Learning how to read in English can be a difficult task. But it’s something you’ll have to do on your language learning journey.     1     These tips are for you!

Choose the right materials.

There are so many choices! To choose the right reading material, you need to decide what your goal is.     2     Choose books where you understand at least 80% of the material.

Be intentional.

Being intentional means doing something on purpose with a reason in mind.

    3     Save a certain amount time to spend on reading or decide on a certain number of pages you want to read each day.

    4    

Reading can introduce you to new vocabulary words. Many words in English are often used together in almost the same way. Read groups of words, or words that go together. It will help you better understand how to use your new vocabulary.

Don’t try to understand everything.

While reading, you need to accept the fact that you might not understand every single word. And that’s OK. It’s more important to get the big picture of what you are reading.     5    

We hope these tips can help improve your reading skills.

【推荐2】Can you swim? Do you like swimming? Yes? Well, how can you learn to swim? I think the best way is to go into the water and learn. I’m afraid you’ll never learn to swim just by reading books about swimming or looking at others swimming. It’s the same with the English study. We must practice, practice and practice.

Listening and speaking are very important for beginners. The children in English-speaking countries first listen to others. Then they try to imitate and speak. We can listen to English programs on radio. You may just understand a few words. It doesn’t matter. Just be relaxed, try to catch every word.

Somebody may be a good listener. But he dares not speak. He’s afraid of making mistakes. You know we sometimes make mistakes when we speak Chinese. Don’t be afraid. We must be brave. If you really want to learn English well, you must try to speak with everyone so long as he knows English. Whether you know him or not is not important when there’s nobody to talk with, you can talk to yourself in English. It’s interesting and also a good way to practice your spoken English. Remember, the more you speak, the fewer mistakes you’ll make.

Reading and writing are more important for senior school students. First we must choose the books we’re interested in. A lot of reading will improve your language sense. This is the most important.

Keep writing English diaries. We can also write English articles. You may even post them to English magazines. Don’t be afraid of failure. Failure is the mother of success.

Easier said than done. Well, let’s do more practice from now on. I’m sure you’ll learn English well in this way.

【推荐1】Some people like to drink Cola, others like to drink water. Which is better（更好的）for you?

Cola is bad for our health. Cola is sweet, because it has sugar in it. Too much sugar can let you get fat. Drinking one bottle（瓶）of Cola every day can make you get fifteen pounds（磅）every year. And because the sugar in Cola can make you feel full（饱的）, you can’t eat much healthy food, such as fruits, vegetables and rice. And Cola is bad for your teeth and bones（骨头）.

Drink water, please. Water is very important to our body. It keeps us healthy. We get water from drinks and foods, especially（特别是）from fruits and vegetables. But it’s better to drink water. If you don’t like plain（清淡的）water, you can put a little 100% fruit juice into it.

【推荐2】Organic (有机的) farming is a wonderful try for anyone who would like to grow beautiful and tasty vegetables on their own land in an environmentally friendly way. Farmers must use natural methods to make plants grow strong, protect them from insects (昆虫) and remove weeds (杂草) in the land.

Fertilizers (肥料) are chemicals that makes plants grow better. If a farmer grows the same plant over and over in the same place, the soil will lose its ability to feed the plant. The farmer must add fertilizer to help the soil. Organic farmers do not add fertilizer. They will use animal manure (粪肥) and plant compost (混合肥) to make the soil rich again.

Pesticides (杀虫剂) are also avoided. These are chemicals that kill pests (害虫) like bad insects or animals. Organic farmers have other ways to deal with pests because pesticides kill good animals and insects that protect the plants. Foxes and snakes eat the mice. Some insects like ladybirds eat the bad insects.

And of course there are weeds. These are the plants that farmers do not want because they steal growing space from the good plants. To stop weeds, organic farmers can scrape (翻) the soil several times. Finally, the weeds will die.

Organic farming usually needs a lot of human labour to do the job of chemicals. This is one reason that organic food costs more. But when we think about the health of the earth, its plants, and its animals, perhaps it is worth it. In the end, a healthy planet means that we will be healthy, too.

【推荐3】Do you think there is too much noise in our city? Perhaps you do. If you live near an airport, you will probably feel unhappy because of the noise of planes. It is said that the noise of planes or trains or trucks can make one deaf if he keeps on hearing it.

Noise is a kind of pollution. However, most people in our city do not seem to mind noise. They do not know it is harmful to their health. They like to enjoy music when they are doing their work. It is a new danger that music is played through powerful loudspeakers(声音大的喇叭). It can reach 120 decibels (分贝).

It is known that continuous(连续不断的) noise of over 85 decibels can make people deaf. For example, when newspapers and books are being printed, the noise is over 85 decibels, and some of the workers become deaf. Scientists believe that 10 percent of all the workers in British printing offices have been deafened(使……聋) by the noise. Besides, noise of less than 85 decibels can make some people tired and nervous. We all know that too much noise makes things difficult and unpleasant. It can do great harm to health and prevent people from working well. Workers in noisy offices are not so efficient(高效的) as workers in quiet offices. Noise makes people less efficient. Can anything be done to keep down noise?

