The match was nearly over and I was almost on my last legs, when I saw a chance. I
picked the ball up from Sally and headed for the German penalty area (罚球区).
"Jess!" I could hear Jules shouting as she ran alongside me. "Pass!"
I looked up and hit the ball forward into space. Jules ran on to it, picked it up and hit the ball into the net. It was just as good as Beckham's last-minute goal against Greece!
Two minutes later, the referee(裁判) blew the whistle for full-time. A draw.
"Penalties," Jules said, with a wide smile on her face.
Although it wasn't usual to finish a friendly with penalties, both sides had decided that it would be a nice idea. Joe came on to the pitch(球场) to give us a quick pep talk. Maybe he wouldn't choose me.
"OK, Jules, you go first," Joe said. "Then Mel, Tina, Hannah and-Jess. "I tried not to look relieved that I was last. With any luck I wouldn't have to take my turn, if the match was decided before that.
The Germans went first and scored. So did Jules. The Germans scored again. So did
Mel. After a third German goal, Tina was looking nervous, but she was lucky because her shot went in off the post.
My stomach was turning over and over as Hannah stepped up to take our fourth penalty. If Hannah scored, it would be all down to the last German penalty-taker-and me.
Hannah rolled the ball smoothly into the left-hand corner of the net. I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself down. If the next German player scored, I'd have to take my turn. I closed my eyes, willing her to fail.
A loud roar around the stadium told me that she'd scored. The referee signaled me to come over and with heavy steps I walked over to place the ball on the spot. I was really tired and my legs felt like they were made of lead. Behind me I could hear the girls yelling encouragement.
I made a superhuman effort and ran towards the ball, but even as I hit it, I knew it wasn't right. I groaned as the ball hit the crossbar and bounced away into the crowd.
I don't ever want to talk about being a woman scientist again. There was a time in my life when people asked constantly for stories about what it's like to work in a field controlled by men. I was never very good at telling those stories because truthfully I never found them interesting. What I do find interesting is the origin of the universe, the shape of space-time and the nature of black holes.
At 19,when I began studying astrophysics,it did not bother me in the least to be the 7 only woman in the classroom. But while earning my Ph. D. at MIT and then as a post-doctor doing space research, the issue started to bother me. My every achievement - jobs, research papers, awards-was viewed from the angle of gender. So were my failures.
Then one day a few years ago, out of my mouth came a sentence that would eventually become my reply to any and all provocations (挑衅) : I don't talk about that anymore. It took me 10 years to get back the confidence I had at 19 and to realize that I didn't want to deal with gender issues. Why should curing sexism be yet another terrible burden on every female scientist?
Today I research and teach at Barnard, a women's college in New York City. Recently, someone asked me how many of the 45 students in my class were women. You cannot imagine my satisfaction at being able to answer, 45. I know some of my students worry how they will manage their scientific research and a desire for children. And I don't dismiss those concerns. Instead, I have given them this: the visual of their physics professor heavily pregnant doing physics experiments. And in turn they have given me the image of 45 women driven by a love of science. And that's a sight worth talking about.
Professor Ashok Goel of Georgia Tech developed an artificially intelligent teaching assistant to help handle the numerous questions from students in the online class. Professor Goel already had 8 teaching assistants, but that wasn't enough to deal with the huge number of questions from students.
Many students drop out of online courses for lack of teaching support. When students feel confused and reach out with questions that go unanswered, their motivation to continue begins to fade. Professor Goel decided to do something to change this situation by creating a virtual assistant named Jill Watson, which is based on the IBM Watson platform.
Goel and his team developed several versions of Jill Watson before releasing her to the online forums (论坛) . At first, the virtual assistant wasn't too great. But Goel and his team sourced the online discussion forum to find all 40, 000 questions that had ever been asked since the class started. Then they began to feed Jill with the questions and answers. After some adjustment, Jill was able to answer the students' questions correctly 97% of the time. The virtual assistant became so advanced and realistic that the students didn't know she was a computer. The students, who were studying artificial intelligence, were interacting with artificial intelligence and couldn't tell it apart from a real human being. Goel didn't inform them about Jill's true identity until April 26. The students were actually very positive about the experience.
