Scientists say that hobbies can make kids smarter, healthier and even more successful when they grow up. How?

They Help You Learn

When you have a hobby, you learn new things. You have to read instructions. You look at websites, magazines and books to get more information about your hobby. More reading makes you a better reader and a better learner.

They Help You Be Creative

For many hobbies, such as building model cars and making pottery, you have to use your brain as well as your hands. We learn by doing things and by touching things. These kinds of activities make people more creative.

They Help You Be Relaxed

Having a hobby makes you feel good. Scientists say, “When you make something, the ‘feel-good’ part of your brain gets a message. It makes you feel happy.” When we feel happy, we have less stress. Too much stress can make people sick.

They Help You Build Skills

People with hobbies learn how to set goals and solve problems. Learning these skills when you are young can help you when you grow up. For some kids, having a hobby can be the first step to finding a satisfying job in the future.

Most of your textbooks are single-use. After graduating, old textbooks are thrown away, which is a big waste of money and paper.

Many countries already reuse their textbooks. In the US, book companies will come to schools and buy used books. They then resell them to new students the following year at a lower price. A high school textbook in the US can have up to eight owners before it is no longer in a good enough condition to be used, according to Xinhua. The book can then be recycled.

In China, according to the National Press and Publication Administration, students across the country buy 2.8 billion new textbooks every year. If the students of the following year could reuse these textbooks, it would save over 20 billion yuan each year. That’s enough money to build 40,000 primary schools, China Daily noted.

Primary and junior high school students in several Chinese cities are reusing music, arts, science and IT textbooks. That’s because students don’t have to take down many notes in their textbooks for these subjects, which makes them suitable for reusing.

However, these books only account for a tiny part of the total number of textbooks. As there is no good way for redistributing (再分配) second-hand textbooks, most textbooks still end up as waste, the Paper reported.

Changes in curricula (课程) also make it hard to reuse textbooks. “I’m among the first group of students to take classes after the recent curricular reform (改革), so I have to buy new textbooks that previous (之前的) students didn’t use,” Sun Run, a high school student from Hangzhou.

Though China has met difficulties on the way to reusing textbooks, the government need to do something to push the second-hand textbook business in the schools. We should go ahead with the project for the future development.

Joey was happy because he had many special friends—four squirrels(松鼠), two rabbits, and many colorful birds. At the meal time, these wild animals came near to the family and they would feed these special friends.

In the large yard stood thirteen trees of different sizes. One day, while Joey was playing with his sister under the trees, he noticed that a tree trunk(树干) had a sad look. He ran into the house to tell his mom about it. She told Joey to find the reason why it was sad.

So Joey went into the yard, ran to the sad tree and asked, “Why are you unhappy?”

“I am the smallest tree around. The birds don’t fly to me. The rabbits don’t eat grass under me. The squirrels don’t climb to my top. Nobody needs me or loves me,” replied the sad tree.

After knowing the reason, the family had a meeting. Joey suggested making a seat under the sad tree. Joey’s father said he could help make a seat around the tree. The family would sit under the tree and the tree wouldn’t feel sad anymore.

When Joey told his special friends the tree was sad, they decided to do what they could to help make the sad tree happy again.

Early the next morning, when Joey woke up, he noticed birds singing happily in the little tree and saw squirrels running up and down in it. Rabbits were eating the fresh grass around the tree. The little tree was happy again.

Joey ran inside to tell the good news to his family. Joey’s mother and father went into the yard and saw the happy tree.

“Let’s start to build the seats around the trees. I will need help to build them. Get the nails(钉子) for me, Joey, “said the father.

“I can help you hold the nails, Dad,” said Joey’s sister.

Hand washing with soap can reduce(减少) illnesses. One of the easiest     51     (way) to stop the spread of illness is to wash your hands. But many children haven’t     52     (develop) the right habit of hand washing. Children do not wash     53     (they) hands often enough or long enough. It’s such a simple habit, but the children aren’t doing it.

Issar and his friend decided     54     (solve) the problem using a fun method. They tried many times and created a tool     55     (call) Soapen. It turned hand washing into a fun activity.

As the name suggests, Soapen is a pen     56     is made out of soap. The children draw on hands with the Soapen and then wash the drawing off. The colors will remain on the children’s hands     57     they don’t spend enough time washing them off. It is very     58     (help) for a teacher in a classroom. After all, not all the teachers have the time to make each child wash his hands     59     (proper).

“Children wash hands much     60     (long) than before now because they like drawing on hands. Soapen does help children make a good habit of hand washing,” said Issar.

The government wants to provide cooking lessons for all the children from 7 to 14 in England. It will be part of a plan to make them eat more healthily. Different people have different opinions about it.

Emily thinks that every child should be taught how to cook as a life skill. It can also help to avoid being too heavy if they cook instead of getting a takeaway.

Catherine says having cooking lessons at school is a good idea. Not only can it teach children to be healthy, but it also shows them how to be safe when cooking at home. When they are older, they can take good care of themselves.

Ruby says they shouldn’t let the little kids make their own meals because they may hurt themselves. Kids aged 10 and over should start learning how to cook.

Anna thinks children should learn to cook because they will learn “What’s healthy” and they can help their parents in the kitchen.

66. 近段时间，某中学不少学生因感冒不能正常上课，影响了学习。为此，学生会主席李华准备利用English Broadcast时间建议学生养成良好的生活习惯和加强体育锻炼，以提高身体素质。请你根据下表提示，为他准备一份英语，发言稿。

Welcome to our English Broadcast! I’m Li Hua, the chairman of Students’ Union. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That’s all! Thanks for your listening!