VirtualWinter Math Contest Preparation Club registrations are nowopen!
Winter Contest Preparation Club (January 10 — February 3, 2023, Online)
Math Enrichment Courses (February 7 — March 3, 2023, Online)
Course Streams
•Contest Courses are designed to cover contest questions and problem-solving strategies. Instructions focus on the fundamentals of problem solving in fun ways, and improving skills in assessing how to solve a problem by recognizing its type.
•Programming Courses focus on exploring the relationship between math and programming.
Building on math knowledge, solving math puzzles, and learning programming concepts, students program together to solve challenges and projects.
•Enrichment Courses are designed for students who are comfortable in math concepts at their grade level and are looking for greaterchallenges and newways to stimulate their interest in math.
Program Fees and Financial Support
•Online Grades 1-8 Contest Club and Enrichment Courses: $225
•Online Grades 9-12 Contest Club and Enrichment Courses: $240+tax
If you are unable to pay for the full program because you have been financially affected, please apply for a scholarship. Further information and an application form can be found here.
Refund Policy
There is a $50 administrative fee for cancellation requests. Cancellations made 48 hours before the first class will receive a full refund minus the administrative fee. Requests for refunds after the deadline will not be processed.
Registration
To register for any class, you must create an account on our registration system by clicking the button below.
Going against the tide of flocking (蜂拥) to well-known yet generally jam-packed tourist destinations on vacation, a growing number of holidaymakers in China tend to spend their leisure time at lesser known resorts to seek unique, relaxed holiday experiences. Reverse Tourism has emerged as a new trend among young holidaymakers in China.
Besides crowds, some vacationers chose less-traveled places to save on the cost of trips to popular destinations, which often require pricey tickets, meals and hotel stays. "Tourism used to be about sightseeing. Now it is about experiences," said Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism
Academy. He said popular tourist spots are always packed and often raise their prices during holidays. As people become more mature travelers, they are increasingly unwilling to follow the herd. Some of them are simply looking to take a rest somewhere quiet for a couple of days, which____is a good way to vacation.
In addition, lesser-known attractions are not as "commercial" and "standardized" as developed ones and are able to offer more genuine experiences and natural encounters, according to social media posts. And unlike popular destinations, some under-explored places with little online exposure can offer more surprises. COVID-19 is another key factor fueling Reverse Tourism. As precautionary measures continue, traveling has an unpredictable quality. A traveler has no way of knowing what lies ahead before departure, be it a perfect holiday or one interrupted by a sudden outbreak.
"The rise of Reverse Tourism is not a bad thing," said an opinion piece in Zhengzhou Daily.
It means that vacationers now have more options, which brings more possibilities to the tourism market, the article explains. More importantly, the trend is set to force popular destinations to improve themselves instead of resting on their achievements, it noted.
Today, battery power per kilowatt hour costs around only ten percent of what it did a decade ago. And the expectation is that the costs will continue to fall, because battery chemistry improves and manufacturing lots of batteries on a massive scale makes the production of individual batteries cheaper.
You can be forgiven for thinking that this might only be of interest to accountants, but the possible effects of this are enormous, and will benefit all of us. First and most obviously, it has made the batteries in electric cars cheaper and longer-lasting. And brilliantly, because electric batteries are improving so dramatically, we can already see the results. Last September, 15 percent of all new vehicle registrations were pure electric vehicles. So the change is starting to happen.
Better batteries does not just mean better cars however. They can also help us decarbonise the entire national grid (输电网). Storing energy has always been a problem for the grid. Today, only a tiny amount of generated electricity is stored for later use, which leads to lots of power going to waste. But better batteries make it technologically and economically viable to store large amounts of energy from the grid.
It's possible that in the not-too-distant future, we might have an enormous battery in the garage. It would take power from the grid (or maybe even solar panels on the roof), and power appliances and lights in our homes at the times when demand for electricity is high. Home batteries are not yet as established as electric cars, but-they are also growing in popularity.
So, given that how much technology has improved batteries over the last decade, I can't help but be strangely optimistic about the future. Batteries may not be as flashy (华丽的) as phones, rockets or other new technologies. But when it comes to technology to fight climate change, they're definitely leading the charge.
Teen brains aged faster than normal from stress by at least three years, a study has found. The study, published in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, was the first to compare examinations of the physical structures of teenagers'brains from before and after the stress started, and to document significant differences.
Researchers knew teens had higher levels of depression, anxiety and fearfulness than before the stress. But we knew nothing about the effects on their brains. The researchers found growth in brain areas that control access to some memories and help control fear, stress and other emotions.
Premature (过早的) aging of kids' brains isn't a positive development. Their stressful childhood experiences not only make people easier to suffer from depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses, they can raise the risk of cancer, heart disease and other long-term negative outcomes.
