1 .

I’ve got the worst name in the world. My name is Tom T. Terdle (sound like “Tom The Turtle”). People called me all sorts of things. What was even worse, my dad had to move around with his job. Every time we moved, I had to get ready for the stupid names and a fight or two.

I didn’t like to fight, but some of the things the kids said were impolite. One thing led to another, and usually I hit somebody. Then, I ended up in the teacher’s office. This time we moved to Port Aransas, on the Gulf of Mexico. I thought it cool to live near the ocean, but going to another new school meant hearing new kids call me names. That was why I fought again. And I got kicked out of school—for three days.

Walking on the beach alone, I found lots of eggs, buried under the sand. The deeper I dug, the more eggs I found. Then I heard an angry voice, “What are you doing?”

“Huh?” I looked up, sand all over my face and an egg in my hand. Standing behind me was an old lady.

“You are going to kill every one of those!” she said.

“Kill what?” I asked.

“The turtles,” she took the egg out of my hand while pointing to a sign nearby: “Be Aware! Sea Turtle Nesting Area!”

I felt bad and together we carefully put the eggs back in the hole and covered them with warm sand. She was actually a kind lady and easy to talk to. Soon, I told her everything, the schools and the kids making fun of me. She smiled and laughed, “Well, Tom, they call me the Turtle Lady and I take a lot of pride in being called that. I love turtles. By the way, since you’ re out of school for a few days, can you help me tonight when the eggs will probably hatch (孵化)?” How interesting it sounded! She might be old, but she was immediately my friend.

That night, when we were watching for some signs that the eggs were going to hatch, she told me about the sea turtles. I learned more than what I had in all my science classes. Then, the most amazing scene of my life came. Like a big wave, the little turtles began digging from the sandy nests and moving down to the sea. When most of them made their way to the water, she smiled,“ Go back and get some sleep, Turtle Tom. Today is a big day.” For the first time ever, I wasn’t mad about that name.

The night, fifteen years ago, was the one I would never forget. I have gotten rid of my sensitivity to being called Turtle Tom since long. Instead, now as a marinebiologist (海洋生物学家), I am pleased when school kids call me that.

Who was the Turtle Lady? Her real name was Ila Loetscher, and she loved and protected the turtles like nobody else in Texas. She died at the age of 95. I often walk the beaches at Port Aransas. I feel she is still there in spirit, guarding the sea turtles and guiding people like me towards the new meaning of life.

3 . 英语犹如不同文化之间的桥梁。对我们来说，学好英语就意味着找到了通向世界文化之门的钥匙。然而，英语学习之路并非一帆风顺，每个人都会遇到自己的难题和障碍。在英语学习过程中，你面临着哪些困难，请描述其中的一到两个，并介绍你将如何解决它（们） ?

It is normal to have problems in our English study.

Students Explore Mars

Human beings have been curious about Mars since the planet was first discovered. For many years, scientists have been working toward ways to best explore the red planet.

A group of senior students from Beijing have shown great interest in Mars and started a project to explore it. Wang Taozhi, 17, the leading figure in this project, put forward a plan to develop a system that is expected to use AI to study pictures of common minerals (矿物) on Mars. It is also hoped to classify (分类) these minerals. “The challenge is to master knowledge about computer coding, AI and algorithms and how to put this knowledge into practice. We failed many times but we finally succeeded,” said Wang.

When Wang Taozhi was in Junior 1. he learned basic knowledge of C++, a programming language, in a computer technology course. He was interested in programming and spent hours a day studying it. Wang then joined the Maker Space of his school, a platform that encourages students to create something new with the help of modern technology. In the Maker Space, he learned more about robotics and coding, developing a software which helped teachers in class.

Wang also learned necessary information through other means in his spare time, including trustworthy journals and even online videos. “I read papers on minerals,” Wang said. “Also, I gained AI basics through some videos on Bilibili.”

