1 . There are many learn-to-read apps that can help children get started with reading. The best reading apps make it fun for children to learn this essential skill, and can help give them a head start over their peers.

Farfaria is perfect for children that are fascinated by castles, knights (骑士), fairies and magical folk tales. Readers can explore various subjects and themes through numerous mystical “lands” on a map, which consists of unique stories to develop their reading abilities. Farfaria keeps children engaged through their colorful and mystical stories and instead of games or planned classes, it places reading skills in practical applications.

With a proven track record extending more than 30 years, Hooked on Phonics is truly the gold standard for education excellence. Along with worksheets, questionnaires (问卷) and stories, children are taught new lessons via entertaining videos, songs and activities. And to motivate children to read, it has the awards and achievements feature. Parents or teachers can also track children’s progress and even add more children.

This award-winning reading app has been specially designed for young children, and it’s great for helping children learn letters, phonics, sight words and more advanced reading concepts through educational and fun games, books and puzzles. The software’s distinctive “Step-by-Step Learning Path” has over 850 courses across 10 levels. Furthermore, it allows parents to keep a record of their child’s progress.

Through fun games, engaging activities and personalized lessons that feature children’s favorite Nick Jr. characters, it helps young children build key foundational skills. Not only does it have a ton of great lessons and games to help children build early literacy, but the app also includes an impressive library of e-books. New books are added each month, so children will never get bored as they enjoy an always-growing library in the app.

2 . As a teen, Ketie Steller suffered from a severe disease, her hair thinned sharply. Seeing this, her mother arranged for Steller’s first professional ________.

“To sit down and have somebody talk to me like a person and not just an illness, it helped me feel cared about and less ________,” she says.

After that, Steller knew she wanted her own ________ so she could help people feel the way she’d felt that day. Not long after finishing cosmetology school (美容学校) in 2009, she began what she now calls her Red Chair Project, ________ to people on the streets. “Part of what ________ my heart was just how lonely people looked,” she says. “I thought maybe I’d go around and ask if people want free haircuts. I can’t ________ their problems, but maybe I can help them feel less lonely for a moment.”

Steller listens to people’s stories of loss, addiction, and ________ to get back on their feet. The attention ________ works. She was cutting a woman’s hair one day ________ someone drove by and yelled, “You look ________!” “I thought I was ________. Look, now people see me!” The woman in the chair said with a large smile.

An offshoot (分支) of the Red Chair Project is the Steller Kindness Project, in which people who commit acts of ________ are invited for a free facial at Steller’s salon. ________, they tell their stories, which Steller shares on her website. Her hope is that by reading about kind acts, others will be ________ to spread their own.

A free haircut may be a ________ thing, but it can be a gateway to show value and respect.

3 . The final year of high school is one of the most significant transition periods in a young person’s life.     1    . While there is plentiful evidence to show pursuing goals is associated with well-being, setting goals itself is not a cure-all. How you set goals and pursue them can either promote well-being or worsen anxiety.

● Focus on a positive target

Our goals are set as either “approach-oriented” or “avoidance-oriented”. Approach-oriented goals focus on a positive target. For example, “I want to work hard to get over 80% in biology.”     2    . For example, “I want to avoid getting below 80% for biology.” These two goals are essentially the same in content, but evidence shows people who set approach-oriented goals report better well-being.

● Goals need to be meaningful and freely chosen

    3     Goals that are genuinely meaningful and freely chosen represent internalized self-motivated goals and can promote well-being. On the other hand, goals that are a product of external pressures have been linked with stress and anxiety.

    4    

Compared to overly generalized goals, specific goals are more likely to be achieved. Specific goals provide more mental reminders to keep you on track and help monitor personal progress towards a goal. The more specific a person’s goal plans are, the better.

● Set goals outside of academic achievement

For the final year of schooling, it’s important to set goals that aren’t only linked to academic expectations. Having goals in other aspects such as leisure and recreation, health and relationships will help enhance your sense of well-being.     5    .

5 . My initial exploration of the world of comic books happened through the comic strips (连环漫画) in newspapers. It began with a fondness for Garfield and his adventures, and led to the discovery of a range of comic books like Champak, Tintin, and Archie. They enabled me to enjoy myself in a world without iPads and the Internet — just like so many of my friends who were fond of reading.

While my access to comics as a child was limited to what was printed in the newspaper, this changed once I grew older and started visiting bookstores to buy the books that I wanted to read. Having grown up on a diet of image-heavy books, I found the idea of reading text-only novels quite formidable. As I searched for books that lay somewhere in between, I came across a copy of Bhimayana — a graphic novel (漫画小说). It felt familiar due to its comic-like theme and design. Plus, understanding complex narratives through pictures was relatively easier and more fun. And so, as I grew older, I found myself changing towards graphic novels from childish comic books.

Graphic novels dealt with serious topics in a more interesting manner. They would truly show me what was going on. For example, when I was reading Joe Sacco’s Palestine, I did not have to imagine the ruin caused by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I could actually see it while reading about it.

