UK schools try Chinese math

    It's well known that Chinese students often outperform their peers from other countries in math contests. This is why the UK is going to try out Chinese math books and exercise papers in many of its schools.

    According to China Daily, international publisher Collins Learning signed an agreement with Shanghai Century Publishing Group on March 14 to publish translated copies of Shanghai's primary school math books. Under the agreement, Collins will print a series of 36 books, named Real Shanghai Mathematics. The series includes math textbooks, supplementary(补充性的) textbooks and teacher's textbooks. Some primary schools in the UK will use the books for first to sixth graders in September.

    The aim of this is to improve UK students performance in math by learning from the way Chinese schools teach their students the subject.

    Chinese schools, represented by those in Shanghai, have marked high in math scores in all three rounds of the Program for International Student Assessment(PISA) since 2009. However, the UK scored far less, according to The Guardian Still, some people worry that textbooks alone cannot solve the UK's problem with math, as the fundamentals of the education systems are so different.

    One key difference is that Chinese schools focus on students as a whole, while those in the UK value individual performance. In Chinese schools, students are taught together as a class, with students all moving through their lessons one step at a time. However, in the UK, students in the same class are often given different work to do depending on their progress.

    There are also huge differences in teacher training and deployment. Primary school math teachers in Shanghai teach only math for perhaps two hours a day, and the rest of the day is spent debriefing(报告) and improving lessons. English primary teachers, in contrast, are teaching all subjects, rather than specializing in a single area like math.

    Another key difference is that students in China are likely to get far more homework than UK student. Many will also have private tutoring and attend weekend school.

    With so many differences in the two education systems, it remains to be seen whether Chinese math books will benefit students in the UK. However, UK Schools Minister Nick Gibb believes that they will be a huge help. “I am confident that the steps we are taking now will make sure young people are properly prepared for further study and the 21st century workplace, and that the too often heard phrase can't do math' only exists in the past,” he said in a press release.

    Moving to a foreign country is an amazing, life-changing experience. There are some practical decisions that need to be made.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}For me, choosing to live with a French with a French family was the best choice I made, and here is why.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When you're in a new environment with people you don't know who are speaking a language you're still not fluent in, you might feel lost, tired and homesick—I know I did.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}They showed me which buses to take to get to work, cooked dinner for me so we could eat together, and took me with them on trips to the beach, the theatre and even a bullfight. These were great opportunities to experience French culture and build relationships. They helped me feel more comfortable and welcome.

    Living with French people has improved my language skills. Being constantly exposed to real French conversation has allowed me to learn new phrases, widen my vocabulary and even improve my accent. My host family are happy to answer my questions and correct me when I say things wrong.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The experience of living abroad is one that you will remember forever. Perhaps the friendships, like the memories, will also last.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}You might return for their birthdays, weddings, holidays, and much more. I hope to remain in contact with my host family long after I leave France because when I was away from my friends and loves ones, they welcomed me and made me part of their family.

A. One such decision is choosing where to live.

B. You can stay in your own space and privacy.

C. Your host family might become your life-long friends.

D. It makes me a better and more confident French speaker.

E. However, my host family was wonderful and welcoming.

F. A family can help you settle in, stopping you from feeling lonely.

G. It's an opportunity to meet new people, a different culture and another language.

    Worry problems are everywhere in our daily life. How to solve them? The answer is that we must equip ourselves to handle different kinds of worries by learning the three basic steps of problem analysis. The three steps are：

    Get the facts

    Why is it so important to get the facts? Unless you have the facts, you can't possibly attempt to solve your problem intelligently. Without the facts, all you can do is wondering around in confusion. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} When you are worried, your emotions are riding high. But here are two ideas that can help you see the facts in a clear and objective way.

    When trying to get the facts, you can pretend that you are collecting this information not for yourself but for some other person. This will help you to take a cold and fair view of the evidence. You can also pretend that you are a lawyer preparing to agree.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} You will generally find the truth lies somewhere in between.

    Analyze the facts

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} And write out all the various steps you could take and then the probable consequences (后果) of each step. For example, what am I worrying about? What can I do about it? Here is what I'm going to do about it. After carefully weighing all the facts, you can calmly come to a decision.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Unless you take your action, all you face—finding and analysing—is a waste of energy. How can you break the worry habit before it breaks you? Move worry out of your mind by keeping busy.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Accept what can't be avoided. If you know a situation is beyond your power, say to yourself: "It is so; it can't be otherwise." Don't permit little things to ruin your happiness. Try to develop a mental attitude that will bring you peace and happiness.

