1 . A moment occurs in the exchange between professor and student when each of us adopts a look. My look says, “What, you don’t understand?” Theirs says, “We don’t. And we think you’re making it up.” We are having a problem. Basically, we’ve all read the same story, but we haven’t used the same analytical approaches. It may seem at times as if the professor is inventing interpretations out of thin air.

Actually, the truth is that as the slightly more experienced reader, the professor has acquired over the years the use of a certain “language reading”. Besides, he has grasped three professional tools-memory, symbol and pattern. These items separate the professional readers from the ordinary ones.

English professors are cursed with memory. When reading a new book, I constantly seek out connections and inferences, recalling faces and themes from past readings. I can’t not do it, although there are plenty of times when that ability is not something I want to exercise. This does not necessarily improve the experience of popular entertainment.

Professors also read and think symbolically. Everything is a symbol of something, it seems, until proven otherwise. We ask: What does the thing over there represent? The kind of mind that works its way through undergraduate and then graduate classes in literature and criticism tends to see things as existing in themselves while also representing something else. This tendency to understand the world in symbolic terms is enhanced by years of training and rewards the symbolic imagination.

A related phenomenon in professorial reading is pattern recognition. Most professional students of literature learn to take in the specific detail while seeing the patterns that the detail reveals. Experience has proved to them that life and books fall into similar patterns. Literature is full of patterns, and your reading experience will be much more rewarding when you can step back from the work, even while you are reading it, and look for those patterns.

2 . In a major step forward for monitoring the biodiversity of marine(海洋的)systems, a new study published in the journal Environmental DNA details how Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute(MBARI) researchers are using autonomous underwater robots to sample environmental DNA(eDNA), which allows scientists to detect the presence of aquatic species from the tiny bits of genetic(遗传学的) material they leave behind. This “DNA soup” offers clues about biodiversity changes in sensitive areas and the presence of rare or endangered species-all critical to understanding and preserving a healthy ocean.

Researchers combined two novel autonomous platforms developed by MBARI for this study-the Long-Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle(LRAUV) and the Environmental Sample Processor(ESP). The LRAUV can travel for weeks at a time and for hundreds of kilometers. It can enable more frequent sampling in remote sites than traditional research ships. The ESP is a robotic “laboratory-in-a-can” that filters(过滤)   seawater and preserves eDNA for future study. By equipping an LRAUV with ESP technology, researchers can monitor the ocean better.

“We know that eDNA is an incredibly powerful tool for studying ocean communities, but we’ve been limited by what we can accomplish using expensive crewed research ships. Now, autonomous technology is helping us make better use of our time and resources to study previously unsurveyed regions of the ocean,” said Kobun Truelove, a biological oceanographer at MBARI and the lead author of the paper.

Marine biodiversity is a measure of the abundance of individuals and species in the ocean. This interconnected mixture of organisms supports food webs, produces the air we breathe, and regulates our climate. Autonomous tools like the LRAUV and ESP enable MBARI researchers to monitor changes in sensitive ecosystems in ways that were not possible previously.

“Ship-based research will continue to play an important role in oceanographic studies, but adding new autonomous technology to the toolkit will expand capacity for research, monitoring, and resource management,” said Truelove.

3 . False Memories or Parallel (平行的) Realities?

Here is a common situation: You’re talking with someone about an event, only to discover that you both remember things quite differently. Usually, you’d put it down to a poor memory, but what if it wasn’t just one person who remembered things differently? What if it was millions?

In fact, this isn’t a “what if” situation. It’s known as the Mandela Effect, and it was first noticed in 2009 by paranormal researcher Fiona Broome. Broome was chatting with people about the South African activist Nelson Mandela, and she commented how sad it was that he had died in prison in the 1980s.     1     Actually, he'd been released in 1990, become president of South Africa, and died in 2013.

Broome was so shocked at this that she started an investigation.     2     People have memories of movies that never existed, and famous words that were never spoken. There is even a group who clearly recall seeing maps showing that New Zealand was northeast of Australia (it’s southeast ). So what in the world is going on?

    3     In each reality, history is shaped by different events, and the Mandela Effect occurs when some of us shift from one reality to another. Therefore, those who remember Nelson Mandela dying in the 1980s aren’t wrong. They’re just remembering events from their original reality.

More likely, however, is that the Mandela Effect has to do with how our brains store information.     4     Many people remember Pikachu’s tail having a black tip on the end of it, when in fact it was always yellow. “Aha!” you cry. “Parallel realities!” Probably not. Consider instead that people often ignore unfamiliar details and transform information to make it more understandable. In the Pikachu example, his tail may not have a black tip, but his ears certainly do. Thus, both his ears and tail are misremembered as having black tips.     5    

All things considered, if you’re stuck arguing with someone about whose version of events is correct, it may indeed be easier to agree that neither of you is wrong. You just come from different realities.

With a world reputation of beautiful silk producing nation, Chinese clothing enjoys a time-honored culture. China was the first country in the world     1     (develop) silk weaving (编织). According to archaeologists, Chinese people     2     (start) weaving since Neolithic ages. 3,000 years ago, silk weaving was already significantly developed.

In ancient China, people’s rank and social status could easily be figured out from their daily dressing, especially for the ordinary people and the upper class. Among the upper class, only the Emperor     3     (assign) the colour yellow. As for the ministers, generals and their     4     (wife), their uniforms were also restrictively regulated.

Chinese clothing has many types and suits according to     5     (variety) occasions. We have traditional Zhongshan suit, Cheongsam (旗袍) and many other suits     6     (create) by ethnic minorities (少数民族). Each type of the clothes has a unique way of making and sewing.

