Statistics show that there are more than 1.9 billion videos related to stove-boiled tea on social media platforms.
“Stove-boiled tea”, a
Stove-boiled tea acts as a social way of combining ancient
There are countless stories of man’s best friend stepping in to
Single mom Nicole Evans was out of town when a fire
The fire completely
Meanwhile, Nicole won’t face this
Our pets not only provide us with companionship and unconditional love, but can even act as our furry
| A．approach | B．rescue | C．inspire | D．reward |
| A．broke out | B．set off | C．gave away | D．checked in |
| A．confirmed | B．satisfied | C．aware | D．concerned |
| A．selfishly | B．strangely | C．badly | D．professionally |
| A．pretending | B．agreeing | C．refusing | D．determining |
| A．debate | B．mission | C．request | D．reaction |
| A．disappear | B．hide | C．escape | D．depart |
| A．destroyed | B．affected | C．removed | D．threatened |
| A．disaster | B．adventure | C．drought | D．contest |
| A．speech | B．idea | C．experience | D．journey |
| A．Instead | B．However | C．Gradually | D．Similarly |
| A．arranged | B．recognized | C．caught | D．survived |
| A．unique | B．valuable | C．replaceable | D．useful |
| A．challenge | B．opportunity | C．reason | D．relief |
| A．character | B．performance | C．talent | D．responsibility |
| A．specific | B．pleasant | C．boring | D．tough |
| A．pouring in | B．running out | C．showing up | D．taking off |
| A．suffer | B．benefit | C．struggle | D．recover |
| A．support | B．creation | C．advice | D．information |
| A．leaders | B．instructors | C．protectors | D．neighbors |
How to improve your memory?
It’s generally accepted that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but when it comes to the brain, scientists have discovered this old saying simply isn’t true.
Don’t skip the physical exercise. While mental exercise is important for brain health, that doesn’t mean you never need to break a sweat. Physical exercise helps your brain stay sharp.
Get enough sleep. There is a big difference between the amount of sleep you can get and the amount you need to function at your best. The truth is that over 95% of adults need 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep every night.
Make time for friends. When you think of ways to improve memory, do you think of “serious” activities such as mastering chess strategies, or is it more relaxing pastimes—hanging out with friends or enjoying a funny movie?
| A．Keep stress in check. |
| B．Give your brain a workout. |
| C．If you’re like most of us, it’s probably the former. |
| D．Even losing a few hours of sleep makes a difference! |
| E．In fact, interacting with others may provide the best kind of brain exercise. |
| F．The human brain has an astonishing ability to adapt and change, even into old age. |
| G．It increases oxygen to your brain and reduces the risk for disorders that lead to memory loss. |
Scientists looking to uncover the mysteries of the underwater world have more valuable information thanks to an international team that has produced a list of species confirmed or expected to produce sound underwater.
Led by Audrey Looby from the University of Florida, the Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds working group collaborated with the World Register of Marine Species to document 729 mammals (哺乳动物), fishes, and invertebrates (无脊椎动物) that produce active or passive sounds. In addition, the list includes another 21,911 species that are considered to likely produce sounds.
“With more than 70% of the Earth’s surface covered by water, most of the planet’s habitats are aquatic, and there is a misconception that most aquatic organisms are silent. The newly published comprehensive digital database on what animals are known to make sounds is the first of its kind and can revolutionize marine and aquatic science,” the researchers said.
“Listening to underwater sounds can reveal a lot of information about the species that produce them and is useful for a variety of applications, ranging from fisheries management, invasive species detection to assessing human environmental impacts,” said Looby, who also co-created FishSounds, which offers a collection of fish sound production research records.
The team’s research was published in Scientific Data and involved 19 authors from six countries. “Understanding how marine species interact with their environments is of global importance, and this data being freely available is a major step toward that goal,” said Kieran Cox, a member of the research team.
“Most people are familiar with whale or dolphin sounds but are often surprised to learn that many fishes and invertebrates use sounds to communicate, too,” Looby said. “Our database helps demonstrate how widespread underwater sound production really is across a variety of animals, but we still have a lot to learn.”
