Many parents like twins (双胞胎) a lot. For many years, people think that twins have a secret (秘密的) language. A lot of parents of twins say that their children have a secret way of talking to each other by using some words they don’t understand. “The twin language” was very special in people’s minds for a long time. However, a study shows that twins hardly have secret languages. So why do people think that?

When babies are learning to speak, they often make sounds and their parents don’t understand them. For example, a child may call a bottle “baba”. Since twins are learning the language at the same time, they often make the same mistakes. So, if one of the twins calls a bottle “baba”, the other possibly starts to do the same. Soon, the twins are using the same incorrect word. Parents may think of this as a secret language. In fact, the twins are learning new words like any other child.

A study shows that true secret languages don’t happen very often. It happens because babies spend a lot of time alone and don’t have many people talking around them.

Some studies show that it often takes longer for twins to begin speaking than for non-twin children. This could be because parents of twins can be busier than parents with just one baby, so they don’t have much time to spend with their twin babies. Because twins understand each other’s language mistakes, it may take them longer to learn words right.

As twins get older, like many non-twin children, they may make secret words for things they don’t want their parents to understand!

There are a lot of wild (野生的) animals in the world. The Living Planet Index (LPI) tries to know the number of wild animals around the world. This year’s LPI says that the number of wild animals studied has dropped by 69% since 1970. That’s really bad news.

The LPI’s report is very useful. The LPI is reporting the average (平均的) change in the number of wild animals over time. The numbers for all kinds of animals didn’t drop by 69%. In fact, only about half of the animal groups studied are becoming fewer and fewer. However, some kinds of animals are in worse trouble than others. What’s more, the number of vertebrates (脊椎动物) living in fresh water has gone down by 83%.

According to the study, Latin America and the Caribbean had lost the largest number of animals — a drop of about 94%. Next came Africa, with a drop of about 66%, followed by Asia and the Pacific with a drop of about 55%. Europe and Central Asia had lost the fewest number of animals. All in all, these changes make scientists feel bad.

In fact, most of the changes are from human activities. The growing cities and some activities like farming make the animals’ living places become fewer and fewer. Also, weather change is a growing problem, and it may soon be the biggest one. People should notice these problems.

But there is good news for people. About half of the animal groups are growing. That is to say, humans’ ways of protecting wild animals are working.

A meeting was held in December last year. The meeting, called COP15, was held in Montreal, Canada. It will get countries to agree on new ways to help stop animals, plants, and living places from becoming fewer and fewer.

Parents are often very busy and this can cause problems when they talk to teens. There are five things parents and teenagers can do to reduce (减少) communication problems.

    16    

The more you talk with each other, the more you have time to share important messages. Good times to talk with teenagers are before leaving for the office and school, during dinner, and on weekends. Try to plan at least one meal a day when the family sit together and talk.

    17    

When you are busy, you may not be able to give time to your teenagers, and because of this, they will feel ignored (被忽视的). As a parent, you should spend more time with your teenagers. Teenagers can meet many problems. To understand the problems, you should often communicate with them.

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One of the common reasons for the problems between teenagers and parents is that parents don’t understand their teens’ ideas. As a parent, you should listen to your teenager’s idea and understand what they want.

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A common mistake as a parent is not trusting your teenagers. This is also one of the main reasons for the problems between you and your teenagers. When you build up trust, your teenager does not want to lie (撒谎) about anything.

    20    

When you make some decisions for your teenagers, you should ask for their opinions. When you make any kind of decision about your teenagers by discussing it with them, it will make them feel that they are important.

I like going camping. Last summer, I     36     (spend) two weeks at camp. There was something that made me feel confused (困惑的) at that time. A kid named Chase made one of his “jokes”. “Amelia is so funny when she plays football     37     she always kicks (踢) with her hands. Get it?” Chase said.

“Yeah. But I don’t think it’s funny,” I said.

“What’s wrong with my joke?” he asked.

“In fact, I don’t think it is     38     proper joke,” I said. “Can we talk for a minute?”

“Sure, I guess,” he said.

“We might have different ideas of what the fun is,” I said. “I love our jokes, but I don’t like joking about Amelia behind her back. I think laughing with people is more fun than laughing     39     them.”

    40     (lucky), Chase agreed with me. He said, “I get it, and I     41     (change).”

We got close again. We shared our dreams with each other. He told me he wanted     42     (be) a writer.

So when you and your friend have different     43     (opinion), you should tell your friend how you feel. Try explaining that you think him or her     44     (talent) and funny, but the negative stuff (负面的东西) doesn’t make you feel great. He or she will understand your idea. All in all, you should often talk with your friends and family and make     45     (they) know your idea.