Our school’s “Help Others” event was drawing near, and our team had been assigned (分配) the task of organizing a fundraising campaign (筹款活动). We had a week to plan and carry out our strategy, and everyone wanted to play a meaningful part.

On the first day of our planning week, our team leader, Emily, brought us together to discuss our roles. She assigned different tasks to each team member based on our strengths and interests. I was assigned the role of connecting with local businesses for fundraising, a task I felt confident in completing.

As the week progressed, we worked tirelessly.

One afternoon, while we were creating promotional (宣传的) materials, Jacob, one of our teammates, came to us with a tired look on his face. He explained that he had been feeling unwell for the past few days and was worried about falling behind on his tasks.

Worried about Jacob’s well-being, we encouraged him to take some time off and rest and told him that we would support him in any way we could. Jacob finally agreed, understanding that he needed to take care of himself.

With Jacob absent, we realized that his tasks, including creating promotional materials, were left unfinished. We knew that if we didn’t step in to help, our campaign would fail. To solve this problem, we came together as a team and thought of ways to support Jacob and keep our campaign on track.

Sarah, with her artistic skills, volunteered to take over the design of the promotional materials, while Mark offered to help with the content creation. Emily, our team leader, stepped in to manage the whole team, making sure that everything stayed organized and on schedule. We tried our best to make our campaign successful.

Late into the night, we came together in Sarah’s living room.

The following day, when Jacob returned to our team, he was surprised at the progress we had made in his absence

3 . For lots of kids, toddlerhood (幼儿期) is an important time for friendship. Studies show that the earlier kids learn to form positive relationships, the better they are at relating to others as teenagers and adults. Playing together also helps these kids practice social behaviors, such as kindness, sharing, and cooperation.

Even so, how quickly your child develops into a social creature may also depend on his temperament(性格). Some toddler s are very social, but others are shy. In addition, the way that toddlers demonstrate that they like other children is markedly different from what adults think of as expressions of friendship. Research at Ohio State University in Columbus found that a toddler’s way of saying “I like you” during play is likely to come in the form of copying a friend’s behavior.

This seemingly unusual way of demonstrating fondness can result in unpleasant behavior. Regardless of how much they like a playmate, they may still grab his toys, refuse to share, and get bossy. But experts say that this is a normal and necessary part of friendship for kids this age. Through play experiences, toddlers learn social rules. That’s why it’s so important to take an active role in your toddler’s social encounters by setting limits and offering frequent reminders of what they are. When you establish these guidelines, explain the reasons behind them.

Begin by helping your child learn sympathy (“Ben is crying. What’s making him so sad?”), then suggest how he could resolve the problem (“Maybe he would feel better if you let him play the ball.”). When your child shares or shows empathy(同理心) toward a friend, praise him (“Ben stopped crying! You made him feel better.”).

Another way to encourage healthy social interaction is by encouraging kids to use words- not fists-to express how they feel. It’s also important to be mindful of how your child’s personality affects playtime. Kids are easy to get angry when they’re sleepy or hungry, so schedule playtime when they’re refreshed.

4 . In his 1936 work How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie wrote: “I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way to get the best of an argument — and that is to avoid it.” This distaste for arguments is common, but it depends on a mistaken view of arguments that causes problems for our personal and social lives — and in many ways misses the point of arguing in the first place.

Carnegie would be right if arguments were fights, which is how we often think of them. Like physical fights, verbal (言语的) fights can leave both sides bloodied. Even when you win, you end up no better off. You would be feeling almost as bad if arguments were even just competitions — like, say, tennis tournaments. Pairs of opponents hit the ball back and forth until one winner comes out from all who entered. Everybody else loses. This kind of thinking explains why so many people try to avoid arguments.

However, there are ways to win an argument every time. When you state your position, formulate (阐述) an argument for what you claim and honestly ask yourself whether your argument is any good. When you talk with someone who takes a stand, ask them to give you a reason for their view and spell out their argument fully. Assess its strength and weakness. Raise objections (异议) and listen carefully to their replies. This method will require effort, but practice will make you better at it.

These tools can help you win every argument — not in the unhelpful sense of beating your opponents but in the better sense of learning about what divides people, learning why they disagree with us and learning to talk and work together with them. If we readjust our view of arguments — from a verbal fight or tennis game to a reasoned exchange through which we all gain respect and understanding from each other — then we change the very nature of what it means to “win” an argument.

6 . In scientific literature, baby talk is called “parentese” and is a unique way of communicating with babies. Classic baby talk will include speaking at a higher pitch, with exaggerated (夸张的) intonation, simplified vocabulary, and repetitive phrases. It has a melodic quality, coupled with exaggerated facial expressions. Adults also tend to speak more slowly and emphasize key words or phrases when engaging in baby talk. What’s the point of using such a ridiculous style of talking with babies? Why not just talk to a baby with normal speech, like we’d talk to another adult?

Primarily, we use baby talk to capture the baby’s attention. The exaggerated vocalizations and facial expressions serve to engage the child’s focus by being distinct from all the other noise and visual stimuli around the baby. Remember, the brain of a newborn baby is still developing and needs different cues to engage and learn something.

Baby talk also helps to establish an emotional connection between the adult and the baby. The melodic and nurturing tone conveys affection, love, and care. As a result, in a way, it reassures the child by giving them a sense of security.

Interestingly, there was a study where researchers tested 2,329 babies from 16 countries on their preference for this high-pitched, animated vocalization... babies love it when adults engage in baby talk. The study also revealed that babies from almost all cultures have an inherent love for baby talk.

Newborns can’t speak, but they come ready to learn. Evidence suggests that human brains are primed to absorb and process linguistic input. The melodic patterns and simplified language of baby talk help infants differentiate speech sounds and identify keywords, facilitating more efficient language development.

However, it’s important to strike a balance between baby talk and normal adult conversation as babies grow older and their language skills develop. As children become more proficient in understanding and producing language, adults should adapt and advance their communication style accordingly.

7 . We’ve all had a wrong number text before, but how often do they lead to years-long friendships? For Jamal and Wanda, a _______ text has resulted in seven years of shared Thanksgiving dinners!

In 2016, the 17-year-old Jamal received a text, _______ from his grandma, asking if he would _______ it to Thanksgiving that year. After exchanging a few _______ , it soon became clear that the text’s sender, Wanda, _______ , was not his grandma. She invited Jamal to the _______ though, and after Jamal _______ the exchange on the Internet, the pair went viral.

Spending Thanksgiving together has become an _______ thing for Jamal and Wanda. The year of 2023 will _______ the tradition’s eighth anniversary. Their friendship has gone from strength to strength, even through ________ like the passing of Wanda’s husband, Lonnie.

Wanda said, “Jamal ________ me that age made absolutely no difference. When Jamal came along, my husband and I and Jamal and his girlfriend, we would go out eating dinner through-out the year together and we would just lose all track of ________ . One time, we were at a restaurant for three or four hours and I couldn’t ________ we were there that long. We kept talking! It was just such a ________ conversation.”

Thanks to the wrong number text, the two have developed a deep friendship. The pair have even gone into ________ together, launching a water company.