1 . American schools begin in September after a long summer vacation (假期). There are two terms in a school year: the first term is from September to January, and the second is from February to June. Most American children go to public schools (公立学校). High school students take only four or five subjects at a time. They usually go to the same classes every day, and they have an assignment (作业) for every class. After class they have many activities. After high school, many students go to college.

English breakfast is a big meal—eggs, tomatoes, tea, coffee…

For many people, lunch is a quick (快的) meal. In cities there are a lot of sandwich bars (快餐店). People can buy sandwiches there. Students can have a hot meal at school, but many just take a sandwich, a drink and some fruit from home.

“Tea” means two things. It is a drink and a meal! Some people have afternoon tea, with sandwiches, cakes and a cup of tea.

They usually have supper quite early, between 6:00 and 8:00, and often all the family eat together (一起).

People often get take-away meals, they buy the food outside and then bring it home to eat.

3 . Many middle school students don’t know how to spend their free time. When they have holidays, they always have nothing to do. Some may play computer games all day long and some may stay in bed and sleep all day. They are not good ways. Here are some suggestions.

If you don’t like to stay at home, you can do some sports. In this way, you can keep healthy. If you like to stay at home, you can enjoy some music. You can play some indoor games like chess. You can also plant some trees and flowers in your garden to make your home beautiful. It is also a good way to keep a pet and talk to it. Just have some hobbies and you will feel happy during a long holiday.

4 . The secret to losing weight isn’t just about what you eat. It has something to do with what you drink. For example, some popular soft drinks might sabotage your weight­loss plan. They may even make you put on some weight. Here are four kinds of drinks for you if you don’t want to put on weight.

Water

It’s important to remember that water is the best choice for weight loss. Water is not tasty. Lots of people don’t like to drink water. If you are one of those people, try adding fresh lemon slices, cucumber, or a slice of tomato. These things may make your water tasty.

Vegetable juice

Vegetable juice is an excellent choice to get nutrients (营养) your body needs. Vegetable juice is good for your body, and it can also help you lose weight.

Black coffee

A morning cup of black coffee or an afternoon iced black coffee can help you lose weight. It can hold back your feeling of hunger. Just be careful about what you add to your coffee. If necessary, skim milk (脱脂牛奶) or a little sugar is enough.

Skim milk

Milk is good for our health. But you’d better not drink milk with too much fat. You can choose skim milk. Skim milk is not tasty, is it? If you think so, you can choose to drink low­fat milk.

6 . A study says the origin of human is in Botswana. Researchers said they used DNA to find out where modern humans came from. They believe all our roots (根) are in an area of northern Botswana. Humans were there 200,000 years ago. They lived there for at least 70,000 years and then migrated (迁徙) around the African continent. They then started moving to Europe and Asia. Researcher Professor Vanessa Hays, from the University of Sydney, said, “We’ve known for a long time that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago.”

The researchers made sure of an area called Okavango as where we came from. There used to be a big lake but it is now a salt flat (盐碱地). People had water, hunting and farmland. Scientists studied DNA from 200 people who live near the area today. They are from the Khoisan people, who live in modern-day South Africa and Namibia. They had a lot of DNA called L0. Professor Hayes explained why L0 is important. She said, “Whenever a Dew migration (迁徙) happens, our L0 records that migration event as a time-stamp. Everyone walking around today comes from this region.”

7 .

Scientists looked for paw prints(爪印) in the forests. In this way, they knew the number of pandas! “It’s hard to see pandas in the wild,” said Colby, a scientist. “They hide in the thick bamboo forests. “That’s why scientists used paw prints to get the number. The number of the pandas was a surprise to Scientists. They learned that more pandas lived in the wild!

“We found pandas living in areas we didn’t know,” said Colby. Although the news is good, pandas are in danger.

Here are some fun facts of pandas:

It takes a panda more than 10 hours to eat 9 kg to 14 kg of bamboo every day.

A newborn panda weighs 90-130 grams. That is about the weight of a mouse. A panda’s front paws have wrist bones(腕骨). The panda uses them to catch bamboo.

The main threat to pandas is that their land is becoming smaller and smaller. Pandas lose their land when people cut down parts of the forest for wood and farming. Now, China has13 nature reserves(保护区). People mustn’t cut down trees there. Scientists want to create more nature centres to give pandas a better chance to live.

8 . Without flowers, many plants would not be able to reproduce(繁殖) and many insects would not be able to get enough food to live. Here are some interesting facts about flower plants

● Most plants grow flowers each year, but some take much longer. The century plant(龙舌兰) grows only one flower and then it dies! Even more amazing is a plant from South America called Puya raimondii. It doesn’t grow a flower until it is 150 years old, and after that it dies, too.

● The smallest flowering plant in the world is thought to be the common watermeal (无根萍). Its leaves are only 1mm across!

● Bamboo has amazing flowering habits. There are many different kinds of bamboo in the world. What is amazing is that all bamboo of the same kind will flower almost at the same time, wherever it is growing! Nobody knows why.

● The white flower of the Amazon water lily(睡莲) is the size of a football, and the flower turns purple after it has been pollinated(授粉).

● The Caucasian lime can grow in Britain. Its flowers are poisonous to bees. If they touch the flowers, they will die.

10 . Everyone knows that exercise is very important. We all need to exercise. It makes your heart and body strong. Children who often exercise are more alert (机敏的). This means they do better in tests and schoolwork than those who don’t exercise.

There are many ways to exercise. You can walk, run, jump, swim or play ball games. Make sure you exercise in the following ways you have to like what you’re doing; exercise enough but not too much. It’s best to exercise twice a week. Thirty minutes each time is enough.

You can exercise at fitness centres (健身中心). They have a lot of equipment (设备) there. The equipment will help exercise your arms, legs and other parts of your body. Exercising can be fun. Friends can exercise together at a fitness centre, or they can play sports together.