3 . Most of us are already aware of the direct effect we have on our friends and family. But we rarely consider that everything we think, feel, do, or say can spread far beyond the people we know. Conversely(相反地), our friends and family serve as conduits(渠道) for us to be influenced by hundreds or even thousands of other people. In a kind of social chain reaction, we can be deeply affected by events we do not witness that happen to people we do not know. As part of a social network, we go beyond ourselves, for good or ill, and become a part of something much larger.

Our connectedness carries with it fundamental implications(影响) for the way we understand the human condition. Social networks have value precisely because they can help us to achieve what we could not achieve on our own. Yet, social­network effects are not always positive. Depression, obesity, financial panic, and violence also spread. Social networks, it turns out, tend to magnify(放大) whatever they are seeded with.

Partly for this reason, social networks are creative. And what these networks create does not belong to any one individual—it is shared by all those in the network. In this way, a social network is like a commonly owned forest: We all stand to benefit from it, but we also must work together to ensure it remains healthy and productive. While social networks are fundamentally and distinctively human, and can be seen everywhere, they should not be taken for granted.

If you are happier or richer or healthier than others, it may have a lot to do with where you happen to be in the network, even if you cannot recognise your own location. And it may have a lot to do with the overall structure of the network, even if you cannot control that structure at all. And in some cases, the process feeds back to the network itself. A person with many friends may become rich and then attract even more friends. This rich­get­richer dynamic means social networks can dramatically reinforce two different kinds of inequality in our society: situational inequality and positional inequality.

Lawmakers have not yet considered the consequences of positional inequality. Still, understanding the way we are connected is an essential step in creating a more just society and in carrying out public policies affecting everything from public health to the economy. We might be better off vaccinating(接种疫苗) centrally located individuals rather than weak individuals. We might be better off helping interconnected groups of people to avoid criminal behaviour rather than preventing or punishing crimes one at a time.

If we want to understand how society works, we need to fill in the missing links between individuals. We need to understand how interconnections and interactions between people give rise to wholly new aspects of human experience that are not present in the individuals themselves. If we do not understand social networks, we cannot hope to fully understand either ourselves or the world we inhabit.

As a child, Obaida Omar     1     (narrow) escaped the enemy’s invasion of her native Afghanistan, walking for weeks through the mountains. Now     2     mother of three and Islamic Center of Rochester board member, Omar provided first-hand experience of what it means to be a child made     3     (home) by war as the speaker at the “Dinner for Peace” hosted by the Student Association for the Development of Arab Cultural Awareness last Saturday. About 250 guests attended the dinner, the profit of     4     will go to education for children affected by the Middle Eastern crisis.

“Children did not create this conflict,     5     they are its greatest victims,” said Alanoud Alcaide, the group’s president, who gave the opening speech at the dinner. “Tonight we have raised roughly $3,000 in profit, which means over 1,000 children can get the education they deserve”, he said. “    6     you, tonight would not have been possible.”

    7     (entertain) the audience, the Yellow Jackets kicked the night off with a     8     (select) of lively songs. “We     9     (plan) this for two months now. It feels wonderful to see such an amazing performance. It brings back the human element, making you remember that we’re all the same,” said Gabby Stillman, a     10    (twelve) grader.

5 . Unchangeable Love

One day I visited an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting.

I was expecting a quiet_______of the splendid artwork.

A young_______viewing the paintings ahead of me_______nonstop between themselves. I watched them a moment and decided the lady was doing all the talking. I admired the man’s _______for putting up with her_______stream of words, _______by their noise, I moved on.

I met them several times as I moved _______the various rooms of art. Each time I heard her continuous flow of words, I moved away___________.

I was standing at the counter of the museum gift shop making a _______when the couple approached the__________. Before they left, the man __________into his pocket and pulled out a white object. He____________ it into a long stick and then tapped his way into the __________to get his wife’s jacket.

“He’s a __________man.” the clerk at the counter said. “Most of us would give up if we were blinded at such a young age. During his recovery, he made a promise his life wouldn’t change. So, as before, he and his wife come in ____________there is a new art show.”

