless of parents’ income.     4    

Results from a national survey shows 847 schools had amassed $19.2 million in lunch debt. Debt varies across the country. Across North Carolina, lunch debt exceeded $1 million as of Nov.1.     5    And in Georgia, a nonprofit called All For Lunch paid $130,000 to wipe the debt of several schools across several metro area counties in December.

9 . From the flower crown to the one that makes you look like an adorable baby deer, Snapchat’s filters (滤镜) are famously pleasing. But if you have ever shifted your phone and seen the filter disappear, revealing your normal human face on the screen instead, you may have thought to yourself, “I wish I looked like a Snapchat filter in real life.”

This is a real and increasingly common way of thinking, according to the plastic surgeons who authored a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). For some people, the authors say, this obsession with looking as perfect as they do in their filtered social media photos has become so extreme that experts place it on the body dysmorphia disorder spectrum.

Body dysmorphia disorder (BDD) is a mental health condition and a type of obsessive compulsive disorder in which a person becomes obsessed with thoughts about appearance imperfection. “For someone with BDD, their entire life’s balance hangs on whether they look okay or whether they have hidden their appearance imperfection appropriately,” Tom Hildebrandt, PsyD, chief of the Division of Eating and Weight Disorders, explained in a previous interview.

The JAMA article names this latest version of the disorder “Snapchat dysmorphia disorder,” saying that apps like Snapchat and Face Tune are giving rise to new unattainable standards of beauty.

In the past, the authors write, patients would show up in their plastic surgeon’s office with photos of celebrities that had been edited to perfection in magazine spreads. Now, they say, patients want to look like filtered versions of themselves instead, with fuller lips, bigger eyes, or a thinner nose. According to recent data, 55% of surgeons report that patients are looking for plastic surgery to improve the appearance the way they look in social media selfies.

“This is an alarming trend,” the authors write, “because those filtered selfies often present an unattainable look and are blurring the boundary between reality and fantasy for these patients.”

10 . Most of us probably cannot imagine modern life without social media, which has both the potential to negatively impact our mental and emotional heath if used blindly and the ability to connect us in many unexpected ways.

With social media, friendships go beyond geography. We are able to find friends old and new, thus maintaining old friendships and making new ones. Some would question the quality of these friendships, but perhaps what is important is that a link exists between you and that person. Then, we can possibly build friendship upon this link in the future.

Nevertheless, social media does consume our energy and lower our self-esteem (自尊) at times. A 2013 study by Ethan Kross and Philippe Verduyn, published by the Public Library of Science, found that the more a person uses Facebook, the more miserable he feels about his own life. An internet celebrity (名人) Essena O’Neill recently announced to quit social media, saying it is “not real life”, taking countless photos just to look great in a single post and seeking social approval from “likes” and “views” have left her feeling “empty”.

However, those affected are usually teenagers who possess shaky self-identities. It is only natural for teenagers to seek popularity and social recognition. However, for every teenager who feels jealous, envious or depressed online, there is another who chooses to feel energetic, inspired and accepted by positive social connections.

From what perspective do we wish to approach social media? Social media does not cause unhappiness; it simply provides an alternative platform for teenagers to experiment with as they grow up, something they have always done offline. Teen activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says, “What is interesting is the power and impact of social media... we must try to use social media in a good way.”