Getting kids to do their homework can be a challenge, and when they do sit down to study, a lot of other problems can appear. Doing homework may not be as fun as     1     (play) video games or chatting with friends, but it shouldn’t be something     2     kids hate. Your children’s assignments (任务) should help them build a skill     3     learn something new.

You can help by stepping in to answer questions or offer     4     (encourage). This gives you a chance to see     5     they are learning and how well they understand the material.

Many kids refuse     6     (study) by asking why they have to learn things they’ll never use in real life. If your son or daughter shows little interest, you can make them seem more important by pointing out ways you use them in     7     (day) life.

If parents feel that their kids are overloaded (超负荷), they can talk about     8     with the teachers. If you think it takes your child too long     9     (finish) homework, try to make a decision whether the problem lies in too much work or managing time     10     (poor).

3 . A common claim states that a sheet of paper cannot be folded in half more than seven times. But is this true?

In 2002, Britney Gallivan, then a junior in high school in Pomona, California, folded a single piece of paper in half 12 times. She currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most times to fold a sheet of paper in half.

The prompt that led Gallivan to accomplish this was an extra-credit challenge in math class to fold anything in half 12 times. Her teacher asked the students to fold something thicker: a piece of paper.

Gallivan said “it was very frustrating, as I had many unsuccessful attempts at trying to fold different papers in half. I began to question if folding paper in half more than eight times could be impossible.” However, Gallivan recalled. “I knew I needed to understand what was limiting the folding progression.”

The equations (方程式) that Gallivan came up with calculated how many times a sheet of paper could be folded. She found that in order to fold many times, a long thin sheet is needed — the more a sheet is folded, the thicker the resulting stack becomes, and once the stack becomes thicker than it is long, there is nothing left to fold. She ultimately set her record with a sheet of tissue paper she found online that was 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) — more than three-quarters of a mile, or over a kilometer long, Guinness World Records noted.

“Working on the problem took a tremendous amount of time and effort,” Gallivan said. “As frustrating as it was at times, I learned an immense amount from the experience, which has been valuable to me throughout my life in more capacities than one would expect.”

Since Gallivan set her record, others have made claims of folding a sheet of paper more than 12 times. Still, “I anticipate that my current record will be surpassed,” Gallivan said.