3 . For lots of kids, toddlerhood (幼儿期) is an important time for friendship. Studies show that the earlier kids learn to form positive relationships, the better they are at relating to others as teenagers and adults. Playing together also helps these kids practice social behaviors, such as kindness, sharing, and cooperation.

Even so, how quickly your child develops into a social creature may also depend on his temperament(性格). Some toddler s are very social, but others are shy. In addition, the way that toddlers demonstrate that they like other children is markedly different from what adults think of as expressions of friendship. Research at Ohio State University in Columbus found that a toddler’s way of saying “I like you” during play is likely to come in the form of copying a friend’s behavior.

This seemingly unusual way of demonstrating fondness can result in unpleasant behavior. Regardless of how much they like a playmate, they may still grab his toys, refuse to share, and get bossy. But experts say that this is a normal and necessary part of friendship for kids this age. Through play experiences, toddlers learn social rules. That’s why it’s so important to take an active role in your toddler’s social encounters by setting limits and offering frequent reminders of what they are. When you establish these guidelines, explain the reasons behind them.

Begin by helping your child learn sympathy (“Ben is crying. What’s making him so sad?”), then suggest how he could resolve the problem (“Maybe he would feel better if you let him play the ball.”). When your child shares or shows empathy(同理心) toward a friend, praise him (“Ben stopped crying! You made him feel better.”).

Another way to encourage healthy social interaction is by encouraging kids to use words- not fists-to express how they feel. It’s also important to be mindful of how your child’s personality affects playtime. Kids are easy to get angry when they’re sleepy or hungry, so schedule playtime when they’re refreshed.

5 . Patrick, Scheels store’s fishing manager, always helps customers with their angling (垂钓) needs, but one ______ stood out.

One day, a young boy named Xander entered the store with his mother, Brynn. Patrick noticed his eye were filled with ______ about the world of fishing. For nearly half an hour, they ______ their shared passion.

Brynn shared the ______ of Xander’s connection to angling, explaining, “My dad, a fisherman, passed away last year, but Xander never got to go fishing with him. So over the last year, he’s been ______ grandpa, wishing he could go fishing with him.”

______ by Xander’s longing for a connection to his late grandfather, Patrick decided to take action and ______ Xander his first fishing pole. “It was sixty dollars and he bought it with his own money,” Xander said. This ______ gesture brought tears to Brynn’s eyes, and she acknowleged that such acts of kindness aren’t ______ .

However, Patrick’s generosity didn’t ______ here. The 22-year-old fishing enthusiast went a step further by ______ a memorable fishing trip for Xander and his family. To ______ that Xander had an enriching experience, two professional anglers from Scheels ______ him on the trip, offering guidance and teaching him valuable skills.

Patrick’s kindness was ______ a breath of fresh air for Xander and his family, who described the fishing trip as a once-in-a-lifetime ______ . “I felt like it was my due diligence to pass on the good word of fishing,” Patrick said.

6 . We live in a town with three beaches. There are two parts less than 10 minutes’ walk from home where neighborhood children gather to play. However, what my children want to do after school is pick up a screen — any screen — and stare at it for hours. They are not alone. Today’s children spend an average of four and a half hours a day looking at screens, split between watching television and using the Internet.

In the past few years, an increasing number of people and organisations have begun coming up with plans to counter this trend. A couple of years ago film-maker David Bond realised that his children, then aged five and three, were attached to screens to the point where he was able to say “chocolate” into his three-year-old son’s ear without getting a response. He realised that something needed to change, and, being a London media type, appointed himself “marketing director from Nature”. He documented his journey as he set about treating nature as a brand to be marketed to young people. The result was Project Wild Thing, a film which charts the birth of the World Network, a group of organisations with the common goal of getting children out into nature.

“Just five more minutes outdoors can make a difference,” David Bond says. “There is a lot of really interesting evidence which seems to be suggesting that if children are inspired up to the age of seven, then being outdoors will be on habit for life.” His own children have got into the habit of playing outside now: “We just send them out into the garden and tell them not to come back in for a while.”

Summer is upon us. There is an amazing world out there, and it needs our children as much as they need it. Let us get them out and let them play.

7 . My mother is 92. Unless I have to be out of town, each week I take my mother to do her _______ and visit the doctor, providing _______ and transportation. During the week, however, she likes to go to a nearby store to _______ some small things she needs.

Last week she walked up to the store, but when she went to pay for her groceries, she was _______ about three dollars. The only _______ to pay for the groceries was to take off the _______ she could do without: a bottle of rubbing alcohol (医用酒精) and a bar of soap. By taking off these, she was able to _______ the new total to the amount of cash she had with her.

At this store, people _______ and then go off to the side to _______ their own groceries. My mother was putting her groceries into shopping bags when a ________ came up to her and said, “Here are the things that you ________ .” handing her the rubbing alcohol and the ________ . My mother, who is never speechless, was speechless. She ________ for the woman’s name and address so that she could ________ her. The woman told her it was her ________ .

My mother was so ________ by her gesture that she decided to go back to the store and give the cashier (收银员) a five-dollar bill to keep on hand ________ the same happened to someone else if they didn’t have enough ________ for all of their groceries.

So, whoever you are, thank you for the random act of ________ that not only helped my mother out, but ________ too.

8 . In his 1936 work How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie wrote: “I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way to get the best of an argument — and that is to avoid it.” This distaste for arguments is common, but it depends on a mistaken view of arguments that causes problems for our personal and social lives — and in many ways misses the point of arguing in the first place.

Carnegie would be right if arguments were fights, which is how we often think of them. Like physical fights, verbal (言语的) fights can leave both sides bloodied. Even when you win, you end up no better off. You would be feeling almost as bad if arguments were even just competitions — like, say, tennis tournaments. Pairs of opponents hit the ball back and forth until one winner comes out from all who entered. Everybody else loses. This kind of thinking explains why so many people try to avoid arguments.

However, there are ways to win an argument every time. When you state your position, formulate (阐述) an argument for what you claim and honestly ask yourself whether your argument is any good. When you talk with someone who takes a stand, ask them to give you a reason for their view and spell out their argument fully. Assess its strength and weakness. Raise objections (异议) and listen carefully to their replies. This method will require effort, but practice will make you better at it.

These tools can help you win every argument — not in the unhelpful sense of beating your opponents but in the better sense of learning about what divides people, learning why they disagree with us and learning to talk and work together with them. If we readjust our view of arguments — from a verbal fight or tennis game to a reasoned exchange through which we all gain respect and understanding from each other — then we change the very nature of what it means to “win” an argument.

10 . The Language Exchange Programme allows students in pairs to communicate in two different languages they wish to share and learn each week. Students record short entries after each partner meeting noting the language skills practised and the topics discussed. Each pair of students meets three times throughout the term with a teacher who decides if the exchange is effective. Students who successfully complete the programme will receive one credit each.

Requirements for completion:

•One welcoming session on the second Friday of the term

•18 weekly one-hour pair meetings

•Weekly progress reports for all pair meetings

•At least three pair-teacher meetings

•One five-minute final video

Sign up!

The sign-up and registration process is as follows:

•Students sign up and indicate the languages they can share and languages they are interested in learning.

•Based on the information entered by each student, potential pairs are identified.

•Proficiency (熟练) levels are confirmed through coursework or placement tests.

•Once a pair has been determined to be suitable, the students will be contacted individually with a special permission number to register for the programme.

Reminders:

Signing up for the programme does not automatically mean that you will be able to register and participate. Pairs are matched by languages of interest and proficiency levels. Since there are many factors involved in the pairing process, not all students who sign up will be matched with a partner and be able to register for the programme.