Fast-forward a few years to when I was given a copy of Jonathan Bloomfield’s Palestine: A Novel. Though I was impressed by the compelling (扣人心弦的) nature of storytelling in his book, I am not sure if I would have been able to visualise and enjoy his text-only version so much had I not read Sacco’s Palestine first. Thanks to the graphic novel, I had a “picture” of whatever had happened, and that made it easier and more fun to understand the details of the overall story.

From black and white strips and colourful comic books to illustrated graphic novels, this type of storytelling has come a long way. While my romance with comic books is still ongoing, in the long run, my love for graphic novels is stronger and here to stay.

6 . Blood may be thicker than water when it comes to human relationships and it appears that the same is true of jackdaws (寒鸦) after scientists found they readily switch friends to gain food but stick with family even at the risk of going hungry.

Alex Thornton, a professor of cognitive evolution, said, “We monitor hundreds of wild jackdaws, each of which is fitted with a tiny PIT tag like the chips (芯片) used for pet cats and dogs — embedded in (嵌入) a leg ring. In this experiment we randomly divided jackdaws into two groups — A or B — and programmed a pair of automated PIT tag-detecting devices to provide worms only if individuals from the same group(AA or BB) visited together.” If birds from different groups arrived together — A with B — the feeders would remain closed. Single birds would get grain, but not the more desirable worms.

Thornton said, “The idea was to find out if jackdaws could readjust their social associations. They might have friends in the wrong group. Do jackdaws ditch them and start to hang out with individuals who are in the right group? The jackdaws turned out to be very strategic, quickly learning to abandon friends from the other group so they could get the best rewards. However, they made an exception when it came to their close relations even if they got nothing. What we were able to do here was test the idea: can individuals keep track of the outcomes of past interactions and update their relationships? It turns out they can.”

Thornton said jackdaws were an excellent subject matter as they were clever and had dynamic social networks. “You’ve got individuals coming and going so beyond their strong relationships, and they have lots of other associations. They are similar to human society.” Michael Kings, of the University of Exeter, said, “These results help our understanding-of the evolution of intelligence as they show that being able to track and remember information about social partners can bring benefits.”

A recent survey shows why young people have a preference for domestic brands when purchasing electronic products.

Thunderous laughter and applause almost blew off the roof of London’s Excel Exhibition Centre     1     Saturday night, when a punchline (妙语) by Guo Degang,     2     popular Chinese traditional crosstalk performer, landed with an audience of thousands.

Along with Guo and his partner Yu Qian, a handful of     3     (comedian) from the DeYun She Performance Group started their first overseas tour in Australia in 2011. Since then, they have performed in six different countries. “Laughter is appealing and that is     4     makes the art form of crosstalk comedy powerful,” said Guo,     5     (add) that this traditional art can help overseas Chinese overcome homesickness and introduce traditional Chinese culture to a broader audience.

“Ever since I     6     (start) learning Chinese, I’ve been interested in Xiangsheng,” Christian Elliott, an audience member     7     has been learning Chinese for more than five years, told Xinhua. He wanted to see how much of the show he could understand given that there is a difference “between knowing conversational Chinese     8     knowing ‘full’ Chinese.”

In recent years, crosstalk comedy is becoming     9     (increase) popular in China, especially with young people. Guo alone currently has over 15 million followers on Douyin. With London being the first stop of its Europe tour this year, the group is expected     10     (perform) in cities including Glasgow, Paris, Milan and Madrid in the upcoming months.

10 . Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands are remote, rocky and endlessly fascinating. The wildlife encounters are quietly breathtaking and the scenery is amazing. The chance to experience this special region on an adventure voyage is both an advantage and an inspiration, and now also an opportunity to give back by getting involved in scientific research.

Citizen science — where you help scientists collect data that feeds into important research projects — gathers valuable data for making informed decisions about urgent issues like climate change and wildlife conservation. “It gave the trip more purpose.” is in the words of one citizen scientist.

Becoming a citizen scientist is simple. All of our polar voyage partners operate citizen science programmes on their ships. Fun, interactive and informative, they are completely voluntary and no prior scientific knowledge is required. It’s about sharing new discoveries and deepening your connection to the natural world with small groups of like-minded people.

On a typical citizen science programme, you will usually be invited to participate in at least one session on most days. A typical day might involve a seabird count at 14:00 and a cloud survey at 18:00. Or you might be photographing whales and noting their unique markings. In addition, a citizen science coordinator (协调员) will arrange short lectures.

Take two examples from Polar Latitudes (the first to offer citizen science projects in the polar regions), and their ship the Seaventure: citizen scientists studying cloud formations in Antarctica have provided a great deal of information about how global warming is deeply impacting climate change. Just a few readings taken during the course of each voyage have resulted in a wealth of data. Thousands of whale tail photos taken by citizen scientists, meanwhile, provided data that was crucial to the creation of a 20,000-sq-km slow-down zone to reduce ship strikes.

There are often multiple chances to collaborate (协作) on different projects during your voyage and on-board citizen science coordinators will keep you posted on the projects you can participate in each day.