【推荐1】With online courses, anyone can gain knowledge in any field of interest for free. You can educate yourself and get a certificate after finishing the course.

Coursera

It offers high-quality courses from top universities for free to everyone to improve your resume, advance your career, expand your knowledge, and gain your confidence. This online learning website provides courses from Princeton University, Stanford University, University of California, and University of Pennsylvania. Learn more at https://coursera.com

Udemy

Its goal is to promote education by enabling anyone to learn online. It seeks to hugely change education by inviting millions of experts worldwide to teach and share what they know. Whether you want to learn business, arts, health, music or technology, there is a course for you. Learn more at https://udemy.com

iTunes U

If you are a student who uses Apple devices, you will be happy to know that you have access to iTunes U, which gives you access to different educational courses from all leading universities for free! Learn more at https://iTunesU.com

Skillfeed

If you hope to learn a new skill, or improve your Photoshop skills, it offers unlimited access to high-quality video courses from a worldwide community of instructors. You have a month’s free trial, after which you will pay a monthly fee to gain unlimited access to all courses. Learn more at https://skillfeed.com

UC Berkeley

It offers courses in Japanese, legal studies and public health. Since they are recordings of actual lectures, they are short of lecture notes and extra materials. However, each course has audio recordings of lectures through iTunes U or video recordings of lectures through YouTube. Learn more at https://ucberkeley.com

【推荐3】How to Learn English Well

All English learners want to improve their English, but as you know, it can be difficult! For you, you need to work on all areas. The four main areas for you are: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Here are some ways to help you learn well.

Speaking

Speak as much as possible! This is the best way to learn English.     1     The fastest way to learn English is to surround yourself with English speakers. Also, get into the habit of thinking in English. Don't translate from your own language into English—it will slow you down. And it's fun to sing in English, so learn some English songs and sing your heart out!

Listening

Like speaking, it's better for you to be in a totally English­speaking environment. It's also good to watch TV shows, or movies in English.     2     But the more you listen, the more you'll get. It's good to listen to something over and over again. First, try to get the general meaning, and then, listen a second time for more in­depth information.

Reading

Reading English is something you can do to help you learn on your own, outside of the classroom. Newspapers are good for higher­level students. So for lower levels, try reading children's stories or books which have been especially written for English learners.     3     You should find something that you can learn well from.

Writing

Try keeping a diary; write something in English in it every day, even if it's very simple.     4     And the Internet is a great way to help you learn English. Try to make friends online, visit chat rooms, or post comments on blogs. These are all useful tools for you.

【推荐1】Welcome to the State Park, where fun, fitness, and education come together!

Don’t miss our new summer classes, which are available during May 23—Aug 5!

● Swimming lessons: Age 4-adult. Cost: $5 per class or $15 for one month.

● Hiking: Have a park keeper hike with you through our paths and teach you about the park’s wildlife and plants. The park is a perfect spot for hiking.

● Soccer: Our youth soccer program is unusual and non-competitive. Different teams are formed every day. The focus is on each player learning to work as a team, not on one team winning it at all.

● Boating: These classes are only for 20-year-olds and above. Fishing is only allowed with a permit.

● Bicycling: We have special paths built for bicyclists. Signs are posted for self-guided tours of our park.

Group cycling is also available with a park guide. Paths range from easy to challenging.

A message from the director:

Hiking paths! Sports fields! Playgrounds! Campgrounds! Fun activities! The State Park offers something for everyone. We have a number of plants and animals, which are in danger of dying out, being protected in our park. Sign up for one of our new summer community classes, or take a camping trip with your friends or family. All the facilities here are set up with modern systems, so you don’t have to suffer while enjoying yourself—unless you want to!

Glen Harwood, Park Director

Experience being a park keeper:

Are you 13-17 years old? Ever wonder what it would be like to be a park keeper? It’s a competitive field, but you can get ahead by volunteering with our Teen Keeper Program. Depending on your age and responsibilities, you can even earn college credits for certain universities!

【推荐1】Welcome to Vietnam!

Day 1: Endangered Primates and Stunning Landscape Of Ninh Binh

After breakfast take the electric car to the Endangered Primates Rescue Centre. Here, they focus on the conservation of the gibbons (长臂猿) and langur (叶猴). You will have chance to see how the staff feed them in captivity and semi-wild areas of primary forest. Then you’ll see how their behavior is studied in semi-wild conditions and how they are prepared for full release into the wild.

Day 2: Cruising Halong Bay

A delicious lunch will be served as you slowly sail through this Halong Bay. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994. Mid-afternoon head to the Vung Vieng fishing village by local rowing boats to explore the interesting daily lives of its inhabitants. In the evening you will experience a Vietnamese cooking meal served in the main dining room. Evenings are beautiful on Halong Bay. Relax on the top deck and take in the transformation of the bay.

