1 . During my freshman year at Brooklyn College, credit card companies were eager to earn the business of students. _______ by various rewards programs that only told part of the story, many students signed up for one or more cards without understanding the _______ of late payment.

_______ basic financial literacy (金融素养) meant many college students started off their adult lives with poor credit. _______, they faced challenges later in life when they needed to borrow money but couldn’t _______ a low-interest loan.

Poor credit _______ me past college and years into my teaching career. That has fueled my sense of _______ to teach the next generation of students about personal finance. It’s why I helped develop a personal finance course for teens and young adults.

To make the class as _______ as possible, we asked the students what _______ interested them. They were curious to know about buying homes and cars. Our course, intended for those aged between 14 and 21, has them ________ questions: How much do I need to save to make these purchases? Which purchases do I prioritize?

We, educators, can help young people ________ life after graduation, as there are many great ________ and developing our course was ________ than I had expected, which is why I hope more schools and youth organizations will offer financial education.

Financial literacy shouldn’t be optional because it puts those without it at a significant ________. And if my ________ as a student and an educator have taught me anything, it’s that no one should have to learn important financial lessons the hard way.

2 . Although we lack accurate statistics about child mortality in the pre-industrial period, we do have evidence that in the 1660s, the mortality rate for children who died within 14 days of birth was as much as 30 percent. Nearly all families _______ some premature death. Moreover, to protect themselves from the emotional consequences of children’s death, parents avoided making any emotional _______ to an infant.

The 18th century witnessed the _______ from an agrarian (土地的) economy to an industrial one, one of the vital social changes taking place in the Western world. An increasing number of people moved from their villages and small towns to big cities where life was quite different. Social supports which had _______ existed in smaller communities were replaced by problems such as poverty, crime, substandard housing and disease. Due to the need for additional income to support the family, young children from the poorest families were _______ into early employment and thus their childhood became painfully short. Children as young as 7 might be required to work full-time, _______ to unpleasant and unhealthy circumstances, from factories to prostitution.

The lives of children _______ a drastic change during the 1800s in the United States. Previously, children from both rural and urban families were expected to participate in everyday labour due to the bulk of manual hard working. _______ , thanks to the technological advances of the mid-1800s, _______ the rise of the middle class and redefinition of roles of family members, work and home became less synonymous over time. People began to purchase toys and books for their children. When the country depended more upon ________ , children in rural and urban areas, were less likely to be required to work at home. Beginning from the Industrial Revolution and rising slowly over the course of the 19th century, this ________ increased dramatically after the Civil War. John Locke was one of the most ________ writers of his period. He created the first clear and ________ statement of the “environmental position” that family education ________ a child’s life, and via this, he became the father of modern learning theory. During the colonial period, his teachings about childcare gained a lot of ________ in America.

3 . If you survey American parents about what they want for their kids, more than 90 percent say one of their top priorities is that their children be caring. This makes sense: Kindness and concern for others are held as _________ in nearly every society. But when you ask children what their parents _________ for them, 81 percent say their parents value achievement and happiness over caring.

Kids learn what’s important to adults not by listening to what we say, but by _________ what gets our attention. And in many developed societies, parents now pay more attention to individual achievement and happiness than anything else. However much we _________ kindness and caring, we’re not actually showing our kids that we value these traits (特点).

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, then, that kindness appears to be _________. An analysis of annual surveys of American college students showed a substantial drop from 1979 to 2009 in imagining the _________ of others.

It’s not just that people care less; they seem to be _________ less, too. In one experiment, a sociologist left behind thousands of what appeared to be lost letters in dozens of American cities in 2001, and again in 2011. From the first round to the second one, the proportion of letters that was _________ by helpful passersby and put in a mailbox declined by 10 percent. Psychologists find that kids born after 1995 are just as likely as their parents to _________ that other people experiencing difficulty should be helped — but they feel less personal responsibility to take action themselves. __________, they are less likely to donate to charity, or even to express an interest in doing so.

If we truly care less about one another, some of the blame lies with the values parents have __________. In our own lives, we’ve observed many fellow parents becoming so focused on achievement that they fail to cultivate kindness. They seem to regard their children’s successes as a personal badge (徽章) of honor and their children’s failures as a(n) __________ reflection on their own parenting.

Other parents unconsciously __________ kindness, seeing it as a source of weakness in a fiercely competitive world. But there’s no reason parents can’t teach their kids to care about others and themselves — to be both __________ and self-respecting. If you encourage children to consider the needs and feelings of others, sometimes they will and sometimes they won’t. But they’ll soon learn that if you don’t __________ others considerately, they may not be considerate toward you. And those around you will be less likely to be considerate of one another, too.

4 . When Jason Arday was aged three he was diagnosed with _________ and global development delay, which can _________ the way a person learns and understands things. He couldn’t speak until he was 11, or _________ and write until he was 18. Now aged 37, Arday is the _________ ever black professor at the University of Cambridge.

Arday has always wanted to help people. As a child he remembers _________, “if I don’t make it as a football player or a professional snooker player, _________ I want to save the world.”

Supported by his college _________ and friend Sandro Sandri, Arday began reading and writing in his late teens. Even though he had a reading age of 13 when he started his _________, he passed and trained as a PE teacher. As he _________ in schools, Arday said he could see __________ children from black and ethnic minorities weren’t always given the same __________ to learn.

When Arday told Sandri that he wanted to __________ his studies into education, Sandri told him he could “__________ the world and win”.

