1 . Most of us believe that we go to college in order to be educated, and be ________ to our society when we complete our studies. ________ this is true, but there is more to it than that. We go to college not only to learn knowledge, but to ________ ourselves for the real world, for college is a society in miniature (微型复制品). Thus, it teaches us how to ________ relationships between different kinds of people later. College life provides many opportunities, which can help us better ________ the real world. College education also ________ a student to develop a mind that is able to think clearly and critically

While we are at college, we should communicate with our ________ as possible. They are as human as we are but with a wider range of knowledge than we do, which can help ________ our secret little problems. As a result, they can help us in more ways than just teaching us school ________.

Some of us tend to go to extremes (极端). We are either too fond of studies and become bookworms or too ________ in after-school activities. The former kinds of students,________ are star pupils at college but not likely to be successful in their career because they ________ the knowledge of real human beings and their range of interests is too ________ . The latter.________ they lack the basic knowledge of science and humanities, are not likely to succeed, either. Thus we must follow the middle ________ between these two extremes.

2 . It’s really easy to feel all alone in life, especially when going through hardship. But sometimes the best thing we can do is to allow ourselves to ask for _________, like Erin did.

Erin worked at a McDonald’s in Michigan. But her pay wasn’t enough to cover rent and she and her twin girls ended up _________. She wanted to sleep in her car which was _________ right outside of the girls’ school. However, she wasn’t sure whether what she was doing was _________.

So, she asked police officer Heather Kolke if they could stay there. But the conversation didn’t stop there. Heather, also a mom, knew she had to _________. She and her fellow officers found Erin and her daughters a temporary place to stay in. That wasn’t all though, they even got her an _________ and went with her to offer moral support. Luckily, Erin got that job.

Heather also planned a birthday party for Erin’s daughters, with local businesses _________ balloons, cake, and pizza.

The whole community ultimately got _________, raising $2,300 in cash, as well as clothes for the kids, items for their new _________, gift cards to help them make ends meet.

“It really warms my heart to know that there are people out there who __________. It is a reminder that there are good people in the world,” shared Erin.

4 . Global surface temperatures last month were 2.25 degrees warmer than the 20th century average of 60.1 degrees, breaking previous records, from August 2016, by more than half a degree, according to NOAA researchers. “That to me is a really huge _________ from one record to the next,” said Ellen Bartow, a physical scientist with NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

The report _________ what millions of people have experienced in recent months, including record-breaking heatwaves that have touched almost every corner of the globe. Asia, Africa, North America and South America had their warmest August on record, as did the Arctic, Europe and Oceania — a region that _________ Australia—had their second-warmest August on record, the report said.

It wasn’t just the land that _________: August set a record for the highest monthly sea surface temperature abnormally — 1.85 degrees above average. The warming oceans _________ shrinking sea ice, with Antarctica experiencing its fourth continuous month with the _________ sea ice extent on record. Globally, sea ice extent in August was about 550,000 square miles less than the previous record low, set in August 2019.

“We’ve seen unheard-of warmth in the global ocean, and that’s definitely alarming because its effects _________ beyond just the scope of the ocean,” Bartow-Gillies said. “Not only are you _________ marine habitats, but you are affecting storm creation, you’re creating more instability in some areas, and you’re creating flooding events in other areas. There’s a whole host of _________ that come along with these warmer ocean surface temperatures that we’re seeing.”

In fact, the report comes after a series of severe natural __________ that span the globe. This week, a Mediterranean storm caused serious flooding in Libya, killing more than 11,000 people. In Canada, wildfires burned through more than 42 million acres of forests this summer, and several are still burning. __________ global warming was not the singular cause of any of these disasters, heating of the Earth continues to __________ the likelihood of extreme weather events and wildfire worldwide.

“The scientific evidence is __________ — we will continue to see more climate records and more intense and frequent extreme weather events impacting society and ecosystems, until we stop __________ greenhouse gases,” read a statement from Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which also __________ that this summer was the hottest on record.

5 . Research has shown that two-thirds of human conversation is taken up not with discussion of the cultural or political problems of the day, not heated debates about films we’ve just watched or books we’ve just finished reading, but plain and simple _________.

Language is our greatest treasure as a species, and what do we _________ do with it? We gossip. About others’ behaviour and private lives, such as who’s doing what with whom, who’s in and who’s out—and why; how to deal with difficult _________ situations involving children, lovers, and colleagues.

So why are we keen on gossiping? Are we just natural _________, of both time and words? Or do we talk a lot about nothing in particular simply to avoid facing up to the really important issues of life? It’s not the case according to Professor Robin Dunbar. In fact, in his latest book, Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language, the psychologist says gossip is one of these really _________ issues.

