Darek Fidyka, a 38-year-old Bulgarian, had been paralyzed (瘫痪的) from the chest down for four years after a knife attack. Scientists from Britain and Poland took cells from his nose, transplanted (移植) them into his back and re-grew his spinal cord (脊髓). Now he can walk and even drive a car. The doctors were delighted but said it was the first step in a long journey.

    The breakthrough came after 40 years of research by Professor Geoff Raisman, who found that cells had the possibility to repair damage to nasal (鼻腔的) nerves, the only part of the nervous system that constantly re-grows. “The idea was to take something from an area where the nervous system can repair itself and put it into an area that doesn't repair itself,” Professor Raisman said.

    Polish doctors injected (注射) the nasal cells into Mr Fidyka's spinal cord above the injury and used some nerves from his ankle to form a bridge across the damaged tissue. The nasal cells appear to have caused the spinal nerves to repair themselves.

    Professor Raisman achieved this with rats in the late 1990's, but this is his greatest success. “I think the moment of discovery for me was Christmas in 1997 when I first saw a rat, which couldn't control its hand, put its hand out to me. That was an exciting moment, because I realized then that my belief that the nervous system could be repaired was true.”

    Doctors chose the easiest case for their first attempt—it might not work for others. But there is a real sense of hope that an idea once thought impossible has been realized.

    David Nicholls, who helped provide money for the breakthrough, said information about the breakthrough would be made available to researchers across the globe.

    “What you've got to understand is that for three million paralyzed people in the world today, the world looks a totally brighter place than it did yesterday,” he said.

    Most people buy a lot of gifts just before Christmas. But some people think we buy too much. They have started a special day called Buy Nothing Day.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Buy Nothing Day is November 29. It's 25 days before Christmas. It's after Thanksgiving and often the first day of Christmas shopping.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    The idea for Buy Nothing Day started in Vancouver, British Columbia.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}In California, parents and children get together to read stories, sing songs, and paint pictures. The children talk about why they don't need a lot of toys. This year, in Manchester, England, people dressed up in costumes to tell people that we buy too much.

    In Albuquerque, New Mexico, high school students wanted to tell other students about Buy Nothing Day. They organized a spaghetti dinner to give people information about Buy Nothing Day. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They made posters and talked to other students about it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} The students at high schools liked the idea of this new tradition. Next year, they want to have another dinner to tell more people about Buy Nothing Day.

A. They asked restaurants in the neighborhood to donate the food.

B. At this time, we see ads in Newspapers and, on TV telling us to “buy, buy, buy!”

C. Buy Nothing Day has successfully persuaded people not buy anything.

D. Many people think highly of the idea of Buy Nothing Day.

E. They don't want anyone to go shopping on that day.

F. Now people all over the world celebrate Buy Nothing Day.

G. The dinner was a big success, and many students agreed not to buy anything on November 29.

    Augusto Esquivel is a sculptor who, in his own words, is “crazy with comparisons of reality and potential and the balance between them.” Perhaps the best example of what he's talking about are his most famous creations: the suspended(悬挂的) button sculptures.

    Made entirely from buttons hanging on various lengths of string, Esquivel's sculptures are made to look like common objects: a piano, a gumball machine, and even a toilet. If it wasn't for the clear string hanging above, these objects, these sculptures, would look solid, yet you can put your hands right through them. The process starts with him deciding on a subject and setting the acrylic （丙烯酸树脂）from where the buttons are being suspended. He buys buttons of different shapes and sizes, paints them with spray paint, and carefully hangs them. After that, it's a manner of hanging each individual button, which takes a lot of time. For his piano, for example, he individually hung over 60 pounds worth of tiny buttons.

    Esquivel's sculptures, while mostly housed inside art galleries, perfectly capture one of the main principles of street art: something that is eye-catching and something that invites interaction. Often the best sculptures outside the art galleries aren't the ones behind guards and fencing, but the ones people can go right up to and touch. In Vancouver, a series of laughing old men are attracting people for pictures and to just generally hang around, but the people who simply walk by and see the sculptures almost always leave with a smile on their face. That's good street art: it draws the viewer in rather than relying on a gallery to draw in an audience and point them to certain pieces.

    Esquivel's art is not only a presentation of talent, something that mentions larger philosophical questions, like the ones he stated above, but also just the right combination of interesting idea and painstaking work. One can look at his work in a critical way, or simply appreciate his idea and execution(艺术品的制作).

