3 . Over three years ago, my wife, my baby son and I lived at the end of a long winding mountain road. One day, I had got a last-minute _________. The person on the other end of the line told me that I was going to work in a _________ 15 miles away. I had to get on my car _________, drive along that road and get there on time.

My car was coming around the _________ and I was about to turn when I _________ a fat possum (负鼠) up ahead in the corner. He slowly crossed the road towards the woods. I was extremely _________ to see him in the daylight because I knew possums were always _________ at night. I quickly hit the brakes so I wouldn’t turn the little animal into road _________. In that emergency, my car _________ forward. Just as he made it to the __________ of the road, I started to move my __________ from the brake back to the gas.

__________, a tractor zipped around the bend and ran across the center line and halfway into my lane before I __________ it. The driver saw me, turned his steering wheel (方向盘) and just __________ my car. If that possum hadn’t caused me to __________ just a little bit, the tractor would have __________ into the front of my car and probably killed me as well. I was __________ to be alive. I also kept __________ “Thank goodness! Thank you, little one!” over and over all the way.

That day, I drove on a little more slowly but __________ arrived at school safely and punctually. I decided to share the story of goodness __________ with security with my students.

4 . You Need to Start Strength Training Today

The aging process affects the human body in many ways. One thing that happens to all of us as we age is muscle loss.     1     But others say it can start as early as age 30. The Harvard Health Publishing website notes that after age 30, you begin to lose muscle faster during your lifetime.

Experts show that we do know this: Being inactive can speed up the process. Now, the good news! Lost muscle is not gone forever. It is never too late to start strength training. But what exactly is strength training?     2    

Here are a few things to note about this kind of training.

No equipment strength training. You do not have to use special exercise equipment or go to a gym to do strength training.     3     Exercises that use body weight as resistance are usually safer for beginners. They can also be easier on the body, and you can do them anywhere. Push-ups, plank poses, jumping jacks, side jumps and deep knee bends are great exercises for making muscle stronger.

    4     The experts also suggest a short practice before strength training. Cold muscle is more likely to be injured than warm muscle. Walking for five to ten minutes is enough to warm up your muscle. They say it can activate your muscle.

Food.     5     The body breaks down protein into amino acids, which it uses to build muscle. So, experts say eat a little healthy protein with each meal—foods such as chicken, salmon, beans and yogurt.

5 . Algorithms (计算程序) are able to do a huge number of tasks, and the number of tasks that they are able to do is expanding practically every day. According to a new study, despite increasing concern over the effect of algorithms in daily life, more and more people nowadays are willing to trust a computer program, especially if a task becomes too challenging. From choosing the next song on your playlist to choosing the right size of pants, people are relying more on the advice of algorithms to help make everyday decisions.

During the study, researchers asked volunteers to count the number of people of a crowd in a photograph and supplied suggestions that were offered by a group of other people and suggestions offered by an algorithm. As the number of people in the photograph expanded, counting became more difficult and people were more likely to follow the suggestions offered by an algorithm rather than count themselves or follow the “wisdom of the crowd”.

One of the common problems with AI is when it is used for awarding credit. While that is a subjective decision, there are lots of numbers there, like income and credit scores. Therefore, people feel like this is a good job for an algorithm. But we know that dependence leads to unfair and incomplete practices in many cases because of social factors that aren’t considered.

Facial recognition and hiring algorithms have come under inspection in recent years because their use has shown cultural prejudice in the way they were built, which can cause inaccuracies when matching faces to identities or screening for qualified job candidates. The prejudice may not be present in a simple task like counting, but their presence in other trusted algorithms is a reason why it is important to understand how people rely on algorithms when making decisions.

“The eventual goal is to look at groups of humans and computers making decisions and find how we can get them to trust each other and how that changes their behaviors,” one of the researchers said. “Because there is very little research in that setting, we’re starting with the fundamentals.”

6 . Kellie Gillespie is in her early 40s. She lives in London. And until a few years ago, she was basically an ordinary person. That was before she took a psychology class with Scott Pious of Wesleyan University. “My life changed after taking Professor Plous’s course,” Kellie says. "And now I’m studying to be a psychologist and counselor.”

Plous’s course was offered online, hosted by the educational platform Coursera. Kellie learned several psychological concepts in the class. One is the rule of mutual benefit: If you’re nice to some people, or you open up to them, they will be likely to do the same with you. She also learned about the power of empathy: When you put yourself in someone else’s shoes, it profoundly changes the relationship you have with him or her.

Now, lots of people learn about ideas in psychology, but Kellie did something unusual. She took in what she had learned in the class, and applied it in her own life.

Kellie was spending a lot of time at the British Library, and she often noticed the same young man on the street nearby. She could tell he was homeless, but he was always smiling and always so pleasant. It started simply, with Kellie giving the man whatever spare change she had. But after several months, she wanted to do more. She learned his name was Simon, and invited him for a cup of coffee. To make him feel comfortable, she told him a bit about her life, and slowly, he opened up about his. He kept mentioning how much he missed his mum. This struck a chord for Kellie—her own mother had passed away a decade before. Kellie helped Simon get in touch with his mother, and finally, put him on a bus heading home.

“Taking the course most definitely opened my eyes to the reasons why people don’t do something to help,” Kellie says. “It’s easy to say ‘I can’t make a difference,’ but everyone can make a difference.”

Due to a medical error, 44-year-old Safiya became blind. She felt    1    （help）. And all she had to depend    2     was her husband Meraj. Meraj wanted to help Safiya gain her confidence again.

Finally, Safiya felt ready to return to her job,    3    now would she get there? She used to take the bus, but now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Meraj promised    4    （ride）the bus with her.

For two weeks, they made the journey together each morning and Meraj    5    （take）a taxi back to his office. Finally, Safiya decided to try the trip    6    . Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…Each day she went on her own. It went perfectly.

On Friday morning, Safiya took the bus to work as usual. When she got off the bus, the driver said; "Lady, I sure envy you. You know, every morning for the past week, a gentleman stood across the corner    7    （watch）you. He makes sure you cross the street    8    （safe）, and he won't leave until you enter your office building."

Tears of    9    （happy）poured down Safiya's cheeks. Her husband had given her a gift    10    （powerful）than sight—the gift of love that can bring light.