1．What does the underlined word “aquatic” in paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Outdoor. | B．Over-crowded. |
| C．Well-protected. | D．Underwater. |
| A．Most fishes can’t make sounds. |
| B．Different species can communicate. |
| C．Mammals can live in water. |
| D．Ocean animals can’t get onto the land. |
| A．To document ocean animals’ sounds. |
| B．To set up a free database for scientists. |
| C．To learn how ocean animals communicate. |
| D．To publish the research in Scientific Data. |
| A．To call on people to protect ocean animals. |
| B．To introduce the finding of a research team. |
| C．To list the animals that can produce sounds. |
| D．To uncover the mysterious underwater world. |
Tokyo restaurant Sushiya no Nohachi reportedly serves great sushi, but it is most famous for its gimmick—making the world’s smallest sushi with a single grain of rice.
Located in Asakusa, a slightly quieter part of Tokyo, Sushiya no Nohachi is the place to go if you want to enjoy the tiniest, most adorable sushi in the world. Each piece is made with only a grain of rice and a tiny slice of topping wrapped in the thinnest piece of nori(海苔). Every served piece is actually perfect, which hints at the amount of work and patience that Bes into making them. They are the work of Hironori Ikeno, the chef of Sushiya no Nohachi, who came up with the idea in 2002 when a client asked him how small he could make his sushi. He answered, “as small as a grain of rice”, and proceeded to demonstrate that he wasn’t kidding. Over the years, the restaurant has become internationally famous for making the world’s smallest sushi.
Despite its size, miniature sushi actually takes a bit longer to make than regular-sized me, because of the precision and concentration required to put the tiny ingredients together. That is part of the reason why the restaurant only prepares tiny sushi for customers a few times a week and no more than five times a day, although they do sometimes make exceptions for foreign visitors who travel to the restaurant just to experience the world’s smallest sushi.
“I had a client from Sweden who came just to see my tiny sushi and the moment she saw it, she literally cried with joy.” Hironori Ikeno said.
Interestingly, one cannot simply order the tiny sushi at the restaurant. It is served for f re upon request with a regular-sized sushi course. Considering the sushi served at this place is reportedly delicious, you should probably be more excited about that. Plus, it also justifies the gimmick that the restaurant is so famous for.
1．What does the underlined word “gimmick” in paragraph 1 probably refer to?| A．A class to teach cooking skills. |
| B．A trick to attract customers. |
| C．A plan to promote the sushi. |
| D．A dish to win over opponents. |
| A．His pursuit for perfection. |
| B．The curiosity of a customer. |
| C．The requirement from his boss. |
| D．A bet he made with others. |
| A．Take more time to make one |
| B．Unpopular among customers |
| C．costs more money to buy one |
| D．needs more expensive materials |
| A．Diversity of the customers. |
| B．His lack of experience. |
| C．Special treatment to foreigners. |
| D．His sense of achievement. |
How to Learn from Regrets
Life is full of regrets. Unanalyzed and unmanaged, any variety of regret can be poison for your well-being. The trick is to acknowledge it and use it for learning and improvement. Regret’s benefits don’t come to us by chance.
Kill the ghost (鬼)
People often say their regrets “haunt”them. This suggests that regret is like a ghost: not entirely clear but always threatening.
After you make a mistake, life moves on. But sometimes you just can’t stop kicking yourself. In other words, you have voluntarily chosen a life punishment for a poor decision you made in the past. Now is the time to relieve your emotional punishment with a simple verbal declaration: “
Collect your diploma
Regret is like a school run by human nature. If you never experienced regret you would keep repeating the same behaviors that led you to miss opportunities and destroy relationships in the past.
| A．Forgive yourself. |
| B．Avoid the punishment. |
| C．You can try to live without the ghost. |
| D．I will not waste time reliving an unchangeable decision. |
| E．We have to seek them out on purpose to improve ourselves. |
| F．You can bring it out of the shadows by making a list of your regrets. |
| G．Your regret can teach you to become smarter and more successful. |
Why do we find ugly animals so appealing? And what makes odd-looking creatures so cute?