The scientists tried to make out how the stress itself may have impacted the physical structure of the children's brains and their mental health. They matched pairs of children with the same age, gender and stress. "That allowed us to compare 16-year olds before the stress with different 16-year olds assessed after the stress," said Ian Gotlib, a psychology professor at Stanford University.
To determine the brain age of their samples, the researchers fed their brain examinations into a machine-learning model for predicting brain age developed by the ENIGMA-Brain Age working group, a co-operation among scientists who share their brain image data sets. They also evaluated mental health outcomes reported by the matched pairs. They found more severe symptoms of anxiety, depression and internalizing (内在化的) problems in the group that had experienced the stress.
Dan Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, noted that many individuals experience post-traumatic (创伤后的) growth after a stressful experience. "This is a useful initial study," agreed David Fassler, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont. "I expect the results will inform the design of future research initiatives. "
Being able to read is an important skill in today's society. It is important because it develops the mind and imagination. Aperson who knows how to read can educate themselves in any area of life they are interested in.
Reading is an active mental process that improves your concentration and focus. Since you must concentrate in order to read, this requires you to focus and think about what you are reading.
Studies show if you don't use your memory, it becomes more and more difficult to remember things. It requires you to remember details, facts and figures, plot lines, themes and characters.
The more you read, the more knowledgeable you become and with more knowledge comes more confidence. Reading about the diversity of life and exposing yourself to new ideas and more information help to develop the creative side of the brain and bring innovations (创新) into your thinking process. When you are well read, people will look to you for answers.
Then your feelings about yourself get better. Even more confidence!
When you are reading books, especially challenging ones, you will probably find yourself exposed to many new words. Do you remember when you learned to read, how you learned to figure out the meaning of one word by reading the other words in the sentence?
Reading can help you get access to the diversity of ethnicity (民族特点) of people, their customs and their lifestyles. You'll become more aware of different places. Reading really widens your horizon (视野) of information, so you'll always have something to talk about.
A. So it's a chain reaction.
B. Reading helps to strengthen your memory muscles.
C. If you are feeling bored, then pick up a book and start reading.
D. Reading is one of the most enjoyable hobbies a person can have.
E. You will get the same benefit for building your vocabulary from reading books.
F. It makes you use your brain, helping you to reason out things which are unfamiliar to you.
G. Ever found yourselfin an embarrassing situation where you didn't have anything to talk about?
When school started on that warm August day, I 1 myself into all the sports I did, including volleyball. I decided to become 2 and stopped eating completely. Soon I began losing weight, 3 thrilled me, and I even grew to love the 4 that came with my poor diet, forit meant that I was winning.
As the season progressed, things had become 5 between my head volleyball coach, Coach Smith, and me. Feeling something was wrong with my 6 , she talked with me and tried to persuade me to eat 7 a healthy way. We then argued constantly. Later, my hunger started to affect my 8 . I was so tired that practice and games were becoming a struggle. One afternoon, with 9 in her eyes, Coach Smith asked me what I had eaten. I told her 10 yet, and I wasn't going to. She looked at me, hurt in her eyes, knowing her efforts are 11 , and walked away.
A couple of weeks later I 12 a formal dinner for our volleyball team. I stood there as my coach managed to say something nice about me. I realized suddenly that I had 13 my senior year by being disrespectful, and probably hers as well. So that evening I wrote her a letter 14 and thanking her.
Then one Saturday, as I was reading in the library, I felt someone 15 take my arm and say softly, "Lynn Jones, how are you doing?" I looked up and saw the familiar face. "Thanks for the letter," she said. "It 16 a lot. "
When I think of a coach, I think of someone 17 me, someone who gives instruction—not a friend. But Coach Smith is different, and, like any other good friend, she18 my problem persistently even when I hated her for it at that time. 19 I didn't deserve her kindness, she gave it anyway. I will forever be grateful for her help and now for her 20 .
Since the pre-Qin period, Chengdu (be) an important cultural town in China. But really sets the city apart, culturally, is its opera. An important aspect of Sichuan Opera is magic of "face changing" where vividly coloured masks are changed within the blink of an eye. In opera gardens and tea houses across the town, audiences (want) a glimpse of the local culture love to drink tea while listening to Sichuan Opera and watching face changing.
It is believed that "face changing" has its roots in evolution. Early humans needed(survive) strategies to avoid fierce animals and foreign invaders. Often, aggressive facial gestures and non-verbal cues were part of it. The Sichuan Opera is said (bring) this range of emotions on stage.
Once the performance starts, the actor keeps pulling down one mask after in swift movements to convey different emotions. (surprise), no matter how close one is the stage, they just can't tell how the masks change.
In fact, the different kinds of characters and personalities that Sichuan Opera brings alive can (find) among common people. This is why its emotions will continue to resonate with people for a long time.
