【推荐1】How to Write a Story

Writing a detailed story takes patience and practice.     1    , though , you can handle the challenge.

Keep the outline short

Avoid complete sentences.     2    . Long outlines with complete sentences end up being unnecessarily wordy. Sometimes they look like full paragraphs rather than brief outlines. Spending too much time and putting too much detail into your outline is effort you could be putting into writing the story itself.

Choose a point of view

Once you've written your outline and thought about the story you want to tell, decide at what point the reader enters the story. For you, and especially for the reader, the experience is a more intriguing one if the reader begins the story in the middle of the action.     3    . It will get your reader's attention immediately. He wants to continue reading surely. A boring opening means a bored reader who has no interest in moving on.

    4    

Avoid giving everything away about the character in the first few paragraphs. Instead, consider different ways you can reveal different facets of the characters to your readers without stating them in an obvious way.     5    . If you take on too many, you'll find you won't be able to develop each of them fully in only a few pages.

【推荐2】It is said that a person’s high school years are some of the most important they will experience，and are often seen as a critical and life­shaping time.I coudn’t agree more.

My high school life has been filled with many ups and downs, whether it was social or academic.Even though my current high school was not my first choice, I never regretted attending Southside High School.“Since you have chosen it, then it is the best for you，” said my parents.

Up until the junior year I did not realize my capabilities (能力) as a student.Being in the IB Program, I was told that my junior year would be the toughest in all the years of high school.With this “little” piece of information, I walked into my junior year, scared of my grades.As weeks went by, I started to believe that the junior year was not as hard as everyone had said, but I was wrong.My grades were rapidly declining (下降) and by the end of the first term I had had five Cs in seven of my classes! I could not believe it — I did not want to believe it.I tried my best to get my grades up myself without any help from anyone, but my pride just made my grades worse.And I had to miss out on one of the most important speech and debate competitions all year：States.I was heartbroken.I realized that I could not survive my junior year on my own, so I had to get help fast.

Once I got a tutor, my grades went from Cs, Ds, and even some Fs, to nothing but As and Bs.I slowly started to gain my confidence back in all of my classes and even myself.By the time the third and fourth quarter came around, I had been on the honor roll twice, and I was receiving awards from speeches and debates, tennis and school.

Southside has taught me to always keep my head up and never give up on myself no matter what life throws at me.I am proud to be a Southside Tiger.

【推荐1】A traditional Chinese cough syrup (糖浆), called Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa (念慈庵川贝枇杷膏), is flying off the shelves in New York stores this flu season, following a US news report.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal last week, Mr. Alex Schweder, a professor of design at Pratt Institute suffering a cough for about 10 days, felt better 15 minutes after he drank a bottle of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa. It had been recommended by his girlfriend, who first learnt about the cough syrup 30 years ago when she was living in Hong Kong.

Mr. Schweder was shocked by the magical effects of the cough syrup, and recommended it to many people. This, together with other factors, soon made the Chinese medicine popular in New York City.

A 300ml bottle is now sold at US$13.29 on Walmart’s website. This is more than double the former price in some pharmacies (药店) in Manhattan’s Chinatown, selling at about US$6 per bottle. “The number of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa we sold over the past few days was much more than usual,” said Winnie, a sales staff member of Buy-rite pharmacy in Chinatown. “More and more Westerners are accepting this medicine because it is effective,” she said.

According to the Kingworld Medicines Group’s official website, Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa is made of “valuable Chinese herbs and honey, and has surprising effects in treating coughs.” However, experts warn that taking the cough syrup can carry health risks, including when it is used with other medicines, used too much or taken instead of prescription medication (处方药).

Dr. Keith Brenner, a specialist in pulmonary medicine at Columbia University Medical Centre New York Presbyterian Hospital, said, “I think people who use these things may not even tell the doctor about them, and it’s a problem.”