To successfully finish the project, good teamwork is important. Wang Taozhi and his teammates You Zhibin and Zhang Beining had a hard time arranging their meetings since they had different class timetables and study plans.

To overcome this challenge, they carried out different tasks based on each person’s strengths, set a deadline and set up regular meetings. It’s hard to balance one’s studies and personal interests, but they have found a way to do it.

“Finishing the project was not easy, but it was an opportunity to help students become actively engaged students willing to solve problems instead of just being passive learners,” said Li Ning, the mentor of this project.

“In the beginning, I borrowed others’ ideas but now I come up with my own ideas and have made them practical,” Wang said.

5 . Nowadays, many people prefer audiobooks, a more convenient choice, to old-fashioned reading. You can listen to the latest bestseller while commuting or cleaning up the house. But is listening to a book really the same as reading one? There’s some evidence that reading on a screen reduces learning and comprehension compared to reading from printed text.

If you’ re wondering why printed books may be better than screen-based reading, it may have to do with your inability to tell where you are in an audiobook. “As you’re reading a story, the order of events is important, and knowing where you are in a book helps you build the storyline,” says Daniel Willingham, a professor of psychology. While you are listening to an audiobook and trying to find out how much of a book you have left, in a percentage or length of time to the end, it doesn’t seem to have the same narrative-orienting effect (叙事导向效应) as reading from a traditional book.

The self-directed pace (速度) associated with reading may also differentiate books from audiobooks. “About 10% to 15% of eye movements during reading are actually regressive.” Willingham explains. “This happens very quickly when a reader needs to re-read a sentence or a passage to better understand its content. And it’s sort of naturally fit into the process of reading a sentence.” He says this reading behavior almost certainly improves comprehension, and it may be roughly comparable to a listener asking for a speaker to “hold on” or repeat something. Theoretically, you can also pause or jump back while listening to an audio file. “But it’s more trouble,” he adds.

Another consideration is that whether we’re reading or listening to a text, our minds occasionally absent. Seconds (or minutes) can pass before we jump out of the little mental break and refocus our attention, says Willingham. If you’re reading, it’s pretty easy to go back and find the point at which you are lost. It’s not so easy if you’re listening to a recording.

Willingham coauthored a 2010 study that found students who listened to a podcast lesson performed worse on a comprehension quiz than students who read the same lesson on paper. Interestingly, at the start of the experiment, almost all the students wanted to be in the podcast group. “But then right before I gave them the quiz, I asked them again which group they would want to be in, and most of them had changed their minds—they wanted to be in the reading group,” Willingham says.“ They knew they hadn’t learned as much.”

But audiobooks also have some strengths. Human beings have been sharing information orally for tens of thousands of years, Willingham says, while the printed word is a much more recent invention. “When we’re reading, we’re applying parts of the brain to the cognitive task of reading.” Listeners, on the other hand, can get a lot of information from a speaker’s lively pronunciation or intonations. People who hear Shakespeare spoken out loud tend to gain a lot of meaning from the actor’s delivery.

All that said, if you’re reading or listening for relaxation—not for work or study—the differences between audiobooks and print books are probably “small potatoes”. If you are not, that’s where personal preference and the specific context of your reading or listening experience come into play.

6 .

Is anyone you know especially interested in skin care? Do they seem to know, or want to know, everything about various products, skin types and beauty treatments? Are you someone like this? The New York Times recently reported that beauty stores like Sephora are seeing an increase in new customers: tweens (age 10—12) and teens (age 13—19) on the hunt for acne (粉刺) and anti- aging skin care products that are meant for adults.

The enthusiasm teenagers and their mothers have for skin care is changing in the unhealthy direction. Alexandra D’ Amour writes in an essay,“ Wrinkles are the new enemy, and it seems Gen Z-ers (those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s) are afraid of them. A recent video on TikTok with more than eight million views features a 28-year-old woman showing her “raw” face, meaning no Botox (肉毒杆菌), fillers or surgeries (手术). As some women and girls cheered on her bravery, others were left terrified. “Hoping I’ll never look like that,” one comment read.

