Train and Work as a Literary（文学的）Editor This Summer!

The Summer Scholars Program provided by Polyphony Company is an 8-week online program for 9th-12th grade high school students. After completing this program, students will have some basic knowledge of literary editing.

Course Schedule

Training: Weeks 1-3

Week 1

Approaching Poetry: online content, live lectures and discussions with poetry instructors. Cooperate with other learners on one poetry submission（投稿）.

Week 2

Approaching Fiction（小说）: online content, live lectures and discussions with fiction instructors. Cooperate with other learners on one fiction submission.

Week 3

Approaching Creative Nonfiction: online content, live lectures, and discussions with creative nonfiction instructors. Cooperate with other learners on one creative nonfiction submission.

Weeks 4-8

Work as a junior editor, responding to two editorial tasks per week. Learners will receive feedback（反馈）on every task. Have a meeting with the instructors to discuss interests, feedback, and the areas of each page for focus.

Learning Outcomes

We expect learners will advance their literary skills while doing meaningful work. Specific learning goals include; methods to approach poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction; practice using literary devices to interpret and analyze submissions and give editorial feedback.

Cost: $ 350/learner

We hope that summer learners will continue working with Polyphony Company after finishing the program. And the learners will have a chance to be an editing role at Polyphony Company and its high school literary magazine. The instructors will give you personal feedback about your path to promotion, but as a learner, it is not a guarantee（保证）of promotion. Historically, about 10% of our junior editors earn promotion to senior editors.

One day when I was 15 years old, I was making food in the kitchen. My brother came in. He placed his beef next to my thick one and said, “Courtney, your beef is bigger than mine. You don’t need to eat; you’re already obese（极为肥胖的 ）.” Then he walked out laughing. From then on, I was unwilling to wear shorts until I was 30 years old. For the next 15 years, I spent summer after summer roasting in long pants.

But then I met Ragen Chastain. I couldn’t believe that this woman who, like myself, weighed almost 300 pounds, was so energetic and happy in her own skin. I listened as she shared her own journey to recovery and self-love. She talked about how amazing our bodies are, simply because of the things they do every day— like breathing, pumping blood to every cell and walking.

Walking! I was suddenly aware of how foolish I’d been for so long. There’re people who are born without legs, or who lack properly working legs, or who lose their legs, and I’d been hiding my perfectly strong, healthy, beautiful legs in shame. The next day. I bought three pairs of shorts and a sundress and spent the entire summer letting my legs see the sun and feel the breeze.

The next time anyone comment? on your body in a negative （消极的）way, look them straight in the eye, smile and say. “If what you see bothers you so much, feel free to practice the ancient art of looking somewhere else.” That’s Ragen’s own creation, but I don’t think she’ll mind if you use it.

Travel is one of the most exciting experiences a human being can have. Imagine how Italian traveler Marco Polo must have felt when he found himself on Chinese soil, seeing a way of life quite different from anything he’d seen before.

And how great must it have been to listen to Zhang Qian when he returned to China from his journey through Central Asia and West Asia? His brain must have been packed with everything he’d seen and heard, leading to the founding of the Silk Road.

Some people have traveled all over the world, and travel is a way of life to them. They perhaps know what to expect before they travel. That’s why the best travel is when it’s for the first time. Imagine a person who has always wanted to travel to the United States. Of course, they’ve probably seen the Statue of Liberty a thousand times on TV, and the White House, and all the other famous sights. But none of that would compare to the excitement of looking out of the window as the plane lands, watching the cities and streets of the real America come into view.

Although travel is often just for recreation, it’s also educational. We may not know that we are getting an education, but we still are.

We’re learning every day: new words in a new language, new people, and new ways of life. But this learning takes place in the school of the world, not the classroom. As we get to know foreign places, we come to understand that there are many different ways to live, and that the way we live isn’t necessarily the best way.

Anger is good for you, as long as you control it, according to new psychology research. A new study from Carnegie Mellon University shows anger may help people reduce the negative effects of stress and help you become healthier.

“Here getting emotional is not bad for you if you look at the case of anger,” said Jennifer Lerner of Carnegie Mellon. “The more people show anger, the lower their stress responses.”

Lerner studied 92 UCLA students by asking them to count back from 6,200. They must say out loud every thirteenth number. Researchers disturbed them by asking them to count faster or ask them other questions. If they made any mistakes, they had to restart from the very beginning. Many students felt upset about making so many mistakes or got angry.

