Yash Gupta

    Yash Gupta has worn glasses for many years. When they broke one ay and he was not able to wear thenm to school, he had a big problem.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}At the end of the day, he realized that he had learned nothing that day!

    Yash quickly got his glasses fixed, but his experience changed his life. He realized that there were probably many kids around the world that did not have proper glasses to help them learn in school.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}He found out that 13 million children around the world don't have proper glasses to help them see in class. Instead of just shaking his head at this problem, he decided to do something about it.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Its goal is to help find glasses for other kids and teens that need them.

    He created Sight Learning in 2011 and since then he has changed the lives of thousands of young students around the world! The organization has tried to provide eyeglasses to students who need them but cannot afford them. It has collected and given away over $1,000,000 worth of eyeglasses.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    As Dr. Seuss, a famous writer, once said, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”{#blank#}5{#/blank#}He has taken action to not only improve his own life, but those of others.

A. Yash is such a teenager.

B. So, he did some research.

C. Yash started a small organization, Sight Learning.

D. Here is an easy way to help Yash and Sight Learning.

E. He could not see much of what was going on in his classroom.

F. He learned that not having glasses can cause a 20% loss in learning!

G. This has helped over 20,000 young people in 5 countries to see better!

    Why do many people play sports? You might say “to get exercise'' and you'd be right. To have fun? That's true, too. But there's more.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}According to the Women's Sports Foundation, girls who play sports get a lot more than just fit.

    Girls who play sports do better in school. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}But research shows that girls who play sports do better in school than those who don't. Exercise improves learning, memory, and concentration, which can give active girls an advantage in the classroom.

    Girls who play sports learn teamwork and goal-setting skills. Sports teaches valuable life skills. When you working with coaches, trainers, and teammates to win games and achieve goals, you're learning how to be successful. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Sports are good for a girl's health. In addition to being fit and maintaining a healthy weight, girls who play sports are also less likely to smoke. And later in life, girls who exercise are less likely to get breast cancer.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Girls who play sports feel better about themselves. Why? It builds confidence when you know you can practice, improve, and achieve your goals. Sports are also a feel-good activity because they help girls get in shape, maintain a healthy weight, and make new friends.

    Exercise cuts the pressure. Playing sports can lessen stress and help you feel a little happier. How? {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Friends are another mood-lifter. And being on a team creates tight bonds between friends. It's good to know your teammates will support you—both on and off the field!

    Some people think working overtime means you're a hard worker. You have to sacrifice your personal time to stay at work, produce something, help the company, and be a more devoted employee. But is that right? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. This means it takes you longer to produce something than someone else.

    A good manager knows how to encourage his employees to work to their full potential instead of expecting them to work late even if they don't have something to do. People who stay in their office until late hate their jobs. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    Overworking may negatively influence the level of productivity and efficiency(效率). Any company that makes their employees work those hours is not being managed well. The fault lies with management, who should take a good look at themselves. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. And the boss would prefer you work efficiently 7 hours and then go back home than 8 hours with poor efficiency.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The fact is the competition is so fierce that if you don't work hard someone will easily and willingly replace you, especially in the IT industry. Employees are told they need to work longer hours or they don't belong or are denied promotions. It is time to abandon the culture of overworking, to work smarter, more efficiently and have a balance with personal life.

    Nowadays, it's hard for a young person to build a good future, for pressures are on his (or her) shoulders: housing, children, parents, themselves, etc. But everyone must keep working hard to have ourselves on the way to the good future, which is not certain. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. No one wants to work overtime.

B. The boss thinks highly of overworking.

C. Working too many hours only means you are inefficient.

D. And it affects their performance, as well as other aspects of their life.

E. What's sure is that if you're lazy and don't work hard, no good future will come.

F. Managers believe that overworking is an evidence of devotion from their employees' side.

G. In many countries, overworking would be criticized because it reflects poor work efficiency.

    Today's students are surrounded by information. The ability to figure out exactly why authors write ­ and not accept every opinion as fact ­ is a key skill. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The following strategies teach them how to figure out why authors really write.

    Start with why. "Why did the author write this piece?" is the key question asked to identify author's purpose. To help students expand their understanding of "why," post various types of nonfiction (an advertisement, opinion article, news article, etc.) around your classroom and have students quickly identify a purpose for each. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Talk about structure. Authors use different structures for different purposes. For example, one author may use time order to explain an event, while another author uses compare and contrast to put that event into context.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Often when authors write, they're trying to get readers to feel a certain way. Perhaps the author of an article about whale conservation wants readers to feel sad about the difficult situation of whales. Or the author of a letter may want to make the recipient feel better about a situation. After students read a text, stop and ask: How do you feel? And how did the author get you to feel this way?