Dunbar _________ the traditional view that language was developed by the men at the early stage of social development in order to organize their manly hunting activities more effectively, or even to promote the exchange of poetic stories about their origins and the supernatural. Instead he suggests that language evolved among women. We don’t spend two-thirds of our time gossiping just because we can talk, argues Dunbar—_________, he goes on to say, language evolved specifically to allow us to gossip.

Dunbar arrived at his cheery theory by studying the _________ of the higher primates(灵长类动物) like monkeys. By means of grooming—cleaning the fur by brushing it, monkeys form groups with other individuals on whom they can rely for support in the event of some kind of conflict within the group or _________ from outside it.

As we human beings evolve from a particular branch of the primate family, Dunbar __________ that at one time in our history we did much the same. Grouping together made sense because the bigger the group, the greater the __________ it provided; on the other hand, the bigger the group, the greater the stresses of living close to others. Grooming helped to __________ the pressure and calm everybody down.

But as the groups got bigger and bigger, the amount of time spent in grooming activities also had to be __________ to maintain its effectiveness. Clearly, a more __________ kind of grooming was needed, and thus language evolved as a kind of vocal grooming which allowed humans to develop relationship with ever-larger groups by exchanging information over a wider network of individuals than would be possible by one-to-one __________ contact.

7 . Contact between adolescents (between the ages of 15 and 19) and their peers (同龄人) is a universal characteristic of all cultures. However, the nature and the degree of such contact ________ a great deal. In American contemporary society, adolescents spend much more time with their peers than with ________ or adults.

This pattern of age segregation (隔离) in American society did not become usual until the beginning of the industrialized society. Changes in the ________separated children from adults, with adults working and children attending school. The dramatic increase of mothers in the workplace has ________ contributed to (促成) the reduction in the amount of time adolescents spend with adults. School reform efforts during the nineteenth century, which ________ age-segregated schools and grades, have reduced the amount of time adolescents spend with younger children. Finally, the changes in population are considered a(n)________that may have contributed to the emergence of adolescent peer culture. From 1955 to 1975, the adolescent ________ increased dramatically, from 11 percent to 20.9 percent. This increase in the number of adolescents might be a contributing factor to the ________ in adolescent peer culture in terms of growth in size as well as in terms of its impact on society’s other cultures.

Research ________ the view that adolescent s spend a great deal of time with their peers. Reed Larson and his colleagues examined adolescents’ daily ________ and found that they spend more time talking to their friends than engaging in any other activity. In a typical week, ________, high school students will spend twice as much time with their peers as with adults. This gradual withdrawal (退出) from adults begins in ________ adolescence. In sixth grade, adults (excluding parents) account for only 25 percent of adolescent social ________ . Another important characteristic of adolescent peer________ is its increasingly autonomous (自治的) function. While childhood peer groups are conducted under the close supervision (监管) of parents, adolescent peer groups typically make an effort to ________ adult supervision and usually succeed in doing so.

8 . Warning: Don’t make big decisions from high elevations

You definitely don’t want to have your head in the clouds when making a crucial financial decision. But who could have thought our decisions are literally influenced by altitude?

As in, what floor you happen to be on when considering something. If it’s a high elevation, like the top floor of an office tower, chances are you’ll embrace ______ a little more than you would on the ground floor, according to researchers from Miami University. The study, published this month in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, suggests you may want a(n) ______ advisor to work from a ground-floor office rather than the top floor. And it gives new, literal ______ to the idea that you should stay grounded when making big decisions. “When you increase elevation, there is a(n) ______ effect on the sense of power,” lead author Sina Esteky, PhD, noted in a release. “This heighted feeling of power ______ in more risk-seeking behavior.”

For the study, Esteky’s team interviewed people as they were ascending and descending in the glass elevator of a tall building. They found the ______ of the elevator strongly influenced the level of risk-aversion among participants. They were more likely, ______, to take more gambles on the way to the 74th floor—but their decisions became far more grounded as they neared, well, the ground.

Another experiment ______ people who were either on the ground floor or the third floor of a university building. Each group was asked to make 10 decisions of ______ risk levels. Guess which group made the most risky decisions? What was it about higher elevations that made the participants feel braver? Researchers theorized it could have something to do with the perception that elevation gives people a(n) ______ of power and authority.

Risk seems a lot smaller when seen from above — literally. That idea seemed to hold ______ in further experiments. When participants were told their decisions were being influenced by elevation, the effect ______ disappeared. Likewise, “elevation effect” wasn’t a factor for people mired in cubicles (困在隔间里) who couldn’t see how high up they were.

“The important lesson is that when people become aware of the ______ impact of elevation, it doesn’t happen anymore,” Esteky says. ‘The brain is very sensitive to subtle ______ factors, but also really good at correcting for such effects, so ______ can help us be more rational in our decisions.”