1 . The disposable culture

The disposable (一次性的) culture started small. In1892 William Painter, founder of the Baltimore Bottle Seal Company, patented the bottle cap. The bottles were returned and refilled, but the bottle caps were ________. They only worked once. Painter’s chief salesman at the time was called Mr Gillette, who went on to apply the same principle to his own invention, the disposable version-cameras, contact lenses, barbecues- but the ________ has been taken a step further. For ________ reasons, most of the electrical equipment that we buy for the home is effectively disposable. This is because it is usually cheaper to ________ them than to mend them. This applies not just to radios and toasters, but also to fridges, televisions and dishwashers. We now live in a disposable culture.

Most people feel ________ this new trend. We know we should be reducing the amount of waste we produce and recycling as much as possible although despite all our efforts, landfill continues to increase. It’s hard to slip a CD player into the bottom of the rubbish these days without feeling ________ especially if you suspect that all it needs is a simple repair. But who ________ that sort of thing these days? And how much would they charge you?

With persistence, one may still ________ someone out there willing to make the necessary repairs to your broken bread-making machine, but even they will feel obliged to inform you that, given the likely price of the ________, you’ d probably be better off throwing away the old one and buying the latest model. To ________ that something should be mended even though that will cost more than a brand-new replacement is weird, to say the least.

This dilemma (困境) occasionally ________ the possibility of fixing the damaged goods yourself. If something is next to ________ anyway, why not take it apart and see if you can figure out what’s wrong? I have had particular luck with cheap, plastic, battery-operated children’s toys, where bad manufacture is usually the cause of the ________ and some strong glue or tape is usually all it needs to put it right. Small children tend to be impressed by this sort of thing, which is probably the only reason I bother. I wouldn’t suggest you attempt to repair your own microwave, although I managed it once. It was one of the most ________ experiences of my life a difficult success to mention in casual conversation, perhaps, but I’m still trying.

While some repairs are certainly beyond the ability of the ordinary consumer, many are unbelievably simple. Finding willing ________ may be almost impossible, but tracking down spare parts has never been easier now that you can look on the Internet. There are also hundreds of sites offering step-by-step instructions for making repairs.

5 . Everyone knows that running is a good way to stay in shape. The simplicity of running appeals to many people. You don’t need a lot of complicated or expensive equipment; you just need a good pair of running shoes. Well, that idea is changing.     1    

This is not a surprise to the Tarahumara Indians, who live in northwest Mexico. The rough terrain (地势) in their area makes it easier to travel on foot than by horse or by car. Traditionally, the Tarahumara were hunters. They follow their prey over long distances, sometimes, for days, until the animals became exhausted.     2     They are known for their endurance, running races of 50 miles or longer. When Tarahumara athletes ra n in the marathon at the 1968 Olympics, they didn’t understand that the race was over after only 26.2 miles, so they kept running. “Too short, too short,” they complained.

But here is the amazing part: Tarahumara runners don’t wear running shoes. Tarahumara shoes are very simple. The sole (鞋底) is a piece of rubber held to the foot with homemade belt. These rubber soles protect against sharp objects, but they don’t provide any support or cushioning.

How is it possible that some of the best runners in the world don’t wear running shoes? Scientific studies are beginning to point to something the Tarahumara have known for centuries: Human beings are built for running barefoot. In a recent study, researchers used a video camera to examine how athletes run when they are barefoot.     3     When they do this, the arch (足弓) of foot absorbs the impact. Then that force is redirected back up through the leg.

    4     Walk into a sporting goods store today and you will find sections that are devoted to the shoes using the simplest structure. With a thin sole and heel, they are designed to be the shoes that feel like no shoes. The increasing number of these shoes on the market is evidence of this new trend. It is clear that shoe companies and runners are beginning to accept the wisdom of Tarahumara — barefoot may be the best.

6 . Recent years have seen a small increase in unemployment rates due to slowing of the economy. The fact that many college graduates are finding it difficult to land a job has sparked online discussions on the cost of education and the returns on it, with many agreeing with the notion that “education is useless”.

Stories like a person with a doctorate’s degree from Zhejiang University is delivering food, and overseas-returned graduates are selling hot-pot ingredients have caused many to question the value of education. Moreover, the fact that about 36,000 fewer candidates have applied to take the postgraduate exam in 2024, the first decline in numbers in years, has also fueled the “education is useless theory.

Is education truly worthless? This question has resurfaced due to several factors.

The wide spread of higher education has significantly increased the number of college graduates, reducing the value of college degrees. As the job market becomes over-crowded with graduates, the scarcity of high-level talents has become apparent, particularly in fields such as the humanities. For example, more than 900 institutions in China offer English major, making it the most common degree program, yet there’s a shortage of top talents who are proficient in English and have a good knowledge about the differences in Chinese and foreign approach to fields such as international relations and journalism.

