1 . Gap Year Sailing Programs

A gap year spent sailing will show you more of the world than most people see in their whole lives. So hoist the anchor, throw off the bowlines, catch the following wind, and set sail on a voyage of discovery to create memories that will last a lifetime.

The beauty of a sailing gap year is that you don’t just visit a single place. These unique adventures can take you across oceans and whole regions to experience dozens of countries in a single gap year. Some programs combine several regions including the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, etc. while others stick to just one.

How much a sailing gap year costs varies greatly depending on the type of program and the length of the voyage. A program lasting a few weeks may cost S$ 5,000 or more. Months long adventures may be as much as $20.000, especially if they involve college credit or other coursework.

Visa requirements will vary depending on where your voyage takes you. Your program will inform you of which visas you’ll need. Make sure you obtain your visas well in advance.

Housing will consist of a berth (铺位) aboard your boat. Don’t expect anything fancy. You’ll likely have little more than a bed and a small storage locker in a two-or three-person cabin. Given the limited size of your living space, expect to stay close to your crewmates at all times with little real privacy.

Living aboard a ship means that you can’t always count on having medical facilities (设施) nearby. You may be asked to provide a note from your doctor confirming that you are in good health before being accepted into your program. Most programs include medical emergency insurance as part of their fees. See what it covers and what it doesn’t when making your decisions.

2 . Sport is not only physically challenging, but it can also be mentally challenging. Criticism from coaches, parents, and other teammates, as well as pressure to win can create an excessive amount of anxiety or stress for young athletes. Stress can be physical, emotional, or psychological and research has suggested that it can lead to burnout. Burnout has been described as dropping or quitting of an activity that was at one time enjoyable.

The early years of development are critical years for learning about oneself. The sport setting is one where valuable experiences can take place. Young athletes can, for example, learn how to cooperate with others, make friends, and gain other social skills that will be used throughout their lives. Coaches and parents should be aware, at all times, that their feedback to youngsters can greatly affect their children. Youngsters may take parents’ and coaches’ criticisms to heart and find a mistake in themselves.

Coaches and parents should also be careful that youth sport participation does not become work for children. The outcome of the game should not be more important than the process of learning the sport and other life lessons. In today’s youth sport setting, young athletes may be worrying more about who will win instead of enjoying themselves and the sport. Following a game, many parents and coaches focus on the outcome and find fault with youngsters’ performances. Positive reinforcement motivates and has a greater effect on learning than criticism. Again, criticism can create high levels of stress, which can lead to burnout.

4 . “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots (靴子) on.” said Mark Twain. In today’s Internet world of “fake (假的) news,” lies spread even faster and the truth is having trouble finding its boots.

To make matters worse, most young people get news from social media sites where facts are mixed with rumors (谣言), half-truths and complete lies. This has led to young people becoming confused. In the latest PISA, which tested 15-year-olds worldwide on academic subjects, fewer than one in ten of the examinees were reported to be able to recognize fact from opinion. A Stanford University study showed that students at all levels of education could not tell teal news from fake news. In one instance, 80 percent thought that a paid advertisement was a real news story.

Fake news is spread by people who have a prejudice (偏见). They want to influence public opinion either for or against something or someone. It is important, then, for young people to recognize when they are being used and to be doubtful about online information.

Traditional media, such as newspapers and television, are still the more credible sources of information. Reporters are professional trained to look for facts, and editors have the job of making sure those facts are correct. However, if you are getting most of your information online, you have to be your own editor. In that case, the first thing to do is to look at the writer of a post. Is this person known to be objective? Does the site where you read the post have a prejudice? Next, look for other sources from mainstream media to make sure the information. In other words, by putting on your truth boots you won’t be fooled into chasing lies.

5 . Yesterday, a salesman called me to sell his phone plans. I was at work and while I usually don’t like spending time on those things, I _________ myself that I couldn’t talk yet and _________that he call me back at 6 pm.

That’s what he did. So we talked about 20 minutes. He _________ to me his different phone plans. While listening to him, sometimes I was _________in my thoughts. I gave several “hmm hmm”, as a sign of agreement and to _________that I was still there. Sometimes, I felt a bit_________. But I stayed calm and _________ until the end of the discussion.

Finally, he said the following to me: “Thank you, Olivier. You are the first person in a long time with whom I had an enjoyable conversation. _________, people shout at us and slam down the phone. Today, since 10 am, I hadn’t had a phone _________ without an offense (触怒). I know you had a long day at work and you could have __________ in front of your TV. But you listened so carefully to me. I am __________ and I sincerely thank you.”