    Amazing concept images have shown what homes of the future could look like, as preparations are made for the world's first free from 3D-printed property (房产).

    Experts will build a house called Curve Appeal, which will be 3D-printed off-site before being put together on-site to create two outside walls, a roof and an inside part. These four main sections will then be joined together.

    Although 3D-printed buildings have been made before, this home - to be constructed in Chattanooga, Tennessee, later this year — will be the first of its kind, as it will contain no regular shapes or angles. The house is the creation of the design company WATG, based in London and California. The design for Curve Appeal draws inspiration from the Case Study House program.

    The architects leading the program were famed for constantly pushing the limits in terms of minimalist (极简主义) materials, and trying to create open-plan spaces that focused on enhancing (增强) natural light. In a written statement, a spokesman for WATG said, “Employing many of the same modem design principles, Curve Appeal is the next evolutionary step. It's important that the architecture and the environment work together harmoniously. The chosen site is steps away from the Tennessee River in a beautiful wooded, sunlit area.”

    WATG was awarded the first prize in the Freeform Home Design Challenge in 2016 and given prize money of $ 8,000 to make its plans a reality. The competition was aimed at architects, designers, engineers and artists. Participants were challenged to design a 600 to 800sq ft single-family home that rethinks traditional aesthetics (美学), ergonomics, construction, building systems and structure.

    Over the last year, WATG's Chicago office has been developing their design with Branch Technology. This project is currently underway, working towards breaking ground later this year. Once completed, the Curve Appeal home will have open and light-filled inside living spaces.

Nobody likes an old idiot(傻子).Developing a sense of humor is part of becoming a mature,emotionally healthy individual.Laughter is good for the soul,which builds friendships and relieves stress.It serves as the glue for social situations and as an ice-breaker for sadness and boredom.If you've ever been told to "lighten up" or "chill out",you should save the blue attitude for serious situations and develop your sense of humor.

Forgive the accident.A sudden fall is humorous not because we like to see people fall,but because it surprises us.From a spilled water glass in a meeting to Aunt Rae's teeth coming off in the Thanksgiving Day,the embarrassment of accidents can be relieved by humor and a helping hand.After making sure that nobody is hurt,forgive accidents with a chuckle(咯咯地笑) rather than a scolding.

Look for the unexpected.The kid who used to look at you with his eyes closed during a test had the idea.Parents who serve green eggs and ham to their children on graduation day get the idea.Unexpected action lightens the atmosphere and relaxes people.

Learn to laugh with your kids.Most of what children say and do is funny.Help them learn that accidents are sometimes funny and sometimes occasions for joining in and helping another human being.By sharing laughs and attempting to explain humor,you develop your sense of humor,as well as help kids develop their own sense of humor.

Robins(知更鸟) are considered as a symbol of the festive season and are known for their lively, curious nature around humans. But even robins get road rage because they can become aggressive when there's noise, a new study shows.

Researchers from the UK found that the sound of traffic made rural robins—not urban robins—"more aggressive". The study was conducted by experts at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. Human activity has a colossal effect on wildlife, including on their social behavior," the team said in their paper.

For their study, the team investigated the behavior of male European robins living in urban parks and rural forests in Istanbul. They measured aggression towards another robin intruder, which wasn't a real robin but instead a model in the shape of an adult bird. The fake robin was equipped with a speaker, through which the team could play audio, and then attached to trees at the parks and forests. The audio consisted of recordings of robin songs, while additional traffic noise was added through another separate speaker nearby.

After recording the birds' behavior during interactions with the fake intruder, they found the urban robins typically displayed more physical aggression than rural robins. However, rural robins became more aggressive with the addition of traffic noise—possibly because they're less used to traffic noise than urban birds, which are already living in noisier habitats. What's more, physical displays of territoriality could increase because the traffic noise interferes with their birdsong. "In normally quiet surroundings, we found that additional traffic noise leads to rural robins becoming more aggressive," said Dr Caglar Akcay at ARU. "We believe this is because the noise is interfering with their communication."

Overall, by comparing urban and rural robin reactions, the study provides a valuable glimpse into how urban-living species adapt to "life in a noisy world". "Our results show that human-produced noise can have a range of effects on robins, depending on the habitat they live in," said Dr Akcay.