1 . Rejection doesn’t always hurt. Sometimes rejection may _________ a more certain path to our final goals.

This year football fans have been watching to see how Joe would _________ in the playoffs(季后赛) this season. Joe dreamed to play in the National Football League (NFL), but his journey wasn’t a(n) _________ one. He applied to several colleges, but none _________ him. Later, he got into Ohio State, but he sat on the _________ for three years. Ohio State had a great football program and coaches, who didn’t think Joe had _________. But Joe thought differently. He _________ Nebraska and got rejected once again, but he didn’t quit. Then he applied to Louisiana State University, which accepted him. The rest is history.

Joe became the Heisman Trophy _________ during his senior year, then he was admitted to the NFL, and later, his team participated in the World Championship.

Joe’s story reminds us that there are _________ paths to our final goals and that it __________ strong endurance and determination to reach them. No single __________ is going to prevent you from __________ your long-term goals. Be sure to__________ the pain that comes from disappointment and face it bravely. Try to focus on goals rather than the __________ outcome of being rejected and remember that the hurt of rejection comes from how we __________ it.

2 . Discover how you can help endangered species! Volunteer to help conserve endangered species around the world with GoEco.

Sea turtles, Sri Lanka

The species is threatened by human hunters. The Sri Lankan government has approved the creation of hatcheries (孵化场) in order to protect this species. Volunteers on this program spend 60% of their time working in the hatchery and the other 40% is spent on activities such as beach cleanups and creating awareness within the local community.

Program Fees: $1,280 for 2 weeks and $1,680 per month for volunteers.

Wildlife Rescue, Western Australia

Adult kangaroos and wallabies are hunted for food, leaving thousands of their babies without parents. Many are killed or injured in road accidents. At the wildlife rescue center in Perth, Western Australia, volunteers live and help in the bushland caring for sick, injured, and displaced animals.

Program Fee: $2,095 for four weeks. Volunteers stay on-site in a small room. Due to very limited space, applications must be sent at least 9-12 months in advance.

Endangered Species Reserve, South Africa

The project will give you an incredible wildlife experience while learning about conservation efforts. For the rest of the time between monitoring sessions, volunteers are required to enter all the data that they have collected into our databases. At times, volunteers need to operate on night shifts. We also give lectures and presentations over the lunch period.

Program Fee: $1,750 for 2 weeks

Big Cat Refuge, South Africa

As a volunteer on this project, you will be involved in a wide variety of activities. Volunteer’s work ranges from enrichment activities, such as toy-making and farm work, to educating the visitors. Volunteers will also directly care for the cats by preparing food or feeding them as well as maintaining their living space.

Program Fee: $1,450 for 2 weeks

3 . This week, Google researchers published a paper describing results from an AI tool built to create music. The tool, called MusicLM, is not the first AI music tool to be launched. But the examples Google provided demonstrate musical creative ability based on a limited set of descriptive words.

Several different music examples produced by MusicLM were published online. Some of the generated music came from just one- or two-word descriptions, such as “jazz”, “rock” or “techno (高科技舞曲)”. The tool also created other examples from more detailed descriptions containing whole sentences.

In one example, Google researchers included these instructions to MusicLM, “It is a soundtrack of a game. It is fast-paced and upbeat, with a catchy electric guitar riff (反复乐节). The music is repetitive and easy to remember, but with unexpected sounds ...” In the resulting recording, the music seemed to keep very close to the description. The team said the more detailed the description was, the better the system could attempt to produce it.

The MusicLM model operates similarly to the machine-learning systems used by ChatGPT. ChatGPT and MusicLM both require powerful computers to operate complex machine-learning models. The San Francisco-based company OpenAI launched ChatGPT late last year. ChatGPT has recently received a lot of attention because of its ability to generate complex writings and other content from just a simple description in natural languages. Such tools can produce human-like results because they are trained on huge amounts of data. Many different materials are fed into the systems to permit them to learn complex skills to create realistic works.

However, the MusicLM researchers said there were some risks linked to the new tool. One of the biggest issues the researchers identified was biases (偏好) present in the training data. A bias might be including too much of one side and not enough of the other. The researchers said this raised a question about appropriateness for music generation for cultures underrepresented in the training data.

5 . Near-death accidents and summit failures have not slowed down mountaineer Saray N’ kusi Khumalo. The Zambia-born mother of two holds a corporate job, hosts a podcast, has climbed some of the tallest mountains around the world, and still has the time to run a non- profit organization that focuses on education in Africa.

“My grandfather always used to say, ‘if you don’t live a life of service, that’s a life wasted, ” she said. In 2013, she founded Summits With A Purpose in South Africa. With every climb, she raises funds to help build schools and libraries. Khumalo is not going to just climb and take a selfie. She is going to climb and then make a difference.

Not long after her first-ever summit, she turned her eyes toward the world’s tallest peak: Mt. Qomolangma, located in the Himalayas. The first three attempts were tough and heart-breaking for Khumalo: She experienced everything from natural disasters to losing consciousness in the “death zone”, Qomolangma’s top stretch over 8, 000 meters above sea level, where oxygen is dangerously low.

On May 16, 2019 —her fourth bid —she succeeded, becoming the first Black African woman to reach the summit. In total, only eight of the 4,000 people who’ve ever summited Qomolangma are Black.

Khumalo is humbled by what she’s achieved so far, but she notes, “I don’t think that I’ve broken those stereotypes yet; there’s still a lot more work to be done,” adding that representation should extend beyond the mountain tops, too.

“It’s not just about Qomolangma; it is a gift that we need to leave for the next generation wherever we are,” she says, calling on her peers to step outside their comfort zone to show that Black people belong in all spaces.