I had never noticed her. She was not the kind of girl who could draw attention. She was not tall 1 looked ordinary. In class, she liked sitting at the back, reading or writing notes. One day I asked her 2 aloud the text. When I heard her standard (标准) American English, I looked at her with new eyes. And I remembered her name﹣Kelly. Later on, the National College Speech Competition would be held. One student in our school 3 to attend. I thought it over and filled in her name. Kelly practiced 4 for the competition. However, I was a little worried 5 she was always too quiet. Could she really 6 well in the competition?
7 the night of the competition, I sat in the front row of the hall very early. I told her to take it easy. Her face turned red and she said nothing. 8 seemed that she was really nervous. I felt upset, but I just patted her on the shoulder and 9 her go to draw lots (抽签). As a result, she drew No.9 while No.8 was a boy who was very good at giving speeches.
Sure enough, No.8 was very 10. The whole audience made a warm applause.
While they 11 about his speech with excitement, Kelly appeared on the stage. I with no courage to look at her. It was her 12 time to go up the stage, so I couldn't be angry with her for any small mistakes. But at that moment, I found 13 I was so afraid of her failure(失败).
The strong spotlight and large hall made her so small that nobody seemed to notice she had been on the stage. I felt 14.
But the moment that surprised me came. I clearly heard a voice, a very loud voice, "Now, please focus on me."
Three times in all, louder and louder.
The whole audience fell silent.
I could hardly believe that loud voice came from the girl, who was usually soft-voiced and didn't catch attention at all. She gave a perfect speech.
I think I will never forget this touching lesson which my student taught me-never underestimate(低估) the power of the 15 people.
Different vitamins are found in different foods. Then which foods should be eaten to keep us healthy? Let's look at some important vitamins for the answer.
Vitamin A helps to protect skin from becoming dry. It is also helpful to the eyes. Without vitamin A, you cannot see well in darkness. Vitamin A is found in animal liver and yellow part of eggs. Sweet potatoes, carrots and other dark colored fruit and vegetables have something that the body can change into vitamin A. |
Vitamin B changes foods into energy and helps the heart and nervous system (神经系统) to work smoothly. Without it, we will be weak and will not grow. It is found in grains and other foods like beans, nuts, meat and fish. Vitamin B helps to produce red blood cells. It is found in foods like eggs, meat, fish, milk and green leafy vegetables. |
Vitamin C is needed for strong bones and teeth, and for healthy blood vessels (血管). It also helps wounds to heal (愈合) quickly. The body stores little vitamin C, so we must get it in foods like oranges, and cabbage. |
Vitamin D increases the levels of calcium (钙) in the blood. Calcium is needed for verve and muscle (肌肉) cells to work normally, as well as to build strong bones. Fish liver oil has vitamin D. In some countries, milk producers add vitamin D to milk so that it will be good for children. |
Plants are very important living things. Life could not go on if there were no plants. This is because plants can make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals and men can't make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals get their food by eating plants and other animals. Therefore, animals and men need plants in order to live. This is the reason why we find so many plants around us.
If you look carefully at the plants around you, you will find that there are many kinds of plants. Some plants are large while others are small. Most plants are green.
Some plants have many small leaves. Others have only a few. There are many kinds of leaves. Leaves are of different shapes and colors.
Leaves are also different in other ways. Some leaves have long thin parts at the end, we call them leaf stalks, some have short leaf stalks, others even have no leaf stalks. The leaf edges are also different. Some leaves have smooth(平滑) edges. Some have a wave-shaped edges. Others have edges like the teeth of a saw(锯子).
Going to a new school can feel like starting all over again. You may feel like sad or angry about leaving your old school or friend. You may feel excited about a new beginning or a "fresh start". You may feel nervous about having to meet new people. All of these feelings are normal when you start at a new school.
Most kids worry about fitting in at their new school. It's common for a new kid to feel like an outsider for the first few weeks. Although you can be lonely, you can help yourself fit in by being friendly. Even if you are nervous, try to smile, say hello and ask questions.
