Free Learning Tools for Self-learners
CCtalk
CCtalk is one of the most popular learning tools on your journey of self-growth and discovery. It offers over 4,000 free courses from various disciplines. One of the best things about the platform is that it is available in many other languages other than English. It also has a mobile app to keep your learning on the go.
Gaotu
Talking about learning on-the-go, Gaotu is also one of the most popular mobile learning apps. The app offers you the opportunity to learn a language in bite-sized units. Flashcards, multiple-choice questions and translation exercises help you pick up vocabulary and grammar.
Learning Communication
If you are the learner who likes text only, Learning Communication is a great resource. This site offers over 50 million e-books and textbooks on just about any subject you can think of. From an introduction to essay writing to the philosophy of artificial intelligence, Learning Communication offers you the full range of reading.
MOOC
MOOC offers self-learners more than 600 online courses, sets of teaching materials, and lecture series on its open education platform. This makes it one of the most valuable learning tools on the Internet. Unlike courses on other platforms, MOOC's courses and lectures are not intended to introduce broad topics. Instead, learners can explore specific subjects in depth.
The world's oldest pen pals have both become 100 years old after many years of transatlantic letters and have now switched to Zoom. Centenarians (百岁老人) Geoff Banks from Honiton, Devon, and Celesta Byrne from the US, started writing to each other aged just 16 in 1938. They met as part of an educational project to put British and American students in contact — and decades later they are still corresponding.
Former engineer Geoff even kept in touch with Celesta during WWII when he served as a mechanic on British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Pacific. It has been so long that Geoff, a retired engineer, barely remembers how they started talking. Geoff said, "I honestly struggle to remember how we got in touch, and I think it was something to do with an American school's scheme. It matched us up with Americans for a pen pal relationship, and somehow I ended up with a letter from an American girl, and we have just kept corresponding ever since. There were a couple of years when we struggled to keep in touch because of the war. Now I correspond mainly by email. Email is much easier for me these days because I can't write very well anymore. We just talk about daily lives and our families really, but we don't discuss the football."
They now touch base via video app Zoom. Geoff said, "I have this new thing called Zoom to chat with her, but I leave all the technology to younger people. They're much better at pressing all the buttons."
Despite having chatted for decades, the pair only met twice — first in 2002 while Geoff visited New York aged 80, and then again two years later. Having such a unique relationship, the pair deny there is any romance there. Celesta said, "We're just friends, like people who live next door. It's nice to hear his voice."
As is a very common phenomenon, students are listening to music while studying or doing homework. In libraries, many choose to isolate themselves from the outside wearing headphones, and the same is true of some offices. Whether or not there is isolation, however, what these people have in common is that they see music as a tool that can improve concentration and productivity in general.
But is it true? Does music really help us focus better on what we're doing, whether it's memorizing text, studying complex topics, or writing projects?
Scientific studies have been carried out on this subject for many decades among other things, because if music can be used to improve the performance of students or workers, this information can be very useful for organizations able to finance this type of study.
For example, the results of a study were published in 1972 and it was designed to try to better understand the relationship between listening to melodies and changes in productivity. Through a series of observations, there was an increase in the performance of workers when listening to music from loudspeakers.
However, this study was the daughter of its time, and was only used to study a very specific and representative working context of the time: that of factories. Workforce tasks were repetitive, predictable and boring, and the music acted as a stimulant of mental activity. As the work was more rewarding and enjoyable, the productivity results were also better.
Other research that took place later served to reinforce (加强) the idea that music improves the performance of routine tasks. This was good news, but what about the most complex and creative jobs — those which cannot be carried out by machines? What about studying complex academic programs, which cannot be memorized literally but need to be understood and mentally worked on?
A new study suggests that turning away from compassion (同情) in the name of safety may not protect us as we hope. Shutting off our compassionate response may threaten our mental health, the research team found. "This research shows the harmful effect of controlling our natural ability to connect with others", says Leah Weiss, a founding member of Stanford University's compassion cultivation training program.
To explore how attitudes toward compassion were affecting people's well-being, University of Coimbra psychologist Marcela Matos and her team employed over 4000 people from 21 countries. All of the participants completed an online survey in spring 2022 that asked them to describe what they think of compassion, how their psychological state is and how strong their social connections are.
When the team analyzed the survey responses, they found that participants who expressed a fear of showing compassion for themselves or others were likely to feel more depressed, anxious, and stressed out. People with a fear of compassion also reported feeling less connected to others.
Marcela's findings are consistent with earlier research showing the damaging effects of isolation and withdrawal on mental health. "Social isolation is associated with not just loneliness, anxiety, and depression, but also an increased risk of high blood pressure and cognitive decline," says Australian psychologist Hugh Mackay, author of The Kindness Revolution.
