1 . 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.

2 . 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.

3 . 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.

4 . 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.

5 . 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.

6 . 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.

7 . The sharing economy is an economic model known as a peer-to-peer(P2P)based activity of getting, providing, or sharing goods and services that is often promoted by on-line platforms (平台) It allows persons and groups to make money from the assets (资产) which is not _______ .In a sharing economy, underused assets such as parked cars and spare bedrooms can be _______ when they are not used. In this way, physical assets are shared as _______ .

Concerns about the sharing economy often includes the uncertainty about _______ .While businesses offering rent services are often _______ by local governments, people who don’t have official permission to _______ rent services may not be following these rules or paying the costs. This could mean putting them in a better position that makes it possible for them to ask _______   prices to get a bigger market share.

Another _______ is that lack of watching over businesses will lead to _______ uses of both buyers and sellers in the sharing economy. There have been many cases ________ known to the public like hidden cameras in rented rooms, lawsuits (诉讼)over ________ treatment of ridesharing drivers by the platforms ________ employ them, and even murders of customers by real or ________ ridesharing providers.

There is also a fear that lots of information shared on online platforms can create racial or sex bias (偏见) among users. This can happen when users are allowed to ________ who they will share their homes or cars with, or because of the database of users with poor credit history or bad behaviour ________ .

8 . On a sunny afternoon, Anthony Perry stepped off the train at Chicago’s 69th Street station. The 20-year-old, who worked nights in a grocery store, was on his way to see his ________.

On the platform, something unthinkable happened: a man fell over the edge and onto the electrified train tracks! As Perry and other horrified passengers watched, he shook uncontrollably as the ________ moved through his body.

“Help him!” someone cried. “Please, someone!”

Perry couldn’t just stand there and ________. He sat at the edge of the platform and eased himself down. ________ all rails between the man and him were electrified, he quickly leaped towards the victim, using a high-knee technique from his high school football days.

Perry soon reached down and grasped the victim’s wrist. ________, he felt a powerful electric shock shoot through his body. Perry jumped back. He reached down a second time, and was shocked again. But the third time he seized the man’s wrist and forearm, and managed to move the guy’s body away from the ________.

“Give him chest compressions!” yelled an old lady on the platform.

Perry was no expert, but for a few moments he worked on the man’s heart until the victim regained ________. Then, first-aiders arrived. Perry let the professionals ________. Heart still racing from the electric shocks, he climbed back up onto the platform, grabbed his things and continued on to his grandfather’s.

The evening news reported the incident, ________ an unnamed hero with saving the victim’s life. To many, Perry’s ________ deeds demonstrated the power of choosing compassion over personal safety.

9 . In one elementary school, a class of four-and five-year-olds sit in rows, fascinated by their teacher. As part of the daily routine at the state primary school in Acton, West London, Ms Beshirian holds up cards printed with _____ sounds—“qu”, “k”, “w”—and the children chant them back to her in unison. Later they practise reading sentences made up of sounds they have _____ rehearsed. That is a lot of fish, runs an example.

This is phonics, a way of learning to read in which children are taught to decode words. Teachers have long _____ whether this approach is better than the previously favoured one, in which children learned to recognize _____ words, typically while someone read to them. To critics there is something Gradgrindian (功利的) about phonics, which they argue fails to transmit the joy of reading. _____ , over the past decade or so schools in England have adopted the method. When Nick Gibb, a minister, declared the “debate is over” earlier this year, _____ was silenced.

The shift arises from persuasive evidence. In 2005 a study in Scotland found that children who were taught using phonics were, by the end of the programme, seven months ahead of their _____ reading and spelling ability. Other work has supported the results. Rebecca Allen of the University of Oxford notes that few _____ are backed by such strong evidence.

The _____ is becoming apparent. England’s performance improved in the latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, a cross-country comparison. Sandra McNally, one of the authors, notes that, whereas the boost faded with time for better-off children, who would have ______ learned to read well anyway, it persisted for poor readers and those without English as a first language. “Other approaches rely on existing child vocabulary and life experiences,” says Lydia Cuddy Gibbs, head of early years at Ark, a charity which runs 38 state schools. “Phonics helps to put children on a(n) ______ playing field.”

Nor must phonics kill ______ . In Acton the children often play teacher, and phonics is their favourite class to re-enact. Some applaud their friends with teacherly ______ , says Sarah Charlton, who works at the school. “They’ll walk in and say, ‘Maria did amazing reading today,’” she laughs.

Arguments continue over the best way to teach phonics, and questions such as when whole words should be introduced. But ______ , phonics seems firmly embedded in English schools. “It’s very rare that you get a piece of education practice that you stick with and push over a number of years,” says Sir Kevan Collins of the Education Endowment Foundation. “That’s to be ______ . That’s unusual.”

10 . Nicole Salgado and and her family woke up on New Year’s Day to panic knocking at the front door of their home in Avodale, Arizona. Her house was on fire, but she didn’t know it. “We were all ________,” Salgado said. “Then all of a sudden around 7:30 in the morning, we heard banging on our door and our doorbell was ________. And we kind of got ________.”

Salgado, a mother of four, ran to ________ the kids while her husband hurried to the front door. There, they found their next-door neighbour, Carolyn Palisch, urging the family to leave the house. He opened the door and their neighbour Carolyn said their house was on fire and told them to leave. Salgado ________ grabbed her kids and ________ from the burning home. No one was wearing socks or shoes ________ her oldest child.

Making sure that everyone was out, they realized the full extent of it. They were just in ________ as they watched their home burn. According to Salgado, minutes after they escaped, the ________ collapsed and smoke filled the inside of their home. ________ said if the family had still been sleeping when the roof fell down, they would have breathed the smoke and immediately ________.

“We are so grateful to just be ________,” Salgado wrote in a post to social media. The doorbell camera caught the moment when Palisch saved their lives. Salgado said the family decided to post the video to share with the world what Palisch did for them. The video has now been ________ almost 7 million times on Tiktok.

In the footage (一段镜头), Palisch is seen yelling outside the Salgado family’s door, surrounded by smoke and ________. She ________ to knock at the door loudly and repeatedly until she is able to help the family escape. “If it weren’t for her, it would be a totally different story,” said Salgado. “We feel so thankful to her. She saved all of us.”