It set me thinking. He had been the __________ of verbal violence (语言暴力) all through his working day. Physical __________ do not exist in this situation but dehumanization (非人性) seems to happen. __________, he was only doing his job. I felt a sense of __________ that I hadn’t treated him so rudely.

6 . In a world where nearly 6 million fingerprint records of government employees are stolen in one computer hack(非法侵入), and here millions of people are victims of identity theft every year, the next step in cyber security may well be mapping your brain.

Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York are working on a biometric(生物特征识别的)system that records how your brain reacts to certain images. With a little more polishing, the scientists’ brainchild could become the way you get into a safe deposit box, your office or past scanners at the airport. It could replace the password for your online banking, your email or your social media accounts.

They started their project by measuring the brain waves of 30 subjects. The subjects were fitted with a cap that had 30 electrodes(电极)attached to it, and then shown various images and symbols — celebrity faces, words, pictures of food — on a computer screen in 200-millisecond bursts. The brain’s reaction was recorded.

The idea is that every time a person needs to use a “password”, he or she goes through the same procedure, and the results are matched with their first­time reaction. If the “brainprint” is cracked — like what happened with the fingerprint records — then the system is merely reset by running another set of images and collecting a different set of brain waves. “Even if that was stolen, you could just cancel it and record one to something else”, says professor Laszlo.

Laszlo and her team have shown that their system can be 100 percent accurate. So one of the more difficult parts of making the system practical already has been overcome. Now, they’re spending much time recording accurate brainprints with as few as three electrodes, which could make recording in the future as easy as wearing a pair of special glasses. They’re also working with cheaper materials and different methods to see if they can bring the cost down.

7 . Florence, a 17-year-old senior student in high school, was busy composing (创作) a song. She plans to publish an album (音乐专辑) with three other music lovers whom she met at the 2016 Campus Singing Competition. Edward, 18, is another one of the four students to make their own album. Actually he was the one who came up with this fun idea in the first place.

“Everyone loves music. Being a good way to express our feelings and emotions, music can tell something about who we are and our experience of the world. We hope we can use our music to touch our peers (同龄人),” Edward said.

The album includes 15 songs on three themes-love, campus life and youth, with pop and electronic music styles. The inspiration for the songs came from the students’ lives. Take the song Sea of Tranquility for example—it was written by Edward during a flight back to Chengdu after he took part in the China High School Biology Olympiad in summer. “The sky is clear and the ground looks small from the plane. This scene makes me feel calm and peaceful,” Edward explained.

The songs were created one by one with the efforts of the four writers. But a challenge soon appeared. The students found that they didn’t have enough money to produce the album. So to cut down their costs, they used an iPad and headphones to record the songs in an empty classroom on the weekend.

Apart from reducing their costs, they also tried to raise money through crowdfunding on the Internet. They raised more than 7,000 dollars before the album was published in October. “Thanks to all the supporters, we’ll keep working on our own music,” Edward said.

9 . Like any new ninth-grader on the first day of school, Joemar Class had ninth-grader- emotion (情绪). He’s not used to school in Hartford. He’s used to going to school in his home town of Florida, used to seeing his friends, used to having class in Spanish.

“Nervioso,” he said in Spanish.

We first met Joemar in mid-October in the San Juan Airport. His father, Guillermo Class, had sold his car to buy plane tickets to get his kids and fly them up from Puerto Rico. The island was almost destroyed (毁坏) by the deadly storm—Hurricane Maria.

Now, they are settling into their new home in Hartford’s South End. A week later, using his wife’s car, Class drove 16-year-old Joemar to his first day at Bulkeley High School. After a short ride, he got out in front of his new school. Inside, he met Gretchen Levitz—the school’s program director.

“I see you have new uniform,” Levitz said. “You look great. Are you ready for a good first day? ”

Then he met couple of teachers.

“Hello” they each said in Spanish. They asked where he was from, and told him they were happy to see him. Then Levitz took him on a quick tour of the school before classes began — to her office, the school store, the library, and the dining hall.

A total of 19 languages are spoken in Bulkeley High School. “We have so many new students coming here from other countries every single day,” Levitz said. “So it’s not like he’s the only one who has that feeling.”

“You could tell he’s little worried,” Guillermo said as we left. “But, at the same time, he’s expecting it.”