【推荐1】Research shows that husbands do not do their fair share of work around the house.

Researchers interviewed(采访) 182 working couples who became first- time parents. Both of them worked almost the same number of hours in full-time jobs. However, men did five hours a week less housework than women after their babies were born (出生).

It was a different story for mothers. Becoming a parent added 21 hours a week to a mother’s work. Most of this was looking after her baby. New fathers didn’t do more work because they didn’t realize the mother was doing so much more. Another reason was that after a baby was born, fathers followed the “traditional” roles: The mother looked after the baby and the father worked outside. This happened even when mother was working the same number of hours in her job.

Humans can go to the hospital when they’re ill. But as for animals, what should they do to stay healthy? Animals have their own ways to heal（治愈）themselves. Now let’s get to know their special skills.

Skill One

Have you ever seen your dog or cat lick（舔）its wounds? Why do they do it? It probably feels good, but it’s good medicine. Licking cleans a wound, and saliva（唾液）has chemicals that kill germs（细菌）.

Skill Two

To avoid diseases, many animals have good living habits. They hate to be dirty. Most animals separate their pooping（排便）areas from their eating areas. Horses poop far away from the grass they eat. Rabbits put their poop in special pooping areas.

Skill Three

Have you ever heard of the expression “starve（使挨饿）a fever”? Many animals stop eating when they’re ill. When a sick animal stops eating, it can stop germs from getting necessary things.

Skill Four

Another way that animals heal themselves is to raise their body temperature. High temperatures can kill germs. Warm-blooded animals (like us) get fevers to fight with germs. Cold-blooded animals (like snakes) look for pieces of wood or rocks heated by the sun.Fish move to warmer waters.

A vegetarian (素食者) is someone who does not eat meat. Being a vegetarian has become a popular choice. In fact, 1 in every 200 kids in the US is a vegetarian. Most people choose to be vegetarians for many reasons.

First, they believe that a vegetarian diet is good for health. It usually has less fat than a diet that includes meat. Vegetarians eat a low-fat diet to stay fit and healthy. A vegetarian diet also provides many vitamins that people can’t get from meat. These vitamins protect people from some diseases.

Second, many vegetarians are worried about how animals are raised and killed for food. They hope animals can be better treated.

Finally, they think being a vegetarian can help save the earth. People use more energy, water and land to raise animals for food than to grow fruit and vegetables. Also animals put greenhouse gases (温室气体) into the air. These gases cause global warming (全球变暖).

Vegetarians advise people to have just a few vegetarian meals a week to make the world a better place.

【推荐3】In ancient times, people usually wrote from right to left in vertical columns(竖列). But now, we write from left to right in horizontal (横行). Why did this change? (A)This has to do with the writing tools and habits that people had at that time.

Before paper was created, people wrote on bamboos. They wrote from top to bottom on one piece and then another. These bamboos were connected together into one long passage and rolled up. People usually held it with their right hand and opened it with their left hand. Therefore, it is more convenient to start writing from the right-hand side.

In 1917, linguist(语言学家) Qian Xuantong wrote a letter to the New Culture Movement leader Chen Duxiu. He suggested writing Chinese from left to right. He said that if we used our right hands to write, it would be easier to begin from the left and more comfortable to read. (B)然而，他的想法并没有被广泛接受.

In the early 1950s, famous overseas Chinese businessman Chen Jiageng and Chinese writer Guo Moruo raised this advice again. They thought that the area seen from left to right was much wider than the area seen from up to down. In this way, writing and reading sideways will reduce eye fatigue(疲劳).

Gradually, newspapers, magazines and books were printed in horizontal rows. And people began writing from left to right instead of writing from right to left. Now people have been used to writing from left to right in rows.

【推荐1】Whales are the biggest animals in the world. They are quiet and friendly. They live happily in the sea. But some countries hunt (捕杀) whales. Japan is one of them. Japan is a small country. Many people go fishing in Japan. Some schools even cook whale meat for students.

Whales are important to the sea. They swim up and down. They bring up things for other sea animals and plants to eat. Many animals and plants live on them. When whales die (死亡), small animals can eat them for as long as one hundred years.

Now, the number of whales is going down. Many people have hunted whales. Fishermen from Japan, Norway and other countries hunt whales. Every year, they kill around 1,500 large whales. Some whales like blue whales have died out because of hunting. They are in great danger. How can we help them?

【推荐3】Experts say the way you design your home could influence weight. (A) It may have an effect on your figure (身材). You can make your environment work for you instead of against you. Here are some ways to turn your home into part of diet plan.

Open the curtains (窗帘) or turn up the lights. Dark environments are more likely (可能的) to encourage overeating, for people are often less self-conscious (难为情) when they’re in poorly lit places. If your home doesn’t have enough window light, get more lights and decorate the place with brightness.

Mind the colors. Research suggests warm colors affect our appetites (食欲). In one study, people who have dinner in a blue room ate 33 percent less than those in a yellow or red room. Warm colors like yellow make food more delicious, while cold colors make us feel less hungry. So when it’s time to paint the walls of your house, go blue.

Don’t forget the clock or the radio. People who eat slowly tend to (倾向于) have about 70 fewer calories (卡路里) par meal those who rush through their meals. Begin keeping record of the time, and try to make dinner last at least 30 minutes. And while you’re at it, actually sit down to eat. (B) When you have problems slowing down the speed of eating, you may turn on relaxing music.

Choose the small dishes. Big dishes can easily make us fat. We will eat about 22 percent more when using a 12-inch plate instead of a 10-inch plate. When we choose a large dish over a smaller one, we will eat more calories.