1 . In the early hours of the morning on April 17, Kevin Record, 43, was sleeping in his apartment on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England. His dog, Shogun, jumped onto the bed and ______ him up. Record’s e-scooter (电动摩托车) was sparking. In a sudden, the scooter’s battery ______ and the bedroom was quickly set on fire.

Though suffering serious life-changing ______ on the right-hand side of his body, Record managed to ______ from the flat and survive from the fire. ______, Shogun lost his life. “Losing my hero dog especially made me ______.” Record said. “He was everything to me. I’ll never ______ what he did for me.” Record added: “I can’t explain the ______ of the fire. I had never seen anything like that. Within seconds, it was like a fireball that ______ to everything in sight. It was so quick and ______.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) ______ to the apartment fire. They put out the fire but could not ______ any of Record’s belongings. Fire investigators believed that the ______ in Record’s e-scooter had been overheated while powering up, causing the scooter to catch fire.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Kevin promised he would routinely check his e-scooter and make sure it is in good working ______. After Kevin recovered from his injuries, the 43-year-old was hoping his experience would serve as a(n) ______ for anyone storing or charging e-scooters.

2 . It’s cool to be a fool in school, obviously. Research from Florida Atlantic University shows that aggressive, troublesome adolescents often end up becoming quite ________ among their peers (同龄人).

Importantly, researchers explain that being popular and having friends aren’t one in the same. Popularity ________ that everyone knows you, but they may not necessarily ________ you as a good friend. Study authors theorize that certain children ________ popularity to lots of friends. Why?

Being popular is thought a major status symbol for an ________. While it is certainly ________ that many popular children are fun and ________ , others are troublemakers.

The team at FAU performed a study to test their ________ that disruptive (破坏性的) children often start conflicts with their fellow classmates to ________ their social standing and become more popular. The results showed that higher initial levels of peer-reported ________ and disruptiveness were indeed associated with an ________ in peer-reported popularity during the semester. This was especially true for kids reporting frequent ________ with peers.

Aggression, ________ , occurs in the heat of the moment during a conflict of some kind. Researchers theorize that many kids just want to avoid quarrels, or perhaps even ________ harm. In such cases they usually ________ when challenged by an aggressive peer. These ________ “ provide visible evidence of dominance (支配地位) and ___ short-term gains in popularity” for the aggressor, the authors ________.

While researchers don’t think ________ is enough by itself to boost up (提高) one’s overall social status, they do ________ it can be used as an effective way of improving certain aspects of popularity.

3 . My phone was an extension of myself. I couldn’t go anywhere _________ it. I scrolled through my friends’ _________ into late night and turned my phone on before my eyes were fully open. I enjoyed having it until that day when I realized that what had started as a useful tool had turned into a(n) _________. So, I made a _________ decision to turn off that smartphone and _________ my old dumb phone out of hiding.

When I was watching TV shows or movies and there was a boring part, I _________ picking up the phone and checking out “what everyone else was doing.” Now I had to pay attention or find a way to _________ myself with my thoughts instead. When I visited New York City, I had to write out _________ and ask people where an intersection (十字路口) was _________ pulling out my phone.

I have welcomed silence into my life with open arms and am enjoying the increased __________ from not constantly having to fight with the __________ to check my phone while I’m trying to get something done. I am allowing my thoughts to speak to me instead of my phone. I am connecting with others in a __________ way that isn’t all about me. Instead of always posting about what’s going on in my __________ perfect life, I am connecting with my friends one-on-one, talking about the reality of our lives and being there for them from a place of __________.

As much as having a smartphone was __________, not having one is freeing on a much bigger level.

4 . History has not yet _______ what we will definitively call the postmillennial cohort (2000年后出生的人) that now _______ more than 60 million people in the U.S. These kids and _______ with no concept of life _______ the Internet have so far been called the App Generation and Generation Z. They’ve been referred to as Homelanders, having grown up under the ghost of terorism. They’ve also been _______ the Plurals, for their historic diversity, as well as the Founders, at least by MTV.

Whatever we _______ naming them, marketers and academies are turning their attention to this group, which has billions in _______ and is already shaping the culture. This generation is growing up “totally and utterly connected,” says California State University psychologist Larry Rosen. Experts like Rosen have concerns about these kids’ Google-inspired expectations that everything be _______. They worry about their inability to _______ even five seconds of boredom. And they worry about the demands that come with ________ several identities online, from Facebook to Twitter to Snapchat. “There’s so much pressure on young people, who are still ________ their identities, to present this crystallized, idealized identity online,” says the University of Washington’s Katie Davis.

Historian Neil Howe sees ________ with the Silent Generation, the spoilt, risk-avoiding, “nice” generation of kids who grew up during the Great Depression and World War II, although some marked differences are found. Today’s youths are also coming of age among geopolitical trouble and fears about the economy, he says, ________ schools emphasize an intense far-reaching sensitivity to other kids. He suspects this ________ will be known for being well behaved and perhaps boring the culture by playing it safe. “There are typical examples that occur repeatedly,” Howe says, “even if they go by different ________.”

