Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous scientists in this century. The disabled writer of A Brief History of Time, was on his second journey to China in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province. His first 1was over ten years ago. The great theoretical scientist has been invited to 2 a mathematics research institute at Zhejiang University, Metropolis Newspaper reported.3Sunday evening, he made his appearance at a press conference 4 at Shangri-La hotel, Hangzhou. Hawking 5 at about 5: 00 pm with his wife. The elderly man answered a total of nine 6 with the help of his 7. “I find the real universe much more 8 than the one in the film Star Wars,” Hawking joked. “I 9 young people to study theoretical physics first 10 they are interested in it. But the talented man 11 has produced such rich work suffers from 12 motor neuron disease（运动神经元病）. He is one of the 350,000 sufferers in the world. The disease 13 over 100,000 people every year. “I like life and I love life, my family ,and music give me the 14 happiness,” smiled Hawking, who can 15 move two fingers.

    In the speech, Hawking said he was 16 to write a new edition of A Brief History of Time 17 young children. “A Brief History of Time is my first book for 18 people. But I later found that I could write it in a 19 way,” he answered. “So I decided to rewrite it 20 all people can read it easily.” Unfortunately, he left us forever on Marchl4 this year. We remember his words “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”

    Each week, I give my elderly neighbor a ride to the store when I am going. She keeps trying to 1 me for the ride, and I always 2 refusing. I tell her that it doesn't cost any more for her to 3 with me and it is 4 for me to do this.

    Last week, she brought a(n) 5 and said happily, "I have something for you and you must accept it." I said, "If there is money in it, I don't want it." But she 6 it on a stand. Later, I opened it to find a "thank you" card with 7 in it. That night, I stopped at her house to give a plate of 8 fried chicken that I had. I took an envelope and put the $10 9 it along with a"10" card. When leaving, I left it 11 in her door.

    The next day, she paid a(n) 12 to my home to return my 13. She said, "Look, I know you put that letter in my door this morning, didn't you？" I had 14 forgotten about it, and I thought from the sincere 15 on my face, she believed me when I said that I hadn't put any letter in her door that morning. Actually, it was the night before, 16 I thought I wasn't lying. She went on to17 the envelope and enclosed (装入) the "smile" 18, and told me how she was blessed with so many good things lately. I told her that I was so 19 for her, and that I hope she 20 to be so blessed.

A Story on an Island

    A ship was lost at sea and the only survivor was washed up on a small, inhabited (无人居住的) island. He prayed 1 for God to rescue him and for hours he just2at the horizon (地平线), waiting for a heaven-sent 3but it never came.

    Then he decided to do something. 4tired and upset, he 5some branches and dry grass. Hours of hard work paid off and a little shelter was built. The "Robinson Crusoe" began his life on the island. Believe it or not, a couple of days going by, he6and it seemed not that hard.

    But then one day, after7 for food, he arrived home to find his little shelter in flames and the8rolling up to the sky.

    The9had happened: everything was lost.

    "God, how could you do this to me!" he criedwith10and anger.

    Early the next day,11, he was awakened by the12of a ship that was coming near to the island. It had come to rescue him!

    "13did you know that I was here?" he asked one of his rescuers.

    "We saw your smoke14", they replied.

    It is easy to get15when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose16, because God is at work in our lives, 17when we are in pains and sufferings.

    Remember, next time your little 18 is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal(信号) that calls 19 the grace of God. For all the negative (消极的) things we have to say to ourselves, God has a/an 20answer for it.

Fourteen-year-old Harini Logan won the Scripps National Spelling Bee last Thursday, defeating 12-year-old Vikram Raju in a tie-breaker. It's the first time the con test has ever been decided by a tie-breaking round of spelling.

A spelling bee is a contest where players take turns spelling words. Players who spell a word wrong are out of the contest. As the con test goes on, the words get more difficult. Normally, the contest ends when there's only one player left who hasn't made a mistake. Though the bee is mainly about spelling, since 2021 it has changed slightly to also focus on the meaning of the words. During parts of the contest, students were asked to choose the correct meaning of a word.

