B
National Smile Month is the largest and longest mouth health activity in the UK. Starting in 1977, it is celebrating its 42nd birthday from May 14 to June 14 this year.
The British are known for their bad teeth because they have too many sugary (甜的) foods and drinks. It seems that most of them don't often show their feeling. They neither smile nor cry. But this is NOT true. The British like to smile as much as anyone else. They just don't want to show their bad teeth.
Brush your teeth at least twice a day, cut down sugary foods and drinks, and visit the dentist often. With the three messages, the organizers (组织者) hope that a month of smiling will make people all around the UK realize the importance of good teeth and be confident enough to open their mouths to smile.
One interesting activity is for the British to enjoy the fun photos with short stories behind. Seeing the smiling faces and reading the interesting stories, everyone can't help smiling! You're welcome to send yours with big smiles online.
Smiling is not only good for you but also good for those around you, even if you do have a few bad teeth. This makes National Smile Month a great idea!
D
Shenzhen, Jan 1st, 2018—Shenzhen has become the world's first city to make all its public buses, about 16,359, run on electricity. A total of 12,518 taxis, or 62.5 percent of all the taxis in the city are electric ones. "We will replace（替换）the rest of the taxis with electric ones by 2020." said Mr. Chen from the government.
"I have been a driver for twenty years," said Mr. Zhang, a driver who started to drive e-buses a month ago. "We had several rounds of training and passed strict exams before we were allowed to drive the e-buses."
The city has built 8,000 charging poles（充电桩）and 501 bus charging stations. "A bus can be fully charged within two hours and the charging poles can serve 300 buses a day at our station. Since the replacement, the bus station has become quiet, even as the e-buses are entering and exiting the station." said Mr. Guan, the manager of Qinghu Bus Station.
The use of e-buses and e-taxis plays an important role in improving air quality. In a year, the e-buses use 72.9 percent less energy than the traditional ones. The e-taxis save the energy of 119,000 tons of standard coal.
Shenzhen was one of the first 13 cities to take part in the National New-energy Vehicle Program (NNVP). In 2017, the city spent 3.3 billion yuan on e-buses and the charging equipment. The city also encourages people to bus new-energy cars or e-cars by reducing their payment.
E
Artificial intelligence（人工智能）, or AI in short, is the science of giving computers and machines ability to think and work like humans. AI scientists and engineers have made a lot of cool technologies.
AI is rapidly catching up with the human ability to read faces. As a result, facial recognition（识别）is used a lot in the world. Chinese police use this technology to identify criminals（罪犯）.Once they caught a criminal when he attended a concert. It also checks the ID of ride-hailing（网约车）drivers and lets people pay for things with a smile.
AI is also used in self-driving cars, which are believed to be the future of driving. Most drivers may wave or nod at passers-by to let them cross the street, but self-driving cars don't have this ability. Carmakers are testing a light signal system to help them "speak" to humans. The system can show what self-driving cars will do. For example, if a driverless car is yielding（让路）, it will flash two white lights side to side. A rapidly flashing light tells passers-by that the car is about to speed up.
Service Robots also show you know powerful AI is. Imagine this—you come back home from school and your robot housekeeper is waiting for you at the door. After dinner, he teaches you to play the piano, just like a real music teacher. Such thoughts will soon happen in the real world. In the future, more and more service robots will become good home helpers.
AI is so powerful that it can help human beings and even replace us in many jobs.
A
When you go on a vacation, the hotel you choose and the room you stay in are important. There are many cool theme（主题）hotel rooms around the world. Here are some of them.