5 . Today’s youth will drive tomorrow’s growth. Young people have always confused their elders. Today’s youngsters are no different. They have thin wallets but ________ tastes. They long for authenticity while being constantly immersed in an artificial digital world. They ________ convenience and abundance. As they start spending in earnest, brands are trying to understand what these walking paradoxes (悖论) ________ and how they shop. The answers will define the next era of consumerism.

A good place to start analyzing the psyche of young consumer is to consider the ________ that has shaped them. At one end of the scale, today’s 30-somethings came of age in the midst of the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. Their younger peers were slightly ________, beginning their careers in years when tightening labour markets had pushed up wages until the covid-19 pandemic turned many of their lives upside down.

These two big ________ have contributed to pessimism among the young people who experienced them. A study found a widespread ________ among Gen Zs that they would be able to afford to retire. Less than half believed they would ever own a home.

In many ways youngsters’ shopping habits, like their lives, are defined by the “________ economy”. The popularity of social media means there are many new ways of attracting consumers’ eyeballs. Most young shoppers never knew a world without smartphones. More than two-thirds of 18- to 34-year-old Americans spend four hours or more on their devices each day.

These “always-on purchasers” often avoid a weekly shop so that they can have quicker ________ of everything from fashion to furniture. They like subscriptions, often favoring shared access to products over outright ownership, which has ________ online-rental sites and streaming services.

The internet has also changed how the young discover brands. Print, billboard or TV advertising has ________ social media. Instagram and TikTok are where the young look for inspiration, particularly for goods where ________ matter, such as beauty, fashion, and sportswear. ________ physical shops are not entirely out of favor. They can be successful as long as the experience feels personal and, ideally, integrates virtual and physical worlds.

How the young shop is clearly shifting. What they buy, too, is changing. What older generations consider optional, such as wellness and luxury, has become ________ for the young.

More broadly, young consumers claim to be more ________ than previous generations. Some of these values are centered around identity (race, gender and so on). Others stem from things the young care about, such as climate change.

6 . Like many young Chinese, Zuo had been raised from a young age to be “a good student”. As long as she followed the rules and worked hard, money and success would naturally followed. Zuo had followed the instructions to the_________. She aced exam after exam, winning a place at a prestigious college inBeijing. However, when Zuo sent out a sea of job applications , She didn’t just fail to_________her preferred role; she didn’t receive a single_________.

For Zuo, the failure came as a crushing_________. Being a high flier, she was emotionally unprepared for such a setback. She struggled with anxiety for months: unable to sleep,_________ by guilt, and feeling compelled to repeatedly apologize to her parents and teachers.

But the ordeal (磨难) has left a profound impression on Zuo. The former teacher’s pet has transformed into a passionate_________of what she calls the ”good student mentality.“ In January, Zuo set up a group on Douban named “Victims of the Good Student Mentality,” and it has quickly attracted a passionate following.

“Good students” like Zuo tend to be_________vulnerable (脆弱的) to mental health issues. Successive studies have found that high achievers are more likely to_________ anxiety, depression than the general population. This is because high achievers like Zuo often excessively rely on _________ validation (认可) to support their self-esteem, leaving them unable to cope with setbacks. Over time, students __________ the externa world’s evaluation criteria as their own standard for self-assessment.

It’s clear that a diverse range of young people can__________victim to the “good student mentality.” Luckily, in Chinese education system, there is growing __________that student anxiety is a serious problem. A teacher in Shanghai, surnamed Dong, tells that “the good student mentality” is becoming ever more prevalent, with well behaved, introverted children__________seeking praise and awards as a way to __________their self esteem. If they fail to meet the school’s incredibly high standards, there’s a risk that it will trigger an emotional __________.Hence, Zuo recently wrote a welcome message offering new members some advice: “Be kind to yourself; challenge the norms; treat yourself well.“ And, most importantly:” You can be a “bad” kid.

7 . A man in Elkhorn City, Kentucky is being called a “local hero” after he saved a driver from a burning car.

Justin Quesenberry was eating at home when he heard a loud ______ not far away. He rushed out, only to find a car, near the edge of a hillside, was on fire.

Neighbors gathered ______ in no time. They called 911 and waited for fire engines to come ______. Due to the smoke and heat, the crowd failed to ______ the car. Quesenberry predicted there was little possibility that the driver could ______.

Once the car windows were broken, some air made its way through the front seat, showing the driver was still alive. “You are on fire! Get out of the car!” Quesenberry ______. But the driver didn’t have any ______ and he just fell down in the driver seat. Without ______, Quesenberry fought through the fire and climbed inside the car. He ______ to pull the driver out of the driver seat ______.

Moments later, the fire grew brighter and the smoke became darker before the fire department got to the scene to ______ the fire.

If Quesenberry got ______ and let fear take him over, every second was a great ______ to the driver’s life.

The driver was sent to the ______ immediately, and the officials say that he is now ______ from the injury.

8 . I’m pretty good at sticking with things even when they get hard. Bad relationships, unpleasant workplaces, ______ sports — I’ve hung on for months and even years longer than I should have, convinced the situation would ______ if I refused to give up.

