3 . MacArthur’s love for sailing dates back to when she was just 4 years old, when she first got the opportunity to have a try on a boat. “It _________ me that this boat had everything we needed to take us anywhere in the world. And as a child, that opened up everything and made me feel the greatest sense of _________,” she explained.

This experience _________ a passion within MacArthur that she wanted to sail around the world. Growing up in the countryside, she had no idea how to _________ it. However, she knew that was what she wanted to do at some phase. So she acquired knowledge and _________ for years to seek her dream in sailing. Having merely potatoes and beans for daily meals for eight years, she _________ could afford the right equipment. By reaching such _________ goals and asking technical questions about _________, MacArthur felt as though she was getting _________ to her target.

“The impossible could be possible and __________ high is not necessarily such a crazy thing to do,” she said. And it seems that MacArthur’s __________ to become a sailor went beyond her expectations. At the age of 24, she started to __________ media attention after winning the second place in the Vendée Globe, a single-handed non-stop yacht (帆船) race around the world.

Four years later, MacArthur chose to sail for 71 days and 14 hours, __________ more than 26,000 miles. This led her to set a new record. __________ this record has been surpassed (超过), MacArthur is still considered as Britain’s most successful offshore racer.

So when you know where you’re going, you can actually get there—even if it seems __________!

4 . In 1999, journalist Nicholas D. Kristof reported a surprising encounter on a tiny African island. Here, Kristof met a number of elderly men who told him that they were descendants of Chinese sailors many centuries ago. Their ancestors had traded with local Africans, who had given them giraffes to take back to China.     1    

Six centuries ago, a large number of Chinese ships crossed the sea, then travelled west to East Africa.     2     These great expeditions brought a vast web of trading links under Chinese government control.

    3     Most of the trading involved spices, wood, and medicines. Zheng He brought them back to the capital. Although these goods were mainly presented to the emperor for his consumption and disposal, foreign ambassadors coming to China were permitted to trade with locals in the capital for handsome profits, which also allowed ordinary Chinese to benefit from international trade.

    4     In the regions they visited, Zheng He and his fleet remained a long-lasting theme in popular Southeast Asia folk tales. Two surviving records of the expeditions provide detailed accounts of unique Chinese navigation technologies of the time, leaving Chinese rich maritime legacy (遗产) to later generations.

However, the Chinese expedition never sought to establish colonial (殖民的) rule over these oceans by military force.     5     China’s maritime dominance disappeared suddenly in the 1430s because of domestic changes, and the overseas expeditions were eventually ended by the court. All this happened only decades before the occurrence of the great age of European discovery and exploration.

6 . Last Tuesday, a robotic ship called the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) set sail from Plymouth, England. The 15-meter ship will recreate the 1620 crossing of the Atlantic by the original Mayflower, which brought the first European settlers to what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. But unlike the original Mayflower, there are no people on board. Everything about the ship is designed to run automatically. The ship is guided by an artificial intelligence (AI) system called “AI Captain”.

The MAS is a project run by a group called Pro Mare along with IBM, aiming to test different kinds of technologies for collecting information about the sea. The new Mayflower’s electric motor is powered by solar energy. The builders of the ship say they hope it can be used in the future to travel and research parts of oceans that are too difficult or dangerous for people to reach. If these can be handled by machines, it could be a big advance in ocean research.

Since the MAS didn’t have to carry humans, its designers were free to think about how to make the best ship for the job. Apart from cameras and radar to help the ship guide itself, the ship is carrying different kinds of tools and sensors. It has special listening devices which can detect whales and dolphins and even a special “tongue” that can report back on the chemicals in the seawater.

Last Friday morning, scientists tracking the ship noticed that it was going about half as fast as it should have been going. The AI Captain was working well, but there seemed to be something slowing the motor down. Since the ship had only covered 10% of the way across the Atlantic, the team decided to bring it back to Plymouth so that they could fix the problem and send it out again.

