相关试卷

Practice in low-stakes settings

Before attending a major event, try initiating brief chats with waiters or neighbors. "Smaller, manageable social interactions don't carry as much emotional weight," Hall-Baldwin says. "so it's just trying to practice without feeling overwhelming pressure." Over time, you'll gain a sense of comfort and confidence as you step into larger social settings.

Use the echo technique

Another powerful technique is to "echo" the speaker. Paraphrase what they've said and encourage them to clarify. For example, if they mention they're struggling at work, repeat back their words with a question in your voice: "Struggling?" Not only does this make them feel heard but also shifts the conversational burden away from you, reducing pressure.

Find an anchor

When feeling anxious, find a physical anchor (锚). Holding a cold drink, pressing your feet firmly into the floor, or touching a small object can give your nervous system something to anchor to when you're feeling anxious. Research indicates that such physical sensations can pull you back to the present and signal safety to your brain, thereby curbing anxiety.

The good news about social events is that they all eventually end — and your departure can arrive as soon as you'd like. Informing friends beforehand of a hard leave time, or having a polite excuse to end a conversation (e.g., "It was really nice talking to you — I'm going to check in with Jane.") can significantly reduce the fear of being trapped.

A. Avoid social events politely

B. Have an exit strategy ready

C. This simple response often leads them to share more.

D. This fear can trigger various physical and emotional symptoms.

E. It ensures you can keep the dialogue flowing without needing to flee.

F. These short interactions can be a low-pressure way to build self-esteem.

G. The core principle is to engage your senses to stabilize yourself in the moment.

"Everyone I speak to in Canada and the US complains about poor sleep," says Leela McKinnon from the University of Toronto Mississauga. "But the data doesn't support that." It is commonly believed that the rise of devices like smartphones has resulted in reduced sleep — often referred to as a sleep-loss epidemic. Yet, many studies reporting a decline in sleep duration rely on self-reported data, which is an unreliable measure.

Research using more reliable methods, such as activity monitors or brainwave tracking, has not indicated a decrease in sleep over recent decades. For instance, a 2023 review of 168 studies found no significant drop in sleep duration over the past 50 years. However, these studies primarily focused on industrialized nations, leaving the question of whether sleep patterns were different before industrialization unanswered. The availability of wrist-based activity monitors made it easier to study sleep in non-industrial societies. Such studies have revealed short sleep durations. For instance, among hunter-gatherers, the San peoples in southern Africa sleep for 6.7 hours a night on average.

McKinnon and her colleague David Samson, also from the University of Toronto Mississauga, have participated in several relevant studies. They compared sleep habits in industrialized nations — like the US and Australia — with those in smaller, non-industrial communities, including local groups in the Amazon, Madagascar, and Tanna Island in the Pacific. Their analysis, the most comprehensive to date, involved direct measurements of sleep in 866 participants aged 18 and older with no serious health issues. They discovered that individuals in non-industrial societies averaged 6.4 hours of sleep, while those in industrial societies averaged 7.1 hours. Additionally, people in non-industrial societies were asleep for 74% of their time in bed, compared to 88% in industrialized areas, a concept known as sleep efficiency.

Samson believes that people in industrialized societies sleep longer and better because their environment is more suitable for sleep. "We see that we've made some real gains in the safety and security of our sleep sites," he says, "We no longer need to worry about rival groups or predators at night."

About 10% of the detected plastic particles were micro-plastics, and the other 90% were nanoplastic. Micro-plastics are between 5 millimeters and 1 micrometer; nanoplastic are particles less than 1 micrometer in size. For context, a human hair is about 70 micrometers thick. Micro-plastics have already been found in people's lungs and blood.

Nanoplastic could be even more dangerous than micro-plastics because when inside the human body, "the smaller it goes, the easier for it to be misidentified as the natural component of the cell," says Wei Min, a professor of chemistry at Columbia University.

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) said in a statement that it has had "very limited notice and time" to review the study. But the group said the new detection method "needs to be fully reviewed by the scientific community and more research needs to be done to develop standardized methods for measuring and quantifying nanoplastic in our environment." The association said there is "no scientific agreement on the potential health impacts of nano-and micro-plastic particles."

The particles they could identify accounted for only 10% of total particles they found — the rest could be minerals, other types of plastics, or something else, says Beizhan Yan, a research professor and co-author on the study. They hope the research will lead to a better understanding of how much plastic humans are regularly putting into their bodies and its effects.

Yan says they plan future research employing the same technology to look at plastic particles in tap water, in the air, in food and in human tissues. "This is basically just to open a new window for us to see what was this invisible world before."

Later as the sun came up over the mountains and I drank my morning coffee, I looked out my kitchen window and saw a robin sitting on the fence near my home. She had a long piece of grass in her mouth. She looked back at me before flying up into the upper branches of my maple tree to work on her nest. I stepped out of my back door to see if I could see her again but stopped in my tracks.