    Connect it to students' own writing. It doesn't have to be said that writing and reading go hand in hand. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} When students are asked to write about a topic that they think everyone should know about, to explain a procedure or to share a personal memory, they'll become more conscious of how authors approach writing.

    Observe how purpose changes within a text. Author's purpose is often studied through the text as a whole, but authors have different reasons for writing within texts as well. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Then, they may launch into a list of facts that make the reader feel discouraged about the situation. And finally, they may conclude with an appeal. Take a short article and break it apart, identifying the different purposes so that students see how author's purpose changes as they read.

A. Get to the heart.

B. Identify the topic.

C. The readers may get more advanced in their work with informational text.

D. For example, an author may include a funny anecdote (轶事) to draw the reader in.

E. In particular, they'll need to figure out author's purpose and draw their own conclusions.

F. Expand students' awareness of why people write by having them write for different purposes.

G. Or keep a running Author's Purpose board with a list of the various reasons that authors write.

    As is often the case, when we wake up feeling sleepy and with dark circles under eyes, many of us often make a decision: "I'm going to bed earlier tomorrow!" we are so determined. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} We are still absorbed in what we are doing without realizing it is already too late the next day. This behavior is called "bedtime procrastination" (睡眠拖延症), and results from lack of self-control and our body clock.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} According to a study carried out by a group of health psychologists, 53 percent of the 2,400 participants said they didn't follow their sleep schedule, delaying it at least twice a week. They delayed bedtime because they couldn't stop doing other trivial things (琐事), which were keeping them up in the first place.

    People who generally have trouble resisting temptations (诱惑) and following their intentions firmly are also more likely to delay going to bed. They find it hard to control themselves. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Our body clock also plays an important role when it comes to bedtime. Those who get up late are more likely to postpone their bedtime than those who wake early every morning. Night owls would go to bed late at the very beginning of the weekday, even though they had to get up early for work and school. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} 

    Therefore, if we want to cure our bedtime procrastination, the intention to go to bed earlier is not enough. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} We should have a clear understanding that bedtime procrastination is a big problem. The choices we make could turn out to be pretty important for our health.

A. Bedtime procrastination is a common problem.

B. It will have extreme effect on our health sooner or later.

C. Yet, lack of self-control is not the only thing to blame.

D. Unfortunately, chances are that we don't stick to our promise.

E. It's their special body clock that plays a part in delaying their bedtime.

F. Biological processes need to support this intention.

G. So we just need to take action to change our sleep model.

Is your glass of milk half-full or half-empty? This saying is often used to test people's outlook in a situation; do they focus on the positives (a half-full glass) or the negatives (a half-empty one)? Thinking positively, with a belief that most things will turn out fine, is called optimism and it's known to boost your well-being. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Why is thinking positively good for you?

Research shows that people who are optimistic and think positively tend to experience less stress and cope well when faced with life's challenges. People who are more pessimistic (expect that the worst will happen) may find it hard to believe that these challenges will pass. Scientists have even found that thinking positively can make you live longer. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} This is because you believe your goals are achievable and within reach, which encourages you to work towards them.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

Everybody can worry from time to time. Worrying can help to keep you safe. If you were never worried and were greatly positive about how things would turnout, you wouldn't recognize risks. "Worrying is our brain warning us that there might be something threatening, which functions as a fire alarm." says child psychotherapist (心理治疗师) Rachel. "The trouble is that sometimes it goes off when there isn't a huge danger to face." {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

You should learn to think positively.

Optimism is shaped by your genes, which carry characteristics obtained from your parents, and by what happens to you. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Research has shown that it can help to draw or write an outcome that's positive, like an image of you playing guitar and having passed your next grade. Imagining this can motivate you to work to achieve it, such as practising everyday afterschool.

A. Worrying is like a fire alarm.

B. Avoid worrying is beneficial to our health.

C. Asking others for help positively makes sense.

D. The good news is that everybody can learn to think more positively.

E. When this happens, you can feel anxious and hopeless about what lies ahead.

F. However, whatever your starting point is, you can learn to be more optimistic.

G. Being positive about the future goals can make you happier and more successful.