【推荐1】If your child constantly moves when he's doing math homework or insists on listening to music while studying, take heart. Although it may seem like he’s trying to drive you crazy, he’s probably just using the strategies that help him learn.

“I like to study at a desk in silence, and my daughter can’t think that way. She likes to bounce around on a ball with music in the background,” says author Maureen McKay, whose website, Optimistic Outcomes, provides tips based on a child’s learning style for parents. “Sometimes kids are just doing what works for them.”

Three basic learning styles are auditory, kinesthetic(肌肉运动知觉的), and visual ones. Auditory learners prefer listening to explanations to reading them and may like to study by reciting information aloud. This type of learner may want to have background music while studying, or they may be distracted by noises and need a quiet environment to study. Kinesthetic learners learn by doing and touching something. They may have trouble sitting still while studying, and they are better able to understand information by writing it down or doing hands-on activities. Visual learners process new information by reading, looking at graphics, or watching a demonstration. Children with this learning style can grasp information presented in a chart or graph, but they may grow impatient listening to an explanation.

Most people use a combination of styles but have a clear preference for one. Understanding your child’s learning style can reduce homework frustrations and make it easier for families to communicate, says McKay. She observed different learning styles while working as a teacher’s assistant, and she started researching strategies for working in different learning styles when her daughter began having trouble in elementary school.

Because her daughter had difficulty listening in class, McKay looked for exercises to strengthen listening skills. Her daughter is now doing well in middle school, and she owes her success to the fact that her teachers and parents came to understand her unique style of learning.

【推荐1】About 12 million tons of plastic wastes are entering the oceans every year. This garbage pollutes the water, kills wildlife and breaks down into small pieces that fish and other creatures eat.

Now a group of Spanish fishermen will receive economic support to catch plastics. It is part of a new project. Carlos Martin is one of the fishermen taking part in the project. He and his partners collect the plastic in the ocean and bring it back to land every week. Martin thinks rivers carry a lot of plastics to the sea. He says his most concern is no more than that the plastics often get caught in the nets, which makes nets not work properly. They take on mud（泥）, causing the nets to break because they weigh so much.

Under the new programs, one million pounds will support ocean cleanup efforts for fishermen like Martin. The money is coming from the European Union and the Catalan government. Sergi Tudela, the General Director of Catalonia Fisheries, is responsible for the cleanup project. He said, "We are hopeful that if we are successful in this project, we can apply it to other areas in the Mediterranean（地中海）."

Government reports show that the amount of plastic wastes washing up along the Spanish coastline has grown by 65 percent in just six years. Fishing equipment makes up a large part of the about 8 to 12 million tons of plastics left in the world's oceans every year.

Martin says the fishing community now understands how big the problem is. He says, "In the past we didn't see it that way. We took the plastic garbage and threw it back into the water. I think that after a few year here we have realized the problem. Nothing is thrown into the water; we collect everything and bring it to shore.

【推荐2】Three­quarters of a million tourists flock to the white beaches every year, but this booming industry has come at a price. Poisonous smoke rising from open fires, rubbish made up of plastic bottles, packets..., it’s a far cry from the white sands, clear waters and palm trees that we associate with the Maldives (马尔代夫), the paradise island holiday destination set in the Indian Ocean.

Of its 200 inhabited islands, which are spread across an area of 35, 000 square miles, 99 are good resorts (旅游胜地)．So many tourists come every year, more than double the local population. Of these, over 100, 000 travel from the UK. The capital, Male, is four times more densely populated than London. Given these facts, it’s hardly surprising that the Maldives has a waste disposal problem.

Years ago, when the tourists left, the government had to deal with a stream of rubbish. Their solution was to turn one of the islands into a dumping ground. Four miles west of Male is the country’s dumping ground, Thilafushi.What you are seeing here is a view of the Maldives on which no honeymooners would like to clap eyes.Each visitor produces 3.5 kg of waste per day.The country dumps more than 330 tons of rubbish on the island every day.

Now, since many waste boats, tired of waiting seven hours or more, directly offload their goods into the sea, the government of the Maldives has banned the dumping of waste on the island. So, the waste boats ship the rubbish to India instead.

【推荐3】Starbucks will stop using plastic straws from its stores globally by 2020, in a nod to the growing push for businesses to be more environmentally friendly. The Seattle-based company said on Monday it will instead use straws made from other materials, and lids designed not to need straws. McDonald's also recently said it would switch to paper straws in the UK and Ireland by next year, and test alternatives to plastic straws in some US locations. In February, Dunkin' Donuts said that it would refuse polystyrene foam (塑料泡沫) cups from its stores by 2020.

