Who are better at science in your class, girls or boys? These years, girls start to show more interest in the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (subject) of science, technology, engineering and Maths (STEM), according to a recent study from the UK.

    In the study, every year over the last seven years, over 20,000 students {#blank#}2{#/blank#} were in their final year in high school were surveyed. As for university courses, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} number of girls considering choosing STEM subjects has a {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (big) increase than that of boys. Over one-fifth of the girls surveyed said they were considering jobs {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (relate) to STEM, such as engineers. And the interest in engineering and science has also risen.

    This is an important change for women in the UK. But at present, there are not nearly as many women {#blank#}6{#/blank#} men studying STEM subjects or working in the STEM fields. Only 13%～22% of people who graduate {#blank#}7{#/blank#} university with STEM degrees are women. And women are seen only one in eight STEM jobs.

    Are men really more suited to STEM work than women? Of course not. This is {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (part) because of the conventional idea, which means many people think so, even though it is not correct.

    "It is important that young women should {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (encourage) to get into these jobs. In fact, STEM subjects are fun and exciting. Studying science can do {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (we) good. It offers women chances of taking up fantastic careers and they will get higher pay in these areas," said Niki Yates, manager of GSK's business.

Photographers Turn Their Cameras on Pets

In 2019 photographers Kendrick Brinson and David Walter Banks visited 14 countries on assignment. When the couple described the adventures {#blank#}1{#/blank#}they had experienced when photographing, people invariably asked, "But who takes care of your four cats and dogs?" They joked that the pet siter made a lot of money.

But 2020 couldn't have been {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(different). Due to COVID-19, Brinson and Banks never left the United States. Often, they didn't even leave their Los Angeles neighborhood. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} {#blank#}4{#/blank#}spending long hours in airport security lines and waiting-for the perfect lighting, the pair stayed along with dogs Tux and Tia and cats Rex and Kudzu. "Our pets became emotional therapy animals, and our only friends we could safely hug in a world {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(strike) by a deadly pandemic," Banks said.

As COVID-19 lockdowns swept across the world in March of 2020, the change made an especially great impact on photographers, who are accustomed to {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(spend) long periods abroad. And so many cameras {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(turn) on a domestic subject: the pet.

Research suggests that pets have offered emotional support during the pandemic, helping {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(make) the long days of isolation more bearable, says Emily MeCobb, a clinical associate professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. In fact, the pandemic has sped up a trend, according to McCobb's and other scientists' observation, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the pet is becoming a member of the family. "In the past 20 to 30 years, the role of the pet in the family {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(take) on a whole new role," says MeCobb." It really hasn't been that long {#blank#}11{#/blank#}these furry child substitutes gained this kind of importance in American society."

Getting around the city when you are six months pregnant and have a two-year-old girl can be really {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (challenge). One spring afternoon, we went to one of the grocery {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(store) nearby to buy some food. There was no sign of rain {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the store was just around the corner, so we went there without an umbrella. However, when we were about to leave the store) the rain came in full force and the streets {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (cover) with water within minutes.

I noticed a young Chinese couple staring at {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (we) when we came to a crossroad and were waiting for the light to change {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (patient). I figured they were probably wondering {#blank#}7{#/blank#} a pregnant foreigner was dragging her little kid out through the rain. But as we crossed the street, the woman offered me her umbrella. I declined but she handed it to me and hurried off with her husband.

Though {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (catch) in the rain unexpectedly, we still treasure {#blank#}9{#/blank#} memory and will remember the warmth and{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (kind) of the Chinese couple forever.