Evolution (进化) plays a role. According to Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz, human attraction to childish features, such as big eyes, large heads and soft bodies, is an evolutionary adaptation that helps ensure that adults care for their young, guaranteeing the survival of their species. Odd-looking animals such as blobfish, pugs, and bulldogs all share these childish qualities that initiate an affectionate response among humans. And these childish characteristics increase a person’s “protective behavior, attention and willingness to care” for the individual and reduce the “likelihood of attacks towards a child”, says Marta Borgi, a researcher.
Ugly animals often have other value—some, like the blobfish or the naked mole rat, live in extreme environments that they have adapted to in remarkable ways. Scientists are keen to study these animals to understand whether their biology might provide fresh insights that could lead to treatments for human health conditions such as cancer, heart disease and other deadly diseases.
Our fascination with ugly-cute animals can also be traced back to culturally-based causes. “The ugly-cute thing is very fashionable,” says Rowena Packer, a lecturer of animal behavior. “This is partly driven by social media, with many influential people showing off pet pugs and French bulldogs on the Internet,” she says.
But there are some serious welfare concerns around this trend. Vets are urging people not to choose a flat-faced dog, because they suffer from serious health problems. Pugs and French bulldogs which have been selectively produced experience breathing difficulties, repeated skin infections and eye diseases.
We may want to rethink our love for “ugly-cute” animals because of their silly features like protruding (鼓出的) eyes and wrinkly faces.
1．Why do people like ugly animals according to Konrad Lorenz?| A．People appriciate their efforts to survive. | B．People appreciate their super adaptability. |
| C．People are attracted by their childish looks. | D．People are fond of their fast response speed. |
| A．What media are changing people. | B．How public practices influence people. |
| C．Whether social media is worth believing. | D．Why celebrities show off their pet animals. |
| A．Opposed. | B．Supportive. | C．Indifferent. | D．Cautious. |
| A．By quoting different researchers’ findings. | B．By showing some examples of keeping pets. |
| C．By observing people’s behavior towards animals. | D．By referring to authoritative evolutionary theory. |
More than20 types of delicacies (美食) from Fujian Province are making mouths water not only in China but across the world.
Twenty years ago, Luo Guangcan, 59, from Xiamao township in the county, worked in a local shoe factory to make
He has developed these restaurants since 2007, and four years ago,
Over 60,000 people —
My brother and I were like most people, I imagine, who find themselves trying to do the right things for a parent suffering from the symptoms of dementia （痴呆）. Though there was useful advice available from various online sources, nothing prepared us for the reality or the effects the symptoms had upon Mum's loving, kind, caring nature.
The greatest shock for me was seeing Mum being violent and aggressive with a carer. At times the aggression was directed at me too and I never really knew what to expect as Mum could go from being a loving Mother to this violent stranger in a flash. It was as though Mum had been possessed at times and all I could do was to constantly attempt to distract her from her fears at any moment.
One of the many challenging aspects of the dementia symptoms is that the sufferer often doesn't know that they're ill. In Mum's case, the main thing was to carry on as though everything was just as it always was. Many were the nights where she'd be convinced that friends and relatives were coming round for a party and she'd rush around setting the table, preparing snacks and getting everything ready until she was exhausted. I got to see first hand just how the anxieties that came with the illness would really stay with her until she fell asleep.
Mum longed for reminders of her early life in Liverpool and once travelling there had become too difficult, we found great comfort in local history books and a DVD about many of the places and landmarks Mum remembered from her childhood.
I learned to go with whatever experience Mum was having. I would always be with her. If I could pass on any guidance for those about to care for a loved one, it is the above I found that really helps.
1．How was the writer when her mother suffered dementia?| A．She started to care about her mother's health. |
| B．She was not prepared mentally at all. |
| C．She knew nothing about the disease. |
| D．She doubted the effect of medical care. |
| A．Her mother's longing for her childhood photos. |
| B．The sudden distinct shift in her mother's temper. |
| C．Her mother's sufferings from fear and anxiety. |
| D．Her mother's failing to deal with daily chores. |
| A．To prove her mum is not aware of her illness at all. |
| B．To explain how to help her mum come over her anxiety. |
| C．To regret that she failed to help her mum with her problem. |
| D．To look for a better medical treatment for her mum. |
| A．Hard work pays off. | B．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| C．Company is the best medicine. | D．Look before you leap. |
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