2 . Children need exercise. Parents often worry that making time for sports or even for just playing games is going to take away from their kids’ study. But actually, this is not true. There have been huge numbers of studies that all show that kids who are physically fit are better in school, get better grades, and have higher intelligence scores than kids who are unfit. And that is probably because during the life, even into old age, there’s a strong connection between a healthy hear and a healthy brain.

The brain is the most important organ that your circulatory (循环的) system has to feed. It takes up a lot of the body’s oxygen and a lot of the body’s energy. And unlike most of your tissues, your brain can’t live very long without blood supply. You cut blood supply off for about five minutes and parts of the brain start dying. So some illnesses that cut off blood flow to the brain in older people are a key cause of   cognitive (认知的) difficulty with age. And even in little kids, being physically fit clearly improves intellectual performance.

The other thing parents should be thinking about is that in childhood your kid needs about 90 minutes a day of active moving around, and parents should really focus, I think, on making sure that that’s fun, first of all. You don’t want to use exercise as punishment. And you also, I think, want to have them doing something that could maybe continue into adulthood. However much your kids like climbing trees, they’re not going to be doing that when they’re 40, not most of us anyway.            

And if you give them a sport or a taste for hiking or a taste for yoga, something that grown-ups do, you greatly reduce the chance that they’re going to be one of the large numbers of adults who are not active. Usually that change happens around the age of 13 or so.

3 . My first experience living abroad was in Scotland for a year with my family. My father, a teacher, applied for and was accepted into a teacher exchange program. I was thirteen and at the peak of puberty (青春). I was not particularly overjoyed to be leaving the comforts of home.

Living just outside of Glasgow, an area where the people have extremely thick accents, communication wasn’t always easy. Luckily, the girl who showed me around the school had an accent that was slightly easier to understand. I followed her around like a puppy for most of the school year.

The changes were great and scary at first. Not only could I not understand the accent of my peers (同龄人), but my Canadian accent made me a subject of extreme attention. I have never really wanted to become the focus, and this was especially true when I was thirteen. I had to wear a school uniform for the first time, and live in a different home. And if my mom packed carrots in my lunch, a common lunch choice in Canada, I was met with comments like, “Wow, you’re eating pure healthy food today!”

Another barrier was the cultural and language differences. Pants are called trousers, underwears are called pants, and erasers are called rubbers. And, while wearing jeans and Converse at home was normal for thirteen-year-old girls, in Glasgow, skirts and heels were the norm outside of school. As a result, I was always at a loss when joining a chat or invited to a party.

Luckily, I finally made friends with lovely, welcoming people. I can proudly say I have seen just about every castle and tourist attraction in Scotland, while also having been a part of experiences only had by locals. My year abroad taught me you must allow yourself to be uncomfortable, before you can have real experiences. It wasn’t until I let go of my fears that I began to enjoy myself.

7 . Oscar is a homeless young man in Portland. I _______ him years ago online by chance. I wrote to him last spring to see how I could help him. He has an autoimmune disease (自身免疫性疾病) and lost his_______ during COVID-19 and then his home.

It was months before he finally _______. He hoped to have a fan to keep _______ in the hot summer. We sent him one quickly. Later he said he _______ on concrete (水泥) and needed a ground mattress (床垫). The next month we got him that. He later _______ how wet it is in Portland so I found him a pair of waterproof (防水的) pants. He said that summer was like Christmas as he _______ so many things.

I _______ I could do more. My heart breaks for him. I told him how my son Ben was _______ and how he used to use the name Oscar in a game. “I’m sorry for that. But I’m not your ________,” he said. “I know. But I hope wherever he is, if he is homeless too, a ________ person is helping him.”

The other day I got a ________ from Oscar on the phone: “I have found a job and I just wanted to thank you for your generosity.”

________, most people we had helped for years found homes. One of those, John, leads a fulfilled (充实的) life. And I even plan to ________ a story about his excellent performance. I hope Oscar will find a ________ too. We’ll do whatever we can to help him until he does.

8 . How to overcome shyness

Does the thought of talking in front of people make you shy? If so, you are far from alone. Many people in the world suffer from mild to extreme shyness and are struggling to overcome it. Remember that breaking out of that shell doesn’t magically happen overnight.     1    You’re on the right track by just reading this article — now let’s keep going.

Figure out your reasons. Do you become shy in front of new audience? Or when surrounded by people you know and admire? Try to find out the thoughts that go through your head right before the shyness hits. Chances are that not all situations make you shy. You’re okay being around your family, right? Are they different from the strangers around you? Of course not.     2    

    3    For 99% of us, we’ve become shy when we think if we speak up or stand out, we’ll embarrass ourselves. That’s why it’s important to focus on others. When we stop focusing on ourselves, we stop worrying about our performance.

Practice speaking clearly to yourself. You have gotten used to hearing your own voice! Record yourself pretending (假装) to have conversations. Sounds ridiculous (荒谬的), sure, but you’ll notice patterns, when and why you stop, etc. At the beginning you’ll feel like an actor, but it will become an old habit.    4    

Don’t compare yourself to others. The more you compare yourself to others, the more you will feel that you are not able to measure up (符合标准).    5     Even if you do, do it realistically (现实地). Everyone else has his own confidence problems, too!

9 . It is a common question to ask yourself: What do you want to be when you grow up?

In the past it has generally been accepted that a person will follow one career path, but an emerging group of people have changed this idea. By pursuing jobs across several walks, this group has come to be known as “slashers (斜杠青年)”.

There are many reasons why this has become popular, particularly among those under the age of 30. In modern competitive society, having multiple income streams (多种收入来源) is one of the best ways to create financial security.

Zhao Sichen is one follower of the slasher movement. The 34-year-old is an English teacher at Tsinghua University High School. Outside the classroom, Zhao also works as project manager in charge of education programs at the Internet tech company NetEase.

In addition to providing a sense of job security, becoming a slasher reduces boredom and prevents becoming burned out on (不再热衷) focusing on a single path.

According to the Guardian, “Entrepreneurs (创业者) are a typical example of a group that expects to spread their careers across multiple areas.” Erin Albert is a typical slasher in the UK. Apart from having written books, Albert is an assistant professor, an entrepreneur and a law student. Albert often asks his students to think about, “why they can’t both take an immediate job offer they are not sure about as well as work toward their ‘dream’ job”.

Technology has also promoted this choice. Online tools and platforms have allowed people to pursue different interests and career paths as they have promoted the ability to work remotely. Never has it been easier for those who have interests in a variety of careers to pursue them at the same time. It seems that right now the sky is the limit for those who are considering what they want to do in the future.