Cheongsam is popular because it has simple lines and looks elegant,     7     it fits Chinese females’ figures well. It is suitable     8     both young and elderly group. And it can either belong or short. Cheongsam is recognized around the world,     9     has inspired many foreign adaptations. It is     10     (popular) worn in China as the wedding dress, traditionally in red.

5 . Adults are often embarrassed about asking for help. Its an act that can make people feel sensitive. The moment you ask for directions, after all, you reveal (泄露) that you may be lost. Seeking someone’s assistance can make you feel like you are broadcasting your incompetence. New research suggests young children don’t seek help in school, even when they need it, for the same reason.

To learn more about how children think about seeking help, we asked 576 children, ages four to nine, to predict the behavior of two kids in a story. One of the characters genuinely wanted to be smart, and the other merely wanted to seem smart to others.

Children thought that the kid who wanted to seem smart would be less likely to ask for assistance. They could still conceive of (想象) situations in which the kid who wanted to seem smart would seek help: when assistance could be sought privately (on a computer rather than in person), children thought both characters were equally likely to ask for it.

We also found that they recognize several more behaviors that might make a child appear less smart in front of fellow kids, such as admitting to failure or modestly downplaying successes. Children are therefore acutely aware of several ways in which a person’s actions might make them appear less clever in the eyes of others.

However, a number of solutions can be found to help children. Our Gist instinct may be to motivate seeking help by emphasizing its educational benefits. But reputational barriers likely require reputation-based solutions. For example, instructors could create activities in which each student becomes an “expert” on a different topic, and then children must ask one another for help to master all of die material. If seeking help is understood as a commonplace classroom activity, kids may be less likely to think of it as indicative (表明) of one’s ability.

Seeking help could even be framed as socially desirable. After all, asking for help often benefits not just die help seeker but also others listening in who have similar questions or struggles.

7 . Is my article mid or valid? If you can answer this question, you already are accustomed to what we term “algospeak.” As more and more online users join social media platforms such as TikTok (抖音), algospeak continues to grow. But what is it, what do these words mean?

Algospeak is a coded language or slang used online. For some communities it is the only way to talk safely about sensitive subjects. Due to the rise of algorithmic censorship (算法筛查) in media, algospeak developed as a way to prevent robot from deleting their videos and messages. Users had to get creative to avoid deletion. This means that as long as there is censorship, there will be a new language to avoid it.

Further, new slang created on social media platforms fits itself into everyday life. Even if you are not writing a message on TikTok, you may have caught yourself using phrases from the app in your daily life. This connection between people all over the globe allows for shared vocabulary. It also has the potential to completely change the way we as English speakers speak. Here is some new slang popularized by TikTok.

Bussin’ (adj. ) — something is really good, usually referring to food

Mid (adj. ) — ordinary, not good or bad

Sheesh (ex. ) — response either meaning disbelief or surprise, can be positive or negative

Valid (adj. ) — something very good or meets a very high standard; a respectable opinion

No one would have suspected artificial intelligence (AI) would be the catalyst (催化剂) for change but it is. The combination of not only censorship but also high connectivity birthed a new language. Some older generations can’t even understand what the youngest generation says because of the lack of exposure to the new language. The gap between English before social media and English as it is now is giant, and it continues to grow.

So, what should we expect for the future? Will censorship loosen or will the English language continue to evolve from digital media? Time can only tell.

8 . When Roosevelt was a kid, his doctors claimed that he was too weak to live a normal life like most children of his age. They strongly recommended him to avoid participation in any physical activities, fearing that it could worsen his health condition and potentially lead to his death. Their opinions implied that he would face up to a life full of all kinds of limitations. Instead of permitting their limiting beliefs about what he could do and achieve, he chose to live a meaningful life.

Despite his doctors’ strong suggestions that he remain inactive, he didn’t want to be a carefree observer of the world as it passed him by. He was determined to force himself to be active. Roosevelt had daily adventures in the woods as a boy.

He continued to play sports when he got to college. In fact, he didn’t just play, but he excelled in both boxing and rowing, both of which require astonishing levels of strength and endurance. When Roosevelt graduated from college, his doctors were still not completely sure about his health condition. They still believed that he would be putting himself in serious danger, because his heart problems had not improved. They firmly believed that it would be best to find a desk job for him after completing a college degree. Once again, Roosevelt decided to challenge himself to his physical limits by living an extremely energetic adult life. In about every field he took part, he would aim to push his physical limits. Impressively, he was excellent as an explorer, a hunter, an author, a soldier and a politician.

Eventually, Roosevelt went beyond the mistaken limitation upon him and lived an amazing life.

10 . Top Learning Websites for Children in 2023

GoNoodle is an online resource designed to encourage physical activity among children. The website offers a wide selection of videos, games, and activities to get children moving inside or outside the classroom. The videos have a duration of anywhere between five to ten minutes. This is just about the right duration most students need before a lesson. The most outstanding aspect of the software is the variety of activities that children can participate in.

Young Ocean Explorers is an online resource that focuses on environmental education and marine conservation. The website provides a wide variety of high-quality videos that teach children about marine life’s beauty and diversity. The website also tackles serious environmental issues like marine life endangerment, water pollution, overfishing, and other marine-related issues head-on. There’s also plenty of documentation on environmentalists doing what they can to save the environment.

DeltaMath is an online math program designed to help teachers create math problems for exams and practice tests. The website features over 1,200 different topics. Each topic consists of hundreds of randomly generated problems that are classified further into varying levels of difficulty. Most of the questions generated are multiple-choice or short answer, and the site automatically grades responses. Some questions allow students to move numbers and variables around to solve equations (方程式).

Spatulatta is a cooking website designed to introduce children to the culinary arts. The website aims to teach children basic cooking skills using easy-to-follow recipes with simple ingredients. You can find recipes for every meal of the day. And of course, there’s a section on children’s all-time favorite desserts and drinks.