THE WILDEST PLACE

Today I want to tell you about Longleat. It’s a huge safari park near my hometown. We’re doing a school project about wild animals, so our teacher took us to see some of the animals in their natural home.

First, we went to Longleat House. It’s the biggest house I’ve ever seen! We learnt about the history of Longleat and visited the libraries. There are over 40,000 books! Then we started the tour of the park in a bus. It takes about two hours to see all the different animals. We saw giraffes, rhinos and lions. It was amazing! The monkeys were my favourite. They love jumping on the buses and looking at the people inside! I took some great photos.

After that we had lunch in a cafe near a garden. Then we got on a small boat and went to see the gorillas (大猩猩). They live on an island. You can see one in the photo. Our guide told us about the characters of the different gorillas. It was really interesting. They are more dangerous than the monkeys, so the visitors can’t go on the island. Go to Longleat and see the wild animals!

When you hear the word “home”, you probably think of the place you are living in right now. Maybe it is an apartment, a single house, or a two-story house. Maybe it is made of wood or stone. You may think houses are rather normal buildings, but some houses around the world are rather unique!

The Bedouin (居无定所的阿拉伯游牧民族) people of the Middle East and North Africa live in interesting homes. The Bedouin people live in the desert, and they move around without staying to live in one place very long. So, they live in tents that are made of animal hair. The tents are easy to put up and take down when they move from place to place. In a similar way, a group of Mongolian people of the Gobi Desert also live in tents rather than buildings. These homes called “ger” homes, are also made of animal hair, but they are round instead of square like Bedouin tents.

Before people made the first tents, they lived in caves (洞穴). Some people in the southern part of Spain live in caves today, too! They call these cave homes “cuebas”. These caves keep the house cool during the summer and warm during the winter.

Another type of home is the “igloo” used by the Inuit people of Canada and Greenland. Igloos are normally made of ice and snow. The igloo protects the people from the wind as well as keeps them warm. In fact, the temperature inside an igloo can even reach 16℃ just from body heat alone.

The Bagabao people of the Philippines used to live in what may be a childhood dream for some—a treehouse! These treehouses were built so that the people could watch for enemies and protect themselves from wild and dangerous animals. In addition, the people could stay cool in their treehouses during the hot summer season. Although the Bagabao people don’t live in these treehouses any more, they still use things like them for resting and for meeting people.

If you ever get the chance, be sure to check out different homes of different cultures!

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Did you ever see kid inventors on TV or in the newspaper and think, “That could be me!” You’re right—it could. Kids have been inventing for ages, making toys or designing tools to make their chores easier. Most kids didn’t even realize they were inventors. Yet some kids sold their creations, and others became famous because of them.

Today, more and more kids are inventing things. Maybe you’ve thought about being an inventor. Maybe you’re already an inventor. Perhaps you’ve taken part in a school invention fair or a national competition, yet you want to know more. What other competitions can I enter? What’s a patent (专利权)? What’s a trademark? Can kids really sell their inventions? How can I do that?

This book Kids Inventing leads you through the steps of turning your ideas into realities, changing you from a kid with a solution to a problem into a real inventor. Perhaps you’ll discover an aspect (方面) of inventing that really interests you—getting ideas, making a model, writing in your log, naming your invention, presenting your ideas to others, working as part of a team, or even selling your invention.

Let the kid inventors you’ll read about in this book inspire you. They worked hard, and they had fun. Some made money. Some won scholarships (奖学金). All of them were optimists. They believed that they could solve the problems they faced at different stages of inventing, and they experienced the joy of solving those problems and exciting, surprising, and astonishing others with the results.

Being a kid inventor has its own rewards, one of which is the thrill of saying, “I’m an inventor.” Inventing is a series of steps, a journey of discovery. To begin your journey, just turn the page.

Right now a kid is shouting because he doesn’t want to eat his lunch. What are the parents doing? They’re filming (拍摄) the video on a smartphone. Soon after, they’re posting the video on social media. A teenage boy is playing a new song on his guitar. His mother is filming him. Two days later, the boy discovers that other people are watching the video online.

