In all our lives we must make choices. You make choices from the time you get out of bed in the morning until you go to sleep at night. What time to get up? What to wear? What to eat? You also make more significant choices when you graduate from high school.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} College? Technical training?

    No matter the size of the decision, the common thread in all of them is that they involve an opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is your next best alternative – your second choice. For example, it's a Saturday night, and you are trying to decide between going to the movies, hanging out at friend's house or going to the football game.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}What is your second choice? If it is the football game, then that is your opportunity cost.

    Opportunity cost is important. When you make a certain choice, it forces you to think more critically about all of the abandoned choices. By recognizing opportunity cost, you can decide whether your decision is worth it.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}As a high school senior, you face several options, including going to college, going to technical school, or going to the work force. If you choose college the opportunity cost is losing what could have been purchased or saved with the money spent on tuition (学费), housing, books, etc. for four years.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}You would also lose four years' worth of income and experience that you could have earned if you had gone straight to work.

    However, it is still the case that college graduates earn more than high school graduates.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}But, like all decisions, it is one that should be arrived at only after looking at the costs — including the opportunity cost — and considering the follow-up question: is it worth it?

A. Will you go straight to work?

B. What causes opportunity cost?

C. But that's not the end of the costs.

D. Suppose you decide to go to the movies.

E. If you give up college, what do you lose?

F. A perfect example is the decision to go to college.

G. For many students, going on to college is a wise decision.

    People have always wanted to know what the future will look like. Then, how can we? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The world has changed a lot in the last 150 years, but we humans are driven by the same basic needs as we were 150 years ago, such as food, sleep, the feeling of being appreciated and loved. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} No. In addition, generally speaking, the inventions for the last 150 years have been a human effort for freedom and communication, to be able to get in control of the time and world. Since there is still much to do in this area, this will be the focus at least for the next 150 years.

    But why do we need to predict the future? Predicting the future is important for two reasons: First, we need to start to think about what kind of future we would like for ourselves and to pass on to the next generation. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    How about the virtual worlds? It might be in the future to experience the sand between your toes, and hear the waves, just lying in your bed at home. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} So, even if a great invention is there for an affordable price, it'll never take the place of the common experience if it is not real.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} What we'll see in the next 50 years is the transition (过渡) from an oil-dependent society to a new society. Here there'll be new medicine, continued exploration of space, challenges in the climate change, and new inventions that make life a little easier.

A. So what will the future look like then?

B. Will this change in the next 150 years?

C. Predicting the future can help us in many ways.

D. However, you'll never get the feeling of being there.

E. Well, to understand the future, you must know the past.

F. However, no matter how real the experience will feel, it doesn't happen for real.

G. Then we need to know what decisions we need to make today that will give the best result in the future.

    You might dream of fluency in this or that language, and maybe you have already achieved fluency in a foreign language. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Fluency, like all abstract terms, has no universal meaning. Each individual must determine what the term means. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Perfect fluency means knowing each word you encounter, speaking quickly, clearly and easily and having no accent. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You aren't familiar with every word of your native language, and sometimes you have to search for the right word, even in your mother tongue.

    Quick fluency is the type of fluency you see in advertisements, because "Master a Language in 2 Months!" sounds very catchier than "Fluency in 20 Years!" {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It is possible to achieve quick fluency, but the fluency achieved after such a short time frame will be a very thin, superficial fluency.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Native-like fluency means that you generally know all the same words that a native knows and can speak at the same pace with the same amount of ease as a native speaker. You will likely have an accent, but as long as your conversation partner can understand you, it doesn't matter.

    Literary fluency is like graduating from native-like to educated-native-like fluency. It focuses on the more intellectual side of a language: including in literature, attending university, composing song lyrics, etc.

    There are a ton of other things that fluency could potentially be, but that's up to you to figure out.

You already know that playing sports helps keep you fit. But you might not know why it's so important to get a sports physical at the beginning of your sports season.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Most require students have a sports physical before they can play school sports. But even if a sports physical isn't required, doctors still recommend getting one if you are active in any sports.

A sports physical can help find out and deal with health problems that might affect your sports performance or increase the chance of getting hurt. For example, if you have frequent asthma (哮喘) attacks, the doctor can change your medicines. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Your doctor may offer training tips or recommend exercises or physical therapy (疗法) to help you avoid injuries.