That caused trouble for Harini. She was asked about the meaning of the word "pullulation". She said the word described the nesting of birds. The con test organizers had expected the answer the "swarming of bees". Harini was removed from the contest. But soon she was back in—the judges double checked and learned that Harini's definition was also correct. One by one, the other students spelled a word wrong and got out. Finally, only Harini and Vikram were left.

The Scripps bee has been running for over 90 years. Many times it ended in a tie. As a result, the contest organizers changed the rules. They added a "spell-off" to the contest to make future ties much less likely. In the spell-off, Vikram and Harini each took turns trying to spell the words they were asked, but both made mistakes. At one point, Harini could have won by spelling the word "drimys"（a kind of plant）correctly. But she missed It.

That put the two into a super tie-breaking event, where they were each given 10 second s to correctly spell as many words as they could. In 90 seconds, Vikram had spelled 13 words correctly. Harini had 21 correct spellings, making her the new winner.

I just returned from India. While driving home from the airport, I was amazed by how everything in American streets 1 those in Delhi, a city in northern India. "You can eat off the street here!" I said. My family looked at me 2 I had gotten off a spaceship rather than a plane.

During the two years I was away, my friends and family 3 sending texts to each other by phone. After I came back, my phone was no longer 4 as before, just lighting up with the "ding" sound of a text, and I felt very 5 . I chose to talk to my friends instead of texting them. I asked my friends for their 6 as I made an effort to7 with them and rebuild our friendships.

While I was on my 8 trips, most of my friends had moved on with their 9 . We felt disconnected from each other's experiences. Just as 10 would always be part of my life, I understood that raising a family would always be part of theirs. I told them sometimes I felt 11 because I had been away and wasn't there for their 12 events.

Expats（侨民）in Laos say that sometimes, if you stay abroad too long, you become a permanent 13 . never quite making it as a local, and never feeling 14 in your home country. I 15 . If you always travel with a heart beating for your beloved ones, no matter how long you have been abroad, you will find satisfaction at home.

It's 4:30 in the morning. Behind a forest, the sun begins to lighten the sky with bright and warm tones. The national bird of Honduras, scarlet macaws （红金刚鹦鹉）, which have colorful feathers, groom （理毛） each other as they wait for Anayda Pantin Lopez who has devoted the last 12 years to protecting them.

Pantin and her husband, Santiago Lacuth Montoya, live in a small village called Mabita, where most of its villagers protect these birds and the rest of the wildlife surrounding them. Twice a day, Pantin prepares food for 40 to 60 scarlet macaws that come to her village for feedings. She also cares for several other birds at a rescue center, or chicks that fall down from their nests, until they can fly freely.

Years ago, Lacuth supported the family by selling macaw eggs and chicks as pets — not realizing it would have a detrimental impact on the bird population. At that time, the hunting and sale of wild species was legal and thousands of scarlet macaws disappeared.

However, when Lacuth learned the number of scarlet macaws was sharply decreasing, he decided to become a guardian of them. He tried to convince other hunters to follow in his footsteps. Eventually, other Mabita residents joined Lacuth and Pantin's efforts. "For many years the scarlet macaws helped me provide for my family. Now it was my turn to help them," Lacuth said.

"The Mabita project is very impressive because of the commitment of Pantin and Lacuth and the entire community," says LoraKim Joyner. founder of One Earth Conservation. In 2014, additional funds came from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and England's Darwin Foundation stepped in to support the conservation and community engagement efforts.

Since the project began, the scarlet macaw population has grown from 500 to more than 800. "Now we have seen that the number of these birds has increased," said Pantin. "But that does not change our goal, which is to continue caring for them so that our children and grandchildren can have the opportunity to enjoy everything that nature gives us."