“Mama，when I grow up，I'm going to be one of those！” I said this after seeing the Capital Dancing Company perform when I was three.It was the first time that my1took on a vivid form and acted as something important to start my training.As I grew older and was2to more，my interests in the world of dance3varied but that little girl's dream of someday becoming a4in the company never left me.In the summer of 2005 when I was 18，I received the phone call which made that dream a5； I became a member of the company6back to 1925.
As I look back on that day now，it surely7any sense of reality.I believe I stayed in a state of pleasant disbelief8I was halfway through rehearsals(排练) on my first day.I never actually9to get the job.After being offered the position，I was completely10.I remember shaking with excitement.
Though I was absolutely thrilled with the change，it did not come without its fair share of11.Through the strict rehearsal period of dancing six days a week，I found it vital to12up the material fast with every last bit of concentration.It is that extreme13to detail(细节) and stress on practice that set us14.To then follow those highenergy rehearsals15a busy show schedule of up to five performances a day，I discovered a new16of the words “hard work”.What I thought were my physical17were pushed much further than I thought18.I learned to make each performance better than the last.
Today，when I look at the unbelievable company that I have the great19of being a part of，not only as a member，but as a dance captain，I see a20that has inspired not only generations of little girls but a splendid company that continues to develop and grow—and inspires people every day to follow their dreams.
The Basics of Math—Made Clear
Basic Math introduces students to the basic concepts of mathematics, as well as the fundamentals of more tricky areas. These 30 fantastic lectures are designed to provide students with an understanding of arithmetic and to prepare them for Algebra(代数) and beyond.
The lessons in Basic Math cover every basic aspect of arithmetic. They also look into exponents(指数), the order of operations, and square roots. In addition to learning how to perform various mathematical operations, students discover why these operations work, how a particular mathematical topic relates to other branches of mathematics, and how these operations can be used practically.
Basic Math starts from the relatively easier concepts and gradually moves on to the more troublesome ones, so as to allow for steady and sure understanding of the material by students. The lectures offer students the chance to “make sense” of mathematical knowledge that may have seemed so frightening. They also help students prepare for college mathematics and overcome their anxiety about this amazing—and completely understandable—field of study.
By the conclusion of the course, students will have improved their understanding of basic math. They will be able to clear away the mystery(神秘性) of mathematics and face their studies with more confidence than they ever imagined. In addition, they will strengthen their ability to accept new and exciting mathematical challenges.
Professor H. Siegel, honored by Kentucky Educational Television as “the best math teacher in America,” is a devoted teacher and has a gift for explaining mathematical concepts in ways that make them seem clear and obvious. From the basic concrete ideas to the more abstract problems, he is master in making math lectures learner-friendlier and less scary.
With a PhD in Mathematics Education from Georgia State University, Dr. Siegel teaches mathematics at Central Arizona College. His courses include various make-up classes and a number of lectures for future primary school teachers.
If the course fails to provide complete satisfaction to you, you can easily exchange it for any other course that we offer. Or you can get your money back.
Proudly reading my words, I glanced around the room, only to find my classmates bearing big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Confused, I glanced toward my stone-faced teacher. Having no choice, I slowly raised the report I had slaved over, hoping to hide myself. “What could be causing everyone to act this way?”
Quickly, I flashed back to the day Miss Lancelot gave me the task. This was the first real talk I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. Since my idea of history came from an ancient teacher in my home country, I had never heard of that name before. As I searched the name of this fellow, it became evident that there were two people bearing the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice; flip (掷) a coin. Heads—the commander, and tails—the peanuts guy. Ah! Tails, my report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.
Weeks later, standing before this unfriendly mass, I was totally lost. Oh well, I lowered the paper and sat down at my desk,burningto find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, “My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American Revolution.” The whole world became quite! How could I know that she meant that George Washington?
Obviously, my grade was awful. Heartbroken but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to Miss Lancelot, but she insisted: No re-dos; no new grade. I felt that the punishment was not justified, and I believed I deserved a second chance. Consequently, I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, that chance unfolded as I found myself sitting in the headmaster's office with my grandfather, now having an entirely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the embarrassing moment at the beginning of the year as the headmaster informed me of my option to skip the sixth grade. Justice is sweet!
Decision-making under Stress
A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.
The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn't gone through the stress.
This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.
The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.
Wilderness
“In wilderness(荒野) is the preservation of the world.” This is a famous saying from a writer regarded as one of the fathers of environmentalism. The frequency with which it is borrowed mirrors a heated debate on environmental protection: whether to place wilderness at the heart of what is to be preserved.
As John Sauven of Greenpeace UK points out, there is a strong appeal in images of the wild, the untouched; more than anything else, they speak of the nature that many people value most dearly. The urge to leave the subject of such images untouched is strong, and the danger exploitation(开发) brings to such landscapes(景观) is real. Some of these wildernesses also perform functions that humans need—the rainforests, for example, store carbon in vast quantities. To Mr.Sauven, these ”ecosystem services” far outweigh the gains from exploitation.
Lee Lane, a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute, takes the opposing view. He acknowledges that wildernesses do provide useful services, such as water conservation. But that is not, he argues, a reason to avoid all human presence, or indeed commercial and industrial exploitation. There are ever more people on the Earth, and they reasonably and rightfully want to have better lives, rather than merely struggle for survival. While the ways of using resources have improved, there is still a growing need for raw materials, and some wildernesses contain them in abundance. If they can be tapped without reducing the services those wildernesses provide, the argument goes, there is no further reason not to do so. Being untouched is not, in itself, a characteristic worth valuing above all others.
I look forwards to seeing these views taken further, and to their being challenged by the other participants. One challenge that suggests itself to me is that both cases need to take on the question of spiritual value a little more directly. And there is a practical question as to whether wildernesses can be exploited without harm.
This is a topic that calls for not only free expression of feelings, but also the guidance of reason. What position wilderness should enjoy in the preservation of the world obviously deserves much more serious thinking.
B . 
C . 
D . 
Empathy
Last year, researchers from the University of Michigan reported that empathy, the ability to understand other people, among college students had dropped sharply over the past 10 years.Today, people spend more time alone and are less likely to join groups and clubs. Jennifer Freed, a co-director of a teen program, has another explanation. Turn on the TV, and you're showered with news and reality shows full of people fighting, competing, and generally treating one another with no respect.There are good reasons not to follow those bad examples. Humans are socially related by nature.Researchers have also found that empathetic teenagers are more likely to have high self-respect. Besides, empathy can be a cure for loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and fear.Empathy is also an indication of a good leader. In fact, Freed says, many top companies report that empathy is one of the most important things they look for in new managers. “Academics are important. But if you don't have emotional (情感的) intelligence, you won't be as successful in work or in your love life,” she says.What's the best way to up your EQ (情商）? For starters, let down your guard and really listen to others.To really develop empathy, you'd better volunteer at a nursing home or a hospital, join a club or a team that has a diverse membership, have a “sharing circle” with your family, or spend time caring for pets at an animal shelter.
A. Everyone is different, and levels of empathy differ from person to person.
B. That could be because so many people have replaced face time with screen time, the researchers said.
C. “One doesn't develop empathy by having a lot of opinions and doing a lot of talking,” Freed says.
D. Humans learn by example—and most of the examples on it are anything but empathetic.
E. Empathy is a matter of learning how to understand someone else—both what they think and how they feel.
F. Good social skills—including empathy—are a kind of “emotional intelligence” that will help you succeed in many areas of life.
G. Having relationships with other people is an important part of being human—and having empathy is decisive to those relationships.
