3 . We don’t see many 17-year-old who can list as many accomplishments (成就) as Eduardo Caiado.

Edu, as he likes to be called, lives in Anapolis, Brazil. He’s always been driven to help others. In fact, when he was just 15, he was named one of the 50 Young Inspirers of the United Nations for his project on reusing_______ to provide drinking water in a village. He also bought gifts for 52 people living in a local nursing home, _______ his own money.

These are all totally natural for Edu, who says he’s been_______trying to help others for most of his life. But right now he centers on saving stray (走失的) animals.

Since he was 9, he’s dreamed of the day he could open a _______for the many lost or forgotten pets he’s seen. Less than ten years later, he_______that dream a reality by starting the EduPacoca Institute!

“The place where I live is cold, and many stray dogs were dying of_________cold,” he said. The EduPacoca Institute depends on_______to help these animals in need. First, Edu rented a house; now, he’s using the money to_______food and other expenses. “I want these animals to know that even if they don’t have owners, they will be with me until they grow old and die.” he said.

After years of feeding animals on the streets, Edu understands that while they’re not human, animals have feelings of their own. Each has their own habits,_______ , and preferences, and Edu loves getting to know them.

He’s already given about 30 dogs and cats a home, and the number keeps growing every day! His only regret is that he doesn’t have enough room or money to____________every stray.

4 . Psychologists who study creative accomplishments throughout the life cycle generally find that creativity peaks between the ages of mid to late 30s or early 40s.They tend to view creativity from the perspective of creative and innovative disciplines, rather than individual accomplishment. And they find little variation across different professions and disciplines of creativity and innovation, such as the arts and sciences.

At What Age Does Creativity Peak? A new study shows that it counts on whether you are a conceptual or an experimental thinker.

But according to two economics professors at Ohio State University, that’s only part of the story. Their research, which looked at 31 Nobel Prize Winners in the field of economics and when they made their most significant contributions to the field, uncovered evidence of two peak cycles of individual creativity in the sciences, one that surfaces very early in some people’s careers, and another that, for others, rises up later in their lives. The difference between those who experience a peak in creativity during their mid twenties and those who are more likely to peak in their mid 50s, the researchers say, is in the type of creativity involved.

People who are conceptual innovators — those who think out of the box and challenge conventional wisdom — tend to come up with new ideas and innovations automatically and peak at an earlier age. Those creators who are more experimental — who build on their knowledge and accepted theories throughout their careers and ultimately find new and innovative ways to analyze that knowledge — tend to peak later in life.

Past research has shown that conceptual artists — poets, painters and novelists — who have clear and more immediate goals for their work, such as to communicate very specific and timely ideas or emotions, work in a different time frame than experimental artists, whose goals are less clear and less precise and who work through trial and error at a more gradual pace. Examples of conceptual innovators include Pablo Picasso, T.S. Eliot, Herman Melville, and Albert Einstein, all of whom contributed their most innovative work while they were young. Examples of experimental innovators include Paul Cezanne, Robert Frost, Virginia Woolf, and Charles Darwin.

The researchers believe that their findings on this view of creativity — that your most creative period is more a product of the type of creator you are and the nature of your work than of the particular field you are in — extend to other academic and scholarly disciplines as well. If you are a conceptual thinker, you are likely to be more creative when you are younger; if you are an experimental thinker, you are likely to do your most creative work when you are older, perhaps even past middle age. In theory, then, there are no limitations to creativity. You could end up doing your best work in your forties, fifties, sixties or even later.

5 . Coral reefs are the rainforests of the ocean. They exist on vast scales and are equally important havens of biodiversity. Reefs occupy 0.1% of the oceans.     1    

Corals are useful to people. Without the protection which reefs afford from crashing waves, low-lying islands such as the Maldives would have flooded long ago, and a billion people would lose food or income. However, reefs are under threat from rising sea temperatures. Heat causes the algae (海藻) with which corals are living together to generate toxins (毒素) that force those coral to leave.     2    

Research groups around the world are coming up with plans of action to see if that will help, such as identifying naturally heat-resistant corals and cross-breeding such corals to create a new type.     3     Without carbon reduction and decline in local, coral-killing pollution, even resistant corals will not survive the century.

Doubters doubt humanity will get its act together in time to make much difference.

    4     Carbon targets are being set and ocean pollution is being dealt with. Countries that share responsibilities for reefs are starting to act together. Scientific workarounds can also be found. Natural currents can be applied to facilitate mass breeding. Sites of the greatest ecological and economical importance can be identified to maximize bang for buck.

    5     It could serve as a blueprint for other ecosystems. Hard-core greens — those who think that all habitats should be kept unspoiled — may not approve. But when entire ecosystems are facing destruction, the cost of doing nothing is too great to bear.

6 . In the 17th century when a British businessman heard that there were one hundred million people in China, he was determined to go there and sell spoons. He thought even if he could earn one penny for one spoon, he would still make a lot of money.     1    

Then, why do the Chinese people use chopsticks? Some people did research on the origin of China’s chopsticks. One theory is that chopsticks were very convenient for Chinese to use because China was an agricultural society, relying mainly on vegetables for food. When we steamed or boiled food, it was difficult for us to use spoons to dip vegetables in the soup.     2     Westerners, on the other hand, travelled with their animals from place to place and lived on meat. For them, knives and forks were more practical.

Chopsticks reflect gentleness and kindness, the main moral teaching of Confucianism.     3     First, don’t use it to hit the side of your bowl or plate to make noises, because Chinese people think only beggars would do this to beg for meals.     4     It means you lay the blame on others. Also, don’t stick your chopsticks upright in the rice bowl. That usually appears at the funerals and is believed to be impolite to the host and the seniors who are at the table.

