1 . On July 10, 1980, I was aboard an old destroyer (驱逐舰), sailing from Singapore to the Philippines. The day was grey with threatening clouds. There was a typhoon _________ our way. All of us were looking forward to arriving in the Philippines as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the lookout _________ an object floating. He announced that it was a boat with many people on it in a _________ area with reefs (礁石). The captain announced that we were heading towards the boat to offer _________. Everyone prepared for the possible rescue. I made my way to the back end of the ship. The ship _________. But along the way, I heard most of the crew were _________ about assisting the people. And I even heard an engineer _________ said, “We ought to leave them out there to die!”

We got close to the boat and sent out the whaleboat with a small crew to _________ it out further. The crew reported back it was an old wooden boat _________ with about 50 men, women and children, who were very weak. Our ship became even more __________ after that news. Some gathered any dry clothes they could __________ and I prepared the area for rest and all the medical items.

We __________ got alongside the boat, and the first thing I noticed was the strange sound of babies crying. Then came the sound of the men and women excitedly talking with pain in their voices. All their faces __________ great tiredness. We helped get them __________. The weakest received __________ while the rest got a place to rest.

During those hours after the __________, I noticed a big change in the __________ of the crew. The same __________ even helped in caring a baby girl. Outside, the weather was growing worse, but inside, everything felt __________ and pleasant. Our new friends were very happy as if they were on a luxury ship __________ an old destroyer.

2 . Millennials (千禧一代) may have been the first generation to come of age online, but their Gen Z successors (接替者) have truly grown up with it — and hardly ever log off.

A 2018 Pew Research Center survey found that 95 percent of teenagers have access to a smart phone; 45 percent say they use the Internet almost constantly. For many of them, social media has been a space for self-expression, entertainment and connection.

But as social media use has risen among teenagers, so have rates of depression, and anxiety. Though it is not a direct relationship, there is evidence that some platforms have worsened young people’s meatal health issues; for instance, research documents from social media showed that Instagram worsened body-image issues for one in three teenage girls.

A March 2022 study published in the scientific journal Nature found that the relationship between social media use and mental health varied by age, but that there were two windows where social media use was more likely to have a negative effect on the well-being of adolescents: at the start of puberty (青春期) and again around age 19.

Emma Lembke, a 19-year-old student at Washington University in St. Louis, experienced those negative efts firsthand. That’s why she started the Log Off Movement in June 2020. The project aims to encourage dialogue among young people who are feeling the negative effects of social media and want to adjust their relationship to it. In a phone interview, Ms. Lembke spoke about the movement she started, the upsides and downsides of social media, and how she has worked to loosen its hold on her well-being.

4 . Without less public attention, the nation’s egg producers are in the midst of a multibillion-dollar shift to cage-free eggs that is dramatically changing the lives of millions of hens in response to new laws and demands from restaurant chains. In a decade, the percentage of hens in cage-free housing has soared from 4% in 2010 to 28% in 2020, and that figure is expected to more than double to about 70% in the next four years.

The change marks one of the animal welfare movement’s biggest successes after years of battles with the food industry. The transition has cost billions of dollars for producers who initially resisted calls for more humane treatment of chickens but have since fully embraced the new reality.

Beginning in about 2015, many companies such as McDonald’s, Burger King responded to pressure from animal welfare groups by announcing their commitment to cage-free eggs. That was followed by laws requiring cage-free housing in California and similar rules in at least seven other states. Meanwhile, they widely promoted their move to cage-free as good for their brand’s image.

Animal rights groups have made allowing animals room to move a priority in their campaigns but the results have been mixed. The pork industry is fighting to block the California initiative that required more space for breeding pigs, and a state judge recently delayed implementation of new rules.

Looking years into the future, egg company leaders said they think the demand for cheaper eggs from caged hens will remain roughly 25% or more of the market, but Balk at the Humane Society said he expects it to become a tiny percentage of overall sales. Balk notes that hundreds of national retailers, restaurants, grocers and food manufacturers either have implemented cage-free requirements or plan to do so within a few years. “This is the future of every state in America,” he said.

8 . Have you ever tried to wear a historical object? On 13 September, in a Chinese reality show, an inventive participant chose to connect themes from Sanxingdui, an ancient Bronze Age culture from Sichuan Province, with today’s fashion technology. That included using heat transfer printing techniques and modern materials to create six different pieces.

Historic designs are generating interest in China. Over the past year, more people have visited museums online than in real life. And the number of visits to museum design stores on Tmall alone has lopped 1.6 billion. Of these mils, 100 million users were “post 1990s”.

Museum IP, considered to be an intangible cultural asset, is now attracting great interest from China’s younger generation. In 2013, the Forbidden City Museum in Beijing first requested product design ideas from the public for a cultural and creative design competition. The end results included luggage tags, folding fans, and many other products. Its cooperation with Chinese beauty brand Pechoin followed to launch the first lipstick. Even in 2017 the museum earned more than 1 billion RMB through cultural and creative products.

After witnessing the huge commercial potential of cultural and creative products, many other Chinese museums have followed the Forbidden City Museum’s example. In July, Sanxingdui Museum in Sichuan Province removed the cover on Sanxingdui masks, with toy character designs inspired by Sanxingdui cultural relics. Dunhuang Academy launched a Tianlong Babu blind box (a gift box with a random mixture inside) based on its frescoes. The Henan Museum has launched an archaeological blind box complete with mini play drilling tools that consumers must use to access the toys inside.

9 . “Boreout (闷爆) is different from burnout (精疲力竭) in the sense that bored-out employees rarely break down with exhaustion. Bored-out people may be present physically but not in spirit, and people can keep doing this for a good while,” says Harju, who has studied boreout for years.

Workers who realize they’re experiencing boreout may also be unwilling to flag it up as an issue to line managers or human resources. “While the behaviors that feed into burnout — overwork, drive — are appreciated and rewarded by employers, boreout reflects a lack of interest, a lack of motivation,” says Harju. “These are things that are avoided in organizations.”

There are some quick fixes, like taking on work tasks that are more interesting to you. But a 2016 study Harju and her colleagues worked on showed that people who had boreout were less likely to engage in constructive activities like trying to find new, interesting challenges at work.

What happens more often, she says, is that people will just show up at their desks and spend time shopping online, chatting with colleagues or planning other activities. She says that these people aren’t lazy, but are using these behaviours as “coping mechanisms”.

Fahri Ozsungur, an associate professor of economics at Mersin University, Turkey, who was behind the 2021 study on the health effects of boreout, points out that combating the phenomenon isn’t just down to the individual. “Giving meaning to the job is not just up to the employees,” he says. “Instead, it’s up to management to create an office culture that makes people feel valuable.”

If you think boreout is seriously affecting your health either physically or mentally, it may be valuable to ask yourself how you might be able to reselect your career path toward something healthier for you. Seek the advice from advisers, career consultants, friends and family.

“If only people take its suggestion, boreout can make a change into something else: a different career entirely, or a different role in the organization,” Harju says.