【推荐1】Your education is very important.     1     By working on making a good impression each day, you can enjoy a positive relationship with your teacher.

Greet your teacher with a smile. Your teacher likely arrives to work very early each day, perhaps ever before the sun has risen.     2     Greeting your teacher with a smile and warm regards every morning is a great way to promote your relationship and to improve their day.

    3     Another way to establish a good relationship with your teacher is by being punctual (准时的) to class all the time, always arriving before the bell rings. This will allow your teacher to see you as a reliable person who is respectful of their time.

Never argue with your teacher. Though you may see some of your classmates being disrespectful (不尊敬的) to your teacher, try very hard not to become one of these people. Your teacher has been hired to guide your education and to help you learn important knowledge that will be useful to you in life. Respect this and do not argue with them.     4    

Follow instructions. Your teacher likely has a set of rules that you must obey in class in addition to the regular school rules.     5     If your teacher feels that you keep yourself out of trouble, they will view you more positively and your relationship will strengthen.

【推荐2】Avoiding loneliness

It doesn’t follow that you’re lonely just because you live alone, but there’s evidence that it can affect your health, increasing your risk of heart disease, cancer, and mental health problems.     1    . Acknowledging it and trying to understand what’s causing you to feel that way is the first step to doing something about it.

    2    . Instead of watching TV or checking your phone, go for a walk and chat with someone. Better still, offer to take a neighbor's dog for a walk—dog owners love other’ dog’ people!

Build your community online. The internet has the potential to bring like-minded people together.     3    . Try a neighbourhood app like Next Door or Nearcircles. You may take part in a fitness community (group workouts or a running club), a work community (co-working space), or a hobby community (a writers’ meetup). Your local library will also be able to help you find activities and what’s on near home.

Pick up the phone. Or make a video call. Don’t wait for family and friends to make the first move; get in touch for a chat and make it a habit.

Get involved.     4    . Helping out at the local food bank or charity shop will not only give you a warm, happy feeling, but you’ll also get to meet other volunteers—and it will give you something to talk about with friends.

Plan ahead. Everyone’s busy, so getting people together can take organisation and motivation.     5    .

【推荐3】Facing our failures can be difficult, but it is valuable. Failures are not the endings, but the beginnings of learning experiences that can help inspire you onto the next success.     1    .

·Admit Your Mistakes

The biggest difficulty we face in getting over our failures and turning them into successes is admitting we have made a mistake. If we don’t, we might be caught in a cycle of shame and self-doubt.     2    .

·Make Good Use of Fear

Making a mistake, no matter how big or small it is, can be frightening.     3    . But when we come to recognize that we can’t avoid fear, we can accept our mistakes, correct them, and move forward confidently.

·    4    

Sometimes, the best thing we can do when we fail is to ask someone to help us. We could be shy to reach out to others for help when we feel like we haven’t done our best. Telling people why you think you failed, and what you need help with is considered to be strength. Many people who have failed in their own ways will be there to lend a hand to help you achieve your goals.

·Plan for the Next Failure

    5     . You are certain to fail again, but you don’t need to be afraid of failing. When you plan for failure, you are able to reduce the potential damage to the lowest possible level, and make it easier to move on to the next success.

【推荐1】Elephants eat plants. That’s common knowledge to biologists and animal-loving, schoolchildren alike. Yet figuring out exactly what kind of plants they eat is more complicated.

A new study from a global team that included Brown University conservation biologists used innovative methods to efficiently and precisely analyze the dietary habits of elephants in Kenya. Their findings on the habits of individual elephants help answer important questions about group food searching behaviors, and aid biologists in understanding the conservation approaches that best keep elephants not only sated (饱的) but satisfied.

“When I talk to non-ecologists, they are surprised to learn that we have never really had a clear picture of what all of these large animals actually eat in nature,” Kartzinel, an expert botanist who has conducted field research in Kenya, said. “The reason is that these animals are difficult and dangerous to observe from up-close, they move long distances, they feed at night and in thick bush and a lot of the plants they feed on are quite small.”

Then the team compared the diets of individual elephants through time. In their analysis, they showed that dietary differences among individuals were often far greater than what had been previously assumed, even among family members that ate together on a given day.

This study helps address a classic paradox (悖论) in wildlife ecology. Kartzinel said: “How do social bonds hold family groups together in a world of limited resources?” In other words, given that elephants all seemingly eat the same plants, it's not obvious why competition for food doesn't push them apart and force them to search for food independently.

“The simple answer is that elephants vary their diets based not only on what’s available but also their preferences and physiological needs,” said Kartzinel. These findings help inform theories of why a group of elephants may search for food together: The individual elephants don't always eat exactly the same plants at the same time, so there will usually be enough plants to go around.

These findings may offer valuable insights for conservation biologists. To protect elephants and create environments in which they can successfully grow their populations, they need a variety of plants to eat.

