Teens have a reputation for making some not-so-smart decisions and being easily distracted. Researchers have blamed it on the immaturity of the prefrontal cortex(前额叶皮质). But scientists now find the answer may be the attraction of rewards. Rewards, even small ones, affect teens more than adults. And teens tend to be distracted by things they once found rewarding, even after the actual payoff is long gone.
Psychologist Zachary Roper and his team worked with two groups of volunteers: 13-to 16-year olds and 20-to 35-year-old adults. During a training stage, a computer displayed six circles, each a different color. The players had to find the red or green circle and would be provided with a 10-cent or 2-cent reward. By the end of this training, volunteers had realized the value of each color but they didn't know it. Then came the testing time. Again, groups of six symbols, one diamond and five circles, appeared on a computer screen. The researchers measured how long it took people to find the diamond and recorded their answers.
When no red or green circles appeared, both adults and teens responded quickly. But when a red or green circle showed up, both groups took a bit longer initially. Adults, though, quickly stopped paying attention to the red or green circles. Teens took longer to respond whenever a red or green circle appeared. Clearly, the red and green circles were distracting teens even though they brought no reward.
"The study demonstrates that the attention of adolescents is especially drawn to rewarding information," says Zachary Roper. "These data may help explain why teens engage in risky behaviors."
Some behaviors, such as texting or using social media, start the brain's reward system. Once the teenage brain has linked a behavior to that reward, it continues to seek it again and again. That's why teens are likely to use social media when they should be studying. Or why they respond to texts while driving. So researchers suggest physically removing distractions whenever possible.
As a senior school graduate, during COVID-19 outbreak, I've had many concerns, the greatest one of which was being unable to help my community, except for wearing my mask, following the health officials' guidelines, and assisting seniors to get their groceries.
Then it struck me. Solving COVID-19 relied only on individual steps and the goodwill of human consciousness. But the next challenge we have to deal with ahead is climate change, known as the silent pandemic without a vaccine (疫苗). So, all I could think of was: Why don't we do the same, and deal with it through our everyday activities?
I've created an App, EnRoute, to help reduce carbon emissions (排放) from shopping and transport activities. Even though I've never coded (编码) before, my will was greater than any excuse I could think of. The first version was just a one-screen App. Through the quarantines (隔离), I've had only 70 people to test the concept with and created little impact. Plus, leading a social organization seemed like a small boat in a rough sea to me. But instead of giving up, I chose to fill the gap.
And the coolest thing is that the more I was learning, the more people got interested in the idea. Through every leadership program, I built a stronger EnRoute Community where each person was equally passionate and brave to make a change. Their enthusiasm was my greatest fuel. At least I traveled across the world without a single carbon emission.
Fast forward to today, through EnRoute, over 4,000 people reduced more than 150,000 kg carbon emissions. The App turned into an international movement. And I even had the pleasure to be the first-ever Macedonian Global Teen Leader+Princess Diana Award Winner.
It turns out that except for being a good time to reflect and relax, bridge years can be a powerful tool to change the world as well!
1). 申请并介绍个人参营的原因和优势;
2). 咨询夏令营时间及内容安排;
3). 个人最期待的活动。
注意:1). 词数100左右; 2). 可以适当增加细节,以适行文连贯;
3).开头句已为你写好,不计入总词数。
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I have read your advertisement on the Internet that the Organization of International High School Students is to hold the 2017 Summer Camp. ……
Yours,
Li Hua
Kitchen robot is a robotic device designed to provide assistance with common kitchen tasks. These robots can handle work ranging from food preparation to dishwashing and general cleanup. They are also meant to serve as assistants to people who are unable by reason of age or illness to manage daily kitchen tasks without assistance.
Ordinary kitchen robots are usually designed to wash dirty dishes. Working as a dishwasher in a kitchen environment requires a set of skills. A successful robot must be able to grasp and clean dishes, and store them appropriately.