Today, chopsticks have become a typical part of Chinese culture, symbolising the power of unity.     5     However, ten pairs of chopsticks represent strength, which means they won’t break off in any cases. We Chinese people draw on this spirit, which always inspires and encourages us to work hand in hand for a better future.

8 . It’s worth being aware that developmental changes could make children more sensitive to the negative side of social media. During the teenage years, for example, the brain changes massively, and this can influence how young people act and feel—including making them more sensitive to social relationships, and status.

“Being a teenager is a really a major time of development,” says Orben. “You’re much more impacted by your peers, you’re much more interested in what other people think about you. And the design of social media might be more stressful at certain times.”

As well as age, other factors could influence the impact of social media on children and teenagers—but researchers are only just beginning to explore these individual differences. “There will be people who are more negatively or positively impacted at different time points. That might be due to living different lives, going through development at different points. They might be using social media differently.” says Orben.

For many parents, buying a child a phone is a practical decision. “In a lot of cases, parents are the ones that want the younger children to have phones so that they can keep in touch throughout the day.” says Odgers.

It can also be seen as a milestone on the road to adulthood. “I think for children it gives them a sense of independence and responsibility,” says Anja Stevie, researcher at the University of Vienna, Austria. “This is definitely something that parents should consider: are their children at a stage where they are responsible enough to have their own device?”

One factor parents shouldn’t overlook is how comfortable they feel with their child having a smart phone. Besides, it’s worth remembering, though, that having a smart phone need not open the floodgates to every single app or game available. “I’m increasingly hearing, when I interview children, that parents are giving them the phone but introducing requirements to check and discuss which apps they get, and I think that is probably really wise,” says Livingstone.

9 . Motivation is the desire to act in service of a goal. It’s the crucial element in setting and attaining our objectives. Some of the most common goals people make—and the most common goals they struggle to meet—are to eat healthier, work out more, and save more money. Many traps can prevent people from achieving those goals, but predicting those challenges can help achieve real change.

Many people struggle to stick to a diet. Research suggests that extrinsic (外在的) motivators—to avoid hurtful comments or fit into an outfit—can jumpstart the process but that intrinsic motivation—interest, enjoyment, and challenge in the journey—is key to sustained, lasting weight loss.    1    So it’s helpful to choose a diet that will be sustainable and effective and believe that the diet, start date, and end goals have been chosen autonomously and not “assigned” by others.

There are a few creative ideas to consider if motivation is a barrier to exercise. One is to widen the options you have: If you don’t have time to go to the gym, exercise by going for a walk, doing a bodyweight circuit, or watching a yoga video.    2    Yet you can also establish a social contract with a friend or family member. For example, if you allow phone time to replace exercise, you must donate to a cause of the other person’s choosing.

    3    The first is to set a specific saving goal for an emergency fund. This focused goal will build habits that become sustainable saving. The second is to save something every day, even if it’s just a few dollars, because repeat helps to form habits. Third, making savings visible, whether by checking a savings account online or keeping cash in a glass jar.    4     In addition to cultivating a saving attitude, it’s important to change a spending mindset.

Most people, unfortunately, fail to follow through on their New Year’s resolutions. This might be because people tend to set overwhelming goals, engage in all-or-nothing thinking, don’t predict barriers, and beat themselves up when they get off track. By addressing those traps, people are more likely to truly achieve their goals.

Motivation is one of the driving forces behind human behavior. It fuels competition and sparks social connection. Its absence can lead to mental illnesses such as depression.     5       It’s the key factors in setting and achieving our goals.

10 . The coronavirus pandemic has created an environment for research on social connection. One of the most common areas of inquiry over the past couple of years was how our sudden mass shift to digital communication — away from face-to-face — affected overall social connectedness. Researchers studied nearly 3,000 adults during the pandemic’s early months and found that email, social media, online gaming, and texting were not fungible for in-person interactions. Voice and video calls, were somewhat better.

Social connectedness is a key to happiness. Lower it, and you will be worse off — and so will your loved ones, especially your kids. One 2014 survey revealed that 62 percent of U.S. children thought their parents were too distracted to listen to them. The No. 1 reason was parents’ phone use.

It is clear that scrolling or surfing will reduce social connection: You do them instead of interacting. Virtual communications such as texting are by design interactive and should theoretically be less harmful. However, text messages can’t convey emotion very well, because we can’t hear or see our conversational partners. These technologies are to in-person interactions what a black-and-white, pixelated (像素化的) version of the Mona Lisa is to the real thing; identifiable, but incapable of producing the same emotional effects.

With communications on line, we tend to hop from person to person and thus swap depth for breadth. However, research has shown that deeper conversations bring more well-being than short communications. Meanwhile, in a recent study, teens who texted more often than their peers tended to experience more depression, more anxiety and poorer relationships with their fathers.

It might seem strange that we would voluntarily adopt technologies that hurt our happiness. One of the explanations is convenience. Vegetating (无所事事) in front of a screen is simply easier than talking with a person, and virtual communications such as texting are faster and easier than a visit or a phone call. Think of these technologies as grab-and-go food at a convenience store: It’s not great, but it sure is easy — and after you eat enough microwave foods, you forget what the real thing tastes like.

In all, for most of us — especially people who grew up with it — the internet is an unquestioned part of the ecosystem of life. Quitting the virtual communications from our life is clearly not the answer. Since we’re not going back to life before this kind of technology, we can and should use it mindfully in service of love.