Day 3: Discover Hue the Authentic Way

Today, you will get a taste of what real life is like in Hue. One of the city’s most famous cooking experiences is the Royal Dinner. You will have a unique experience where you will have a private audience with descendant (后裔) of the last royal family of Vietnam, in her own home. Spend time tasting the real dishes that were once served to royalty.

Day 4: Walk to the Hang Tien Cave

Hang Tien is actually two huge caves, one of which is over 3km long. The wonder lies in unusual rock formations, such as breathtaking rock formations that look like terraced rice fields, giving the caves an otherworldly feel. On your way back, take a dip in the natural jungle swimming pool and have a coffee, a quick swim, before making your return journey.

【推荐2】It was 3:21 a.m. when nine-year-old Glenn Kreamer awoke to the smell of burning. Except for the cracking (爆烈声) of flames somewhere below there was not a sound in the two-storey house at Baldwin Long Island.

With his father away on night duty at a local factory, Glenn was worried about the safety of his mother, his sister Karen, 14 and his 12-year-old brother Todd. He ran downstairs through the smoke-filled house to push and pull at Karen and Todd until they sat up. Then he helped each one through the house to the safety of the garden. There, his sister and brother, taking short and quick breaths and coughing, fell down onto the lawn.

The nine-year-old boy raced back into the house and upstairs to his mother’s room. He found it impossible to wake her up. Mrs. Kreamer, a victim of the smoke, was unconscious, and there was nobody to help Glenn carry her to the garden. But the boy stayed calm and, as a fireman said later, "acted with all the self-control of a trained adult."

On the bedroom telephone, luckily still working, Glenn called his father and, leaving Mr. Kreamer to telephone the fire brigade and ambulance service, got on with the task of saving his mother.

First he filled a bucket with water from the bathroom and threw water over his mother and her bed. Then, with a wet cloth around his head he went back to the garden.

He could hear the fire engine coming up, but how would the firemen find his mother in the smoke-filled house where flames had almost swallowed up the ground floor?

Grasping firmly a ball of string (线) from the garage, Glenn raced back into the house and dashed upstairs to his mother’s room. Tying one end of the string to her hand, he ran back, laying out the string as he went, through the hall and back out into the garden.

Minutes later he was telling fire chief John Coughlan, "The string will lead you to mother." Mrs. Kreamer was carried to safety as the flames were breaking through her bedroom floor.

【推荐3】Here’s a list of books I’m looking forward to reading this fall.

Home After Dark by David Small

In 2009, Small published a celebrated graphic memoir (回忆录) called “Stitches”. Now the Caldecott Medal winner is back with a graphic novel about a motherless 13-year-old boy brought up in an unhappy home in California. This is a tale told in few words and many striking images. It is published by Liveright. On Sept 11 at 3 pm, Small will be at Amazon Books at Union Market.

Waiting for Eden by Ellion Ackerman

This brief novel, which is published by Knopf, is related by a dead soldier who is watching over a horribly burned partner in a Texas hospital. That sounds embarrassingly emotional, but Ackerman, who served in a navy in Iraq and Afghanistan, is one of the best soldier writers of his generation.

All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung

Chung, the editor of the literary magazine Catapult, was adopted as a baby by a family in Oregon. In this memoir, she writes about her childhood, her Asian-American identity and her search for the Korean parents who gave her up. It is published by Catapult.

Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver

Alternating between past and present, this novel tells the story of a woman investigating a late-19^th-century science teacher who was caught up in the controversy (公开争论) over Darwinism. Like her other novels, this one promises to explore social and scientific problems. This book comes from the publishing house named Harper.

【推荐3】Should swimming lessons be compulsory (强制的) in schools?

Guangdong province is set to make swimming lessons compulsory in primary schools staring from 2020, proposing the courses should be given from the fourth grade. Do we need to make swimming compulsory in schools? Forum (论坛) readers share their opinions.

White Bear (Poland)

In Poland swimming lessons are not compulsory, but most of the schools have them. I think that when it is only possible-there should be the swimming lessons for kids. It is a lifesaving skill.

Mister Panda (France)

I come from France where swimming lessons in school are compulsory (dating back to Charlemagne!). I even got my lifesaving certificate in school.

Boilermaker (Expert in China)

There are swimming lessons in my city, but I was very disappointed in how they were taught. The kids spent 45 minutes of the one hour lesson practicing strokes on dryland. They only spent 15 minutes in the water. All of the children panicked and sank immediately to the bottom. Then all of the parents scolded the children, telling them they weren’t paying attention to the teacher and that they were failures.

Yunzhang (China)

It is a pity that many Chinese: athletes have won world championships in swimming while most schools don’t have the swimming facilities. Swimming is an essential lifesaving skill that everyone should have access to. The earlier, the better. The government needs to put money into the popularity of the sport.