Doodles (涂鸦) about Your Character!

Think about what you like to wear on the weekend. There’s a good chance that you like to put on a pair of blue jeans. At any moment, about half of the world’s population is wearing jeans. But according to a new study, our love for jeans may be bad for Earth. The cloth used to make jeans might be putting some sea animals in danger. Every time we wash our jeans, small bits of it will flow out of our washing machines and into the world’s rivers, lakes and sea.

You might wonder: isn’t the cloth made of something natural? How can it become a danger to nature? Well, when making jeans, the cloth is treated with many types of man-made chemicals. Scientists aren’t yet sure how the chemicals in the cloth might harm animals.

In the study, the scientists also washed jeans to see how many bits of the cloth on average (平均) each pair would drop per wash. The answer was worrying: about 50,000. Not all of them make their way into the environment. Wastewater treatment plants hold back 83 to 99 percent of them. This may sound pretty good. However, one percent of 50,000 are still 500 per wash. Now think about the number of jeans around the world and the times each of them gets washed. As a result, a large amount of the cloth still gets into the environment.

Does this mean we shouldn’t wear jeans? Probably not. “We need to buy fewer clothes and only wash them when we truly need to do it,” says Sam Athey, one of the scientists. “You don’t need to wash your jeans after having worn them only a few times.”

①Earlier this year, China’s education system announced a new “Double Reduction” policy (双减政策). “Double Reduction” refers to a reduction in the total amount of school homework and a reduction of after-school training programs.

②“The policy really helps me.” Shen Yuzhe, a 13-year-old boy from Beijing said. He is happy that he has less homework than before and he can finish it at school with no need to take it home, “I’m also happy to find there are fewer exams. Besides, teachers now teach at a much slower pace so that we have enough time to understand what we have learned. We don’t need to buy workbooks any more and the exercises are mainly from the textbook.” Shen Yuzhe said.

③“The best thing about the ‘Double Reduction’ is the increased time in after-school activities such as dancing, volleyball and drama.” Zhang Hangming from Tianjin is also excited. He has joined a group called “leadership development” learning all kinds of useful skills. He likes it because teachers are also giving them more chances to learn from real life. For example, they went to research plants in a field during a science class. He believes that is a much better way to learn than just hitting the books.

④Some people welcome the policy while others are still worried. Yu Zhiyue, a middle school student in Jiangsu still feels tired. “With the Double Reduction, I have really got less homework to do. But my mother is worried that I will lose the chance to review what I’ve learnt in class without enough homework. So I have lots of after-school classes. Since I can only take these classes on weekdays now, weekdays have become especially long and tiring for me. From Monday to Friday, I need to take online classes at home after I come back from school.” she said. “My parents told me the policy had changed but the competition had not gone away.”

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Have you checked the oil in the car? My father used to say to me. “Hello, hope you are well.” Sometimes our phone calls would begin with a question about the oil and end with a question about the oil, with not a lot in between.

Fathers have a lot of love to give, but it’s often supplied through the medium (方法) of practical advice. In my experience: It’s mostly about my car.

“How’s the car running?” “Did you get it serviced?” “How did you get that scrape (刮痕) on the side?”

Why can’t we fathers just say “I love you” or “It’s great to see you”? The point is: That’s exactly what we are saying. You just have to translate from the language that is Fatherlish.

The words “You made my life better from the moment you were born” may be hardly heard, but the key is there in the more common “I’ll hold the ladder while you get the leaves out of the gutter (排水沟).”

When I was 17, I went on my first road trip — a friend and I in that old car. My father stood on the corner early on a cold morning to say goodbye to us.

“Highways are dangerous,” he said, “so don’t try to catch up with anything faster than a horse. And take a break every two hours. And every time you stop for gas, you really should check the oil.”

At the time we thought his speech was pretty humorous and would chant “car and horse, car and horse” every time I drove faster and passed other speeding cars.

Dad’s long gone now. But after all these years, I realize that had I owned a copy of the Fatherlish-to-English dictionary. I’d have understood that the speech my friend and I so casually mocked (嘲笑) was simply Dad’s attempt at affection.

Five ways to make a great first impression!

Researchers have discovered that, in general, it only takes seven seconds for a person to start making judgments about you when they first meet you. That's why you should follow these useful tips on how to create a good first impression.

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Before meeting someone, start thinking about the purpose of the meeting. Are you trying to impress them? For example, if you want to make new friends at a social event, you will want to appear friendly. And if you decide to run for class president at your school, you will need to appear confident.

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Smiling the most important thing you can do when meeting someone new. It shows that you’re friendly and makes people around you feel more comfortable. To have a winning smile, make sure your teeth are clean by brushing them every day.

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Before you begin speaking, you will be judged on your body language. Therefore, it's important to show trust in yourself by standing up tall and putting your shoulders back. Besides, if you uncross your arms, you will appear relaxed and friendly.

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How you smell can influence people's first impression of you. If you have a bad body smell, it will put people off. In short, aim to smell clean and avoid putting on a lot of scented products.

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What you wear matters. While you should look clean and tidy, it’s also important to dress properly, whether you’re going to a birthday party or a sporting event. You should think about what your clothes say about you.