On the other side, people who choose compassion during stressful situations seem to have a more durable sense of well-being. Training programs that promote people's compassionate response appear to reduce their fear of compassion, based on results from another of Marcela's studies.
Once people realize that compassion can benefit them in tough times as much as it benefits others, they'd be motivated to pull out of an isolation situation. "We have natural desire for social connection, community, kindness and compassion, because those are the pathways to social harmony and cooperation," Mackay says. "If you can find the resources to address the needs of other people, your own anxieties tend to melt away." Thus, it's better to show sympathy.
How to Spot Misinformation Online
Anyone can post something online, which may reach thousands of people. Therefore, you are likely to encounter some misinformation. . Here are some tips for you to check what you see online.
Pause and be skeptical about new information. Whenever you come across an article or a post sharing information that you haven't seen before, take a second to consider it. . It's better to look into information to make sure it's legal before spreading it around.
. Look up the information at the source to see if it was actually published there. Double-check the date of the article or information to make sure it's current and still accurate. For instance, an article that talks about new COVID-19 cases from 12 months ago may not be accurate right now.
Search online for the information in other sources. Look up the information online to see if other news organizations are also saying similar things. , the information could be false. For instance, if you see an article about a wildfire in the rainforest, search online to see if other organizations are also covering it.
Watch out for information that sets off a strong emotional response. Misinformation is often designed to make you feel angry, sad, scared, or just upset. If you spot an article or a headline that causes you to feel a strong emotion, be cautious. It would be a sign that it's false and designed to get a reaction out of you.
A. Check the source and date
B. Not having appeared before
C. If only one place is reporting something
D. We should spot and fight misinformation together
E. Thus keep calm when encountering information online
F. This can be dangerous and you can help stop its spread
G. Don't accept the information as a fact or share it without thinking
At the age of 91, living alone, Thomas was quietly enjoying his old age. His days were filled with 1 and leisure. He would watch TV and 2 leave his place. His lack of physical activity 3 his granddaughter, Diana. She wanted her grandpa to live a long and happy life and she finally had a perfect 4 .
Armed with a handful of love-a(n) 5 little dog named Frederica, she set out to6 her beloved grandpa. Diana knew her grandpa's 7 for animals. Thomas was even considering getting a dog in the past, but his family 8 him. This time, Diana 9 to take matters into her own hands. She knew that having a puppy would be a 10 for the elderly man, so she was ready to 11 him with whatever he would need. What a wonderful and 12 decision!
Thomas' face 13 up when he saw what his granddaughter was holding in her arms. He then 14 the puppy from the floor and immediately fell in love. The whole family were astonished by the immediate 15 between Thomas and the cute puppy. In the following days, Thomas began his remarkable 16 . He used to kill
most of his time inside by watching TV. But now with Frederica, he has developed a new 17 .
"Now, my grandfather gets up early to go outside with Frederica, and the dog 18 him when he works in the garden. They go for walks on the beach — all sorts of activities my grandfather used to 19 to do," Diana said in an interview, "He is much more active and 20 ."
Are you familiar with pop star Jay Chou's Blue &White Porcelain? Its original lines, just the composer Fang Wenshan described, were inspired by Ru porcelain (汝瓷).
Ranked best among famous kinds during the Song Dynasty (960—1279), Ru porcelain is known for its unique pale blue glaze (釉). Oceans Ru porcelain flooded onto the market around the year of 1100, but the (exist) of Ru ware now is actually rare. Thanks to the efforts of Ru porcelain inheritors, people can now appreciate it (close) at hand than before.
Born in Ruzhou, Henan province, Li Chao has spent a decade (better) crafting skills. Ru porcelain goes through 72 steps, the (one) of which is knead (揉) mud. Any small errors could lead to disaster, said the 41-year-old inheritor. He then stressed that a Ru porcelain inheritor must be patient enough. Every item of artwork (full) deserves our admiration.
Techniques of making Ru porcelain will (lose) with senior inheritors gradually passing away. So , Li spares no effort in doing is introducing it to wider masses. (achieve) this goal, he creatively uses Ru porcelain in making daily ware popular among young people. Now he's aiming to expand the market by introducing it to the whole world.
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加，删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
One day, I was taking the walk in my neighbourhood. There was a great many dogs playing around. I noticed a small one which hairs were pure white. It was a smart dog I couldn't take my eye off. At that moment a little boy came up and wanted to play with him. Never before had the dog saw the boy, so it started to run after him or barked. In panic, the boy begged the dog not bite him. It was so much lucky that the dog's owner soon took it away. Now, I still have no idea when the small dog suddenly attacked him.
