The first time I realized that I had a love for sports competitions was during the Field Day in elementary school. Small for my age, and more of a bookworm than a sports enthusiast, I had suffered that special humiliation of being picked last for various gym teams. The Field Day, which focused on individual skills, was different. In the Softball Throw event, I got my first taste of sporting victory. Credit goes to the example of my first coach, my father. He lifted weights every morning at home. He bought us all baseball gloves and hats, and in the warm months, we spent hours playing catch. Come fall, our backyard football games began with passing practice.

Once I got to sixth grade and switched to private school, our entire student body was assigned to either the Red or the White team. Throughout the year, we competed against each other in various games and exercises for points. I eventually became president of The Committee of Games, accelerating (加速) my competitive fever. However, in girls’ sports games at my school, I was no star. I also played on the field hockey team and the basketball team. School sports did not bleed into the weekends, as they do today, but at home, playing tennis, skating, skiing and biking were simply normal things we did. During break time, magazines were also quite popular for us teens. These regularly featured articles on physical exercise. Somehow, my college roommate and I took up the habit of completing Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) exercises every day, a practice that continued into my marriage, when we had no spare funds to use to join a gym.

So, though it shocks some of our friends, that early foundation evolved in adulthood into a sports and fitness focus, considered essential even on vacation. I still love reading and the arts, too. As far as I’m concerned, life is the richest with my feet in both worlds.

If you look around your city, you might spot girls wearing hanfu in subways or people wearing T-shirts with Chinese characters on the streets. A new trend is taking hold in China — guochao, or “China-chic”.

The term characterizes the rise of China’s native fashion trends. It has expanded the concept of “Made in China”, which has been recognized as the representation of Chinese culture and aesthetics (美学) offered by homegrown Chinese brands.

China-chic came into the spotlight in 2018. Before that, big-name foreign companies, such as NIKE, ADIDAS and PUMA, dominated the world market. But that year, Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning changed things up. During the 2018 New York Fashion Week, Li-Ning introduced its Taoism-inspired Wu Dao collection. The collection not only had a trendy look, but also included elements of traditional Chinese culture. It immediately grabbed attention at home and abroad. As a result, the company recorded 20 percent profit growth in 2018, marking the first time the brand’s revenue had hit the 10-billion-yuan mark since its founding.

The trend to embrace domestic brands has since spread rapidly to various sectors and products, from food and drinks to clothing, mobile phones and electric vehicles. For example, White Rabbit, whose sweet candy brings back childhood memories for many, launched its perfume and lip balm. “We want White Rabbit to be a brand that young people want to share,” said Shen Qinfeng, the company’s marketing manager.

Now, the guochao trend is “moving to the next stage, where its success will rely, first and foremost, on gaining cultural confidence rather than Western recognition.” according to Kerra Zhou, founder of brand strategy consultancy Kerrisma. No matter how the guochao trend develops, there’s one thing that won’t change: Behind the craze is people’s positive attitude toward the country’s development and their recognition of growing confidence in national culture, added Zhou.

According to the IUCN Red List 32, 000 species are threatened with extinction. Although we might be working hard to help some species come back from the brink (边缘), we might also be eating some threatened species without even realising it.

Searching industrial fishing records, researchers identified almost 100 endangered species being sold as seafood, and this is done legally. When sold, these fish are not required to be labelled according to species, so consumers have no way of knowing what they’re eating, let alone whether they’re endangered or not.

The team stresses that this is only the tip of the iceberg, as they only looked at a specific section of records and excluded groups of fish such as sharks, which are commonly eaten in Australia, Europe, and some Asian countries.

To solve the mess we’re creating in the ocean, the researchers have come up with some ways, one of which is to expand our idea of seafood to include jellyfish (水母). That might sound a little unusual, but it’s not the first time scientists have suggested it as a food source. And with jellyfish being one of a minority of wild animals that scientists think might be actually increasing in numbers around the world, it makes a lot of sense. With jellyfish as a food source, other endangered species may be kept in the sea.

Of course, there are other ways to help keep endangered species off the menu. Carissa Klein, University of Queensland (UQ) conservation scientist, thinks that the labelling of seafood needs to be improved, so that people are more aware of what they are eating. Besides, it can be also important if the cooperation between fisheries and conservation policies can be better promoted. “We would never consider eating mountain gorillas or elephants, both of which are endangered,” added Klein.

Danielle Boyer knew she was interested in robotics from a young age. But with __________ learning resources, which many Native American students face, Boyer, said she had to take __________ to solve the __________ problem.

She __________ herself through watching YouTube videos, reading old electrical engineering books, examining maker kits on Amazon, and then __________ everything related.

Now, as the founder of the nonprofit The STEAM Connection, Boyer, 22, is __________to promote technical and cultural educational opportunities among Native American __________ like herself.

“I __________ equipping students with 21st century skills to be able to create solutions for our communities,” said Boyer, who has dropped out of college to __________ the nonprofit full-time.

Tech opportunities are not ____________ for many Native American students, who often live on reservations in ____________ areas with limited Internet access and face ____________ trouble to education and technology, Boyer said. For example, one educational robot that was required in a competition was $500.

After she ____________ the organization，the next thing Boyer did was to ____________ Every Kid Gets a Robot, an educational robotics kit(成套设备) with materials for students to fix, wire, and program their own robot cars that they can drive around with their phones. To date, she has ____________ more than 8,000 kits to native schools, free of cost.