There is an obvious gender gap in technology. For some, the gender gap is simply a case of discrimination — boys won’t let girls join their technology clubs. For others, it’s a case of     1     —girls aren’t encouraged to study technology subjects. Still for others, it’s     2     a question of choice — girls aren’t interested in technology and don’t want to work in these industries.

All three of these reasons make some sense. Men have a different way of interacting with each other. There is more competition to establish their place on the “team”. Women tend to be more     3     and may feel uncomfortable and unappreciated working in this kind of atmosphere. Neglect is also a problem since STEM subjects are still considered boy subjects. And then there is the     4     of choice. Girls, in general, would rather study subjects and find jobs where they can work with people (medicine, business, etc.) rather than with “things” (building a bridge, writing computer code, etc.).

Regardless of the reasons for the gender gap, more and more girls are seeing it as a problem. Katy Yu, a 17-year-old student, does not believe that technology should be a(n)     5     boys’ club and she’s out to prove that girls can be tech-savvy (精通技术的), too.

The girl taught herself how to write code. She learned computer languages well enough to win a     6     in the Swift Student Challenge at Apple’s 2020 World Wide Developers Conference. She also became the only Chinese invited to     7     in a video conference call with Tim Cook.

Katy is doing more than that. She wants to help other girls overcome the barriers — real or imagined — which may     8     them from studying computer coding. This past summer, she organized a workshop to provide interested girls with free coding classes. “When more and more women are in science and technology, becoming senior talent and managers, it increases their     9     and job opportunities in these fields,” she says.

In her own way, Katy is trying to break one of the gender stereotypes (模式化形象) that hold women back. Girls, you should remember that you can be problem solvers,     10     explorers, and risk takers. If that is how you walk into every computer science classroom, stereotyped threats won’t have the power to push you out of the industry you love.

If you’re talented, creative, and passionate about art, becoming an artist is an achievable goal. You just have to take steps to turn your dream into a reality. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part, and that’s     1    (why, how) we’ve put together this guide to help you. We’ll walk you through something you need to know to start working towards becoming an artist.

Recognise your strengths and interest.

Once you have tried out all of the mediums (形式), decide on     2    (where, what) you are strong at. Often someone who is fantastic at creating sculptures won’t take up painting.

Another important thing to keep in mind is     3    (that, which) you should enjoy working with the medium you choose. However, there are exceptions to every rule. If you are a fantastic drawer but feel yourself pulled more towards sculpting, why not give this new medium a try?

Do your research and learn from others.

Learn     4    (what, which) you can find out about the medium you have chosen to focus on — read books and articles, watch instructional videos, and research various methods and approaches other artists in your medium take. One of the best lessons you can learn is to study the work of others who have come before you. This is     5    (which, how) you can succeed.

The United Nations (UN) is an organisation    1     aims to promote international cooperation. It was founded in 1945 and has about 190 member states. This is the reason     2    the UN has a huge number of translators and interpreters, since international meetings in the UN are attended by people     3    speak so many different languages. Translators are people     4    usually work with written language, while interpreters work with spoken language. Meetings    5     only two languages are used may need only one interpreter, while larger events    6     leaders from many countries gather may need over 70 interpreters.

There are two main ways that an interpreter can provide spoken translation. First is the method    7     requires the speaker to stop every few sentences, so the interpreter can translate those sentences for the audience. The second method is the one    8     the interpreter listens and translates at the same time. This second method is more difficult, but the place    9     the interpreter is located is not so important. The interpreter can be in a completely different location from the speaker, listen through headphones, and translate for an audience sitting in another location!

As a journalist, not only does Li Qiang have a good nose for news, but he also has admirable professional skills. Before every     1    , he makes good preparations for it. In the process of an interview, he can     2     the information he need depending on what the interviewee answers and     3     comes up with the next question. But one day he was     4    of getting the wrong end of the stick, which made him very     5    .

Will a Robot Really Take Your Job?

It is one of the most widely quoted data of recent years. No report or conference presentation on the future of work is complete without it. It has been pointed to as evidence of a(n)     1     jobs disaster by think-tanks and government agencies. The finding that 47 percent of American jobs are at high risk of being     2     by the mid-2030s comes from a paper written by two Oxford academics, Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne. It has since been     3     in more than 4,000 other academic articles. Such misunderstandings reflect the polarized (两极分化的) debate     4     the nature of automation and the future of jobs.

At one extreme are the negativists. They warn of mass technological     5     just around the corner. One advocate of this position, Martin Ford, has written two best-selling books on the dangers of unemployment caused by automation. He worries that middle-class jobs will disappear, economic     6     will cease, and the richest people in a country could “shut themselves away in gated communities, perhaps guarded by self-directed military robots and drones.” The     7     masses will live on a universal basic income.

At the positive end of the debate, classical economists argue that in the past, new technology has always ended up creating more jobs than it has destroyed. It was several decades before industrialization led to     8     higher wages for British workers in the early 1800s. While automation is likely to increase     9     in the short run by pushing some people into lower-paid jobs, it eventually increases the overall size of the economic pie.

Frey is often     10     to be in the first camp. His paper simply wanted to point out that 47 percent of the current jobs in America were more likely to be affected by automation. It got more attention than they would ever have expected. In part, this is because fear sells, particularly when it is stirred up by a misunderstanding.