【推荐2】Earthquake safety tips

On April 14, 2010, a big earthquake hit Yushu, Qinghai. Over 2,000 people died. Many people were hurt. Why are there earthquakes?

The surface of the Earth has many pieces. These pieces are always moving. When two pieces move past each other, there is an earthquake.

Scientist are working hard to find out more about earthquakes. They try to predict(预测) them, but it’s very hard.

Do you know how to get ready for an earthquake? Do you know what to do during an earthquake? Here are some things you should know.

What to do before an earthquake

Make sure you have two bottles of water, a packet of biscuits(饼干), a clean towel(毛巾), a few band-aids(创口贴), a radio and a flashlight(电筒) at home.

What to do during an earthquake

If you are inside:

★ Stay where you are. Quickly move under a strong desk, or along a wall. This will protect you from falling things.

★Don’t stand near windows.

★Turn off the lights.

★Don’t get into a lift during an earthquake. If your are in a lift, get out as quickly as possible.

If you are outside:

★Don’t stand near buildings. Things may fall on you.

★Lie on the ground until the shaking stops.

【推荐1】Is there a connection between music and language? According to recent studies, the answer is yes. Here, let’s look at the following two.

Music and Hearing

A recent study by researcher Nina Kraus shows that playing a musical instrument can make a person’s hearing ability become better. In the study, two groups of people listened to a person talking in a noisy room. The people in the first group were musicians, while those in the second group weren’t. The musicians were able to hear the talking person more clearly.

Think about violinists in a show. When they play with the group, they hear their own instrument and many others, too. But the violinists must listen closely to what they are playing, and leave out the other sounds. In this way, musicians are able to focus on certain sounds, even in a room with lots of noise.

Music and Speaking

Gottfried Schlaug, a doctor at Harvard Medical School, works with stroke (中风) patients. Because of their illness, these people cannot say their names, addresses, or other information normally. However, they can still sing. Dr. Schlaug was surprised to find that singing words helped his patients to finally speak. Why does this work? Schlaug isn’t sure. Music seems to help patients to use the brain again.

From the results, we can know that music is a good influence on concentration, the ability to focus on one thing. It works on listening and speaking skills as well. Playing an instrument or singing can help us do better in school as well. So music is not only enjoyable, it’s also good for us in many other ways.

【推荐2】Colorado has more fourteeners — mountain peaks (山峰) over 14,000 feet — than any other state in the US. Many people believe that Colorado’s 53 fourteeners are reachable by only the most experienced mountaineers. In fact, climbing those fourteeners is hardly an impossible task   for most climbers.

Surprisingly, unlike climbing Denali (the highest point in North America), a climb to one of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks seldom takes more than a day. Pikes Peak is a well-known difficult climb, yet a college teacher in his middle seventies makes the climb every day in the summer. A friend of mine, Carson Black, in a day, once climbed four fourteeners. Three of them — Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, and Kit Carson Peak — are the most difficult in the state. Only a handful of climbs took more than a day.

Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks are also easy to climb because they often require no special climbing tools. The climb to Capitol Peak is probably the most difficult, yet most climbers who carry ropes don’t use them when they see the ridge ( 山 脊 ) is not very frightening. The highest peak in the state, Mt. Elbert, is so simple to climb that one man rode a 24-year-old bicycle to the peak last year.

Another sign that climbing Colorado’s highest peaks is not very difficult is the number of climbers each summer. After going down from Torreys Peak one weekend in August, I counted over seventy cars in the parking lot. On a weekend of another August, I passed fifty people in different stages (路段) of Mt. Elbert. Last year, 4,226 people climbed Longs Peak. Its parking lot today is about a quarter-mile long.

In a word, Colorado’s peaks are not hard to climb. Most of them take only a day to climb, require no more than simple climbing skills, and are topped by many people each year.

【推荐3】Good morning, everyone! Now you are students of our school. All the things here are new. The life here is a little different. I think you must know what you can do and what you can’t do. It can help you study well and live happily. Here are some rules of our school.

You have to come to school from Monday to Friday. You will go on to learn some subjects like Chinese, math and English, and begin to learn some new subjects like geography, biology and politics. Classes begin at 8:00. You have four classes in the morning.

You have lunch at school. Classes are over at 3:30 in the afternoon and then you can go to your favorite clubs (俱乐部) in our school. You can’t play with balls or run in classrooms of hallways. You mustn’t break (违反) these rules. I hope (希望) you will have a happy life here. Thank you.

【推荐1】Listening test is one of the most important parts of the English exam. Here are some tips for you.

Before you start to listen, you need to relax. Don’t be stressed out. And try to read the questions. These questions usually help you understand the conversation or the passage.

Then listen carefully to the first sentence. It usually tells you the main idea of the passage. When you’re listening, try to take some notes, such as:

☆What happened

☆When, where, and how

☆What does the speaker want to tell us

In this way, you may understand the passage better. Please remember not to think about one or two words for a long time. When you hear some words you don’t know, don’t spend too much time on them. Very often, you’ll find out what they mean later when you go on with the listening.

A new report from a university says 80% of the world’s teens don’t get enough exercise every day. The report was based on a research done with about 2 million students aged 11 to 17 around the world.     1     In China, for example, only 20% of the boys are active enough, compared to 11% of the girls.

Why don’t teens go out for exercise? One main reason is that they always have technology products in their hands or around them.     2     Many teens find it very hard to pull themselves away from these devices (设备).     3     It advises kids to get at least an hour of exercise every day. This could include running, biking, playing sports, or many other outdoor activities.

    4     Besides, doing sports helps kids to make friends. Mark, a sports fan, started to play football when he was six years old. He used to be shy and weak, but now he has become taller and stronger. He gets to know the importance of communicating with his teammates and how to learn from mistakes and failure. And he has made lots of friends with the same interest. They often have football training on the playground.     5