1 . Cheating in sport is as old as sport itself. The athletes of ancient Greece used potions to strengthen themselves before a contest, and their modern counterparts have everything from anabolic steroids (类固醇) to growth hormones with which to_________their bodies. These days, however, such stimulants are_________, and those athletes must therefore face the challenges of anti-doping (反兴奋剂) agencies.

The agencies have had remarkable success. Testing for anabolic steroids was introduced in the 1970s, and the incidence of cheating seems to have_________dramatically as a result. The tests, however, are not entirely_________. And a study just published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism by Jenny Jakobsson Schulze and her colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden suggests that an individual’s genetic make-up could_________the tests in two different ways. One genotype, may allow athletes who use anabolic steroids to escape detection altogether. Another may actually be convicting (给……定罪) the innocent.

The test employed for testosterone (睾酮素) abuse usually relies on measuring the_________of two chemicals found in the urine (尿液): TG. and EG.. Any ratio above four of the former to the latter is considered_________and leads to more tests. However, the production of TG is controlled by a gene called UGT2B17. This gene comes in two varieties, one of which has a part missing and therefore does not work properly. A person may thus have none, one or two working copies of UGT2B17, since he inherits one copy from each parent. Dr. Schulze_________that different numbers of working copies would produce different test results. She therefore gave healthy male volunteers whose genes had been examined a single 360mg shot of testosterone — the standard dose for legal medical use — and checked their urine to see whether the shot could be_________.

The result was remarkable. Nearly half of the men who carried no functional copies of UGT2B17 would have gone undetected in the standard doping test.____________, 14% of those with two functional copies of the gene were over the detection threshold (门槛) before they had even received an injection. The researchers estimate this would give a ____________rate of 9% in a random population of young men.

Dr. Schulze also says there is substantial____________variation in UGT2B17 genotypes. Two-thirds of Asians have no functional copies of the gene which means they have a naturally____________ratio of TG to EG, compared with under a tenth of Caucasians (白种人) — something the anti-doping bodies may wish to take into account.

In the meantime, Dr. Schulz’s study does seem to offer innocents a way of____________themselves. Athletes who will travel to Paris for the Olympic games may be wise to travel armed not only with courage and the “spirit of Olympianism”, but also with a copy of their____________, just in case.

2 . Success in 18 minutes

I believe that routines are the ________ to success — whether in career, in fitness goals, or in your relationships. Routines provide us with an opportunity to reach our goals and ensure that we are taking steps in the right ________. In my view, ________ things like exercise routines, we must also include routines for ________ — a time ________ to planning and reflecting on what we’re doing and where we’re going.

In his book “18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done”, Peter Bregman outlines an 18-minute daily routine that will help us to reflect on where we are going, and to ________ that we remain on the right path throughout the day. Here, I will outline this routine, how to do it, and why it’s important. This routine is flexible, so take the parts that are ________ to you and make it your own.

Taking 5 minutes in the morning to plan your day is ________ important. Bregman ________ sitting down with your to-do list and figuring out what you can do that will make today highly ________. Plan what you are going to do today. These 5 minutes in the morning can look like anything. The point is to take some time to reflect on the day ahead and plan your direction.

Set an alarm for each hour. When your alarm goes off, take one minute to reflect. Take a deep breath. Reflect on the last hour — did you do what you wanted to get done? Did you ________ what you were doing? Then make a plan for what you are going to do for the next hour.

Take 5 minutes at the end of your work day to reflect on how the day went. Bregman suggests asking yourself the following questions:

One: How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure? Is there any better way to ________ them?

Two: What did I learn today? What do I plan to do — differently or the same — tomorrow?

Three: Did I interact with others? Is there anyone I need to thank, or ask a question, or   ________ thoughts with?

Again, the point is to reflect and ensure you’re on the right path, as well as setting you up for a productive day tomorrow.

Taking time to plan and reflect on your days is important. A simple, 18-minute routine is all you need to achieve this. ________ this process is simple and quick, it has powerful results. “The moments add up to days, the days add up to years, and the years add up to your life. You’ll know you’re getting the right things done. It all starts with your one thing.” ________, don’t hesitate. Start your reflection routine from today!

3 . There have been countless books and television series on living with teenagers, yet parents don’t seem to have _________ how to get their children to pick up their clothes from the bedroom floor, or even clean their room occasionally. It might be difficult to accept, but a new approach to dealing with rude or difficult teenagers is for parents to look at their own _________.

“The key to getting teenagers to respect you is to respect them first,” says Penny Palmano, who has written a best-selling book on teenagers. “You can’t _________ to treat them the same way that you have been treating them for the previous 12 years: they have opinions that count. Imagine if you’d spent two hours getting ready to go out for the evening and someone said, ‘You’ve not going out looking like that, are you?’ You’d be very _________. You’d never say that to an adult, because it shows a total _________ of respect.”

Palmano, who has a daughter aged 19, has even allowed the girl to hold several teenage parties at her home. “I’ve found that if you have brought your kids up to do the right thing, and then _________ them to do it, usually they’ll behave well,” she says. “I make them sandwiches and leave them alone. But I make it clear that they have to clear up any mess. I’ve never had a(n) _________; in fact, the kitchen was sometimes cleaner than I’d left it.”

