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Every summer, Serena spent two weeks at Green Farm’s horseback riding camp. Last year, Serena and her favorite horse Piper finished second in the obstacle course (障碍赛赛道) race.

“I can’t wait to ride Piper,” Serena told Rose, her coach. Rose smiled and said, “Sorry, but we need to save Piper for our newer ____13____ this year. She’s one of the best-behaved horses. How about you try riding Harley?”

Serena felt ____14____ and was a little scared (害怕的) at the sight of Harley, the tallest horse, but she stayed hopeful. As she was trying to ride Harley, he went up on his back legs, throwing Serena off. She landed on the hard ground, her eyes filled with tears.

“I’m scared of Harley, and he’s too hard to ____15____,” Serena told Rose.

“Harley is in a new place with a new person on his back,” Rose explained. “I’m sure he’s pretty scared, too. But if you trust him, he will trust you.”

Serena decided that it was time for a fresh ____16____. “I know you’re afraid of me. We’re still strangers, and it’s up to me to make sure that we become friends,” she talked to Harley ____17____. After a while, Harley calmed (平静) down, and Serena realized that she was also feeling calmer. She then led Harley for a walk around the ring so that he could get used to being with her and following her directions.

Soon, Serena and Harley made progress together as their confidence in each other ____18____. By the end of the first week, they had completed the obstacle course together.

On the final day of the camp was the bag race. Serena confidently climbed onto Harley. Harley, ____19____ the excitement of the day, ran through the course like a madman and easily won. The other horses were just no match for Harley.

Rose handed Serena the winner’s trophy with a wink (眨眼). Serena suddenly realized that Rose had wanted her to ____20____ herself to be a better rider, even though she would have had a nice time with Piper.

Serena gave Rose a hug and then took the trophy, and a carrot, over to Harley.

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The school year began. As president of the recycling club, Scott was thinking about new activities to encourage other students to become more enthusiastic (热心的) about recycling. His club had helped to recycle a lot of waste for the past five years and he hoped that this year they would do even better.

Scott went home one day and looked online, hoping to find ideas for events the club could organize at school. During his research, he learned that the amount (数量) of electronic waste, or e-waste, is increasing rapidly. Scott was upset with himself for not noticing this problem sooner. At that moment, he began to develop a plan.

“There is a special project I want us to work on this term,” Scott announced (宣布) at the recycling club meeting the next day. “We have all heard about e-waste, but recently I learned about the bad effects it’s having on our environment.” He went on to tell the club members that he wanted them to organize an e-waste drive—a day when students and their families could drop off unwanted electronics to be recycled. “Now let’s get to work!”

For several weeks, the recycling club was busy preparing for the upcoming e-waste drive, or e-drive as it was soon called.

The big day finally arrived, and Scott was nervous. He and the other members arrived at school early to make sure that everything would go smoothly. Everyone waited eagerly, hoping that students of the school would take part in the event.

It wasn’t long before the first cars pulled into the school parking lot. After a while, more people arrived. Phones, TV sets, computers and keyboards soon began piling up (堆积) .

At the end of the event, Scott heard someone suggest that the school should have an e-drive event every term. Scott smiled, realizing that a simple action could truly have a lasting influence.

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Sam Hill is really bad at finding his way from place to place. The world is full of people like Hill—and their opposites, who always seem to know exactly where they are and how to get where they want to go. It has proved hard to explain why. However, with the development of technology, there’s new excitement happening in the research world.

An experiment was carried out in 2022 to find out what might influence way finding ability. Researchers developed an online game in which players travel by boat to find where a lot of checkpoints lie. The game asked players to provide basic background information , and nearly four million people worldwide did so. Through the game, the researchers were able to judge navigational (辨识方向的) ability by looking at how far each person traveled to reach all the cheek points. Then they compared players’ performance with their background information.

The researchers found that Northern Europeans seemed to be better navigations, perhaps because they love orienteering (定向越野), a sport which involves cross- country running and navigation. And those from cities with more disorganized street networks (网状系统) did better than those from cities with orderly ones. Perhaps people of planned cities don’t need to build complex (复杂的) maps in their minds.