Here are two places where you might meet friends in a new school:
● The classroom: Look around you, is there anyone who you can talk to? Do you take part in group activities in class? If so, try to join a new group every time.
● Playground: Most schools offer many team sports. Try to join these sports.
Some kids worry about their teachers when they start a new school. Even if the teachers are supportive, it can take some time to adjust to new rules or ways of teaching. Try talking to them about your problem. Besides, with a familiar face in the front of your classroom you may feel more comfortable during the first few weeks of school.
According to a recent newspaper article, girls do better than boys at every level of education. So it is hardly surprising that boys are now far more likely(可能的) than girls to go to universities.
"Eclipsed" (黯然失色)
Mary Curnock Cook, a leader of the University, is so worried about the future of boys that she wants to see a national effort to solve the problem. If this difference goes on growing, girls born this year will be 75% more likely to go to university than boys.
So what is at the root of this gap(差距)? Are there changes in the nature of universities which have led to the dominance of girls on campus? Are girls simply better at schoolwork these days, and boys less interested?
By the time teenagers get to their high school, the number of girls is bigger. So before they sit a single exam, there are probably more girls than boys who are likely to go to university.
"Waste of time?"
The average grade for a girl is C+ compared to C for a boy at A-level examinations. But the differences between boys and girls start much earlier on.
According to a University of Bristol study, boys are nearly twice as likely as girls to have fallen behind by the time they start school. Primary schools often have more female teachers, and mothers helping out.
According to the study, girls and boys often have different attitudes towards schoolwork. The report says: "Boys are more likely than girls to regard school as a waste of time." What's more, boys tend(倾向) to spend over one hour less per week on homework than girls. They are more likely to play computer games and less likely to read outside of school.
"There are a lot of boys thinking they can get away with the least work and wanting to spend their time doing other 'more interesting things'," says Roger Leighton, the former head teacher of Sydney Russell School. "Girls, on the other hand, tend to understand the need to work hard earlier on — they take a longer view."
Is your TV connected to the Internet? What about your chair, or your fridge? Probably they are not. But in the future, most things in your home may be connected, thanks to the so-called "Internet of things".
The Internet of things may be coming sooner than you think. Earlier this year, A Samsung CEO spent a lot of time talking about the Internet things. He said that five years from now, every Samsung product will be part of the Internet of things, no matter whether it's a remote control or a washing machine.
So, how do household(家用的) objects that are part of the Internet of things work? Well, think of a common chair. When connected to the Internet, the chair warms up when it knows the user has just walked into the room and is feeling cold.
An Internet-connected camera could help people feel safer in their homes. It can know people's faces and has an infrared sensor(红外传感器), so even if it's dark it can see when someone passes by and send you a message on your smartphone to let you know who's there. If the person is someone you don't know, it can tell you that, too.
But according to MIT Technology Review, whether companies are connecting dog food bowls or security systems to the Internet, there may be some problems. For example, many early connected-home objects don't have much built-in security, which means they could be hacked(被黑客攻击). Moreover, it could be difficult to get these new machines to work together especially when they are made by different companies. To fight this, many companies have joined the Open Interconnect Consortium, which had 45 members by late 2014.
So, picture this: you enter your home. The temperature changes to make you feel comfortable. Your favorite music starts playing for you. Do you think that this would be a good thing? It may happen sooner than you think.
Would you like to explore (开发) the oceans?Do you want to find more life than we imagine there?For Jacques Cousteau, the answer was "yes". His career was a life-long dream, and he is probably the most famous ocean scientist in recent times.
Cousteau was born in France in 1910. Even as a child, he loved water. Cousteau was bright, but he got bored with school and began to cause trouble. . There, Cousteau finally felt challenged. He studied hard and did well in all his courses. In 1933, he served as a general officer in the French Navy. . He worked on a breathing machine to stay under water longer. It was finished in 1943.
In 1948, Cousteau became a captain, and he had new duties. Even so, he continued to explore the oceans. Two years later, he became the president of the French Oceanographic Campaigns. He also bought a ship to help with his dives. . To do that, he produced many films and published(出版)a number of books. His films include "The Silent World (1956)", "World without Sun(1966)". One of his books is "The Living Sea (1963)".