A. Act on that decision.

B. It is not an easy job to get facts.

C. Decide how much anxiety a thing may be worth.

D. Plenty of action is one of the best ways to cure worry.

E. There comes a time when you must decide and never look back.

F. Try to get all the facts both on your side and the other side of the case.

G. Whenever you are worried, write down the questions that make you worry.

    Every animal sleeps, but the reason for this has remained foggy. When lab rats are not allowed to sleep, they die within a month.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    One idea is that sleep helps us strengthen new memories. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} We know that, while awake, fresh memories are recorded by reinforcing (加强) connections between brain cells, but the memory processes that take place while we sleep have been unclear.

    Support is growing for a theory that sleep evolved so that connections between neurons (神经元) in the brain can be weakened overnight, making room for fresh memories to form the next day.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Now we have the most direct evidence yet that he is right.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} The synapses in the mice taken at the end of a period of sleep were 18 per cent smaller than those taken before sleep, showing that the connections between neurons weaken while sleeping.

    If Tononi's theory is right, it would explain why, when we miss a night's, we find it harder the next day to concentrate and learn new information — our brains may have smaller room for new experiences.

    Their research also suggests how we may build lasting memories over time even though the synapses become thinner. The team discovered that some synapses seem to be protected and stayed the same size. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} "You keep what matters," Tononi says.

A. We should also try to sleep well the night before.

B. It's as if the brain is preserving its most important memories.

C. That's why students do better in tests if they get a chance to sleep after learning.

D. Similarly, when people go for a few days without sleeping, they get sick.

E. The processes take place to stop our brains becoming loaded with memories.

F. Tononi's team measured the size of these connections, or synapses, in the brains of 12 mice.

G. "Sleep is the price we pay for learning," says Giulio Tononi, who developed the idea.

Dealing with Difficult Relationships

    Everyone has at least one awkward or tense relationship. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It may be with somebody who will use up your energy whenever you are with them. Or worse, it could be someone who always cuts you down. By persuading you it's your obligation or duty, you forget about your own needs. Sadly, by remaining loyal to these people, you forget who you are. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} No matter who they are, it's necessary that you learn to set boundaries (界限) for yourself. It is you who allow them to take advantage of you or even belittle you.

    If you find a relationship unhealthy and it's time for you to set boundaries, the following advice may be helpful.

    Setting boundaries for difficult relationships starts by admitting how you are affected by the relationships. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} For example, it's time to study for tomorrow's test. But your friend wants to take you to a party. Here, setting boundaries will help protect your academic goals. Someone who pressures you to something you're not comfortable doing will stress you out. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Next, decide how much time you should spend with these people. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} But it's difficult to help others if you forget to protect your own priority (优先次序).

    Settling boundaries requires taking a long, honest look at yourself. By saying no to harmful patterns in relationships, you say “yes” to a healthier you.

A. Does this kind of relationship lower your self-respect?

B. These people may be your family members or even friends.

C. It's easy to spend too much time and energy offering them help.

D. People may try to keep you in an unhealthy relationship.

E. But a friend who considers how you feel will respect your willingness to try something new.

F. It's not easy to set boundaries because you may be afraid of losing them.

G. Do they bring you closer to your goals or pull you farther away?

Why the youth sense anger in faces

    We tend to believe that older people are more positive and younger people are more sensitive to social cues (暗示).

    Recently scientists investigated this idea by testing 10,000 men and women. They wanted to see if age affected a person's ability to identify facial emotions, such as fear and anger.

    The researchers from McLean Hospital in the US used a Web-based platform to collect happiness data. It showed the participants two headshots (头部特写)of random people. They were then asked to identify which subject was angrier, happier, or more fearful.

    The research found that younger people were able to better identify angry and fearful facial cues than older people.

    "From studies and anecdotal evidence, we know that the everyday experiences of an adolescent are different from an older person, but we wanted to understand how these experiences might be linked with differences in basic emotion understanding,wrote Laura Germine, the study's senior author.

    But what is it that makes young people more sensitive?

    "This is the exact age when young people are most sensitive to forms of negative social cues, such as bullying," Lauren Rutter, the study's lead author, told Science Daily. "The normal development of anger sensitivity can contribute to some of the challenges that arise during this phase of development.

    On the contrary  across the whole 10,000-person survey, researchers found no decline in the perception (感知)of happiness among older participants.

    "What's remarkable is that we see declines in many visual perceptual abilities as we get older, but here we did not see such declines in the perception of happiness, Germine told Neuro Science News.

    She added that these findings fit well with other researches, showing that older adults tend to have more positive emotions and a positive outlook.

    Following the paper's release, Rutter told Neuro Science News that gathering their primary research online allowed the team to research into a "much larger and more diverse sample set" than previous studies.