2 . SCANDINAVIAN STARTUPS

Kahoot!

The game-based learning platform is used in half of US schools, offering some 60 million competitions. The idea is to make learning “great and fun,” says, the company’s CEO. Last year, Kahoot! had more than one billion players worldwide.

Founded:2013

XPLORA

XPLORA founder Sten Kirkbak nearly lost his son Filip, at a shopping centre nine years ago, so he built a device that makes it possible for parents to know where their children are at all times. It is a bit like a speakerphone with a camera, but for old people it also tells the wearer when to take medicines.

Founded:2016

reMarkable

A black-and-white e-paper device made for notetaking, users write on the reMarkable, and text recognition software changes it into type. “We neither have many meetings, nor do much talking,” says founder Magnus Wanberg.

Founded:2016

No Isolation

This startup, founded by Karen Dolva, Marius Aabel, and Matias Doyle, hopes to help socially isolated (孤立的) people — its first product was a small robot called AVl, which acts as the eyes and voice of a child forced to stay at home or in hospital. More than 850 AVls are in use in 13 countries; 160 at over 100 UK schools. No Isolation’s latest device is KOMP. Made for old people, it enables simple video calls and messaging.

Founded:2016

The Special Olympics Unified Sports was a natural development of the Special Olympics — a program     1     shows what a safe sports organization should be. The Special Olympics began as a day camp     2     (create) in 1963. Eunice Kennedy Shriver formed Camp Shriver     3     children with disabilities. Shriver’s Camp encouraged many universities and organizations     4     (host) similar events.

Research by Dr. James N. Oliver and Dr. Frank Hayden showed that there is a connection between persons with disabilities’ physical activity,     5     (happy), and academic performance (学业表现). This helped the establishment (建立) of the Special Olympics. The organization partners with more     6     172 countries across the world and has provided more than five million people with year-round training and     7     (activity) through 32 Olympic-style sports.

The first Special Olympics took place in July 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago.     8     third rendition (表演) of the games in 1972 saw 10 different nations send athletes to the games. In 1977, the first winter Special Olympics     9     (hold) in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

The Special Olympics     10     (jump) to the international stage when the United Nations declared (宣布) 1986 as “The Year of the Special Olympics.” Austria held the first international Special Olympics in 1993. The summer games went worldwide in Dublin, Ireland in 2003.

4 . Representatives from around China gather in Beijing every five years for the National Congress of the communist Party of China (中共二十大).

This year, a total of 2,296 representatives were elected to attend the 20th National Congress of the CPC, which convened (召开) on Oct 16.

The Congress will review the work of the CPC over the past five years, map out the course for the future, and elect a new central leadership.

The representatives will reflect the opinions and demands of Party members and the public, discuss and decide on the Party’s major issues, and elect new central leadership and a new top anti-graft watchdog (反贪监察机构).

The representatives are elected from 38 electoral units across the country. They are outstanding Party members who are highly qualified both ideologically (意识形态上) and political, have a good work style and high moral standards, are sill in discussing State affairs and have great achievements in their work.

Among the representatives are Party members in leadership positions and those working on the front lines. Women and people from ethnic minority (少数民族) groups as well as people with backgrounds in economics, science and technology, political and legal afire, education, culture, health and sports, among others, all have representation.

This ensures Party members at the grassroots level are more effectively represented when representatives make decisions on the Party’s key issues at the Congress, according to China Daily.

6 . Trusted Media Brands is a media and direct marketing company. It connects consumers with absorbing content, inspiring communities, and products & services that bring their passions to life.     1     Many people take it as the favorite.

Since our beginning, we’ve been creating the kind of content that readers want to deeply engage with again and again. Our trusted, empowering and uplifting content is designed to help our readers improve their lives and grow their connections and experiences of life.     2    

Expanded Engagement

Our titles not only have the strongest engagement among our peers, but our company creates a level of engagement that is both active toward the content and the advertisers’ messages.     3     They don’t skim our content; they read every word. When they engage with us, they are not looking to fill time but instead are fascinated both with our content and our partners’ messages.

Trusted, Empowering and Uplifting Content

    4     They are building trust, empowering our readers, and providing an inspiring spirit. And those who come to us to seek content will find it reward their attention and satisfy themselves with ideas, knowledge and inspiration.

These three fundamental principles are introduced as follows. Trust is built into each of our titles with expert and truthful content. Our content also provides the fuel to empower not just our readers but their family and friends and even acquaintances because it is intended to be shared, enriches their lives and brings everyone closer together.     5    

7 . If you have a hobby or idea that currently does not fit into an existing club in your school, starting one may be a great idea.     1     Here are some ways to help you start a club.

Think

The first step of starting anything is to think.     2     It allows you to see all of your possible ideas for the club. This leads us to the next step: sharing the results of your brainstorming with people.

Judge interest

The next step of starting a club is judging interest of others. It is important to talk to friends and other students at school, because they will be the ones who finally will choose to join or stay away from your club. If they have no interest, you have no club.     3    

Think about details

    4     It probably wouldn’t be that smart to rush into a club without having thought about what you wish to achieve, how you are going to do so, the meeting times and locations and finally what you need to do to start your club.

Make it official

Then you can head to the teacher’s office and tell this teacher what your club is about, along with all details. Once he or she agrees, you will likely have to fill out some paperwork to make the club official.     5     Starting a club can be very rewarding and benefit you in ways you could not have imagined. Be patient and stick with it once you start.

9 . Consider a tale of two Amy veterans (退伍军人). Jeff served two terms in Afghanistan, moved home to the Midwest, graduated from college and landed a secure job in a firm. Matt fought alongside Jeff, left the Army at the same time and headed home to North Carolina. By the time he was in his 30s, though, Matt was unemployed and dependent on government checks.

Why did Jeff develop so well while Matt lost his civilian footing? The answer, according to Daniel M. Gade, a retired officer, and Daniel Huang, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, is the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—in particular, its strong disability system.

In their convincing description, the authors show in detail how a well-intended system can unintentionally lead fragile veterans, step by step, away from the worlds of work and community. The path typically starts just before separation from the service. Soldiers meet with VA representatives who emphasize opportunities to collect disability compensation (补偿). Jeff, for example, wanted to “get out and get on” with his life, while Matt took the VA agent’s advice “and applied for every condition he could think of.”

Matt’s career plan had been to attain an ideal job in law enforcement (执行), but the field was highly competitive. So be took a job with his dad’s construction company. But the physical damage of the job was too much for his knees and back. Deeply depressed, now out of work and living in his parents’ home, Matt tried college but felt unbearable. Meanwhile, anxious about his future, be kept applying for higher disability ratings—receiving, eventually, a monthly tax-free check over $3,000.

For many partially or fully disabled veterans, PTSD (创伤应急障碍) is their primary diagnosis (诊断). The condition, can be very weak, but it is also treatable. A psychologist told the authors that, when it comes to PTSD, the agency “has been doing harm to millions of veterans by telling them that they’re disabled.”

In Matt’s case, remarkably, even after the VA determined him to be “housebound,” it didn’t mandate (强制执行) treatment. “The natural athlete who had conquered his fear of heights to excel as an airborne (空降的) soldier,” the authors write, “had become a disabled man one year later.” The VA’s record on treatment in general looks poor: More veterans today, relative to their overall numbers, are compensated for disabilities than ever before in the VA’s history. Under 0.1% of the veterans who receive disability benefits for mental disorders have their benefits reduced over time because their condition has improved.