Is there intelligent (有智力的) life on other planets? For years, scientists said "no" or "we don't know". But today this is changing. Seth Shostak and Alexandra Barnett are astronomers (天文学家). They believe intelligent life exists (存在) somewhere in the universe. They also think we will soon contact these beings (人；生物).

    Why do Shostak and Barnett think intelligent life exists on other planets? The first reason is time. Scientists believe the universe is about 12 billion years old. "This is long enough for other planets to have intelligent life," say Shostak and Barnett. The second reason is size—the universe is huge. "Tools like the Hubble Telescope (哈勃望远镜) have shown that there are at least 100 billion galaxies," says Shostak. "And our galaxy, the Milky Way, has at least 100 billion stars. Some planets going around these stars might be similar to Earth."

    In the past, it was hard to look for signs of intelligent life in the universe. But now, powerful telescopes (高倍望远镜) allow scientists to discover smaller planets. These planets might have intelligent life.

    Have beings from space already visited Earth? "Probably not," says Shostak. However, intelligent beings may contact us in other way, such as radio signals (信号). In fact, they may be trying to communicate with us now, but we don't have the right tools to receive their messages. However, this is changing. By 2025, we could make contact with other life forms in our universe and we might help each other.

    I'm going to have a great weekend. I'll go across Canada with my parents by car. We'll drive seven or eight hours a day.

    In Toronto, we'll stay in a big hotel. The food is very delicious. There's a big swimming pool and a lot of game rooms. I think I'll play there happily. But there will be lots of people in the hotel, so I think we'll sleep in one room. And it's expensive.

    Then we are going to stay in a small cabin(小木屋) in the mountains. I really love it. The cabin is clean and quiet. We'll have two rooms, so I can get up late in the morning. But we have to get up early because we want to go swimming. There is a beautiful lake near the cabin. We can go fishing and cook food outside.

    American people like to say "Thank you" when others help them or say something kind to them. People in many countries do so, too. It is a very good habit.

    You should say "Thank you" when someone passes you the salt on the table,  when someone walking ahead of you keeps the door open for you, when someone says you have done your work well, or you have bought a nice thing, or your city is very beautiful. "Thank you" is used not only between friends, but also between parents and children, brothers and sisters.

    "Excuse me" is another short sentence they use. When you hear someone say so behind you, you know that someone wants to walk past you without touching you. It's not polite to break others when they are talking. If you want to speak to one of them, say "Excuse me" first, and then begin talking. You should also do so when you begin to cough or make any noise before others.

    Let's learn to say "Thank you" and "Excuse me".

    Devike was walking home from school. Everything was bad at school. In the morning, she got to school late. In the math test, half her answers were not right and she forgot to do her English homework. The teacher wrote a message in her notebook for her parents to sign.

    She knew her parents would be angry with her. She also knew she had a lot of schoolwork to do. Just thinking about these, she was sad.

    After she got home, her mother gave her a hug(拥抱) and said, "How was your day, dear?" Her little brother Rohit came to her and said," Hi, sister! I miss you.

    Quickly Devika felt better. Of course, her mom would be angry with her poor grades. But she loves her and that is more important. And her little brother always thinks she is smart and beautiful.

    At that time, Devika felt lucky to have such a great family and she didn't worry about her poor grades because the family could comfort(安慰) her when she was sad.

    Indonesia is my mother's homeland and one of my favorite countries. Since I was young, I had learned a lot about the country and become interested in it. For a long time I had wanted to do something for the country and people there, and I thought volunteering（做志愿者） would be a good and fun way to do so.

    I received the greatest pleasure from being with the children.

    Teaching my first English class in Aceh was exciting, but I was rather nervous. As time went by, I learned how to be a better teacher. Teaching was actually the most enjoyable of my many responsibilities(责任).

    Many children were shy at first. But when they relaxed, they would start talking and telling you a lot of funny things. I believed we were helping them build up their confidence.

    For the children who are more in need. The Education Program（TEP） will collect donations(募捐) to help them.

    As a volunteer, I had to visit the TEP children at home once a month and help them write a thank-you letter to their sponsors. This was a way for the children to communicate with their sponsors. Sometimes the sponsors would write back to the children. Seeing the children's happy faces, I had a great sense of pleasure.

    November 5 is World Tsunami(海啸) Awareness Day. Tsunami is a Japanese word for a long, destructive(摧毁性的) ocean wave caused by an undersea earthquake. The goal of the anniversary is to learn from disasters(灾害) of the past and to prepare for the future. Two tsunamis in the last 15 years have changed the way people around the world think about these destructive events.

    On December26, 2004, a magnitude (震级) 9 earthquake near the coast of Indonesia caused tsunami waves that struck the coasts of four countries. An estimated(估计的) 230,000 people died and costs were in the billions of dollars. Then, on March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in that country. More than18,000 people died. The tsunami also caused serious damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power center on the island of Honshu. Several nuclear reactors(核 反应堆) were severely(严重地) damaged and leaked(泄漏) radiation(辐射).

    The two events caused people in the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas to study and improve preparedness for disasters. This led to the SendaiFrameworkfor DisasterRiskReductionin 2015 in Sendai, Japan. The agreement was a UN effort to raise awareness(提高意识) about disaster risks and to urge(催促) countries to assess(评估)how well they were prepared for them.