The Harry Potter Room The George Castle Hotel in England gives its guests the experience of staying in Harry Potter's world. This 19th-century castle hotel is beside Harry Potter tour bus stop. The bus will take you to the Making Of Harry Potter studio tour. | Ice Theme Room An ice theme can be found at Hotel de Glace in Canada. In winter, you can get a fireplace and a private spa in the rooms. The ice hotel has new rooms each year. This winter, it will build a room with the theme of Disney's movie Frozen. |
Pirate（海盗）Theme Room If you want a more attractive theme room, the Adventure Island Hotel in America is the best choice. In their pirate theme rooms, you'll feel like you're on a pirate ship in a world of sea adventures. | Night at the Movies Room At the Wensley Hotel in Australia, guests are crazy about the Night at the Movies Room. There they can see different things of Hollywood, such as Hollywood signs over the door, and hand-painted actors' pictures above the bed. |
“To raise snails(蜗牛) well, you need to spray(喷) water to the container(容器) every morning and evening, change soil every two weeks, and feed them with vegetables and sweet fruits,” said Sun Youxiang after raising snails for one year. He is a fourthgrade primary school student in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. From three white jade snails at the very beginning to more than sixty snails of four generations(代) now, he has done a great job for his science class.
Watching the reproduction(繁殖) of animals is an uncommon experience for kids. Their creativity, patience and respect(尊重) for life will be developed as they learn to take care of animals on their own. Sun's teacher said the job served as a good example of life education. Practice is a necessary step in learning and it will benefit the kids for a life time.
Life education allows kids to know how to live with nature and creatures(生物) in a friendly way. Starting from this year, science will become an important subject as Chinese and math in primary schools in order to improve students' knowledge about the things around us. Because of curiosity(好奇心), more kids will be willing to watch and think through practising. It will add to our knowledge of the world in the long run.
What Does a Lifelong Learner Look Like?
Lifelong learners never think of themselves as the greatest expert in anything. They continue-to learn and bring a great deal to the groups they belong to. What does a lifelong learner look like? Here are some of their main characteristics (特征).
●They are knowledge seekers. They are always searching for much information on a topic they're interested in and looking for new experience or opportunities to improve their knowledge or skills.
●They are social and self-directed learners. They like taking different courses and taking part in discussions around subjects they are interested in. ___________________ they also know their own learning styles, and their strengths and weaknesses. They can plan and organize their own learning.
●They are critical(批判性的) thinkers. They always use a lot of ways to analyze (分析) and synthesize(A EX)information. From their research they judge the information to see if it is useful for the question at hand.
●They are problem solvers. They will meet different problems while learning. However, they usually see problems as challenges and life experiences and try to stand above them.
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Diabetes is caused by a group of metabolic disorders in which there are high blood sugar levels over a long period of time. There are three main types of diabetes:
l Type 1 Diabetes results from the body not having enough insulin.
l Type 2 Diabetes mainly happens to those who do not have enough physical exercise, eat too much unhealthy food and get too heavy.
l Gestational Diabetes is the third main form. It appears when a woman is having a baby. She will probably get well again after the birth of the baby.
Diabetes can bring serious problems. People with diabetes, especially the Type 1, will easily get thirsty and hungry, and quickly lose weight. If it is not treated, it will develop rapidly (weeks or months), and cause many long-term complications. All the complications relate to damage to blood vessels. For example, damage to the eyes. It is caused by damage to the blood vessels in the eyes, and results in gradual vision loss and blindness. The complications will greatly increase the risk of diabetes, by which about 75% of the deaths are caused.
According to a report from the WHO (World Health Organization) in 2015, about 415 million people have diabetes worldwide, which means 8. 3% of the adults in the world have diabetes. Of all the cases, 85% to 90% are Type 2 Diabetes. That is to say, most cases of diabetes result from the unhealthy life style. Diabetes doubles a person's risk of early death. From 2012 to 2015, about 1.5 to 5 million deaths each year resulted from this disease. The global economic cost of diabetes in 2014 was around 612 billion USD.
A healthy life style can help prevent diabetes. Doing a lot of physical activities and having a healthy diet will help have normal body weight. Higher levels of physical activity (more than 90 minutes per day) can reduce the risk of diabetes by 28 %. Healthy diet includes foods rich in whole grains and fiber, foods with good fats from nuts, vegetable oils and fish, little sugar, and less red meat.
Oats are healthy food. Many families have them for breakfast. The following is the instructions of Golden Oats from America.
