4 . My father was the kind of guy who could walk into a room full of strangers and leave with new best friends for life! He was a hard worker and was known as “Mr Fix-It” to everyone. He was also one of the most cheerful, affable (和葛可亲的) and gentle people you would ever meet, which made us, his beloved daughters feel proud.

But when Dad was in his fifties, my family began to notice him struggling. His work and skills began to become worse and worse, and he became depressed and withdrawn. This was not the man I knew. At the age of fifty-eight, Dad was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. As for our family, it was the worst.

Our first step was to attend a meeting hosted by the Alzheimer’s Association to learn more about the disease and programs that might help us. That meeting inspired me to start a Walk to End Alzheimer’s^® team. But I still wanted to do more. In 2017, I became a board member of the Alzheimer’s Association Delaware Valley Chapter.

The loss from this disease is gradual. My father’s decline continued for several years. Losing my father more and more each day was leaving a big hole in my heart and my life. I decided to fill that hole with action to honor my father.

That’s why I recently decided to leave a gift to the Alzheimer’s Association by naming it as a beneficiary of my retirement plan. My future gift will provide money to support research because I don’t want another person in my family or someone in other families to have to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.

I am so proud to be able to honor my father and other family members who lost their fights to Alzheimer’s in this way. My dad was an inspiration to me, and I hope, through my gift, I can inspire others to join in the fight to end Alzheimer’s.

5 . The world is full of opportunities. Ignoring them or seizing one depends on one’s attitude. Mike seized the chance and did what he wanted to do.

Mike used to be a janitor (看门人) at a (n) _______ school. He collected and cleared away the _______ for the school too. This school has a _______ place in Mike’s heart. He went to this school as a young boy and was a _______ there for 19 years. However, before his career in teaching, he _______ in the same school as a janitor. He has always been good at _______ with students. They loved chatting with him and they treated him like a _______ .

Seeing this, the teachers _______ him to pursue a teaching career. After years of hard work and fierce _______ , Mike finished his degree in 2003 and ________ a teaching job at the elementary school after he ________ with a degree. Since then, he has become a constant ________ in the school,

Mike found teaching a very ________ job, For him, it was important that the students grow up not just remembering the ________ but also how a teacher made them feel. Mike was excited to teach the children at the school and was ________ to teach the fifth grade. He was shocked when the directors offered him the ________ of principal a week before the school year started.

“I am ________ grateful. I don’t do anything special. I just ________ and try my best,” said Mike. He was also very excited to take on the challenges of being the new ________ of the school, assume new responsibilities and help ________ the school.

6 . Diplomacy (外交) is an art. It requires not only strategy, but also other aspects, including intuition, persuasion, and even tricks, human skills that have long been unreachable to even the most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) approaches. Now, an AI algorithm (算法) from a high-tech company has shown it can beat many humans in a game of diplomacy, which required both strategic planning and negotiations with other players. The work, researchers said, could point the way toward virtual exercise coaches and conflict mediators (调解员) .

AI has already beaten humans in some games of strategy. It is also proving powerful at natural-language processing, in which it can generate humanlike text and carry on conversations. In the game of diplomacy, seven players vied for control of Europe. On each turn, players issued orders regarding the movement of army and naval units, following discussion with other players, whom they could attack or support.

There are two technical innovations noted by Jonathan Gratch, a computer scientist at the University of Southern California who studies negotiation agents. First, the Al agent’s com-munication is grounded in multistep planning. Second. the Al agent keeps its remarks and game play within the range of human common practice.

To test its skill, the researchers had the Al agent play 40 online games against humans. It placed in the top 10% of players who’d played at least two games. “In a game that involves language and negotiation, that agents can reach human equal level is very exciting,” said Yu, a computer scientist at Columbia University.

According to Brown, a computer scientist at the company who co-authored the paper, the work could lead to practical applications in fields that now require a human touch. One specific example is that virtual personal assistants might help consumers negotiate for better prices on plane tickets. Gratch and Yu both see opportunities for agents that persuade people to make healthy choices or open up during therapy.

7 . Conifers (针叶树) are generally better than broad-leaved trees at purifying air from pollutants. But deciduous (落叶的) trees may be better at taking in particle-bound pollution. A new study led by the University of Gothenburg shows that the best trees for air purification depend on the type of pollutants involved.

Trees and other greener in cities provide many benefits that are important for the well-being of residents. Leaves and needled on trees filter air pollutants and reduce exposure to poisonous substance in the air. But which trees purify the air most effectively? Researchers from the University of Gothenburg have collected leaves and needle from eleven different trees growing in the same place in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden (GBG) to analyse which cub-stances they have absorbed.

“This tree collection provided a unique opportunity to test many different species of trees with similar environmental conditions and exposure to air pollutants,” said Jenny Klingberg, a researcher of the GBG

A total of 32 different pollutants were analysed, some of which are bound to articles of various sizes. Others are gaseous. This project has focused on paths (多环芳烃). In cities, traffic is the biggest source of these pollutants, which are released due to incomplete burning in engines.

“Our analysis show that different species of trees have different abilities to absorb air pollutants. Conifers generally absorb morn gaseous paths than broad-leaved trees. Another advantage of conifers is that they also act as air purifies in winter, when air pollution is usually at its highest,” said Jenny Klingberg.

“This study contributes to improving our understanding of the ability of trees to clean the air and which species are best at absorbing air pollutants,” said Jenny Klingberg. This known-edge is important for urban planning when designing sustainable cities. While trees and green-era can contribute to better air quality in cities, at the end of the day, the most important measure is to reduce emissions.