The declining returns on the investment in education have given rise to the “education is useless” theory. Given the challenging job market, many believe college education does not guarantee any sort of employment, let alone a suitable job. And with various economic opportunities available, the notion that one can become financially successful even without formal education is becoming increasingly acceptable.

In light of these developments, combined efforts need to be made to change the situation. For instance, universities must take measures to integrate education, research and industry, while enhancing cooperation with enterprises through tailored talent training programs. Additionally, the authorities need to pay greater attention to vocational education, an important part of China’s educational system. Students, parents and society, on their part, should abandon their bias against vocational training, because it integrates education with career prospects throughout the learning process, offering targeted, technical and practical training which allows students to master their skills which can get them well-paying jobs in the future.

Developing a correct view of employment and career choice is key to abandoning the notion of “education being useless”. People, especially students, must understand the current employment landscape, their positioning, and strengths and weaknesses. While realizing that a college degree is no longer a ticket to employment, college students should leverage education resources to enrich their professional knowledge and competitiveness. And youths should approach vocational education with an open mind in order to make the most of what the job market has to offer.

Education is not synonymous with earning money, nor does a college degree guarantee financial success. The value of education is knowledge, which we need to make informed decisions not only in our professional life but also in our social and other fields of life.

I offer to pay you $200 in one year if you give me $190 today. Good deal or bad deal? It’s the kind of math problem you might encounter in real life, _________, say, whether the cosecant (余割) of a 30-degree angle is 1 or 2. You can imagine students _________ their spirits and paying attention when they realize that they need to know algebra (代数) to avoid being cheated on a loan. Math and personal finance make a _________ fit. Students grasp concepts in math much better when they see how those subjects _________ their daily financial lives.

A survey in 2022 funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that 61 percent of parents of students said math education should be “relevant to the real world” _________ that only 21 percent said it was. The drive for relevance goes beyond K-12 education. Some of America’s top universities are _________ personal finance into their curriculums.

Harvard has a personal finance course in the _________ department that’s taught by John Campbell, a past president of the American Finance Association. “_________, personal finance was regarded as a very sort of hands-on skill that you might teach to people who were going to a technical high school,” he told me. “There is, I would say, a modern movement to _________ of personal finance as a subject with actually a lot more intellectual content.”

In most high schools, personal finance classes are light on math, and math classes are __________ in personal finance. The FiCycle curriculum has plenty of each. “The personal finance component is incredibly __________ for our high school students,” Philip Dituri, the director of education at Financial Life Cycle Education, who has a doctorate in math education, told me. He believed that quite a lot of students would be stimulated by the __________.

There is a __________ standard for personal finance education that was put together by the Council for Economic Education and the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. It emphasizes how to __________ one’s finances. FiCycle focuses more on the underlying concepts. It’s about “how and why individuals and households transfer consumption over time,” Financial Life Cycle Education says.

In conclusion, the integration of math and personal finance in education is not just an academic pursuit, but a __________ necessity for students to guide their real life. It is time for educational institutions to take note and adapt their curricula to better prepare students for the financial challenges of adulthood.

10 . ChatGPT, as a large language model, learned to generate human-like text based on a given context. It can do most of the text-generation tasks that involve natural language for communication. Examples of these tasks are text completion (e.g. email and report writing), paraphrasing, text summarization, machine translation, and question-answering. In addition, it can also be used for conversational AI applications, such as chatbots and virtual assistants.

While the ChatGPT platform has a wide range of applications related to text generation, outputs should be evaluated critically and used with caution, as they may contain false, biased, or outdated information.

The use of homework aids in higher education is not new. For years, students have used sites like Quizlet to cut comers as they complete homework assignments or take online quizzes. In response, teachers have had to adapt to these challenges and design assessments that can avoid the use of these tools.

I view ChatGPT in the same light. Essentially, ChatGPT collects information readily available online to form a response to a given prompt (提示). The AI has no capacity for critical thinking and often misses the mark whenever a prompt requires any critical or abstract thinking If university teachers want to avoid the threat of ChatGPT, then perhaps the strictness of their assignments needs to be increased.

While there are many concerns that ChatGPT harms academic assessment, it and better versions may force us to shift our curriculum to higher levels of critical thinking. Beyond this, we may discover ways it can be used to enhance the learning process. If students focus on advanced aspects of their schoolwork, chatbots could assist with more menial (微不足道的) educational tasks. For example, some instructors are experimenting with new forms of student engagement, including project-based learning. Perhaps a chatbot could be used to brainstorm on these projects. Learning effectiveness could be enhanced by customizing the learning process at an individual level to better match a diversified student body.