New Kid in School

Jayden watched the kids on the school playground. Some were running and playing games, while others were kicking a dirty old football. It was his third day at his new school, and he ________ someone would ask him to play. But no one did.

Jayden missed his old ________ “Why did we have to move?” he said to himself quietly. “I don’t have any friends here. Back home, I had Shawn and Jorge and Nora.”

When he reached his house, it was ________. Then he noticed a note. It read, “Barry and I are across the street at our neighbor’s house. Come on over.”

In the neighbor’s backyard, Jayden saw his mother and a woman drinking tea and chatting. His three-year-old brother Barry was playing with a little girl in a sandbox.

“Hi!” his mother called. “How was school today?”

“Okay,” Jayden said, ________ it wasn’t.

“This is our neighbor, Mrs. Ori, and her little girl Ava.”

Just then Ava ________ out for the toy car at Barry’s feet.

“Uh-oh,” Jayden thought.

The car was Barry’s favourite toy, and if anybody else touched it, he would cry and kick. But that didn’t ________. Instead, Barry watched Ava push the car through the sand. Then he picked up a toy truck and did the same.

That night, Jayden did some thinking. “Maybe I was wrong. I have been ________ people to make friends with me. Maybe I should try to make friends with them.” he said to himself.

The next day, Jayden took a football to school. He went to Tyler, one of the players, on the playground.

“Hi,” Jayden smiled. “I got this new ball for my birthday. Do you want to try it instead of that old one?”

“Sure!” Tyler answered. “Do you want to be on my side? What position do you play?”

Out loud, Jayden said, “I would love to.” To himself, he said, “Whoever thought I could ________ something from my three-year-old brother!”

It’s school time again! Let’s see what students and teachers think about the end of the summer holiday and the start of the new school term.

Later School Start Helps Kids Get Z^zz

Teenagers have been sleeping less. This is an issue all across the United States. Research from Harvard Medical School shows that having less sleep can make teens fat and cause some developmental problems. Because of the increasing use of devices like smartphones and computers, students today are staying up late. Many teens use them long after dark. “At night, I am on my phone and I just want to stay up. I often wake up so tired that I wish I could go back to sleep,” Hazel Ostrowski, a high school student, said.

To make matters worse, 93% of high schools and 83% of middle schools in the U.S. start before 8:30 a. m. That time goes against official health advice from American Academy of Pediatrics (美国儿科学会). Schools do not want late start times, because it will cause traffic problems. Parents also want older kids to come home early to watch younger kids in the afternoons.

But some studies suggest that students between the ages of 11 and 17 get enough sleep on school nights. Therefore, some researchers suggest starting school late.

Researchers are studying later school start times in Seattle, Washington. The Seattle School District (区) made a big time change in the fall of 2016. The change was for high schools and most middle schools. Before, the first bell rang at 7:50 a. m. After the change, classes began at 8:45 a. m.

The researchers worked with science teachers at two high schools in Seattle, and 178 teenagers took part in the study. They wore activity monitors to discover whether a later start to the school day would help them get more sleep. The researchers compared sleep habits (习惯) of these teens in spring 2016，before the change, to sleep habits of them from spring 2017, after later start times began.

What changed was wake-up time. Morning wake-up time changed from 6:24 a. m. to 7:08 a. m. Falling asleep changed only a bit. It went from 11 :27p. m. to 11:38 p. m.

Researchers noticed that there were fewer late students after the changes. The study also found the students got about 34 more minutes of sleep each night. Students also felt less sleepy in the daytime. Their grades improved as well. It seems a later start to school is helping students.

Have you ever eaten a whole packet of biscuits when you were planning to only have one? Or have you stayed up much later than you planned, or even all night, having “just one more” try in a game? Both of these are examples of mindlessness. When we live this way, we are not fully awake and not fully living our lives.

When we are mindful, we are different. We are conscious of our thoughts, our actions and what is happening around us. We might notice a beautiful sunset or really listen carefully to what a friend is saying, rather than planning what we’re going to say next. We are also clear about our own feelings and thoughts. So we are consciously deciding what to pay attention to, we are not worrying about the past or planning for the future and we are not trying to control or stop our thoughts or feelings—we’re just noticing them.

For most people, life is getting busier and more stressful ( 有压力的).

Technology means that we always have something to do and there isn’t much opportunity to just “be”. People are often doing two or three things at the same time: texting while watching TV, or even looking at phones while walking.

Research shows that mindfulness reduces stress. It can help you to focus, to have a better memory and to think more clearly. It can also help you to manage pain better and to improve sleep, and it can even help you to lose weight because you won’t eat that whole packet of biscuits without thinking!

A very simple technique that you can try right now is to close your eyes for a few minutes and count how many sounds you can hear. This will help you to focus on what is happening right now. Another technique is to focus on a piece of food. Instead of eating it without thinking, notice how it feels and how it tastes.

Both of these techniques help you to slow down and focus on the present moment, as Jon Kabat Zinn says, mindfulness is: “Paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and without judging.”

Who do you want to thank most? Maybe your parents or other family members. But for some of the most successful people in the world, their answer is the teacher in their childhood. The teachers behind famous people

Can you imagine a life without the personal computer? Well, without two of Bill Gates’ high school teachers, we could live a life like that today. Gates’ maths teacher, Fred Wright, asked him to push himself just a little bit harder. And his drama teacher, Anne Stephens, helped him become the star of the school play. Gates thanked his teachers—without them, there would be no Microsoft. An adult you can trust

For some children, teachers are the only positively influential people in their lives. Antwone Fisher, a best-selling writer, grew up with step-parents, and didn’t have many adults that he could trust. But his primary school teacher, Mrs Profitt, was the first adult he ever trusted. “She spoke to all of us with respect. I think that it was Mrs Profitt’s respect that made all the difference in my life.” A day to say “Thank you”

There are thousands more stories like this, from famous people to ordinary people all across the world. That’s why UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) calls on people to celebrate World Teachers’ Day on October 5 every year. UNESCO wants us to remember that education is a basic human right and every child should have free education. UNESCO also hopes to train 69 million new teachers by 2030 so that everyone can go to school, because, sadly, 264 million children in the world today are not in school because there aren’t enough teachers.

If you have a teacher, you’re one of the lucky ones. One day, you’ll probably look back at your life, your success, the dreams you’ve made come true or the difficulty you’ve gone through. It’s likely that you’ll find a teacher whose words have helped you achieve these things. Perhaps you already know who that teacher is. Why not find him or her and say “thank you” next World Teachers’ Day?

39. 假如你是李华，你校将于下周五上午举办“中国传统美食节”活动。你打算邀请交换生Peter参加。请你用英语给他写一封电子邮件，告诉他具体时间、地点、活动安排，以及他所需要做的准备。