“But what does he get out of the art?” I asked, “He can't see.”

“Can’t see! You’re__________. He sees a lot. More than you and I do,” the clerk said, “His wife __________ each pointing so he can see it in his head.”

I learned something about patience, __________and love that day. I saw the patience of a young wife describing paintings to a person without __________ and the courage of a husband who would not____________blindness to change his life. And I saw the love shared by two people as I watched this couple walk away, hand in hand.

7 . Rhemy Elsey, a fifth-grader, is deaf and mainly uses sign language to communicate, along with the _________ of an interpreter. Some of his fellow fifth-graders decided to _________ their break once a week to form an American Sign Language club in order to chat more _________with Rhemy.

It’s been a few months since the club was _________ and his classmates’ participation makes Rhemy _________. “It’s like they want to be like me” he said.

His interpreter, Tammy Arvin, _________ the club, which meets every Wednesday. So far, the club members have learned basic _________ in different topics including school, food and clothing. Arvin said that _________ the club’s formation, it was difficult for students to communicate directly with Rhemy. So when the other students expressed interest in an ASL club, Arvin was _________.

The club has already had an effect on the way the students ____________ with Rhemy. The ____________ can have more natural conversations which make Rhemy feel less isolated(孤立的). And the students are also ____________ a very important culture.

“It ____________ gives them a perspective on this other ____________ that they previously weren’t aware of, so they’re ____________ greatly just in terms of learning about diversity and having a broader perspective on the world around them,” Arvin said.

9 . Fear of missing out or FOMO is “a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent”.     1    

Researchers have found that FOMO leads us to check social media more frequently, leading to a negative cycle that can be hard to break. FOMO can lead to feelings of depression, loneliness, and boredom.    2    We should do something to reduce the negative effect caused by FOMO.

Change your focus  

Rather than focusing on what you lack, try noticing what you have. “Meritocracy(精英) society” is advocated today, but in fact, everyone owns their own success.    3     Live in the moment, you will find nothing is missing out in our life!

Keep a journal  

It is common to post on social media to keep a record of the fun things you do. However, you may find yourself noticing a little too much about whether people are following your experiences online.    4    Keeping a journal can help you to shift your focus from public approval to private appreciation of the things that make your life great. This shift can sometimes help you to get out of the cycle of FOMO.

Seek out real connections  

You may find yourself seeking a greater connection when you are feeling depressed or anxious, and this is healthy.     5    Talking with families, making plans with a good friend, or creating a group outing that can help you to shake that feeling that you are missing out. It puts you in the center of the action.

10 . It is widely believed that smiling means a person is happy, and it usually occurs when they're meeting another person or a group of people. However, a new study led by the body language expert Dr Harry Witchel shows this isn't always the case.

In his research, he asked 44 participants aged 18—35 to play a geography quiz game consisting of nine difficult questions so that they often got the answer wrong. Participants seated interacted with a computer alone in a room while their faces were video recorded.

After the quiz, the participants were asked to rate their experience using a range of 12 emotions including “bored”, “interested” and “frustrated”. Meanwhile, their facial expressions were then computer analysed frame by frame in order to judge how much they were smiling based on a scale of between 0 to 1.

Dr Witchel said: “According to some researchers, a real smile reflects the inner state of cheerfulness or amusement. However, behavioral ecology theory suggests that all smiles are tools used in social interactions, meaning cheerfulness is neither necessary nor rich for smiling. Our study showed that in these human­computer interaction experiments, smiling isn't driven by happiness; it is associated with subjective involvement(主观参与) , which acts like a social fuel for smiling, even when socialising with a computer on your own.”

Surprisingly, participants didn't tend to smile during the period when they were trying to figure out the answers. However, they did smile right after the computer game informed them if their answer was correct or wrong. Participants smiled more often when they got the answer wrong. Dr Witched added: “During these computerised quizzes, smiling was greatly increased just after answering questions incorrectly.This behaviour could be explained by self­ratings of involvement, rather than by ratings of happiness or frustration.”