Gen Z-ers are being introduced to the idea of starting treatments to prevent aging. This influence comes in two ways. On the one hand, they are growing up in a culture of social media that spreads the value of maintaining youth. Johanna Almstead, a fashion industry friend, tells me that her 10- year- old daughter doesn’t have access to social media, but she is exposed to this skin care obsession through friends, who are copying TikTok beauty influencers. On the other hand, at home, some of them are watching their mothers prevent aging with every product they can find. In some local mothers’ group chat, nearly every mom has received skin care products as a gift from their kids.

However, there are still some teenagers who can keep a cool head. Kathy Chan from Vancouver, commented on the website, “I go to a girls’ high school, where I find the line between a healthier concept of self- care and the unhealthier wish to meet changing beauty standards is not clear. It’s nice that we have products that help treat acne, but it’s concerning that acne causes such anxiety among many of my peers, who consider it as a common side effect of adolescence (青春期). Skincare can be a way to take care of your skin and be more confident from a health standpoint. However, issues may occur when pressures from society are involved, such as the influence from friends, the examples set by mothers and the videos on social media.”

Everyone needs to be aware of how the beauty industry can influence both mothers and kids and how, by backing it, mothers create a new set of worries for their children.

7 . Every June in California, judges cast their eye over a line-up of dogs to decide on the winner of the World Ugliest Dog contest. Invariably, the dogs for this honour melt the hearts of animal lovers across the world. Why do we find ugly animals so attractive? And what makes these odd- looking creatures so cute?

Evolution (进化) plays a role. According to Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz, human attraction to baby features, such as big eyes, large heads and soft bodies, is. an evolutionary adaptation (适应) that helps ensure that adults care for their children, ensuring the survival of their species. These baby features were coined “baby schema (婴儿图示)” by Lorenz in 1943. Odd-looking animals such as blobfish and bulldogs all share these baby features that make people love and want to protect them. And these baby features increase a person’s protective behaviour, attention and willingness to care for these animals and reduce the likelihood of aggression (攻击性), says Marta Borgi, a lead researcher, who studies baby schema.

A 2014 study led by Borgi analysed the eye movements of children aged three to six and found that they were more focused on images of dogs, cats and humans with the baby features. They also asked the children to grade the images from one to five points, with one being “not cute” and five being “very cute”. The children ranked round faces with high foreheads, big eyes and small noses as cuter than those with fewer baby features. The study showed the concept of “cuteness” developed at a very young age, with children as young as three showing a preference for animals and humans with big eyes, button noses and round faces.

Besides making cute pets, ugly animals have other value for scientific research. For example, the blobfish, which have adapted to the extreme environments in unusual ways, provide valuable information to research how to survive certain dangers. Scientists are interested in studying these animals to understand whether their biology might provide fresh insights that could lead to treatments such as cancer, heart disease and other diseases for human beings.

There are also culture-led factors that drive our obsession (痴迷) with ugly-cute animals.“ The ugly-cute thing is very fashionable,” says Rowena Packer, a lecturer in companion animal behaviour. This is partly driven by social media, with many celebrities and influencers showing off their pet French bulldogs on Instagram, she says.

But there are still some worries about people’s obsession with ugly-cute animals. Animal doctors are urging people not to choose a flat-faced dog breed, because they suffer from serious health problems. For example, French bulldogs, which have been selectively bred, experience breathing difficulties, repeated skin infections and eye diseases.

So while strange features such as big eyes and wrinkly faces may make us smile, we might want to reconsider our obsession with “ugly-cute” pets.

8 .

New research has found a link between the height of ceilings in exam halls and the performance of students, which might sound a bit crazy, but makes more and more sense as you think about it.

While the shape of a room can’t make up for your lack of review or make you any smarter than you were before, we do know that the environments we’re in have an effect on us. That includes our ability to concentrate and work on mental tasks. The authors of the study, from the University of South Australia and Deakin University in Australia, suggest that big and open rooms, with high ceilings, are making it harder for students to focus on what’s in front of them.

