The International Career Development Conference (ICDC), is a big yearly event. Over 23,000 people, including high school students, teachers, business people, and former members, will come to celebrate the ICDC’s spirit for several days.

The conference is packed with thrilling activities. Here, more than 800 ICDC members show off their knowledge and skills, competing to be the best in the world. Take Emerging Leader Series as an example. It helps thousands of members learn essential skills like cooperation, critical thinking, and being creative. These skills will give you an edge in today’s competitive world.

The conference also has many other programs. If you want to explore further study or job opportunities, the College+ Career Exhibits provide more than 100 fairs for you to choose from. These include the School-Based Enterprise Academy, Executive Officers Campaigns, and Advisor Professional Learning. These activities bring smart people together to find a path to their desired career.

The ICDC helps with high schools too. It supports things like Career Clusters, National Curriculum Standards, 21st-century Skills, Project-Based Learning, and Artificial Intelligence Skills. It makes learning more fun and gives access to latest knowledge and skills.

Location: Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida.

Admission: $270 per person. Special rates are available for advance reservations. Book early to enjoy discounted group rates!

Accommodation: Your assigned tutor will help you find a place to stay. You must stay with your group for at least four nights, starting from the night when the conference begins.

Supplemental Courses: There are many courses for you to get started. Before the vent, watch video courses to inspire you with novel ideas and tips.

Takanori Kobayashi, a 23-year-old from Japan, has had a strong connection with Peking Opera since his childhood. His fascination with Chinese history began in his early childhood, influenced by Japanese manga (漫画), especially works like Romance of the Three Kingdoms. These stories made him curious about Chinese culture and led him to search for related videos online.

At 14, Kobayashi came across a video of a historical Peking Opera, The Battle of Red Cliffs. Although he didn’t understand the language, he was captivated by the costumes, makeup, and music. At 17, he found a website for the Shincyo Theater, a Peking Opera troupe (巡演) in Tokyo founded by Zhang Chunxiang, a Beijing-born artist, who had moved to Japan in the 1980s and founded the Shincyo Theater to promote Peking Opera in Japan.

Kobayashi emailed the theater, sharing with Zhang his passion for Peking Opera, and his desire to join the troupe. Zhang was impressed by his passion. At 18, Kobayashi moved to Tokyo to attend Chuo University, majoring in Chinese language and culture, while attending Zhang’ s Peking Opera classes every Saturday.

Zhang teaches his students by explaining the movements of Peking Opera in simple Japanese. Kobayashi, who enjoys playing civil roles, listens to famous performances to learn the music and get a sense of the roles. He works with Zhang to improve his performance. Years of hard work paid off. In 2020, Kobayashi finally got the chance and debuted in a small painted-face role in Wild Boar Forest, one of Shincyo Theater’s productions, which got well-received.

After graduation, Kobayashi worked for a company in cosmetics, but he still studies Peking Opera in his free time and occasionally performs with Shincyo Theater. “Becoming a professional Peking Opera performer in Japan is difficult and might not be practical as a long-term career. In China, performers usually start training at four or five, whereas I began close to 20. Even so, I’d still like to pursue it professionally and give it my best shot,” said Kobayashi.

Scientists can now conduct space research on Earth as China’s “ground space station” has been put into trial operation, reported Xin hua. The facility is called Space Environment Simulation and Research Infrastructure (SESRI).

SESRI simulates (模拟) conditions in space and is designed for studying basic space science. This will help scientists do experiments that they normally do in space. SESRI is jointly developed by the Harbin Institute of Technology and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

“Space is very different from the environment on Earth and can have different effects on spacecraft. What we do here is to explore how the effects take place and why,” Li Liyi, executive deputy director of SESRI, told Guangming Daily.

At the facility, there is a device that simulates the space environment from 100 kilometers away from Earth to the sun. In this area, more than 99 percent of visible matter is in a plasma (等离子体) state in which gas is in a highly charged and energetic state of matter. By re-creating the environment, the device can test how plasma affects spacecraft.

Also, one of the biggest problems manned space travel faces is when spacecraft enter Earth’s atmosphere, they are surrounded by plasma, leading to communication blackouts (黑障). The test center can also help solve this issue as researchers now have more opportunities to do tests.

The researchers faced many challenges when building the simulation system, as connecting various parts of the device can be very complicated. “We held more than 700 meetings over a connection problem alone.” Jin Chenggang at the facility told Heilongjiang News.

SESRI also has simulation systems for the moon and Mars, which can re-create the vacuum, extreme temperatures, and space radiation that astronauts would encounter on these space bodies. The systems will help astronauts prepare for their missions to these places in the future, reported Guangming Daily. In the future, the platform will also play an important role in areas including brain science, life and health research, and the development of high-end instruments.