【推荐3】At times we all get angry when we are driving. It might be because we are stuck in a traffic jam or stuck behind a very slow driver. t might be because we think another driver has done something very stupid and dangerous. Whatever the reason, it seems that getting angry in a car is something which happens more and more often and there is now a special term for it: "road rage". Some experts even think that road rage is a kind of mental illness! How can we recognize this   "illness" of road rage?

There are two kinds of road rage: aggressive driving and aggressive reactions to the way other people are driving. Aggressive driving can take different forms:

●Driving much faster than the speed limit.

●Increasing your speed very quickly.

●Driving very close behind the car in front and sounding the horn or flashing the headlights.

●Changing lanes very suddenly and blocking another car.

●Moving into a parking space where another ear is trying to park.

There are also different reactions to the way other people are driving. These include:

●Making rude signs at people.

●Shouting at people and threatening them.

●Deliberately driving into another person's car.

●Hitting somebody.

●Using a weapon such as a baseball bat, or even a gun or a knife.

Road rage is certainly not a joke. There have been incidents of road rage which have led to serious injuries and even murder. Experts think that one reason for road rage is that films show a lot of examples of fast and aggressive driving such as car chases where this kind of driving seems to he positive.

Experts also think that the punishments for dangerous driving are not serious enough. Experience shows that driving problems can be controlled，but it takes a long time. In the UK in the last 30 years，the police have been quite successful in reducing the number of people who drink and drive. They are now working to stop people using mobile phones when they are driving. Let's hope they can have the same success with road rage.

【推荐2】More than 10 million Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas, lots of which were stolen and illegally shipped out of China during the times of war before 1949. About 1.67 million pieces are housed in no more than 200 museums in 47 countries, which accounts for 10 percent of all lost Chinese cultural relics, and the rest are in the hands of private collectors.

Most of these treasures are owned by museums or private collectors in the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. There are more than 23,000 pieces in the British Museum, most of which were stolen or bought for pennies more than 100 years ago.

The major method to recover these national treasures was to buy them back. In some cases, private collectors donated the relics to the government. Also, the government can turn to official channels to demand the return of relics.

In 2003, a priceless bronze pig’s head dating from the Qing Dynasty was returned to its home in Beijing after it was removed by the Anglo-French Allied Army over 140 years ago. Macao entrepreneur Stanley Ho donated 6 million yuan to buy it back from a US art collector and then donated it to the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.

Although buying-back is the most feasible way to recover the lost treasures, limited funding is always a big headache.

In recent years, the Chinese government has improved efforts to recover the precious cultural relics lost overseas. It has started a national project on the recovery of the treasures and has set up a database (数据库) collecting relevant information. It has signed several international agreements with many countries on this matter, and is also looking for international cooperation to recover the relics by working closely with several international organizations.

【推荐3】For decades, China had wanted a Nobel Prize. Tu Youyou, a researcher who helped to develop a malaria(疟疾)medicine, finally won the country that honor.

In fact, Tu is not the only scientist in China who is catching the world’s attention. In 2016, the journal Nature published a list of the top 10 science stars in China. Gao Caixia and Cui Weicheng are two of them.

Gao Caixia has been devoted to genetic engineering for her whole career. She is known for using CRISPR-Cas9, the revolutionary gene-editing technique that is sweeping through biology labs around the world—in crops.

At first, Gao was unwilling to take up gene editing using CRISPR-Cas9 because her lab at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing had already created mutations(变异)in 82 genes using an older type of technology. But after thinking carefully about it, she decided to give it a try.

After a year of hard work, her lab finally succeeded. Gao worked on genetic engineering in wheat, a crop that is famous for being difficult to work with. Now she is considered one of the best scientists in the world at engineering wheat.

Cui Weicheng is the developer of China’s record-setting Jiaolong submersible(潜水器). He is now a professor at Westlake University. In 2012, Cui rode inside China’s Jiaolong submersible and reached a depth of more than 7,000 meters in the Pacific.