She agrees that teenagers can be annoying: enjoying a world that is free of responsibility, yet _________ for independence. She doesn’t think, however, that they are _________ to annoy you. Until recently, scientists assumed that the brain finished growing at about the age of 13 and that teenage problems were a result of rising hormones and a desire for independence. But it turns out that the region of the brain that controls judgement and emotions is not fully __________ until the early twenties.

“This would explain why many teenagers can’t make good decisions, control their emotions, priorities or concentrate on several different things at the same time. __________, they may find it difficult to make the right decision between watching television, ringing a friend, or finishing their homework. It means that they do not __________ do the wrong thing just to annoy their parents,” says Palmano.

The key to __________ for all, Palmano believes, is calm negotiation and compromise (妥协). If you want your teenagers to be home by 11 pm, explain why, but listen to their arguments as well. If it’s Saturday, you might __________ agreeing to midnight (rather than 1 am, which is what they had in mind). If they are up to 20 minutes late, don’t react angrily. __________, ask if they’ve had a problem with public transport and let it pass; they’ve almost managed what you asked.

5 . At the start of every vacation, many parents spend their time wondering: What will the children do? When I was a child in the 1950s, the answer was easy. The children would play. We played feely with other children, in our own chosen ways, away from adults. When we got bored, we found ways to overcome it. We took up _________, took risks, sometimes hurt ourselves, got into trouble, and _________ how to get out of it.

During such play, we acquired knowledge and skills that couldn’t be taught to us in school. We learned how to take _________, make our own decisions, solve our own problems, get along with peers as equals, experience fear and then find ways to manage it, experience anger and then find ways to overcome it. We also discovered our interests, _________ them, and became skilled at them—interests that for many of us later became _________.

Over the past 60 years, however, we’ve seen a huge _________ in children’s freedom and opportunity to play on their own. Over this same period, we’ve also seen a dramatic increase in the rates of _________ and anxiety disorders among young people- five to eight times what they were in the 1950s.

Our children love to play in moderately _________ ways. Through such play, they acquire the physical, social and emotional capacities required for healthy development. They learn to get along with one another by playing socially, and they learn to deal with emergencies by playing in ways that involve risk.

Why is such play so _________? It can cause injury, so why hasn’t natural selection __________ the inner desire for it? We have some clues from laboratory experiments.

Researchers have found that when young rats or monkeys are deprived (剥夺) of play during critical periods in their development, the animals grow up as emotional cripples (跛者). They are __________ disabled when placed in new, slightly frightening environments to which normally raised animals would __________. They repeated between incapacitating fear and inappropriate aggression when placed with __________ peers. So it is no surprise to me that play-deprived human children grow up insufficient in the social and emotional skills required to deal well with life’s inevitable stressors (应激源). They may also grow up __________ the abilities to think creatively, take initiative, and assume responsibility.

We have deprived children of free, risky play, probably for their own good. In the process we have denied them the opportunity to learn how to be __________ by playing in risky ways.

Our children need more freedom, not more adult control.

6 . In today’s society, despite higher education becoming more accessible, admission to it is getting increasingly competitive. However, admission systems differ from country to country, _________ different types of competition.

_________, an average high school student in China is devoted to mastering everything that can _________ appear on the “holy (神圣的)” exam—the college entrance examination, known as the gaokao. As a good score on this exam almost _________ admission to a good colleges, it’s worth the 12 years of hard work.

In the United States, _________, education is different. To get into a good college, a regular U.S. student must keep a high and stable GPA (grade pint average), _________ extracurricular activities, and get high standardized test scores. Once a school recognizes a student’s academic performance and personal development, he or she will have a chance to be admitted.

In both countries, the _________ is getting more intense. High schools in China focus on preparing students for the gaokao. Even outside of school, many parents _________ tutoring sessions for their children. And in the U.S., _________ heavy workloads in school, students are often pushed to be involved in many activities including sports, arts and volunteering. Some students even run their own non-profits. With some colleges’ acceptance rates as low as 4.8 percent, students compete to build the most __________ resume.

__________many people criticize education in China, it’s __________ impossible to use a personalized admission system in the world’s most populated country. Just imagine how many admission officers a Chinese university would need to evaluate all of the application, not to mention the time it would take for them to make their decisions.

While the current system needs reform, the __________ of parents and students also needs to change. A score shouldn’t __________ a student’s future. Everyone is gifted in different areas and needs to take some time to discover what those areas are. If you’re not good at tests, maybe communicating with others comes to you easier.

Once you step outside this box, you’ll discover more about yourself. __________, exams are only the means, not the end.

7 . How to Get Used to a New School

New surroundings, unfamiliar faces and different learning standards make the transition to a new school stressful for many students. Not only are they faced with ________, they may also feel sad about leaving their old schools. Getting used to a new school takes time, but coping strategies can ease the transition.

