【推荐1】How can you remember a song for a long time? Why does your teacher use songs to teach you English? There is a reason for this.

Scientists are studying something between music and remembering a foreign language (外语), like English. “Singing could be a new way of learning, especially for a foreign language. The brain (脑) likes to remember things in a catchy and relaxing way. For example, children can remember difficult words quickly when they are in a song” said Dr. Karen Ludke. If children find it difficult to learn foreign languages, this new way may help. On his blog, Dr. Ludke wrote “A listen-and-repeat (重复) singing way can help to learn foreign languages and open the door for future study in this area.”

Many language teachers know the importance of music and they often use it in teaching and learning. Hua Zhuying, a teacher at a Chinese language school in Washington DC, likes using songs in teaching Chinese. She said, “I use music all the time to teach children Chinese. For little kids usually we use English songs but teach them the Chinese lyrics (歌词). Not only does it work, but it is fun for children.” “Sometimes I think if I learned English that way when I was young, maybe I could speak English much better.” Hua Zhuying adds.

Our brain likes music in learning languages, especially for remembering. If you are still having problems in learning a language, why not try singing it out?

【推荐2】Seba Stephens is only 10 years old, but he’s a very talented musician. He plays drums, bass, guitar and piano. Recently, he got a professional certificate (证书) in music through the Berklee Online program at the famous Berklee College of Music.

Seba and his family live in Memphis, Tennessee—a place famous for music. He grew up with music all around, but he especially loved the drumming of Stewart Copeland from the band The Police. “The songs of The Police are full of so much cool drumming (鼓声).” he says.

Before he turned three, his parents asked him what he wanted for his birthday. “Drums!” he answered.

His parents weren’t sure, but after seeing him play the drums at a local music store, they decided he was serious. They bought him a junior drum kit (成套装备). It was a huge step. “He didn’t stop playing-ever.” says his dad, Everett.

But soon Seba grew upset. He couldn’t get his junior drum kit to make the sounds he heard Mr. Copeland making. It was a lesson for the family: good instruments were worth paying for. His parents bought him a professional drum kit and signed him up for lessons.

In just a few months, a drummer, his drum teacher reported that Seba was learning very quickly and needed a higher level of training. He was still four.

He faced challenges-because of his size. “I couldn’t see over my drum set,” he says. “And I couldn’t reach some of the cymbals (铙钹，打击乐器名).” He also had trouble finding a good bass that was small enough.

Seba wanted to start a band, but Everett said he had to “at least be in kindergarten (幼儿园)” to do that. Everett thought he was joking, but Seba actually started a band in kindergarten. By the first grade, he was making money playing music.

【推荐3】A primary school headmaster became the latest star on the Internet for dancing with his students.

Zhang Pengfei works in Xiguan Primary School in Linyi, Shanxi Province. Every morning, he leads 700 pupils to do the “ghost shuffle” routine on the playground. They dance for 30 minutes every day. They like dancing more than doing the old exercise routine, so they don’t do the old one now.

“I thought we needed a change because the students lost interest in doing the old exercise routine though it was useful for pupils,” Zhang told the reporter. After all, they started to do the old exercise routine in 1951.

Mr. Zhang saw a group of people doing the “ghost shuffle” routine by accident. Then he decided to learn it on his own. “I thought the dance would be great for kids,” he said, “The music is energetic and it really makes children relax.” In October 2018. he introduced the dance to all the pupils of his school. Soon even teachers and workers there joined in the activity.

“Now the pupils don’t keep playing games on their phones. Sometimes they watch different dancing videos and learn new moves!” the headmaster said.

【推荐1】Egg caring(蛋雕）is often called the most fragile(易碎的）art, as it requires great care before, during and even after the carving. Yu Wen, the granddaughter of a famous local painter in Dxandong, Liaoning province, has been practising egg carving for about 25 years.

Yu has used more than 10,000 eggs, and years of hard work has left many thick calluses(茧）on her hands. Sometimes she can’t even hold chopsticks properly after a long day of holding the carving knife. But in Yu’s opinion, the difficult process makes egg carving twice as exciting. “If you carve off too much, the work is broken and there is no way to deal with it. That makes the sense of achievement even greater when you finish a piece.” said Yu.

Yu’s love for egg carving started with a local tradition. In northeast China, when a baby is born. Friends and relatives often send eggs colored read as gifts, and some may carve auspicious（吉利的）words on them. The character “福” is a popular one to be carved onto eggs. Yu carves with not only popular characters or traditional patterns（图案）, but also Peking Opera masks and wall paintings. Her egg carving is just as much about eggs as it is about Chinese culture.