Thanks to Jiaolong and the 57-year-old developer, China is now one of only a few nations that can explore the deep sea. Jiaolong can travel deeper than any other manned research submersible currently in use, which shows China’s increasing ambition and leadership in deep-sea research.

【推荐1】Josh Katz works at the New York Times. His common job is to use information to tell interesting stories. In December 2013, Katz built a quiz on the Times website. It asked people about the words they used to describe things and events. It also asked how they pronounced common words. The quiz then used people’s answers to decide where in the United States they were from.

The quiz got more than 350, 000 results. Katz turned the results into a book. In Speaking American, he studies regional differences in how Americans talk.

“A lot of people’s language shows who they are and where they are from, in a very personal way”, Katz said.

Katz says people are often surprised to learn that the way they talk can show where they grew up. Most Americans don’t realize they use regionalisms --- or words and phrases specific to a particular part of the country. But just about everyone does. Almost every major U.S. city has a few unique terms. For example, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the night before Halloween is known as Mischief Night. Anyone who calls it that is likely to be connected to the city.

Katz himself was surprised by how many common words are regional. “There are a lot of words I use that I just thought were standard words,” he says. “Then I found out some of these words were actually a product of my upbringing.”

For example, he says, “I thought everyone said ‘sneakers’ (运动鞋) and not ‘tennis shoes’.”   But it turns out “sneakers” is connected mostly to the Northeast. That’s where Katz is from.

Some scholars think that language in the U.S. is growing more homogeneous (同类的). But Katz disagrees. “These regional differences are here to stay.” he says.

Not only are people still using common regionalisms, but there are new ones appearing all the time, according to Katz. There’s no way to predict how language will change in the future. But Katz sees more changes coming. “The only sure thing about language is that it’s going to keep moving.” he says.

【推荐2】People in many parts of the world celebrate Arbor Day. They often celebrate by planting Iices. Many of the trees people plant on Arbor Day might live for 100 years or more. Some might live much longer.

The giant sequoia is the world’s largest tree. One giant sequoia is also one of the oldest known trees. It is 3,500 years old. Giant sequoias grow on mountain slopes in eastern California where summers are dry and winters are snowy. The sequoias are one of redwoods.

The bristlecone pine is a long-living tree found in high mountains of the southwestern United States. The oldest bristlecone pine is 4,700 years old which makes it the oldest tree in the world. The tree is in California, but its exact location is kept secret because an even older bristlecone pine was cut down 45 years ago.

The sugi, which grows in Japan, is often called the Japanese red cedar. It can grow to be 230 feet tall. It looks similar to a giant sequoia, but it has harder bark and longer leaves. The sugi is often planted along roads. Many sugis planted along those roads centuries ago are still living today. The oldest is 3,000 years old.

The huon pine grows in the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia. It is a slow growing and long-living tree. The oldest one is 2,500 years old. For many years, the huon pine was cut down for its beautiful golden wood. Today, however, laws protect the huon pine from being cut down.

【推荐3】Now come some money-saving ideas from a web forum (论坛), which may help you save a penny in the UK.

Nancy: Many people nowadays seem to buy clothes, wear then a couple of times and then give them to charity shops so that's where I do my shopping. You can pet some cheap but really good stuff and you know you’re your money is helping other people so it's a win-win situation in my opinion.

Ailsa: I'm a student and I have a part time job during term time and then work full-time during the holidays. You really can find some good bargains at the end of the day when a lot of food is reduced because it has reached its sell-by date (保质期). It's amazing how much you can save that way.

Gary: I must admit I don't think much about how or where I shop but I try to save money on electricity and gas in the house. Instead of turning up the temperature I put on another sweater and I close the doors. I encourage roommates to turn off the lights when they leave and we don't leave the TV or computer on standby (待机) as that uses up unnecessary energy.

Matthew: I've just moved to the UK. Someone told me about the "freecycle" scheme and I've managed to get almost everything without spending any money. Basically, you advertise what you don't need on its website for someone to collect it. No one makes any money so it really is a good exchange.