1 . 23-year-old Taleigh Loven walked downstairs to her graduation party last October. She was _________ balloons, treats and congratulations from her family. What didn’t cross her mind was her _________ wearing the same graduation cap as she did. _________ him carrying a certificate with his name on it, she instantly burst into tears.

Mike Loven, 47, decided four years earlier that he was going to restart his study in Grand Canyon University, the _________ school his daughter had just been _________ to. A few weeks later, Mike was taking his first _________ course while Taleigh was getting settled in her dorm-with no _________ that Mike was a fellow freshman.

“There was no real reason for _________ it a secret from the family-I merely thought the _________ would be fun,” Mike said. “I work a lot and I’m always on my computer, so no one __________ knew that I was working on stuff for __________ all those years.”

The __________ part about the whole thing, Mike said, was during __________ midterm seasons when his family would constantly ask him for help with tricky school-related issues. He had his own __________ as well, but he couldn’t tell them. That, he said, __________ many late nights at the computer.

A Volunteer Activity Celebrating World Water Day

7 . Robots can deliver food on a college campus and hit a hole in one on the golf course, but even the most advanced robot can’t perform basic social interactions that are vital to everyday human life.

MIT researchers have now added certain social interactions to a framework for robotics, enabling machines to understand what it means to help or hinder (阻碍) one another, and to learn to perform these social behaviors on their own. In a simulated (模拟的) environment, a robot watches its companion, guesses what task it wants to accomplish, and then helps or hinders the other robot based on its own goals. The researchers also showed that their model creates realistic and predictable social interactions. When they showed videos of these simulated robots interacting with one another to humans, the human viewers mostly agreed with the model about what type of social behavior was occurring.

Equipping robots with social skills could lead to smoother and more positive human-robot interactions. For instance, a robot in a nursing home could use these abilities to help create a more caring environment for elderly individuals. The new model may also enable scientists to measure social interactions quantitatively (数量上), which could help psychologists study autism (自闭症) or analyze the effects of antidepressants (抗抑郁药).

“Robots will live in our world soon enough and they really need to learn how to communicate with us on human terms. They need to understand when it is time for them to help and when it is time for them to see what they can do to prevent something from happening. This is very early work and we are barely scratching the surface, but I feel like this is the first very serious attempt for understanding what it means for humans and machines to interact socially,” says Boris Katz, leading research scientist.

8 . Manfred Steiner had a successful and productive career as a doctor, helping generations of medical students learn about hematology (血液学). But all along, he felt that he should be doing something else: studying physics. At age 89, he has finally fulfilled that dream, earning his Ph. D. in physics from Brown University.

“I always had this dream: Someday I would like to become a physicist,” Steiner said.

Steiner was a teenager when World War II ended. By then, he was fascinated with physics. On the advice of his family, he decided to pursue a medical career instead. But during his studies, physics still tugged at him.

“When I was a medical student in the early 1950s, I used to slip into the physical institute, which was very close to the medical school,” he said, “and listen to some talks there because I was so interested in quantum physics (量子物理学), the new stuff at that time.”

It was only after Steiner retired from his career in medicine in 2000 that he was able to officially occupy himself with quantum physics. He started taking classes at MIT. He had to do a lot of physics classes at MIT before being allowed to start graduate studies. He transferred to Brown, to minimize his commute (通勤).

Steiner worked slowly — he’s a grandfather who likes to spend time with his family, and health issues have been a concern — but the credits kept piling up. “You know, it took a long time,” he said. “There were medical problems in between that were very serious. But fortunately, I’m here now and I’ve overcome these problems.”

Despite fulfilling a long-held dream of becoming a physicist, Steiner says he doesn’t regret spending most of his life in academic medicine. He also has some advice to offer: “All the young people, if they have a dream, follow that dream. Don’t give up on it.” If it doesn’t work out, he said, they can go into something else. “But first, follow your dream.”

A slow train in Southwest China boasting its own study room has attracted much attention from netizen. The train No 5609/5610,     1     runs between Chongqing and Xiushan county, is a public-welfare “slow train”.

In some carriages, some seats have been replaced with desks and chairs next to the windows to transform it into a “study carriage” for passengers     2     need. The Chinese characters “Yu Yue” appear on the train, which translates to “traveling and reading     3     (happy).” Other inspirational     4     (slogan) can be seen throughout the converted carriages.

In addition to No 5609/5610, other “slow trains” have been upgraded with “study carriages”. Students from nearby schools often take the train between school and home. The trains are their “school buses” and many passengers use their travel time     5     (complete) homework.

On train No Z150, which runs between Guiyang and Beijing, a     6     (transform) “book bar” carriage has been welcomed by college students. There are nearly 400 universities and colleges in the cities along the line,     7     (make) train No Z150 the first choice for most students on those campuses.

Since 2015, the train’s dining car     8     (be) open for free at night to provide returning students with a lending library, free tea and other services. These small measures by the railway department are     9     welcome comfort for passengers in need of a     10     (relax) place to continue their studies.