Immigrant children are often highly motivated and have ambitious parents. And these clever, knowledge-hungry youngsters often achieve higher results than the rest of the classmates.

In 1954, the United States opened its borders to an immigrant from Syria. His son, Steve Jobs, became one of the most creative entrepreneurs（企业家）.In the current refugee crisis, that might look like a fairy tale, but it is not that unbelievable.

While immigrant youngsters might face cultural, social and economic disadvantages, the top 10% of 15- year-old students with an immigrant background in the United States did just as well as the top 10% without an immigrant background, as measured by Pisa, an international test.

In fact, when considering social background, these high-achieving immigrant teenagers were almost a school year ahead.

This doesn't only happen in the United States. In 13out of the 37 countries with comparable data, including the United Kingdom, the top 10% of immigrants were at least 10 points ahead of the non-immigrant students in Pisa, after considering social background.

These highly motivated students, managing to overcome the double disadvantages of poverty and an immigrant background, have the potential（潜力）to make exceptional contributions to their host countries.

On average across all countries, top performing immigrants and non-immigrants reached similar levels of performance on the Pisa mathematics test. Many immigrants seem determined to make the most of any opportunity that arises. Their children also seem ready to take on an academic challenge. Alongside the Pisa are questions about students' willingness to try to solve more complex problems. First-generation immigrants, including in the UK, are more likely than average to want to stretch themselves and try to answer more difficult problems.

The OECD's research shows that in most cases immigrant students and their parents hold an ambition to win the matches, and in some cases they go beyond the expectations of families in their host country. For example, parents of immigrant students in Belgium, Germany and Hungary are more likely to expect that their children will go to university and get a degree than parents of students without an immigrant background.

   If you want to convince the boss you deserve a pay rise or promotion, the solution could be simple --- eat the same food as they do. Psychologists have discovered managers are much more likely to instantly trust us if we choose the same dishes as them.

During experiments, discussions over wages and work conditions were much more successful if both sides chose to snack on the same treats. And shoppers were much more likely to buy a product advertised on TV by someone eating a similar food to them at the time.

The reason is thought to be the so–called similarity attraction theory --- where people tend to like others who have similar tastes or habits to themselves. But this is believed to be one of the first studies highlighting the role of food in this relationship. Researchers at Chicago University in the US conducted a series of experiments to examine food’s role in earning trust.

In a test, participants were told to watch TV --- where someone pretending to be a member of the public praised a certain product. The volunteers were given Kit Kat bars to nibble, while the TV people ate either a Kit Kat or grapes as they talked.

The results showed viewers were much more likely to express an interest in buying the product if the TV showed the other person eating a Kit Kat too. The researchers added, “Although similarity in food consumption is not a sign of whether two people will get along, we find consumers treat this as such. They feel more trusting of those who consume as they do. It means people can immediately begin to feel friendship and develop a bond, leading to smoother transactions from the start.”

Harley Street psychologist Dr. Lucy Atcheson said it was already known that wearing similar clothes could instantly create trust. But this was the first report that food had the same effect. She said, “This is really interesting. It makes sense as people feel they have common ground and can trust the other person. That means negotiations are more likely to be successful.”

   After a year of studies, an elementary school in New York decided that math worksheets and essay assignments（作业）were actually a waste of time. In February, head teacher Jane Hsu sent a letter to parents _____ that the prekindergarten through fifth-grade students would not be given any traditional homework to _____ kids to spend more free time reading, playing outside or doing activities they enjoy.

Some parents,_____ , disagree with the policy change, thinking that a lack of homework will cause children’s academic（学术的）performance to _____ Homework has been a part of _____ from the beginning, and has increased in _____ in recent years.

Hsu’s advice that children should read and spend time with their families has _____ some parents who even consider _____ their children out of the school. This group feels that homework assignments give their children a(n) _____ to work toward.

Others feel so ______ about the importance of homework that they have begun ______ their own homework assignments to their children.

An Australian Childhood Foundation’s ______ found that 71% of Australian parents feel they do not spend ______ time with their children mainly because of running the household or helping with homework. Education experts in Australia are saying that parents should ______ helping. Doing so will give kids more ______, will give parents more free time and will help ______ the number of arguments in the family caused by homework.

Some research suggests that homework has ______ academic benefit for elementary students, while other research shows homework can help kids ______ independence and confidence. When parents try to help their children with homework, the ______ can take away that feeling and can also make the busy working parents more ______.

   Your peers are people your age or close to it who have experiences and interests similar to yours. You and your friends make dozens of decisions every day，and you influence each other’s choices and behavior. This is often ______ —it’s human nature to listen to and learn from other people in your age group.

Sometimes，though，the stresses in your life can actually come from your peers. They may pressure you into doing something you’re uncomfortable with，such as shoplifting，doing drugs or drinking，or taking dangerous risks when you are driving a car.

The pressure to conform（随潮流）can be powerful and hard to resist. A person might feel pressure to do something just because others are doing it. Peer pressure can influence a person to do something that is relatively harmless—or something that has more serious consequences. People may feel pressure to conform，so they fit in or are accepted，and they don’t feel awkward or uncomfortable. When people are unsure of what to do in a social situation，they naturally look to others for cues（暗示）about what is and isn’t acceptable.

The people who are most easily influenced will follow someone else’s lead first. Then others may go along，too—so it can be easy to think，“It must be OK. Everyone else is doing it. They must know what they’re doing.”Before you know it，many people are going along with the crowd—perhaps on something they might not otherwise do.

Responding to peer pressure is part of human nature—but some people are more likely to give in，and others are better able to resist and stand their ground.

It’s not always easy to resist negative peer pressure. But when you do，it is easy to feel good about it afterwards. And you may even be a positive influence on your peers who feel the same way—often it just takes one person to speak out or take a different action to change a situation.

As the saying goes, time is money. And in my opinion, time is even precious than money. Why? Because when money is spent, we still have a chance to earn them back. But when time is wasting, we can never get it back. There is no doubt whether time is very limited, and even a minute is of great value. We should make fully use of time to do what should be done. It’s the pity that a lot of people still didn’t appreciate the value of time. They are wasting their time doing nothing of useful. We should form the good habit of race against time and make a difference in our world.