More advanced kitchen robot designs focus on the preparation and serving of food. Robots designed to serve as mechanical chefs need to be able to evaluate different food products to ensure freshness and quality. They also need to make appropriate selections from various ingredients, and perform a large number of different physical tasks as part of the cooking process.
Such devices are perfect for people who get a high salary but have very little free time. A kitchen robot could potentially take over many common kitchen tasks, allowing its owner to focus on other matters or to cook only on those occasions when they have the time to enjoy cooking.
Kitchen robots have more practical applications as well. The population of many Western nations is aging, often quite rapidly. A robot could potentially provide that assistance for them without causing any discomfort.
A. This requires an entirely different set of skills.
B. Convenience is one selling point of kitchen robots.
C. Some kitchen robots are designed for other special usages.
D. Older people may require some assistance with daily tasks.
E. They are intended to reduce the heavy housework of daily living.
F. Nowadays more and more robots walk into people's work and daily life.
G. It also has to avoid breaking them while making sure of a thorough clean.
The sun was setting and the farm would be closing soon. I dressed our three daughters quickly as my husband started the van. Cutting down our own Christmas-tree had been a family tradition. As our family grew, so did our excitement for going out to find the perfect tree.
As we walked through the rows of trees, my youngest daughter Kimberly shouted excitedly, "There it is, the perfect tree!" The other two agreed. My husband and I looked at each other, puzzled. Its branches were misshapen and the trunk was visible through the spots where there were no pine needles.
We tried to persuade our daughters into changing their minds, but in vain. We had to tie the tree to the roof of our van and headed home. As we reached our house, Heather jumped out first. Suddenly she shouted, "The tree isn't there!" We thought she was kidding. However, it wasn't there.
The girls were so disappointed. "We'll get another tree tomorrow", I said, secretly hoping the new tree would be prettier. But the girls gave us the look that no parent could resist. We had no choice but to go back and find that tree.
After driving for about five minutes, we saw our tree on the side of the road. As we got closer, it was apparent that it had been run over by a truck. As we lifted the tree, we saw that a big part of the tree was ripped off, but we took our little broken tree home anyway.
That night, as we decorated our tree, something magical happened. We didn't realize it at that time that we were making a very special family memory. By the time we were done, I had to admit, it didn't look sad at all. This is the best tree we have ever had. "It's perfect!" my second daughter Samantha said excitedly. My husband and I couldn't have agreed more!
Now we always recall that little broken tree! Year by year, we tell the story of that very special Christmas almost twenty-five years ago.
⒈活动目的;
⒉展出的时间、地点;
参考词汇:一带一路the Belt and Road
注意:⒈词数100左右;
⒉可适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
Dear Tom,
Yours,
Li Hua
Sandy could do nothing but ______ to his teacher that he was wrong.
A.admitting B.admitted C.admit D.to admit
Jane spent three hours _________ her homework last night.
A. finish B. to finish
C. finishing D. at finishing
(2017·全国卷Ⅲ)She has turned down several ________ (invitation) to star at shows in order to concentrate on her studies.
Chinese traffic police have handled more than 17 million cases involving road rage like unreasonable lane changes and dangerous overtaking this year, as ___41___ world’s largest car market struggles to equip its drivers ___42___ better road etiquette(礼节,礼规).
As part of its campaign to educate drivers, the Ministry of Public Security ____43____ (describe) road rage as a major traffic safety hazard(安全隐患) on Tuesday, the eve of National Traffic Safety Day. ___44___ the number of cases handled by police has only risen by 2.8 percent year on year, there are more tragedies involving road rage. In 2013, 80,200 accidents were attributed to anger behind the wheel, a 4.9-percent year-on-year increase. The number rose ___45____ 2.4 percent in 2014.
In May, a video ___46___ (show) a male driver beating a female driver in return for a dangerous land change left many Chinese people stunned. More ___47___ (recent), a driver in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province was criticized by the public after ____48______ intentionally forced an ambulance to pull over several times.
According to the ministry, China has ____49__ (many) than 169 million car owners. It also warned drivers, at 322 million now, of “distracted driving”, ___50___ caused 21,570 deaths in 2014.