Joyce is in the fourth grade and he joined the noisy children of his class as usual. “Children! Silence!” Mangat Madam suddenly entered the class. She announced next week would be math week. “I’d like each of you to work on a project. You could do it individually or in a group.” she instructed. “The topic for the project needs approving tomorrow and it has to be displayed at the math week exhibition. The best project will be awarded and there is also a surprise gift from my side,” she added.

Joyce, who is extremely good at math, sat in the corner seat of the first bench with Karan, an average. Karan asked Joyce if they could work on the math project together. Joyce replied in a prideful tone, “Ha-ha you want to join me. I think I will do the project on my own.” Joyce wanted to get awarded and the surprise gift all for himself from Mangat Madam.

After deep consideration, Joyce decided to work on a math magic quiz on the circuit board. The next day in school, Mangat Madam arrived in the classroom and all the children submitted their topics for math exhibition. They all chose to work in a group except Joyce. In the following days, Joyce gathered all the materials for the project such as wires, bulbs (灯泡), a switch and a thin plywood board (胶合板). He worked out a few mathematical basic operations to be fixed on the board so that when the wire of the circuit touched the right answer, the bulb glowed. Joyce completed the project and was happy with the result.

The evening before the exhibition, while packing his school bags, Joyce again checked the project to see if it was working fine. Alas! All the lights that were to glow did not seem to light at all. Without finding the reason, Joyce was tensed. However, he decided to take the same project to the school as he couldn’t change the topic at the last minute. Then came the next day, and everybody was fascinated in the exhibition.

It was Joyce’s turn to display his project.

Finally, the teacher announced Karan’s team was the winner.

“Why are we bringing groceries for Mrs. Killinger?” Bobby asked his mother, Anna, as they walked back from the supermarket with a few extra bags for their elderly neighbor. He enjoyed helping his mother with these tasks, but they had never bought anything for any neighbor before.

“Honey, Mrs. Killinger is now having trouble walking around, so I offered to bring some things from the market,” Anna explained as they climbed up the wooden steps to Mrs. Killinger’s house and rang the doorbell.

“Ok, but she could get a wheelchair and move around,” the boy commented as if it was the most straightforward solution in the world.

“You know, Bobby. Mrs. Killinger doesn’t have the money to buy one right now.

They can get expensive.”   Anna explained, and Bobby pursed his lips in thought.

Mrs.Killinger answered the door, smiled, and invited them for some coffee and cookies. Bobby noticed how slowly she moved, and an idea formed in his mind. He told the older woman and his mother all about it, and they grinned at him indulgently (宽容地笑).Neither of them thought Bobby would do it.

That’s why Anna was surprised the following day when Bobby had made several ads. “Mom, can you add your phone number here, so people can call me with work?”

“Oh, honey. This is very sweet. But I don’t know if it’ll be enough to raise the money she needs to buy a wheelchair,” Anna explained. She loved that her son had such a big heart, but he didn’t want him to be heartbroken if no one called or he couldn’t raise the money.

“Well，at least，I can say that I tried to help，” Bobby chirped (欢快地说)with his bright smile and eager eyes. Anna nodded and added her phone number to the ads. In his ad, Bobby offered his “services” which included helping with shopping, mowing lawns, keeping company, and walking dogs. He also left the price of his services, which made Anna smile. He honestly just wanted to help.

Anna helped him put up the ads around the neighborhood.

Two weeks later, Bobby still hadn’t raise the amount of money he wanted.

7 . “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for,” said John A. Shedd, an early 20th century author. Throughout the Covid-19, we’ve all become used to assessing risk in new ways. We’ve come to understand, though we can never get rid of risk altogether, we have great power to make choices both large and small to protect ourselves.    1    It stops us from stepping outside of our comfort zones and trying new things.

Developmental psychologists talk about “positive risks” — socially acceptable risks that our lives can benefit from.    2    But what about these, who develop into adults? Researchers have found that happiness for older adults is being able to choose how they spend their time, including ways that are adventurous, new and even-like hiking or other outdoor activities — mildly risky.

One guide to positive risk management lists ways that people can make sure their risks are on the “safe" side of risk range. For example, to ensure a successful bike ride, you should in advance equip yourself with a fully-charged cell phone and a full water bottle.    3     Or if you are, concerned about your physical capacity, consult a certified trainer or medical professional before departure.

    4    This means adapting to changing situations. In response to the deadly virus, people choose to step back into normal life only after they are vaccinated. In this way, people could be confident that the risk is tolerable.

Nobody wants to be needlessly risky. But using our newly-acquired risk assessment tools, we can once again learn and grow in our lives.    5    

8 . Modern technology has a strong influence on every part of our life, including the education in the universities.

Ashok Goel, a professor of Georgia Institute of Technology, says he uses the Internet in almost all of the classes he teaches. Every term over 300 graduate students take his class on artificial intelligence (人工智能). The students never meet in person. All of the classes take place online — through a website, which lets students ask questions and complete their work from anywhere in the world.

Having hundreds of students in a class means Ashok Goel has to answer thousands of questions. He has eight teaching assistants to help him. But even that is not enough to give all the students the help they need.

So, in January, Goel had an idea. He decided to try an experiment. At the start of the spring 2016 term, he added a new member to his teaching team: Jill Watson. She was able to answer questions faster than most other teaching assistants. And she was available 24 hours a day.

It was only at the end of the term that Goel’s students learned Watson’s true identity: she was not a real person like the other teaching assistants. Jill Watson was an AI computer program.

And it seems Goel’s stories will become more common in the universities.

A website called Campus Technology publishes stories about how colleges and universities use new technology. In August, the site published a survey of over 500 professors and their use of technology. Fifty-five percent of the professors asked students to use study materials online before coming to class. And, more than 70 percent combined (使相结合) online materials and face-to-face teaching in their classrooms.