【推荐2】If you have a hard time getting along with your teachers, going to class can be a nightmare (噩梦). Talk to your teachers. In many cases, a short discussion can clear up the entire conflict (冲突). Ask your teachers if it is convenient for you to talk in private.    1    If you appear angry or unhappy in front of them, the conflict is unlikely to be solved.

Learn to understand their teaching methods.    2    If you are used to a very relaxing class, learning to be successful in a strict environment is difficult and vice versa (反之亦然). In most cases, it is necessary to give yourself some time to get used to a new teaching method.

    3    Teachers have many years of teaching experience in the subjects they teach. So discussing the best ways to succeed in the classroom may give you the opportunity to see the best instructors.

Learn why your teachers choose to teach. Approach the teachers at an appropriate (适当的) time before or after class, not during class. Consider saying something like, “I’ve always wondered why people become teachers.    4    Why did you decide to teach?”

Ask about your teachers’ hobbies. If you know about one of their hobbies, you can talk about it with them. And you can try to find if you have something in common.    5    

【推荐3】Naturally, American schoolchildren love holidays. And they get a lot of them each year. Besides having national holidays such as Thanksgiving and Presidents’ Day off from school, students get longer breaks in the spring and during the summer holidays. In fact, kids in the US only go to school for about 180 days a year. To students, holidays are perfect. However, parents think there are advantages and disadvantages.

On the one hand, school holidays allow families to spend time together. Many American parents take time off from work during June, July or August to travel with their children on vacations either in the US or in a foreign country. On the other hand, schoolchildren get much more time off school than parents get vacation time. This means that parents with young children may have to pay more in babysitting or daycare costs. As well, the long summer holidays mean that students sometimes get bored.

Besides going on trips with their parents, American students enjoy taking part in different kinds of activities during the holidays. For example, some kids enjoy summer camps and outdoor adventure holidays. Such trips are great for adventurous students. They also have a lot to offer students who aren’t usually interested in traditional PE activities. You can do courses in survival skills, for example. Students learn how to make a camp in the forest, which wild food they can eat and how to find their way back to the center.

Students who are not excited about summer camps and outdoor adventure may take part in courses in computer game design, filmmaking and photography during the holidays. Finally, the traditional school trip to foreign countries is always popular. Students can practice their foreign language skills and experience everyday life in a different culture.

【推荐1】Bill Bowerman was a track coach. He wanted to help athletes run faster. So he had learnt how to make running shoes. He had also started a shoe company with a friend. It was 1971.Running shoes at the time were heavy. They had spikes(鞋钉)on the sole(鞋底). The spikes tore up the track and slowed down runners.

To make a lighter shoe, Bill tried the skins of fish. To make a better sole, he wanted to replace the spikes. Bill dug through his wife Barbara's jewelry box. He hoped to find a piece of jewelry with an interesting pattern. He would then copy the pattern onto the new soles. Nothing worked. Bill was defeated.

Then, one Sunday morning, Barbara made Bill waffles(华夫饼)for breakfast. Bill watched her cook.

He studied the criss-cross pattern on a waffle iron.

Inspiration struck. The pattern on the waffle iron was just what Bill was looking for. The squares were flatter and wider than sharp spikes. The pattern would help the shoes hold any surface without tearing into it.

When Barbara left the house, Bill ran to his lab. He took the liquid chemicals that, when mixed, would harden into the sole of a shoe. He poured the mixture into the waffle iron---and the Waffle Trainer was born.

Bill’s company put the Waffle Trainer on market in 1974.It was a huge hit. Maybe you’ve heard of that company---it’s called Nike. And today it’s worth around $100 billion.

It was the waffle iron that had changed the course of Bill’s life---and helped turn Nike into a well-known name. Today, the waffle iron is kept at Nike headquarters. It serves as a reminder that if we keep trying, we can find a solution to even the most difficult problems. And those solutions can come from unlikely places, even the breakfast table.

【推荐3】Contribution And Sacrifice

Huang Danian, the renowned Chinese geophysicist, was born in 1958 in Guangxi, China. As a keen and able student, Huang went to the UK in 1993 to further his studies.

By the time Huang moved back to China in 2008, he had been living and working in the UK for 15 years. He had a good job and a life there, but he gave it all up to return to home, driven by the idea that he needed to contribute to his country. As one of the world’s leading experts in deep earth exploration technology, Huang was approached to participate in the “Thousand Talent” programme. He took up a position at Jilin University, Changchun.

Huang was named lead scientist on China’s deep earth exploration programme, developing advanced cameras that can see through the Earth’s crust so that it can be analysed without having to dig into it. He set up a state-of-the-art lab, sometimes paying for equipment with his own money. Some described him as a “lunatic” (a madman). but this passion and drive enabled Huang to propel China’s deep earth exploration technology into a world-leading position. Huang’s dedication contributed to China’s lunar probe Yutu being landed on the moon in 2013 and the launch of the spacecrafts Shenzhou-11 and Tiangong-2 in 2016.

Huang’s health also paid the price for his commitment to his word. He began having fainting fits in 2012, but paid them little attention, stating he did not have time to go to see a doctor – his work always came first. In November 2016, Huang collapsed and was taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with cancer. The disease was so advanced that he had just a couple of months to live.

Like the true scientist he was, Huang never gave up, but always tried to push forwards. Even from his hospital bed, he continued his work, writing letters of reference for his colleague and replying to questions from his students. He had great faith in the talent of the up-and-coming generation, “Our country is in urgent need of talented people,” he said. “If we spend more time and pay more attention to the young, masters and even Nobel prize winners may rise among them.”

Huang died in January 2017, aged just 58. More than 800 people attended his funeral to celebrate a life that burned so bright, but was so short.