After all, isn’t every success story littered with ______? Didn’t Beyoncé lose Star Search, and didn’t Oprah get fired from her first TV job? Quitting is a sign that you lack patience and strong will, or so I was raised to believe.

______, if I look back on all the things I eventually quit, my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. I’ve wasted immeasurable time and energy dragging my heels, determined that I could ______ everyone if I just kept going.

All of us are constantly making tricky choices between going further into familiar territory and ______ to expand our horizons. This is known as the exploration-exploitation trade-off. When we are younger, it’s advantageous to go far on the side of exploration, trying lots of new things because we have plenty of time to ______ later. But as we age, it’s often smarter to double down.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t quit something just because you’ve put a lot of time into it. Economists call this the sunk cost fallacy (谬误): People are more likely to ______ something if they’ve invested a lot of money or effort into it, even when it’s clear that they should ______ their losses and jump ship. This practice is normal and ______, but it’s also unreasonable. If an activity or relationship is making you miserable, that’s important information you shouldn’t ignore.

If you don’t get energy out of doing something, it can be a(n) ______ that this is not for you or that there’s something better you could be doing. Or it could be a sign that you should ______ your goals. Maybe your yogurt startup might not win over investors, but you could still make and sell yogurt at the farmers’ market on weekends.

In fact, dogged persistence in the face of energy-sucking disappointment can ______ depression, and then make you suffer from diseases in the long run.

But the good news is that people can learn to pay better attention to these moments when they’re happening and make ______. The art of quitting isn’t about just letting go whenever there’s an obstacle. It’s about being able to let go when there’s no ______ to success anymore.

9 . Ideally, childhood is a time of growth and learning, preparing for adulthood and also having fun. But for many children around the world, this time is cut short when they are forced to work, sometimes in dangerous conditions. _______, the United Nations (U.N.), some national governments and other organizations _______ June 12 as the annual World Day Against Child Labor.

As of 2020, around 160 million children worked as child laborers, which means that one child in 10 was a child laborer. _______, child labor has decreased over the past 20 years, but in recent years, this progress has stopped. Child labor is _______ from ordinary housework, helping with a family business or (for older children) working to earn pocket money when not in school. Work done by children is _______ as child labor when it harms the child physically, mentally, socially or _______, or when it prevents the child’s education.

About 79 million children are engaged in hazardous child labor. Sometimes this means the work itself is dangerous because of heavy machinery or exposure to _______. Hazardous child labor can also involve harsh conditions, long hours, or _______ to various kinds of abuse.

The primary goal of the World Day Against Child Labor is raising _______ of the issue and encouraging individuals, organizations and governments to ________. Combating (打击) child labor is a complex task. It involves social workers who identify child laborers and take action to provide these children and their families with other ________. But it also involves change in communities as a whole, ________ the social regulations that can lead adults to make their children work.

Child labor and poverty often go hand in hand as parents feel removing their children from school is necessary to earn money for their survival. So, measures meant to fight ________ are also tied to preventing child labor. Ensuring that children have quality educational opportunities is also important. If more opportunities were ________, more parents might give up the immediate benefit of a child’s paycheck to give that child an education.

Child labor is harmful to children and to communities, since it prevents children from growing into healthy, educated citizens who could make a(n) ________ in society. By highlighting the problem and offering a variety of solutions, the World Day Against Child Labor can make the situation a bit better.

10 . Man the Hunter, a key idea in human sciences, proposes that hunting was a major driver of human evolution and that men conducted this activity, leaving women out. It holds that human ancestors had a division of ______, rooted in biological differences between males and females, in which males evolved to hunt and provide, and females tended to children and domestic duties. It assumes that males are ______ superior to females and that pregnancy (怀孕) and child-caring reduce or eliminate (根除) a female’s ability to hunt.

Man the Hunter has dominated the study of human evolution for nearly half a century and spread through popular ______. It is represented in museum displays and textbook figures, Saturday morning cartoons and feature films. The thing is, it’s ______.

Researchers look at the damage on our ancestors’ remains for clues to their ______. Neandertal females and males do not vary in ______ patterns or exhibit sex differences in diseases from repetitive actions. Their skeletons show the same modes of wear and tear. This discovery implies that they were engaging in ______ activities, from hunting large game animals to processing fur for leather.

Observations of recent and contemporary societies provide direct evidence of women ______hunting. Agta people of the Philippines, ______, hunt while pregnant and breastfeeding, and they have the same hunting success as Agta men.

A recent study of cross-cultural observational data lasting the past 100 years—much of which was ______ by Man the Hunter contributors—found that women from a wide range of cultures hunt animals for food. 79 percent of the 63 societies with clear descriptions of their hunting strategies reportedly feature women ______. The women are involved in hunting regardless of their childbearing status.

Much about female exercise science and the ______ of prehistoric women remains to be discovered. But the idea that in the past men were hunters and women were not is absolutely ______ even by the limited evidence we have. Now when you think of “cave people”, we hope, you will imagine a(n) ______ group of hunters surrounding a deer or hitting stone tools together rather than a heavy-browed man with a heavy stick over one shoulder. Hunting may have been remade as a ______ activity in recent times, but for most of human history, it belonged to everyone.