Environmental activists have been pressuring businesses to ditch plastic straws because they can end up in the ocean and hurt marine life. The push gained great support after a video in 2015 showed rescuers removing a straw from a sea turtle's nose in great detail. Local governments have also been looking at the issue. Last week, Seattle’s ban on single-use plastic straws and utensils in food service outlets took effect, and Starbucks says it already offers alternative straws there. Similar proposals are being considered elsewhere, including New York and San Francisco.

While straws have become a highly-concerned issue, they make up only about 4% of the plastic trash by number of pieces, and far less by weight. Straws add up to only about 2,000 tons of the nearly 9m tons of plastic waste that hits waters each year.

【推荐1】Before moving to Stokholm, I did my research on Sweden and was confident about my move. However, I quickly realized on my first day that so much of what I learned was so very wrong. There are many things that a Google search cannot show about Sweden.

The first is fika. A fika is taking a break from whatever you are doing to enjoy a coffee with friends. Swedes value community highly so it makes sense that they would like to set aside time each day to reconnect with others. Fika is a great time to meet new people as well as catch up with friends.

I grew up in the American South where everyone is very friendly. I found that little things like not being asked my life story at the coffee shop by the waiter upset me. However, Swedish people are not rude. Instead, they practice being logom, which means “just enough”.

The winters can be very dark and cold, so the Swedish people do not take any sunny day for granted. Since the weather has been fine, I have found myself walking a lot around Stockholm. Often it is easiest to get from place to place by walking, which allows you to see so much of the city and enjoy the fresh air. Though it has been very tiring to get used to, it also has made me feel better about all of the kardemummabullar that I have been eating!

I think it is important for students who want to study abroad to know that it is hard to move to countries no matter how “similar” you may think they may be. You have to jump in with both feet and be patient with yourself as well as others. As long as you keep an open mind and are willing to learn, you will have a great experience.

【推荐2】Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, "The British are the only people who like to be told how bad things are." This is definitely true of British comedy. Most people think humor is about happy things, but for the British, the opposite is true. We love to use our cruel sense of humor to complain and be negative.

British comedy, for example, draws a fine line between comedy and tragedy. BBC's The Office is a TV show, famous for its dry humor. The main character, David Brent, is a foolish man, and the show's comedy comes from his delusions. For example, he often tells himself that he is loved by everyone but the viewer can see that everyone hates him.

Stupid characters for the audience to laugh at are an old tradition in Britain. In Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night, the character Malvolio is an old man whom people play tricks on. The audience will laugh away, although the reality is that this man is a truly tragic individual.

This side of British humor is reflected in friendships as well. At university, my friends and I would always laugh at one another. I had an American friend who actually found this sarcasm (挖苦) quite upsetting. She didn't realize that in Britain, the better friends you are with someone, the more you laugh at them.

This approach-laughing at everything-may sound rather depressing, but our strange humor played a big part in British history. In World War II, along with a stiff upper lip (坚定沉着),the British got through it by laughing. What else was there to do？

There is a saying in English: "Laugh and the world laughs with you; cry and you cry alone." If you are ever on the receiving end of British sarcasm, you may feel like crying, but it's best to just laugh it off！

【推荐3】What would you like to do first, when a storm is coming? Perhaps, leave the area as quickly as possible and head for safety! But there are a few people who will get into cars and go straight for the center of the storm. These people are willing to risk being killed by floods or 100-kilometer-an-hour winds for the excitement of watching the storm close up.

“Storm chasing(追逐)” is becoming an increasingly popular hobby, especially in the Midwest of the United States, where there are frequent storms between March and July. A storm chaser begins the day by checking the Internet for the latest weather reports, and then drives up to 1,000 kilometers to where the storm will be and waits for it to develop.

Although anyone can do it, storm chasing is extremely dangerous. The power of a big storm can throw a cow into the air or destroy a whole house in seconds. Storm chasers are also often hurt in accidents caused by driving in a heavy rain. If you are a beginner, it is much safer to join a group for storm-chasing vacations during the storm seasons.

Even then, storm chasing is not all adventure and excitement. “Storm chasing is 95% driving,” says Daniel Lynch, who spends most of his summer storm-chasing. “Sometimes you can sit around for hours waiting for something to happen, and all you get is blue sky and a few light showers.”

However, for storm chasers, it is all worth it. “When you get close to a storm, it is the most exciting sight you will ever see in your life,” says Jasper Morley. “Every storm is an example of the power of nature. It is the greatest show on Earth.”