Every February, school children in the UK and much of Europe have a week off—a half-term holiday—to relax from school.
This 1 is half-term. There is no special event to celebrate at half- term. Children 2 this time having fun and catching up on schoolwork. Most children hang out with friends, go swimming, visit museums 3 see relatives. It's good time for them to take 4 from school and enjoy time with their friends and loved ones.
Children in Britain have 14 weeks of school holiday every year. The three main holidays are summer break, Christmas and Easter (复活节). But they also have a week 5 for half-term in February and October. These breaks help to 6 the school year up and give kids reprieve (缓解).
Children have only a little 7 to do over the holidays. They may be asked to 8 for a test or complete some coursework. But the main purpose of the holiday is to let them relax and develop their hobbies.
During the summer holidays, most families go away on a short vacation. Many people travel to other cities in Britain and some families are even 9 to go to other countries. Popular places to go on holiday include France, Italy and Spain. Families use this time to 10 and spend time with each other after being busy with work and school for most of the year.
Mr. and Mrs. Black opened a small restaurant. In order to attract customers, they put a notice in front of the restaurant that said "Meals on the House for Three Days."
A foreign student who didn't know much English happened to pass by the restaurant on the second day. It was lunchtime and he felt very hungry. "Well, here is a restaurant. I am going to have something to eat."
He walked towards the restaurant when he saw the notice. "American people are really strange. They even eat dinners on their houses! But how can I get up to the top of the house?" he said to himself.
He looked around and found a ladder against a tree nearby. He started climbing up. But as he reached the top, he heard someone shouting at him.
"Hey, what are you doing up there?" Mr. Black shouted at him. Next to him was a policeman. "Doesn't your notice say ‘Meals on the House for Three Days'? Is it just a joke?" the foreign student answered.
On hearing this, both Mr. Black and the policeman laughed. "Do you know what ON THE HOUSE means? Look it up in the dictionary," the policeman said.
What happens to your computers, MP3 players and cellphones when they're broken or you want a new one?
Most people just throw them away. In 2014, people around the world produced 41.8 million tons of electronic waste (e-waste) and only recycled 6.5 million tons, the United Nations said. The US was the biggest waster, producing 7.1 million tons of waste. China ranked second, with 6 million tons.
It's important to pay attention to e-waste. It can either be valuable or harmful, depending on how we treat it.
"E-waste is a valuable 'urban mine (城市矿藏)'," said David Malone, the UN under-secretary-general (副秘书长). The gold, silver, iron (铁) and copper (铜) in e-waste around the world are worth some $52 billion (322.1 billion yuan). These materials can be reused and help us save resources.
But if people throw their electronics away, toxic (有毒的) chemicals can get into the soil or air, affecting the environment and people's health. Malone said.
To help reduce e-waste, the first thing we can do is to buy longer-lasting electronic devices. If you have unwanted electronics, such as aging toys or cellphones, find a new home for them by giving them to charities. You can also see if there are any companies that offer recycling programs for their products. Apple, for instance, now offers people a discount (折扣) in China if they hand in their used devices when buying new ones. The company will test and repair the used devices and sell them at lower prices.
Sometimes the easiest way to get somewhere is on the back of a bike.
More and more people are using cars in many places in Africa today. However, things are different in Malawi (马拉维). Bikes are the most popular in this African country.
Bike riding is a way of life in Malawi. People use them to carry heavy things. They also use bikes to carry people, especially tourists. These years, taking a "bicycle taxi" to travel around Malawi has become quite popular among (在…… 之中) tourists from all over the world.
If you go to Malawi, you will find a lot of bike taxis waiting on the sides of the roads. The riders make the bikes comfortable for passengers (乘客) to sit on. You can jump on a bike taxi and get around at a very low cost.
Alice is a 21-year-old student from Canada. She enjoys the special bike riding a lot. "I really like the bike taxi," she says. "It's easy and cheap." Alice usually pays 1 dollar for going shopping in town.
28-year-old Panjira Khombe began to ride a bike taxi two years ago. The young man enjoys this job. "I used to (过去) make boats for a living (谋生), but that's a hard job. Being a bike taxi rider is easy for me and I don't mind carrying heavy people," he says.
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A. When did you learn it? B. Sorry I can't. C. Yes, I'd like to. D. That's the main thing. E. In a week. F. Can you cook noodles? G. That's wrong. |
A: Hi, Jason. Would you like to come over to my home this weekend?
B: What are we going to do together?
A: We're going to play chess on Saturday morning and I am going to cook noodles for you.
B: Are you joking?
A: Of course. I can. I learned cooking on TV. B:
A: Last week. My parents were away on business so I cook by myself.
B: When will they come back?
A: During these days, I have to do a lot of things alone.
B: I'm sure you will have a special experience.
A: Yes. I like trying new things.
B: You bet! See you then.
A: See you.
There are about fifteen hundred languages in the world. But only a few of them are very important. English is one of them. Many, many people use it, not only in England and the USA, but also in other parts of the world.
About 200,000,000 people speak it as their own language. It is difficult to say how many people are learning it as a foreign language. Many millions of people are trying to do so. Is it easy or difficult to learn English? Different people may have different answers. Have you ever noticed ads (广告) of this kind in the newspapers or magazines? "Learn English in six weeks, or give your money back…" "Easy and funny…" "Our records and tapes help you master English in a month". Of course, it never happens quite like that.
The only language that seems easy to learn is the mother tongue. We should remember that we all learned our own language well when we were children. If we could learn English in the same way, it would not seem so difficult. Think of what a small child does. He listens to what people say. He tries what he hears.
So it is hard to say that learning English is easy. We must do a lot of practice. And practice needs great efforts and takes much time. Good teachers, record, tapes, books, and dictionaries will be helpful, but they cannot do the student's work for him.
Spuddles are small funny creatures (生物) shaped (形状) like potatoes. They have one very sfeatures (特点): every time a baby spuddle is born, depending on what colour it is, the baby's parents grow a new arm of that scolour. That arm is the one the parents will use to look after that b.
One day a blue baby spuddle was born, b its parents didn't grow a blue arm. How could the parents care for their blue baby? They o had the green arm they had used for his elder sister.
The parents didn't know what to do, and they were afraid that their baby might d because they couldn't look after him. But the green brother and the pink sister went to their parents and oto share their special arms! The parents were happy. And from that day on t loved their generous (大方的) elder children even more.
And so much did they love their children, and so kind had the little green and pink spuddles been that the two children esoon grew an amazing multicoloured (彩色的) arm, which they could use to htheir parents care for the baby whenever they wanted.