Parents in the UK post about 1,000 photos of their children online from when they are born until their fifth birthday. Babies and toddlers don’t care about this at the time. But a study by the University of Michigan suggests that there is a difference with 10-to 17-year-olds. Teenagers don’t always like parents posting some photos. All babies cry, but teenagers don’t want people to see old photos of themselves doing this.

Some parents share all kinds of photos of their children, maybe even when they are doing something silly. They do it with good purposes, for example, to share special moments with grandparents or family who live far away. But some middle-aged users of social media don’t check their privacy (隐私) settings and share posts with others by accident.

In some countries, parents are not allowed to post photos of their own children without their permission. In Italy, a 16-year-old boy is requiring his mother either to stop sharing images of him on social media or pay a €10,000 fine! In France, parents pay fines of up to €45,000 and can spend a year in prison (监狱) when they post photos of their children without their permission.

Parents are usually very sensible (敏感) about photos of their children. The report from the University of Michigan suggests this is an area where it’s important for parents to listen to children over ten. Let them say what they are happy to share, and who with. That way the whole family can enjoy looking back at all those special moments!

A graduation speech is to celebrate the achievements of the graduating class. The junior graduation is coming, have you prepared the speech for the ceremony? Here are some tips for you to prepare a good one.

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Start preparing your graduation speech as soon as possible. This will give you enough time to improve your ideas and make a memorable speech.

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Consider who your listener is and what they might expect or want to hear. Try to use the language they can understand and examples they are interested in.

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Find out a topic that you know about and that interests your listeners. Start by brainstorming ideas for your speech. Think about what topic interests you. Write down any ideas that come to mind and finally have a clear topic of your speech.

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You can share your experiences to make your speech connect your listeners with you. Make sure to include your own stories that help support your message and leave them a deep memory.

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Practice your speech until you feel confident and comfortable giving it. This will help you avoid forgetting your words on the day of the graduation.

Madeline Stuart is an excellent young lady from Australia, who has Madeline Stuart (唐氏综合症). The doctor told her parents that she may not be able to do things on her own, but they didn’t _________ on her.

When Madeline was a little girl, her _________ decided to take her in dance classes. At first, she was shy, _________ she quickly fell in love with dancing. She performed so _________ that it surprised both her family and teachers. While learning to _________, she also learned how to express herself and _________ with others.

Madeline’s family was very _________ and believed in her potential (潜力). When Madeline was 18 years old, her mother took her to a fashion show where she watched the models’ great performances. Madeline decided that she wanted to become a _________.

At first, Madeline faced many _________. Many people thought that because of her __________, she could not become a professional model. However, Madeline didn’t give up. She kept __________ and began sharing her own photos and videos on social media. Soon, she __________ the love and attention of people and became a popular model.

Madeline’s story reminds us that with __________ work and perseverance (毅力), we can achieve our dreams no matter what difficulties __________ may face. She is a true role model, proving that anyone can create a bright __________ in their own way.

In 1974, in the Shaanxi Province in China, some farmers     36     (dig) a hole for a well. They were looking for water, but they discovered something amazing. They found     37     army made of clay. Later, they came to be known     38     the Terracotta Warriors (秦始皇兵马俑). The army has 8,000 soldiers and 670 horses in it. Qin Shi Huang wanted this army to protect     39     (he) in the next life after his     40     (die).

In 246 BC, Qin Shi Huang became the first Emperor of China. He was only thirteen years old when he became emperor. Right away, work began on his burial (埋葬) ground. We know of the story of the emperor and the work from the Chinese writer Sima Qian. Sima lived about a hundred years after Qin Shi Huang. He said that 700,000     41     (man) worked on the army of figures, which took forty years     42     (complete).

The soldiers in the Terracotta Army were just models,     43     their weapons (武器) were not. They each had some of     44     (fine) weapons of their time. Chinese metal workers must have been very skilled and smart. The knives and other weapons they made are all still very sharp. Also, some of the weapons     45     (cover) with special chemicals that protected them.