4 . After three decades of teaching. Jim Stanley, a chorus and piano teacher at Cartersville High School in Cartersville, Georgia, Atlanta, is getting ready to retire. But before he goes, there was one thing he wanted to do: ________ with some of his former students for one last Performance. That wish ________ on May 13 with a heartfelt rehearsal(排练)and alumni(校友) concert at Cartersville’s auditorium(礼堂). Video of the rehearsal was captured and quickly ________ online with 2 million views and counting.

Stanley ________ the idea of inviting his former students back to Cartersville last year, ________ this would just be a good ________ to reconnect with those kids reaching adulthood.

Little did he ________ at the time that a small group of 20 to 25 alumni would quickly balloon into a ________ of nearly 100 former students, some of whom ________ back to Georgia from other states and as far away as Vancouver, British Columbia to give Stanley a tremendous send-off into retirement.

“I choked up a little bit. But I tried to keep the ________ from flowing. ” he added. “It was ________ an emotional day for me and I think for a lot of the kids too. We were all in a ________ place. ”

Stanley was ________ to become an educator himself after taking a chorus class in the ninth grade and credited his own chorus teacher for the ________ he needed to pursue the profession. He hope he has made a ________ impact on his students over the years.

5 .

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6 . A few weeks ago, I pulled an old road map out of my glove box and handed it to my kids. They’d never seen the province of Ontario laid out like this before. They stared at it, asking about all the towns, parks and other landmarks we’d visited, and I pointed them out on the map.

Digital maps and GPS are modern wonders that have gotten me out of many confusing places, but paper maps still have a role to play in our lives. Most of us adults learned to read them out of necessity, but it’s up to us to pass on that skill to children whose need may not be so obvious, but who still will benefit from it.

As Trevor Muir wrote in an article on this topic, “When kids learn how to create and use paper maps, they are doing more than just learning how to get around. They are actually developing a fundamental skill that they will use for the rest of their lives. Map reading skill still belongs in today’s classroom.”

As a child, I had National Geographic maps taped to my bedroom walls. This aroused my curiosity and imagination about those places and thus made me eager to remember my geography and history lessons because they were tied to places I’d “seen”. Even now as a mother of four, I’ve also spared time to travel to many of the countries whose maps I studied as a child.

Additionally, in this fast-changing world, unexpected events can rapidly influence one’s usual way of life. When GPS satellites or Internet connections are affected, this old-fashioned skill can get you out of a mess without requiring a smartphone. Last but not least, paper maps arouse big picture thinking, showing kids that there’s a much bigger world out there and helping to direct them within it.

So, now is a good time to pull out those dusty old maps and lay them on the kitchen table.

7 . Eight years ago, Nixon decided to begin each day from a bench watching the sunrise at the waterfront. “I call it’life rising’ because it makes me feel _________ before starting my day,” said Nixon.

Later a woman said something that changed his on his daily routine. “She said, ‘Every morning when I see you _________ here, I know that everything is going to be OK,’” Nixon recalled. “That’s when I knew: I needed to make eye contact and let people walking past know that we are _________ to each other.”

Instead of staring at the sunrise, Nixon started _________ at people and striking up _________. And soon, more early risers began joining him on the bench, sometimes _________ their troubles, asking him for advice about relationships, careers, and _________problems.

“I was happy to listen,” Nixon said. “I wanted them to walk away knowing they didn’t have to feel _________.”

So, every morning, Nixon rises at 4: 30. He drives seven miles to the waterfront where he’ll _________ for two hours. His presence and his __________ to listening have led some to nickname him the Sunshine Mayor.

While most people simply wave or __________ briefly to make small talk, others are __________ to spend a few minutes with someone who will __________ .

No matter what problem a person wants to __________ Nixon lends an ear. “You have to have an open heart because you never know who’s going to walk up and what they might need,” Nixon said. “Every person who stops by the bench __________ my undivided attention.”

8 . A large amount of great scientific discoveries is not actually discovered but borrowed. That was the case when scientists discovered proteins from an unlikely lender: green algae (绿藻), whose cells are modified with proteins that can sense light.

The light-sensing protein promised the power to control neurons (神经元) by providing away to turn them on and off. Such ability, first noticed in 2002, quickly caught the attention of brain scientists: Nerve cells which were genetically engineered to produce such proteins become light-controlled. A flash of light could cause a quiet neuron to send signals or force an active neuron to fall silent. “This is the light sensor that we needed,” says Zhuo-Hua Pan, a scientist searching for a way to control vision cells in mice’s eyes. The method is now called optogenetics (光遗传学).

In Pan’s lab, light-responsive proteins restored vision in mice with damaged eyesight, a finding that has now led to a medical test on people. Optogenetics’ promise wasn’t clear in early days, as scientists were first learning how to use these proteins in neurons. “At that time, no one expected that this optogenetic work would have such a huge impact,” Pan says.

The algae’s light sensors have been adopted for use in countless brain research fields. Talia, another scientist, uses optogenetics to study connections between cells in the mouse brain. The method allows her to comb the relationships between cells that produce and respond to dopamine (多巴胺), which might help uncover details about motivation and learning.

So far, optogenetics research has taken place mostly in mice. But findings into more complex brains like human brain may soon be confirmed. “We are definitely on the tip of uncovering some fascinating principles of the human brain, such as how the brain transforms signals from the eyes into perceptions,” says Yasmine of Columbia University.

No matter what happens next in this swiftly moving field, one thing is certain: Brain scientists will be forever in the algae’s debt.

9 . At the 2022-23 China High School Basketball League (CHBL) national Finals on May 14, sportswear giant Nike announced that it would build an environmentally friendly basketball court that uses recycled sneakers as raw materials. The court is scheduled to be completed in Guangzhou by the end of July.

Cooperating with the China School Sports Federation, Nike launched the environmental protection charity project for the CHBL 2022-23 Season. The project encourages the involvement of CHBL players’ coaches, basketball enthusiasts and consumers in the collection and recycling of old sport shoes. Through advanced technology, thrown-away sport shoes will be processed and used in the construction of the first ever CHBL-themed eco-friendly basketball court.

Over the past two months, the old sport shoes collection bins have traveled alongside the CHBL tour making stops at the four major regional tournaments held in the east, west, south and north of China. The bins have gone into schools, including Tsinghua High School in Beijing and Huipu Middle School in Taizhou Zhejiang province, spreading the spirits of CHBL and inspiring its players to become role models not only on the basketball court, but also in their everyday lives.

Famous female basketball player Han Xu has actively contributed to the collection of used shoes and expressed her support for the project through her personal social media channels. Zhang Lei, secretary general of the CSSF, says that CHBL not only assists young players and teenagers in improving their basketball skills but also promotes the development of basketball culture within campuses.

“In addition to expanding the league’s size and influence, we have also added environmental education into the program. Environmental education plays an important role in shaping society’s core values. It guides young individuals toward understanding the importance of environmental issues, forming a proper attitude on the relationship between humans and nature, and raising their environmental awareness and practices. It serves as an endless source of developing environmental consciousness throughout society.”

The construction of the eco-friendly basketball court marks a significant step in Nike’s commitment to supporting young basketball fans while putting environmental sustainability (持续性) at the first place.