1 . Developing Children’s Persistence (毅力)
One of the most important lessons a child can learn is not to give up when faced with a challenging situation, but instead to continue and overcome it.
Invention education
As the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects continues to grow due to the world’s increasing complexity (复杂性), invention education has become a popular way for children to explore these fields in pleasant ways.
At Camp Invention, there are no “right” or “wrong” ways to complete each day’s set of challenges and activities. Those who take part in it are able to seek solutions that naturally interest them. For example, campers learn how to change their cars to travel across the land, and create basic theory that could help them move through the air and even underwater by using the same method shared by some of the world’s most well-known inventors!
The Innovation (创新) Mindset
Working with our national innovators whose discoveries continue to improve the lives of people everywhere, we have recognized nine basic skills that can benefit children throughout their lives. We call this the Innovation Mindset, and it influences the development of all our education programmes.
Persistence is a very important part of the Innovation Mindset because it teaches children to recover from setbacks and overcome difficulties to reach their goals. Because our programmes develop determination through a “create, test and retest” way of learning, students build the strength and confidence to take on any challenges that stand in their way.
Explore more trends in STEM
To learn more about the latest trends in STEM education, click here or visit our blog.
1. How does Camp Invention develop persistence?| A．By inviting famous inventors. |
| B．By providing interesting solutions. |
| C．By encouraging campers to take STEM subjects. |
| D．By allowing campers to solve problems in creative ways. |
| A．To recognize basic life skills. | B．To face challenges bravely. |
| C．To build up their body strength. | D．To develop education programmes. |
| A．A website. | B．A camp poster. |
| C．A science report. | D．A course introduction. |
2 . There have been a few times in my life when I felt very lonely. I particularly remember my loneliness when I moved to New York City. I had a couple of friends in the city, still, it was a time in my life when I needed to put forth some effort to form more meaningful relationships. But the more I went out to parties, the more disconnected and lonely I felt. Feeling lonely in a room full of people, or in my case, a whole city packed with people everywhere, was the loneliest I have ever felt.
So, rather than trying a new way to make friends, I was more likely to ignore phone calls from friends, and I looked at social invitations and opportunities to meet new people as drudgery. Looking back on this period of loneliness, I wonder at the way I isolated myself instead of reaching out to those who were willing to keep me company and offer friendship.
What I have learned from my own experience and the experience of many of my friends is that more often than not, those who feel lonely choose isolation. Indeed many of my own friends describe avoiding social life as a way of dealing with feelings of loneliness.
This behavior is somewhat common, and new research takes a big step towards explaining this behavior. According to leading experts on the loneliness, Stephanie and John Cacioppo, there is an evolutionary explanation for this tendency to isolate when we are feeling lonely. By monitoring lonely people’s brainwaves, they found that lonely people tend to respond negatively to social life. “Loneliness causes some brain-related changes that put us into a socially nervous mode,” Dr. Christian Jarrett explains.
Making ourselves aware of this evolutionary natural tendency could actually be the first step in fighting loneliness. Once we know that we are more sensitive to negativity during lonely spells, we can focus our energy on resisting the desire to put up walls.
1. What happened to the author after she moved to New York City?| A．She had no friends there. | B．She lacked confidence there. |
| C．She needed opportunities for parties. | D．She felt lonely even with people present. |
| A．By refusing to go out to meet others. | B．By looking for solutions on the Internet. |
| C．By trying various methods to make friends. | D．By doing some drudgery to forget her problem. |
| A．Lonely people tend to disgust social life. |
| B．People respond negatively to lonely people. |
| C．Loneliness can do great harm to people’s health. |
| D．Loneliness can be caused by a socially nervous mode. |
| A．We shouldn’t be influenced by negativity. |
| B．We shouldn’t choose isolation when we feel lonely. |
| C．We should make friends based on scientific findings. |
| D．We should spend more time with friends than relatives. |
3 . Customized STEM Study Trips for High School Groups
On our science-based study tours and STEM field trips, the planet becomes the living classroom for high school groups with as few as 10 participating students. We have over 50 years of experience in designing student STEM trips around the globe for all science related subjects - everything from Astronomy to Zoology! You can select from a number of topical areas to add to your curriculum and maximize student learning including, but not limited to:
Earth Sciences & Geology Trips
Participate in problem-solving workshops on topics like vectors, exponentials or calculus in physics. Tour the facility at CERN, site of the world’s largest particle physics laboratory. Start a geological adventure through Iceland, the land of fire and ice, or explore the alpine landscapes, mountaintops and glaciers of Switzerland.
