2 . In a crowded migrant (移民) camp in Tijuana, Mexico, a three-year-old girl wandered ________ toward the exit. She was steps from a busy road. Estefanía Rebellón was the only person who ________ her. The writer had just driven from Los Angeles with a group of friends to drop off food and clothing to a(n) ________ organization.

It was December 2018, a time when the US-Mexico border was seeing migrants from Central America ________ violence and poverty. Rebellón rushed over to the child and took her ________. “Where are your parents?” she asked anxiously. Eventually, she and her friends found the girl’s ________ father, who had stepped away to ________ for food.

Back at home, Rebellón gathered a group of volunteer ________ via social media, and using a thousand dollars from her ________, set up a school at the Tijuana border. In five years, the pilot program has grown into the non-profit Yes We Can World Foundation, which has ________ three school buses into classrooms and established two schools.

________ by donations, the foundation’s teachers have provided a bilingual education to more than 3,000 kids. The schools ________ an official curriculum (课程) from Mexico’s education ministry. They also offer ________ courses, which help kids understand more about migration.

Rebellón has received numerous ________ for her work, including Outstanding American by Choice. As more than 6.6 million people still live in refugee camps around the world, she says she’d like to ________ the foundation’s influence and support migrant children globally.

3 . Marva Collins’ journey as a teacher began in the 1960s, when she was assigned to teach at a public school in Chicago. At the time, the school was plagued (困扰) by violence, low academic standards, and a ______ of resources, and many of its students were ______ as “unteachable” or “at-risk.”

Despite these ______ , Collins was determined to make a difference. She ______ to create a classroom environment that helped to develop a love of ______ , a sense of discipline, and a belief in oneself. Collins’ teaching methods proved ______ , and her students soon began to show remarkable progress. They ______ well above average on standardized tests, and many of them went on to ______ top universities.

Collins also ______ the importance of building relationships between teachers and students. She believed that strong relationships were the foundation of effective teaching, and she ______ teachers to get to know their students as individuals and to personalize their instruction ______ .

Collins’ impact on education was recognized by educators across the world, and she was ______ to speak at conferences across the world. Today, Collins’ legacy (遗产) lives on through the many students and educators inspired by her work. Her emphasis on ______ , hard work and relationships continues to be a model for effective teaching, and her ______ in the potential of every student ______ to inspire educators to make a difference in the lives of at-risk students.

4 . Out of all fields of science, physics has a reputation for being difficult to the general public. On top of complex formulas (公式), the abstract concepts that make it up are sometimes simply hard to grasp. That’s why professor Tatiana Erukhimova works alongside the team of the Physics & Astronomy department at Texas A & M University (TAMU) to produce a series of videos showing real-world applications of physics in a fun and insightful way that has earned her fans around the world.

Not only are the explanations in every video easy to follow, but Erukhimova’s enthusiasm is what truly keeps the viewer engaged. For example, in one video, the cheerful professor explains the physics of pressure. To demonstrate how distributing weight allows seemingly fragile objects to carry heavier loads, the teacher excitedly steps on a tiny board with lightbulbs and then proceeds to replicate (复制) the experiment with eggs — until it takes an unexpected turn.

Erukhimova’s unique teaching method comes from her hope to get students interested through demonstrative classes. “You get this ‘wow factor’ and then it’s easier to find resonance (共鸣).” she said. “I like what I teach, and I try to share my excitement with them.”

Born to physicist parents, Erukhimova has had a unique attachment to the field since she was very little. “My passion for physics is just in my genes, and I cannot imagine my life without physics,” she explained. After being offered a position at Texas A & M almost 25 years ago, Erukhimova moved from Russia to Texas. Since then, she has won over both university students and casual viewers with her particular way of explaining science.

While she is aware that people may not learn a lot from watching a short video, getting them interested and curious about learning more is all worth it.

5 . Billions of people deal with a nail-biting habit at some point in their lives. Many will go to great lengths to try to stop. And while not all of us are nail-biters, most of us do have a habit we’d like to kick. So what’s the best way to break one?

Research shows that intentions alone often fail to lead to long-term behavior change. This isn't to say you can’t break a habit. Rather, by understanding the basis of habits, you can create better plans for changing them. For example, we know habits are often affected by environments and routines. Lying in bed may cause you to endlessly scroll through your phone, or watching TV on the couch may lead you to grab a sugary snack.

One of the most effective ways to manage behavior is to identify these locations or times of day. Then try to modify them by changing your routine or creating obstacles that make it more difficult to perform the habit in that space. Moving, switching jobs, or even starting a new schedule, are particularly great times to break a habit or build a new one.