Research results like these suggest that people’s life experience decides how well they find their way. In fact, experience may even explain a popular belief that men are more likely to perform better than women. It turns out that this difference is more a question of culture and experience than of in born ability. Northern Europeans, for example, show almost no gender (性别) difference in navigation. However, men do much better than women in places where women face cultural limits on exploring their environment on their own.

That finding is also supported by studies on the Tsimane, a community living in a forest in South America. Researchers put GPS units on 305 Tsimane people to check their daily movements over a three-day period, and found no difference between men and women in navigational ability. Even children performed very well—a result, researchers think, of growing up in an environment that encourages children to explore the forest.

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Almost everyone has experienced the feeling of discomfort when their actions do not agree with their inner values. A man, for example, values work-life balance yet works 80 hours every week, caring little about his own health and family. Another example is a boy who holds his parents’ love dear but gets angry at them in a moment of stress; or a woman who hopes to live healthily but gives in to the attraction of fast food during moments of weakness.

This disagreement can lead to serious results, such as worsening relationships, limited personal growth, and self-doubt. The emotional effects of feeling out of control and unable to live up to our own standards can also be deeply harmful. The shame and upset that go along with these feelings often force us into silence, resulting in more self-doubt. One reason for this silence might be that admitting (承认) to these behaviors can feel like showing a weakness or mistake that society tells us should be kept hidden. What’s more, recognizing this disagreement requires coming face to face with uncomfortable truths about ourselves—a process that is as discouraging as it is necessary for growth.

Recognizing and addressing these behaviors can provide a possibility of change. By looking into the causes of our behaviors, we can begin to understand our actions more easily and work toward sticking to our beliefs. Research supports the idea that recognizing this disagreement, together with mindfulness and open communication, can help with this process. These methods help us slow down, reflect (反思), and choose behaviors that follow our values more closely, even in the face of old habits or immediate needs.

The key to dealing with this disagreement lies in compassion (同情) for ourselves and others. By developing a culture of openness and by understanding the challenges of aligning behaviors with beliefs, we can begin to break down what prevents us from having conversation and change. Admitting that this disagreement is a shared part of the human experience can enable us to speak openly, find support, and take necessary steps toward the agreement between our inner world and our actions.

While the disagreement between our inner values and actions may be common, through reflection, understanding and purposeful practice, we can bridge the divide and set out on a journey of self-discovery.

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Recently, I started to use an app to keep a record of my running. Each run I wanted to go a little farther, run a little faster and burn more calories (卡路里). Last night I finished an 8.3-km run in 46 minutes and burnt 468 calories. In comparison, my run two days ago was 8.6 km in 46 minutes with 483 calories burnt. This inner self-comparison left me feeling disappointed. I became so focused (专注的) on the numbers that I forgot to consider what I achieved.

These tiny differences in numbers kept me away from the bigger picture: how did I actually feel after completing my most recent run? Well, honestly, I was completely tired out. What good is running to beat your top score if you don’t feel on top?

We should exercise for the purpose of building our confidence. And working out harder and faster may serve that purpose. But confidence building comes with being able to do more in our day-to-day life, experiencing less pain and more freedom in movement, and feeling good after a workout. Fitness should help us with our quality (质量) of life, the ability to sleep, good memory, among other things. Fitness should not just come with the eagerness for the success in numbers.

In our busy lives, we only have limited time for fitness. When we do physical exercise, we should value what feels good over what looks or sounds good. Sometimes what serves us and our health is coming home and doing a light workout, like going on a short bike ride. Sometimes what serves us is simply going to sleep at 9:30 p.m. instead of forcing ourselves into a workout. Apps of this kind are a great way for us to keep an eye on our health. But don’t read into the numbers to the point where you lose out on feeling proud that you are taking care of yourself. So my advice is: when you do physical exercise, make sure you feel good about yourself over feeling good about the numbers.