. Its work was to further oceanic research and to encourage people to help protect the oceans and the life within them.
Cousteau won many honors for his work, including the Medal of Freedom and membership in the French Academy in 1989.
A. Cousteau was interested in fishing
B. In 1974, he founded the Cousteau Society
C. But he needed a way to get money for his trips
D. His parents sent him to a strict boarding school
E. He also began to explore the life under the water
Think about the distance(距离) you traveled in the last six months of your life. About how many miles(kilometers) did you go? Lucid went quite a distance. On March 22, 1996, she started a journey. She traveled 188 days, 4 hours, and 14 seconds in total. This is a little over six months. So what distance did Lucid travel? She went 75.2 million miles(1,203,200,000 kilometers)!
How could Lucid go so far? How could she journey so fast? Lucid was an American astronaut and she was in space. She lived on a space station. The space station was the Russian space station Mir. She lived and worked with two Russian astronauts.
On Mir, it was hard for Lucid to know what day it was. Why? Mir. did not stay in one place. It orbited the Earth. It went around the Earth. Mir's orbit meant that darkness did not mean the day was over. Darkness fell many times during a 24-hour period. Darkness fell about every 45 minutes. Lucid did something to help her remember what day it was. She wore pink socks on every seventh day. The pink socks reminded Lucid about something else, too. The pink socks helped Lucid remember that Jell-O would be served for dinner. On Mir, Jell-O was a special treat. It was only served on Sunday.
Lucid worked hard to deserve the honor of working on Mir. She went to school for a long time. She was one of the first six women to be accepted into the astronaut-training program. She flew on several American missions. When accepted for Mir, she had to learn Russian in less than 18 months. On Mir, Lucid conducted many experiments. One experiment she conducted was with wheat. Lucid grew wheat. Growing plants in space was important, because green plants could provide oxygen and food for space travelers.
Eric and Chen first met in their Math class at an American college. Chen was an international student f China. He wanted to learn about American culture and hoped he and Eric would become good friends. At first, Eric seemed f. He always greeted Chen warmly before class. Sometimes he offered to study with Chen. He even i Chen to eat lunch with him. But after the term was over and they were in different classes, Eric seemed more distant. They didn't s each other very much at college. One day Chen called Eric, But Eric didn't seem very interested in talking to him, Chen was h by Eric's change of attitude(态度). "Eric said we were friends." Chen said. "I thought friends were friends forever. As a foreigner, he doesn't understand the way Americans view friendship.
Americans use the word "friend" in a very general way. Their friendship is based on common i. When the shared activity ends and they have no the same interests, the friendship may die. Now as Eric and Chen are no longer c, their "friendship" has changed.
In some culture's friendship m a strong life-long tie between two people—friendship develops slowly, since it is built to last. American friendship develops q, and it may change just as quickly.
Learning how Americans view friendship can help non-Americans remove misunderstandings(误解). It can h them make friends in the American way.
There is a sign at a Korean university asking tourists (not step) into the grass to take photos. The sign (write) in Chinese, not Korean or English.
These signs, and signs in other countries warning Chinese tourists about their behavior, have shamed many Chinese who worry about the image of the country.
Over 70 million Chinese tourists (make) overseas trips last year and (spend) $102 billion, more than the $84 billion spent by American and German tourists. For many Chinese tourists, it (be) their first trip abroad and they didn't know about foreign ways. And some of these tourists took their bad habits from China with them.
Wang Yang, a Chinese deputy prime minister (国务院副总理), said, "They (the tourists) speak loudly in public, carve words or numbers on tourist attractions, (cross) the road when the traffic lights (be) still red and spit anywhere. It damages(毁坏) the image of the Chinese people and (have) a very bad influence."
Before you travel to a foreign country, it's important (learn) some things about the country and its culture. You are guests in the country and it's important to respect(尊重) your hosts. As more and more Chinese visit foreign countries, their behavior will certainly change and those shameful signs (disappear), we hope.