    Willem Rampangilei is head of the Disaster Management Agency in Indonesia. He said Indonesia passed a law on disaster management after the 2004 tsunami. It led in 2008 to the creation of his agency. "Our responsibilities include reduction and preparedness, emergency response, as well as post-disaster recovery and reconstruction(重新建设)," he said. He added that 150 million Indonesians were at risk from earthquakes, 60 million from floods and four million from tsunamis.

    Preparedness has spread beyond Asia. There are now early warning systems in place for the Caribbean Sea, the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding(周围的) areas.

    Clay Warner is wearing his basketball clothes, waiting in the chair for his chance to play—but until last week, nobody asked him to play. Although the 18- year-old students does well in playing basketball, his coach wouldn't like to bring Clay into play. He is afraid that Clay would get hurt.

    This is because it's kind of difficult for Clay to see things—even when he wears glasses. His mother says that he was born with cerebral palsy(脑瘫). Although he tries his best to look at the basketball hoop by focusing on the right corner of his glasses, it is not easy for him to do it well.

    On the high school's Senior Night last week, Clay's coach finally called him to play during the final minute of the game. With the watchers already standing to give him a warm welcome, Clay got into position as the crowd cheered him up.

    "I want to get him in. It was Senior Night," the head coach told reporters. "If there is an opportunity for him, I wanted to take advantage of it. All the player were for it, too."

    Once the game was back in play, one of Clay's teammates passed him the ball. Though he had been practising shooting hoops since he was in the third grade, this was the first time he had ever taken a shot on his high school basketball team.

    As the watchers waited, Clay took the shot and dropped the ball clean through the net, hardly touching the rim(边框)—and the watchers shouted in wild cheers.

    "This whole gym was calling my name," Clay told the news reporters. "The whole crowd was jumping. They were going crazy. It was like I were a little kid again."

    An eight-year-old child heard her parents talking about her little brother. All she knew was that he was very sick and they had no money. Only a very expensive operation could save him now and there was no one to lend them the money.

    When she heard her daddy say to her tearful mother, "Only a miracle (奇迹) can save him now." the little girl went to her bedroom and pulled her money from its hiding place and counted it carefully.

    She hurried to a drugstore with the money in her hand.

    "And what do you want?" asked the salesman. "It's for my little brother," the girl answered. "He's really, really sick and I want to buy a miracle." "Pardon?" said the salesman.

    “My brother Andrew has something bad growing inside his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him. So how much does a miracle cost?" "We don't sell a miracle here, child. I'm sorry." the salesman said with a smile.

    "Listen, if it isn't enough, I can try and get some more. Just tell me how much it costs."

    A well-dressed man heard this and asked, “What kind of miracle does your brother need?”

    "I don't know," she answered with her eyes full of tears. "He's really sick and mum says he needs an operation. But my daddy can't pay for it, so I have brought all my money."

    "How much do you have?" asked the man. "$1.11, but I can try and get some more." she answered. "Well, what luck ,”smiled the man. "$1.11, the price of a miracle for your little brother."

    He took up the girl's hand and said, "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the kind of miracle you need."

    That well-dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a famous doctor. The operation was successful and it wasn't long before Andrew was home again.

    How much did the miracle cost?

    It has more than 845 million users around the world. If it were a country, it would have the third largest population (人口) in the world，behind China and India. This is Facebook, a popular website from the USA. It is similar to Renren in China.

    Mark Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984. As a little kid, he loved creating little fun computer programs. He set up the network in February of 2004. He was then a second—year student at Harvard University. One day, he had the idea of building a website for Harvard students to get to know each other. He set up the Facebook website. Harvard students could share photos and their personal information there. Soon, the website became very famous. Zuckerberg decided to leave Harvard to run Facebook full time. It was the biggest adventure (冒险) in his life and later brought him great success. Now, the service is popular around the world.

    Greetings such as "Have you checked your Facebook page today?" became a part of young people's everyday language in the USA. People can exchange messages and get the latest information about their friends on Facebook. Zuckerberg's dream is to connect people through the Internet. "Facebook is to make the world more open and connected," he said.

    What's the young man's secret to success? Zuckerberg believes it's important to have an open mind and be ready to try new things. "The riskiest thing is to take no risks," he once said in an open letter. Sometimes the simplest ideas go furthest. We hope Mark can go much further, maybe even further than Bill Gates.

    Some students get so nervous before an exam that they do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock, a psychology (心理学) professor at the University of Chicago, has studied these highly anxious (焦虑的) exam-takers.

    "They start worrying about the results. They might even start worrying about whether this exam is going to prevent them from getting into the college they want. And when we worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources that we could otherwise be using to focus (集中) on the exam." says Sian Beilock.

    The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short math tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the coming second test.

    The researchers added to the pressure. They told the students that those who did well on the second exam would get money. They also told them that their performance would affect other students as part of a team effort.

    Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of 20% worse on the second exam. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an average of 5%.

    Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things not connected to the test.

    Professor Beilock says highly anxious students who wrote about their feelings got an average grade of B＋, compared with a B—for those who did not.

    But what can they do if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam or presentation? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and they can still improve their performance.