When the MAS finally does put out to sea again, it is expected to take about three weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The fastest speed for the MAS is about 10 miles per hour. That may seem slow, but it’s about 5 times faster than the original Mayflower, which took 66 days to make the journey.

7 . I don’t think I can recall a time when I wasn’t aware of the beauty of the ocean. Growing up in Australia, I had the good fortune to have the sea at my side. The first time I went to Half Moon Bay, I suddenly had the feeling of not being able to feel the ground with my feet anymore.

For my 10th birthday, my sister and I were taken out to the Great Barrier Reef. There were fish in different colors, caves and layers of coral. They made such an impression on me. When I learned that only one percent of Australia’s Coral Sea was protected, I was shocked. Australian marine life is particularly important because the reefs have more marine species than those of any other country on earth. But sadly, only 45% of the world’s reefs are considered healthy.

This statistic is depressing, so it’s important for us to do everything to protect them. The hope that the Coral Sea remains a complete ecosystem has led me to take action. I’ve become involved with the Protect Our Coral Sea activity, which aims to create the largest marine park in the world. It would serve as a place where the ocean’s species will all have a safe place forever.

Together, Angus and I created a little video and we hope it will motivate people to be a part of the movement. Angus also shared many beautiful childhood memories of the ocean as a young boy, who grew up sailing, admiring the beauty of the ocean, and trying to find the secrets of underwater marine species.

8 . Want a relaxing but fun challenge at home?     1     Puzzles have been around for more than 250 years and the challenge of working out where each piece goes and carefully recreating the scene on the box lid can keep you busy for hours, days or even weeks.

Puzzles come in a huge range of sizes and difficulty levels. For beginners, a 100-piece puzzle is usually a good starting point.     2     Try grouping pieces with the same colors or design because they will probably go in the same area once the puzzle takes shape.

    3     Those pieces are easier to find because they have a straight side. Stay patient as you search through and try to make it fit together. You may not find any connecting pieces for ages but then several may suddenly appear.

For a real test, puzzles that have 1,000 pieces or more are a tough task and it’s best to complete them with friends or family if you can. Choosing a scene that interests you, such as a favourite film, sport or location, can help keep you interested and determined to work to the final piece. You can get fun educational puzzles, too.     4    

Some of the best places to pick up puzzles are charity shops. They’re often on sale for less than £5. Once you have completed a puzzle, it’s nice to exchange it with a friend.     5     You just upload an image, such as a family scene, and they will make a puzzle from it and post it to you. It makes lovely and unusual present.

9 . Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing promise in earthquake prediction, challenging the long-held belief that it is impossible. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, have developed an AI algorithm (算法) that correctly predicted 70% of earthquakes a week in advance during a trial in China and provided accurate strength calculations for the predicted earthquakes.

The research team adopted a relatively simple machine learning approach. The AI was provided with a set of statistical features based on the team’s knowledge of earthquake physics, and then instructed to train itself using a five-year database of earthquake recordings. Once trained, the AI provided its prediction by listening for signs of incoming earthquakes within the background rumblings (隆隆声) in the Earth.

This work is clearly a milestone in research for AI-driven earthquake prediction. “You don’t see earthquakes coming,” explains Alexandros Savvaidis, a senior research scientist who leads the Texas Seismological Network Program (TexNet). “It’s a matter of milliseconds, and the only thing you can control is how prepared you are. Even with the 70% accuracy, that’s a huge result and could help minimize economic and human losses and has the potential to remarkably improve earthquake preparation worldwide.”

While it is unknown whether the same approach will work at other locations, the researchers are confident that their AI algorithm could produce more accurate predictions if used in areas with reliable earthquake tracking networks. The next step is to test artificial intelligence in Texas, since UT’s Bureau TexNet has 300 earthquake stations and over six years worth of continuous records, making it an ideal location for these purposes.

Eventually, the authors hope to combine the system with physics-based models. This strategy could prove especially important where data is poor or lacking. “That may be a long way off, but many advances such as this one, taken together, are what moves science forward,” concludes Scott Tinker, the bureau’s director.

The Students’ Union