Now Yu teaches egg carving at a local university. In recent years, she has seen more people coming from across the country to learn the art. “I hope I can better combine（结合）the art with traditional culture in the future,” Yu said.

Happy Rain on a Spring Night

Good rain knows its time right;

It will fall when comes spring.

With wind it steals in night;

Mute, it moistens each thing.

O’er wild lanes dark cloud spreads;

In boat a lantern looms.

Dawn sees saturated reds;

The town’s heavy with blooms.

(Translated by Xu Yuanchong)

When Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu (712-770) wrote this poem, he was living in Chengdu. Sometimes he went to farm in the field. The poem shows his care for farmers.

The very first word, “good”, shows the poet’s joy and love for the spring rain. The rain is good indeed, as it “knows” the right time to come. Here the poet uses personification (拟人), as if the rain were smart enough to know that it should come in time for the farmer’s busy plowing (农耕) season.

When the rain comes, it appears during the night. Unlike the thunder (雷) and lightning of summer storms, the quiet spring rain makes its contributions (贡献) without being known.

In the night sky, the clouds look dark and heavy, showing that there will be enough rain during the night. Then the poet imagines: tomorrow morning, all of the flowers in the city will bloom (盛开) after the rain.

Everybody has a brain, but not many people know how the brain works. Some people believe that the brain is like the hard disk of a computer. We use it to store files—pictures, words, texts, sounds and so on. Others compare the brain to a huge cupboard with lots of shelves and boxes in it. We put information into these boxes and hope to find it again later. However, the brain is not a computer disk, and it is not a cupboard, either.

Look at the picture here. It looks a bit like weeds (杂草) in a garden, doesn’t it? The picture actually shows a child’s neocortex—a part of the brain that controls sight and hearing. You can guess what happens—more “weeds” grow as the child gets older. Scientists call these neuronal networks (神经网络). The networks grow around our neurons. What makes them grow? Learning! “Leaning causes brain change,” says Professor James Zull from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. “Without learning, nothing changes in the brain. For every new word you learn in your English lesson, every problem you solve in maths, and every new song you learn to sing, a neuronal network grows in your brain and the brain changes.”

The more neuronal networks we have, the better we can think and the better we can remember tings. You may wonder if there is anything you can do to make the networks in your brain grow better. Professor Zull says, “Yes, there is.” He says that brain change is the strongest when you are interested in and like what you are learning. You are in control of what you learn and you get a challenging task that makes you feel good and develops your brain. So you can become cleverer as you learn more.

【推荐2】How do you remember the way to your house? Where do dreams come from? It is your brain(大脑) that does these things. A British scientist showed that “sleep can improve one’s memory.” It’s not a dream for students to study when they sleep. In fact, your brains is working day and night. If you learn words before bed, a certain part of the brain may help you to remember the words while you sleep. What’s more, another scientist in the USA found that there was a “talent button(天才按钮)” in the human brain. It might make a person more talented.

There are more interesting things about the brain. Your brain uses less energy than a fridge light. Just two bananas can give the brain enough energy to work for a whole day. According to some scientists, yawning(打哈欠) keeps our brains “cool”, which makes us think quicker.

Here are some pieces of advice to keep a good brain:

【推荐3】When I opened my e-mail the other day, Rachel, a pretty woman, appeared on my computer screen. She greeted me by name and started talking happily. Sometimes she stopped to smile at me or blow a kiss. It was cool, right? In fact, she was reading to me an e-mail from my brother John.

Rachel could be there because of a new technology called Facemail lets you send in a funny way. By using it, your e-mails can be read to the receiver by an attractive person or by a clown. You can download the software at www.Facemail.com without paying. Facemail faces are lively and they can simulate the emotions that you put in you text. For example, type in , and Rachel blows a kiss.

LifeFX, the company that developed the Facemail, is sure there are wide business uses. Why is e-business not so popular now? One of the reasons is that buying online has no human touch. But if you go to the Nike website, and the famous basketball star Michael Jordan greets you by name, serves you, and personally closes the sale, won’t you be happy? Also, if mom can’t be home when kids get back from school, she can leave a note with a voice and picture on the screen to tell them what there is to eat.

It’s true that Facemail makes life easy and fun, but it should be used with care. The clown looks lively and funny at first. But if you choose the clown, put a few rude words in an e-mail and add some angry emotions, you’re got a Psycho mail.

attractive adj.有吸引力的i clown n.小丑 simulate v.模拟 emotion n.表情 Psycho mail n.疯人型邮件