Research

Knowing what to ________ makes the transition a little easier on everyone. Most school districts have websites with general information about individual schools, educational philosophies (理念), schedules and activities. The school calendar provides details about ________ events, such as an open house, that might help with the transition. If you know the________ of the teachers, you might even find pictures or introduction to learn a little before you meet them. The method of transportation to school is another research topic. If walking is an option, check out a map to find the best route from home to school.

Visit

The first day at any new school often is met with nervousness and sometimes confusion. Contact the school and schedule a low-pressure trip to the building before the first day so the campus looks ________ when classes start. The trip provides a chance to find lockers, classrooms and key spots, such as the cafeteria. If the teacher is available, a meeting is a possibility. The________ may ease some fears about starting at an unknown school.

Get Involved

________ in the community even before the first day of school can help with the move. You meet new people who may also attend the school or have children at the school. Those familiar faces make the school less frightening in the beginning. Once classes start, the school offers other ways to get involved, ________ joining after-school activities or student organizations.

Establish a Routine

A new school often means a new routine, including morning ig preparation, getting to school and after-school activities. Setting into a routine gives the family a sense of familiarity. With all of the changes, a daily schedule gives children some stability. The routine should ________ a bedtime early enough to allow for plenty of sleep. Being rested makes it easier to handle the challenges of a new school. When still adjusting to the school, allow for yourself plenty of time in the mornings ________ to get to school on time adds to the stress of being in a new situation.

9 . Trying to make a big decision while you’re also preparing for a scary presentation? You might want to ______ doing that. Most people prefer to have sufficient time to analyze a situation and consider the ______. Feeling stressed changes how people ______ risk and reward. A new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science reviews how, under stress, people pay more attention to the ______ of a possible outcome. Pressure can result in ______ attention and the use of unconscious reasoning. It can force a decision-maker to sort the relevant factors from the irrelevant, and can ______ clear thinking with specific priorities. 

It’s a bit ______ that stress makes people focus on the way things could go right, says Mara Mather of the University of Southern California. “This is sort of not what people would think,” Mather says, “Stress is usually associated with disagreeable experiences, so you’d think that maybe I’m going to be more focused on the ______ outcomes.” But researchers have found that when people are under stress — by being told to hold their hand in ice water for a few minutes, for example, or give a speech — they start paying more attention to positive information and ______ negative information. “Stress seems to worsen their learning from negative feedback,” Mather says. This means when people under stress are making a difficult decision, they may pay more attention to the upsides of the alternatives they’re considering and less to the downsides. So someone who’s deciding whether to take a new job and is feeling stressed by the ______ might weigh the increase in salary more heavily than the worse commute (通勤)。

The increased focus on the positive also helps explain why stress plays a role in ______, and people under stress have a harder time controlling their urges. “The compulsion to get the reward comes stronger and they’re less able to ______ it,” Mather says. So a person who’s under stress might think only about the good feelings they’ll get from negative things like a drug, while the ______ shrink to the distance.

Stress also ______ the differences in how men and women think about risk. When men are under stress, they become even more ______ to take risks; when women are stressed, they get more conservative. Mather links this to another research that finds, at difficult times, men tend to face the situation, while women are likely to be more conservative.

10 . Feel Like You’re Falling Behind Your Peers?

It’s never pleasant to lag behind others that we consider similar to ourselves. The conventional wisdom says to “stop competing with others and only compete with yourself”. But that’s easier said than done. With the rise of social media, it’s hard to avoid _______ of your colleagues’ accomplishments if you want to stay connected. But in fact that knowledge can have benefits. A recent study shows that it can become a source of _______ in both one’s work and life.

So how can you take advantage of the positive benefits of competition without suffering from the insecurity it may _______?

Track your triggers.

The stress of feeling behind your peers can emerge in many _______ throughout the day. It might be hearing your boss compliment another colleague, or watching your colleagues leave their 9-5 job to build businesses of their own.

It’s vital to pay attention to the things that tend to cause you to compare yourself with others, because if you are _______ that these are triggers, you can transform them into opportunities for a more productive response.

Shift to purposeful re-framing.

Once you _______ the situations that provoke these negative feelings in you, you may decide to quit any action that could cause you to feel insecure. But that’s rarely a(n) _______ or practical solution.

For instance, you probably can’t avoid hearing what your boss says about you or your colleagues. A better approach is to _______ engage those feelings to your benefit. Instead of saying to yourself, “I wish I did that,” ask yourself, “Why can’t I do that?” Then take some time to listen to what ideas emerge in your mind.

_______ a personal strength to regain validation (认可).

During the period of insecurity, you may start to consider how you can ________ others. Double down on your strengths and express them to the world.

An executive coaching client of mine was heartbroken that his planned promotion this year was postponed due to the pandemic. He worried that his future ________ for promotion to this position would slowly disappear.

To get out of his negative state, he decided to harness (利用) his writing talent. He ________ a thoughtful article for the company blog on how to effectively and positively lead others ________ the current crisis. Countless junior and senior colleagues expressed their gratitude for his honest and optimistic guidance. This feedback, ________, made him confident about his value.

Any efforts in your career and life will ________ bring self-comparison and insecurity. But whenever you feel like you are falling behind others, you can use these strategies to regain your confidence and perform well in the competitions that genuinely matter to you.