1 . Wu Ming, a young German born after 1995, is a big fan of Chinese culture. As he thought some diseases can’t be treated _______ with Western medicine, he decided to _______traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In 2015, Wu came to Henan province, where a strong TCM culture can be _______. After a year of learning, he _______ the language barrier and started to learn Chinese medicine. Wu always _______ some Chinese herbal medicine by himself to know their flavours and effects, just like Shen Nong, a character in Chinese legend. In Wu’s opinion, TCM is one of the best-preserved _______ of Chinese culture.

Studying TCM also _______ Wu’s mind and lifestyle. He used to be _______ to electronic devices, playing video games every night. Instead of being trapped in the fast-paced but unhealthy daily _______, he now lives a(n) ________ and peaceful life, practicing good habits like drinking tea and reading.

Wu ________ what he has learned to help his family. He always provides his family members with some advice about staying fit after ________ their skin or tongues online. Over time, his family gradually began to understand his ________ for TCM.

Wu thinks there’s no big difference between China and Western countries. “________ comes from being out of touch”, said Wu. He plans to run a traditional Chinese clinic in Germany, which could serve as a(n) ________ between the two countries and publicize TCM and its culture.

4 . It might seem like something from a science fiction movie, but scientists today are working on ways to combine certain kinds of bacteria with tiny robots. Scientists want to use these creations to improve the way we give medical treatment. They claim that drug therapy (疗法), disease diagnosis, and even surgery could be greatly aided by the use of nanobiotechnology. Nano-means “tiny”, and bio-means “life”. This tiny technology will use living organisms in combination with electronics.

Electronics makers already use tiny robots to build complex but very tiny circuits. Medical scientists want to use these robots to repair patients’ damaged organs or to direct medicines to affect specific cells. For example, tiny robots could be engineered to deliver chemotherapy (化疗) directly to cancer instead of to the entire body.

Existing electronics are the right size, but they lack practical use. Robots that can be built small enough to enter a person’s cells would be too tiny to move on their own. Therefore, scientists want to use tiny organisms such as bacteria to act as vehicles for the robots. The bacteria will be “driven” through the bloodstream by magnetic pulses (磁脉冲). Once the bacteria are in the correct locations, the robots will be able to do their jobs. In theory, these robots will cause less damage to the body than traditional methods of delivering medicines or performing surgeries.

Nanobiotechnology has yet to be put into practice, but many people already have concerns about its use. Some people worry about the ethic (道德标准) involved with controlling live organisms—and the possible side effects for their human hosts.

7 . Combining knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering, scientists from McGill University develop a biomaterial tough enough to repair the heart, muscles, and vocal cords, representing a major advance in medicine.

“People recovering from heart damage often face a long and tricky journey. Healing is challenging because of the constant movement tissues must withstand (承受) as the heart beats. The same is true for vocal cords. Until now there was no injectable (可注射的) material strong enough for the job," says Guangyu Bao, a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University.

The team, led by Professor Luc Mongeau and Assistant Professor Jianyu Li, developed a new injectable hydrogel (水凝胶) for wound repair, which is a type of biomaterial that provides room for cells to live and grow. Once injected into the body, the biomaterial forms a stable structure allowing live cells to grow or pass through to repair the injured organs.

“The results are promising, and we hope that one day the new hydrogel will be used to restore the voice of people with damaged vocal cords," says Guangyu Bao.

The scientists tested the durability of their hydrogel in a machine they developed to copy the extreme biomechanics of human vocal cords. Vibrating (振动) at 120 times a second for over 6 million cycles, the new biomaterial remained undamaged while other standard hydrogels broken into pieces, unable to deal with the stress of the load.

“We were incredibly excited to see it worked perfectly in our test. Before our work, no injectable hydrogels possessed both high porosity and toughness at the same time. To solve this issue, we introduced a pore-forming polymer to our formula (配方),”says Guangyu Bao.

The innovation opens new ways of making progress for other applications like tissue engineering. The team is also looking to use the hydrogel technology to create lungs to test COVID-19 drugs.

Eighty-year-old Li Xinsheng clearly remembered the day her husband was diagnosed (诊断) with Alzheimer’s (阿尔茨海默病). Since then, she     1     (do) everything she can     2     (slow) the illness’s progression (进展). The couple recently attended a dance-therapy program, Time to Dance, which was initiated (发起) by the Scottish Ballet from the UK in 2017 to offer dance classes for people living     3     Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. Due to COVID, sessions     4     (hold) both online and in person last year. Both participants and instructors were referred to     5     (simple) as “dancers”. The dancers interacted with one another in a relaxing atmosphere and some started singing along with the songs     6     they danced.

The dance-therapy project proved helpful for the patients. Apart from     7     (help) the participants exercise and express     8     (they), it enabled the dancers to learn to communicate with others and be more open to everyday interpersonal interactions. “I feel moved. They’ve brought     9     (warm) to people with Alzheimer’s, who are often left unnoticed and forgotten in     10     corner,” Li Xinsheng said.

9 . With the weather getting colder and the days becoming shorter, some people are noticing they have less energy and aren’t feeling as positive as they usually do.    1    This type of depression is known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Researchers aren’t yet clear on what causes SAD, but it's likely to be complex. Some research suggests it could be due to a malfunctioning hypothalamus (下丘脑功能不全) or producing too much melatonin (a hormone which controls our sleep-wake cycle). Some researchers theorize it could also be due to having a disrupted circadian rhythm(昼夜节奏混乱).    2    For example, some research has indicated that women may be more likely to experience SAD — though, due to a lack of specific research, it’s uncertain whether these gender differences really exist and if so, why.

Some people notice that their symptoms start to improve when the seasons begin to change and spring approaches.    3    For people with SAD, the main recommended treatments include psychological treatments or taking medicine. Research shows that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for SAD.    4    Given it's still an emerging therapy, research on it remains inconsistent with other treatments.

Aside from seeking professional help, there are a couple of other things that people can do to help them cope with SAD during their day.     5    The researchers of the study had participants either go for a daily one-hour outdoor walk or use a low-dose artificial light box for 30 minutes per day for a period of one week. The participants who went for a daily walk showed significant improvements in all depressive symptoms, compared to those exposed to artificial light.