I offer to pay you $200 in one year if you give me $190 today. Good deal or bad deal? It’s the kind of math problem you might encounter in real life, _________, say, whether the cosecant (余割) of a 30-degree angle is 1 or 2. You can imagine students _________ their spirits and paying attention when they realize that they need to know algebra (代数) to avoid being cheated on a loan. Math and personal finance make a _________ fit. Students grasp concepts in math much better when they see how those subjects _________ their daily financial lives.

A survey in 2022 funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that 61 percent of parents of students said math education should be “relevant to the real world” _________ that only 21 percent said it was. The drive for relevance goes beyond K-12 education. Some of America’s top universities are _________ personal finance into their curriculums.

Harvard has a personal finance course in the _________ department that’s taught by John Campbell, a past president of the American Finance Association. “_________, personal finance was regarded as a very sort of hands-on skill that you might teach to people who were going to a technical high school,” he told me. “There is, I would say, a modern movement to _________ of personal finance as a subject with actually a lot more intellectual content.”

In most high schools, personal finance classes are light on math, and math classes are __________ in personal finance. The FiCycle curriculum has plenty of each. “The personal finance component is incredibly __________ for our high school students,” Philip Dituri, the director of education at Financial Life Cycle Education, who has a doctorate in math education, told me. He believed that quite a lot of students would be stimulated by the __________.

There is a __________ standard for personal finance education that was put together by the Council for Economic Education and the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. It emphasizes how to __________ one’s finances. FiCycle focuses more on the underlying concepts. It’s about “how and why individuals and households transfer consumption over time,” Financial Life Cycle Education says.

In conclusion, the integration of math and personal finance in education is not just an academic pursuit, but a __________ necessity for students to guide their real life. It is time for educational institutions to take note and adapt their curricula to better prepare students for the financial challenges of adulthood.

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.

8 . In one’s lifetime, especially during adolescence when mental maturity is yet to be achieved, everyone is likely to make some foolish mistakes that will be remembered for a lifetime. The way parents _________ these situations often directly determines the value attributed to these mistakes.

When I was ten years old, I got really angry one day and ended up breaking my favorite pen. Instead of scolding me, my parents chose a different _________. They quietly kept the broken pen and used it as a silent reminder of my mistake. Every time I saw that _________ pen, it served as a gentle yet _________ lesson.

In the beginning, I couldn’t understand why they didn’t yell at me or punish me _________. However, as days went by, the broken pen became a symbol of my _________ actions. It made me reflect on my behavior and the consequences of letting anger _________ me.

The silence from my parents _________ louder than words ever could. It wasn’t about the pen itself, but rather the lesson it represented. I realized that patience and self-control were _________ qualities to cultivate. Instead of reacting impulsively (冲动的), I learned to take a step back and __________ before acting.

Time __________, I eventually became a more patient and thoughtful person. The broken pen, once a source of __________, became a catalyst (催化剂) for positive change in my behavior. My parents’ quiet discipline __________ me a valuable lesson about the power of reflection and the importance of learning from my mistakes. This experience __________ me into a better person, reminding me that sometimes, the most profound lesson come in the form of silent __________.

9 . Is a Science-Based Education the Way to Go?

In this present age when we are heavily dependent on science and technology, a science-based education system naturally becomes prevalent to equip the young with knowledge of the ________ of our world around them. The various disciplines of science, such as biology and astronomy, certainly help us to grasp not only the ________ of Earth, but also the significance of human beings in the universe. Moreover, as people naturally have an inborn desire to control the environment, a science-based education seems to be well ________ to humanity’s inquisitive nature. ________, it remains questionable whether a science-based education is able to paint a complete picture of the world.

Certainly, it equips us with the knowledge of ________ which is necessary for us to make sense of the world. By laying the foundation of the skills in students, they will be equipped with the necessary skills to discover the world as ________ by science today. A classic example is Gregor Mendel’s famous pea plant experiment. Without this, we would not have understood the ________ of our genes, nor the reasons why offspring may look strikingly similar to their parents.

Additionally, the scientific method highlights the importance of ________, which is instrumental in the acquisition of knowledge. In a typical science-based educational system, students are taught to objectively analyze empirical data and derive scientific principles. Besides, a science-based education empowers us to ________ preconceived(预想的) concepts instead of merely accepting “facts” at face value.

Despite its ________, a science-based education does not always enlighten us about certain aspects of the world that can’t be rationalized through the scientific method. Though it explains how the world works, it is lacking as it does not ________ much about why things happen. For example, science can provide a neurological explanation on how we perceive breathtaking scenery, but it can’t explain what constitutes beauty or why we are so innately drawn to it. Thus, to ________, the Arts offer us insightful perspectives on the role of science and the world at large.

Moreover, science may have great emphasis on progress that may come at a great ________to the world. A science-based education that focuses solely on the latest scientific breakthroughs may well ________ the study of ethical controversies and significant historical events. For instance, it remains to be seen whether cloning is morally acceptable.

In conclusion, a science-based education coupled with adequate exposure to ethics, values and the humanities would ________ students with a deeper insight into the complex nature of the world.

10 . During my freshman year at Brooklyn College, credit card companies were eager to earn the business of students. _______ by various rewards programs that only told part of the story, many students signed up for one or more cards without understanding the _______ of late payment.

_______ basic financial literacy (金融素养) meant many college students started off their adult lives with poor credit. _______, they faced challenges later in life when they needed to borrow money but couldn’t _______ a low-interest loan.

Poor credit _______ me past college and years into my teaching career. That has fueled my sense of _______ to teach the next generation of students about personal finance. It’s why I helped develop a personal finance course for teens and young adults.

To make the class as _______ as possible, we asked the students what _______ interested them. They were curious to know about buying homes and cars. Our course, intended for those aged between 14 and 21, has them ________ questions: How much do I need to save to make these purchases? Which purchases do I prioritize?

We, educators, can help young people ________ life after graduation, as there are many great ________ and developing our course was ________ than I had expected, which is why I hope more schools and youth organizations will offer financial education.

Financial literacy shouldn’t be optional because it puts those without it at a significant ________. And if my ________ as a student and an educator have taught me anything, it’s that no one should have to learn important financial lessons the hard way.