【推荐1】It is a cold and dry winter morning. When you wake up, you feel that your throat hurts. You begin to sneeze and later you may cough. You must have a cold! Wait a moment. Could it just be a common cold or the flu(流感) going around?

A cold gives you a runny nose and cough. But it’s usually easy to deal with. Some take medicine while others drink herbal tea or chicken soup. Usually you feel better after a week.

On the other hand, the flu can be much more dangerous. It usually gives you fever. Sometimes it can cause death. According to an American magazine, the worst flu killed about 50 million people from 1918 to 1919.

Don’t worry. If you get a flu vaccine(疫苗), it can stop you from getting the virus(病毒). Flu vaccines work by giving the body a small amount of flu viruses. This causes your body to have antibodies(抗体). So next time you get the flu, the antibodies should help you.

The flu virus changes every few years. So there are so many types of flu, such as H1N1 and H5N1. The antibodies for one type of flu can’t help us against all types of flu. That’s why we need to get the vaccine every year.

However, good health habits may also help you away from a cold or flu. Washing your hands often stops you from getting viruses easily. It is also important to get regular exercise and eat healthy food. All these can help you strengthen your immune system (增强免疫系统).

【推荐2】It is never too late to have good study habits. Follow these good habits, you will become a good student.

    1     Make a list of your weekly tasks. Make a plan of your time for a week. Then decide on good time for studying. This weekly plan may not solve all of your problems, but it will make you know how to spend your time.

Find a good place to study.    2     It may be a desk or a chair at home or in the school library, but it should be quiet. When you begin to work, you should be able to pay more attention to the subject.

    3     Listening to what the teacher says in class means less work later. Sit where you can see and hear well.    4     Taking notes helps you remember the lesson.

    5     It’s normal to forget, so reviewing (复习) the day’s lessons is important. Then you can finish your homework easily.

If you follow these suggestions, you will study better.

【推荐3】Many Chinese students ask for advice on how to improve(提高) their English. There are three common questions.

The first question is about real English. Li Gang said, “I want to learn real English. But I don’t know what to do.”

Watching English films is a good way to learn real English. You can watch them when you are tired after studying for a long time. While watching them, you can relax and learn real English at the same time.

The second question is about speaking. Chen Ming said, “I’m too shy to talk with foreigners.”

“How are you?” “Where are you from?” “What do you think of China?” These are good questions to start a conversation. Many people are shy when they speak English, so before you begin, take a deep breath(呼吸) and smile! Smiling always helps.

The third question is about vocabulary. Li Jia said, “I want to remember all the new words. I write them down, but I forget them soon.”

Try to remember eight or ten words a day. Write them on a piece of paper and put it in your bedroom. Spell the words whenever you see them, and change them every day. And when you’re shopping, how about counting the English words, or saying the English names for everything you see?

【推荐1】In America, there are chores for children of different ages. American people think it’s important to tell children their duty (责任) in the family. They think that a 2-year-old child is never too young to do chores. If you have no ideas, use this list (列表) of age chores for your children.

    1     Li Qi’s family are very busy. What are they doing?

Li Qi is in her room. There are some clothes on her bed, and some notebooks and books on her desk. She is looking at a red dress. It’s her favorite dress. She wants to wear it and go to her friend’s birthday party.     2     She is not happy.

Li Qi’s sister is watching TV in the living room and she is very happy. She is watching a basketball game. Basketball is her favorite sport.     3    

What are Li Qi’s parents doing?     4     He does some reading every evening. Li Qi’s mother is doing the dishes in the kitchen. She often does the housework in the evening. Well, an old man is playing taijiquan. Who is he? He is Li Qi’s grandpa.

【推荐1】Perhaps no one knows the power of imagination better than Chinese sci-fi writer Liu Cixin. Until four years ago, Liu worked full-time as a computer engineer at a power plant in Shanxi province. He only wrote science fiction in his spare time. But it was during this time that Liu's imagination took flight. He did what he might never have the chance to do in real life - wander in space, fight with aliens, and visit far away planets.

But even with such a powerful imagination, Liu, 55, probably didn't expect that he would become the first Asian to win the Hugo Award, science fiction’s highest prize, in 2015. Never did he think that former US president Barack Obama would read his novel The Three-Body Problem, and he would win the 20l8 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society. It’s the first time that a Chinese writer has won the prize.

In his speech, Liu said that his imagination came from Arthur C. Clarke, a famous UK sci-fi writer. He said that reading Clarke’s classic novels had a great effect on him.

But no matter how far away Liu’s imagination takes him, somehow his novels always stay grounded (理性的).

In The Three-Body Problem, Liu tells a tale of aliens invading the earth. But unlike other alien stories, Liu talks more about relationships between people, rules of survival, and the meanings of life. And in The Wandering earth, Liu looks ahead to the day when our solar system comes to an end and humans have to look for a new place to live in. However, all his magination is based on reality. Liu’s works aren’t simply daydreams.

【推荐2】Do you like playing soccer? If you do, you may want to join the school soccer team. Read on and see how to join the school soccer team. There are some steps (步骤) you should remember.

The first step is to know the information (信息) about the team. You can find more information by asking these questions. How many students are there in the soccer team? How many new players do they need? How often do they play soccer?

The second step is to practice. Practice soccer with your friends or your family. Only good players can join the school soccer team. So you need to practice and improve your skill.

The third step is to study hard. If you always get bad grades in the exam, your teachers and parents won’t let you join the soccer team.

The last step is to relax. Don’t be too nervous. You can take a deep breath and keep smiling. Believe in yourself and you can be the best player.

【推荐3】People are hurt by acid rain. A young boy named Marco lived in New Jersey. He liked to open his mouth to catch the fresh tasting water in the past. This time it was acid rain. It came from pollution created by the factories close to Marco's home. Marco didn't know that this kind of rain would make him sick.

Marco, who has asthma(气喘), had a serious attack. He had to go to hospital. He felt terrible. He couldn't breathe. People with breathing problems suffer when they are exposed(裸露) to acid rain. People who eat plants or animals that have been exposed to acid rain can also have serious problems. Some other health problems have something to do with people eating animals and plants affected by acid rain.

Acid rain burns the leaves on plants and trees. They should be green and healthy, but acid rain destroys them. The rain usually does not kill the trees, but their leaves are destroyed. Then, the plants get weaker because they can't make the food that they need. Forests in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States have been especially harmed by acid rain. Besides, Acid rain also hurts the soil in the forests, nonliving things, such as arts and buildings.

We should work together to make this bad rain go away. Acid rain will go away if the pollutants in the air go away. Every family can reduce pollution by using clean energy and electricity. They can also drive less. If everyone helps, acid rain will go away sooner.