Only fifteen feet away was a deer eating the freshly grown grass behind my house. I raised my coffee cup to him to show him I meant him no harm then eased back into my house to let him finish his breakfast. As I did so, I was filled with a wonderful sense of peace in my soul. I could feel the love around me, not only from my pets but from the wild animals in my backyard. I could feel my oneness with nature, with life, and with love. And I could say was ‌"Thank you!"

This life is so glorious. Hug this life then. Value it. Feel your oneness with it. Know that you are loved. Know that you can love. Then go out, sharing all of your love, your joy, and your light with everyone everywhere.

Program Benefits

·Enhance research capability in state-of-the-art labs under the guidance of professors at USTC.

·Have a competitive edge in application for Master's, PhD. and post-doctoral programs at USTC by developing relationships with faculty and students.

·Apply for free Chinese language and culture class to learn basic Chinese language and explore unique Hui culture.

Application Qualification

1. Good command of English.

2. Non-Chinese citizens with a foreign passport.

3. Currently enrolled full-time students in undergraduate Year 3/4, Master's, or doctoral programs.

Cost

·Tuition: 2,100 RMB (≈304 USD) per month (undergraduate student or master student).2,600 RMB (≈377 USD) per month (PhD student).

• Student dormitory: 500-1,000 RMB (≈73-146 USD) per month depending on room type and size.

●Insurance: 160 RMB (≈23 USD) per month.

Scholarship

USTC offers limited scholarships to outstanding students. All applicants will be evaluated.

I had always thought language was just a subject in school until I stepped into college. Growing up in Kolkata, I studied at a government-aided secondary school. Though English was part of the curriculum, it never felt important. I could pass exams with minimal effort, so I never took it seriously.

That changed the moment I began my first term of engineering. All the lectures were in English. I sat in class, trying to grasp what the professors were saying, but all my efforts were fruitless. I couldn't follow the lessons, ask questions, or join in discussions. Outside the classroom, things were no better. My classmates quickly realized I struggled with English. Some laughed at me, while others simply ignored me. Slowly, I backed off. I avoided group outings and kept to myself for fear that I'd embarrass myself if I spoke.

At the end of the term, I failed almost every subject. I stared at my school report in silence. My chest felt heavy, but I knew I had two choices— either giving up or fighting back. I chose the latter. I started small. I read English newspapers daily, carried an English dictionary in my backpack, and watched English videos with subtitles (字幕). Bit by bit, I improved. By the second term,I could finally understand lectures.

But speaking was still a challenge. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't express myself fluently. By my final year, I had gained knowledge in my field but still failed in every campus interview — always rejected in the communication round. My parents were disappointed. My brother thought I hadn't worked hard enough. I was stuck in a sense of helplessness.

Then, one day, my cousin visited. He asked what was wrong and listened patiently. "You've done your part," he said. "Now let someone help you." He advised me to attend a spoken English class. I was hesitant. What if people found out? What if I failed again?

注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；

2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Still, I signed up for the class.

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A month later, I stood before an employer, nervous but prepared.

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In August, James was freed as part of a(n)4 exchange. After arriving home, he told his family he wanted to be5. Then James hid in his own room. Wood shavings appeared outside his door to be taken away. Three months later, James' door opened6. His family gathered below the stairs, staring in7. James wasn't stumping (笨重地走) toward them on the former artificial leg. He should be8! James had created his own artificial leg! James had been studying9 in college before, convinced he could do a better artificial leg. James carved a foot and shaped leg pieces, until he'd created a comfortable leg that bent at both the ankle and the knee. They were10 when he walked.

Making improvements in his design, he started an artificial leg production company. James retired in 1905, but retirement didn't keep James from11 his life's work. James read reports about new battlefield12 of amputees (被截肢者) to develop new techniques. During the war, his company received contracts from England and France. The company he founded is today one of the most famous13 of replacement legs in the world.

Looking back upon those days in hospital, James wrote, "In a flash, life's fondest hopes seemed14." He continued, "Today I am thankful for what seemed to me nothing but a15 of fate (命运) then, but it was to prove instead a great opportunity."

As plastic pollution worsens, bioplastics — plastics made from natural materials — are gaining popularity, but they still account for only 0.5% of the more than 400 million tons of plastic produced every year. That is because bioplastics have lower mechanical strength than oil-based plastics and are difficult to apply easily in common production processes.

The Chinese team developed a method to produce plastic from cellulose, the fibrous component of bamboo. They first treated bamboo by adding zinc chloride (ZnCl₂) and a simple acid. In experiments, the team said bamboo-based bioplastic showed mechanical strength outperforming that of conventional plant-based bioplastic. In tests of mechanical and thermal stability and shapeability, bamboo-based bioplastic demonstrated its potential as an industrial alternative.