Life Sciences & Biodiversity Trips
Our life sciences and biodiversity programs offer a window into the fascinating worlds of biology, zoology, botany, ecology and many others. Explore the interdependence of various species and their impact on one another in the rainforest of Bolivia. Consider changes in geography, habitat, atmosphere, and how life forms have adapted… or not!
Mathematics & Technology Trips
Uncover the significant impact of mathematics and technology on human life in our developing world. Understand how a storm surge barrier works and how countries like the Netherlands use wind turbines to power all of their electric trains. Learn what goes into making and breaking codes like those used in World War II.
Green Engineering Trips
Learn the basic function of photovoltaic (光电的) cells and how they form together to make solar panels. Investigate how various factors like temperature and angle impact the performance of solar panels, and take on the role of an engineer and develop the optimal solar panel array for a given geographic location.
We can also customize STEM trips based on your interests and needs. Please contact us at 800-522-2398 or email us today at educationalpartnerships@worldstrides.org to discuss other academic themes you are interested in pursuing.
1. What can students do on Earth Sciences & Geology Trips?| A．Design training workshops. | B．Do an experiment on fire and ice. |
| C．Visit a physics laboratory. | D．Explore glaciers of the North Pole. |
| A．Earth Sciences & Geology Trips | B．Life Sciences & Biodiversity Trips |
| C．Green Engineering Trips | D．Mathematics & Technology Trips |
| A．Travel agencies. | B．Holidaymakers. |
| C．Environmentalists. | D．High school students. |
4 . In my teenage period 1 always had wished to pass a geography exam, remembering all the locations of the countries on a map or avoid embarrassing situations of suddenly forgetting the person’s name standing right in front of you. Luckily for me, now one theory that memory, like other muscles in the body, can be strengthened aroused my curiosity. But instead of practicing with flash cards, there may be an interesting way that we can improve our memory while we sleep.
The researchers hold that sleep is when the brain transfers short-term memories experienced throughout the day into long-term memories. This process is called memory consolidation. They have been working on a DIY version of this task to see if we male volunteers can improve memories through the use of sound in sleep. In the test, every time we see the picture, we can hear the related sound. Then we take a nap and they record our EEG.
They’re interested in one of the four periods of sleep: slow-wave sleep, when scientists believe that memory consolidation can happen. In this deep period of sleep, they do something that we don’t know. When we wake back up and do the task again, we find we do better than before a nap. That is because they played a clue during our sleep, for example, a car — we would remember the position of that car when we woke back up again. But if they didn’t play the clue during the sleep, for example, a guitar, we’d be less likely to remember that guitar when we woke up.
I was a huge skeptic when I first heard that result. But they ran this experiment on two female groups and the results were significant. It’s not that you remember things better; it’s that you forget them less. And the facts and memories we collect throughout the day are easily lost and forgotten.
So if you’re like me and a bit forgetful, perhaps a solution is a pair of headphones and a soft couch.
1. How did the author feel about his memory when young?| A．He felt discouraged. | B．He was moved. | C．He felt inspired. | D．He was proud. |
| A．By playing a clue before they sleep. | B．By playing a clue when they sleep. |
| C．By showing a picture before they sleep. | D．By drawing a picture when they sleep. |
| A．He is convinced of the experiment results. | B．He throws doubts on it at present. |
| C．He believed in it from beginning to end. | D．He wanted to prove it in the future. |
| A．Ways to avoid forgetfulness are funny. | B．Headphones and a soft couch are useful. |
| C．Many people can’t avoid forgetting in life. | D．The solution to being forgetful is practical. |
5 . Scientists have done a lot of research on sleep. They’ve shown that sleeplessness can lead to both weight gain and poor performance in school. Might it also affect your moods (情绪) or your behavior? A team of scientists based in Shanghai, China decided to investigate.
