Economics survive by continually responding to the world around them. This means employing new technologies or exploiting new international markets when     1     growth. Today, these global shifts — dramatic shocks to economies — occur more frequently, are more     2     and, in knowledge-based economies are more dependent on talent than ever. In countries where a workforce lacks the skills that are suddenly in     3    , we see a skills gap emerge. This leads to higher unemployment rates while vacancies increase and productivity and growth decline.

So how can economies     4    ? By adapting. However, unlike the macro-strategies of the last century, people — not just policy — must drive today’s adaptability. Employers and policymakers have long     5     the importance of a flexible workforce, but until now it has been difficult to isolate the human element — the willingness and ability of employees to seek out and find opportunities across multiple employers, locations and industries. Our new ability to measure it and analyse talent adaptability — and to start to understand what drives it — are crucial steps forward.

The     6     of a market to match supply and demand efficiently depends on the ability and willingness of employers and employees to adapt to changing circumstances and align (使一致) skills with available opportunities. If this alignment is less than perfect, a mismatch     7     and optimum productivity can’t be reached.

Adapt to Survive for the first time brings together the two most comprehensive sources of talent data in the world: the real-time behaviours drawn from LinkedIn’s 277 million members and employer information from PwC’s Saratoga database of people and performance metrics (指标) which covers more than 2,600 employers across the globe. This report sets a new benchmark for     8     a country’s ability to match talent with opportunity and the movement of people between industries — the Talent Adaptability Score. This score is given to 11 countries. For each country, we evaluate how the Score     9     economic performance. Our recommendations are organised around four groups:

● Individuals — Prove your adaptability.

● Employers — Seek out, nurture and reward talents who can adapt.

● Educators — Offer courses and job training that produce     10     people.

● Governments — Create a climate of adaptability.

7 . Maps, number lines, shapes, artwork and other materials tend to cover elementary classroom walls. However, too much of a good thing may end up _______ attention and learning in young children, according to research published in Psychological Science.

Psychology researchers Anna V. Fisher, Karrie E. Godwin and Howard Seltman of Carnegie Mellon University looked at whether classroom displays affected children’s ability to maintain _______ during instruction and to learn the lesson content. They found that children in highly decorated classrooms were more distracted, spent more time off-task and demonstrated smaller learning _______than when the decorations were removed.

“Young children spend a lot of time — usually the whole day — in the same classroom, and we have shown that a classroom’s _______ environment can affect how much children learn,” said Fisher, lead author and associate professor of psychology in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Should teachers _______ their visual displays based on the findings of this study?

“We do not suggest by any means that this is the answer to all _______ problems. Furthermore,_______ research is needed to know what effect the classroom visual environment has on children’s attention and learning in real classrooms,” Fisher said. “_______, I would suggest that instead of removing all decorations, teachers should consider whether some of their visual displays do make it difficult for young children to _______.”

For the study, 24 kindergarten students were placed in ________classrooms for six introductory science lessons on topics they were unfamiliar with. Three lessons were taught in a heavily decorated classroom, and three lessons were given in a sparse (稀疏的) classroom. The results showed that while children learned in both __________ types, they learned more when the room was not heavily decorated. Specifically, children’s __________ on the test questions was higher in the sparse classroom (55% correct) than in the decorated classroom (42% correct).

“We were also interested in finding out if the visual displays were removed, whether the children’s attention would __________ to another distraction, such as talking to their peers, or the total amount of time they were distracted would remain the same,” said Godwin, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology and fellow of the Program in Interdisciplinary Education Research.

However, when the researchers totaled all of the time children spent off-task in both types of classrooms, the rate of off-task __________ was higher in the decorated classroom (38.6% time spent off-task) than in the sparse classroom (28.4% time spent off-task).

The researchers hope these findings will lead to further studies into developing guidelines to help teachers design classrooms __________.

The Art of Blooming Late

Mozart struggled during his teens and early twenties. Though already a productive composer, he had to work as an organist (风琴手)to make ends meet.

Underpaid by his frustratingly average work, he felt a     1     (burn) desire to devote more time and energy to his art. So after a period of doubt and deliberation, that’s exactly what he did. He quit his job, set up shop in Vienna and settled down to     2     turned out to be the most creative period of his life.

If you aspire to do more personally fulfilling work — say,     3     (found) a start-up or turn a hobby into a full-fledged (完全成熟的) career — drafting a plan of action can be slightly discouraging. Even so, a few newly-released books suggest that it’s entirely possible to develop the clarity of purpose to create your own version of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

In Aristotle’s Way, the classicist Edith Hall describes the ancient philosopher’s belief     4     becoming conscious of our skills, talents and aptitudes and then using our resources to make the most of them is the foundation of living a good life. If you’re not working toward reaching your unique potential — as Mozart did — it’s normal to feel dissatisfied. If that’s the case, says Aristotle, it’s your duty to make things right.