Bath, 97 miles west of London, is the largest city in Somerset, England. It became a World Heritage Site in 1987.
The city got its name from the Roman Baths, which was a place for public bathing in Roman Britain. The water there is naturally heated under the ground. Today visitors are no longer allowed to enter the water. However, the exhibitions there will tell you the history of the Roman Baths. You can see many ancient Roman objects, including the coins that were thrown into the water to show respect to the goddess.
Looking over the city, you will see many old buildings in the color of honey. Among them, the Royal Crescent and the Circus are the most famous. The Royal Crescent is a row of 30 houses in the shape of crescent. The Circus is about 200 meters to the east of the Royal Crescent. It is a huge circle formed with large townhouses. It is divided into three parts of the same length by three entrances with a lawn in the center. When visiting Bath, you can't miss these two sites.
The museums in the city are also popular. You can go and appreciate western paintings. If you are interested in the English writer Jane Austen, you can go to Jane Austen Center to know more about her life with her father in Bath. If you come in October, you can even take part in the bath film Festival.
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Workers wear them. Swimmers wear them. Scientists wear them. Woodcutters wear them. People who play sports wear them. Goggles protect the eyes. They keep out water and chemicals. They keep out bits of wood or stone. They might look funny, but goggles do serious work!
Why do people need to wear goggles? They need to keep the can hurt our eyes. Have you ever gotten a piece of sand or dirt or other small particle in your eye? What happens? It hurts. Your eye begins to fill with tears. Those tears are your body's way of getting the sand or dirt out of your eye. Sometimes this works. Your eye feels much better.
But what happens if your tears don't work? What happens if the piece of sand has gotten stuck in your eye? Eyes are delicate. They can be scratched or cut easier than skin(皮肤). If the particle is not washed out by tears, you might have to go to the doctor. You could even have problems seeing out of that eye.
Instead of waiting to see if tears will help, some people use goggles. This can prevent things from getting in their eyes at all. If they use goggles. Their eyes are protected from the things that can cause problems, Goggles are a better way to protect eyes. They are made of plastic or glass, and they are tied around your eye area. Some of them hook behind your ears like glasses. Other goggles have a strap (带子) that goes around your head. Both kinds stay right where you put them until you take them off. That way, you can use both hands to work or play sports, and you don t have to worry about something getting in your eyes.
Your eyes are safe, and you can get busy working or playing!
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Preparing to go traveling abroad can be really stressful, especially if you don't know what to expect. Here is a list of important things to remember, so you know exactly what you need to do before you take off. What vaccines(疫苗) do I need? Go to your doctor for advice as soon as you know you're going traveling. They will know what vaccines you will need and will be able to advise you on when you need to have them. Remember, some vaccines need to be given months ahead, so make sure you book an appointment as early as possible. Do I need a visa(签证)? It's important that you have the correct official documents for traveling abroad. If you don't have the necessary paperwork, you might be refused entry. You'll need to check that your passport hasn't been out of date either. How do I arrange travel insurance(保险)? Travel insurance is really important. It can protect you in different kinds of situations, such as if you need medical treatment or if your flights are canceled. Travel insurance can be arranged easily online or over the phone, but you can always turn to your local travel agency. Travel agents will also be able to advise you on what you are insured against. |
Bananas are the perfect snack. Not only are they sweet and delicious, but they are easy to carry around, so you can take them anywhere. Best of all, bananas provide different things that the human body needs!
Bananas grow best in warm places that get lots of rain. They grow on plants that look like trees. The banana plant, however, is considered a herb rather than a tree because it doesn't have a strong , woody stem（茎，干）. The plants can grow as high as 30 feet. When they reach their full height, flowers grow out from the stem. These flowers produce bananas.
Two or three times each year, the plants produce fruit. The bananas grow together, which seem like "hands". A hand is made up of 10 to 20 bananas. Growers sometimes call bananas "fingers". Each bunch（丛） of bananas has about 15 hands, and so a whole bunch may have as many as 200 bananas and can weigh more than 100 pounds.