Sandri was right, and now Arday is a __________ of sociology of education at Cambridge. As one of just five black professors there, he will be studying how to make university education open to everyone, and he hopes his work will inspire other people. “Talking is one thing; __________ it is what matters,” he said.

5 . My daughter was a shy child, not a joiner. My memories of her early years involve me gently urging her to try _________ activities, like bouncing teddies with other kids at playgroup. When she was four, she attended her first class in the local gymnastic club’s recreational program. She loved her lessons, and I loved taking her there. When she showed friends what she could do, she showed _________.

Two years later, a new teacher _________. She was a perfectionist, and I felt _________ when she complained about my daughter’s careless form. The harder she pushed, the less _________ my kid was. I decided to chat with the teacher after one class and thought I saw something in her face: she didn’t like my daughter. _________ I didn’t register for the next term.

The decision troubled me for _________. I suggested rejoining a later session, but my daughter quietly _________. Then, one day when she was about 13, she cried unexpectedly: “I wanted to stay in that gymnastics class! I _________ wanted to quit!”

I was shocked. Had I misread the situation? Did I keep my daughter from working it out on her own terms? I shared my __________ with a child and family expert. “You have to respect that she doesn’t want to do all the things you want to do,” Kolari told me.

__________ we talked, I realized I’d ignored all the activities my daughter followed on her own. She taught __________ to knit (编织) at eight and quickly surpassed me in skill. She can program a computer. Her __________ always impressed me, so why did I always keep thinking about group activities?

__________ there’s one truth to a tight-scheduled child, it’s that parents involve themselves too much in their kids’ activities. I did make one __________ when my daughter reached high school: she had to take a music class. Right around that time, she __________ a friend’s guitar. She __________ a band and learned drums, then guitar. But __________ of this required my encouragement.

“If your child is __________ home because they’re afraid of failure, it’s worth __________ them,” Kolari says.

7 . Children are naturally curious beings, but getting them to study something they aren’t interested in can be a difficult task. Teachers often find themselves trying to reward in the _______ of stars or threat of punishment. But what if rewards and threats aren’t the _______?

Natural curiosity is sometimes referred to as “internal motivation”. Studies have found that children who see learning as _______ and important are better at it. And it’s easy to understand why — it’s difficult to study something we aren’t _______.

External motivation, things like rewards and punishment, does have its _______ too. Motives for achieving good grades or fear of being punished have been _______ to benefit older students. However, it seems that at an early age, it doesn’t have as much effect. So for this group, how can we stimulate that _______?

According to some experts, the key is to _______ some degree of freedom. Let the child see their learning as their _______ will. If you want to teach a child to read, let them choose which book they use. Whether it’s a comic book or classic literature — the aim of stimulating their desire for reading is still ________. Likewise, ________ a relationship with them as learners — listen to their negative feelings. Explain why an activity is valuable, even if it isn’t ________ fun.

So it seems that the most ________ way of motivating children, especially the young ones, might ________ stimulating that internal motivation. Maybe it’s time to release them from the reigns of threats and rewards, and give them a bit more ________ of how they learn.

9 . Dalena worked as a teacher in a small Indian village, where girls attended school only for primary education. Mala was a(n) _______ girl in Dalena’s class, whom Dalena was proud of. Dalena always instructed her girl students about the importance of _______, self-respect, and courage. So, it was surprising when Mala was _______ for more than a week.

Dalena decided to _______ in Mala’s home. Mala’s parents _______ their plan to get Mala married. Greatly _______, Dalena argued, “I don’t believe it! But she is too young to know what _______ means and what the responsibilities are. Mala is not ready physically, _______ or emotionally.” Mala’s father said, “But our family _______ won’t allow girls to continue school, and the seniors of the family may also ________.”

Dalena said, “I do respect your customs, but these are old ________. Nowadays, girls can ________ to great heights because of their education. Please reconsider it.”

In the next two weeks, Dalena visited the family many times. Finally, Mala’s father ________ to let Mala go back to school.

Mala ________ her learning opportunities and rose to be a topper in her school. Years later, with hard work, Mala became a senior Civil Services Officer in her city. Mala proudly said, “It is the ________ of my teacher that has made me what I am today.”

10 . My name is Marceen Farsakian. As a first grade teacher, I try to _______ myself around kind and caring people. I’m happy to teach young children. To me, _______ the social and emotional needs of a child is just as important, if not more important than teaching knowledge. Students seem to grow in all areas _______ a safe, positive, and inspiring environment is provided for them.

At the beginning of each school year, I set a goal for _______: get organized, try new strategies for classroom management, focus on the good, etc. One year I remembered telling myself I would focus on the _______ of kindness. I would be _______ to my students, parents, staff members and myself. That year _______ being one of my most _______ years as a classroom teacher, but I grew greatly as a human. Being kind did make a _______. Kindness spreads quickly.

Teaching kindness creates an environment of mutual (相互的) care and respect. Students become devoted to their school. They are ________ in the fact that they belong there and that their being there matters. I believe that when students feel secure, trusted, and respected, then they will take risks, and take ownership in their actions, and they will have ________ in all areas. Sharing the teaching of kindness to children has taken me on a beautiful new ________. I started a Kind Kids Club in my class and over the last four years it has ________ into a school-wide program. Our kind kids come to life when they are ________ an act of kindness. Their smiles are magical.

My kind kids inspire me every day. I am grateful and ________ blessed to be able to do what I do! Kindness has changed my world, and let it change yours!