What, then, is holding you back? Rich Karlgaard, author of Late Bloomers, argues that our culture’s obsession with early achievement discourages us from pursuing our passions.     5     having varied interests, studying widely and enjoying our time — essentials for self-discovery — we’re encouraged to pass the tests, become specialists right away and pursue safe, stable and profitable careers.

As a result, most of us end up choosing professional excellence over personal fulfillment and often we lose ourselves in the process.     6     your job requires high-demanding tasks, being a specialist isn’t a treasure. Having a wide range of skills and experiences is     7     (beneficial) because it allows you to be quick-minded and creative.

The authors of Dark Horse, Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas of Harvard’s School of Education, noticed the negative effects of early specialization in a study of people who came out of nowhere to achieve great success. “Despite feeling     8     (overwhelm),” the two write, “most dark horses reluctantly struggled along for years before finally coming to the realization that they were not living a fulfilling life.”

To prompt this kind of revolution in your own life, Rose and Ogas suggest creating a goal tailored to extremely specific activities     9     truly inspires you. As you move forward, there are a few things to keep in mind. First and foremost, it’s never too late to become yourself. There are also benefits of taking a long winding path to self-fulfillment.     10     (remember) that age typically brings wisdom, resilience, humility, self-knowledge and creativity. As research has shown, small daily changes can have a profound effect and slowly but surely lead you closer to the person you think you ought to be.

9 . The Psychology of Giving: Why do People Give to Charity?

Every day, leaders in the nonprofit sector invest valuable time, energy, and money into educating and spreading awareness of their mission in the hopes that this will increase support for their nonprofit. They assume that if only more people knew about a school’s budget cuts, for example, then they would surely donate! So, they bombard (连续轰炸) potential supporters with depressing statistics or complex arguments.     1    .

Why do people donate to charity? While it’s true that donors and volunteers are motivated to make the world a better place because it’s the right thing to do, that’s not the entire—or even the primary—reason for their generosity.     2    . In other words, we give because it feels good and that good feeling connects us to others in ways that we find satisfying. While that might sound selfish, all it really means is that people are wired to feel happy when they’re being kind.

    3    . Nobody wants to read yet another article about how the world is falling to pieces. Emphasize the good that’s being done at your organization so that your donors feel empowered, not depressed.

Since we give in part because it solidifies our connections to others, make sure that your communication with your donors is personal and specific (i.e. begin correspondence with “Dear Anna,” not “Dear Donor”). Prioritize community by finding ways to connect with your supporters on a personal level and give them the opportunity to interact with each other, whether it’s through a monthly video call or a donor appreciation night.     4    .

Remember that, at base, all philanthropic work is fundamentally a social act, so aim to make your donors feel like they’re a part of a broader community in which they are included, valued, and seen.

10 . A flexible patch could help people with voice disorders talk

The human voice, with its unique ability to attract audiences, express love and sometimes annoy neighbors, is a delibate thing. Doppler’s vocal cords can easily get damaged by stress, infections, or overuse.     1    . According to a 2005 study, 30% of the population will experience a voice disorder at some point in their life.

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed a soft patch that attaches to the neck, detecting muscle movements and translating them into clear speech using machine-learning algorithms. Even though the device is still in the early stages, it could be a significant improvement over existing communication aids for those who have lost their voice.     2     More complex aids such as electrolarynxes, external devices held against the throat, or surgical options, can be invasive or require special training to use. This patch would theoretically be able to clean all the obstacles.

The patch works based on the magneto-elastic (磁弹性的) effect When magnetic nanoparticles are mixed into flexible materials like elastic or silicone, stretching the material can change its magnetic properties. Every time the material changes shape, the particles either rotate or move against each other, altering the material’s magnetic strength. The patch, with its copper coil border that creates a stable magnetic field, can precisely track these changes.

    3     In a trial with eight participants, the researchers captured the signals as the subjects spoke and mouthed five different sentences (including: “Hope your experiments are going well!”, “Merry Christmas!” and “I love you!”). They then trained a machine-learning model to recognize the distinct patterns of the electrical signals associated with each sentence. This algorithm was then able to predict which of the five sentences the participants spoke — whether aloud or in silence — with more than 90% accuracy.

The patch is also designed to be user-friendly. It stays on even when the skin is sweaty and can be worn for 40 minutes without getting too warm.

However, there is more work to be done. For now the device can only recognize five pre-trained phrases.     4     To make it practical at scale, the researchers will need to collect a lot more data.