4 . A 12-year-old artist from Iowa is using his artwork to raise awareness and money for children’s cancer.

When Arsh Pal was eight years old, he was ________ painting supplies for his birthday. He ________ painting watercolor canvases (油画), and had made so many that he began ________ some of them to his family and friends as gifts.

As ________ went on, Pal got even better at painting, and his paintings grew in ________ in America, especially among the young people.

________, he started selling his paintings and ________ 100 percent of his proceeds (收入) to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He set a ________ to raise $1,000, which he quickly ________. Since then, Pal has ________ more than $15,000, and has donated, to at least five charities ________ St. Jude, Easterseals, Make-a-Wish foundation, Compass to Care, and the Riverview Center.

For all of his hard work and ________, Pal was recently honored with the Diana Award, a ________ youth humanitarian award named after the late Princess Diana. The ________ is given to “outstanding young people” between the ages of 9 and 25 who are “________ creating and sustaining positive social change.”

“I’m from Iowa and everybody else is from everywhere else,” Pal told Des Moines Register. “I feel really ________ that I’m getting it because it’s a pretty big award. Princess Diana ________ charitable work and helping the community, so that’s kind of what I do.”

In his free time, Pal also ________ nursing home residents how to paint. He hopes to soon start teaching free painting ________ to kids as well, particularly those who ________ from bad anxiety and emotional struggles.

5 . If you’re currently studying in senior high school, chances are that you’ve started thinking about what your career options might be for the future.     1    

If you use a step-by-step plan, you can avoid choosing a college major that turns out to be nothing like you expected and head on a career path with more confidence and eventual success.

Start With an Aptitude (能力) Test

    2     Other people find reading, writing and learning languages easy. Taking an aptitude test, also known as a career test or career quiz, will help you determine where your study skills will help you best.

You shouldn’t pigeon-hole yourself into a profession just because a career test says it’s right for you.     3     However, aptitude tests often help you identify professions you might not have considered.

Take a Personality Test

Personality tests can help you figure out if you’re a natural leader or more of a follower.     4     How do you handle conflict? What about dealing with bullies or gossips? A personality test will help you decide if you might be comfortable working for a large corporation in a team environment, or as an entrepreneur (创业者) launching your own business.

List Jobs That Interest You

Write a list of jobs that interest you.     5     Be realistic, based on where you live and what your finances are. For example, if you want to start a restaurant, you’ll need hundreds of thousands of dollars. Working in a restaurant as a prep cook or taking cooking classes will help you see what the restaurant business is like and whether or not it might be right for you.

6 . New York City public schools will ban students and teachers from using ChatGPT, a powerful new AI chatbot (聊天机器人) tool, on the district’s networks and devices, an official confirmed to CNN on Thursday.

The move comes amid educators’ growing concerns that the tool, which generates frighteningly convincing responses and even essays in response to user prompts (提示), could make it easier for students to cheat on assignments. Some also worry that ChatGPT could be used to spread incorrect information.

“Due to concerns about negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content, access to ChatGPT is restricted on New York City Public Schools’ networks and devices,” Jenna Lyle, the deputy press secretary for the New York public schools, said in a statement. “While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success.”

OpenAI opened up access to ChatGPT in late November. It is able to provide lengthy, thoughtful and thorough responses to questions and prompts, ranging from factual questions like “Who was the president of the United States in 1955” to more open-ended questions such as “What’s the meaning of life?”

ChatGPT went viral just days after its launch. But many educators fear students will use the tool to cheat on assignments. One user, for example, fed ChatGPT an AP English exam question; it responded with a 5-paragraph essay about Wuthering Heights. Another user asked the chatbot to write an essay about the life of William Shakespeare four times; he received a unique version with the same prompt each time.

Darren Hicks, assistant professor of philosophy at Furman University, told CNN it will be harder to prove when a student misuses ChatGPT than with other forms of cheating.

7 . The idea of a four-day workweek used to be a pipedream for most workers and firms. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies around the world have given it a go — and gathered promising results.

In the US and Ireland, a six-month trial among 33 volunteer companies in 2022 showed a positive impact on company performance, productivity and employee wellbeing. Employees working the shortened week reported less stress and fatigue, plus improved work-life balance and satisfaction. The 27 companies that submitted a final survey rated the trial a nine out of 10. In a 2022 UK trial of 70 firms, 86% of companies said the four-day week was a great success. They cited benefits such as increased productivity and significant financial savings for employees on transport and childcare.

Yet despite the overwhelmingly positive data, a four-day workweek still seems out of reach for many workers. Tech workers in flexible, forward-thinking small companies might hope for such a benefit in the near future, but it is harder to expect the same change for schoolteachers or office workers in more traditional companies.

“In practice, what we see is more small and medium companies trialling the four-day workweek,” says Pedro Gomes, author of Friday is the new Saturday. Other organizations for which four-day workweeks are likely off the table are hourly-and service-based — like restaurants, retail and healthcare — where a shorter workweek and subsequently fewer shifts eventually means pay cuts. Creating a pathway to less labour may be impossible in these industries, if it means losing out on pay.

Even facing resistance from some leaders, experts say it is likely the four-day week will become more mainstream. In sectors that are already welcoming the shift, the 32-hour week is emerging as “a tool for competitive advantage in terms of talent, attraction and retention”, says Joe O’Connor, director of the Work Time Reduction Center of Excellence. “In tech companies, not offering a four-day week will be almost a competitive disadvantage.”

8 . When Marguerite Richards made a TikTok introducing her father’s decade-old thriller novel, she was hoping to arouse a little interest. A few dozen new readers, maybe. As the first few positive comments started rolling in, she was pleased to have done something nice for a dad who definitely deserved it.

She had no idea that, within a matter of days, millions of people would see her video, and her father’s book would rocket to the top of Amazon’s Best Seller list.

Lloyd Devereux Richards first published Stone Maidens in 2012. It’s a thriller about an FBI agent following a killer in Indiana and, by his daughter’s account, it’s quite attractive. However, the original release failed to drum up excitement.

It’s a different world now, and Richards, the daughter, decided to try her luck. “I saw how much time and effort and passion my dad put into his book. I know what a lovely storyteller he is,” she told CNN. “He never stopped writing, and he always stayed positive.”

Whether it was the interesting thriller, or the efforts of a proud daughter, the story of Lloyd Devereux Richards and Stone Maidens struck a chord.

Marguerite Richards posted the first TikTok about Stone Maidens about two weeks ago. It has since received 48 million views and numerous positive responses. Richards then posted more videos of her father, the author of the hour, delighting in his unexpected success.

This particular incident falls under a social media type best described as “Young people giving their elders love and recognition on a platform the latter doesn’t understand.” It’s a fruitful one, full of parents just like Lloyd Devereux Richards who wake up one morning to find their talents, hobbies or unusual habits have been broadcast to the world—and won them a great number of admirers. The experience has breathed new life into a labor of love. It’s also driven home some lessons about inspiration and determination.

9 .

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