【推荐2】Have you ever tried a cactus (仙人掌) pear? Yes, its prickly surface makes it an unusual-looking fruit but it is widely used in Mexican dishes. This fruit from the cactus is really good for you because it is helpful in fighting against many diseases, and has many health benefits (利益). There are actually over 200 types of cactus fruit and they grow in hot dry places.

Since the world is getting hotter and drier, it is even more difficult for hot dry places to grow major crops (庄稼) that need more water. Therefore, providing food and fuel will go a long way in a world that is heating up. Researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno, set out to see if the cactus pear could become a superfood that could feed people and animals, remove carbon (碳) from the atmosphere and be used as a biofuel.

While the study looked at many types of cactuses, they settled on the nopal cactus or Opuntia. The fruit can be gathered as food and the rest of the cactus can be used for taking in carbon and can be used as biofuels according to biology professor Cushman. The plant keeps water by closing its pores (气孔) during the hottest part of the day to limit water loss and opens them at night. Cushman hopes to use the genes from this plant to add them to other plants.

They are also studying the Opuntia stunting disease, which causes cactuses to grow smaller plants and less fruits, in order to find out how it spreads. They hope to learn how to create tools to recognize and treat it so that they can help Opuntia become a prolific crop.

In a world that is also gaining population, finding a new superfood will go a long way in feeding a planet that will need 50-90 percent more food in 2050. Eating more plant-based foods will also reduce the amount of land needed for more food protection.

【推荐1】One of the great literature works in China is Journey to the West. The novel has many fantastic elements and most of the characters are not human, but they show recognizable human characteristics.    1    People see themselves in the characters.

Another reason for the novel’s popularity is that it is not just an adventure story.    2    It is a spiritual journey where the characters were forced to examine the nature of good and evil. The novel shows that individuals cannot be understood by their outer qualities, but by the good or bad that is in their own hearts.

Of course, the main reason for the novel’s popularity is Sun Wukong himself. He has faults, but at hear the is brave, loyal, good-hearted, and righteous(正义的) .    3    In time and through faith and discipline he learned to protect the weak and the powerless, to be helpful and kind, and to put others first. In a real sense, he had the same life journey that many people have had through the ages. When he was young in the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, he was leading a free and enjoyable life.    4     In doing so, he changed from someone who loved to play tricks and stir up trouble, to someone who is self-disciplined and faithful.

    5    But they also see in him a mirror of their own struggles in life as they learn to protect and help others, to stand for what is right, and to grow in maturity becoming responsible members of society.

【推荐2】I didn’t realize it, but during that short walk home I had lost a whole lot of weight and my eyes had grown dull and colorless. When my mom saw me she screamed out in surprise. Staring at me in disbelief, she asked, “Are you Fugui?”

Looking at my mom, I forced a smile and nodded my head. Shocked, she uttered something else, but I was no longer paying attention to her. I pushed the door open and went into my room. Jiazhen, in the middle of combing her hair, was also taken back when she saw me. She gazed at me with her mouth gaping. As soon as I thought of how I had beaten her when she came to persuade me to go home the night before, I fell to the ground and, kneeling before her, muttered, “Jiazhen, I’m finished.”

After speaking those words I began to cry out loud. Jiazhen rushed over to help me up, but being pregnant with Youqing, how could she support me? She called my mom over, and the two of them pulled me onto the bed. I looked like a corpse. They were scared to death and began patting me on the shoulder and rocking my head.

My mother appeared dumbstruck; she stared at me with a look of intensity and asked, “What did you say?”

“I’ve lost everything,” I repeated.

The look on my face convinced her. My mother sat down on the floor and, wiping her tears, said, “If the upper beam is no straight, the lower ones will not go straight either.”

Even then my mother still loved me. She didn’t blame me. Instead she blamed my father.

Jiazhen also cried. She patted me on the shoulder and tried to console me. “As long as you don’t gamble anymore, everything will be all right.”

I had nothing left. Even if I had wanted to gamble, I wouldn’t have had any money to stake a bet. I heard Dad in the next room shooting off his foul mouth. He still didn’t know that he was penniless — he was simply annoyed at being disturbed by the two women crying. As soon as she heard my father’s voice, Mom stopped crying. She stood up and walked out, with Jiazhen following her. I knew that they were going into my father’s room, and after a while I heard my dad begin screaming, “Bastard!”

It was just then that my daughter, Fengxia, pushed the door open and came in. She closed the door and in a shrill voice said, “Dad, hurry up and hide! Grandpa’s going to beat you.”

I just stared at her without moving a muscle. She then came over and tried pulling me away by the hand; when I wouldn’t budge she began to cry. Seeing Fengxia cry was like having a knife pierce my heart. Even at such a young age, Fengxia was trying to protect her dad. Just looking at her made me feel like I deserved to be cut to pieces.

Quoted from Yu Hua’s To Live