After about three months, the bananas are ready to be picked. At this point, they still aren't the sunny yellow color of bananas. Farmers pick them when they're green. That's how they're shipped to stores. They turn yellow along the way and are ready to be sold.
If you love bananas, you've got a lot of company. Americans have been enjoying bananas since the first shipment arrived in the United States in 1876. Today, American eat more bananas than any other fruit. More bananas are sold than apples and grapes together. Every American eats over 26 pounds of bananas each year!
a. The bananas begin to turn yellow b. A banana plant grows to full height.
c. The flowers produce bananas. d. The bananas are ready to be picked.
There is a popular Chinese saying that “Fair skin(皮肤) will make up for three flaws(缺陷)”. This mentions the fact that in Chinese culture, it is believed that people who have fair skin are more beautiful. In Western culture, however, the opposite is true — many Westerners think tanned skin is prettier. The example shows that different cultures have different ideas of what they think is beautiful. These cultural meanings of the beauty, however, are no longer important. As more and more people travel overseas, ideas about beauty are being shared among cultures. The Internet has also made it easier for people to share different types of beauty since people are always posting pictures on social media. The result is an ever-changing idea of what is considered beautiful.
The cultural practice of ear piercings, for example, has become a part of modern day culture.
In Kenya, it is a tradition among Masai men and women to pierce and then make their ear
lobes( 耳 垂 ) longer using ivory and wood or stones. They then wear colorful things on their ear lobes. This is a common practice since longer ear lobes are seen as a sigh of beauty. This tradition has now found its way into present-day culture. Nowadays, this might still seem unusual to some, but with more and more well-known actors and film stars showing off their longer ear lobes, it will finally become more fashionable.
It is understood that different cultures around the world have different ways of showing beauty. However, since we now live in a worldwide society, people's views about beauty are always changing. With the help of the Internet, people are now able to easily borrow ideas from other cultures to help them stand out. So what new fashions can we expect to see in the future?
Eating your way around the world
Australia: Try a pie floater?
Feeling hungry? No visit to South Australia is complete without trying the local food-a pie floater. They are traditionally sold at roadside food shops, some of which stay open all night. It is a meat pie floating in a thick green pen soup. Finally, the pie is covered with plenty of bright red tomato ketchup(番茄酱). Enjoy!
Vietnam: Soup for breakfast
The food stands in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, open early in the morning and stay busy till late at night, selling fast food to hungry passers-by. The most famous dish is pho, a noodle soup with slices of beef or chicken and different vegetables. It's usually eaten for breakfast—-many Vietnamese people say they cannot start the day without this delicious food!
Belgium: Home of French fries
You can find French fried potatoes all over the world, but as Belgians will tell you, they, not the French, invented this popular street food, back in the 17th century. French fries, eaten from a paper cone are the Belgian's favourite food. The secret of perfect French fries is that they are fried(油炸) twice in hot oil, to give a perfect, golden outside
Right now you probably spend most of your time in school. Do you wonder what you are going to do after high school? Will you continue to go to school? Will you learn a trade? Perhaps it is time to think about your choices and to prepare for them. Some day work will be a big part of your life.
What kind of job would be right for you? Think about your interests and your skills. You may like to listen to music, dance, play basketball, or work with computers. You may know how to drive a car or how to get along with people. Knowing both your interests and skills will help make a better plan for your career(职业).
To get an idea of what work you would like to do, make a list of your interests and a list of your skills. Think about what you have done to be successful in your interests. After that, brainstorm a list of career choices that might match your interests and skills. You can later keep your lists with the projects and documents(文件) that can help you achieve the career you want. They can help you know more clearly about your achievements in school and in the world of work.
Roberta Zhan, an art designer, finds her work satisfying because it allows her to use her interests and skills. She enjoyed imagining something in her mind's eye while she was in school. She took art, design, and computer lessons, and also learned about taking photos on her own.
Here is what she says about the meaning of work: "If you have a job you like, work means much more than just making money. It means using your talents, making a contribution(贡献) and getting a real sense of satisfaction from doing a job."