A previous study from some of the same researchers, making use of brain mapping technology and virtual reality, had found a relationship between cognitive (认知) ability and the size of a person’s surroundings. Here, the team wanted to do some real-world testing. “We were curious to apply our lab findings to a real-world dataset and see if being in a large space like a gym while having to concentrate on an important task would result in a poorer performance,” says environmental psychologist Isabella Bower from the University of South Australia.

The study analyzed exam results from 15,400 students over eight years and across three campuses, referencing (参考) their scores against what was expected based on the coursework they’d previously submitted. In exam rooms with high ceilings, students tended to underperform compared to those taking exams in rooms with a ‘standard’ ceiling height, even after considering age, gender, time of year, exam subject, and previous exam experience—other factors that could potentially affect the results.

However, what we can’t yet be sure about is whether the actual sizes of the room are having an effect, or whether it’s something else related to the environment—like the temperature or humidity inside the space, or even how many other students there are.

“These spaces are often designed for purposes other than examinations, such as gyms, exhibitions, events, and performances,” says Bower.“ The key point is that large rooms with high ceilings can disadvantage students and we need to understand what brain mechanisms (机制) are at play, and whether this affects all students to the same degree.” Those are questions that future research can try to find out. It’s clear though that environment matters—and that we might not be giving students the best chance for success by holding exams in rooms that aren’t custom-built for the purpose.

“Examinations have been a key part of our education system for over 1,300 years, shaping students’ career paths and lives,” says Bower. “It’s important to recognize the potential impact of the physical environment on student performance and make necessary adjustments to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to succeed.”

Last summer, I found a part-time job at a department store. We were encouraged to chat with customers and make their experience personal. I am a social butterfly at school, so I loved the job.

One day, a(n) _______ woman came in. I welcomed her to the store, and she immediately started up a conversation, telling me her name was Barbara and asking me about my day. I stepped out to walk with her and nodded along while she _______. We did this often, as there were many elderly customers who just needed somebody to talk to.

As we chatted, Barbara stopped to look at a shirt, “I really like the pattern. I used to wear colors like this when I was younger.”

I asked, “Oh? What changed?”

Barbara chuckled (轻笑), “Well, as I started to get older, these sorts of clothes just didn’t look good on me anymore. Maybe it will be _______ for you, since you’ re a very pretty young girl.”

“Don’t say that, Barbara! You’ re still very beautiful.”

Laughing, Barbara replied, “Thank you, sweet girl, but it’s all right. I’ll just _______ to what I normally wear. Patterns like this are made for young people like you.”

I always hate it when older people believe their _______ is ugly. Older women buy wrinkle (皱纹) correctors, dye (染) the white and silver out of their hair, and do everything they can to _______ their age until they give up and say to themselves, “I’m just old and ugly now.”

I don’t see things that way at all. Many women age gracefully, and Barbara aged downright beautifully. So, I _______ the topic just a little bit, “Are you sure you don’t want to try it on? You might be surprised. If you don’t like it, we can put it back.”

Barbara hesitated (犹豫), “Well... since we’ re already here. …I really don’t know about these sleeves, though. They’ll show my big arms!”

I suggested, “How about the dress hanging on the wall there? It has three- quarter sleeves that will cover your forearms.”

She paused for a moment, “Tell you what. If you can find that dress in a large, I’ll try it on, just to see.”

When Barbara stepped out of the dressing room, I was _______. The dress fit her _______ perfectly, the colors brought out the warmth in her skin, and most importantly, she looked really, really happy in it. She didn’t just like the dress; she liked HERSELF in the dress, clearly feeling more ________. She even turned in a circle to show us how the skirt flared (展开)!

Before Barbara left, she said, “Thank you for making me feel forty years younger today. I think I’ll buy a sunhat to go with that dress, and my husband and I can go on a picnic. We haven’t done that in a while.”

Her words made my day.