One 2005 study tracked university students’ exercising, reading, and TV-watching habits before and after they transferred schools. When students were no longer around old environments and routines, their habits, even the strong ones, significantly changed.

For behaviors like nail-biting, a practice called habit reversal training can be helpful. Developed by psychologists in the 1970s, the aim is to change a habit by replacing it with another one that’s less detrimental. The training requires you to analyze and understand your habit cues, so you can effectively step in at the right times. For example, if you tend to bite your nails at work, keep a fidget toy at your desk in advance. Then, if a stressful email comes in, use the toy when you feel the urge to bite your nails.

Breaking a habit takes time, so remember to give yourself grace and have patience through the process.

7 . One thing that’s never in short supply at the beginning of each new year?     1     But many of us fail to stick with our New Year’s resolutions months (or even weeks) after making them. It turns out there are commonly avoided mistakes. That explains why some people always seem to reach their goals while others keep falling short.

    2     If you fail to pick the right habit, you aren’t likely to accomplish the corresponding goal. Say you want to lose some weight this year, forming a habit of running 30 minutes a day may not help you do that if you don’t also form habits related to the foods you eat, because diet affects weight more than exercise.     3     Failure to establish habits that support your goals may cause your resolutions to flop before you begin.

Another common mistake people make when setting goals is becoming overly concerned about the amount of time it will take to form a new habit. There’s no one right answer when it comes to how long new habits should take to form.     4     Some people simply adopt new habits faster than other people and that complex habits usually take longer to form. Consider how easy it is to brush your teeth at night compared to reading a full chapter of a book each day.

So the yearly ritual of resolution setting doesn’t have to be an annual disappointment. Sometimes, the difference between success and failure is simply choosing the right habits and the process you use to go about achieving it. Most importantly, remember to be kind and flexible with yourself and to celebrate any and all progress along the way.     5    

8 . These days, there’s barely a world leader who doesn’t talk up science. For example, the India’s Prime Minister was the main performer at the annual Indian Science Congress, held in Nagpur, where he encouraged the nation’s researchers to do the science needed to make India self-reliant.

The message to researchers is crystal clear: leaders see science as essential to national prosperity, well-being and, of course, competitiveness. So, is research fit for the challenge of advancing, refining or critiquing these goals? Not exactly. And it won’t be until there is fundamental reform to the gateway to a research career: PhD training.

As Nature and other publications have frequently reported, PhD training worldwide has been in trouble for some time. Students’ stipends (生活津贴) are not enough in most countries, creating a cost-of-living crisis. Early-career researchers constantly report concerns about a constant lack of support and poor-quality supervision, with senior researchers rarely trained in mentorship (指导).

Furthermore, PhD candidates are inadequately prepared for the cross-disciplinary working and large teams that characterize cutting-edge science today. This is especially true for careers outside academic research, where the overwhelming majority of PhD candidates will be heading.

It is not all bad. Universities in a small number of high-income countries have reformed, or are reforming, PhD assessment. But in most places, and especially in low- and middle-income countries, a candidate’s work is still evaluated using a single-authored paper. In many countries, candidates must publish in a journal before they get a PhD, something that critics say could fuel profitable publishing.

The system’s strains have become more obvious because the number of people doing PhD training has been rising sharply. According to the 2022 book Towards a Global Core Value System in Doctoral Education, the number of PhDs awarded in India increased from 17,850 in 2004 to 25,095 in 2016; US figures climbed from 48,500 to 69,525 over the same period. If researchers are to meet society’s expectations, their training and mentoring must escape the nineteenth century.

9 . Comparing college entrance exams, there are different needs for admission. The national college entrance examination, or gaokao, is known as the most competitive test for Chinese students. Do students in other countries also need to take a standardized test to get into university?

South Korea holds the College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT) in November each year. The CSAT plays an important role in the country’s education. On test day, bus and subway frequency increases to make sure that students can get to the test sites in time.

Japan is trying to reform its standardized national college entrance exam. In January 2022, Common Test for University Admissions took the place of the National Center Test for University Admissions, which had been adopted since 1990. The new exam aims to put emphasis on the ability of students to discover and solve problems by themselves.

The American College Test(ACT) and Scholastic Assessment Test(SAT) are the two main college entrance exams taken by students in the US. While SAT tests a student’s ability to learn, the ACT tests a student’s educational development. Both tests normally take place seven times throughout the year. Students can retake the exams for a better score.

In the UK, there’s no standardized test for college admission. Instead, each college has their own admission criteria. These criteria often only include submission of transcripts(成绩单) and participation in an interview. Yet, there are subject-specific exams used by some colleges.