The goal of Professor Goel's virtual assistant next year is to take over answering 40% of all questions raised by students. The name, Jill Watson will of course, change to something else next term. Professor Goel has a much rosier outlook on the future of Al than say, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates or Steve Wozniak.
Can you remember a time when you woke up from a fantastic or strange dream? Maybe you were afraid and turned on the light or the dream was so good you wanted to sleep longer. But do you think your dreams are telling you something?
Today, too many people can remember a time when they saw a place or person in their dream and then later, the dream happened in real life. Most people have four to six dreams every night after the age of ten. So, an-80-year-old person has probably had-140,000 dreams. Maybe we forget 95-99 percent of our dreams, but that's still thousands of dreams that might "come true".
Around the 18th and 19th centuries, there were two popular ideas about dreams. One said that the things we see in our dreams are things we keep in our subconscious because we don't want or need to think about them when we're awake. Dreams are just random thoughts from our day but we try to make a story from them when we wake up. Perhaps both ideas are a little bit right. Maybe dreams are made from the thoughts we have during the day, but we see them as symbols.
When we're awake, we think in words most of the time. But when we're sleeping, the part of our brain that helps us with language sleeps, and the part that makes us happy or sad or angry is awake and busy. If you can understand these symbols, you have a window into your subconscious.
A. That's as many as 2,000 dreams per year.
B. Maybe that's not surprising because we dream a lot.
C. Also, how you were feeling in the dream is important.
D. For centuries, people thought dreams were messages from gods or spirits.
E. For example, a dream of flying might be a symbol for an exciting new job.
F. The opposite idea said the brain organizes thoughts from the day while we're sleeping.
G. So, maybe our thoughts come to us in dreams as feelings and symbols instead of words.
Mrs. Barrow, room 501, room 501, I repeated to myself as I scanned the hallways looking for the room number. It was my first day of fifth grade and I was really1.
I came to the end of the hall and found an open door. Stepping into the room, I suddenly felt out of 2. I tried to act normal, but Mrs. Barrow saw right through me. "Good morning, Courtni. You may 3 your seat. "I looked about the room and took an empty seat near a girl named Wendy Barber. As the year slowly 4, Wendy and I became good friends. I felt no closeness to Mrs. Barrow, 5. I saw her as "just another teacher."
Then my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. About a month later, Grandma slipped into a coma (昏迷) and died. 6 her was unbearable for me. I missed some school because I was so sad.
At the funeral, I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself when I 7 and saw Mrs. Barrow standing there. She sat down next to me and held my hand. She comforted me by 8 me that now Grandma had no more pain or suffering. It had never occurred to me that it was 9 for my grandma this way. All I thought about was how bad it was for me.
After the funeral, we went to my aunt's house to see the flowers that had been sent. My mom10 me a pretty ivy plant in a pin pot. The 11 card read:
Courtni,
I'm sorry about your grandmother. Never forget, I love you. You are like one of my children.
With love,
Mrs. Barrow
I took the plant home and put it in my grandma's old room. I am in eighth grade now and I still have that plant. I 12 thought a teacher could care that much about her students; now I know. I say this with all my heart: 13 who is lucky enough to have a teacher like Mrs. Barrow in their life is privileged 14words. She may not know it, but she means more to me than she'll ever know. I can only hope this gives her inspiration and 15 to her a tiny portion of what she has done for me.
Japan's government has lowered the age at which people become adults. It is the first time since 1876 that this (happen): From the year 2022, teenagers will become happened, adults at the age of 18, two years (early) than the age at which adulthood currently legally happens, However, even though the age has been lowered, there (be) still certain things that will not change. The legal age for drinking alcohol, smoking and gambling (赌博) will remain fixed at 20. The new law will enable 18-year-olds to get married without parental (permit), and allow them to apply credit cards.
The new law has been passed in an effort (bring) about social and economic changes in Japan. The government hopes to see increase in the number of young people getting married and starting (family). This will help deal with the nation's decreasing birth rate and ageing population Greater financial freedom could help promote the economy, which is vital for a government (struggle) to handle the increasing pension and healthcare payments. Many of Japan's young people are more concerned about how the law will affect the traditional Coming of Age Day, a national holiday held in January 20-year-olds dress up in traditional kimonos (和服) to celebrate adulthood.
