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1 by an "insult (侮辱) stand" from his favorite novel, rather than embracing negativity, he decided to do the2 by giving out free compliments.

Soon, neighbors noticed this special stand, and a steady3 of visitors stopped by. "Once I got my first customer, I thought, ‘I should keep doing this,'" Ethan recalled and4 added that seeing people smile was his favorite part. By employing the secret5 — asking everyone about themselves, Ethan has given personalized compliments to many people over a month.

One memorable6 was with Rainbow Kaelin, who lives nearby. She spotted the stand and7 when driving home. "I saw that it said ‘Free compliments,' and I thought it was so sweet," Kaelin said, her voice8 with the memory. When she mentioned that she was9 a new employee, Ethan's response came without10: "I hope she learns a lot from you." Kaelin thanked him and started to drive off, but Ethan — realizing his compliment wasn't quite right —11 up to her car. "Your name is so unique," he added. "He genuinely wanted to make people's12," Kaelin recalled.

The story reached even more people after Ethan's father Wargo shared a post online, which became an immediate13, drawing countless supportive comments. With the14 messages poured in, Ethan saw the true impact of his stand, from which he learned that his compliments were not merely kind words, but seeds of confidence15 in people's hearts.

The world's African elephants are in serious danger. And if we do nothing to put an end to the illegal ivory trade, elephants will be extinct from the wild within the next 20 years.

Many believe that an illegal hunter could get ivory without killing the elephant — this is not true. And the rest lies beneath the surface like an iceberg in water. The tusk (象牙) is not just bone but rather it is alive, filled with nerves and blood vessels (血管) and when broken off, the tusks would likely become infected and lead to a slow and painful death.

However, there is a new form of hope rising from nature itself. African elephants are being born without the tusks that illegal hunters have hunted for decades. But why is the largest land mammal on earth now being born tuskless?

Is such change beneficial to elephants' survival in the long term? As we know, elephant tusks are not just glorious-looking. Therefore scientists are working to track the newly tuskless among them, to see how this unfortunate adaptation affects the species.

Ivory hunters are not the only danger faced by elephants today. And more support is needed than ever to create a safe world where elephants can live together with humans happily, tusks and all.

A. Action should be taken to protect animals in the world.

B. Only two-thirds of an elephant's tusks stick out of their mouth.

C. They also have important uses such as self-defense and digging.

D. It is estimated that one is killed every 15 minutes for their ivory tusks.

E. That's because elephants without tusks have a better chance of surviving.

F. After centuries of being hunted by humans, many African elephants are tuskless.

G. And it's in our power to make this happen by cutting demand and raising awareness.

These altered versions have even pushed some musicians to the top of official singles charts. As a Radio l Anthems host told the BBC, although sped-up versions of songs can help artists go viral, that initial success may not last This isn't just about music. Social media users also accelerate podcasts, movies, etc. for quicker consumption. The sped-up mode provides a faster way to achieve the dopamine (多巴胺) rush that social media aims to spark, leading to addiction and influencing our actions.

While it seems efficient, speeding up content has significant drawbacks. "So many people worked hard making specific decisions about pacing, lighting, timing and music, and speeding that all up just ruins it," a Reddit user commented. Another user also mentioned that if someone consumes content this way, their viewpoint of the movie or the song is not valid.

It seems that people speed up content not because they enjoy movies and songs but rather simply to complete the action of "watching" and "listening". It's as if they're telling the creators: "I don't have the patience to care about all the detailed design and subtle emotions you put into the work." All they want is a quick general idea of "what's going on" and a feeling of "wow, I just consumed another piece of information".

Evidently, this approach weakens creators' efforts and erodes people's patience. However, people often fail to realize that this also destroys their patience with life. Beginning with sped-up songs and movies, it gradually creeps into daily life. A Chinese netizen once shared, "I found myself becoming impatient with doing research for my work or preparing for a test," highlighting how this habit extends to longer-term tasks.

We already live in a fast-paced society, yet we still try to speed it up in every aspect. What's the rush? Some things should not be sped up, like our patience for beauty and hard work.