1 . Certain brands and products can be easily recognized at a glance by people worldwide.     1     Just mentioning the words golden arches (拱门) brings to mind burgers and fries from McDonald’s. With such universal popularity, many people are confused as to why these large and famous companies do so much advertising and have such large advertising budgets.     2    

Most business owners who are just starting to understand how vital advertising is to their growth. Putting in the time and money to market your company can help it grow over time.     3     Continuing to advertise after achieving success helps businesses maintain a positive image with the public. It can also help attract new customers as demographics (客户群体) change as time passes. Furthermore, advertising helps to inform your customers of updates to old products and introduce new ones. However, the ultimate goal of advertising for both big and small companies is to earn more income and maximize profits.

    4     Is it better to stick to traditional forms of media, like newspapers and television, or embrace (接纳) new forms of online advertising on social media sites? While many new smaller companies tend to focus their limited budgets on social media and internet marketing, it is usually better for larger, well-established companies to do both. For example, over 95% of homes receive television signals, while only around 75% of the population has access to the internet.     5     Also, older, wealthier people are more likely to notice television advertising than online advertising. While the focus of advertising might change over time, companies must certainly continue to use it to grow.

2 . Thanks to the $10bn James Webb Space Telescope, we are beginning to “see” the radiant heat of the early universe like never before. On Monday night, to the excitement of professional astronomers and amateurs the world over, the telescope’s first full-colour image of deep space was released. The striking image, taken at minimally explored wavelengths and never-before-seen resolution, reveals a large number of universal objects.

The image is yet to be fully analysed but some objects are relics (遗迹) dating to within 0.7bn years of the Big Bang, the explosion that created our universe 13.8bn years ago. A new era (时代) of astronomy, in which we can finally see the oldest objects in the universe and gain a fuller understanding of its origins, has officially begun.

Tuesday saw four more important results emerge from the Webb’s first week of observations. Chris Lintott, professor of astrophysics at Oxford University and a researcher on galaxy (星系) formation, said he was blown away by the quality and beauty of the images. “It knocked my socks off,” Lintott said on Tuesday. “I was sitting in a roomful of galaxy experts when the Stephan’s Quintet image was shown, and jaws hit the floor. The Webb is going to produce some of the most amazing pictures of the space age.”

Webb’s “first deep field”, as the image of deep space released on Monday is known, is a picture taken over 12. 5 hours. It shows the cotton-wool-like galaxy cluster (团) SMACS 0723 centrally in the foreground, plus bright white stars.

As Lintott points out, bigger light-collecting mirrors result in sharper images, of the type that Webb is now delivering. The investment in the James Webb Space Telescope’s large foldable mirror has paid off. It is hard to believe that the Earth-orbiting telescope, regarded as one of the most complex engineering projects ever attempted and nearly cancelled a decade ago, has begun operating successfully.

7 . While writing, we may always ask ourselves “Are there any better expressions to convey what we mean?” In a writing class, a teacher tells a golden rule of writing.

Teacher: Show but don’t tell, class. This is the golden rule of creative writing. You need to show the reader (the person who is reading) what you want to say, not tell him, or her.

David (student):     1    ? Writing is about words, right? We can only tell things using words. How can we show them? We’re not painters!

Teacher: Stop laughing, everybody, and listen carefully. I’ll give you two examples: ‘He was feeling very worried.’ Now I will say the same thing in a different way: ‘He was biting his fingernails and sweating.’     2    ? Which part shows the reader how he was feeling?

Anne(student):The second example, the one about the fingernails and the sweating.       3    

Teacher: Yes! Excellent! Well done, Anne. You’re a brilliant student.

David: I don’t understand.

Teacher: And here, everybody, we see a very good example of both showing and telling. Not only has David told us that he doesn’t understand, he’s also shown us: with that silly look on his face.     4     Well done!

David: Stop laughing! It’s not funny! Be quiet, Anne!

Teacher: David! Don’t shout at Anne. She’s done nothing wrong. Now, everybody, let’s play a game:     5     . OK? Right, let’s go. ‘She was very sad.’ Now, who’d like to speak out your sentence?

8 . Since her retirement, an old family friend has begun visually journaling her travels. She isn’t an “artist”, but that doesn’t reduce her joy in her experiences or the truth and appeal of her sketches (素描). It was inspiring and I took it as a good idea for later. When I saw the recent Van der Weel and Van der Meer study about handwriting and cognitive activation (认知激活), I thought about my friend, the passage of time, and aging and realized that it was time to hunt up all my media ( pens, pencils, watercolors, bound journals, and sketchpads) and shift some activities from keyboard to paper as an investment in brain health.

Van der Weel and Van der Meer found writing by hand (rather than tapping away on your keyboard) increases brain connectivity. It may be time to consider deleting some of those list-making and journal apps from your phone and return to paper and notebooks. Healthy media use of any kind is, after all, about balance. I realized that I write very little by hand but if doing so activates the whole brain, then it may join the list of activities, like doing crossword puzzles and learning a new language, which help delay cognitive decline.

Writing helps people process life’s emotional ups and downs through sense-making—the greater the cognitive effort to find meaning, the greater appreciation of the benefits and improved mood. Meaning and positive emotions are central to well-being.

However, I had never considered the physical act of handwriting as a brain health aging activity. The greater brain activity from handwriting compared to typing is thought to explain why handwritten notes are linked to increased learning among students. Learning and memory are both cognitive functions. Learning describes how we gain new skills and knowledge. Memory is how we store and bring back what we learn. Aging messes with both and can prevent new learning as well as the memory of what you just learned. However, social, physical, and cognitively challenging activities have been shown to reduce the negative effects of aging on cognitive function and increase cognitive reserve (认知储备).

9 . Passive learning and active learning are two totally different patterns of learning in the world of teaching. Traditionally, learning has been mostly passive in nature. However, in the last 2-3 decades, there has been a push to encourage active learning in the classroom. Passive learning refers to learning in which the student does little to acquire knowledge. The most common form of passive learning is direct instruction. In passive learning, the student is viewed as an empty container of knowledge that the teacher must fill with his or her knowledge. Freire called this pattern of learning banking education as the student serves as an account in which the teacher or banker places knowledge or money. There’s a heavy stress on memorizing information or knowledge. The student should take notes and be ready to repeat what the teacher has said. The teacher is the wise man on the stage.

Passive learning always sounds bad but sometimes it can be beneficial. When people have no former knowledge of a subject, passive learning can provide a foundation for future active learning activities.

Active learning is learning in which the student is actively involved in the learning process. Common examples of this learning pattern include any form of discussion in the classroom.

Active learning encourages students to use their current knowledge to build new understanding. There’s a reduction of lecturing in an active learning classroom. Rather, students interact with each other and the teacher to develop their understanding of the content. Active learning also faces some challenges. One is that active learning is time-consuming. Developing activities and leading discussions can force the class to move slower. If the course covers a large amount of content, this can be challenging for teachers.

In conclusion, there’s room in the world of education for both passive and active learning. But too much reliance on either one will probably be a disadvantage for students.