In Britain, the government has made several laws to keep down noise. It has spent a good deal of money making airports and main roads quieter. In Japan, America and Canada there are such laws, too.

【推荐1】Once there was a famine（饥荒） in the town. A rich and kind baker （面包师） sent some bread to twenty of the poorest children. He said to them, “In this basket there is some bread for you. Each of you can have a piece of bread every day until the hard days end.”

The impatient children couldn’t wait to gather around the basket. They shouted and fought for the bread because each wished to have the largest bread. At last they went away without even thanking the good gentleman. But Shirley, a poorly-dressed little girl, did not join them. Instead, she remained standing quietly there. When the other children had left, she took the smallest bread in the basket, kissed the gentleman’s hand and went home.

The next day the children were as rude （粗鲁的） as before. Poor shy Shirley still took the smallest bread. When she got home, her mother cut the bread open. Many new shinning pieces of silver fell out of it. Her mother was very surprised and said, “Take the money back to the good gentleman at once, for it must have got into the bread by accident. Be quick, Shirley! Be quick!”

But when the little girl gave the rich man her mother’s message, he said, “No, no, my child. It was no mistake. I put silver pieces into the smallest bread to reward （奖赏） you because you are a kind and honest girl. Go home and the money is yours now.”

Students in France have one less thing to put in their backpacks these days. The country recently banned（禁止）smart phones in public schools for all students through ninth grade. Many schools around the United States have similar bans.

Some educators say kids pay better attention in class when they aren't constantly（始终）looking at their phones. They say banning phones encourages students to talk to each other more.

Most teachers would agree that they don't want a classroom full of kids texting. But many say a total ban on phones isn't necessary. Some people argue that it is better to teach kids to use technology responsibly（负责任地）than take it away. Plus, many parents point out that they need to be able to reach their kids during the day.

【推荐3】Today is July 18^th. It is Sunday, Susan has her 8th birthday party at home. She is in Grade Two. She is friendly. She has friends at school, at church（教堂）, in swimming class and in dancing class. Nancy is her best friend. They play together. Some of her friends come to her party.

It is a pool（水池）party. The pool party is in her back yard（院子）. There is a big pool in the yard. About 30 children come to her pool party. There is a lot of food. They have hamburgers and hot dogs. They have pears, apples and bananas. They drink some orange juice. There are a lot of things to do. They swim in the pool, they play many games. Everyone has a good time. No one wants to go home.

【推荐1】You may be able to care for your physical health by wearing a mask, washing your hands, and doing regular exercise during the coronavirus epidemic（疫情）, but how do you treat your mental health? Millions of people are facing fear, anxiety and depression as lockdowns and quarantines（隔离期）continue.

As part of the government's “first level response", the National Health Commission said more than 300 hot lines are now available throughout China. Callers can talk with counseling（咨询）services and people from university psychology（心理学）departments. Depending on your location, you can call one of these 24-hour hot lines for psychological support and general advice if you're experiencing anxiety, depression or panic attacks, no matter whether you're a patient, medical worker or just someone stuck at home.

A survey carried out by the Chinese Psychology Society found that of the 18,000 people tested for coronavirus-related anxiety, 42.6 percent were anxious. “A stable（稳定的）condition of mind can help reduce anger and anxiety, which is helpful for treatment. Providing psychological counseling and appropriate medicine, psychiatry（心理治疗）can play an important role in the battle against the epidemic," said Chen Jun, an expert from the Shanghai Mental Health Center. A healthy mind supports a healthy body. Stress weakens the immune system, according to the American Psychological Association. Managing stress may help people fight off a virus.

In addition to hot lines, online platforms and social media have also offered support to those dealing with the mental stress of worrying about the virus. One virus-related topic, which translates as “how to deal with feeling very anxious at home” has been viewed by hundreds of millions of Sina Weibo users. Know Yourself, a public WeChat account, hopes to reduce panic attacks to those medical workers, patients and their families in Hubei Province.

“People are scared, so to have a voice that helps to make them calm down and kind of guide them through this process can be very helpful." Paul Yin, a psychologist in Beijing, said.

【推荐3】We've talked about snails(蜗牛) and their slow move. But much of the time snails don't move at all. They are in their shells(壳) sleeping.

Hot sun will dry out a snail's body. So at the least sign of hot sun, a snail draws its body into its shell. A snail will die in a heavy rain. So when it rains, a snail does the same thing, too. A snail can sleep for as long as it needs to. It spends all the winter months in its shell, asleep.

In spring the snail wakes up. Its body comes out from the shell. When hungry, the snail looks for food. Its eyes, at the end of the top feelers(触角)are very weak. But its sense of smell is very strong. It helps the snail to find food.

A snail's mouth is no bigger than the point of a pin(大头针).Yet it has 256,000 teeth! The teeth are very small, and you can't see them. If you put a snail in a hard paper box, it will eat its way out! And if a snail wears out its teeth, it will grow new ones.