Being bilingual (双语的) means learning to deal with two different ways of naming and perceiving reality. That requires the bilingual brain to learn to think in both languages and to switch between them effortlessly, a process known as code switching. Some researchers believe this process gives multilingual people an edge.

Historically, the scientific community held the belief that second language acquisition could slow down a child’s academic progress. However, contemporary understanding firmly acknowledges the cognitive (认知的) benefits bilingual children possess. Dr Fraser Lauchlan, an honorary lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, noted that faulty research from the 1930s to 1950s, since discredited, had caused the misperception that bilingualism could be harmful to a child’s academic achievements. Subsequent studies, especially the landmark research by Peal and Lambert in 1962, have clearly demonstrated that bilingualism brings no disadvantages and, in fact, offers advantages in specific language and cognitive areas: selective attention, metalinguistic awareness, creative and flexible thinking (including problem-solving), and short-term memory.

In a study headed by Lauchlan, involving primary school students from Scotland (learning Gaelic and English concurrently) and Sardinia (exposed to Italian and Sardinian), the cognitive differences between monolingual (单语的) and bilingual children were measured. Of the 121 participants, 62 were bilingual and exhibited superior task-completion capabilities. Notably, Gaelic-speaking children outperformed their Sardinian counterparts. Lauchlan put this down to the former’s formal education in Gaelic, while Sardinian was mostly an oral language lacking standardized form.

Ellen Bialystok of York University in Toronto has conducted extensive research, concluding that bilingualism promotes a child’s development. Lauchlan advises that for the best bilingualism, children should start learning a second language alongside their first, or at least as early as possible. Research indicates that bilinguals have an easier time acquiring further languages and display greater cultural receptivity (接受度).

Moreover, in the globalized era, bilingualism also offers practical advantages in career prospects. Multinational corporations often seek employees with multilingual abilities to facilitate international business operations. A bilingual marketing professional can better understand and target diverse consumer groups, bridging cultural gaps and enhancing market share. Thus, developing bilingual capabilities from an early age can open doors to a broader range of opportunities in the future.

Virtual communities are a growing part of the digital age, providing places where people can gather and talk without being limited by where they are physically. These online environments promote connections based on shared interests rather than locations. 【小题1】 People from different parts of the world and various cultural backgrounds now have a platform to communicate and interact with each other.

Take the formation of online book clubs for instance. 【小题2】 Such exchanges would be challenging to work out in traditional settings, yet the Internet facilitates these interactions with ease.

While virtual communities offer great inclusivity, they also present unique challenges. Disagreements often arise from the diverse perspectives of members, which can lead to conflicts within these digital spaces. 【小题3】 They provide a safe haven (港湾) for individuals to express themselves without fear of judgment. Support groups, for example, offer comfort to those struggling with personal issues, allowing them to connect with others who share similar experiences.

Furthermore, virtual communities have revolutionized the way we approach work and education. Remote meetings and online classes have become commonplace, offering flexibility and convenience that traditional settings cannot match. 【小题4】 That’s because online workshops have become vital tools for career skill enhancement.

【小题5】 Cyberbullying, misinformation, and privacy theft are real concerns that require careful attention. It is necessary for both platform administrators and users to maintain a culture of respect and politeness within these spaces.

In short, virtual communities provide many chances to connect and learn, but we must watch out for potential problems. As these communities develop with technological advances, we should explore them with enthusiasm and caution (谨慎).

I received a private message on Facebook. It began harmlessly enough: “Hey, girl. Wanted to invite you to join my next challenge group-we’ll be focusing on fitting in 30 minutes of _______ and balanced nutrition.”

It was all becoming too much. Facebook was running my life, not me. But what killed Facebook for me was when I _______ a photo, and five minutes later my son asked me how many “likes” it had got. His question was a wake-up call.

“Likes” are signs of acceptance and approval. I had forgotten that acceptance and approval need to come from within and had _______ set him a bad example.

Before Facebook, surfing the Internet was a(an) _______ distraction and I spent a lot more time reading books and magazines. I checked in with friends through _______ , emails and phone calls.

To _______ the simplicity (质朴) of those days and set a better example for my son, I deactivated my Facebook account. I’d been in the _______ of checking Facebook many times a day, so I had to _______ something new. I _______ a crossword puzzle book around with me. I rediscovered knitting (针织). My body is fine just the way it is. I have friends who will help me out when I’m in trouble. I do my best to be a good mother, and our son is happy and healthy. We are lucky to be able to afford two ________ to spend together a year.

I ________ looking at the world through my cellphone. I felt frequently present in the moment. The break left me feeling better about myself, my family, my home and my life.

After a few weeks, I returned to Facebook. Now I look at the ________ of my friends’ kids growing up and ________ how social media allows me to keep in touch with family far and wide. I look in on a daily basis, but no longer with the ________ frequently to update.

It is not an ________ any more.