Computer technician [電腦技術員] Michael Perrin transformed [改造] himself into a successful bodybuilder. Michael began bodybuilding six years ago at age 19. Since then he has completely transformed his body. To keep his big muscles, he goes to the gym [健身房] five nights a week and eats eight meals every day. Last year he won the Junior World Bodybuilding Championship in Miami, USA.

Inside our bodies are hundreds of tubes that carry blood. These tubes are called veins [靜脈]. Inside the world of bodybuilding [健美運動], the term vascularity [血管畢露] describes how many of these veins are visible — of course from the outside of the body. A bodybuilder’s vascularity is good when he has many highly visible veins. As bodybuilders prepare for bodybuilding competitions, they reduce their body fat [身體脂肪] and as body fat decreases their veins become prominent [突出].

Vascularity is best when body fat is below 10 percent. Reducing body fat takes at least a few months so this process begins long before the bodybuilding competition. As the competition date approaches, the bodybuilder has already reached his goal of very low body fat, often below 5 percent, but on the day of a competition he must go even further to increase his vascularity. Let’s look at four additional ways used by bodybuilders to further increase vascularity just hours and minutes before they compete.

According to a recent survey [調查], less than 1 in 10 Americans sleep in the nude. Nude or not, what’s it matter, as long as we sleep, right? Well, not exactly.  There are benefits to sleeping in the buff and most of those benefits are medical and worth learning about. Nevertheless, Americans prefer sleeping in clothes. This American habit hasn’t stopped curious doctors from studying sleepers, clothed and naked. Let’s hope those other nine Americans switch sides because what the doctors have found about sleeping naked is really amazing.

When people hear “Taiwan” do they think about rice and dumplings [水餃] or big bears? How about “Italy?” Do you think about pasta [意大利麵] or wolves [狼]? Most countries have a national animal [國家代表動物]. By now, you’ve guessed or already knew that Taiwan’s national animal is a bear — the Formosan black bear [台灣黑熊]. Italy’s national animal is the wolf [狼]. Five countries chose dragons for their national animal. Seventeen countries have lions [獅子]. Not even one country wanted a snake [蛇] as their animal. One of the most popular animals is the eagle. Twenty-two countries have an eagle as their national animal and one of those twenty-two countries I know very well, it’s the United States.

When people hear “Taiwan” do they think about rice and dumplings [水餃] or big bears? How about “Italy?” Do you think about pasta [意大利麵] or wolves [狼]? Most countries have a national animal [國家代表動物]. By now, you’ve guessed or already knew that Taiwan’s national animal is a bear — the Formosan black bear [台灣黑熊]. Italy’s national animal is the wolf [狼]. Five countries chose dragons for their national animal. Seventeen countries have lions [獅子]. Not even one country wanted a snake [蛇] as their animal. One of the most popular animals is the eagle. Twenty-two countries have an eagle as their national animal and one of those twenty-two countries I know very well, it’s the United States.

When people hear “Taiwan” do they think about rice and dumplings [水餃] or big bears? How about “Italy?” Do you think about pasta [意大利麵] or wolves [狼]? Most countries have a national animal [國家代表動物]. By now, you’ve guessed or already knew that Taiwan’s national animal is a bear — the Formosan black bear [台灣黑熊]. Italy’s national animal is the wolf [狼]. Five countries chose dragons for their national animal. Seventeen countries have lions [獅子]. Not even one country wanted a snake [蛇] as their animal. One of the most popular animals is the eagle. Twenty-two countries have an eagle as their national animal and one of those twenty-two countries I know very well, it’s the United States.

In front of the huge [很大的] Shibuya [澀谷] train station in Tokyo, there is a big statue [雕像] of a dog. The statue is very small compared to [和…相比] the train station, but it is not difficult to find. The dog statue has been used as a meeting place since 1934. These days hundreds of people use the dog statue as a place to meet their friends. The dog is named Hachiko [八公] and was born [出生] in 1923 and brought to Tokyo in 1924. His owner was Professor [教授] Uyeno. He and the dog were friends right from the start [打從一開始]. Each day Hachiko and the professor went together to the Shibuya train station. The professor rode [搭乘] the train to Imperial University. When he came back, the professor would always find Hachiko patiently [耐心地] waiting at the station.

In front of the huge [很大的] Shibuya[澀谷] train station in Tokyo, there is a big statue [雕像] of a dog. The statue is very small compared to [和…相比] the train station, but it is not difficult to find. The dog statue has been used as a meeting place since 1934. ¶1S4 These days hundreds of people use the dog statue as a place to meet their friends. The dog is named Hachiko [八公] and was born [出生] in 1923 and brought to Tokyo in 1924. ¶2S2 His owner was Professor [教授] Uyeno. He and the dog were friends right from the start [打從一開始]. Each day Hachiko and the professor went together to the Shibuya train station. The professor rode [搭乘] the train to Imperial University. When he came back, the professor would always find Hachiko patiently [耐心地] waiting at the station.

In front of the huge [很大的] Shibuya[澀谷] train station in Tokyo, there is a big statue [雕像] of a dog. The statue is very small compared to [和…相比] the train station, but it is not difficult to find. The dog statue has been used as a meeting place since 1934. ¶1S4 These days hundreds of people use the dog statue as a place to meet their friends. The dog is named Hachiko [八公] and was born [出生] in 1923 and brought to Tokyo in 1924. ¶2S2 His owner was Professor [教授] Uyeno. He and the dog were friends right from the start [打從一開始]. Each day Hachiko and the professor went together to the Shibuya train station. The professor rode [搭乘] the train to Imperial University. When he came back, the professor would always find Hachiko patiently [耐心地] waiting at the station.

Babette Jaquish began her battle with cancer [癌症] in 2009. It was that same year that she and her husband began raising money for cancer research [研究]. They planted hundreds of acres [英畝] of sunflowers [向日葵] around their property. Babette had the idea of growing the sunflowers then selling their seeds to raise money for cancer research. During the next nine years she had 22 different cancer treatments [治療].  In the end, she passed away in 2015. Don, her husband says, “She realized [意識到] the importance of cancer research.” Doctors told her that she had only two weeks to live. She and Don were lucky and Babette lived another nine years. She said, “Everyday I can stay alive I’m one day closer to a cure [治癒] for cancer.”