To do that, they took advantage of data (数据) from what’s known as the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Begun in 2015, this study followed over 10, 000 U. S. kids into adulthood. All were 9 to 10 years old when they started taking part. ABCD researchers have been collecting records from parents on how much their kids sleep on a regular basis. The scientists also have been surveying whether a kid might have a habit of getting into fights or breaking rules. They even note whether students have difficulty focusing their attention.
Wei Cheng, a mathematician from China, teamed up with other researchers, making a detailed study of the ABCD data. Cheng’s group found out that kids who on average slept less than 7 hours a night were more likely to have behavior problems than kids who slept more. Kids who missed out on sleep also had more mood problems, including depression. Feeling sad or blue for longer than a week or two can be a sign of depression. Poor sleepers were also more likely to have stomach problems and headaches.
According to Kyla Wahlstrom, a professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, at night, your brain sorts information to link related facts but it takes the brain longer to organize negative (消极的) moods than positive ones. If you don’t get enough sleep, your brain might not have time to finish tidying up. If the brain runs out of time, you’re left with negative moods. That may explain why Cheng’s group found out not getting enough sleep was connected with mood problems, says Wahlstrom.
1. What does the underlined word “that” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The data. | B．The good performance. |
| C．The ABCD Study. | D．The investigation. |
| A．By analyzing the data collected by others. | B．By observing the American kids’ behavior. |
| C．By gathering information on American kids. | D．By recording the American kids’ sleeping time. |
| A．To stress the importance of enough sleep. | B．To encourage people to sleep more at night. |
| C．To introduce the danger of negative moods. | D．To further explain the findings of Cheng’s group. |
| A．Keeping Fit by Sleeping Well | B．Making Yourself a Perfect Sleeper |
| C．Remove Bad Moods by Having a Good Sleep | D．Putting Yourself in a Positive State of Mind |
7 . People use laughter to connect and bond with others. It’s how we tell friends that we find their jokes funny, or how kids in a park show that they are having fun. Laughter is so important to humans, even if they belong to different cultures or speak different languages. What about animals? Scientists are studying if there is a connection between animals’ laughing and playing.
Sasha Winkler, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), studies biological anthropology (人类学)，including the study of animal behavior. She noticed that the small monkeys she worked with, liked to play together by chasing each other. While having fun together, they made panting (喘气) sounds, almost like they were out of breath, which reminded Winkler of their quiet laughter. This made Winkler wonder whether other animals did so while they were playing.
To find out whether other animals laugh and play, Winkler teamed up with another scientist named Greg Bryant, a professor and vice chair in the Department of Communication at UCLA. Together, they found and read dozens of reports written by other scientists who study animals. Winkler and Bryant looked for any mentions in any animal of sound signaling like the panting of the monkeys during their playing.
In April 2021, Winkler and Bryant published their findings in a science journal. Through their research, they identified 65 species or groups of animals, which laugh while playing. The animals that laugh the most include primates (灵长类) like monkeys and apes, rodents (啮齿动物) like rats, and mammals that live in the ocean like dolphins. Their work won’t only help us understand animals better but it could also help us understand how humans develop or change over time. Next, they will carry on more study to find more.
1. What is the function of paragraph 1?| A．To conclude the main idea. |
| B．To put forward the topic. |
| C．To offer the supporting evidences. |
| D．To add the background information. |
| A．They can hardly breathe. |
| B．They tend to laugh separately. |
| C．They laugh at a low sound. |
| D．They don’t laugh at all. |
| A．It is great progress in the study of animals and humans. |
| B．It is only based on the findings in a science journal. |
| C．Over 65 groups of animals laugh while playing. |
| D．They do the research only by studying primates and rodents. |
| A．Science. | B．Education. | C．Health. | D．Entertainment. |
| A．宾语 | B．补语 | C．表语 | D．定语 |