Most teens go to their regular doctor's office to get a sports physical, since your doctor knows you and your health history best. Some get their sports physical at school. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Each one is armed with a medical professional who does a specific part of the physical exam.

Plan your sports physical at least 6 weeks before your sports season starts. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Neither you nor your doctor will be very happy if your sports physical is the day before baseball practice starts and it turns out there's something that needs to be taken care of before you can suit up.

Sports physicals are usually good for 1 year, though you probably will have to complete a sports form each season. If there are any changes in your health history, like a new injury or you notice new symptoms (症状), you may need to see the doctor before being allowed to play. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. That way, you can breathe more easily when you run.

B. Let your gym teacher or coach know if your health has changed.

C. During school physicals, you may go to "stations" set up in the gym.

D. The medical history questions are usually on a form that you can bring home.

E. Mention you need a sports physical so your doctor can set aside time to do both.

F. The sports history and exam help to tell if it's safe for you to take part in your sport.

G. If your doctor finds a problem, this should leave enough time to for tests or treatment.

Art Builds Understanding

Despite the long history of scholarship on experiences of art, researchers have yet to capture and understand the most meaningful aspects of such experiences, including the thoughts and insights we gain when we visit a museum, the sense of encounter after seeing a meaningful work of art, or the changed thinking after experiences with art. These powerful encounters can be inspiring, uplifting, and contribute to well-being and flourishing.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} It contributes to facilitating a better understanding of ourselves, the human condition, and moral and spiritual concepts. The question is how that happens — what are the attributes of meaningful experiences of art?

According to the mirror model of art developed by Pablo P. L. Tinio, aesthetic reception corresponds to artistic creation in a mirror-reversed fashion. Artists aim to express ideas and messages about the human condition or the world at large. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} This results in the build-up of layers of materials — from initial studies and sketches to the final, refined piece. A viewer's initial interaction with an artwork starts where the artist has left off. Their interaction first involves the processing surface features, such as color, texture, and the finishing touches applied by the artist during the final stages of the creative process. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

In addition, art making and art viewing are connected by creative thinking. Research in a lab at Yale University shows that an educational program that uses art appreciation activities builds creative thinking skills. It showed that the more time visitors spent engaging with art and the more they reflected on it, the greater the correspondence with the artists' intentions and ideas. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

Correspondence in feeling and thinking suggests a transfer — between creator and viewer — of ideas, concepts, and emotions contained in the works of art. Art has the potential to communicate across space and time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} What it takes for this to happen is active engagement with art in contexts that facilitate this engagement, especially museums.

A.The viewers gain a new perspective on the story.

B.The theory of aesthetic cognitivism describes the value of art.

C.This helps to create connections and insights that otherwise would not happen.

D.To do so, they explore key ideas and continually expand them as they develop their work.

E.After spending more time with the work, the viewer begins to access the ideas of the artist.

F.For example, in one activity, people are asked to view a work of art from different perspectives.

G.Participants were more original in their thinking when compared to those who did not take part in the program.

How to Keep Personal Art Journals

You might have heard that keeping a journal is a great way to record your thoughts and understand your emotions. Typical journaling involves only writing. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. And because there are so many ways to express yourself in an art journal, it's a wonderful creative outlet for both beginners and more experienced creatives.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. It combines elements of writing, drawing, painting, collage (拼贴画), and even graffiti to express yourself. This includes your everyday life, as well as your hopes, dreams, and fears. A single page will often have both words and illustrations to offer a look at what's going on inside your head.

Art journaling is a way to practice self-care. It encourages you to take a little time for yourself — even if it's just for 15 minutes a day. When you look back at what you've written or drawn, you can gain valuable insight into the challenges in your life. The point of creating a visual journal is not to make every page a masterpiece. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

Art journaling is completely customizable (可定制的) depending on your skills and interests. Many people choose to use mixed media and decorate their pages with drawing and painting materials. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The most important thing when beginning your art journal, however, is selecting the right book.

There are many considerations when it comes to picking your journal book. Size is one. If you enjoy making large drawings, for instance, then a bigger book might be best. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Since it's a good chance you'll be using mixed media, select a journal whose paper can handle both drawing and painting.