Understanding Graphics（图表）
When we are reading, we often see one or two graphics in a text. Have you ever thought about these questions: Why are they there? What information do they give? Do they help with our reading and understanding? Graphics are things like pictures, maps, charts and tables. They give information to readers. Very often, we can see different kinds of graphics in books, magazines and newspapers. Writers use graphics to get the readers' attention and give them some particular(特别的)information. Graphics help to understand the given information in a text. And graphics put the information in a particular order so that it's easy to understand when we take a quick look. | |
It is not always true that a picture is worth a thousand words. But many things are easier to show than to tell and they may also be easier to understand. Graphics are just the right things that give a great deal of information but it doesn't take much time to read and understand. The right way to read and understand a graphic is to look at the picture and the words together. In a graphic, only a few words are used to explain what the picture shows you. Sometimes, numbers and percentages(百分比) are also given to go with the words to explain things. Now look at the graphic on the right. It is how a researcher used a graphic to show the number of hours spent sleeping by British teenagers each day. Can you understand it? | |
Vienna is a beautiful old city on the River Danube in the center of Europe. It's the capital city of Austria and the center of European classical music. In the 18th century a lot of musicians came to study and work in Vienna.
In the Strauss family, there were two composers called Johann Strauss: the father and the son. The father, Johann Strauss the elder, wrote and played music for traditional dances, called the waltz. His dance music made him famous all over Europe. The son, Johann Strauss the younger, was also very successful and popular. He wrote over 150 waltzes. In 1867 he wrote The Blue Danube waltz.
Mozart was another very important composer. He was born in Austria in 1756. Before he was six, he played not only the piano but also the violin. His family took him around Europe and he gave concerts in many cities. He wrote hundreds of wonderful pieces of music. But he became very poor and died in 1791 when he was only 35. Like Johann Strauss, father and son, he was a great European musician, and many people still think his music is perfect.
A
Maps are pictures of places. You must have seen a map of the world, of your home country and even of your home city. They show us towns, cities, roads, parks, schools, hospitals, and more.
There are also many other types( 类型) of maps. Each gives a special kind of information. There are street maps, tourist maps, and even maps of the air and sea.
Here is a simple road map.
C
In America, boys and girls often join clubs. The members of a club work together. They also learn certain skills and share good times.
Many boys belong to Boy Scouts. Boy scouts enjoy hiking and camping out together, and they learn many things. Scouts learn safety rules, first aid, and what to do when in danger. Members have a chance to learn outdoor living. They learn to build fires and cook out in the open.
Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls are clubs for girls. These two clubs give their members a chance to have fun and learn. The girls in a group take trips, have parties and go hiking and camping together. The Camp Fire Girls earn honor beads( 荣誉珠) for learning such skills as swimming and cooking. The Girl Scouts earn badges(徽章).
Both boys and girls can be members of 4-h clubs, Children who live in either the city or the country may belong to 4-h. A project such as raising a pig or a calf can be carried on only by farm children, while city children can take part in gardening and cooking projects.
In all these clubs the boys and girls learn to be good and useful citizens.
D
Inventions make our life easier and better than before. What are the best inventions of last year? Here are three amazing things in Time magazines list of the 25 best inventions of 2017.
Smart mug
It's hard to keep coffee or tea warm, especially in winter. But this smart mug from US company Ember Technologies can solve this problem. There is an app for the mug that allows people to set the mug to a certain temperature between 48℃ and 62℃. Then, the mug keeps your coffee or tea at that temperature for about an hour, and even longer if you put the mug on a charging（充电）plate.
Social robot
Can robots talk to us like humans? Jibo, a robot made by US company Jibo Inc, can do this. With a big, round head and a big body, Jibo looks like a cartoon character. And its voice sounds like a 10-year-old boy. As soon as you say "Hey, Jibo," it dances and turns to face you. When it talks to you, it moves its head and body to communicate with you. Its appearance, tone of voice and humor make you feel that you have a little friend Jibo is able to tell stories to children, take pictures just by hearing your order "Jibo, take a picture", and do hundreds of other jobs. Although its creators think that Jibo still has a lot to learn, it's available with a price of $ 899; a good price for a pretty smart and friendly robot!