Lerner used a hidden video camera and recorded all their facial expressions during the test. The researchers describe their reactions as fear, anger.

Other researchers recorded the students’ blood pressure, pulse and production of a high-stress hormone (荷尔蒙) called cortisol. People whose faces showed more fear during the experiment had higher blood pressure and higher levels of the hormone. Both can have lasting effects such as diabetes (糖尿病), heart disease, depression and extra weight gain.

When people feel fear, negative effects increase, but when they get angry, those negatives go down, according to the study.

“Having that sense of anger leads people to actually feel some power in what otherwise is a maddening (令人发狂的) situation,” Lerner said.

Lerner previously studied Americans’ emotional response to the 9·11 terrorist attacks (9·11 恐怖袭击) two months after the incident. She found people who reacted with anger were more optimistic. These people are healthier compared with those who were frightened during the event. So in maddening situations, anger is not a bad thing to have. It’s a healthier response than fear.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of eating fast food?

Many people do not have time to eat home-cooked food.     16    There’re more than 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants in theUnited States itself, and over 8,000 KFCs in 80 countries. In most cities, it is not difficult to find hamburgers and pizza.

Advantages of fast food

    17    Eating fast food helps working people and students to get back to work as quickly as possible. Besides, many love the look, smell and taste of it. Perhaps the greatest advantage is the price.     18     If one lives alone, then it is cheaper to buy a meal at the supermarket than cook it at home.

Disadvantages of fast food

The greatest disadvantage of fast food is the bad effect that it has on one’s health. Many people feel that fast food is unhealthy because it contains a lot of artificial ingredients (人造成分). Some even think that it is addictive (上瘾的) because of these ingredients.     19    Fast food may lead to obesity in the American population.

    20     I believe that it can be a good thing, as long as people do not eat it too often, eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, and also do plenty of exercise to keep in shape.

Four girls. Two tents. No cellphones. A thunderstorm. One hundred and thirty hours of nonstop togetherness. This was what Julia Ruelle just________.

“It was really ________,” said Julia Ruelle of her recent weeklong adventure to the Boundary WatersCanoe Area Wilderness with three childhood friends.

Earlier this year, Julia, having completed a ________for a brain tumor(肿瘤) in April, won a writing contest and was________ a free five-day camping adventure with up to three friends. Its aim is to get kids away from technology. She struggled to________ the final three — Anna Wander, Madeline Wilson and Julianna Torelli. No________were allowed, so getting their agreement was a bit ________. Having a satellite phone and promising to check in twice during the week finally won their agreement.

The four girls arrived in Ely on June 10 for training. They ________ the next day at 7 :00 a. m. , and quickly fit many things into their ________— getting up early every morning, going boating ________, then having lunch at the campsites, followed by swinging, reading, talking, and napping.

“I love how you are separated from everything in your life, especially ________,”Anna said. Without her phone, she said, “I’m less ________ about things.” “We got along pretty well,” said Madeline. “We were always talking before bed, about specific things and thoughts.” “But we might sometimes have had ________,” Julianna added. No one was even hungry or homesick, but they were ________ nervous one night as they waited out a thunderstorm.

After the adventure, Julia will continue to take physical examination every three months to make sure the tumor is gone. “Mental health can be ________ so much in the Boundary Waters. It really helps to reconnect with yourself,” said Julia.

When it comes to volleyball, we can’t help     36     (think) of Lang Ping. Lang Ping used to be a     37     (fame) player. Now she is also known as a coach who brings honor     38     glory to our country. Led by her, Chinese womenvolleyball team won the world championship in 2019,     39     made the whole nation excited.

Lang Pingwas born in Tianjin in 1960. She began playingvolleyballas a teenagerand     40     (final) joined the national team in 1978. Her height made    41     possible for her to play volleyball well. Lang Ping and her teammates playedsowell that theywon goldmedalsseveral timesin    42    1980s.

In 1995, she returned to China to work as a coach. When the Chinese team was preparing for the 2015 WorldCup, her determination     43     (test).Her teamwas fallingapart， as she lost two important players. But Lang Ping did not lose heart. She     44     (face) difficulties before, and she knew that her young players could win if they worked together as a team. Two weeks later, they were world     45     (champion)!