The development of bamboo-based bioplastic by researchers at Northeast Forestry University represents a significant advancement in the pursuit of sustainable development. With its impressive mechanical properties and biodegradability, bamboo-based bioplastic stands out as a promising candidate for reducing plastic waste and reliance on oil.

However, the path to future widespread adoption requires overcoming challenges related to production scalability (可扩展性) and market acceptance. As industries explore the potential of bamboo-based bioplastic, the question remains: Can this innovation truly replace traditional plastics and transform our approach to sustainable production?

The results are not just about finding who might be good at music early. The study shows that when the brain learns skills in one area, it can affect learning in another. Sarah Creel, the lead author from UC San Diego's Department of Cognitive Science (认知科学系), said, "A big question is whether our mental abilities are separate. For example, do we have special brain systems only for language? Our research suggests the opposite — there's a kind of interaction and we can use cognitive abilities in different areas."

The researchers did two experiments with young Mandarin learners and English learners. They tested 180 children on tasks about pitch patterns and timbre (音色). In the timbre task, Mandarin-speakers and English-speakers did similarly. But in the pitch task, Mandarin-speakers outperform English-speakers.

Mandarin is a tone language. The authors think that paying attention to tones helps young Mandarin speakers notice pitch in music better. Gail Heyman, a co-author from UC San Diego's Department of Psychology, said, "This shows that the language you speak affects how you understand music. It supports the idea of cross-domain (跨领域) learning."

The study's co-authors wrote, "We show for the first time that learning a tone language is connected with better musical pitch processing in young children. This is important for neuroscience (神经科学) and behavior, and our research can help design brain training programs."

But Heyman and Creel advise: Don't stop your child's music lessons to focus only on language, or language lessons for music. To be good at music, you still need to study music. And learning another language is good in itself, whether it makes you a better musician or not.

I was sent to him as a boy because I used language clumsily (笨拙地). My sentences were awkward, full of thorny (晦涩的) phrases. Instead of criticizing me. he placed a worn dictionary between us. "This is the seed catalogue," he said, his finger, tracing the words. "But knowing the name of a seed is different from knowing how to make it grow."

One afternoon, he pointed to the word "effervescent". "This one," he said, "is a bubble. It belongs in a description of a stream in sunlight, or a child's laughter. Plant it in a sad sentence, and the bubble will pop." Then he showed me "sombre," which he called "a deep-rooted thing, needing the shade of a serious thought."

Under his care, I learned to feel the weight and texture of words. I learned that "home" is a strong oak tree, offering shelter, while "house" is merely its timber (木材). That "lonely" has a colder chill than "alone".

Years later, when word reached me that Mr. Hazlewood had died, I went back to the silent shop. On his workbench lay a note, left for me. It was short, reading: "The garden is yours now. Tend it well."

I finally understood. He was not just tending words; he was tending minds. He knew that a well-chosen word, planted in a moment of understanding, could bloom for a lifetime, its meaning ripening long after the gardener was gone.

Garbage Disposers (处理器)

John W. Hammes, an architect from Wisconsin, created the InSinkErator in 1935. Hammes got the idea after watching his wife spend time wrapping food in newspaper and throwing it out. The InSinkErator is a device, put under a kitchen sink between the sink's drain (排水管)and the trap. The disposal unit tears food waste into pieces small enough—generally less than 2 mm in diameter(直径) —to pass through the drains.

Surgical Gloves

William Stewart Halsted, M. D. (1852-1922)was a well-known US surgeon who is often called the "Father of Modern Surgery". Known for his strict insistence to sterile(无菌的) working conditions, Halsted invented rubber gloves that allowed his colleagues to lessen the transfer of germs(细菌)during their work. Yet the initial reason why he created them is more romantic than you would think. Knowing Caroline, a nurse, suffered from a skin diseuse during her work, Halsted invented the gloves especially for her and gave them to her as a gift after their marriage.

Band-Aids

When Josephine Knight Dickson from New Jersey kept cutting herself while cooking for her family in the 1920s, her husband, Earle Dickson, stepped in. Dickson, a cotton buyer for Johnson &Johnson, according to the company's website, decided to invent a temporary adhesive (有黏性的) bandage for his wife. His creation became the Band-Aid we all know and use today.

Magnetic (有磁性的)Shirt Buttons

Maura Horton's husband, Don, was a football coach who had Parkinson's disease. One day, after Don struggled to button his shirt before a game, Horton decided there needed to be a better clothing option for people suffering from a disability. So, Horton designed a shirt with magnetic buttons in 2012. These buttons will finally allow everyone to dress and undress themselves efficiently.