Fidget spinner
What is the most popular toy this year? The answer is probably fidget spinners. They are small plastic or metal toys with a bearing(滚珠轴承）in the middle. The toys can keep turning around on your fingertip for a few minutes after you start them. Once they are turning, you can put them on any other flat surface, such as a ruler or even the nose of a pet dog. This toy is very popular among young people around the world. Some people say that it helps them calm down and relax. But it may not be a good thing to spend too much time playing with it.
During ancient times, children didn't have much to enjoy themselves. However, they came up with interesting games to play in their childhood.
Kicking stone balls During the Qing Dynasty, kicking a stone ball around was a popular game in the northern part of China, and it was often played in winter to keep warm. |
Playing hide-and-seek Hide-and-seek is a traditional game for children, popular around the nation. There are two ways to play: covering a child's eyes while other kids run around to tease(戏弄) him or, more commonly, others hide and one child must try to find them. |
Flying kites Kites have quite a long history. The earliest kites were made of wood, instead of paper. The three most famous kites are the Beijing kite, Tianjin kite and Weifang kite. Each has its own feature. For example, the bird-shaped kite with long wings is a special kind of the Beijing kite. |
Watching shadow plays(皮影戏) The closest thing to watching a film during ancient times was going to see a shadow play. The artists control puppets(木偶) behind the screen and tell stories to the music. |
Job interviews can be very different from country. An interviewer's “body language” and questions, and the form of an interview are not the same around the world.
If you're at a job interview in Japan, don't look directly into the eyes of the interviewer. It is considered impolite. But if you're at an interview in the US, you should make eye contact(交流) with the interviewer. If you don't, the interviewer may think you are not sure about your ability.
In the US and some other countries, interviewers aren't supposed to ask questions about family and personal information. In most countries, however, personal questions are very common during job interviews.
In Germany, your interview might begin with a very short conversation followed by a formal(正式的) interview. In Mexico and many other countries, the whole interview might not be formal.
C
China's national anthem, March of the Volunteers, is a song that we learn at the beginning of primary school and sing at every flag-raising ceremony. And now, there's even a law to protect it.
Last September, the government passed the National Anthem Law, which became effective(生效) from Oct.1, 2017. It states how we should sing or play the song, requiring all of us to behave towards it politely.
Primary and middle schools must teach the anthem to their students and make them understand the song's spirit and history. Moreover, the law requires us to be serious when we are singing the song. We can't joke about it or change the song's words or music. If someone breaks the law, he or she can be detained for up to 15 days, or face further punishment in more serious situations. The national anthem is different from other songs – it is the symbol of our country.
Many foreign countries also have laws for their national anthems. For example, American school children should put their right hand over their heart while singing their country's anthem at school. In Russia, the national anthem must be played on television and radio before the start and end of broadcasting. And in the Philippines, people are required to sing the national anthem with feelings when it's played in public.
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What can be both red or green, round or sharp, big or small, and more importantly, loved or hated by someone? Yes, the answer is chilies (辣椒).
Many of us in China enjoy adding chilies to our food, but did you know that this spicy (辣 的) vegetable could also be dangerous? A 34-year-old US man recently ended up in hospital after eating a Carolina Reaper, the spiciest chili people have known so far. After taking just a single bite of one, the man suffered from serious headaches in the following days, reported BBC News.
In fact, eating spicy food causes stomachache and headache. But if chilies are harmful, why do people like to eat this vegetable? So what makes people love chilies so much? The human body is influenced by natural chemicals that produce “a sense of happiness”, noted BBC News.
And chilies do good to people in another way. Scientists found that the death rate of those who eat spicy food once or twice a week is 10 percent lower than those who eat it less than once a week. The death rate is 14 percent lower for those who eat spicy food six to seven times a week. This encourages people to eat more spicy food to improve health and bring less death risk at an early age. So, don't worry if you love spicy food. It seems that chilies are actually good for us.
Safe Travel Abroad